Artwork for Turning Hard Seasons Into Community -  Jonathan Emery (Life's Checkmark Podcast) - IWNL #0077

July 1, 2026 · 1:17:35

Turning Hard Seasons Into Community - Jonathan Emery (Life's Checkmark Podcast) - IWNL #0077

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In this episode of I Will Not Lose Podcast, I sit down with Jonathan Emery and Giselle Quintanilla for a conversation about resilience, major life shifts, and what it takes to keep building when life gives you every reason to stop. Jonathan shares the story behind Life’s Checkmark and how it grew into a real community after two major shifts that could have taken everything in a different direction.…

Episode notes

In this episode of I Will Not Lose Podcast, I sit down with Jonathan Emery and Giselle Quintanilla for a conversation about resilience, major life shifts, and what it takes to keep building when life gives you every reason to stop. Jonathan shares the story behind Life’s Checkmark and how it grew into a real community after two major shifts that could have taken everything in a different direction. We talk about consistency, business, meaning, and the kind of work that happens when nobody is watching but still ends up being the thing that sets you apart later. This episode is about more than business. It is about the life that comes with it, the people you become through it, and the reasons some stories end up helping other people keep going too. If you have ever had to keep building through a hard season, this one is for you. Listen to Life’s Checkmark and tap in with the story. #IWillNotLosePodcast #JonathanEmery #LifesCheckmark #Resilience #Entrepreneurship #Podcast #Storytelling #TonyOrtizTheDesigner

Transcript

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  1. Good morning, good evening, good night, good afternoon.

  2. Sometimes it's easier for me to keep going than to quit.

  3. Life is real, you know what I mean?

  4. You have to go out there and put the work in.

  5. And if you've never been in the pit at a NASCAR race, do it.

  6. The time you put in while no one is around

  7. will be what sets you apart when everyone is watching.

  8. Because a lot of times you'd be like,

  9. oh yeah, that's a cool little idea.

  10. But once they really understand where you're coming from,

  11. the meaning behind it all in your heart, what you really want to accomplish. That's when people

  12. dive in. They really get on board with it. Good morning, good evening, good night, good afternoon,

  13. whatever time you're listening in, wherever you're listening from. Shout out to my Spotify

  14. listenership, Apple and Google podcasts, and YouTube if you're watching in. Thanks for giving

  15. me a reason to get dressed. You could have been anywhere in the world, but you're here.

  16. Be present and recognize that it's now, right now. Whether your right now is working, flying,

  17. running, driving. Be thankful we're alive, baby. Failure can be frightening. However,

  18. as Winston Churchill reminds us, success is all about going from failure to failure without losing

  19. enthusiasm. This is I Will Not Lose podcast where we set out to prove everything is learned from

  20. failure and we must persevere and recognize it as one step closer to success. I'm your host,

  21. Tony Ortiz. Let's jump right in. An amazing set of guests with me today. I have Jonathan Emery

  22. and Giselle Quintanilla. We have a story of a podcast host who now owns the Community of Life's

  23. Checkmark podcast, which started after two major shifts. You know, there's major things that'll

  24. tear a person down, and this man endured two of them at the same time. He used his podcast as an

  25. outlet for others to share, grow, learn, gain community, and has grown it to phenomenal

  26. numbers, has touched an amazing amount of people, national podcast, everywhere from

  27. overseas to national, all over the U.S., sharing stories.

  28. So I'll let him tell a bit more about that, but I wanted to introduce yourself on anything

  29. that I missed, and we can kind of jump to the beginning, go back to the reason.

  30. Yeah, thanks, Tony.

  31. Thanks for having me on.

  32. and Giselle as well so for where I started about five years ago I lost my job right so they said

  33. we're shutting down the doors it was around the COVID time and it wasn't due to COVID it was just

  34. they were not profiting so we were told probably September of that year and you know next month or

  35. two about 60 people walked out the door it was a printing factory so it was a manufacturing place

  36. and i was in the logistics area so in the warehouse dealing with the trucks and stuff

  37. so i wound up staying another eight months me and a couple other uh a couple other uh guys i

  38. worked with as well for the simple fact that we dealt with the trucks all the time so we had to

  39. make sure everything was stripped apart and left the building not that we stripped everything

  40. ourselves but we had to make sure everything was gone so the last thing to leave was the forklifts

  41. and then three of us so to carry out for another eight months after you saw 60 some people walk

  42. out in one day and then slowly a few other people here and there was kind of hard to take right so

  43. you put 20 years of effort you know you're getting up grinding all the time going the same place all

  44. the time getting to know everybody individually it was a lot to take in uh and it wasn't just that

  45. day it was leading up to the day i left too because now it was just a shell and it's just

  46. yeah this was a printing factory so it was like four printers slitters i and i know you probably

  47. don't understand everything i'm saying but it was it kept going you know it was pumping out you know

  48. everything coming in from china and everything like that and we're shipping over the hershey

  49. and then and you know that's the kind of customers we had to deal with so when it got to that last

  50. minute it's like you know was it really worth it you know i mean like did i really love what i did

  51. and i did enjoy the people i did enjoy what i did and you know i started uh from the bottom worked

  52. my way up to where i got to the position i was in and i was okay with that so you kind of start

  53. thinking about what is security what is it in a job place there is none so so you better be doing

  54. something you really love and you know it kind of got me to where i'm kind of at today with the

  55. podcast and everything and i had to travel that journey so after losing the job i didn't really

  56. know where to go, uh, as far as what to do next. I was, I was curious, you know, I always wanted

  57. out not knowing that was going to be my out and I want to do a life insurance. Why? Because I knew

  58. the guy that set, set mine up and I love the program, you know, the way he had to share with

  59. me and I got to learn everything. Right. And so it was different. It was commission-based.

  60. It wasn't a nine to five, you know, you get paid for hours. So I had to learn, I just sit down

  61. just like you're learning podcasting youtube and all that you like you had to sit down and

  62. and like literally do things right um still am yeah we all are we really love what we do right

  63. we want to stay on top of things yeah but i i so i learned what he had to share to sell to others

  64. right and so i took that information and i made youtube videos and it was just feeling it out

  65. learning as i go and i enjoyed the process of creating things and so it was kind of new for me

  66. right uh it led to where i was able to make a sale within maybe eight months there after i started

  67. doing that right and and i'm like oh okay you know if i did like two or three of these a month i'm

  68. pretty good you know with what i had as my previous job money wise right but i was starting to enjoy

  69. creating things. And little did I know at the time that things were shifting around the household,

  70. I found out that things were changing where some people, I would say, the mother of my children

  71. was not communicating with me. And it was hard to deal with. And I didn't know who to turn to.

  72. so January of the previous year after I lost my job I listened to a podcast and it's still out

  73. there today so I mean feel free to go check it out it's called dad's edge and I listened to it

  74. previously years because I wanted to see if I could be a better father show up different you

  75. know as a husband or whatever that was right and so I listened to a few episodes here and there

  76. and for whatever reason you know here here I am I'm not working anymore I listened to this podcast

  77. and i don't even know what the episode was about but at the end it was about the community that

  78. they have of men and i reached out like not knowing why i'm reaching out like this just

  79. the weirdest thing but nobody's talking to me at the house i have not the friends i would say i

  80. could turn to you know i reached out to a few of them but there's not many that you want to share

  81. all your relationship problems yeah it's something i never did right especially as a man too you know

  82. if we're being honest yeah exactly right we just close up why can you share your feelings and

  83. express to others uh and this was an outlet for me i was able to uh get on there and it was a

  84. monthly fee uh i never jumped on zoom calls or anything but i was able to connect with like four

  85. or five guys still to this day i never met in person but i was able to text them talk to them

  86. through facebook messenger was also able to call them and they were able to listen to me and share

  87. their feedback for what they thought was going on what they dealt with in the past too maybe they

  88. haven't even traveled down the path i was going down but they were there for guidance and they

