Maxwell Ivey, known around the world as the blind blogger, has transformed himself from a morbidly obese failed carnival owner to a respected amusement park equipment broker in the best health of his life.
Many people were impressed with how he took on difficult challenges with joy, and they encouraged him to share more of what it’s like to be an entrepreneur who happens to be blind.
Since accepting his role as someone who can inspire others, he has written four self-help books, traveled the country solo, spoken and sung in public, appeared on hundreds of podcasts, started an additional business getting people booked on podcast and radio shows, launched the "What’s Your Excuse?" podcast show, and now founded the WYE Podcast Network.
He has accomplished a lot by being willing to ask for help and accept help when offered, by deciding to find solutions instead of making excuses, and by being determined to find the positive in all aspects of his life.
He believes that it is easier to answer an awkward question than to make people guess. So, if you have a question about any aspect of his life or work, please just ask him.
if you enjoyed the show be sure to check out my info:
https://app.wingcard.io/ROB3SA64
Maxwell Ivey, known around the world as the blind blogger, has transformed himself from a morbidly obese failed carnival owner to a respected amusement park equipment broker in the best health of his life.
Many people were impressed with how he took on difficult challenges with joy, and they encouraged him to share more of what it’s like to be an entrepreneur who happens to be blind.
Since accepting his role as someone who can inspire others, he has written four self-help books, traveled the country solo, spoken and sung in public, appeared on hundreds of podcasts, started an additional business getting people booked on podcast and radio shows, launched the "What’s Your Excuse?" podcast show, and now founded the WYE Podcast Network.
He has accomplished a lot by being willing to ask for help and accept help when offered, by deciding to find solutions instead of making excuses, and by being determined to find the positive in all aspects of his life.
He believes that it is easier to answer an awkward question than to make people guess. So, if you have a question about any aspect of his life or work, please just ask him.
if you enjoyed the show be sure to check out my info:
https://app.wingcard.io/ROB3SA64
today's podcast is brought to you in part by powerful creators mentoring. Are you ready to manifest rapid growth in your business or sales career, head on over to powerful creators dotnet forward slash mentoring, enter promo code, mentor 96 All caps and get 96% off your first mentoring session. Today's show is also brought to you in part by naked word recovery. I have been on a personal health journey to improve myself. And after stumbling across naked warriors happy berry energy training with all the good vitamins and electrolytes to give you great balance and mental clarity. Without the junks and jitters that other brands give you. I personally can't get enough of naked warrior energy drink powder. It tastes like happy berries to click the link in the bio type in promo code Josh Bolton at checkout for 20% off
intro guy:Welcome to the Josh Bolton show. Dive into interesting and inspiring conversations. And now your host Josh Bolton
Josh Bolton:I feel like we could just keep chatting and then it's just gonna be like, oh, shoot, I forgot to record. All right. All right. Cool. Yeah. But the that's a narrow when I tell people might know that we're not actually going to find a cure for cancer. So
maxwell ivey:I've got an even better one. I don't think they're ever going to come up with a way to make driverless cars work. And, yeah, I mean, they're spending a lot of money, most of it being invested by the government and insurance agencies trying to develop completely autonomous cars. But I just don't think it's possible.
Josh Bolton:Or if it is, only the the truly upper echelon can afford it.
maxwell ivey:I agree with you. I actually think they would be smarter to give up on driverless cars and focus on driverless helicopters and airplanes.
Josh Bolton:I want to see once I say most autonomous vehicles, it would actually be relatively easy. You'd still need one human but most the I see most planes are ready fly themselves. They just have a human it's like, oh, it's off by a few degrees.
maxwell ivey:Yeah, I have a friend who used to be a commercial pilot. And he told me the software on most of those planes can get the fly into the middle of the runway within three yards one side or the other.
Josh Bolton:Yeah, it's just they're there for the takeoff and pretty much like any turbulence and then the
maxwell ivey:bad stuff happens. They want a human making those decisions. Yeah. Yeah.
Josh Bolton:So other than that, of what else is new with you today?
maxwell ivey:Oh, well, I just finished I didn't realize I was a a broadcast journalist instead of simply a podcast or until two weeks ago. So I just finished my last interview as a broadcast journalist covering the mobility matters conference from Portland State University. Okay. And I had a little fun with a post because you know, I'm I'm known as the guy who says if you don't ask they can't say yes and so a few months back a guy asked if he could play a sax on the intro to my podcast and my a couple interviews I've had over the last month one of them was autistic magician, and I asked him if he if he could do a trick for my audience because obviously I can't see if he did the card trick correctly or not. I did play along is a good sport. And then I had a I had a blind author and musician named Heather Hutchison on my podcast and, and I asked her to sing so I'm finishing up this last five podcasts and five days with the organizer of the event. And I said, I want to give you a few minutes just to just to just to share whatever thoughts you have. And she just starts singing. And I'm like, okay, you know, I saw when I post I posted on Facebook today is you know, the What's your excuse show is becoming a variety show and I listed all four of those examples. I said in joke in jest because I'm just I don't I didn't think of one taking this seriously, but just just to have fun with it. I said you know, all we need is a sponsor we could give Kelly and Ryan a run for their money
Josh Bolton:are you serious? Do you want an actual sponsor?
maxwell ivey:Oh, I would love to have a sponsor right I've for the podcast, the network, the TV show. My personal adventures I would love to have a sponsor but as if you're talking specifically about a television show every time I talk about that my my really close friends tell me Max that's way outside. That's so far outside your comfort zone even you would be uncomfortable there. Yeah. Because I'm kind of known for being comfortable being comfortable being uncomfortable. I don't generally, I generally do things and worry about them later, which I'm told is rather unusual. It
Josh Bolton:is. I want to say in the scheme of everything that is a bit unusual. Most most of us humans are very cautious. We don't just for lack of better words blindly walk into a situation
maxwell ivey:Yeah, I saw posted Dave Jackson, the legend of the podcast industry today it sits up at about the the status of a podcast, launch our our plan, prepare, launch, grow and monetize too many people are skipping the part where you grow your podcast first. And I replied, I said, Okay, Dave, I thought you were gonna say people like me forget the planning stage, and we just start recording.
Josh Bolton:I think that one's again, more optional. There's little asterix there, we can skip that one.
maxwell ivey:Yeah, well, you know, I, I just, I've just, you know, I tell people that I spent 15 years dragging a red carpet around the country. I've been in a lot of situations that, you know, at the time, were like, How the heck are we going to get out of this one this time. And we always somehow managed to find a way. And so I think that that's why I'm a lot less hesitant to do things that are scary to other people. And that even make me nervous. I just, you know, basically, I've got I've got this muscle memory, or this mental memory, where it's like, hey, even if the worst happens, what's the worst? You know what, even if the worst happens, as long as it doesn't result in physical injury or death, you still have the opportunity for it to be a good experience
Josh Bolton:or understanding. You know,
maxwell ivey:that's kind of what I've learned. So I now I do have a list of things I don't think I will ever do. And I hesitate to say won't do because that might talk somebody into thinking they can talk me into it. So I'm not interested in skydiving, swimming with sharks or whitewater rafting above anything that that that people have to you know, give me instructions on what I do if I find myself under the water without the boat paddle or lifejacket, you know, I, I do not want I do not have a desire to do things that are physically risky. I do a lot of stuff online. And in fact, I've been working with a lady from Vancouver, Canada. She's the first homegrown podcast host on the What's your excuse Podcast Network, which I started back in January of last year. Her name is Emily Trupanion. And she is a blind downhill snowboard racer. And she basically flies down hills, depending on the audio instructions from from spotters, who tell her when to turn and how far to turn. And, you know, whatever we there's fences and trees and cliffs, and also gates they have to navigate. So I say that she's the outdoor adventure on the network. And I'm the indoor adventurer.
Josh Bolton:I was gonna say I, I can see. But even with my ability to see I don't trust myself going downhill like that. She trusting her life with these people. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's crazy. You could truly do anything you want to do?
maxwell ivey:Yeah, that's all it all depends on what are you willing to do? You know, we, we used to have an expression when we had the carnival. Because, you know, in a carnival, the most important thing is getting open, no matter how you do it, no matter how you look doing it. I used to say that they won't give you style points to stop trying to win them. But anyway, you could make opening so that people could buy their funnel cake and ride the Ferris Wheel. That's all you worked on all week. So there were more than a few times me and my dad would get to town with the last piece of equipment. And the help would go How did y'all do that? And my dad would always just look at him and grant and he would say, what did we have a choice. That's very true. You know, it was like, you can do a lot of things. If you can, if you can get yourself to the point where you feel like that you don't have a choice, you know, and that's nothing new. The problem is, it's very difficult to get yourself there. Most people not having a choice involves hitting rock bottom, or, you know, having it getting to that point where you just feel like you don't have anything left to lose anymore. So why not, you know, it's difficult to talk yourself to that point of, of not having you know, of, you know, not having a choice. But like I say, I've got a lot of experience I like to the one reason I like to share some of that stuff with people is I don't want to think that I'm unusual that I'm unique that I've done anything that they can't do. It's just that I have a lot of practice doing it badly and recovering from mistakes.
Josh Bolton:Yeah, that's, that's more key than anything else really, really is. If you felt how quickly can you get up from it?
maxwell ivey:Yep. Can you find something positive in the whole experience? You know, because, yes. So some of my best blog posts and podcast episodes have to do with things that started out bad but ended well, or things that went horribly wrong, but I was able to find something positive in them. And that's kind of led me to an understanding which is if you want to be positive and stay positive and find the good things in your life, you have to approach it like anything else. That's business If you have to say to yourself, I know it's here somewhere, and I'm just gonna keep looking for it until I find it. And if I can't find it on my own, I'm going to ask the friends or the family or my social media connections to help me look. And as a result, you know, I'm a guy who wants sold a quarter million dollar carousel and didn't get paid as $25,000 Commission. And I was able to find the positive in that because even though I didn't get paid man, the improvement made in my business, putting my name on the map of somebody who could find a buyer for a piece of equipment that maybe only a few people in the whole world would have a use for. And to have done it in 30 minutes, and actually have the sale completed. And the ride delivered from Vermont to Sydney, Australia and on on location and working within two months of the first the first inquiry, you know, I was able to say, yeah, I get paid, but I've arrived, you know, right. So those are the kind of things you have to do when you have when you have those bad moments you have to sit down. And sometimes you have to make a physical list of what are the positives that have come out of this, or that can come out of this?
Josh Bolton:Very true. No, that's very true. Like a lot of things for me, as I've been doing like this show, and I'm teaching myself how to trade. And that is the biggest one I've noticed. It's like, just write down the wins, even if it's really small. And if if anyone looking will be like, Oh, that's that's a loss. It's like, well, no, for me, it's a window and hold those type.
maxwell ivey:All depends on what you've learned from the loss as to whether or not it's a win. Right? Yeah. And I've actually been thinking about this a lot. I think that so that the people who talk about using a vision board and there are a lot of people who've talked about it, this concept very familiar to many people who have ever done any reading in the self help arena. I think that's one of the more important parts that they miss with the vision board is a vision board really needs a gratitude border. You know, it really needs it really needs pictures, and you writing down your accomplishments to go right beside those things that you're still trying to accomplish. 100%
Josh Bolton:Oh, sorry. I didn't I thought you're gonna keep going.
maxwell ivey:I'm sorry. I tend to I tend to run on so I'm not surprised that I've steered you wrong there.
