00:00:00:00 - 00:00:15:22
Erik Allen
My parents got divorced when I was 11 years old. My mom got together with this guy who was very physically abusive. It was one night, I was brushing my teeth. It was around 13 years old. They came home arguing one night, as I peeked around the corner, I could see this man on top of my mom just punching her in the face. Boom. Boom. Boom. One after the other.

00:00:15:22 - 00:00:27:13
Erik Allen
I was like, Dude, I got to stop this thing. So I walked up and I grabbed a cast iron pan out of the cupboard and I just swung as hard as I could and I split the back of his head open. What ended up happening was I got kicked out of that house. I had three months left in my freshman year of high school and went live with my buddy.

00:00:27:13 - 00:00:35:06
Erik Allen
We would steal cigarettes from his dad in the morning to walk to school and that set me on this path of destruction for the next ten years of my life.

00:00:37:23 - 00:00:59:22
Matt Haycox
Guys, it’s Matt Haycox here. And welcome to another episode of The Matt Haycox Show. Where I've got a great guest that I'm very, very excited to talk to. We've got Erik Allen in the house. Erik has got so many things that we're going to be talking about today. I mean, he's got a very, very interesting background. Come from a broken home. Beaten up his mom's boyfriend at the age of 13, which I'm definitely very interested to talk about.

00:01:00:10 - 00:01:18:13
Matt Haycox
He’s been jailed at 18. He's been bankrupt at 21. He’s battled addictions, and for the last 16 plus years, he's been sober. He hosts the Erik Allen Show, which is his podcast. He's had some great guests on there and he's also been a guest himself on many, many great podcasts. So super excited to have him. Today we're going to be talking about being consistent.

00:01:18:13 - 00:01:30:04
Matt Haycox
We're going to be talking about networking, we're going to be talking about podcasting and a lot, lot more. Erik and I had a good little natter before we came on this and I'm excited to excited to dig deep. So Erik, welcome to the show, buddy. Thanks for being here.

00:01:30:15 - 00:01:34:17
Erik Allen
Oh Matt It's such an honor to be here, Dude, your show is so awesome, dude. I'm so excited to be here, man. Thank you so much.

00:01:34:24 - 00:01:46:11
Matt Haycox
Thank you. Well, listen, I mean, it almost sounds sinister to get in there with it, but I guess from a morbid curiosity, what the fuck happened to end up with you hitting your mom's boyfriend with a metal pan?

00:01:46:15 - 00:02:10:08
Erik Allen
Yeah. You know, it was an interesting childhood. My parents got divorced when I was 11 years old. I didn't know anybody who had gotten a divorce or even knew what that word was, man. And my mom got together with this guy who was very physically abusive. Almost immediately, which I thought was just strange. I don't know what's going on. Right. Like, but I remember there was days where I was outside looking through their bedroom window and he'd be hitting her with a cordless phone, you know, like back in the day when those around and I would call the police, they'd show up.

00:02:10:08 - 00:02:28:21
Erik Allen
My mom would never press charges, which drove me nuts. So this guy just kept doing this over and over. And this is where- I grew up in Washington State. And then they decided to get pregnant and they moved us from Washington state. It was me, my sister, who's four years younger than me, and then new baby boy and them up to Stevensville, Montana, which is a population of 1200 people.

00:02:28:21 - 00:02:45:21
Erik Allen
I mean, we lived on five acres of property, two ponds. This house there by the Bitterroot River is a beautiful property. The problem was the house had three bedrooms. It was one for them, one for my little brother, one for my sister. And they said, Erik, you go live in the garage. So literally had a plastic tarp down the middle of the garage and my bed was on one half that

00:02:45:21 - 00:03:04:20
Erik Allen
luckily that half had the fireplace, so it would keep me semi warm in the middle of those really cold nights in the winter of Montana's.. or of Montana. And it was one night of brush my teeth. It was around 13 years old. They came home arguing one night wasn't anything different than any other night. But I remember as I was brushing my teeth, I felt like God was like, Dude, you got to see what's going on.

00:03:04:20 - 00:03:20:04
Erik Allen
And so behind me was the kitchen to the pantry, to the garage where my room was at. And as I peeked around the corner. I could see this man on top of my mom just punching her in the face. Boom, boom, boom, one after the other. I was like, Dude, I got to stop this thing. So I walked up and I grabbed a cast iron pan out of the cupboard and I just swung as hard as I could.

00:03:20:04 - 00:03:35:01
Erik Allen
And I split the back of his head open and he turned around and he said, What? Then as he said that, I took another swing, split his forehead open. Still didn’t knock him out. I'd fallen on the ground. He stood up over me. He's bleeding down his face. He starts to yell. My mom jumps up like with Mama Bear power, lands like six punches in a row, blood splatting on the wall.