  89. also loaded on me too like i say loaded unloaded right uh because i'm like who am i what how how

  90. can i show up for you when i'm going through this mess uh i did have one of the guys go you're going

  91. to divorce and i'm like what you know i mean because that's nothing i ever wanted uh yeah of

  92. course yeah it was it wasn't so and i'll tell you why because my dad's side they all got divorced

  93. and then little did i know that my parents were divorced until i was the age of 19 they divorced

  94. when i was a kid but they just decided to live with each other but i didn't find out about that

  95. age so like that was like oh wow you know i mean so they they for whatever reason they committed

  96. to stay together to make it work for me and my sister just to grow up in the same house i guess

  97. with the same parents but that was another reason for me not wanting to get divorced so i always

  98. told myself never right um little and then i had to hear this from this guy and i'm like who are you

  99. uh great guy you know if i can talk to him today i would still talk to him it just we just had to

  100. got out of touch. But they allowed that space for me to open up and they heard me. And it was good

  101. because I was losing myself in my head. We just sit there and we just have our thoughts and we

  102. keep running through and through and through and we just go crazy, right? Thinking that we can

  103. handle it ourselves. Nobody's going to want to listen to us. And what do they know when that's

  104. not the case right that got me to where i hired one of them as i call coach uh he's big into

  105. communication relationships trying to make the marriage last all that kind of stuff it was only

  106. me that wanted to participate in stuff like that or even mention the therapist so when you have one

  107. that doesn't want to be part of it it's not going to work out but i took his course he had one on

  108. masculinity, masculinity. And, you know, besides me having trouble saying it, I still did not know

  109. what that was back then. Right. And I, you know, like, I'm like, what is this? You know, now I know

  110. now everybody knows what it's all about. But so I went through that course with him and another guy.

  111. The other guy was just, you know, he was married, working on his marriage and everything was fine

  112. as far as I know. But the first, so this was four weeks. The first two weeks I was sobbing. I,

  113. you know i was a mess not because of the program but because everything was still at the house

  114. nobody's talking phone's being used in places where it shouldn't be stuff's not being said

  115. it was it was a disaster in my eyes right uh the next two sessions i was more composed i was taking

  116. more notes i was responding back and he he said that to me right you seem better you looks like

  117. you look better as well and everything else right and i'm i'm like yeah i don't know what it is i

  118. I don't know. I don't know if it was that class that kind of helped me along the way, but it allowed me to learn communicating and all that kind of stuff.

  119. And I was able to pass that along, you know, through through now, through life. Right.

  120. Little did I know that reaching out to these this podcast with the community, these men and this guy with the coaching program got me to a point where when the mother of my children said, you know, I want a divorce.

  121. i was able to say okay you know i was done i was tired um i felt like i did all i could and not get

  122. the response back to say let's make it work or anything like that or what's going on so was it

  123. like a aha moment when that happened or was it something that you almost had one foot out the

  124. door the whole time like for me yeah when she finally said all right this is it i know you

  125. had mentioned you were going through coaching so clearly there was like feelings that you were

  126. working through that happened before it wasn't like all of a sudden a surprise yeah that's where

  127. that's what was inevitable right and i agree with that it wasn't a surprise in a way but i know again

  128. it wasn't something i wanted to see come and i was taught to work on yourself focus on you right

  129. and so that's that's the spot i think i got to before she said okay you know i mean dora i want

  130. a divorce uh which would have been a 15-year marriage with the two kids that i have right so

  131. i'm just telling you that because of how long of a marriage i was gonna make something last

  132. and yeah i was gonna ask yeah then it's like poof you know it's gone um but yeah it so

  133. aha moment um i want to say i i was just tired i was just done and i i i don't think i would

  134. ever said the word divorce right i don't know i don't know but she said at first she clearly had

  135. another path you know and found like that out or whatever that is and so when she said it i just

  136. said yeah i'm done because i i couldn't sleep at night i lost 20 pounds by the way great great way

  137. to lose lose weight if you're running on a diet oh i lost 60 trust me yeah yeah no as the at least

  138. my listeners that will know um what i went through for what i've shared or what i've shared

  139. another podcast and stuff absolutely i mean i had to channel energy towards uh running like i had to

  140. run my anger away and you'll hit calorie deficit when you get angry so it was uh you know i've

  141. gone through transformations i feel like it's important to remind people that even the listeners

  142. it's ebbs and flows like nothing is ever a straight up journey or a straight down journey

  143. like even on the way down there's little joyous moments that you can be happy for like even in

  144. in the middle of a bad day you know so it's uh it's good i'll interject where i can but you're

  145. you're cooking with the story and we'll get and then trust me 60 of the listeners are looking over

  146. like okay we're waiting for her to speak you know so that's a little further in the journey there

  147. um yeah yeah so uh if you want me to go back to where i was yeah okay yeah so uh we went our own

  148. way as far as saying that we're divorced we're going our separate ways and i just i wound up you

  149. know finding jobs and stuff so i quit the life insurance thing i went back to a nine to five

  150. uh again you know you're finding insurance and all that as you know health insurance to take

  151. care of the kids and everything so i had to navigate what i was going to go through and i

  152. didn't know what that was so i had to work on myself mentally emotionally and then physically

  153. spiritually relationship wise and i don't mean intimate i just mean like relationships like

  154. talking to people listening to people yeah attachment styles and yeah like everything

  155. right and then um and then business and finances and those are the that's the process i went through

  156. those are the areas I worked on that way. Uh, for me, I chose the emotional side first,

  157. because if I didn't find my men's mindset to be right, then I wouldn't be right for everything

  158. else. Um, and I think that's where everybody should start. I'm not going to say that's where

  159. you want to start, but, uh, it's a good spot, right? Cause then you can focus on the other

  160. areas and just take that with you. Like if I, if I can get my mind right, I can carry that on

  161. to being more fit and working out more often and then we're relationships spiritual you know the

  162. other areas so as opposed to like putting your energy into other people or like you know you

  163. mentioned your your kids your wife you're putting into that like everything you've mentioned so far

  164. as you for somebody else you know even though you were learning the stuff on your own sounds

  165. like you were coming from a place of you know let's be honest society has pressure on people to

  166. provide or do stuff you've kind of hinted and foreshadowed at you've always wanted to create

  167. something and you know couldn't we all just get funded for the thing that we love to create like

  168. you know shouldn't the virtue be like well look at all these people who are like you know changing

  169. their lives bettering themselves just having something to live for even if it's just a podcast

  170. to listen to right now as they get further in their journey yeah yeah for so for me i i got

  171. that grind of getting up going to work every day coming home taking care of the family the kids

  172. and the house and that's just how i felt like i was providing um not knowing i felt like i guess

  173. in a sense i was losing myself not knowing who i was just that i was the husband the dad

  174. and the employee right not not john that's so but i didn't see that i didn't feel that until

  175. everything fell apart right so some most is most of the times you have to go through these

  176. life-changing events to kind of like have a wake-up call and go like this is not where

  177. you're supposed to be this is not where god wants you to be so you just go ahead and you

  178. have to make that shift yeah awesome awesome so at what point did the podcast come along you kind

  179. of were joining in their podcast you said i'm going to do something similar or i'm curious how

  180. that became the outlet to transform you you know what i mean you you could be 30 pounds heavier and

  181. brown belt in jujitsu you know like everybody feeds feeds it their own way if they're going

  182. to channel and like transforming into something better but was that like after you got your mind

  183. right the first thing that you said i can focus on and like because i mean i i can tell you for me

  184. i wanted to challenge myself like i could have started a podcast on anything still may start a

  185. podcast on something different because i still love this i love recording and documenting

  186. meetings and time you know we're only going to get to do this once in person you get a different

  187. person than the facebook posts or you know who even knows if that stuff is scheduled so you're

  188. seeing somebody's energy that might not even be when they were saying it versus the micro