Josh Bolton:Well, no, no, no, I love it. That's where I'm listening. But it's just one of those the waiting cadence Am I Oh, easy to keep going and stops? Oh shit.
maxwell ivey:Yeah, well, you know as a as a podcast host we all love those guys or girls or women who you know, you basically ask them three questions and your time is up.
Josh Bolton:I've had one too many of those. I had a Canadian bodybuilder, a female Canadian bodybuilder. Come on. I literally got three questions in and she talked 90% of the time. And I'm just saying I got completely steamrolled. But I'm like, You know what? What? Let it go.
maxwell ivey:Yeah, we'll see. That's when you can just sit back and listen and soak it all up and see what you can learn from. I mean, I I have I've one of the reasons why did your podcast sooner was I was concerned, I wouldn't be able to be in the moment and practice the mindfulness that I believe is important to good conversations, and manage the technical stuff that goes along with being recorded and having a podcast. So one of the things I've noticed lately that I've been really surprised and actually kind of proud of myself is I don't like to use a watch, or a clock or a timer to keep track of how long you've been talking to somebody. But I'm really getting good at having a clock in my head to know when we're getting close to the 45 to 55 minute range, which is where I like to end up before I do my outro so that's one of those things that because I don't use a lot of technology. My you know, my my mental thing has managed to make up for it. But I tell you are there are some days when I'm like I really wish I had a Braille watch on my wrist right now. But that's only like when you get one of those guests who you ask them a question and you get one word or one sentence answers and you're like please some of this be over.
Josh Bolton:That's Sally way to comment and people don't realize it. I've had at least 15 people do that to me. I've learned to like get it more of like a joke and get my oh haha let's go here kind of thing and the pause the awkward but yeah, that's when I'm sitting there looking at my little clock in the corner of the screen going dear God, what is it's only 10 minutes in?
maxwell ivey:Yeah, well, what I found works there is is to find something that I personally want to know the answer to. And then starting with that one question and just add just working through their answer on that. I find that that works really good because if I'm invested in the answer, then I'm a lot less slight way to let them pull me off with just a one word or one sentence answer. And I actually started applying that to the beginning of my podcast because I realized that I'm not as good in the first 20 minutes as I am the rest of our rest of the conversations, at least it didn't used to be that way. But a good friend of mine said, you know, Max, why don't you think of something that that Max wants to know, and ask your guests that question and, and go from there. And it really has helped a lot. I agree with you if you can have fun with it. In fact, if you're not having fun doing your podcast, you're doing it wrong, or you know, because it's, this really shouldn't be an enjoyable process, you really should be either learning information, being entertained or being inspired. And I say if you don't learn something new, or relearn something important that you forgot about, by the time you finish talking to somebody for a podcast, you're also doing it wrong.
Josh Bolton:Oh, 100% that she kind of like, I just wanted to start the podcast out of principle, like back in 2016 and 17, when like, it was still kind of fringy like the only podcast you name was Joe Rogan back then. Now it's like, there's hundreds of 1000s of podcasters are name brand. But yeah, that was the one thing I just remember like Joe Rogan off handily saying once just saying, Oh, he's like, I don't do this for the money. I don't do this for whatever he's like, I do it. Because it's fun for me. And yes, the money's a nice bonus.
maxwell ivey:Right? Well, that's the way you have to look at it. And I've also extended that to being a podcast guest. Because, you know, a lot of people, they do podcasting, or they do interviews, because they are currently under pressure, trying to grow their brand and trying to make money from their work. And they want to do it right away. So when they do conversations, or when they host their podcasts, they don't enjoy it, they don't have fun, they don't focus on the person they're speaking with or actually become an active part of the conversation. They're just creating content so that they can sell affiliate products, or get a sponsor, or maybe do Adsense or something, you know, that's they're so focused on the end result that they need to have, because quite often people only come to blogging or podcasting or creating courses, and a moment where they really need the money. And it is
Josh Bolton:the wrong time to do
maxwell ivey:it certainly is Yeah, so So this is a, this is one of those things, it takes a while to get going, it takes a while to build up an audience, it takes a while to build an audience that will start sharing your content with other people and wanting to purchase the things that you sell, whether that be physical product, or intellectual product, or coaching or any of those sorts of things. So it and it has to be a continuous thing. You know, when I had gastric surgery in 2012, one of the things that the doctors at the clinic I went to kept expressing to me is, this is not something you do and you're done with it. Once you do, this is something that you should expect to do for the rest of your life. Now, podcasting isn't a rest of the life kind of thing. But once you start it, you know, it's not like you can get to a point where you've built your brand to where you really no longer need to show or really no longer need to be doing interviews. So, you know, it's one of those things, once you start it, really, it's great if you do enjoy it, because the only way this is gonna work for you long term is to just keep doing it. And, you know, in fact, the numbers show us that the people who start out really well prepared and really polished, don't last whereas people who just start get better as they go enjoy the process and let people see them as they're learning tend to tend to last and survive and end up becoming successful. podcasters Oh, those
Josh Bolton:100% that I've noticed that for me when I podcast is like a lot of people now are asking me like I actually have a group call tomorrow. For a couple of people that want to pick my brain. I just tell them like I've only done this a year like I'm like I Yes, I have a lot done, but I've only technically done this year in podcasting. That's still a baby show. I'm like when I've done this three years, then we could talk anything. They're like, well, you're successful. You done 170 you've only gotten better with each interview. What's your secret sauce? I'm like, I'm just too stubborn to admit defeat. That's literally my secret sauce.
maxwell ivey:I just I just tell people I haven't I haven't learned how to quit yet. You know, same thing just too stubborn to quit. You know, um, it's interesting because you know, you've published more episodes, but I think I've been doing this longer and people aren't beating down my door wanting me to do group calls with them to tell them about podcasting. So although I did recently get invited to write an article for the the website of the American Printing House for the Blind on on starting a podcast and I basically approached it from that point of view of that a podcast doesn't have to be expensive or complicated and they work best if you if you start where you are and grow as your audience grows as your skills grow as your budget grows, and try to make it as simple as possible to eliminate the overwhelm that causes a lot of people not to want to start a podcast. And so that so that was nice but you know, I, I feel like one of the one of the real disservices auto podcasters are doing is always talking about hardware, always talking about editing, always talking about a lot of this stuff that is really going to scare the beginners off, and some of those beginners could have ended up being really amazing podcasters.
Josh Bolton:And this literally when I tell people Mike ice first started this show off of a$50 Blue Snowball. Now, now I have a Blue Yeti. But on my I started off with a $50 Blue Snowball mic, it doesn't take fancy equipment, you don't need the sheer M seven V whatever the heck it is now that Joe Rogan uses, and all this $10,000 worth of equipment, just just get a USB mic, you're good to go. I have a stand because out of principle.
maxwell ivey:Yeah, well, eight plus years later, I'm still using whatever the whatever the latest decent price had. Headset is. And I use a headset for two reasons. One, I have yet to figure out how to manage the audio controls if the microphone and the and the headphones are on different channels, I ended up with recordings where we're me and the guests are at different audio levels. And that's not fun for anybody. And of course, the other thing is, is I have technology that tries to talk to me, and sometimes I have to, I have to hear what he has to say. So I really kind of, I really kind of have to go to the headset, but I've never paid more than $40 for one. And they usually last two, three years before I have to get the next one. And in fact, the only problem I've ever had with using these cheap headsets is sometimes the new ones that they make. In order to control the volume, you have to be able to see the device, you have to be able to look at the headset to know what you're doing to it. So every once in a while I get a headset I can't use because I can't manage the controls on but for the most part, I've used you know cheap headsets I use when I do have to edit which is very rarely because I don't do it. I don't like doing it. There he's quick time I use QuickTime Pro, you know, if there's something really awful I have to get rid of that's what I use for my editing. I record with zoom using, you know, their basic audio recording I record to the cloud not to my laptop, which everybody who hears me say that it's like Max, how can you do that you're getting horrible audio quality. And my response is, it's mono audio, it is not stereo, I'm not doing sound effects. I don't have an orchestra or band. So that's you know, so it really doesn't matter in the, in the effect of how without comes across to the listener. So I, I'm fine with that, like I said, Don't edit, I pretty much upload whatever gets down on the audio, trying to think, you know, I tend to focus more on the conversations and trying to get my guests to share things that they haven't shared before in a way they haven't shared before. And I really enjoy it when the guests will, you know, we'll go into an area that we haven't, I haven't heard them talk about before. So that's, that's what I focus on. Um, and as far as the video because i i do record video and audio and I post a video on YouTube. For a long time I used the camera on the laptop, not knowing how horrible of a camera angle that was, and how disconcerting it is to look up somebody's nose while you're watching them on YouTube. And then eventually, also, in the beginning, the only thing I had was the ceiling fan over my head, which everybody everybody knows that that gives you the effect that your head is severed from your body. So I've been in the last, you know, like years that we've added an external camera that we put it in front facing LED light, you know, doing some of the things. But that didn't stop me from growing an audience. A lot of people continued to watch and listen, either they didn't notice the problems, or they chose to pay more attention to the content than they did to the way it was being delivered.
Josh Bolton:And that's the biggest one I've noticed because I'm actually the guy I'm going to help Saturday he's more of a YouTuber than anything else. And he's worried about video quality. This now Mike said some of the best stuff I've learned is a guy with a really old smartphone that has the 40 ATP filming. really grainy. And, like honestly, it was his knowledge I could overlook that he his angles were wrong. His lighting was wrong. The camera was shaky, but his knowledge was solid. That was the only reason I stayed. As I said don't worry about that small stuff. Eventually when you get the money. You can fix things here and there. But Mike, just do it. That's people are more interested in the hero's journey, then the destination itself.
maxwell ivey:This is true. The story of The Lord of the Rings was one of the biggest selling stories long before it was long before it was about We're moving for, you know. And the thing is, a lot of times these things that really don't matter to people only end up mattering to other podcasters
Josh Bolton:it really is. Like, for me, I have a gimbal for my phone, I film every so often. And for me, I have very shaky hands. So watching a camera shake pisses me off. And so I bought a gimbal for like $100. But like, honestly, people have said like, since you use your your gimbal Yes, your contents for smooth and clean, but you're not authentic to yourself. And I'm like, Gavin, you just want me to sit there and just shake the camera then.
maxwell ivey:Yeah, and you know, as you're talking about YouTube, I just realized something else I wish more people would do or at least talk about the option to do this. You said you're the friend you're going to talk to this weekend is a YouTuber. Okay? I wish a lot of the people who I talked to about starting a podcast with podcasts would think Wait a minute, I have already done 30 episodes, or 50 episodes or 200 episodes on YouTube. How much of that content? Can I repurpose in the form of audio and shoot it out to the podcast player and fill up the you know, fill up the back to where people when they visit my podcast the first time they'll have a whole bunch of stuff? So listen to you.