00:03:35:04 - 00:03:54:18
Erik Allen
It was chaos. Cops show up, take him to jail. Of course, my mom doesn't press charges. And I'm thinking, I'm like this hero. Yeah. And then what ended up happening was I got kicked out of that house. I had three months left in my freshman year of high school and went to live with my buddy in downtown Stevensville. We had still cigarettes from his dad in the morning and walk to school, and that set me on this path of destruction for the next ten years of my life.

00:03:54:18 - 00:04:06:07
Matt Haycox
How was your life and I guess your behavior and stuff prior to that I mean, you've always been a bit of a, I guess, a tearaway kid, a naughty kid, prior? You know, were you very negatively impacted as a real youngster by your mom and the and the broken home?

00:04:06:07 - 00:04:20:19
Erik Allen
No, you know, it's interesting. My mom and my dad, I had, I would say a pretty normal childhood. You know, we went to Sunday school at church. I played baseball as a kid. My dad liked to take us out on adventures and go out to the middle of the desert where people would just dump stuff. So we'd go try to find treasure.

00:04:20:19 - 00:04:35:09
Erik Allen
You know, my my best friend Dave, I've had, you know, my best friend since first grade. He would take- my dad would take Dave and I, and he would take us to behind big stores and throw us in dumpsters and say, go find stuff, go find treasures. Like we would always do that. I had a great childhood up to the point of my parents getting divorced at 11 years old.

00:04:35:09 - 00:04:50:03
Erik Allen
Oddly enough, I don't remember ever having a dinner at the table with my family or as my dad, my sister, me having a conversation. I don't remember that. It's weird. I don't know if it's just blocked from memory. My wife is the same like she came from a broken home. We don't remember these things. Maybe they just didn't happen.

00:04:50:03 - 00:04:57:01
Erik Allen
I remember sitting in front of TV on TV trays and stuff like that, but childhood was pretty good for me up until 11 years old. After that, it just got crazy.

00:04:57:01 - 00:04:59:24
Matt Haycox
And how is your relationship now with your, with your mom, with your dad?

00:05:00:01 - 00:05:15:17
Erik Allen
Oddly enough, they both live out in Texas where my sister lives. So I grew up in Washington. That's where they're at. And my sister had gotten both of them to move out to Texas to be by them. I'm not close with them. I have a probably a text relationship with my dad maybe once a month. I prefer not to talk with my mom.

00:05:15:21 - 00:05:26:13
Erik Allen
You know, we talk probably once a quarter and that's about it via text. And I like it that way. I tell my wife, when I met her, I'm like, I want 20 acres and I want to sit a house in the middle and I don't want anybody to be around us.

00:05:26:13 - 00:05:35:11
Matt Haycox
My goal is- is your mom- go ahead- I was going to say, is your mom still with the guy from back then? The the one when you when you were the kid? She's still with that guy now?

00:05:35:12 - 00:05:50:02
Erik Allen
She's not. She was with him for a while. Got together with another guy who was an alcoholic, I think he pushed around a little bit. And they're now with a guy that I've never met but she's been with for a few years now. And, you know, I guess he's a pretty wealthy guy. So she lives down in Texas with him.

00:05:50:04 - 00:05:51:09
Matt Haycox
Have you got kids yourself?

00:05:51:09 - 00:05:52:23
Erik Allen
I do. My kids are 13 and 10.

00:05:52:23 - 00:06:17:21
Matt Haycox
I never get it. I'm not a violent guy in any way. And I guess, I was gonna say, even if it was, I don’t know where this conversation is going to go, so I better change my words. But obviously I'm not a violent guy and I absolutely could not, you know, see myself hitting my missus or condoning that kind of behavior. That said, in the heat of the moment, I can probably sometimes see why things happen between partners etc.

00:06:17:21 - 00:06:47:01
Matt Haycox
But as a parent, I can never, ever, ever come to terms with the concept of parents who beat their kids, parents who abuse the kids, parents who take the side of a non blood relation or even a blood relation. I mean, I mean anything. I mean, for me, I know it's obviously cliche to talk about your job as a parent is to be a protector, etc. But I also think from my perspective, like fuck the job, fuck history or the cliches or whatever, you know, as a parent, how do you ever feel anything else other than super super love and protection and everything?

00:06:47:02 - 00:07:04:06
Matt Haycox
And I could.. obviously, when I hear your story, it’s not a unique story. You know, you hear it. You hear a lot of these kind of things. But I just can never, ever get my head around the concept of how people can behave with their kids. I mean, I mean, I am very blessed with my- I've got a 16 year old daughter with my ex-wife and I've got another one on the way.

