If I get pitched someone that I have no interest in, I'm not going to be able to provide something valuable for people. Therefore, in my case, it's a waste of time and a waste of the guests time. So when it comes down to honing in on what your focus is, you got to do a deep dive in yourself like in your mind and your heart what you are interested in. This is the show for creative entrepreneurs who have a message to share and want to live a life of freedom. Learn how to grow your network, and net worth. Hear from exciting guests and more. My name is Dylan Schmidt, and welcome to Digital Podcaster. My guest today is Trevor Tyson. Trevor is the host of the Trevor talks podcast. He is a mental health advocate and interviews, guests on his podcast about their journeys provides an awesome platform for having an open discussion around mental health and all sorts of different things. As you'll learn. We're gonna dive into Trevor's personal experience with hosting his podcast, his workflow, his mindset, and how he balances his passions with providing value for his audience. I think you're gonna really enjoy this one. All right, Trevor, Welcome to Digital Podcaster. So glad to have you honored first question right off the bat. What have you learned about hosting Trevor talks that you didn't know before? Starting? Man? That's such a good question. Because it changes on like an hourly basis. For me, it comes down to like when it comes to hosting a podcast, there's no right or wrong way to do it. Right. So for me, I like to have fun, I don't like to have the traditional back and forth like interview segments, I want it to be a personal talking experience, like you're sitting in listening to our conversation. So for me, it's just like, I have to enjoy it, or I don't think anybody else is going to enjoy it. So it's a lot of trial and error. If you listen to like my first episode, compared to I think we're at 107. Now, they've changed drastically. So the give people some value, I don't think there is a right or wrong way to do it. I just think you just let them flow. And when you start having fun with it, people are gonna start having fun listening to it. And I think that answers a question, but correct me if I'm wrong. Yeah, just like you're it's, there's no right way to answer that question. A lot of people get so caught up on having around one theme. And something that's always stood out to me about your podcast is how varied the guests are. And it's not just one type of guest. You have people from all walks of life, really? How do you prepare for guests, they're so different. What's your preparation process look like? Man, it varies to like, some days, I'm really excited, like, I'm gonna start prepping for this like, a day or two early, I'll start listening to like some previous interviews they've done. Or if I'm a big fan of their music, or whatever it is, I'll just dive into it. And then sometimes, I'll be like, wake up like an hour before the episodes being recorded, and like, Oh, crap, like, I gotta do this real quick. And I just dive into things that I want to know about the guests. Like, recently, I've had faith leaders and metal core artists and rappers and this and that, and it's like, people that are killing it and whatever they're doing, but it's not like a celebrity show, right? I don't care about that, like the blue checkmark doesn't faze me anymore. It's literally a vanity metric at this point. So I dive into their life, like if they haven't shared certain aspects, and I catch on that I'll ask them beforehand, Hey, are you comfortable talking about this, but for the most part, they know nothing about what this conversation is gonna be on? Unless they've listened to me before. And then they catch on to like, this dude's got ADD, he's gonna bounce around, like he saw a rabbit and then a squirrel and then a tornado and a jackhammer, like, all these different things. And you'll catch me bouncing like to and from topic topics, going back to what I previously talked about, is a natural conversation. I do not send a script beforehand. I don't have a script, I have like talking points listed out and they're all grammatically like errored to hell. And back, you know, like, I'm not going to stick into one lane. I can't do that. That's not how my brain works. And I think people appreciate it like they come back to listen. So to answer your question, it varies as well. And it's either 30 minutes to an hour before the episode starts, or I'll start a day or two beforehand and really spend some time in it. But for the most part, it doesn't change my interview quality. To my perspective, I haven't heard that. Anyway. Yeah. So pretty much like Max preparation starts at most 24 hours before an interview. Right? And then are you just going like Google detective just getting a feel of like, who they are what you would feel like talking to them? That feels natural? Yeah, because I'm like, not going to sit there and physically read your book. Like I'll either have it on Audible listen to interviews. We've done about it on YouTube. Listen to previous podcast episodes, but mostly my son search engine that I use for all of my detective work is YouTube. That's where I listen to my podcasts. So that's why I'm like, Hey, you should probably put it on YouTube. And I listen to your show last week with homie talking about YouTube podcasting. Like that is a huge thing for me. That's why I was excited about this. It's like we finally get to talk about podcasting and the different different ways to do it. Because there's no right or wrong way to do it. It's still the Wild Wild West, people are gonna do it however they want. But when it