  189. expressions you get when you're speaking with someone when you talk with them so you know um

  190. trust me with all this technology you didn't have to come here but this was a decision we made and

  191. i think it's a greater piece of content yeah so so for me with the podcast journey uh that year

  192. that she mentioned the word divorce i found out hey there's this event coming up the following

  193. year i'm like i don't know what i'm doing you know i might as well just pay for these tickets

  194. and it wasn't around podcasting but as a podcaster in our area uh he's been doing it now this year

  195. it's been 10 years and so i went out there and it was all about growth and he had all these speakers

  196. and stuff and i met some people i never would have met before and it was a whole different

  197. environment for me because i never went outside my comfort zone in that way i would have never

  198. left my previous wife and kids to go ahead and go out by myself right i would have never it was

  199. never a thought of mine so it's like hey we're doing things together and we're gonna navigate

  200. this life together and have have these great experiences so i went there uh spending the

  201. night in a hotel like again by myself i'm like this is this is so weird uh and but meeting these

  202. people and then i yeah i bring it up so there's we had a breakfast and i it wasn't like a planned

  203. breakfast i just went downstairs eat breakfast and the guy that was running the uh the event

  204. he was there he's like oh come sit down you know with us or whatever and there's like 10 guys or

  205. whatever so they he got up eventually a bunch of them all got up and then there was one guy that

  206. was left and now i know his name because i just ran into him he i didn't even say anything to him

  207. but uh for as long as i could remember i couldn't remember his name until he until he was at this

  208. event the other week and so so his name's scott and he might not even remember me but he was like

  209. what do you want to do and i said start a podcast and he said do you have anything and i said well

  210. i have these 10 facebook lives where i was interviewing entrepreneurs and i was doing that

  211. when i was doing the life insurance and then i cut it all out because everything going on at home

  212. yeah he's like well strip the audio and start with that and i and i i told him i'm like that's not

  213. what i want my podcast to be that it wasn't so i stopped i hesitated i i procrastinated

  214. high procrastinated it's what i call it now and i taking that that's good and i i it took me six

  215. months to actually sit there and go okay how do i strip the audio from the video and make this

  216. podcast and so i i did i i had 10 so i took those 10 and i launched three in one week and then one

  217. thereafter for the next seven weeks uh which gave me time and space to find new guests or create my

  218. solo episodes and everything and this is what i teach other people to that one star podcast

  219. because it worked for me and it was taught to me as well and so now you build that level

  220. of consistency so my podcast is called life's check mark and i created it for the simple reason

  221. of people coming on sharing their journey just like i am here with you right now and we just

  222. have that authentic vulnerable conversation where they just let it all out and i've had people come

  223. on and they go i never told anybody else that before now it's out to the world isn't that

  224. amazing it's it's it's good right and and so there's a spot inside of them where they wanted

  225. to share something for so long with somebody but somebody never gave them the space for it

  226. and so now they opened up and now everybody can hear about it i had one guest and she shared

  227. this experience she had a work party and it shut her down for many years and she came on she shared

  228. this with me and she and that's what she said she's like i never told anybody and then after

  229. we were done recording she went ahead and told her kids or whatever just to hey this is you know

  230. because it's going to come out now she's more free about sharing it and from what i remember

  231. it kind of opened up her life her you know everything's okay and i can i can move on from

  232. this um it's it's amazing so i i enjoy it for that reason but that the podcast was built for

  233. people just coming on and just sharing and some people they don't know how to share their share

  234. right nobody wants to listen to them and so that's and so i don't know about you tony but i have

  235. people meet with me like 20 minutes before uh not before we start recording but just get to know

  236. each other build that relationship part that i was talking about that area and then hey we'll

  237. record an episode sometime in the future you know i think you're a good fit etc uh i do it that way

  238. i know everybody tells me it's time consuming but is it time consuming if you're building a

  239. relationship and you're getting to know each other you tell me right i i don't know we took

  240. we took maybe 15 minutes even when when scheduling just to kind of say um and i did say i don't do

  241. the whole interview type thing but at the same time if we can spend 15 minutes the last thing

  242. we want to do is find out that we can't talk for more than seven minutes like it's you know what

  243. happens just maybe the the the passing back and forth is just awkward even if we're both great

  244. individual speakers sometimes you get podcasters on and you're not used to being listened to

  245. because you're doing the listening you're providing the hosting or the platform yeah

  246. but i just saw so many and it's funny because i'm in a position you know my listeners know i've been

  247. lazy i've been vocal about things like traveling and getting stuck in austin and being backed up

  248. on work but they're waiting for the podcast to drop you know at the end of the day it's what

  249. are we doing with this and you kind of run into an analysis paralysis where have the website have

  250. the guest confirmation up but it's also like what am i doing like i'm going back and listening to

  251. old episodes and it's how do i break the seasons up even if it's just something that flows and goes

  252. on from now till then i'm reaching out to actual guests that i had conversations with because

  253. i never i started this to check my mentality it wasn't even starting to have guests and then fast

  254. forward three years with nothing but guests i haven't done a solo episode i don't even know

  255. if i remember how to organize thoughts to fill that much space and not just parlay out what's

  256. happening but you realize like okay wow you know i'm in a transition whether it be with the podcast

  257. or career or everybody has uncertainty so even just gravitating to things like you said you know

  258. other than paper security the job anybody that's lost a job or fortunately for me i lost my first

  259. job at 19 i was part of the layoffs with circuit city and that was like the first time like layoffs

  260. weren't a normal thing that you read about everybody just had a job and kept it forever

  261. so i just never trusted having like uh i just not that i haven't trusted because i've had jobs i

  262. just never trusted they were going to be there for me for 40 years and you know i kind of figured

  263. i'd have to adapt or learn something new and it does bounce back to like you said when i'm

  264. podcasting the time disappears and i'm documenting something and stop worrying about all the technical

  265. stuff and you're just creating a moment sharing with that yes it's worth the 20 minutes yes it's

  266. worth the editing why do i want to put somebody under the pressure of recording live and say

  267. here's a camera here's a bunch of lights on you it's already a lot for some people to be comfortable

  268. in so to have you like on a spotlight and i'll have an emmy winner and then next week have somebody

  269. who you know maybe wrote their first book or they're going how does how does the mic oh i hear

  270. my voice you know they're not media trained at all you wouldn't have a platform on a tv or something

  271. like that right away for something so when someone reaches out and says hey can you connect me with

  272. that guest you don't reach out to oprah and say hey i'd like to connect with her but you can do

  273. that with podcasts uh you know local global level we're still accessible to some level you know

  274. yeah yeah podcasting is like a whole new world for people to connect with each other all you have to

  275. do is say you have a podcast everybody wants to be on but nobody wants to have a podcast because

  276. of all the work we do right yes yes we do a lot of work yeah it's a lot of work but on our side

  277. we do it because we love it for what we're doing it for the purpose so that's why we i mean giselle's

  278. here she's creating she created with launch and she so she just started that one that's another

  279. one right so you now you're adding another layer on top of everything else you're already doing

  280. that takes time it's a lot of work um so you have to be committed you have to know why you're showing

  281. up and hopefully you know i your podcast is your podcast and hopefully reaches that one person if

  282. that's your goal i mean that's what my goal is because that's that's all it takes and so as long

  283. it hits that one person even if i don't know that it hits that one person i just i just know in a

  284. way that it's going to touch that one at the right time yeah well did you ever get that person that

  285. hits you up and says i've been listening for a while and i just wanted to let you know i'm 12

  286. pounds down i started you i didn't have the courage to reach out and stuff so it is somewhat

  287. of a purpose and it has to have a level of care but you know whether you want to record in person

  288. whether you want to design a logo for it get a mug it's like that's the fun stuff with it it's not

  289. geared around how can i sell sponsorships on the left corner of this sticker and you know what i

  290. mean read off um we will take a break to mention sponsors at some point when it makes sense for

