Growing Your Business Through Podcasting with Matt Medeiros

Matt Medeiros: Every six months, I am literally ready to burn down the Matt Report. I just go through these phases where it’s like, “You get thousands of listens every episode. Do you just want to walk away from it?” And it’s like, “Sometimes, yeah.”

Joe Casabona: Hey, everybody. Welcome to episode 153 of How I Built It, today I’m talking to my good friend Matt Medeiros. We both share a passion for podcasting and content creation in general, and on top of talking about getting involved in local businesses and legacy, we dig deep into putting content out into the world. Now, a couple of weeks ago, you heard from Jessica Lawlor and how to come up with a good content strategy. In this episode, we’ll learn more about one of the big important mediums for creating content in 2020, and that’s podcasting. Let me tell you, and there is nobody better to talk to you than Matt about podcasting. So let’s get into all of that in a minute, but first, I want to talk to you about my website CreatorCourses.com.

Break: This year, on the podcast, you might have noticed so far that we’re focusing very heavily on freelancers and small business owners. We talked about knitting down with Jason Resnick, we talked about creating a content strategy, and we even got some really good advice from other freelancers, things they wish they knew when they started their business. CreatorCourses.com place where I teach freelancers and small business owners how to build websites without code, so if you want to find good and well made clear courses that teach you how to build websites, that is a great place to do it. The courses are focused on everything from basic WordPress up through some HTML and CSS, but you’ll learn all about building beautiful web pages with Beaver Builder and things like that. I developed the courses myself, so if you’re a regular listener, you know that I’m a web developer with at this point multiple decades of experience working on everything from small blogs to websites for Fortune 100 companies like Disney. I’m also an instructional designer, and I’ve created courses for LinkedIn Learning and Session College and the University of Scranton. So the courses are great and super focused, and there is also an amazing community of members that get access to forums and Slack. I’m doing a monthly office hours where we get together, and people can ask me whatever questions they have if you are a member. Become a Creator Courses member today, join the fantastic community of learners, and learn some new skills. I am aiming to either add a new course or update every quarter, and exclusively for listeners like you, you can save 15% on all memberships, including the lifetime membership over at CreatorCourses.com/build. Check it out today, and thanks so much. Now let’s get on with the show.

Joe: Hey, everybody. Welcome to another episode of How I Built It, the podcast that asks, how did you build that? Today my guest is a good friend of mine and a repeat offender here on the How I Built It podcast, Matt Medeiros. He is now sales over at Pagely, and he is still the host of the Matt Report, and he is the host of a relatively new podcast called We Are Here over at SouthCoast.fm. Matt, how are you?

Matt: Joe, it’s always a pleasure to grease the airwaves with you. You are former co-host of– We are former co-hosts in a different life.

Joe: Yes, absolutely. Back before you were at Pagely, we were doing– Was it a weekly or biweekly show? By [inaudible]?

Matt: It was whenever I had time. It was called Plugged In Radio on [inaudible].

Joe: Fantastic. I’m glad to be back on the airwaves with you. Sports-wise, life is drastically different. Your Red Sox have won a World Series since we last were on the show together, and the Giants are terrible, but the Yankees just picked up Garrett Cole for an obscene amount of money, so I’m excited about 2020.

Matt: I’m still crying over the Patriots loss from last Sunday.

Joe: I was at the Eagles game. As we record this, the Eagles had played the Giants on Monday. I was at that game, and I wish the game ended after the first half.

Matt: You and many others.

Joe: But that’s not what we’re here to talk about. We’re here to talk about specifically building your brand and your reach through podcasting, which Matt, I feel like you’ve done exceptionally well. Especially in the general WordPress space where we operate a lot, so maybe we could start off a little bit with who you are and what you’re doing these days.