Josh Bolton:I advocate that's a Gary Vaynerchuk trick right there. Take all content, repurpose it for everything.
maxwell ivey:Yes, but the question is why do more people not talk about it? You know, it's like, it's like there's something wrong with a YouTuber taking their content and moving it over to the podcast. I don't understand why that is because I'm
Josh Bolton:Other than that, like go for four hours. I tell him I can you just put out a podcast, I can put my headphones in. Because I can't sit there with my phone on for four hours and watch this.
maxwell ivey:Or yeah, so is it. Sorry, you go. Yeah, it's it is it is interesting, some of the things that get into people's heads. And but it seems like every time I suggest that to somebody is like they've never thought of that idea before. So I'm claiming it as mine.
Josh Bolton:Do it. That's the thing for me. This one guy? Well, you would know this. He was essentially he does live streaming podcasts on YouTube. Nothing wrong with it, specifically music. And he's gotten some high profile guests on. And that's where I told him I said what you need to do though, because he said I play some music before they joined and Amelie My heart dropped. And I'm like, how much and how long? And he's like, Oh, I play three songs full length and like you're encroaching on some massive, very legalistic and expensive territory, I would stop that immediately. He's a book, they will know who that person is. I said that doesn't really matter, play a 15 second clip kind of thing. They get just
maxwell ivey:thrown out here. Here's what I don't understand about that. I wonder I don't understand why YouTube hasn't slapped him upside the head because, you know, very small, even so they've got some very expensive technology on the back end to find stuff like that when it happens, then I just wonder why. No, I do something eventually, it's probably gonna get me in trouble. And I had a coach tell me just the other day that I'm asking for a lawsuit and that some you know that I may end up being a situation where I have to have a GoFundMe campaign. But you know, I I have covered other people's songs on my YouTube channel and I sing on the beginning and end of my own podcast. And you know, someday it may get me in trouble. But I'm,
Josh Bolton:I would say at that point, though, it's a good trouble because that means you've been successful.
maxwell ivey:Now see, you're one of the few people that agrees with me on that here lately. I started saying this as a joke, and it worked fine until somebody got upset because they were thinking of this seriously. I said, you know, my favorite song is river by Garth Brooks. It's pretty much my theme song until I write my own theme song. But for now, it's the song I go to whenever I want to sing on a podcast or speaking or whatever. I said, I said, Yeah, I'm waiting for the day when I get one of those cease and desist letters from Garth Brooks then I'll be famous and
Josh Bolton:I literally have so many mentors have told me that in my my in even on the podcast, like you haven't made it until two things happen. You have a group of haters following you around everywhere. talking shit about you all the time. And you get a lawsuit. If you get those two, you are successful.
maxwell ivey:Well, I must be doing it wrong because I've been singing Garth Brooks movie music for six years now. And they appreciate it. Hmm, it could
Josh Bolton:be that they actually appreciate it. And I tell me, seriously, no. God, guys, Garth Brooks. Wherever time in the future tell this man that you appreciate it. Unless you're dead. I'm sorry. Ghost, Texas.
maxwell ivey:Appreciate it. That is really good. Yeah, I actually, um, whenever I've recorded his music, I've posted it directly to their pages. But so far, it's like nobody notices or nobody cares or both. I mean, I
Josh Bolton:think it's more doesn't care. They probably notice. They didn't care enough to do anything,
maxwell ivey:right? Well, um, you know, fine. If I in the I'm sure that it's one of those things it'll probably be one of those things where it won't matter to anybody until I'm about ready to go speak somewhere where there's gonna be, you know, several 1000 people or something, and then I'll get the object to notice probably be one of those things. But, but yeah, I've been saying that so far hasn't happened. I'm just saying, Yeah, you know, I'm looking for Garth Brooks to take notice, because he's either gonna tell people I'm really good. Or he's gonna send me a cease and desist letter. Either way, I'll be famous,
Josh Bolton:or it could be both, which is a double compliment.
maxwell ivey:Yeah, I, I don't know that I want to go all the way in and get a restraining order against me or nothing. I did reach out to their people to get to see if he would come on my podcast. But I do that with lots of people. But and and I actually reached out to his webmaster to because he's got one of those websites that has the automated accessibility plugin on it. Oh, it is. It is just awful. I mean, it is it makes whatever plugin he's using. There's some good, there are some good automated accessibility plugins on the web. But whatever one he's using just makes everything worse. I even wrote the webmaster. I told him, I said, you know, I'm not one of these blind people, that's gonna sue you. But there are some who will. And you might want to do something about this, you know,
Josh Bolton:so actually, because you your, by the way, the message you first sent me on my site did go through was do I do you think I need a an accessibility widget,
maxwell ivey:I would have to look to site more, I visit so many sites, I'd have to actually go back to your site and look, but I would say the main thing is, and here's here's what I tell people, you know, their courses, their TED talks, their workcamp talks on accessibility. To me, when it comes to the website, the same thing that works for most successful websites. For the general audience works, in my opinion, for visual accessibility, which is, keep the website simple, make it easy to understand what it is you do and why it is I want to be here. Try to keep the number of links, pages, images, whatever, on to the to the smaller side on any one page. So that those of us who are navigating with a screen reader or using screen magnification can actually navigate what's there and not get lost between the top left corner in the bottom right corner. So that's, those are some of my feelings about accessibility. I think that, you know, if you have the wherewithal to make the screen change colors, or make the screen text get larger or smaller, that's fine. But I think the most important thing is keep the website simple, make it easy to navigate, regardless of who's visiting. And more often than not, you're going to be okay on the accessibility front. One other thing I'd like to mention has nothing to do with accessibility is if your website is to help your business don't make me have to track your butt down on YouTube or some other social media platform or find a way to contact you.
Josh Bolton:That was a the interface the guy did. It's intuitive. It's simple. It's um, yeah, I've added a few extra slots like the the contact me slot that wasn't there when he built it. But yeah, it's literally just a menu bar, like the six pop up. Yeah. And then it just, it's literally audio buttons, like little slats going down. So
maxwell ivey:okay, that sounds good. That sounds good. I forget to check later. But my website I recently changed some of my pages because I thought they had too much text on them and too much stuff on them. So it's one of those things, you know, you kind of have to just check on regularly. But the basic The best thing is, keep the website simple. Oh, yeah. Try to avoid anything that requires a blind person to do a mouse quick.
Josh Bolton:Oh, okay. Because
maxwell ivey:Because in order, here's the way it works in order to use it. In order to use a screen reader they have to reroute some of the keys so that you can't so the computer knows when you're talking to the screen reader and when you're talking to their computer. And one of the ways they do that is by pretty much eliminating the mouse button.
Josh Bolton:So then, like the reCAPTCHA like the type the text you see here but then there's the ones that are all grainy and shit I even I that can see is like what is this?
maxwell ivey:Yeah, but you know, you can make that work for you now, um, a couple months back, I was wanting to pitch myself as a speaker to the International Association of Amusement parks and attractions conference in November, and I couldn't access the CAPTCHA in order to submit my application. So I found it I found an email address for the guy in charge of the pitches I reached out to him. He apologized. We had a great conversation. I wouldn't say that we're friends because he's a big dog and I'm a nobody in the amusement world but but we had some great emails and so sometimes you just use that to your advantage. You say you know I I'm having trouble with your website because we Talk about it or what what works even better is when I visit somebody's website, and I haven't had any trouble yet, I reached out to him and I go, Hey, visually impaired computer user visiting your site, what your product or your service sounds like something I could really use, so far have any problems with it. But if I do, you know, I hope that y'all will be available. So we can we can take care of it something along those lines. And, you know, I've made some really good friendships by reaching out to the webmasters and the technical support people at places, even though I didn't have a problem yet.
Josh Bolton:Oh, yeah, that's the biggest one for me, like I've learned is especially like this, like if just a simple interaction just once you've done it long enough. And we've established just ask for like an email or phone number, and just say, Hey, I'd like to keep in contact you after this. And it's like, I hate to lose potential friendship. And people, it's one of those people now remember me, I like just actually reached out to a guy like I talked to eight months ago, just hey, I just remembered this is your number, how you doing? And he's like, Oh, shit. So
maxwell ivey:yeah, yeah, I need to do more of that, because I have these great conversations. And the problem is, is I don't have a system in place for keeping track of who I talked to, and what we talked about, or how you know, what kind of what kind of report we had. So first, I've got to build a system. And then I got to hire somebody to go back through all those. When I say this number, your audience should know I'm not saying this. For exaggeration purposes, this is probably an underestimate, if anything. So if once I figure out a system, then I'll need to hire somebody to go back for the 300 Plus podcast interviews I've done. That's not bad. Yeah, I'm not saying that's, that's, that's a number I'm going to say out loud, it could be a lot worse than that. Or better. I just don't know how, you
Josh Bolton:know, I would actually, I'd consider it to be one of those I'd consider I don't know how you would approach it. And it's like a virtual assistant in the Philippines.
maxwell ivey:Well, see, that's okay, here's my, here's my take on that. I love that idea. You know, Philippines, South America, or excuse the Philippines, Africa, India, you know, I love the idea in general. But here's my problem with it as a blind person. In order to find these people, I've got to go on websites with 1000s of these people and trying to figure out which one of these people I should trust to spend my money on. So it's a, it's a real difficult thing to do as a visually impaired person, partly because a lot of times you can really only tell who you want to hire who you want to read more about, from the images or from their, their headlines. And the other thing is, with a screen reader takes me longer to navigate to things I want to get to. So each extra person that I want to look into is it's a lot of time invested to figure out who to hire, before I even get to the part of hiring them and explaining to them what I want them to do. So that's, that's the reason why I have yet to take advantage of Fiverr Upwork. But here's the way I look at that if somebody I know is willing to say, Hey, Max, here's somebody I've used, you should use them, then I'll have a conversation with that third person, because I don't have to go searching through the huge jungle that is Fiverr upwards. So
Josh Bolton:okay, let me ask you this, because I've had a few people on my show, but they they charge extra for training and all that. But if let's see, could you swing 500 a month? This lowest I could think of for one of them?
maxwell ivey:Well, that's that's I'm not gonna that's okay. That's, uh, I don't have a problem with the figure. I just don't have that money in my piggy bank. Right now I either have something I have some I have some grant applications out. And you know, I've got some contest entries out but, you know, right now, if I had to pay an extra 50 bucks a month, it might be hard. So, okay, but, you know, but that's but the, the, the other thing that, you know, that I try to put out into the world is, if I were to find somebody who could do that kind of job, who say, for example, wanted to get booked on podcasts or wanted some help starting a podcast, if there's something I am good at that, you know, I could get where I could use that to cover part of their services. That's something I'm hoping will happen down the road, you know, it's, but at this point, I just do my best I my inbox is full of a bunch of emails that people have sent me because as long as they're in my inbox, they kind of have some of my attention. Right, you know, but it's, I think most people understand that I have good intentions. I've had a lot of great conversations and many of the hosts from the from the day or two after we finished recording. We continue to keep in touch but I just I just feel like there are a lot of people I need to get back in touch with and show my appreciation by Continuing the the friendship for email or messages or phone calls, so I need to do better at it. And, you know, I, I It's and that's actually a great thing to bring up because it's a reminder to people who are listening to this that, that Max may look pretty well put together. But there are some barriers in his life, he has got absolutely no clue.