00:07:04:11 - 00:07:24:17
Matt Haycox
I am very blessed with the fact that, I mean, literally 16 years, I think I've had two raised voices with her. I mean, she's been an absolute angel of a child. I think she's she's probably set a very tricky precedent going forward for child number two. But, I mean, even if she'd been naughty, you know, I find it I find it hard to even say, you know, go away and get into your room.

00:07:24:17 - 00:07:28:20
Matt Haycox
Never mind. Kick them out of the house, you know, beat the shit out of them. It's just another fucking world.

00:07:28:22 - 00:07:52:06
Erik Allen
Totally. Yeah. I mean, my my sister and myself and my brother, we were not protected by my mom. She chose this alcoholic, violent guy over us. And, you know, I made a decision when I got married that my kids would never experience that. My wife and I, we like, we're breaking the chains of divorce, addiction, abuse and rejection, and we're changing the trajectory of the Allen tribe moving forward. And our family,

00:07:52:09 - 00:07:57:03
Erik Allen
hopefully, our kids will never experience that. And hopefully for legacies to come that will stay the same.

00:07:57:03 - 00:08:16:12
Matt Haycox
Well look, let's uh... let's jump on from when, I guess leaving high school. And you started on your path of destruction or, you know, I guess future unfortunate behavior. I mean, you became an alcoholic, you went bankrupt. Put a little bit of context around that and then tell me what was the pivotal moment, the wake up call that that the change that set you on a better path?

00:08:16:12 - 00:08:30:17
Erik Allen
Yeah, for me. So when I moved back to Washington to live with my dad for my sophomore through senior year of high school, I got into drugs early, so I was smoking pot before school, during lunch, after school. And then that led to, you know, taking acid, taking mushrooms, opium, you know, pharmaceuticals, whatever I could get my hands on.

00:08:30:17 - 00:08:43:05
Erik Allen
Looking back, I was numbing that pain that I went through. But at the time I was just like, I was loving it, right? And when I was 18 years old, I was still a senior in high school. I actually got arrested for having a bong, which is now- it's funny because in Washington now it's illegal to have that.

00:08:43:05 - 00:08:59:03
Erik Allen
But in 1998, when I was a senior, it was not. So I had to go spend the night in jail. I was 145 pound, black and white chain gang outfit on, bright orange slippers, scared to death. And, you know, that was kind of like the beginning of the more messiness that would come. And so I just continued to do that. I didn't have a great relation with my dad.

00:08:59:03 - 00:09:13:19
Erik Allen
He rented a house for him and I and he would go stay with his girlfriend. I'd see him a couple of times in like in the month in passing, and that's it. He put 20 bucks in the cup for my lunch money and put food in the freezer and that was it. And two weeks after I graduated high school, I woke up to a Post-it note that said, You can't comply with house rules.

00:09:13:19 - 00:09:27:23
Erik Allen
You have 48 hours to get out. And so from there, between the age of 18 and 21, I moved 21 times. I was living on couches here, couches there, like all over the place. A couple of days, couple of days there, things like that, and made my way up to Seattle, Washington. I always wanted to be in the music business.

00:09:27:23 - 00:09:50:00
Erik Allen
I'm not a music player, but, you know, a musician. But I always wasn't. I love music and I wanted to be around that. And so I came up to Seattle, ended up landing with Universal Records. Dream Job. I interned there for six months, never got paid, just showed up six days a week and was living a rockstar lifestyle because I had open tab and I was going to 2 to 3 concerts a week and then I got paid after six months like, Hey man, we want to hire you on.

00:09:50:00 - 00:10:03:08
Erik Allen
So I was like their mail room coordinator. So I was sitting up tracking sales and I was setting up meet and greets and things like that. And on my one year anniversary I got laid off. This was during the days of Napster, if people remember that. But it killed the music industry. And so I went into even more of this depression.

00:10:03:08 - 00:10:18:07
Erik Allen
So here I was, this rockstar lifestyle, drinking and drugs backstage all the time and getting laid off from Universal. And I don't know what to do. I'm working at night at Starbucks and I'd get off work and go drink a six pack of beer at my ghetto apartment, pass out every day. That was my routine. I had no direction.

00:10:18:07 - 00:10:30:24
Erik Allen
I had no idea what I wanted to do. And there was one night this girl walked into Starbucks. She had 20 seconds of courage to walk up to me and said, Hey you know what? We've got this cool college age event down at our church. Would you be interested in going? And I'm depressed, I have no friends and she's good looking.