Matt: Yes. I do, in the WordPress space anyway, MattReport.com. That is where I do all of my open thinking, for better for worse, on a podcast than a blog over there. I’ve been doing it now for going on eight years, and I was thinking back to just a lot of the stuff that I’ve done, both video and audio in the WordPress space. I’ve never counted the episodes, but it’s probably somewhere north of 500 audio episodes and maybe five 500-ish videos, all about WordPress. More recently, as in recent as in last year, I started a local podcast for a local entrepreneurship. I’m about an hour south of Boston, and it’s called The South Coast of Massachusetts. Doing the same thing, highlighting entrepreneurs in my south coast region, and it’s a totally different animal. Like, comparing traditional internet podcasts versus local podcasts, but we can maybe chat about that stuff today. And then, of course, selling over at Pagely.com.

Joe: Yeah, I definitely do want to talk about that. Because first of all, for the Matt Report, you pump out– I feel like tons of really good content, especially your videos. They are thoughtful, very shareable. I feel like you’re good at that. How do you come up with that content? Is it just whatever–? Are you just such a good thinker, and then you record those thoughts, or do you have a list of content you want to cover?

Matt: This is my biggest challenge, and it’s one of the challenges I am trying to focus on 2020. To have a content calendar and have a process and have a purpose. The purpose for the last seven years, Joe, has just been to talk out loud and to meet people, to have conversations. When I say “For better, for worse,” there are some things I say that people don’t agree with that they don’t like, and it affects me. Then there’s things that people attach to and latch on to, but I do this simply– On the WordPress side and the business side, I do it because I simply love WordPress and I simply love building businesses and seeing things from out of nothing. My whole, like you said, I create a ton of content. I create the audio stuff, and I do video stuff for Matt Report, which is like critical thinking pieces. Then I do tutorials still on the [inaudible] channel, which are more just like “Here’s how you use something in WordPress.” All of these things come up, and they just pop into my head, I just do them. The SouthCoast.fm podcast, I’m using that as my lab, my experiment to map things out. For that show, I do have things mapped out because I have such limited time that if I didn’t have a plan for that show, I would never get to it. I would never get things done. I’m using it and finding new processes over there and saying, “I’m going to apply what I’ve learned doing that stuff over there, which is like 101-level stuff, and I’m going to bring it to the Matt Report in 2020 just to give myself some runway or some kind of breathing room.

Joe: That’s great, because I’m sure the Matt Report is a bunch of years old now, so I’m sure with SouthCoast.fm it’s slightly lower pressure so you can experiment a little bit more. I’m experimenting with this podcast, my main podcast in 2020, and I’m nervous about it. But I think that ultimately it’ll change for the better.

Matt: Yeah. Go against the grain when you consult with customers, even if people are like, “How do I start a podcast?” I’m like, “If you don’t have a plan, you’re going to fail. If you fail to plan, plan to fail.” That kind of thing, however that saying goes. I am like a product of that to my own detriment when it comes to content creation, because like I said, there’s the creative side where I like creating things. The most recent episode of the Matt Report was just a solo episode, and it was just me talking to the microphone. No other interviewer or interviewee, and you get that– Like, imposter syndrome kicks in, and you’re like “Jesus. Is anybody going to want to listen to this?” But I’m just doing it. I’m doing it on the whim because I just feel like I want to create this, and I want to get it out. Then the byproduct is an audience, but it’s about me being able to have a creative outlet first with a lot of this stuff.

Joe: For sure, and I’ll link to this in the show notes, the episode that you’re referencing came out on the 10th of December. Missing WP Weekly Podcasts, Yost Gate, and 20/20 Plans. It’s a 40-minute episode, do you script that or have an outline? Or do you just rap?

Matt: I just rap. I have the ideas. I don’t know about you, Joe, but I am constantly thinking as one does throughout the day as they’re awake. But it’s just like, I have these thoughts, and something sparks it. It’s like, I know, I don’t have another guest coming for another couple of weeks that’s scheduled for the Matt Report, and I know I need to get content out, and I just don’t want to do the same old thing. Like, I always change things, and I don’t know if this is good or bad. I always change things, I always change the format of the show, and I changed the intro of the show. I don’t have the same process every single time, for better or for worse, but I know after a while, I have to change it. I could do 12 episodes the same way, but I know I’m going to need to change it again. As much as people might hate Kanye West when you think about the different changes he has gone through in just the music content anyway, not life or spiritual or whatever. You can see why, or any artist, you can see why they go through ups and downs. I have become– I was afraid to call myself an “Artist” three years ago, but I’ve learned to embrace it now. That’s how I perceive myself with content and video production, even if it’s not high-level compared to the next person. This is my journey, this is my path, and hopefully, I get better 10 years from now. Hopefully, it’s much better.