  291. the conversation not because somebody's watching the timer you know um so podcasting allowed you

  292. create a community you have people now listening you had the consistency and i do agree with you

  293. with setting it up i think knowing uh not everybody gets that buffer to say i have some stuff to

  294. splice or have or not everybody has you know if a guest cancels what do you do with that time

  295. if you don't have multiple weeks booked out that guests are kind of piggybacking or if you don't

  296. set the expectation that look i'm not going to cancel this if you don't like god forbid things

  297. happen if you would have told me something comes up it's fine but everything's laid out and prepared

  298. for us to do this and it'll be the same when i fill out your form and follow the process because

  299. i'm all about process i'm not going to messenger you to get on your podcast that's not why you have

  300. systems set up when i fill this out and i get on to your podcast you're going to do the same

  301. and we can tell a different story because they already know me there's already 10 people this

  302. far in the episode that are on their phones like google you know they might be washing dishes and

  303. they look up and they see the check mark say okay i'm gonna check that out it seems like the cool

  304. guy oh yeah and i'll i'll share with you uh there's a couple people in the community that are

  305. actually just starting um so i'll just shout out you know robin's working on one and britney

  306. Russell's working on one and they're just get getting going and just doing what I just suggested

  307. as far as just a 10 and creating the name all that stuff don't don't even think about the camera and

  308. all that kind of stuff right now let's just get started and then you can come back and not not

  309. aim for perfect but aim for doing and just take action so but they all came to me and I asked them

  310. and there's more than that but I asked them you know why they're doing it right and it can't be

  311. for making money. In my eyes, it can't be for making money, building the audience. It's got

  312. to be deeper than that. Because when you tell me that you decide that you might shift and you might

  313. quit, why? Why did you even start in the first place? Because that's where you want to go back

  314. to and see if that's still in you. And if it's still there, then keep going. Because you started

  315. for a reason. I don't know what that reason is with you, but for me, it was about reaching that

  316. one person. So they know they're not alone. And I was interested to know what other people went

  317. through. To me, they, a lot of them went through something that I don't even think I could go

  318. through. And I'm like, if they can get through that, I should be able to get through what I'm

  319. going through. Now, Tony, as a host, you listen to a lot of guests, right? And they come on and

  320. they share all this information with you. You as a host can take all that information and do what

  321. ever you want with it. So you're absorbing everything from me and Giselle at the moment.

  322. yeah you you so a guy that charges 350 an hour for coaching yes well come on and tell me all

  323. about his coaching for an hour and i'm like okay you know maybe it's worth the editing and stuff

  324. no i become a conduit of everything that i pull everything that i bring together i tell people

  325. there's a certain level of like how it has to look just because of what i do you know if you're

  326. a plumber and you start a podcast they're going to be surprised if you have like a like water

  327. engine to water techniques and it's like oh you know unless you did it yourself and that's part

  328. of the podcast but they wouldn't expect you to have the best camera everything like that

  329. a lot of my podcast guests have turned into clients and they understand like i do video editing

  330. full time so there's also a matter of knowing what the value of that is if you need to outsource it

  331. if you're making a ton of money off a podcast, you usually have a team. There's just way too

  332. much work to do on your own. So it was a creative outlet for me. But it was also I wanted to tell

  333. a story of a musician of a friend of mine. Shout out to Gil Thompson, my first and my 60th guest.

  334. He came back for my two year anniversary, but his mother had passed and he had spent his whole

  335. life writing. And that's where the I Will Not Lose podcast came from. It is a hip hop reference from

  336. jay-z but it's also look here's a rapper who got over the death of his mother through writing wrote

  337. wrote a whole album writing to heal was able to go through things in alignment with therapy and

  338. put out this body of work i just said we can't record it in your kitchen this was all a mess i

  339. cleared it out set everything up little pieces like the mic get better but we did the logo within

  340. like two weeks and put it together and i said this is one story but it's not going to be a hip-hop

  341. podcast you know i love i've had musicians i'm gonna have another one on it's also a repeat guest

  342. but it needs to be able to show that the resilience the hustle spirit the hard knock life

  343. like it exists in hip-hop it exists in entrepreneurialism it exists in art it's cool

  344. to kind of show where somebody looks at my catalog and they're like what's the consistency well

  345. Everybody didn't give up. Everybody found a way to have a success through a failure. And then in turn, it also reframes my mind to say, OK, maybe this isn't the end right here. Maybe I can maybe this is just a low point. I have to be just as calm in the lows as I am on the highs.

  346. You almost have to not get super excited. What keeps me going is the message. Hey, I see that you're putting this out. Wow. You talk to that person. Can I reach out to her? I'm a domestic survivor, domestic survivor, violence.

  347. um hey i realized that that person got sober and i'm only seven days so congratulate him on his

  348. you know 700th day but you know i'm gonna keep listening it's it's all sorts of things that i

  349. could just bring up and i don't like to make anybody's business like i don't go and post

  350. their stuff but i'm just like man to see that people have gone from there was one run i had

  351. where i had a gentleman on cuba fernandez and then he won an emmy the next week we had um

  352. ali amac mcguire was a platinum award-winning audio engineer and then i think a week or two

  353. after we scheduled red mcfly he had the number one produced beat on itunes and um everybody was

  354. hitting major successes right after talking about we just need to get there we're just a second away

  355. and then i'm like oh man so um it's been amazing how the caliber of guests has grown and i didn't

  356. do that on purpose i didn't plan and say okay we're gonna do c list and then move to b list

  357. and stuff it's just people hear of it say hey you know what does it take to get on i'm like

  358. you know, a phone call, fill out this form and we have a conversation.

  359. And next thing you know, I'm growing with the podcast.

  360. It does get tiresome, but I wasn't going to cancel us.

  361. I was close.

  362. I was going to say, you know what?

  363. I'll just be on your podcast.

  364. You can do the work this time.

  365. We'll do that too sometime for sure.

  366. But I wanted to go, can we go back a little bit for what you shared about podcasting and

  367. stuff?

  368. So Giselle was on a podcast.

  369. If you don't mind sharing your story, how you were on a podcast and somebody else reached

  370. out to you.

  371. yeah oh yeah just introduce yourself give some background and then i got this oh thank you this

  372. is giselle my girlfriend and i'll leave it at that she can take it from here that was good

  373. so funny uh yeah no i'm i am the publishing strategist uh ready writer services llc that's

  374. my business and um and so i help people go from writing their books all the way through you know

  375. developing the content, interior book design, publishing, and then promoting and launching

  376. their books. And one of the things that I'm passionate about is people understanding that

  377. your book is not just a book and, you know, that you don't necessarily, you're not going to make

  378. millions off of the book, but the book is a gateway and it opens up doors to other avenues,

  379. right? Getting on podcasts, speaking, engagements, workshops, you know, conferences. So all those

  380. So I was on, oh my gosh, What The Nell.

  381. I was on What The Nell, shout out to Nell Tice, on her podcast.

  382. And that's what I talked about.

  383. You know, I said, your book is really your business card.

  384. It gives you credibility.

  385. It gives you authority in whatever it is that you're talking about, whether it's your story

  386. that you lived or whether it's your expertise, right?

  387. So if you have a book on podcasting, you are the expert in podcasting.

  388. They have that saying that they wrote the book on it. So it's like that came from somewhere. I think organizing knowledge into a papyrus gave you clout.

  389. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, so, you know, so I was on her, on her podcast and I'm just talking about

  390. different ways and ideas, things that you can use your book for, because if your book is,

  391. you know, that might cost 20, $30 to purchase, but for an author, it only costs you like $6 to print.