00:10:30:24 - 00:10:44:22
Erik Allen
What time do I need to be there? Right? And so I go down to this church event and I run into all these guys that I knew from four or five years earlier, and I was like, What are you doing here? Like this is crazy. And so for me, I felt God was planting a seed to me in that moment, like there's going to be some changes coming.

00:10:44:22 - 00:10:58:20
Erik Allen
And a month later, it was Easter 2004. I went out and partied like a rock star with the band I was managing and I woke up Easter morning surrounded by probably 15 guys and I thought, God go... Dude, you're done. You're going to go down this path, is going to end your life real quick. So I decided to give my life to Christ

00:10:58:20 - 00:11:09:06
Erik Allen
in that moment and I quit. Cold turkey. Drugs, drinking, cigarettes, everything in that moment. And I text that girl and I said, Hey, thank you for inviting me that church event. Maybe I'll see you at the store sometime. We were dating a month later and now she's my wife of 18 years.

00:11:09:06 - 00:11:25:17
Matt Haycox
We were already religious guy before this thing? because, I mean, I know you mentioned conversation a couple of times. You know, I thought God was telling me to do this, or I thought God was showing me that. But then obviously, you just mentioned giving your life to Christ. Yeah, You were already semi religious and then you went all in? Or this was like a kind of a, you were not religious or didn't believe in God at all and then woke up..

00:11:25:17 - 00:11:26:06
Matt Haycox
Woke up one day..

00:11:26:06 - 00:11:41:20
Erik Allen
Yeah. I mean, I grew up going to the church, so I think I've always had, you know, a thought process of Jesus and God and being evolved and being kind and love people and treat people how you want to be treated. I've always had that mentality and I think I was just feeling lost in that moment and felt like, you know what?

00:11:41:20 - 00:11:56:03
Erik Allen
It was time to just give up on that craziness that I've been living. And the way that I got out of that was I had changed my environment. And so instead of the party scene, I decided to go hang around guys that were going to the church that had great businesses. They were great entrepreneurs. They were great married people.

00:11:56:09 - 00:12:16:16
Erik Allen
They treated their wives great. And I started surrounding myself with those guys and pre podcasting days. I was like, Hey, I want to understand your story. I want to know, like, what can I do to do what you're doing? And I would take them out to Starbucks and I would just sit there and interview them. And I did that to a lot of guys that were going to church man, and it helped me get on this right path mentally, physically, but also in my business and mentally.

00:12:16:16 - 00:12:20:04
Erik Allen
Like how can I get my life better? And man, it's it's been an awesome journey.

00:12:20:04 - 00:12:35:06
Matt Haycox
Well, obviously, I know you have the podcast now we're going to we're going to talk and talk about that in a minute. But I mean, what happened to you work wise, career wise? You know, I guess since this wake up call, since changing your life, what have you been up to? Have you been you've been sharing this message? Have you been helping others, you know, what’s your charisma-

00:12:35:12 - 00:12:36:17
Matt Haycox
What’s your career looked like?

00:12:36:17 - 00:12:53:14
Erik Allen
Yeah. So I didn't share my story until I was 39 years old. I'm 43 now. So just in the last four years that I shared my story. And I've done sales. Basically, I left Starbucks at that point, decided to start making some real money and started doing sales and and account management and things like that. And I've done that for the last 20 years and it's been fun.

00:12:53:14 - 00:13:10:11
Erik Allen
I still work full time job. The goal is to walk away from the full time job, though, by the end of this year, picking up the podcast and sponsorships and coaching people and, you know, doing things for my own personal clients. So that's what I do now, is I still work full time, but my real big focus, my purpose, my passion is podcasting and coaching and connecting and networking.

00:13:10:15 - 00:13:25:17
Matt Haycox
Well, let's talk about the podcast then, because I guess I, I, I always say to people, you know, when I talk about my podcast or any of my recording, that one of the real benefits for me is I get to sit down with great guests. I get to sit down with people that, you know, I'd like to be mentored by or pick the brains of.

00:13:25:17 - 00:13:49:13
Matt Haycox
And I always say if nobody ever watches or listens, I don't care, because this is like a private conversation for anybody listening or watching is lucky enough to get to second hand hear the brain ticking off. So I as you and I talked about just before we started recording, I recorded a podcast with Jon Lee Dumas a week or so ago. He's one of the daddies of podcasting. Seven days a week, 12 years or so, certainly ten years, and making a good seven figure income from that now.

00:13:49:13 - 00:14:03:03
Matt Haycox
And I really got some great benefit from picking his brains at the time. But I'd love to hear your story. I mean, did you listen to podcasts before you started your own? How did you get into it? I guess were you looking to do it for for money or just for fun at the time?