Joe: Yeah, absolutely. I love that, “Calling yourself an artist.” Because getting on the mic in front of the camera, not in front of the camera, you are performing to some extent. People asked me, “How do you get so comfortable in front of a microphone?” I say, “I did drama club all through grammar school and high school. I was very comfortable in front of people, and it’s just getting your reps in, but you have to be on.

Matt: This is the interesting thing with the local show versus what I’ll call the “Internet show,” the Matt Report. When I first started, I was like, “OK. I’m just going to take all the concepts that I normally do with the Matt Report, send them a Calendly link, and set up a Zoom chat, share a Google doc with them. Get into the paces of that. Then that literally fell flat on its face with my first guest, because these are small business owners who are not accustomed to podcasts. Very few of them listen to podcasts, and they’re certainly not being interviewed by podcasters because they’re not doing business on the web. There’s nobody else in my area doing what I’m doing like I’m doing it, and I remember the first day I sent it to the first guest, and she ran a company called Boutique Fitness, and she has a bunch of like fitness places, and I sent it to her. She was like, “OK. What’s Zoom?” She was trying to install it, and she’s like, “I don’t know if I can set this up.” She’s like, “I use Skype.” So I’m like, “All right, forget it. We’ll use Skype.” Then we finally get connected, and all I hear, Joe, is screaming in the background when we first connect. I’m like, “Where are you right now? She’s like, “I’m at the studio. There’s a cycling class going on.” And I’m like, “No. This is not going to work for a podcast. I need you to be in some quiet area.” So we had to reschedule, and then she had to do it from home, and then she was using the Apple Earbuds, and then the audio was terrible. I started re-learning how to podcast when it came to the local market, and now the reason why I’m being so much more determined and organized with that channel is because now I record at a local co-working space. They have a sound booth set up, and I’m the in-house podcaster, so now meeting people in person to do these shows. To get back to your point about being comfortable in person, there are people who are now that I’m meeting in person in front of me with a microphone in front of them, and they’re having the same anxiety. Like, “I don’t even know how to talk into this thing.” You’re like, “You got to get close to the microphone. Don’t sit way back, eat the microphone.” Just going through those paces all over again.

Joe: That’s super interesting, so let’s talk a bit more about that. You made your bones with the Matt Report, and then you started a more local podcast. Can you tell me, first why you did that and then how you feel it’s–? I don’t want to make it seem like you only did it for a benefit, but I’m sure there probably is some benefit, so maybe you could talk about the why you started it and then the kind of benefits you’re seeing from it? Personally, or in your own business.

Matt: An hour south from Boston, 15 minutes from Providence, three hours away from New York, there is no huge tech scene here. There’s pockets of a few people that I know who do a lot of tech and a lot of traditionally modernized entrepreneurship stuff, like doing things on the web. But there’s a local nonprofit that came in called [E 4 All]. They’re an accelerator, and they’re an accelerator for companies who want to start sustainable businesses with community impact. So, are these businesses tech giants? No. Are they somebody who wants to start up a bakery for paleo-focused customers? Yeah, but these are people who want to learn how to do a business. With the presence of [E 4 All], I started meeting way more entrepreneurs in my local market to the tune of like 50 or 60 people who apply every cohort. It clicked there. I said, “Now, there’s inventory for me to interview. There’s people out there for me to interview.” Look, the real reason why I do this is because, Joe, the Matt Report doesn’t get me good tickets to a local theater show. It doesn’t get me the best seat at the best restaurant in my local area. What is the Matt Report to my kids now that I have three young sons? I grew up in a family business, grew up in a car dealership, started an agency with my father. Being able to have some legacy to pass on to my kids, as crazy as a podcast sounds, I hope that it allows me to open up doors in the future for my children. Making connections with people in my local market that one day might be able to hire my sons, give them opportunity and connections that quite simply, the Matt Report would never do other than just paying the bills.