  392. And so if it costs you $6 to print, but you have services that are thousands of dollars,

  393. just give the book away, right? Let people see that you are an expert in your, in your field or

  394. whatever you're, you're writing about, and then they can choose to continue to reach out to you,

  395. right. Or, you know, go after whatever it is that you are providing for them. So I was on with the

  396. Nell and I was sharing that. And, uh, somebody watched the, the episode and she reached out to

  397. me. So Nell connected us and she reached out to me and she was like, you know, I have a book and

  398. I know that it's meant for more. I know I'm supposed to do more. And I was like, yeah,

  399. I would love to help you because for me, there's so much more, right? So when God gives us vision,

  400. it's not just that, it's not just, you know, the book or not just a podcast and I don't,

  401. not the meaning what he's giving you, just saying there's more to it. And so it's up to us to find

  402. out what that more is. So I thought it was great because I know John was like, that's, that's,

  403. that's another way that you can really display what you do is through

  404. podcasting and it does work. And so that was really cool.

  405. Yeah. That was my experience.

  406. Yeah. Yeah. I wanted to mention that just cause, I mean,

  407. from my experience of reaching out to a podcast about being their community,

  408. you know, in their community that, you know,

  409. people are able to listen to a podcast and then become a client for somebody

  410. else. So she was able to tap in and actually she was a guest before.

  411. for right on Nell's and she was and then she was listening to her your your sometime and so she

  412. reached out to Nell right and so so she was starting to listen to Nell's podcast I guess

  413. maybe thereafter that she was already a guest and so now you get hooked a little bit and and now

  414. you're reaching out to other people and you know I already had her on my podcast so it's slowly

  415. building because now she's making a network of people and growing from there so it's just an

  416. example of how podcasting can work. Right. And, and, you know, I'm sure you're the same way we

  417. met a lot. I met a lot of people all around the world, you know, literally on the other side in

  418. Tasmania. So it just, it's incredible to see where it can take you. Cause you never would

  419. have met them in person here. Um, and it allowed me to create the book, which is 20 guests. So

  420. it was, it's an amazing, it's not even out yet, but you know, people are from the UK and Greece

  421. And like, that would never be possible if I didn't start what I was doing.

  422. And then, you know, I met Giselle and I met some other people that had books and it's

  423. kind of opened my eyes.

  424. Like, here's a way I can finally bring the guests together that I, that I admire so much

  425. because they come on and share a lot.

  426. That's a great pathway to it, because if you think about it, we all start like a podcast

  427. is just a medium.

  428. it's just one medium for what would be your you know your soul your energy it's one way for you

  429. to be a conduit somebody and this is the amazing thing about humans will latch on to one host

  430. and they'll say something that has been said for thousands of years but they say it in a way that

  431. makes sense that it's like okay we can be approachable which is why like even some of my

  432. You know, even though I have an articulate speaking style, it's very like I try to dumb things down.

  433. Like I think like a computer.

  434. I do build AI agents.

  435. None of that is fun.

  436. Shout out to the Nexus Network who happily sponsored this website.

  437. If you want to learn how to build AI agents or just are an entrepreneur and want to learn where this tech is going, if you're scared of it, join the Nexus Network server.

  438. Sorry, get rid of paying the bills while we're there.

  439. i try to keep it relatable i guess that's the word that i'm looking because i don't like that

  440. word dumbed down you know what i mean there's people who speak slow that build aeronautic space

  441. combustion engines you know what i mean it's just it's not a way to judge people but listening do

  442. you listen to your podcasts audio do you watch them i very rarely tap into my own podcast i'll

  443. listen to them on audio not all the way through or like i'm talking about podcasts you follow oh

  444. yeah it's audio for me for me for me too and it's such a personal connection to i listen to podcasts

  445. where it's not you know it's just two people it's not even guests and the guest episodes are almost

  446. like okay it's just people coming into their house like it's not even about the guests it's

  447. them coming part of the show but i've bought the things they've suggested i've gone the places i

  448. know about different podcast things you know what i mean i met a podcaster that i follow in person

  449. and it was cool to be this was before i even started my podcast my the conversation would

  450. be different if that happened now but you have to be a conduit for the people that relate to you

  451. the greatest knowledge might be either said in a different language or said in a way that they

  452. can't understand. Whereas you put something together in a book, it doesn't matter if that's

  453. written at a seventh grade, 12th grade or collegiate level. It's a book like it can be

  454. 70 pages if it's printed in front of you like that. And it got through. I don't care if you

  455. self-published it, whatever, like you went through the thought to organize, put into chapters and

  456. put something out that's another medium in addition to the podcast so if your goal was

  457. building resilience building a community why wouldn't you allow people who gravitate to

  458. reading and not just audio the video is because that's like to have a podcast everybody's like

  459. what's your youtube channel and i'm thrifty enough to put together some cheap cameras and

  460. make a great looking podcast so but um it's an artistic choice to do the extra it'd be way easier

  461. to just do audio are you going to be audio and video for your plug your podcast yeah they're

  462. both yeah sure i'm the host of the day one podcast so day one is already on apple apple podcast um

  463. spotify and youtube um the other one is the lit lunch so the lit lunch right now is on socials

  464. and then next month it goes on to all the other channels after she has her first time

  465. yes that's a that's a smart way to do it i got i got lucky with mine anytime i took hiatus it

  466. was because i needed to not because it wasn't because i needed to because i had no content

  467. to do anything i only had to do one filler episode and 10 minutes before i said well

  468. instead of setting up all the lights i'm just going to do cell phone straight to camera and

  469. i don't want to say rant about how much it is to set it up but just it was a artistic way to say

  470. like sometimes this is a grind like sometimes you don't want to put on all i don't have makeup on

  471. but you know it's your listeners deserve enough but if they're listeners that are going to be

  472. along for the ride they'll take a 28 minute episode that just says look i just i just can't

  473. get this 20 minutes out early enough i haven't done that for years but i think being able to

  474. empower other people and as i've grown into a podcast consultant it's because i know how

  475. empowered they can be like 15 years ago if you had something on a business card it made it real

  476. now everybody can get business cards so like you need the mugs and you like you need more and more

  477. to make it look real like you're actually doing it it's a shame but um that's cool any thoughts

  478. in your mind to start a different podcast that'll end no no i'm taking this so much further um

  479. we can talk about that yeah i want to hear more like if we're at the part of the story where you

  480. have the podcast and you're helping people out here tell me more about some of the people that

  481. you've encountered or just lessons you've learned from the podcasting yeah so i'll start off with i

  482. got episode 200 coming out on tuesday so that's three and three years and six months in the making

  483. of getting to that point um and we actually came together and we recorded live in person

  484. up in new york at a studio uh so that was fun and we wanted to make it somewhat rememberable

  485. so that would come out on tuesday on everything you know you watch it and whatnot

  486. um the people i've had that came in so i have a podcaster's hub it's a school community and

  487. we meet once a week we talk about all things podcasting if they have questions we bring it

  488. up we just had nell and that was part of it so she just came in she just talked about multi

  489. multi yeah media kits so she shared how she created a media kit she got sponsors and and

  490. she's like you know here's a template you know people can watch the recording and stuff and run

  491. through it so i created a challenge so in 30 days from now we'll meet again with whoever's in the

  492. group and they can bring their media kit and share what they have and we're not again we're not aiming

  493. for perfect we're aiming for action and completing something so then you can share it to the people

  494. that are asking about being a sponsor or maybe you're going to ask somebody oh man i need one

  495. yeah see i literally do marketing and i need one and yeah so she's like it's a one pager and then

  496. she's you know it's everything about your podcast what it's about who you are uh and then you know

  497. some statistics and everything and then you'll have another thing where it's to cut the sheet

  498. for how much they can pay per month or whatever per episode whatever that looks like for you and

  499. your podcast uh and that was enough for her to claim a spot to have a sponsor you know sponsoring

  500. her um her podcast but she she's over 200 now too and so it was just a level of consistency

  501. consistency again another word that i love to use but i can't use it and um it and how she just kept

  502. showing up like newsletters and posting on youtube all the time and responding to comments and and

  503. just and also being herself so she shared how this sponsor was on her show as a guest and then came