Josh Bolton:I want to say though, but how thorough you were. I say you got this, it's the just give it time, and you'll figure it out.
maxwell ivey:I probably will. It's just a matter of the hard part is coming up with a system that I that is easy for me to use. And so far, I'm having difficulty with Google Sheets. And with Excel, I'm hoping to get some training on Excel soon from the state of Texas to where maybe I can figure out how it is. Because I think that that would work. The only problem is I can't figure out how to create sheet templates, I can only figure out how to create book templates. And that's probably more information than anybody listening wants to know. But basically, every time I create a new file, I have to write all the stuff in again, because I figured out how to automate that part. But But even then, you know, once I do that, then I have to, I have to become good at searching for that information. So I'm looking at maybe creating an email, not a list, because that implies I'm going to spam people, but maybe a agree voice group in my email directory just for podcast hosts that I've spoken with. So at least, at least, if I don't have something formalized, at least I've got all those addresses in one place. And if I'm thinking, hey, I should check with someone so then I don't have to dig through a whole bunch of emails or, or possibly go search for their show online to send them a message. So that
Josh Bolton:was a bug what email provider you use.
maxwell ivey:Well see, that's the thing, I'm, again, I'm not a high tech person. So I'm not with AWeber or MailChimp, or Constant Contact, I'm with Mad Mimi. Okay. And that's, and they don't offer a lot of the segmentation of emails where, you know, it can help you send emails based on you know, gender or other demographics, I don't have that. I don't have that option to me. But what it does, what Mad Mimi does for me is it gives me a very simple email interface that allows me to create a message from my Wales without having to spend hours trying to make all the make all the bells ring and all the whistles blow on one of the other programs.
Josh Bolton:Yeah, I tried to get into MailChimp. And that was one of those. I really sat there and was like, do I just pay someone 100 bucks to build this? Because I'm like, This is gonna take not too long to figure out.
maxwell ivey:Yeah, see, that's why I say that's why I'm with Mad Mimi. And they don't offer an affiliate program and they're not sponsoring my podcast. So I'm not getting paid nothing. But I love that I could send them an email any hour of the day or night and they will, they will help me fix my problem. I also love that now that they know that I'm visually impaired, that they don't do like most companies and send me an email saying, well, here's where you go to find the answer. Just go and read this resource and you'll understand it now. They'll they'll send me emails and tell me okay, this is what you need to do. And then if I try it, get back to him a while later, I still can't figure it out there go Okay. Would you like us to do it for you? And so that is really cool.
Josh Bolton:That is cool. That is really cool. I used a CRM called Karcher.
maxwell ivey:Yeah, I've heard about kartra and I, I have yet to find a CRM program period that's accessible.
Josh Bolton:And that's one of them. For me. I built out the whole back end and everything I was trying to build out a whole coaching thing. That's why I have this call. Saturday was gonna be a coaching call, but I told the guy like, oh, wait, no, they're mine. Canadian taxes is gonna be a nightmare. You get it free. Kidding me. But it was just one of those I built out Catia. And I kept emailing them and thorough customer support. They're all about the customer experience and customer interface or whatever would be struggling they're going for, but they kept give me a copy and paste reply. And finally I told one of the guys I'm like, this is really annoying, because I know you're giving a copy and replace reply. But what is going wrong? And that's what actually the guy read through my file. And he's like, Oh, my God. Like they literally didn't even look at your file. Like he's like, do XY and Z, if that doesn't work is completely broken on our end and we can't fix it. And if it is, tell me and I will merely refund your money. So I did his steps. Exactly what he said it didn't work. And I said it's not working so they refund me my money. Yeah, it was just like yours. Were the visual people. They're like, Oh, just read this. We don't want to deal with you. But they know you. So they're like, Oh, we we actually have to explain it now.
maxwell ivey:You Yeah, um, and in the early days of Hostgator, they were really good about it. But here lately I have to be, I have to be kind of almost almost aggressive with their customer support people nowadays to get them to actually do stuff for me, but they get threatened things that you don't want to, I don't know, I don't have to threaten, I just have to basically, you know, put a little foot a little, a little growl in my voice, you know, I have to,
Josh Bolton:you know, a gentle giant, you putting a growl in your voice.
maxwell ivey:It doesn't happen often. And usually it backfires on me. But I, you know, when I call when I call those people up, I just have to have it in my mind straight, okay? No matter what they tell you, there's absolutely no reason they can't do this for you. And if they tell you, they can't, you need to talk to somebody else. And, and for some reason, as long as I have, as long as I take that attitude, before I press send on my phone, I almost always get somebody who will do it for me. But I mean, there's, there's some things that are very simple, regardless of what hosting platform you're using, but they can be very difficult to reason with if you're using a screen reader. And you're not really a tech person, which I am not. And a couple are like when you when you enter the thing on a new website, to make to have the HTTP, the HTTPS take effect where your site becomes secured. That's a small thing. But it's hard if you're doing it with a screenwriter. Actually, activating and starting a WordPress website under a new domain name is a pain in the butt was Springer. So those are just a couple of things I just call Hostgator. And look, I got a new website, and we need to do this. And they do it for me. Thank goodness. So that's, and that's another reason why I stay with Hostgator even though people tell me they're there better and cheaper services out there. I'm like, as long as they keep making my life easier than it could be. As long as they don't raise the prices too much. I'm gonna stay with them. Yeah, exactly too much. Um, but it's a was really been cool. And I I didn't really appreciate this till recently, is I have a multi user account, which means I can have up to up to I think it's 10 websites on the account, and then up to a certain amount of bandwidth used a month, as it's very nice. Yes, and I'm paying 1275. And the thing about it is, that's cheap. And the thing about this plan is, as I've started this podcast network, I have some people who are visually impaired or have other disabilities that are on a budget just like I am. And so if they had to pay for website hosting, and podcast hosting, you know, you're looking at, you're looking at probably 25 to$35 a month for those two services for somebody starting a new show that maybe that maybe they won't last three months that you just never know until you start. So you know, but between being able to have access to a multi host or multi website account, and also because blubbery has been gracious enough to sponsor the podcast network and provide free hosting of the podcasts for the show's starting on the network, so that so that if when people you know, if I find somebody with a disability that wants to work with me on starting a new podcast, I can start them out from from the beginning of you know, these are two bills, they don't have to pay to, you know, to get started and find out whether they're going to whether they're gonna be good at it or like it or not.
Josh Bolton:So I'm just curious for you, because you have a podcast network up and running. See, that's what I haven't gotten to yet. I'm just focused on building my audience. How does that work? Are you actually like reaching out getting sponsorships for your crew? Or is it more you're, you're managing everything for them?
maxwell ivey:It depends. I like to tell potential hosts that I will meet them where they are and do as much or as little as they need me to. I also tell them that there's going to become a point in very near future, where some of the services I'm providing for free are going to come with a cost because we're going to get to the point where Max can no longer do more work, or
Josh Bolton:where he has to hire someone to help out Yes, yeah. Where
maxwell ivey:where I have to bring more people on in order to make this thing continue to run. And then at that point, people are going to have to contribute or invest depending on which words you like better. So that's, that's what I tell them as far as the network here's, here's the way I am doing it. My main focus is still my podcast as example. This last week, I did five shows and five days to promote mobility matters, of coming out with a new show at least once a week. And my focus has transitioned just a little bit to be more about people with disabilities instead of instead of about people who have generally overcome adversity, simply because I feel like that's a better fit for my podcast as part of the What's your excuse network, which is all about people who have disabilities or people who want to support those with disability so that and I'm really starting define some awesome people who make me think, you know, Max, you're not really doing much in your life compared to some of your guests lately. But then I remind myself comparison doesn't help anybody. And I do the next show. So that's. So that's the main thing is I keep recording my podcast as for the network, I'm having conversations on a regular basis with people about starting new shows. As you know, as a coach, we can we have a lot more exploratory calls than we have actual coaching clients, or in my case, actual podcast owners.
Josh Bolton:Oh, 100%. Yeah.
maxwell ivey:So I'm having a lot of fun exploratory calls. But so far, I've only watched one new podcast this year. And it actually started last year. So I have a few people who have expressed interest and I've given them their homework. And so far, every single one of them their dog has ate their homework, if you know what I mean. Oh, 100%
Josh Bolton:That's the guy for me. Tomorrow is like, he started it. And like I said, he's playing copyrighted music with me. thing I told him was dude, you can't do if you play three of my episodes, before you even introduced me, I'd be pissed. Because they're an hour each. And that's the same feeling for them, even though it's like three, five minutes. You're playing the same thing they hear every every day. Yeah. And then
maxwell ivey:the question, the question I'd have to ask myself is, how does he keep getting top rated guests if they know that he's playing all this other stuff before he gets to their part of the podcast episode?
Josh Bolton:So here's the thing, and it was smart for him and I applauded him for it, too. He he got, like, not Tina Fey but someone like Tina Fey's caliber, from like the 60s. On that was his first guest. And she and it was just one of those. Then he'd say, Oh, I like so and so. I got whoever the let's say Tina Fey, it's not her. Tina Fey on would you like to join my show? And then, and then they've all you got Tina Fey will come. So then he'll say, Oh, I got Tina Fey and Kevin Bacon. Do you want to join my show? I told him, I applaud you. That's genius. But you might want to stop using that now. Because you're now known as the guy that just uses all his guest to get more guests. Does it Oh, that was genius. Now you have a reputation? That's good.
maxwell ivey:Yeah, yeah. So back to your previous question. My podcast helping people launch and also, we're encouraging people to, to post their show to the network using their RSS feed so that more people will find the existing podcasts alongside the work we're doing to promote the new podcasts. That's, that's the network. And then I was just thinking about, you know, you said this, Dan mentioned having a famous guest. Well, I had John Lee Dumas on my show, which Oh, okay, which sadly did not do a lot for my downloads and and for, and I think it's, I honestly think the reason that show hasn't done more is because John Lee Dumas has a hard and fast rule that he will not talk to you for more than 15 minutes. And I did a great job. I was amazing, because, you know, I'm not good with brevity. Right? I totally killed it. In the 15 minutes, I was talking to him, we covered losing his buddies in combat, we covered having to quit his job, because, you know, we covered being so nervous on his first podcast that he was rattling the papers on his desk and his guests that they talked about, I talked about canceling, you know, I mean, we covered a lot of stuff that show basically even JLD is, is human being and he's had to overcome the same stuff the rest of us had, but people just haven't listened to it. I think it's partly because John Lee Dumas isn't really the, the typical person that would come on my podcast. And also, I think that there's something maybe in my demeanor or tone of voice that lets people know when they start listening to that, that this is not the way Max usually does it. And this is not the way Max would have preferred to do it.