Joe: What a poignant answer, and not one that I was expecting. But I think that’s incredible. It falls in line with the main topic of this show, which is how your podcast can help you grow your business or your brand, or just your connection to the community. I wrote down in my notebook two days ago that one of my goals for 2020 was to go to more local events. I’m living outside of Philadelphia now, I grew up in New York, and other than the sports thing, I’m pretty happy here. I definitely miss New York sports, but I don’t have a lot of friends here, and my wife worries about that sometimes. She’s like, “Do you want to go out and hang out with–? And I’m like, “Hang out with who?” But I know that there’s a good WordPress community here and there’s a lot of local meetups, I’m very– I’m close, less than an hour driving to the city, to Philly, and I want to be more involved locally in the community. So, I think that’s a really good answer.

Matt: I see a lot of people– Not to interrupt, but I see a lot of people who are getting back into the agency game or getting into the e-book game, or product game, digital game, whatever it is. Which was fine– I’m not saying it’s not fine, it was fine 5 years ago, 10 years ago, whatever. It was easier 10 years ago, but the reason why it was easier 10 years ago is because when you went out to your local market people look at you cross-eyed when you say “You need a website, you need a social presence, you need digital, you need e-mail, you need a podcast. You need YouTube.” Now, the “Local markets,” these small and little outside of the major metropolitan areas, they’re getting much more condition to digital. Think about it, and you could actually start a digital online learning course like you have Joe, and you could go out and sell that locally because now people understand that they can go to a website, log into a website, give Joe their credit card to buy digital information that they can consume. Guess what? You forged the trust because you met them in person versus them clicking on some Facebook ad that put them into a funnel that put them into a 12 e-mail drip, and then they finally bought from you. You could potentially charge more money for it because they know you, which may not be the avenue you want to go into, but the point is what I’ve seen with small businesses, again, is the shift in how they finally get it now. They finally trust that they can buy a service, a done for you service, or a digital course from somebody in person, but the experience is done through their website. The connection is made now, which is something that you didn’t experience five years ago. Clint Warren, God rest his soul, really opened my eyes up to that 5 years ago when I first met him when he was selling WordPress education seminars in person. He’s like, “People are paying me $400 bucks a ticket to come to this weekend workshop, and it’s just starting to all fire. All cylinders are firing now.” And here we are, 5 years later, and it’s no more the truth.

Joe: I think that’s just a fantastic point that you touched on there. Because in order to sell, especially digital courses or a lot of digital products, people need to know, like, and trust you. Getting somebody to know you on the internet is hard because they’re not getting that face time with you. With a podcast, it’s a lot easier because podcasts are very personal, but they’re still not that face to face interaction. What you said made me think, there’s a co-working space that is not quite walking distance from my house, but I will say biking distance, maybe two miles away. I just told people how far I’m willing to walk for something. I love co-working spaces, but I constantly wonder about the value. Do I want to pay $300 dollars a month to have a desk once a week or something like that? But when you said it there, maybe being part of that co-working space gets me one or five new students a month or puts me in connection with people who might want to hire me for my new done for you podcasting service, and then it pays for itself for a year.

Matt: Absolutely.

Joe: I think that’s a really good point that you made. Local agencies are getting much more acclimated to digital, and now you can make the connection in person to sell your digital products.

Matt: Yeah, 100%. I’ve made a lot of– Again, probably just like you, co-working space was not ever a thing that existed five years ago in my area. It did up in Boston, in Providence, but here we are just short distances away, and it didn’t exist. I remember the first because I’ve befriended both folks who started co-working spaces when they first started it, it was the same thing. When they started their co-working spaces, people are like, “I don’t even understand. People working at an office all together? It doesn’t even make sense. Don’t you need to go to a job and punch in?” Now, those relationships that I forged were able to– I was able to meet tons of people in that accelerator program, customers, so on and so forth.