  504. back and hey hey i have this business can i be a sponsor in your podcast and then they navigated

  505. through that to see what that looked like so yeah people come in podcasters hub they either have one

  506. they don't have one and we're just discussing any like now you were i use lipsyn so it shoots out

  507. my podcast and now they got spotify where you can upload the video through lipsyn right and and then

  508. now they're apples another one on so the only reason i use it is because other podcasters that

  509. i met at these events has said they started with it because they're one of the ones that are like

  510. ahead of the game want to be at the top of getting in front of people to have your podcast on so many

  511. platforms right so so that's the only reason i started with them and and just to keep reading

  512. and hearing that they're making these moves to be one of the first ones i'll stick with them

  513. um so it's stuff like that so like you find something you just share it with the community

  514. and you have the conversations uh they're all recorded so everybody can come back but a lot

  515. of people are stuck right they don't know they don't know if they can do it and that's the problem

  516. so you know you talked about i think i think what you have here is great it's a lot it's a lot better

  517. than some other people i don't i don't have one camera you know you got you got three you got

  518. three two yeah so yeah i we should have three sometimes you got to improvise and i was gonna

  519. like um completely not bring attention to the fact that the light strip is hanging dead from

  520. the logo i wasn't gonna interrupt the conversation and the viewers are laughing about it anyway but

  521. it's it's funny because what do i have to prove i've done stuff for global brands like um

  522. the proposal i was writing beforehand trust me they won't get mistakes on it but this has to be

  523. fun to your point i think all this kind of killed it like people don't realize those are 60 thrifted

  524. cameras the like everything is was put together piece by piece you could go back and i started

  525. with one camera but people think you need to get 4k you hang out in the new podcasters so i was

  526. thinking of getting three sony zve 10s for what like do you do you even know how it's going to

  527. come from the sd card to the computer so i'm a video nut and it helps me be better at my actual

  528. job i also charge for podcast consulting and if worse comes the worst comes the worst i'll go to

  529. one of these studios and i at least know how to operate the gear so i'll make 15 bucks an hour

  530. or whatever like it's you're always gonna have a hobby but when i'm consulting i tell people the

  531. same thing you have a phone do you have a car okay shut the car door and get your audio it's

  532. can you sit down and sketch out can you say this is what you need to say and when i first started

  533. podcasting i wasn't on social and i found that i had a lot more to say when you have to write it

  534. down on a piece of paper and organize it and say what fits within an hour and how is this going to

  535. flow and think about it and you can get into the zone and do a solo episode but it's not going to

  536. be the same as just hitting the mic on people think this is just turning on the mic and talking

  537. right and those are the worst podcasts you're like how long is this when are they going to

  538. like pull some callbacks to you know how are you faring with creating things now do you still feel

  539. that itch to create is like manifesting itself in different forms like the book oh yeah yeah this

  540. was something so when i hit uh episode 52 i was at this event and somebody mentioned about a book

  541. 52 cars right and i'm like 52 i'm like that's great that's perfect i'm at 50 episode 52 what

  542. if everybody was part of a book each episode well that was like you know two years ago or whatever

  543. so it never happened um but it got me to a place where i kept thinking how can i bring guests

  544. together and that that's always something i wanted to explore and make happen so i thought retreats

  545. like i've been to some retreats and they were amazing but then what are my guests coming to

  546. to talk about you know there's there's separate business or whatever that is it doesn't it didn't

  547. make sense so i never went down that that that uh platform yet we'll see maybe there is something

  548. there but when uh i went to emilio's event i was in his book and so he's he's the forward for my

  549. book now and he he had the format i saw it and then i just like you know i i just put it together

  550. where i think i can make this work with the podcast guests i have so it allowed me to get

  551. to a point where i got 20 guests in here sharing so they come on my podcast share the part of the

  552. journey right and we just might go down a rabbit hole well now i tell them i said in this you guys

  553. can share something different and some of them are sharing things that i don't even know if they

  554. shared other people then she put it together so she read everything so that's amazing so they go

  555. deep right and and now it's linked back to their episode as well so there's a way that they can go

  556. ahead and listen and and watch the podcast so now they can you know okay i read about this part of

  557. their lives and now i can listen to this part of their life as well that's so cool so yeah so i

  558. really want to take this um after this launches on june 6th we'll do a virtual summit where

  559. everybody's going to be able to talk more in depth about their journey whatever that is i don't know

  560. yet we'll make it happen uh and then i also want to try and take this to stage so these people

  561. can actually be speakers if they want to speak as well because there's a good handful of people

  562. that have never written before they don't have a book they never written a chapter before and so

  563. they're very proud of what they've done and i'm proud of them for doing what they're doing um

  564. taking that level of commitment stepping up and uh if they want to be part of something bigger

  565. where we can be in front of people and like this you know we have the emotions the feelings

  566. everything's going on in front of us right now then i'm gonna create that space for a speaking

  567. opportunity when where i don't know but that that's where i'm going with it so you sound like

  568. a person that i mean just from the name life's check mark i mean very goal setting was that

  569. something you picked up from the um from the like the focus groups you were doing or like the

  570. coaching uh i guess so there there was one i i started going through after the fact of everything

  571. happening with the divorce and stuff and um just for the simple of being better right as far as

  572. how can and i'm not very good at my calendar or anything like that uh time and everything that's

  573. always been a disaster of mine but it seems to work and yeah it but going through that i was

  574. able to connect with different people i was able to work things out and i can still connect with

  575. them today and go remember we went through that program together and they're and i'm like what's

  576. this or and they might say oh yeah i did this and you can still okay i can apply it like um

  577. uh what's it uh boy i'm not gonna i know there's so we took i did a darren hardy course and i know

  578. he's got the salami method and i think it's box and shelf method which i really like now because

  579. of everything i have going on in my head that i'm trying to create i can say okay all right here's

  580. this book all right we're pretty much like this book's done almost as far as being published and

  581. then we we can share everything else out uh what's the next one look like right so yeah so now i got

  582. that in a box and so it's gonna sit here but now i'm gonna put it on the shelf and then i can bring

  583. it down whenever i'm ready to work on it again because if i'm gonna take this to a speaking

  584. an opportunity. I got, that's another box. So I liked how I liked that one. Yeah. I like how

  585. he tapped into Darren Hardy in a while. It's been plenty of years for me, but I bought the one course

  586. he had. And so, um, and that's how I met a lot of great people. Um, and I'll just share it with

  587. whoever is listening and watching this, that when you're part of something and you all paid for

  588. something, uh, I stepped up cause I saw somebody else do this in that same network. And I, I was

  589. like let's it was 12 modules i said let's go through each module together right so 20 people

  590. were eight yeah i'll be there you know and people fell off as we kept going but if you showed up

  591. once a month or once a week and then you go through the module together and you come back

  592. and you go okay this is what i learned and then you can apply it to your life and then you can

  593. go ahead and go through through the next one um that's what i did with a good group of people

  594. me and another guy kind of ran it but then he let me be like the leader even though he's

  595. a leadership coach yeah um great guy i hopefully everything's still going well with him and uh

  596. a lot of i think there's probably a good five or six that i'm still in contact with here and there

  597. well let's be honest if you're gonna pay whether it's 500 1200 or 4000 for coaching you're gonna

  598. like those are gonna be similar minded people like they're not it's not like you're meeting

  599. them on vacation where you know somebody spending that on vacation may not even want to talk about

  600. business like i think it just sets a different level of precedence for uh because i i have

  601. flown to atlanta to go to a convention to meet somebody i've done a mastermind with

  602. i've you know i wouldn't do that with somebody randomly off instagram i wouldn't like say okay

  603. we're good but i know you invested in this you were at a similar part in scaling or if it's like

  604. something with podcasts and now that i'm ready and revitalized i can tap into your stuff that you have

  605. and maybe it becomes the sort of thing that i say okay when you are running the panel and doing

  606. everything let me just run all the technical and make sure everybody's calm and doesn't have to

  607. worry about it and that's how i can be a part of it if i'm better at that than the speaking or

  608. whatever if we're building this whole ship and putting it up together we want the captain doing

  609. the captain things and the swabby doing the swabby things but um i did want to get to before we land

  610. the plane how did you guys meet it's a good question and she loves to share this story so

  611. i'm gonna let her share this story yeah of course you are yes i am all right um well last year

  612. uh, August, August, we went to our friend Emilio who wrote the forward for the book.