Josh Bolton:And I've noticed that too, a lot of episodes that I have a great time with, they flop, they fail hard, but then the ones I thought I personally failed on are the ones that succeed the best. And it's usually because it's just one of those I sit there and I'm like, it will if I try to emulate failure, it's gonna seem like I'm doing it so now. Now I just sit there and I'm like, whatever. The my latest excuse to myself to make me feel better is like, Oh, the, the iOS 14.5 I can't see my downloads anymore. So I have 10,000 Don't
maxwell ivey:even I don't even check my downloads. I mean, I'm and people are gonna think Max, how can you not check your, your web traffic or your downloads and and really, for me, it's, it's a couple of things. The most important thing is I would check my downloads, if I thought downloads really meant what they tell us then, you
Josh Bolton:know, they're like I think is now it's like almost 85 to 90% of all data that you could see as a podcaster is gone, so you only see 10% of the iceberg.
maxwell ivey:kind of thing? Well, if I see 10% of the iceberg, and it's the size of a football field, I know the other go the other direction, man, you know, I mean, yeah. But the other thing is, is I find that a lot of people get lost in their stats, that it becomes a rabbit hole that you go down, down, and you have to fight really hard to get back out again. And I also find that stats can be depressing that even somebody who's doing great work and has a loyal following. If they're looking at their stats, they could find reasons to be depressed
Josh Bolton:100% For me, like, I actually had to, like make it a rule, I only check in once a month on my stash just to see cuz I do about three episodes a week. So it's just like, at the end of the month, I'll actually allow myself to scroll for that whole month. And honestly, it's one of those lately, if you say, visually, it there's a chart, they show me on downloads, and it looks like I'm just dying. But it might but it's I'm stronger than ever. gonna think So Mike, that's where I just sit there, my downloads don't count kind of thing. They don't matter. No, they
maxwell ivey:don't, they really don't. And the other thing that doesn't really matter is audience size. Because there really is no way to know if a person is is, is telling the truth, or if they're exaggerating, or if they're just straight up lying to you on audience size, because there's no real good ways to find that out.
Josh Bolton:I'm going to say you pro because being a podcast and reaching out, you've probably gotten this lie. The the people that make it pay to come on. Oh, yeah. They say they don't really tell a lie. This is a fucking scam. Ghosting doesn't shine. When
maxwell ivey:whenever somebody spends the first half of their podcast description telling me how many people are listening and how many countries they're being broadcast in, and how many famous people they've had on how many whenever I see those kinds of things in the front half of a podcast description. I'm like, okay, it isn't, if they're going to charge me to come on their show is how much are they going to charge me?
Josh Bolton:Oh, and that's where some of these shows I was offered to come on. And it was great. But then they're like, oh, yeah, by the way, like, this fee that fee that it holds about two grand and it was an expensive ad. And I don't really know if you're you actually get a million downloads or not. Because I could just go make my own show and say, Oh, I get a million downloads every day. It's okay, pay me my two grand, then what was this legitimate? Take a screenshot of your stats show me? I know it.
maxwell ivey:You know, that's a good point. Because you know, if if, for people who aren't aware of this, there are more and more websites out there now where you can post your podcast to them. And the sponsors say the lower and middle tier sponsors can find your podcast and decide whether and every single one of those requires a screenshot of your statistics. And they require the screenshot to be no older than 30 days in most cases. So right. That is that is a great example. But the but the problem for the podcast spots the podcast owners is it's really hard to get accurate numbers even before this iOS update where they started hiding the numbers.
Josh Bolton:And now emails are hidden too if I was 15 coming out soon.
maxwell ivey:Well, I don't know about that. I'm happy to to start hiding my web traffic. I like
Josh Bolton:that. Like that's, you know,
maxwell ivey:I like being able to send email anonymously if I want you to I think that's really cool as well.
Josh Bolton:Okay, checks, though.
maxwell ivey:I'm sure it is. I'm sure it is. But uh, but yeah, this is, this is the stuff that podcasters deal with and, you know, the monitor, you know, the other thing I've been having trouble with is I've been trying to find a program that will show me my my rankings of my podcast, it's accessible. And so far, I've only found one. That is kind of okay. And and I think it's called pod charts. But yeah, okay. But here's the thing that makes no sense. I mean, if you want to talk about a guy who has a good show, because I've been doing this for years, two and a half years ago, I rewatched on Apple with audio after being off audio for a couple years. I've had 4000 downloads in the last two and a half years. I routinely average some tap somewhere between 75 and 125 downloads per new episode. I in my mind, I'm doing awesome. And you are Yeah, and yet when I when I get the latest update from pie chart, it shows me that my podcast is not rap is not ranking in Apple for the US. or Canada or the UK. You know the only country my podcast ranks in the top couple 100 shows for Filipinas is Greece.
Josh Bolton:Interesting. I have
maxwell ivey:no clue.
Josh Bolton:They just like your demeanor.
maxwell ivey:I don't know. Meanwhile, my my podcast host Emily Trupanion, the blind snowboarder who's the first pot new podcast on the network. From the beginning her show has been averaging somewhere between the top 95 and 150 for Canada, although she doesn't rank for the US
Josh Bolton:is seriously like for me it's the craziest thing I rank really well in the Philippines area and South America. Oh, I'm just sitting here going like what the heck, I technically rank in America but I specifically the Texas to Florida to Georgia, like that little triangle there, I might have did the jumper wrong.
maxwell ivey:But that's the thing is I don't have the ability to get that deep down into my, into my numbers to be able to see that. So, you know, we've got this list working list for the podcast network of stuff the network needs to have, once it starts making money or starts getting investors or grants or something. And one of the things we need is we need a, we need somebody to do the graphic artwork so that the shows can have actual logos instead of just the photos of the owner. You know, we need somebody to create merch and submit it to the print on demand companies, you know, we we need somebody who's capable of doing press releases. And now I realize one of the things we need is somebody who's able to interpret the charts for us. So the podcasters that I feel like they're emotionally able to take the news, we can show them exactly where they're doing and how well they're doing. Yeah,
Josh Bolton:I'm gonna say like, for me, of teaching myself how to trade i i visually study a lot of charts. So as I look at it, I look at it as a trade. I'm like, Oh, this is a tasty opportunity. I would, this is an opportunity I'd be buying in and every time I do that. It's weird, almost. So you probably have noticed this doing it as long as you have. It seems like there's ebbs and flows with every like the whole show system. Because like there's some quarters off the chart, like times a number between January and March, let's say and then March to August. Now, it would be June to August, nothing, it looks like nothing has happened. But then suddenly, like third quarter off to the moon again.
maxwell ivey:Well, some of that is geographic. Some of that is the weather. Some of that is some of that is some of that is the fact that people choose to travel during those months, and maybe don't listen to as many podcasts when they're on the road as they do when they're at home. Or at work. Where you know, some people have jobs or the only thing keeping them from being a for being an active shooter statistic is their podcast feed. You know, my brother works at Walmart at night stocking shelves. So I think I understand what I just said there. Okay.
Josh Bolton:Oh, no, seriously, I work at a local grocery store to at nighttime. And it is podcast, give me through the night because it's like anything else. And I'd be sitting there. Like I put a kiss on my boss at this point. But don't have my podcasts.
maxwell ivey:Yeah, yeah, that's just the way it is. So they're the other thing is is is depending on what your focus is, the calendar will work for you to guess if, for example, people are far more interested in personal development from say about Thanksgiving, through spring break territory. Because you have a lot of people who are wanting to end their their last year well wanting to start their next year well, wanting to change their bodies and get healthy for the for the vacation and the bikini seasons. So for personal development people, there's a lot that goes on end of one year, beginning of the next year. And that's that's just the nature of the beast. If your niche is something having to do with a particular sport or outdoor activity, that obviously unless you're being listened to globally, you're not going to have the same traffic in January that you have in July or August. That's just the way it is, you know, right? So. So all of that really is just the matter. You look at your niche, and you look at the people who are most likely to be interested in subject matter. And then try to figure out what are the times the years that they're not going to be listening automatically. And that's this is actually a great subject for us to talk about because you can do this better than I can. Okay. basically go back and look at your stats see where the see where the down what's worse, and instead of complaining about it think, Okay, this year, we want to plan some special podcast episodes. We want to do some unusual promotions compared to what we did last year at this time. So try to give people additional value as a reason why they should stay subscribed and listening during those months that they usually aren't. That would be my approach to it is try to try to find something that works for you. So if you know in advance, it's going to be a waste of time. Then that's the time maybe to put out a little extra content or some different content. And you know, I grew up in a family of Carnival owners back when the carnival business was not the corporate industry. It is today and it was not year round. So in our family we weren't February through November as carnival owners, but from November to February we were Christmas tree salespeople fireworks salespeople. We sold plush toys on the side of the road. We sold roses and and plants and stuff like that for Valentine's Day. So you know those are the that couple three months out of the year. We knew we weren't going to make any money with the carnival so we knew we had to plan to make money somewhere else, and I think we can apply that to our podcasts. So just anticipate the downside down cycles and say, What can I do to make more people listen this time of year and if you get really lucky, and you hit on a good idea, if you if you get through those lean times, with more listeners, all that's gonna do is make the usual height of your podcasting season even better, because a lot of those people are going to stay with you into the good time.
Josh Bolton:Oh, 100% Now I've noticed that too. It's funny I went to go pull up my website as you're talking and Amelie my internet just went nope, not today.
maxwell ivey:Well, if it's like my computer, my internet, it won't allow me to go online and be on zoom at the same time. So
Josh Bolton:I usually mine can but it was just today. It's like nope, not today. Josh. I'm just curious. How long do I got you for?
maxwell ivey:For as long as you need me? Okay, so, here's, here's one of the things I choose not to do that whole bunch of other people do. Some coaches get mad at me for this. I'm not going to tell you I'm busy or have appointments if I don't have appointments.
Josh Bolton:The same for me as my belief to
maxwell ivey:you know, since I you know, since I allow myself time to go along, and to enjoy the conversations. No, I'm good for as long as you need me to be here. And when I get to the point where like Max even I'm tired of listening to you now then we can quit. Okay?
Josh Bolton:No, deal. Well, no, for me though. It's just like I cuz I get so many higher like intensity people. They're like their schedules like wicked tight. That's from my way, how long do I got you for?
maxwell ivey:Well, here's, there's another thing I like to think about. Okay. As long as I don't have a really packed schedule, something I don't think I'll ever have. Because I recently did 330 minutes back to back and at the end of that hour and a half was like next, why the hell did you do it that way? Because you don't enjoy doing it that way. So I've now started putting buffers in my schedule. If I if I see where I've got two appointments within an hour of each other. I just tell Alexa, hey, this hour here. I hear. I don't care. Why am I here that hour?