Joe: That’s great. I was a founding member of CoWork, a Scranton co-working space. But, aside from the founding members, nobody was interested in it 5 years ago or so. But now they are a much bigger thing, so I think that’s great.

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Joe: As we enter the back third of this episode, we’ve talked a little bit about your background and starting a local podcast and how valuable it could be. But as I just said, starting a podcast is also– A podcast is a lot more personal than, say, blogging. Because you are in someone’s ear, have you found a benefit to that? To people feel like they know you a little better, or they trust you a little more because they listen to your podcast?

Matt: Yeah, for sure. Just from the Matt Report side, and I’m sure this has happened to you, it’s been a while since I’ve gone to a WordCamp, but I know going to WordCamps, and there’s always that awkward moment in the bathroom. “I listen to you all the time,” and you’re like, “Did you wash your hands first before we go shaking hands here in the bathroom?” But yeah, certainly people do. Joe, like an artist– Every six months, I am literally ready to burn down the Matt Report. I just go through these phases where it’s like, “You get thousands of listens every episode. Do you just want to walk away from it?” And it’s like, “Sometimes, yeah.” Like, “Sometimes, I feel like this mental reset is something that I always want to do.” But sure enough, somebody will always send something to me and say, “Really great episode. It helped me out.” Other people will launch podcasts and be like, “I’m doing this because of you.” And that’s great, and those are the things that constantly keep me moving. On the local side, it happened even faster. I launched the first two or three episodes, and I was at my local coffee shop, and somebody was like, “You’re the guy that does that podcast.” So I was like, “Who the hell knows about the Matt Report around here?” I was like, “Yeah. The Matt Report.” They were like, “No. The We Are Here podcast on SoutCoast.fm.” I’m like, “How did that even happen? I’ve been out of the gate for like two episodes,” but the thing is again the local market. When you’re in a market that’s new, and this stuff looks just insurmountable to some people, “How do you even get a podcast on the internet?” I know people are like, “This is something special.” Again, when you’re looking for opportunity, I think local is definitely a new place to look because people are already smart. People would call me “The WordPress guy,” just because they knew about the podcast, but they didn’t listen to it. They just knew, “He’s the WordPress guy, if you have any questions about WordPress, you talk to Matt.” Now I quickly have become “The podcast guy” for the local market, and they only know of a dozen episodes that I’ve done. So, it’s quite interesting.

Joe: That’s incredible. That’s making me think, “How can I look local?” It makes a lot of sense because people now are looking for more personalized stuff. They want things that are relatable to them. With the digital market, especially the WordPress space, it’s getting pretty saturated. Or, podcasts with white guys talking about technology has been saturated.

Matt: Sure.

Joe: But it’s cool that somebody is talking about the south coast of– I almost said Boston, but it’s not Boston.

Matt: South Coast, Mass. Yeah, Massachusetts. Here’s like another tactical insight thing, and again this has nothing to do with me being smart. It’s just “Me in a new market,” I do the same thing, you and I, we get these contact forms come to our website, “I’d love to guest post on your blog. I’d love to include you in the top 20 influencers list.” You get these things over and over again, and you’re just like, “Yeah. Delete. Yeah. Spam.” But I did a blog post, again, thinking about SEO and search and growing the audience of the We Are Here podcast, I did a blog post on what we would do in the traditional world of top five themes to use for WordPress. I did the top five co-working spaces on the South Coast because there’s literally only five, and I wrote the post up, and I included the images in the links, and then I e-mailed, and Facebook messaged all five of them. I did a little audio snippet on it and they were like, “This is awesome. No one else is doing this for us.” They all shared it to their Facebook pages, they all included it in their e-mail newsletter. I got more subscribers to my newsletter to my podcast, and that happens every day in the internet world. But that’s one out of a thousand that you’re going to get that response, and I turned to five businesses, and 100% of them said, “Yes, I’m going to share this. Yes, I want to include in my newsletter.” Because no one else is doing it for that market, and to them, it was new, and it was awesome. To us on the internet, it’s just like “Another one.”