  613. Uh, he was having a mastermind for, and he was launching, um, an anthology that he had created

  614. and John was in. And so Emilio and I have known each other for six years, he and his wife,

  615. they're amazing. And we had, um, I went over their house and he's like, you know, I want to go and

  616. have this meeting with people who are going to be at the event. Now I had told him for weeks that I

  617. was not going to be at this event because I had a training to go to in Newark, New Jersey. So I'm

  618. like, I have to go to Newark, New Jersey. I don't know that I'm going to be there. I can't be there

  619. Saturday. It's a two day event. So I might be there Friday, but I really doubt it. So he's like,

  620. well, just come over. It's okay. And then he's come and we're at the table and he's like, so

  621. just all you can do. And I'm looking at him like, I told you, I don't think I was going to make this

  622. event. So long story short, Thursday night, cause it was Friday, Thursday night. I'm like, you know

  623. what? I'm not going to go to the training. I'll just go to the event. It's fine. I want to honor

  624. them. And I'm, that's one thing that I do love about John and myself that we are big on honoring

  625. people right in our journeys. And so I was like, I'm going to honor them. I'm going to go to this

  626. event. So we're in Gloucester city, New Jersey. It's not far from where I live and I'm in the

  627. parking lot and I'm like, okay, God, I'm going in this event. Now I, I, as much as I love talking

  628. to people, I am an ambivert and I'm, my core is introvert. So I have to really put effort to be

  629. extroverted. And so I'm sitting in the parking lot, like, okay, now I got to talk to a bunch

  630. of people getting my mind, right. Okay. God, whoever you want me to meet. And I'm really

  631. about networking, growing my business, growing relationships. So I go in and, you know, we're,

  632. just there and Emilio's having everybody do their introductions. And when we get to the food for

  633. eating, he's like, I hear, you know, you have to talk to John because he'll help you with your

  634. podcasting and you have to talk to Giselle because she'll do your book. So I turn around, I'm eating,

  635. I turn around, let me put my plate down and now talk to this young lady. Right. He was talking

  636. to a young lady. And so John starts talking to the young lady about her podcasting and he's just

  637. doing his thing because he's super passionate about podcasting. And I waited. And then I talked

  638. to her about her book. So when she turns around to walk away, I said, hey, Jonathan, I said,

  639. Jonathan, I don't think you and I have formally met. We run in the same circles. We're in all

  640. the same networking circles on Facebook, but we had never actually formally met. So he's like,

  641. no, I don't think we did. And so we started talking, but it was really loud in the room of

  642. the restaurant so he says all right well do you want to go out there and talk a little bit because

  643. we couldn't hear and i was telling him about my podcast show that i had at a show so we went out

  644. to the outside of the part of the restaurant and we just sat at a table and we're talking we talked

  645. like an hour it was over an hour so we were talking about podcasting we're talking about i'm

  646. i'm asking him all questions about audio because that's always my biggest thing is like how do i

  647. fix my audio so he's giving me all everything literally that he shares he's so consistent and

  648. when he tears about how to start your podcast or you know what works what doesn't work and um and

  649. then we start getting into kids and um and we were just talking about life and so my show at the time

  650. was called single in these streets because it was about dating so I was telling him the purpose of

  651. the show. Cause he was like, I don't get it. And I'm like, it's a show about dating, especially

  652. when you're a believer, if you're single and you're saved, it's extra hard to date. So there's

  653. all kinds of craziness going on. Um, but so it was just funny. And we just kept talking. So our

  654. friends kept walking by looking at us and we thought nothing of it. So after that, um, you

  655. know, we, we had our one-on-one and we were talking, I came back from a cruise. I was telling

  656. him about Canada because one thing about me it's not ever just business it's just everything else

  657. that comes with business right so I love telling you about life and so we talked for like two and

  658. a half hours I think um and then yeah and then all our friends were like yeah we we knew it we

  659. told y'all it took us like a couple months though yeah it was about three months it was about three

  660. months yeah because we were like we're just friends yeah and not just that but like it was

  661. funny i had somebody say to me just the other day that you don't have to feel bad about divorce

  662. because nobody gets it right the first time this was an older gentleman 70 something and it was

  663. just like oh man you know because like you you know you say this is the way that i don't want

  664. to do you know i didn't want to have stepchildren that was like one thing i was like you know uh

  665. but it it happens like i can understand you taking time and not just like jumping into okay we had a

  666. great conversation so that's super cool but it's great that you have passions or interests where

  667. you said like you know you're not great with the scheduling and you handle the the publishing and

  668. the putting together so that is super cool yeah i would say we definitely complement each other

  669. i agree do you think you had to do building of your own to like be on enough of a level

  670. or a pedestal or a confidence like two days is your first relationship since uh there was a minor

  671. one prior afterwards i mean but it was uh no it wasn't my focus at the time right makes sense i

  672. even told her that so yeah it was like this is what i've been doing i want to keep going i don't

  673. want to stop but i don't know where it's gonna okay oh we gotta chime in here hold on let's back

  674. it up a little bit no because it was funny because i was telling him about the show single in these

  675. streets he was like i'm not looking to date anybody right and i looked at him like me either

  676. i'm not trying to i'm not trying to connect here i'm just telling you about my podcast

  677. yeah no it's funny with a podcast title you have like so much to get across to say what it is

  678. it's like um traditional podcasting has been around for so long but the idea of having to

  679. have a video podcast or having to show your roadcaster on the screen it's so funny i'm like

  680. like uh became like marcellus duchamp where he was an artist he had a museum he had great pieces

  681. but he thought art like he just would put stuff out and have people gawk over it and be like

  682. They're so stupid arguing over what the meaning of this is.

  683. There's no meaning.

  684. It's a toilet.

  685. I just found a cracked toilet and put it on a pedestal and I'm laughing at socialites

  686. go and do stuff.

  687. But like you said, I think if anything, people would take from it, whether it's part of your

  688. journey to grow, whether you become a conduit, we just pretty much sold.

  689. We sold at least one person between you share this and who hears it.

  690. One person is going to say, I want that.

  691. I want to start a podcast. I want to go put something together, see where it's at, you know, and I do need to start celebrating some wins that we have. It became for me and we'll talk a little more off my my listeners don't need to hear all that, but it became something where when there's like at one point I've almost been needing to drop every week because there's so much and things are done and I have three ready to go.