Josh Bolton:Yeah, that's a good one. That's that's when I picked up on because I learned the hard way. I got eager and pulled the trigger bought a membership to whatever this is called matchmaker.fm. Yeah. And yeah, it's like 100 bucks a year, but you could send unlimited messages. And that's how I've gotten a lot of my profile Pete like high profile. But when I first pulled the trigger, we're in March. So this would have been actually around the time where I weigh over booked myself. I had one week. For three days straight. I had eight interviews back to back.
maxwell ivey:Wow, I could never do I would have, I would have never done that. And in fact, last week, now two weeks ago now, I had four interviews scheduled in the day. And when I got to within an hour or so that fourth one, I emailed the guy and I said, Look, I'm gonna be honest with you, there's no way in heck, you want to talk to me at this point in my day, I'm grouchy. So could we please reschedule this interview for another day? And he said, Sure, absolutely. So it's, it's just one of the things you have to know yourself, if you're one of those people who was happy working in a cubicle doing, you know, 910 12 hour days where none of your time was your own. And it was like do the next thing do the next thing. If you're happy with that, then fine. But I grew up on a carnival midway where basically we worked our butts off two or three days out of the week, and the rest of the time, we didn't get no hurry. So I try to eat myself extra time to enjoy things. But I like I like matchmaker and and I'm and I like pod match calm, and I like podcast, guests calm and radio guest. There are quite a few of these sites to find guests or hosts. But one of the things that I that I have recently experienced as the host. And I've actually had to send this email to more people than I would characters. So I recently did a Facebook and LinkedIn post about it. I've had to write more people than I'd like to on these online services. Look, if you want me to book me, Look, you didn't tell me something about you. Don't just send me the link to your profile and say, Hey, I think you I think you I would be good on your show. No, tell me a story. Let me know why it is I should have care to go look at your, at your profile or your website. Because unless you unless you captivate my interest, I ain't gonna.
Josh Bolton:Well, and that's actually for me, I've never really had that problem. And if I do, and if it's one of those, I'll take the time. If it's an interesting character, like the visually look interesting. So look at it, then I'll be Oh, they just did a blanket copy and paste. I'll give them a pass this time. We are now it's like I expect to because when I blast people, I say Hey, my name is Josh Bolton. I'm the host of the show. This is the kind of like my upcoming story. We could talk about that there's some wicked, emotional roller coasters in that that we or we could talk about business. If for some reason that's not cool. We could talk about conspiracy theory and aliens. If you don't want to talk about that. We'll just tell me that kind of like
maxwell ivey:what it is. But the thing is that the problem is that far too many people feel like if they put their information on those sites that people will find them that they will never have to write another pitch, or never have to write their first pitch, and they won't have to, they won't have to write compelling pitches at all. That's bullshit. And yes, very much bullshit. And, of course, the other thing is, is on every single site I'm on my profile either has my name as the blind blogger, or it very mentions very early that I am a totally blind person. So I can't go off of their profile artwork, artwork, you can and these, and people should know that they should. But you know, I get a lot of people who just think that the blind blogger is a cool nickname to borrow the wine from Lance world.
Josh Bolton:It's sad to say when you first reached out to me when it was like the blind bloggers like oh, like you're blind to what is going on in blogging kind of thing. Uh huh. I was like, okay, and then when I read through your profile, my Oh, no, he did. It's a literal name. Yeah, so
maxwell ivey:yeah, it's a literal name given to me by the loving people in the bloggers helping bloggers group on LinkedIn many years ago. Yeah,
Josh Bolton:but that's the big thing for me, like, see, I'm trying to get on this main shows as I humanly can within my timeframes. I actually like going on other shows now, because I don't have to edit it. So but for me, like I tell people that Oh, you got on so many shows. And like, I had to send 2000 messages to 2000 different people. Sorry, 2000 Total Instituut. messages. And I only get maybe 200 replies from the 200 replies, I get 50 are interested from the 50. I only got booked on three.
maxwell ivey:Okay, now, here's the thing, I'm gonna say this, and you can you can, you can choose to believe me or not, but this is the honest truth. Okay, I've been doing this since 2013, booking myself on podcasts and reaching out to show hosts for friends and clients. I start off with a short story, then I expand on the story. And over the years, I'm averaging between 75 and 85% of the people who respond to the initial email, and I'm averaging, and I'm averaging somewhere around 60% that get that get booked and recorded.
Josh Bolton:And that's my recent one I've been doing is actually like expanding on the story. Why? Like, why it's a emotional roller coaster if you want that. Or why am I good at helping with business? And yeah, and I'm noticing an uptick, but it's one of those again, it's, it's so few and far between is like, Is this the one I did in January? Is this the one I'm doing? Did like last week?
maxwell ivey:Alright, let's let's do this. Okay, um, let's get you to come on my podcast because I think this story fits the general outline of what's your excuse? Alright. Okay. And then after, because in the process of having a podcast, I'm gonna learn more about your story myself. Okay. Okay. All right, did just for fun. You pick 10 or 12 podcasts that you want to be on that you haven't pitched before? Okay. And you give me that list? And I will, I will see how many of those shows I can get off of the first email. And if I if I have to follow up with a second email, how many I get off that second email? We'll see. We'll see. I do. Um, I sometimes think that one of the reasons why I have such good luck for the people that I reach out for is because the emails all still come from the blind blogger, the signature is still the blind blogger. So I think that the fact that that that that element of disability is in the email address and the name that the website that the message comes from, I think that slows people down for maybe that one half a heartbeat, or something. I don't know. I have days where I'm like, yeah, the visual impairment really helps me. A lot of people cut me breaks if they wouldn't if I weren't, but then I have other days where Max, it's because of the vision loss and the fact that you still show up and do all this crazy stuff that people are impressed by so but I I'd be interested, I'd be willing to do that and see how it works. after all. My primary source of income these days until somebody discovers the podcast network and decides to throw 100 million dollars at me is is is getting people on podcasts and radio stories and other online platforms. Um, last fall, one of my clients was given a feature article in a diva magazine, which is one of the few electronic magazines it's also a print magazine. And so not just the podcast, that's that's the main thing I do. But that's how I pay the bills that allows me to travel to conferences, and allows me to do some of the work on the podcast, or as I say, my publicity work allows me to support my writing tribe, my writing traveling and speaking habit.
Josh Bolton:I'm just in case at this point I like if they're still listening, that's great. Well, how much do you normally charge let's say I wanted to get on a lowball, like an episode a week, a different show. What would you price
maxwell ivey:that episode a week? At least one episode a week. That's like my that's like my starter. That's like my starting level. Because I feel like that's, I feel like if I can't do one a week or five a month that I'm probably, you know, I'm probably doing them a disservice. So that's usually that's usually that's usually about 250 a month. Okay, now, I will, I will break this down for them in two directions. One is when I say that, that that price isn't just the podcast, but it's okay. That is also assuming that the client or the podcast host deliver me the information to work with. That also includes blog posts about the interviews on my website, social media promotion of their interviews, and a message to my email list about their interviews, because I believe that the booking is just part of the whole process. So that's, that's what they're getting for that 250 a month now. Holy shit.
Josh Bolton:Sorry, I was just one of those. I had a guy on and I get a lot of good guests from his company. It's actually a Filipino based one. And it's 600 a month for one episode a week. And they don't do have the stuff you offer.
maxwell ivey:Right? I know. But most people don't know that. So I'm having to continue to explain this to people. I I actually spoke to the people at podcasts connection at podcasts that way, and I actually should be raising my rates any you know, pretty much anytime I talk about it, people were telling me I should raise my rates. But
Josh Bolton:yeah, we'll see here like a hand I lock it in at that rate. Yes, you can. Sure.
maxwell ivey:Send me an email and we're through. I'll send you an invoice. Um, ah, the here's the thing. Okay. I was at a conference. I was at pod Fest in Orlando in 2020. I was one of the speakers there. I actually closed the podcast one on one track. I got to follow Dave Jackson to the mic and close that that tracking event. And I talked to the people at at interview valet. They charge$100 per booking. And they get they get a quarter of that they get a quarter of the year calendar year up front. Yeah. So it's so it's not just they're getting more per episode, but they're getting that money up front for an entire three months, which, you know, I like to do I have I have a 90 day package that you know, is $1,000 and includes all of that. But the thing is, you know me and you're just talking here, what what would I charge for a month and so 250 I want to charge for a month. If you know if y'all don't get a hold of me soon, it might be 600 or 500 or something. The but but you know interview value valet? Like I say is, is 100 is 100 and interview booking with none of that other stuff that I do. And you're looking at $1,300 up front, the one that was really no women. It's a total of 40. Yeah, I got some y'all can check their website. It's a total of 4500 up front, which covers the first quarter. And that I don't know how much that breaks down to per interview.
Josh Bolton:4500 That's for the first three months. So that's about 45 interviews pretty much.
maxwell ivey:Yeah, something like that. But I don't think that they booked that many interviews. I wish I wish I had that flyer with me still. The one that I thought was really crazy was when I talked to the guy that interviewed connection. Um, they they insist on $15,000 upfront. And that gives you one interview a week for 50 weeks.
Josh Bolton:Oh, in some, like, intention invite guests on my show for that exact reason. Like how can you justify what you're doing? Because like, one of my guest was telling me oh, for I don't know how you feel about it, Maxwell, but he was like, I want I charged $100,000 For my mastermind, am I so we I group call with 20 of you on assume I have to pay you 100k a year to get into that group call. I'm like, the game you're trying to prove them? Like mastermind. You're not scamming, but this is really scammy
maxwell ivey:Yeah, yeah, I, I agree with you, I find people who want to charge me 1000s To be on their podcast, or who tell me how much how big a favor. They're doing me by letting me sign on to their mastermind for$10,000. Uh, but, you know, she said, You know, I'm one of these people. I go to these conferences, and I see these pitches usually because the pitches come with free food and I, I'm self funded, so I likes to eat. So I'll go to him, but I will tell the host up front like, Man, I'm only here for the food. I do not have the budget to purchase what you're fixing to try to sell me and if that's okay with you. It's okay with me. And I was with a lobster. Yeah, well, none of them. None of them were good enough to have lobster but there was, you know, some really good sushi at one of them. Um, so you know, but so I so far I've never been kicked out of a meeting, I think because it was like, I kind of went a little bit of prestige to being in the room even if everybody knows it. Max ain't gonna buy. I don't know. But yeah, I don't like those, I have an offer, I have an offer that I'm working on that, I think is crazy money. But I've talked to people who, who have, you know, assessed my value. And and I think that this could actually work the pitch,
Josh Bolton:I'll say I'm sorry, no. Alright, so
maxwell ivey:here's, here's the idea I'm cents, meeting Max in person has a value that a lot of people just wouldn't get from me over the internet. Because most people can think about in their heads, hey, if Max is willing to travel, cross country by himself by guy with no fears, then automatically, he's already done stuff I won't do. That's where I started. So this is an in person offering. But I'm actually looking for a couple of beta clients who will let me try it out virtually. So it's an in person offering. And the idea is, is I want to take somebody from from zero, to being totally prepared to put themselves out there online, and then getting them at least, I would say, at least three months worth of bookings as part of a total package, that would be $10,000. Now, that may sound crazy, but I'm talking about going from helping them understand what their story is, because a lot of people really just don't understand what about them is, is or would be compelling. You know, teaching them how to tell the story effectively working with them on their, their artwork, their social media profiles, their their bios, their media kit pages, running them through a lot of actual, you know, under real stress question and answer sessions, and then eventually booking them on my podcast, and then also giving them three months worth of bookings on other people's podcasts, i, i and plus, like I say, we'll all be in person would be very interactive, very hands on. And a lot of it would really be, I think there'll be a lot of actual coaching, even though I don't consider myself a coach, in that process of, you know, just really getting totally prepared to put themselves out into the world. Because a lot of people that is scary.