comes to writing a podcast and preparing for it, YouTube, Max 24 hours before, sometimes I'll dive in 48 hours before but very rarely. And a lot of my music guests, maybe half of them not going to say all of them. I love their music and dive into it. But if they're a musician, I do do a backlog, but a lot of them I listen to on a daily basis anyway. So it's really not hard to just hone into it. Yeah, so many podcasters. They want to know what's going to happen before it's happening. And this is like a really educated assumption is that they would look at you, they would look at your podcast, and you'd be like, Man, he's got it all pieced together, but he's going in with a plan knowing this halfway right now do my homework. But like, there's no formula. I just like to run my mouth. That's why it's called Trevor talks. Like it's not that complicated to figure out. Like, I like to run my mouth, I'm going to ask questions that I want to know. And I want to hear perspectives. But a reoccurring theme is going to be like your career path, how you were raised like and then mental health, like I'm a big advocate in the mental health space, especially when it comes to like intersecting faith and mental health because that's something that I've gone through personally. And that's probably the only reoccurring theme and that's where we get the most press and stuff out of it is like people opening up for the first time on eating disorders, anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, etc. Like, people need to hear that I needed to hear that when I was younger, I would listen to interviews when my favorite artists like John Cooper from skillet, and a lot of these rock bands on YouTube, and I'd hear that they're going through something similar to me, that encouraged me, therefore, that translates into my content. Now, even with John Cooper, like being able to circle the wagon there and like have your hero on your show. It just makes a big difference since like, Okay, I was impacted by this a long time ago. And now I get to hopefully provide that for somebody else in depth even more than I had it given to me previously, you're creating what you feel is missing in the space in a lot of ways. Yeah, that's literally the whole goal. It's not to convert people to anything or try to get people on my side or their side. Like it's very neutral. Like we had a two guests on the other day that had a film come out. And it was very pro life and very like adaption heavy, and it's like, I stayed very neutral. I like I'm not going to come out like I'm this or that like it's very, very, very neutral. And I'm not going to put a bar on who I'm going to have on I'd have Trump or Biden on I'd have Sarah Huckabee Sanders or Kamala Harris or Nancy Pelosi, like, I don't care, I tend to stay away from politics. I just turned down a very, very, very well known former sitting Vice President for the show, just because it's like, oh, that's a little a little out there. You know, don't want to do that. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You and I are so similar in that way of some people, they really are attracted to making stuff around politics and polarizing can't. It's almost like they just lean into that, you know, and yeah, that's not me. Yes. See, doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel like it has to be done in order to like, do what you want to do. You know, when you start getting like press releases for people's things coming out, or just them for your show, you'll realize like right off the bat that you start turning down, like let's say we get 30 on average a week, I'll accept one or two. If that, like, you get very picky, and it's not like, Oh, we're gonna who's getting all these press releases and pitches. It's like, no, like, I'm very protective over the people that are investing time out of their day, to trust me to provide something meaningful, I'm not going to fog it with things that are polarizing, right? Also, like stand up where it's time to stand up, and like, I'll stick to my morals and my values, but I'm not going to sit there and try to polarize or I want you to be able to escape and find meaning and value, you know, and I don't get that through politics personally, and I'm not going to provide it in that case. Hey, there ever notice how I don't run any ads on Digital Podcaster? It's because I want you to have a great listening experience. No sponsors. This is completely self funded to do want to ask for one thing though, if you know anybody who could benefit from listening to this show, please please share it with them, message them, tag them in a post, take a screenshot of this, put it in your stories. Wherever you share your stuff with the world with people that you care about. I want to provide it as much value as possible to as many podcasts as possible, so your recommendations go a long way in helping other people become better podcasters as well, which is the only reason I do this. All right, so appreciate you. And let's get back to the show. When I speak with like, new podcasters, often, like, how do I get guests? And I'm like, It's not how do I guess it's how to get the right guests. Because there's an overabundance of guests. There's not an overabundance of like you knowing what guests would fit best on your show, you know, you don't want just anybody. Yeah. Don't focus on getting guests focus on providing content that makes the guests want to come on your show. And then you don't have to worry about it. Not saying I've mastered that. But I mean, we've, we've done something like we didn't get fit. So like, it's it's not about having a guest. It's about having the right