00:14:03:03 - 00:14:17:12
Erik Allen
Yeah, I did it just for fun. Like I said, I had a apparel company in 2012. It was focused on MMA and I got bored with the company in 2015, decided what was I, you know, trying to figure out what I was going to do. And so I started this podcast in 2017. I called it a podcast. I wouldn't say it was a podcast, though.

00:14:17:12 - 00:14:31:23
Erik Allen
I literally was FaceTiming guys and recording my conversation with MMA fighters and ask them like, Why do you want to get in a cage and get punched in the face? Like, that was my one question that I asked them, and then I would kind of deep dive into their story a little bit. But I was in a walk in closet for probably my first hundred episodes.

00:14:31:23 - 00:14:47:06
Erik Allen
I had bad lighting, bad microphone, didn’t even look into the camera. And I would just ask these guys questions and I would record it. Upload it to YouTube, share that link out to the Facebook and call that my podcast. Did that for almost 100 episodes. And then one person said, Well, how can I listen to it on Apple? And I said, What the hell is that?

00:14:47:06 - 00:15:02:17
Erik Allen
I didn't even know what Apple podcast was. And I was like, Whoa, I am missing a massive amount of people that could be listening to my story if I'm on Apple. And so I started researching like crazy. I was watching tons of videos, took me a couple of months to just deep dive in, like, How do I get this thing set up?

00:15:02:17 - 00:15:18:23
Erik Allen
Where do I connect it? What's an RSS feed? You know, how do I distribute it out to Pandora? and, you know, all these other different channels? And then I just started doing that and that's what opened the door. And in 2018 I came across Ed Mylett on on YouTube while searching for motivational videos. It inspired me to start my own entrepreneur podcast.

00:15:18:23 - 00:15:40:14
Erik Allen
So in 2019, I started the Eric Allen Show and just started focusing on entrepreneur stories. I wanted to also ask them why they got punched in the face. As entrepreneurs, they get punched in the face all the time. We get no's or get rejected, we fail, we go bankrupt, like, but we keep going. What is it that pushes us through? and so I wanted to understand that from these bigger names and been blessed to speak with awesome guys like Sean Whalen and Brad Lea and Andrew.

00:15:40:19 - 00:15:54:10
Erik Allen
You know, Ed Mylett, Tim story and Jim the Rookie Morris and Bedros Corwin and just so many others and we're about almost 200 episodes in now on the Erik Allen show. And that's where it started though, this walk in closet. And now here we are ranked in the top two and a half percent globally.

00:15:54:10 - 00:16:07:23
Matt Haycox
I mean, just to give inspiration and relief on persistence for people who are, you know, deep into their own podcast and concerned that not enough people are watching or, you know, not enough people are listening. How long did it take for you to build an audience?

00:16:08:05 - 00:16:24:19
Erik Allen
You know, it's funny, I never looked at the numbers at all. I never looked at a download number or anything like that until I was probably four years into this thing. Like in the last year. I just never- I never cared for me. I wanted to do podcasting and talk with people because I wanted to do it. And I love talking with people.

00:16:24:19 - 00:16:40:17
Erik Allen
I love that relationship building. And when I started looking number, I was like, Well, that's kind of cool. Like people are actually listening. So I really started just looking at numbers in the last four years, I mean, in the last year. But I would say if you're an early podcaster, don't even worry about the numbers. Don't look at the numbers.

00:16:40:17 - 00:16:56:19
Erik Allen
It will it will distract you. It will discourage you from moving forward. I just don't worry about it. I did podcasting because I loved it and I wanted to have these awesome conversations and I still do today. Like I don't really look at the numbers. I look at who can I impact with the guests that I'm bringing on?

00:16:56:19 - 00:17:14:02
Erik Allen
And so when people reach out and they want to like if I talk about sponsorships, right, they all say, well, how many downloads do you have? I don't know. I don't care. I'm not selling you on my spo- my number of downloads. I'm selling you on the value that I'm going to bring you. I'm going to promote you on my show and I'm going to distribute that show out to these channels and I'm going to give you some shout outs.

00:17:14:06 - 00:17:32:24
Erik Allen
And that's what I sell my sponsorship on. I never sell on, Oh, I've had 10,000 downloads or 5000 downloads. I don't I don't give that number out, you know, if people ask me, like, I'll be honest with them, like, I don't know, some numbers are 15,000, 10,000, sometimes it's 500. It depends on my guest, right? So I just don't sell on on the number, so I don't worry about it as a podcaster.

00:17:32:24 - 00:17:36:23
Erik Allen
I don't just- I would say, just don't do that. Don't look at the numbers, especially if you first starting well.