Josh Bolton:And it is and if I had the money, I would have paid you but I'm too cheap for that. But let me put it this way, I just ran the numbers really quick while you're talking. And so let's say you still stick with your 250 a month. So that's 750. And if you did your 10 grand divided by three, that's$3,333.03 53. Whatever. Yeah. So you minus the let's say the bookings. That's still two grand, but that's for three months. So I divided it by three, that's 800 bucks. So what you're offering, I'm gonna say, what's your hourly rate? What's your go to rate? Because this sounds like it's gonna be at least three to four hours upfront every week to help this one person.
maxwell ivey:I think it's gonna I don't have an hourly rate, I used to have an hourly rate. But if I told you how to come up with a number, you'd laugh at me,
Josh Bolton:okay, what is it, I'm gonna say? My hour,
maxwell ivey:my hourly rate is just $100 per hour. And I haven't changed it in like five years. And basically, what I did was I said, you know, there are these services online that advertise telephone numbers that are generally anywhere from 99 cents to $1.99 a minute. I said, I, I said, you know, I know that I'm worth at least that much money. So basically, I took the, the the 976 number pricing model and adds a little bit to that number.
Josh Bolton:Let me know, I'm just laughing because it's a good explaining. I'm just redoing the math. So you said it would include all your coaching. So you're saying for eight hours a month? Essentially, you'll coach me? Because the residual after your booking and the the monthly breakdown? It's $861. Are you sure you want to commit to eight horse?
maxwell ivey:Can you do that number? I might be willing to commit to it. Explain to me how you got to that number though.
Josh Bolton:So 10,000, right. divided by three is 3333. Okay. So from 3330. I'm going to play that because he gets weird with the decimal. i minus. So I did 250 by three.
maxwell ivey:Okay, so you minus the 750 from 2000. The from the
Josh Bolton:3333. All right, so then that leaves over $2,583 for three months. I divided that by three the three months. And it was 861
maxwell ivey:Well, let's just say that if y'all see this on his show, y'all better y'all better shirts. Don't tell me you solving his show cuz? Because I ain't gonna do that again, man. That's to say this is only I'll do that one time to get experience maybe because we need to do a test run. So All right, yeah, I liked it. So. So you know, this has actually been very, very, very helpful. I almost feel like I should be getting a bill from you for this conversation. But I feel like I've given as much value as I've gotten. So I'm not going to expect one. It's mutual, but the invoice will be in the mail. But that but that is cool. That is cool. So yeah, I, you know, how it is with us. creative entrepreneurs, we really have to work and struggle with pricing. And, and it's difficult because it's not all just math, a lot of it is trying to figure out what value am I offering people? And what is the monetary equivalent of the value that received not just the timestamp? Right. So that is very difficult. But yeah, I, I, you know, 250 a month to get them for bookings. Or one booking a week is the way I look at it, because I should be able to get somebody four bookings a month in my sleep at this point.
Josh Bolton:You probably did. You may have been like, okay,
maxwell ivey:you know, there weren't there have been times in the last few months where I've woken up and checked with Alexa. She's told me about appointments I had that I didn't remember making. That's too good. Yeah, yeah. So but yeah, but the last point I was gonna make about interview connection people are wanting Max, why are you mentioned your competition? Well, because they make me look good. In addition to that, 15,000 up front for a year, you also don't get any social media or email, or email this promotion from them either.
Josh Bolton:And that's, that's where I sat there. And I said, when you said 10 grand for three months, I was like, That's chief for everything he just explained on the back end. Because
maxwell ivey:that's the way I'm gonna present it, that's what I want to present, I'm gonna tell him that. It's a well, maybe I'll need to add a little bit, maybe I need to make it 15,000 10,000 For the first month with the with the really intensive stuff. And then the the 2500 a month for the last two months, maybe that's what I need to look at. Maybe I need to raise a total up to 15. And then I'll make at least $1,000 a day for the days I'm actually coaching people.
Josh Bolton:There are people who do that. There, there's the
maxwell ivey:thing about synthesis. The thing about it is, when I'm in my room by myself, I'm like, Max, be happy to get to 50 a month. But when I talk to people who are you know, who have been at it longer than I have, or who are much more financially successful. I am and I and I talked to this demo business. Like for example, I had a great conversation with Karen Yankovic, who is, like one of the really top experts on LinkedIn. And her podcast is called Good girls get rich. And I mentioned the idea of this thing for you know, I told her, I would really love to do it. And her first reaction was, yeah, Max, it's just started about 10,000 plus your travel expenses.
Josh Bolton:Oh, yeah, that's always gonna add in because you're not including a travel expense, to include more travel expenses. Yeah. So that's like for me when I have gone on other shows saying like, if you want me to come out to your company, and analyze it and break down all the numbers, I could just say, Max, minimum 10 grand to make me look, and then you got to buy me my hotel, and my flight. And if a rental is needed, I'll figure out food kind of thing. But as for Mike, yet, that much time, it's gonna take me a week and a lot of backend stuff, minimum 10 grand, but it might be more than that in the future. And a lot of literally, a lot of entrepreneurs are like, Oh, we were expecting like 80 to 100, grand, plus whatever else. And I'm like, Well, I don't want to scalp you right out the gate. Oh, that's a little
maxwell ivey:bead. Yeah, I really do appreciate this most hosts. And I do this myself a lot. But most hosts would not think, Hey, that guy has a question or a problem. I'm going to help him before I finish talking to him. So I really appreciate just having that kind of an attitude. And this is one of the most important things that I have to teach people about podcasting is beyond the nuts and bolts beyond getting booked and having conversations and promoting the most important thing is having conversations and using them to build relationships, and also leaving yourself open for other opportunities. One of the things I like to talk about a lot with podcast interviews is make sure you put your and I need to do better at this myself, as we talked about earlier. But put yourself in a position to ask them if they would like to have fries with that, you know, exactly. Because a lot of these podcasts host have other gigs. They have conferences, they're planning collaborative books, they're going to do speaking events, they're they're working on, they may know somebody you're coming in contact with somebody who you would be perfect for. And so you really want to try to think about, you know, be in the moment, think of it as a conversation rather than an interview. Think of it as an adventure or an experience rather than something you're doing because you have to to promote your business. And this will become the just like me, just like, just like my friend here. This will become the most fun, most energizing thing you do to promote your business. You'll create a whole bunch of content, and all you have to do is tell people hey, Go, go listen to me here. And you will eventually build yourself a brand because that's, that's what I've done. I've gone from Mr. Midway to the blind blogger and I'm still the blind blocker but a lot of people also refer to me as the no excuses guy. Or mister, what's your excuse I have, I go by many names, but all of this stuff online is a continuous work in progress of having conversations with people getting in front of their audiences, and giving them the opportunity to like me and maybe to reach out to me and see where those things lead. So 100 Thanks to you, buddy, buddy. I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna have to change my my pricing ideas. And but I did mean it sincerely earlier. No, I RP. If there Look, if there aren't people still listening at this point, still watching at this point. And y'all heard me say 250 or 10,000? Just tell me you saw me on this show. And I will stand good for it.
Josh Bolton:Yeah, so he his prices might be more 20 30k Yeah, as a quarter. Don't
maxwell ivey:Don't be excited when you visit the website at the blog blogger.net/online-publicity. Because those numbers may change. But you know, you just go Hey, Max, I saw you on the show. And you said
Josh Bolton:I can't Feb March 4 2022. And you'll be up. Yep, that's Josh. Okay. Well on
maxwell ivey:about the thing about his look, since since since this isn't you know, life or death for me, since my since even though I'd like to, even though we always like to be doing better or more. Right? This, you know, if somebody hires me for 250 a month, or somebody books in person for 10 grand, that's not going to kill me because my needs are already being provided for, you know, between between God and my family and my own hustling, but my needs are being taken care of. So yeah, I would be more than happy to actually have to do that. Because it would mean two things, it would mean one, people are watching and paying attention to your show. And two, because I was on your show, they decided to reach out to me, those two things would make it worth, you know, worth doing it.
Josh Bolton:So 100%. And that's one of those just so you know, Maxwell, this is one of those, I thoroughly believe like you said earlier, I'm gonna touch on that. And we get back to this is you do it. This is a conversation. If you literally talk to me a year ago, I was awkward. And I couldn't I couldn't understand the flow of anything. But now that I've done this so much, I'm like, Oh, it's just literally, it's like a conversation like, like me and him metaphorically are sitting at a coffee shop. Just no intensity. Just have fun.
maxwell ivey:Yeah. And if you're talking about yourself or something you're passionate about, you don't have to fake the No. The other thing is, if you're talking about yourself, you don't have to worry about what's the host going to ask me because the host can ask me a question. I don't know the answer to. Right. He can ask me a question I don't want to know the answer to and he can ask me a question I'm not comfortable giving the answer to. But he can't ask me a question. I don't know the answer to. Exactly. Yeah. And I and, and the great thing about doing these conversations as conversations is, you know, there's a I don't remember the woman's name, but the woman who's saying, let it go from Frozen. Okay, okay, a great singer. And she's like, that's what she does. So, for the most part, she can sing pretty much anywhere at any time, when she said, you know, that one song, because of how it's written and how difficult is that's the one song she sings that she can't just roll out of bed and say, so, for the most part, we can have these conversations, and they're great, but even somebody who's done as many as I have, and as many of you have ever softened, somebody's gonna come along, and you're gonna go, yeah, I could just roll out of bed and talk to them. But man I need, I need to get myself emotionally ready, because this person is important to me or their audience is important to me. Or I just happen to like this person and respect them. And so I want to make sure that I'm as as in the moment and present as I possibly can be.
Josh Bolton:And that actually has happened a few times to me and I 100% agree, because like I being like a trader for stocks and stuff, not like ah, bond trader. I invited my like, guy, I've been reading books on futures contracts, and I invited his name's Ken, Robert. And since he he's a commodity trading legend, huge following and it was just one of the said, Hey, I have a show. I'm young, but I'm interested in trading can like I pick your brain for an hour kind of thing. Well, now that I've been talking to him a year, he was just, he was overjoyed that a 29 year old he knew who Ken Roberts was, but because he was huge in the 80s and 90s. And I, by the time he came of like retirement is when I was just going to like, junior high. So Okay, anyone else would never known him. And that's where we were chatting and essentially, we had, like you said that we just chatted, he was giving me tips and tricks. Same don't look at this, that stupid kind of thing. But then we were talking about podcasting. He's like, Oh, he's like, I he's like, I technically now looking back, I've been doing a podcast, his 80s before was even a thing. But I'd record conversations and put it on cassettes. Those of you listening to this, you don't need to worry yourself about it. It was like, there are good though. They're fun.
maxwell ivey:Okay, so let me ask you this. Did you happen to ask him where those cassettes are?