Joe: Yeah. Matt, you’re giving me a lot of things to think about.

Matt: That’s why I’m here, Joe.

Joe: Yeah, that’s why I have you on the show. It’s just for me, personally. But again, you said something that made me think of another analogous thing to the burden of knowledge of people who do business on the internet. That’s popups, like the opt-ins. Everybody I talk to is like, “I hate those things. Why do they even exist?” I have to remind them, “They exist because they work. Because for people who don’t make websites, it’s not an annoyance. It’s a thing that they may or may not be interested in.” So I always think about that or the people who say WordPress is easy. WordPress is not easy, which is why there’s a very big education industry around WordPress. So, I love that. Let’s wrap up here with if somebody wants to start a podcast, and you’re going to be a three-episode set in Season 8 where we talk about podcasting. If somebody wants to start a podcast, what are the things that perhaps they should think about or the topics they should do? I’ll cover gear in a separate episode, but if you want to talk about your gear, I’m always interested in what you’re using. Maybe just the top three tips?

Matt: My top three tips, as always, the most hated response that I give is, “Have a goal.” Have a goal, don’t just go at this without it. Because it’s fun for the first 10 episodes, Joe, as you and I both know. Then once you get to episode 20, 25, 30, you’re like, “This sucks. I don’t want to do this.” You had this great idea because you’re like, “I can’t wait to talk to these three people.” Then you talk to those three people, and you’re like, “Now what do I do?” So have a goal, and start small. I haven’t been to the gym in six months since I’ve had my third kid, I have some weight training bands right here, and I’m doing a tiny little exercises every hour, just trying to get myself acclimated back into wanting to work out again. I have tiny goals, 10 e-mail subscribers on a MailChimp list. That’s a great one, start with that. “Can you get 10 e-mail subscribers by 10 episodes? Please, God. Yes.” Number two is have some seasonality to it, have some differentiator to it. You don’t have to– I totally get it if you’re just trying to get the training wheels on and figure things out, but set some end dates for yourself. Say, “I’m going to do six episodes, I’m going to do 12 episodes.” Whatever it is because you want to be able to have that mental reset. You want to afford yourself that mental reset so that you can say, “I’m going to do the story arc on 10 episodes, whatever.” Give yourself some breathing room because that’s one that usually creeps up on people. Number three is, I wouldn’t– Joe is going to do the hardware stuff, I wouldn’t go crazy with it. Because again, Joe and I both know the black hole that is tech and podcasting tech hardware and stuff like that in software. You don’t have to go crazy, and you just want to be able to tell your story. A lot of people– This is a fourth one right here, is a lot of people say “I’ve got nothing to say, who wants to listen to me?” That’s not the question to me. The question is not, “Who will be my audience?” The question is, “What will you do with an audience once you have one?” Because that’s where things get tripped up. All of a sudden, you’re talking about The Baking Mommy. She is a friend of mine who started a podcast, that’s her name of her site, and she just makes cakes and cupcakes and stuff like that. She started a podcast, same thing, “I don’t know who I’m going to talk to.” All of a sudden, she got 50 or so people listening to her every time she releases a podcast. Now she’s saying, “What do I do with this audience? How do I make this work for my business?” Those are the questions that you should be leading with, not “Who will be my audience?” But “What will you do with them once you get them?” Because if you’re putting your voice out there consistently enough, people will follow you. They will attach to you, they’ll share you, and they will want to listen to you. You’ve just got to figure out what you want to do with them once you get them because you don’t want to disappoint them. You don’t want to let them down.