00:17:36:24 - 00:17:56:23
Matt Haycox
Let's talk about guest booking or getting booked yourself because, I mean, look, you know, there's many different kinds of format for podcasts, but a regular I guess a regular fallback for many people is going down the interview route. I think, you know, it always I mean, I love it. It provides provides great conversation. It provides a great chance to pick the brains of others.

00:17:56:23 - 00:18:11:19
Matt Haycox
But I think for people who want to start a podcast, and are not too sure about what they're going to say or a bit less confident, or you know, don't want to have to hold the whole stage on their own. Having that guest to take the pressure off them is a great starting point. But how do you go about booking your guests? And in the same

00:18:11:19 - 00:18:30:09
Matt Haycox
question, how did you get booked on some great podcasts yourself? You've mentioned names that mean a lot to me. You know, I don’t know how some of these some of these are with guys watching or listening, but you're Ed Mylett’s, Sean Whalen’s, you know, Brad Lea. I'm a massive Brad Lea fan. I think he’s the coolest podcast- never mind just podcaster, one of the coolest guys out there.

00:18:30:09 - 00:18:39:20
Matt Haycox
I love that relaxed Southern drawl, but he's a very, very humorous guy. But, you know, got some serious nuggets of information underneath it. But how do you go and book your guests?

00:18:39:20 - 00:18:57:18
Erik Allen
99% of my guests I book through Instagram DM, and I do not send a template. I would say if you're going to try to book people on your show, don't send a template where you're just changing the name at the top and it's like this pitch to them. Don't do that. If you want to book people on your show, pull out your phone, take 30 seconds to look at their page and see what they're promoting.

00:18:57:18 - 00:19:10:24
Erik Allen
Maybe it's a course, maybe it's a book or maybe it's an awesome post that resonated with you. Pull out your phone, do a quick video. and I literally will say, Hey, Ed, what's going on? It's Erik out here in Coeur D’alene, Idaho. I know that you have a house out here and you just released a book - Power of one more. Let me help you promote that.

00:19:11:01 - 00:19:27:04
Erik Allen
Let's jump on the show. Let's chat soon. 30 seconds. That's it. Send the video via Instagram to folks. Like I said, 99% of my guests are booked with that method there and it's opened up tons of doors. You know, I did that with Brad Lea. We had a great conversation. And then what ended up happening was I got on his show. He invited me to come down.

00:19:27:04 - 00:19:39:20
Erik Allen
I flew down to Vegas and I was a guest on Dropping Bombs last year, and it was the coolest thing ever to go meet him in person. If you want to promote your podcast, the best thing you can do is get on other people's podcast and then share that show that you were on with your network as well.

00:19:39:20 - 00:19:57:03
Erik Allen
I did, in 2021, I was a guest on 117 other podcasts on top of releasing 100 of my own. And I did that because I purposely went out and found Facebook groups and I found specific channels of people that were looking for guests. And I just said, Here's my story. If it resonates with your podcast, I'd love to be a guest on your show.

00:19:57:03 - 00:20:10:18
Erik Allen
And I put it out there. I said, My goal is to be a guest on 100 podcasts this year, help me achieve that. And if I can bring value to your show, let's do it. And I was almost on a guest or had a guest on my show almost every day of 2021, and that's how we ended up blowing up there.

00:20:10:18 - 00:20:13:04
Matt Haycox
And do you always do it with a guest or do you ever talk on your own?

00:20:13:08 - 00:20:34:08
Erik Allen
You know what's funny? I've never done a solo show until yesterday. I just- I didn't even release it. I recorded a solo show yesterday because a friend of mine named Tadd said you should do a reintroduction to you episode. And I had never thought about that. Like, you know, people know my story, but I hadn't really shared that out with a probably some of my new listeners for... since I started.

00:20:34:08 - 00:20:46:23
Erik Allen
And so I actually yesterday sat down and I was like, All right, we're just going to record a show and I end up talking for an hour, which I don't know if I like, lost my voice just by self for an hour. But it was it was good to just get that out. And I'm excited to release it sometime in the next couple of months or so, we'll drop it.

00:20:46:23 - 00:20:51:22
Matt Haycox
So how far ahead, how far in advance do you work? How far in advance of recording?

00:20:51:22 - 00:21:12:03
Erik Allen
Most of my shows drop about a month and a half to two months out, and I don't really try to do that on purpose. I would like to do that sooner, but because of my schedule, I have my shows drop weekly and so I just go out there and release one show at a time. Now, occasionally I'll drop a bonus episode if I have time to go and edit that and drop it in the middle of the week, I might do that, but typically it's a month and a half.