Josh Bolton:I actually have them in my I actually went and bought a boombox for cassette player to listen to them.
maxwell ivey:Yeah, you and him need, you and him need to sign a contract to release that audio. I was just looking into that.
Josh Bolton:It's his IP, so it's fine. The only one he can sell is he because he had a self publishing book. And like a chart distributed in company. So in like buying his packages, you throw in a free CD, and burn it, but it was copyrighted music. So he's like, I had to pay him like 50 cents, CDs, a streaming nowadays, I don't even know how that would work out. And he's like, so I just don't, I don't hand up music anymore. But that's one of them. I told him like, hey, you know, can we? Can I use that kind of thing? And he's like, Yeah, I've retired. I have my money. I'm not worried kind of thing.
maxwell ivey:Get him to put that down on paper somewhere. Yeah. Oh,
Josh Bolton:I see him Monday sell talk to him about Yeah,
maxwell ivey:I would definitely I'm serious. I would, I would. This is just me. And I do a lot of crazy stuff that I regret later. Like having more than one website. That's something I wish I'd never done. But if this were me, just looking at this as an opportunity, I would be thinking, This is years of content from an expert in the industry, there has to be a certain percentage of it that could be could be the content for a second podcast for you.
Josh Bolton:Oh, and that's literally like I have his personal cell. And I text him. It's funny. He, he's like 6070 years old. He has a newest iPhone, he still doesn't know how to text send a text message. He's like, these confounded text messages, SEO emails, if I can.
maxwell ivey:Just call me on the phone can. Yeah, you know, but that's, that is one of the really cool things really underrated things about having a podcast is the freedom it gives you to reach out to people that you want to learn from. And just ask them, Hey, could you come on my podcast and answer some questions for me in my audience? And? Yeah, yeah, more. I've, for the most part, I would say in the 90% range. People have said, yes. There have been a few that have said not this not at this moment. And there's only been a really only a couple that have said no, they're just, they're just too busy. And we'll, we'll never have time for something like that. Um, one of my favorites. Yeah. Always. Yeah, one of my favorite not now is that I've got a follow up on his. He's got him Eric, we have Mir, who's a famous adventurer who happens to be blind. And his last adventure was rafting to Colorado by himself. So he's, he's, that would be a fun show to hear. Yes, yes. for that? Yes. Yes. Well, he wrote a book about it. And he, he sent me the audio book or his publicist did and as Mark or as his VA, whoever it was, sent it to me said, Miss Robin, he would love to come on your podcast providing two things, one, that you that you affirm that you've listened to his latest book, which is fine, because I love that I love his storytelling. And the other thing is, you have to do it, like during these, these, these months of the year, when it's less likely that he will be preparing for to go off to someplace in, you know, in other parts of the world, or will have already left for them. So I I read the book, but then I lost them, you know, lost my laptop for a while. So I need to follow up with him. And, you know, say it's but it does give you great license, and hey, when somebody tells you, you know, they're not interested or they don't have time, then it's their loss, then it is their loss, because these conversations usually do teach you something about yourself as the guest and and, you know, if they had taken the time, they probably would have probably would have received another fan who's you know, one of those diehard super fans, but some of these people are just so busy, or just so driven that they don't have time for it. And in fact, I made a list last year or a year and a half ago and people want to get on my podcasts and so far, none of them have said yes. And two of them have even died. So I've got a I gotta update my list and go back to the famous folks but I generally have more fun talking to average people who have who have who are living, you know, challenging lives and doing it with style and grace and humor.
Josh Bolton:Oh yeah. That's the best way to go. I just want to add on one thing for you that and then we can get back there is like for me, I've had a lot of people I literally just Hold on off air. Once I turn the recording off on like any other normal circumstance, there's no way I would have gotten your attention. And they're like, yeah, if it wasn't for your show, like, we would not have looked at you. And that's where, like for me, I talked to a CEO of a public Well, he's not the CEO. He's like the region like, supervisor, which is pretty much the CEO of the American branch kind of thing. And that's where he said, like, I, he's a, I'm more of a marketer, I want to promote my, my company, I work for kind of thing. But he's like, also, if you just tried to reach out for 15 minutes of my time via email, I would have brushed you off. But I'm like, and I got an hour.
maxwell ivey:Yeah, yeah. So it's a, it's interesting. And there's a there's a, there's a another part of podcasting that most people don't consider podcasting, but I do, because it has really helped me a lot. I've made some great connections because of this is there are there are what are called online learning platforms. And I'm not talking about teachable. What I'm talking about is the company that I've been giving talks for on their platform now for about three years is called neveress. Any, any PR is calm. And what they do is they match teachers who want professionals or experts to give talks to their classrooms over zoom. And I've been doing talks for them for three plus years. Now, as a result, because of doing those talks, I've gotten to meet the CEO of that company and a lot of the top staff and was even hired by them to give a talk to their staff meeting last year, it was my was my first paid speaking event. And since I started doing public speaking in 2017, but it was really, because I was doing these talks, and is just really satisfying to share your knowledge and experience with high school, junior high school and even elementary aged kids that are there wanting to hear from you. And of course, it's just like doing a podcast and that I don't have to leave the house. The only thing is it's it's not pre recorded. It's you know, it's a wives, I talk to them, and they do a q&a. And but the funny thing is, is that whenever I do a talk for their platform, they send me the link where I can post a video of it on my website. And they've also given me permission to post the audio because that's not something they do as as a regular thing for everybody that gives every talk, right, but I asked him for it. So they sent it to me. So every time now I post their video and also post the audio. But I upload their audio to my podcast feed. Good. Yes. Good. Yeah, guess which guess which episodes on my podcasting feed have the highest number of downloads for the last three plus years? Those? Yep. Yeah, the ones those are the ones that get the most traffic and the most downloads, and they have nothing to do with my podcast other than I feel like, you know, maybe somebody can learn something from what I was telling the school dudes.
Josh Bolton:Exactly. Well, and what it might be is do you do transcripts for your
maxwell ivey:podcast? I need to do that. That's one of those things that's on the list.
Josh Bolton:Okay, because I would say, for me, how I've grown explosively is transcripts. I mean, I don't just run it through Grammarly that would take all day just to edit one whole transcript. But I just I take it and I paste it. And I've just noticed like, well, Ally, I talked to multiple blind people on the show. And that's one of them. They said they appreciate my transcripts because like, we can, we can hear you. And then that's where they sit, and then we can hear what you're seeing on the thing. And I know I'm listening, thinking about my, they're hearing the same word twice in the Echo, but that would drive me nuts.
maxwell ivey:It's, I think it's the I think it's the ability to, to have some control over what you're listening to, as well as the podcast is generally a continuous stream with the text to have the ability to navigate that text with their screen reader and, and then go back to the parts that they really that they were really interested in. And maybe maybe if they hear something that didn't quite make sense to them. A friend of mine just recently was telling me that there are some really reasonable rates for for otter, so I'm, I have, I'm looking towards paying for one of the services that will do the transcriptions for me. Because I do understand that's one of those things that needs to be there. The other the other aspect of it for me is, is as we grow this podcast network, eventually I'm going to get in trouble with somebody for not having those transcripts on the website,
Josh Bolton:same same period. That's why I did it right out of the gate. Someone told me that. So actually, let's talk off air about that because I still have like 5000 minutes leftover from my months. So let's talk off air about that.
maxwell ivey:Okay, all right, that sounds like a great deal. So,
Josh Bolton:so honestly, I'm loving it at home. Hi, I should go to the restroom. So I got three questions for you before I head out.
maxwell ivey:All right, what do these last three questions and I'll try to keep it reasonably short and then we'll call it a day. Okay.
Josh Bolton:So my, my three questions are other than work? What have you been doing to keep yourself busy during these COVID lockdown times?
maxwell ivey:I read, I listen to the sports all the serious and I sing.
Josh Bolton:Nice. So then what is the second question is someone that is now just utterly inspired to be like you adventurous, fearless, not letting anything block you in life? What are some tips, tricks or advice you give him to start on that path?
maxwell ivey:I would say do it without before thinking about it that further for the majority of people in the world, the more they plan, the less likely they are to take action on something, which is why I think that the advice most podcast launch Coast coaches are giving is backwards because they talk about, you know, diving deep into who your avatar ideal audience is going to be and you know, recording lots of content in the beginning and editing and doing you know a lot of things that require planning and thought and consistent effort. And most people, that's just not the way they're going to succeed. Most people, they need to just press record and start doing whatever they're doing. And you know, who have learned from and live with the mistakes that they're gonna make along the way. And, you know, the same thing applies to anything else I was I was talking to my friend Emily, who's a snowboarder, and she's crazy. And she was telling me they have this one stretch of snow. Now they're calling heart attack alley, because they realized halfway through the, through the stretch of snow that there wasn't any warning on one side of the slope, they've had a 10 foot cliff. And she was able to use her skills as a snowboarder to make the snowboard stall before she went over the edge. But basically, she scared the hell out of her coaches. And so they now call it but you know, but all they did was the next day go out and run that same run again with cameras, you know. So a lot of it is really just just taking some sort of small action, doing what you can with the skills and abilities and money you have at the moment, and trying really trying hard to avoid those, those four really dangerous words which are should or should not, you know, because a lot of times we get ourselves into trouble, because we're doing it the way everybody else is doing it instead of doing it the way that would work for us,
Josh Bolton:under percent. So then we've kind of said throughout the whole thing, but we can everyone contact you.
maxwell ivey:Yeah, they can find me at the blind blogger.net that can send an email to just ask at the blind blogger.net They can click on the Online publicity page, if they want to hire me, they can go to w y excuse calm if they want to find out more about the podcast network, if they want to start a podcast or if they know somebody who might want to start a podcast and that applies to individuals with disabilities as well as organizations that want to support the disability community with their content. That's why excuse.com my podcasts like everything else, you can go to the blind blogger dotnet. But you can also tell Alexa or Google or Siri, you can tell them Hey, play, what's your excuse? And they will as far as I know. So those are the ways people find me. I really do hope that people will reach out to me I don't share my email address just for the heck of it. I want people to understand they don't have to be ready to hire me booked me or buy something from me to talk to me. Because there have been way too many times in my life where I met somebody had a conversation without expectations, made a new friend had a new business relationship and found new opportunities for it. So if there's someone something you want to ask me, then remember this importance, this important ad admonition it is so much easier for me to answer an awkward question than it is for me to clean up the mess that happens when you guess at the answer. So there's something you want to know just ask which is the for the of course the reason for the email address, just ask it the blog blogger dotnet
Josh Bolton:Love it. Love it. This has been one of those I've learned so much. And and I'm loving that energy.
maxwell ivey:I've learned so much too. And if it wasn't for the fact that you need to go to the bathroom and I feel like I'm starting to have overstayed my welcome. We keep doing this for a while. So I feel like hey, hey, anytime somebody doesn't show up, or you just want to hang out with me whether you want to record it or not, whatever, just let me know because I would definitely love to hang out with you again. Oh, wonderful. Thank you. And I'm gonna send you my calendar link so we can get you on what's your excuse? Perfect.