Joe: Yeah, I love that. I wish I had that advice when I started my podcast because I just did it on– Not a whim, I had a goal in mind, and then it quickly outgrew what that goal would have been. So, I am hopefully by this point in Season 8, and you can tell I’m being a bit more intentional. But that is fantastic advice, “Have a goal,” I will link to the Bookstart with why I think that’s an excellent– There are some excellent prompts there to start getting you thinking about what your goal could be. “Have some seasonality to your show,” I love that too. Again, that reset and that break. I have two seasons per year, essentially. I think you probably do something similar, right, Matt?

Matt: Roughly that, yeah.

Joe: Where I take about a month off in between them, and then “Don’t go crazy with the hardware stuff” for sure. I do because I’m a nerd. But Matt, you are using the beginner microphone that I recommend for most people, right? The ATR2100? And you sound great, so I’ll link to the last episode of season 7 too, where I interviewed Ryan White from RODE where he talks about having a budget. It’s more about your environment than buying the best possible microphone.

Matt: That’s absolutely correct.

Joe: Awesome. Matt, I appreciate your time, but I do need to ask you my favorite question. You gave us so much good advice already, but do you have any trade secrets for us?

Matt: Trade secrets? My trade secret is confidence. That’s my trade secret. Confidence, telling your story, not being ashamed of embracing who you are and where you came from. I’m an ex-car salesman, I grew up in the car sales business industry, I started a digital agency and started podcasting. Confidence is what has kept me through all of that. In terms of the WordPress world specifically, it’s not being afraid of voicing your opinion and sharing it, so long as you’re thoughtful about it, and you’re willing to have healthy conversations with people. Always tell your story, always be confident about it. That’s what I’ve got.

Joe: I love that. That’s just a fantastic way to wrap up the show there. I appreciate your time, so if people want to learn more, where can they find you?

Matt: MattReport.com and Pagely.com, and if you’re in my local area and you want to listen to that local podcast, it’s SouthCoast.fm.

Joe: All right, I will link to all of that as well as a bunch of other stuff we talked about in the show notes for this episode over at HowIBuilt.it. Matt, thanks so much for your time today, I appreciate it.

Matt: Joe, thanks for having me.

Joe: Thanks so much to Matt for joining us this week. It is always a pleasure talking to him. Like I said during the interview, it seems like he just thinks about these things all the time. He always has such well-formed opinions. But what I liked from this episode, there were a couple of things I liked, and the first was how he talks about starting his local podcast and bringing podcasting to an area that’s not generally tech-savvy. I think that’s brilliant. I very nearly started a local podcast the day that we recorded, and I’m still noodling on that a little bit, but just such amazing advice there. Then, of course, he has a few great tips for us. “Can you get 10 e-mail subscribers?” You probably can, and there’s– I will link in the show notes to ConvertKit. You can set up a free landing page and start gathering e-mail addresses for free. I’m going to talk to Angel Marie of ConvertKit later in this season, but see if you can and if you do, maybe it’s worth sending some e-mails too. So, I love that goal. “Have some seasonality to your show,” I do the same here. “Don’t go crazy with the hardware,” just lots of really great advice. Next week, we’ll be talking more about podcasting. It’s going to be me on the mic talking about, “Should you even start a podcast?” We’ll try to help you answer that question. For all of the things that we talked about over on the show notes, head over to HowIBuilt.it/153. Thanks so much to our sponsors, Creator Courses, and FreshBooks. I love having FreshBooks as a sponsor, and they’re so great. I am using them, and I’m getting my taxes together now, and FreshBooks has been extremely helpful with that. Definitely, if you do nothing else, check out FreshBooks. But really, do everything we talked about or at least pick your favorite three things. I love this episode. Now the rest of the stuff I’m going to ask you to do are totally optional if you like this episode, please subscribe. Give us a “like” or a rating and a review in Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. That helps people discover the show. If you are interested in Creator Courses or just learning more about some of the tools that you can dig deeper in over at Creator Courses, you can check out our free Five Fast Tools to Help You Build Websites PDF over at HowIBuilt.it/tools. I know that’s a lot, there’s a lot of information here. It was a rich episode. Again, all of the show notes are over at HowIBuilt.it/153. Until next time, get out there and build something.