00:21:12:03 - 00:21:33:05
Erik Allen
I also only record 4 shows a month, so I only say, you know what, four times a month I'm going to interview somebody in the rest of the month I'm going to be a guest. Or I’m going to work on my own course or editing or stuff like that. So, I try to limit myself from recording too much, so I only record four shows a month and right now I probably won't start recording again until sometime in late February or early March.

00:21:33:05 - 00:21:34:08
Erik Allen
I'm taking probably a month off.

00:21:34:09 - 00:21:38:10
Matt Haycox
Have you got any any podcast horror stories or podcast humour stories?

00:21:38:19 - 00:21:59:00
Erik Allen
Haha. Man, I'll tell you, podcasting, especially in the early days, are- is rough. There was a moment one day I got to talk to Ken Shamrock and Ed Mylett in the same day. And I had Ken Shamrock first and I was recording on this platform called E Cam on my Mac, and it was basically FaceTime and it was recording, right?

00:21:59:00 - 00:22:13:05
Erik Allen
And so I had Ken Shamrock on my show. I'm thinking, Man, this guy's awesome. Like, I can't believe I'm talking to Ken Shamrock. And he kept getting texts and every time he got a text, he would turn off my recorder. And about 2 minutes in it happened for the first time. I said, Ken, I'm really sorry. Hey, the recorder turned off.

00:22:13:05 - 00:22:26:11
Erik Allen
Can I just turn that back on real quick? You're like, Oh, yeah, no problem. So I turn it back on and then about 7 minutes into the interview, I look down and my recorders off. I don't know when it turned off. I'm thinking, Crap, I'm having this amazing conversation with Ken Shamrock and no one's going to hear it.

00:22:26:11 - 00:22:44:04
Erik Allen
Just me and Ken chatting right now and I'm sweating bullets. I'm like, I cannot believe that this is happening. I finally get this huge name on my show and it's not recording, so I get done with the show. I’m like, Hey, Ken, thanks so much, man. I just let it be. And then his team reached out to me like a week later, said, Hey, we just want to say thanks and we're having him on the show and how did it go?

00:22:44:04 - 00:23:02:21
Erik Allen
And I was like, Oh man, I'm sorry. He kept getting texts and my platform for some reason it stopped recording and I can't release anything. I really apologize, but thank you for reaching out. And they said, Hey, let's just rebook him. And I was like, Shut up man. So I got to actually rebook it with them. But I'll tell you, after that first conversation with Ken that day, I was nervous as hell to record my conversation with Ed.

00:23:02:21 - 00:23:18:20
Erik Allen
The same thing was going to happen and man, I was sweating bullets. But the conversation with Ed was life changing. We were supposed to have a 20 minute call and we ended up chatting for 30 minutes. And how I got the call was I won Ed Mylett's Max Out Community Challenge on Instagram where he said, Submit a one minute story and tell me why you want to be successful.

00:23:18:20 - 00:23:30:16
Erik Allen
What drives you to be successful and tag me in a story. He had about a million followers at the time and I know how many submitted, but I submitted mine. And he kept mostly things like Here's a top runners up runner. And then I wake up one day to a tag from Ed Mylett and I was like, mind blowing.

00:23:30:16 - 00:23:31:21
Erik Allen
And it totally changed my life.

00:23:31:24 - 00:23:52:20
Matt Haycox
Wow. I tell you, I've got my podcast issue. If you like my podcast Mental Block.. I'm always terrible with names, which I'm not in real life. It just must be some some psychologic issue that comes up when any any time the camera starts to record, which I'm looking at your name now, and actually, I think it's probably impossible to get Erik Allen in any other way.

00:23:52:20 - 00:24:06:07
Matt Haycox
So I think that's why I'll probably never stumble when I was introducing you. But I mean pretty much any other name. I can be completely perfect, and then as soon as the camera goes, I’m like... how do you say their name? How do you say that name? How do you say that name? I always used to get that, but in my head,

00:24:06:07 - 00:24:25:07
Matt Haycox
I’d drive myself crazy that I'm going to get it wrong. But I tell you, talk about your camera not- your recorder not recording. Having to rerecord Ken. Years ago, I used to- This is before I had my my own cameraman, if I record a live one. I used to use this freelance guy. I love him to bits. And you know, he watches and listens to some of this stuff.

00:24:25:08 - 00:24:44:17
Matt Haycox
So if he’s listening, he knows I love him and hate him at the same time. But this particular day, we were recording in London and we used to batch record. We had like celebrity guests, so I tried to like book a few great guests at once, we'd get them all the same time. So I literally recorded five or six at once in London, and there was, you know, there was an actor who'd been in Hollywood movies, you know, a well-known guy.