guests like you're saying, but it's also about like, Hey, why would somebody want to be on my show. And for me, it started with branding. Like when I branded my podcast, I spent some money on it, right? Like I invested in the equipment, I invested in the cover art, I invested in the brand kit for it. And if you want it to look like an amazing show, you got to invest in it. So if it looks big, it's going to translate as it's big. You don't like lie about numbers or anything. If they asked about it, you'd be honest, but make it look super presentable to where people aren't even asking about that. They're just like, dang, like, the quality's good, who doesn't sound half bad. And I want to pitch whoever I'm representing or myself for the show such great points. I always think of that movie Catch Me If You Can, that that one where he lives his way through life to become like a doctor. I'm not saying like we're lying here. But if it looks like it's already something, you don't have to convince anybody of anything, because it already looks like it fits in you look at it, you're like, oh, yeah, that's, of course that's doing questions. You know, things. It just looks so much bigger. I love that last question for you. What would you suggest the podcast hosts to focus on during their interviews? That's such a good question. And it's going to vary per person. So to answer that, it's like, what do you find meaningful? What do you find personally appealing to yourself, because if I get pitched someone that I have no interest in, I'm not going to be able to provide something valuable for people. Therefore, in my case, it's a waste of time, and a waste of the guests time. So when it comes down to like honing in on what your focus is, you got to do a deep dive in yourself, like in your mind and your heart. What you are interested in what do you find yourself watching? What do you find yourself interested in? What do you find yourself reading, if you read like, I'm an audible listener, because like, I can't sit there and read a book, I'll tell you all the time. The last book I read was logic, who is a rapper, he wrote like a fiction book called supermarket, but I get pitched a lot of nonfiction books, and I'm very vocal about it, I'll skim through it, I'll listen to it on Audible, or I'll go off to the press release, right? So go into yourself, figure out what the heck am I interested in? What do I want to talk about, people aren't gonna listen to it, if it sounds like you're not interested, so hone in to what you want to hear about what you want to talk about what you're passionate about, your content is going to reflect that. So it's a deep dive into your mind and your heart, and to whatever you're interested in, hone into that, don't be afraid of it, don't be ashamed of it, I promise you, there's a market out there for it. So trust the process, and know that the things that you find a value are going to be valuable to other people as well. I love that. And you're such a great example of that, because I can see so many people being in your position and getting caught up on like, I have, you know, Lecrae on and then I have a metal core artist on Yeah, it's so very people are like, Oh, the hip hop won't mix with, you know, this scene like looking at scenes or something and, and you have older people on younger people on in your, you know, younger yourself. So it's not normal, and it's refreshing in so many ways, you know, and I appreciate you saying that. I don't care how old you are like not saying these people are old, but I've had heavy hitters from the 80s and 90s. Like Michael W. Smith, Steven Curtis Chapman like Steven Curtis Chapman, and Michael W. Smith, are still relevant today. They're still putting out records, but our generation doesn't necessarily know much about them. Hence, I did not until I started focusing in and like asking around my parents were like, Yeah, we played a Michael W. Smith song at our wedding. I was like, well, that's news to me. So of course, it's interesting. And then being able to have these legends on the show. And these newer artists, we've had Lecrae, who owns reach records or CO owns it, and is signing all these artists. But I've also had Hovey and Tripoli that are on his record label, who have way different stories than him. So to your point, if it's interesting to me, I figure it'll be kind of interesting to everybody else. And you want to hear from these people who've been around the block a few times. And you also want to hear about the people that are newer into the space. One of the things I talked to Lecrae about is and it's contradicting a little bit he owns a record label inside So I asked a pretty rare question A like it's never been a better time to be an independent artists what is your advice to people that are making music now compared to when you were creating like mixtapes on cassette tapes, he's a very different demographic. Now what's your advice to him? You can tell he's I don't get asked that very much because I own a record label. It's kind of like why would you want people to be independent when you could profit off of their art and really help them scale it up? So it's different for everybody. There's always going to be a different market of people, authors, pastors, metal core artists, rappers. I don't care if it's interesting. If it's an amazing story if you've gone through hell and back to get where you are. I want to hear it. So love it. I love it. Thank you so much for coming on driver. Of course in the episode description. You'll find out thanks, Trevor. Great chatting with you. Hope to do it again soon, dude. Of course. Let's do it again. Gang gang.