  692. but then sometimes it's like okay something will fall off with the format and that's like why i

  693. don't care i'm not gonna say oh wait guys stop stop we gotta we gotta run it back from the

  694. beginning or a little noise it's like you just edit it out and post but getting all that stuff

  695. first the safety the being able to be consistent with something in order to grow it and say this

  696. is the the other thing that we turn it into a book because i've thought about all that sort of

  697. stuff i think that i will not lose resonates with everyone where they say you know if you're not

  698. going to give up if you're not going to give up you have to make the decision that you're not

  699. going to lose and if you have to reframe what loss looks like completely because you just can't hit

  700. that target you were going for that's cool and i want my listeners to see that all of that is

  701. relatable regardless of color creed where you're at where you're at in business you know um

  702. you come across some really cool people and podcasting is something that everyone wishes

  703. they could do so like if you're going to get into it consult with people and know the reward is so

  704. great compared to like the work that you put into it uh shout out to ron speakman a fed up podcast

  705. he has a podcast for federal employees and he goes over workplace uh like harsh workplace

  706. environments things like that and he made a outlet for people to complain about wrongdoing and stuff

  707. grew it to 50 000 plus listeners in the first couple of months and um he knew that he couldn't

  708. you know, cause I do this profession. Like I couldn't be his producer full time. He hires

  709. me for contract stuff. Now we have a new podcast coming out. That's less negative. It's allowing

  710. him to channel more into his spiritual stuff. So super excited about that. It's going to be

  711. called elevator break. So that'll be coming on. If you wanted to shout out, you had mentioned

  712. two women starting podcasts. If you want to shout some people out, it might be another week or two

  713. until this drops so we're going to um you know in the meantime maybe they'll have have it out

  714. your podcast for your 200th episode will have dropped so just kind of plug your stuff go from

  715. there and then yeah so uh you can listen to life's check mark uh apple spotify youtube uh i will say

  716. on youtube i don't have an intro outro you're just going to get it as it is i do not go in and edit

  717. our our interviews i let the ums the ahs everything just drop uh so that's why i'm looking for all

  718. authenticity when we just do this. Uh, you may even see my dog walking around, you know, who

  719. knows? Um, but yeah, go check them out. Uh, Vanessa, it will be episode 200. She was episode

  720. 100 as well. So she kind of recaps her journey with between episode 100 and 200 and how she's

  721. helping other people in a different way. Um, and again, we were, we did that one in person. So,

  722. you know, watching that on YouTube would be definitely well worth it if you wanted to,

  723. So as far as the podcasters hub, you can go to life's checkmark.com.

  724. You can find out more about that.

  725. We're on school.

  726. That's where the community is.

  727. You can just look up podcasters hub and they can become a member there.

  728. And then as far as the book goes, that'll be available June 6th.

  729. We will be doing a virtual book launch, which I can share with you the link when we get

  730. all that, because everybody's welcome to watch it.

  731. And I would love for everybody to share it out as much as possible.

  732. yeah so it'd be on youtube facebook everywhere we can put it and the idea is just for people to

  733. show up and just know that these people put their heart into these chapters and that you know maybe

  734. getting this book is good for you or it's good for a relative you have a friend you have you know i

  735. don't know um but definitely get it and read about it and again if you go back and just listen to

  736. their episodes of people that are in this it's well worth it right there and then you can go

  737. ahead and purchase a book. And then, like I said, uh, we'll talk about the date for the virtual

  738. summit where it's going to be a lot bigger. It's a day or two event then, uh, where people can

  739. chime in more. So a lot of things are coming. I do podcast coaching too. So one-on-one, not just

  740. the hub where it's a community, but yeah. So there's that involved too. And they could always

  741. just reach out to me. They can ask you for my info and I can give that all to you for the show

  742. notes and stuff. Um, but yeah, I'm, I'm grateful for where I am currently at with the podcast.

  743. I'm grateful for where I am in my life. Grateful for my kids, Giselle, uh, everybody that I've

  744. connected with, uh, network wise, that's got me to this point, right. Whether we stumbled along

  745. in the past and our past, and it just didn't work out somewhere along the way. Um, Gordon

  746. Bradecki that has been my fitness trainer, you know, like three years ago and got me to where

  747. i felt more better about myself physically yeah and mentally too and he'll tell you the same thing

  748. right but that now he's got a podcast too you know only should ultimate you um after his book

  749. and i i since i bring a book up again uh courtney hancock i was she was on my podcast back in

  750. january and she started her podcast just on a phone in a van when the kids are dropped off

  751. doing their soccer whatever it is preparing that when her book was coming out so she was

  752. reading part of her book, expanding on it, or she might share something about her day and that I'm

  753. just sharing, like, that's just all it is. That's how simple it is. You mentioned a phone in the

  754. car and that's all it was. It's audio, right? You don't have to have this video podcast. It was

  755. meant for audio. It's always going to be that it's just these big names and everything just drove it

  756. up to be what it is. And so it's good. You know, um, I also want to mention to Tony that, um,

  757. you're you're to me you're building a legacy for everybody that comes after you right so my kids

  758. you know they're 16 and 13 so they don't they'll watch here and there they'll listen here and there

  759. but later on in life when something might happen they might dive into it deeper or even their kids

  760. i have no idea right i've had my son on as a guest have you i'm gonna have him again we we

  761. talked about andrew tate and i was felt it was a conversation since the whole like misogyny and

  762. red pill stuff was starting to have a conversation with him that we can go back and look at because

  763. he's gonna be influenced by that stuff but that sort of freedom in creating it and we'll talk

  764. more off my maybe i just need to let like maybe you can allow consistency but still have like

  765. you said authenticity you know what i mean like i don't think this feels fake i think it does a

  766. good job of having its audience and being real enough where even though we have the banner and

  767. the curtains and stuff it's not pristine it's not you know i've seen the level of three lights on

  768. each person and you don't have as much time or you know i started to say hey we're going at you

  769. know we are going to start to land the plane soon but we at least got the important stuff rolled off

  770. so we have to kind of end it everybody knows who you guys are why you came on but we could obviously

  771. go for two hours and i think it's funny i'll show you the messages that we have with john he said

  772. is there if there's anything i could do to help you keep doing your podcast because i kind of let

  773. them, no, I'm either going to take a break from podcasting completely for a while or focus on

  774. another project that I want to do. And it may just be as simple as changing the banner. But

  775. what are the rules? Do I drop to once a month? I mean, that's what I've pretty much been doing

  776. at any time. Do I go back to once a week? And while I have all the stuff, go back to setting

  777. up that sort of rigorous recording i tried the multiple people in one day not doing that it's

  778. just so much energy to put into getting ready and getting everything ready for recording a

  779. conversation which you guys nailed i think you guys sound great i think uh anybody listening

  780. to this audio wise is winning anybody um audio wise listening we have a simple desk with

  781. john's book life's check mark inspiring journeys beyond life's expected path

  782. it's got the orange cover and a group of looks like about eight silhouettes standing in a valley

  783. with the sun above them and knowing that just hearing you speak on typesetting and what you do

  784. with the psychology of the book i'm interested just in what it all means but this has been one

  785. other episode just fighting the journey of letting people know they can be empowered

  786. shooting for resilience and letting people know like you know we don't have all the answers we

  787. just have a path and a journey if you want to last bond to ours as hosts follow what we do we

  788. thank you for your investment in listening even if there's no monetary donation or anything like

  789. that we're creating something for you be sure to check out life's checkmark podcast do we want them

  790. checking out single in the streets or is that shut down right you haven't recorded anymore

  791. you can't even uh go and see the the past episodes of single in the streets

  792. you could actually watch the past episodes on youtube that that's how you land yourself and

  793. john yeah definitely no hey listen you'll probably end up consulting someone on listen and i just

  794. want to be able to explain all these things because other than that it's like uh like even

  795. if i wasn't single my friends who are you know i'm pushing 40 my female friends who are single

  796. i'll just see the stuff that they post about how like whether it's a facebook dating app or

  797. this dating app they said that's like the craigslist trash it's trash at all it's like oh

  798. man i uh i miss that whole yeah listen tell your friends to check it out i'm telling you our

  799. episode i did it for with my friend toya and me and toya that's what we did it started i'm gonna

  800. say real quick it started on the phone we would call each other and be like this guy said or this

  801. guy did or this is what happened here i'm like we need to tell people what's going on out there

  802. because i don't think people know this dating scene is weird and weird but check us out thanks

  803. for tuning in thanks for listening in appreciate you thank you for listening to another episode of

  804. I Will Not Lose Podcast. To support the show, visit IWillNotLosePodcast.com. You can subscribe

  805. to your favorite podcast player, share the episode link, leave a comment. Your contribution

  806. is greatly appreciated. And if you're listening in and can't see the QR code for donation,

  807. go to tothedesigner.com slash links, and there's instructions to donate up there. Thanks so much.