00:24:44:17 - 00:25:01:22
Matt Haycox
There was like a celebrity chef from the U.K. We had literally five or six really good guests. And it took my whole day of recording, my whole headspace, because, you know, you know, yourself. I mean, doing one podcast, you need to concentrate on one. You need to concentrate on four or five or six. And I'm also dealing with work and text and everything in the meantime.

00:25:02:01 - 00:25:20:10
Matt Haycox
You know, they are the fun days, but pretty exhausting days. And I got to the end of this day and everything was recorded live, you know sat together in the house. And the cameraman also does the editing. So he's left the house and he said, Yeah, I'm going to go home, start to charge some edits up. I’ll send you the downloads on, you know, Dropbox or WeTransfer or whatever. Off he goes.

00:25:20:10 - 00:25:38:22
Matt Haycox
I hear nothing. Next day I get a phone call from my PR guys who booked him. And they’re like, we've got a problem. What happened? Well, he’s called Cam. He goes, Cam got robbed last night. He's lost all the footage. But don't worry, he’s safe. I mean, he’s safe? I don't give a fuck if he’s safe. What do you mean he’s lost the footage?

00:25:39:03 - 00:25:54:21
Matt Haycox
And they were telling me this story, which obviously sounded like this poor guy had been robbed and beaten on the streets of London. As much as I want to hate him, I'm trying to find some sympathy in me. Anyway, I've rung him up. I said, What happened? Are you okay? He said, Well, I was hungry when I left your house. He goes

00:25:54:21 - 00:26:12:21
Matt Haycox
So I drove to the kebab shop and I went inside to get a kebab. I left the hard drive with the cameras on the backseat, but I left the car unlocked. So when I was getting the kebab, some people came and opened the door and stole everything. I'm like, Right. I absolutely have no sympathy for you now. I thought you'd been beaten to a pulp on the streets of London.

00:26:12:21 - 00:26:21:07
Matt Haycox
You were getting a fucking kebab and you've lost five or six of what would have been some of my best podcast episodes ever, which I never got to rerecord any of them.

00:26:21:07 - 00:26:27:18
Erik Allen
Oh man, that is what a crazy story though.

00:26:27:18 - 00:26:29:19
Matt Haycox
Kills me. He kills me that guy. Yeah.

00:26:30:06 - 00:26:30:24
Erik Allen
Oh, man. So funny.

00:26:31:05 - 00:26:42:24
Matt Haycox
So yeah, I mean, you had a podcast goal of getting on 100 shows, 150 shows, whatever it was. I mean, what about some 2023, 2024 podcast goals? Where's the future of Erik Allen?

00:26:42:24 - 00:27:00:06
Erik Allen
Yeah, you know, for me.. now I kind of do probably 30 to 50 podcast spots throughout the year, and that's really a goal. I mean, it's not really a goal of mine to do that many, but probably 35 to 50 is what I'll end up doing. My goal is really shifted this year for 2023. I want to help 100 people start and launch their podcast.

00:27:00:15 - 00:27:18:23
Erik Allen
And so I have a prerecorded self-paced course on my website that people can buy. I also do live coaching, but my goal this year is really to impact more people. And so I want to help people launch podcasts. I believe that people should- everyone should have a podcast. Here's a deal is three generations from now, my great, great, great grandkids are going to go, What was grandpa like?

00:27:18:23 - 00:27:35:13
Erik Allen
Great, great, great grandpa like? And nobody knows. Well, now they can go and find my voice. They can hear my emotion, they can see my emotions, they can hear my voice on YouTube and on Apple. Right? And so it's this time saving thing that I can now give to generations to come to my family. So I think everybody should have a podcast.

00:27:35:13 - 00:27:48:24
Erik Allen
I want to help 100 people launch a podcast this year. That's my goal. When they go through my course, they get a 30 minute strategy call with me and they also get a month of free sponsorship on my show of their show or their business or whatever they want to promote. I'll promote it for one month when they go to my course.

00:27:48:24 - 00:27:52:12
Erik Allen
And so that's my goal, man, is to help 100 people launch a podcast this year.

00:27:52:12 - 00:28:11:03
Matt Haycox
As a fellow podcast host myself, I can't agree anymore with the concept that, you know, everybody should have a podcast. I mean for so many different reasons. But like you say, whether it's family legacy, you know, whether it's the chance to get your voice heard, whether it's a chance to sit down with people that you probably wouldn't get a chance to sit down with anyway unless you have that framing of that show.

00:28:11:04 - 00:28:24:20
Matt Haycox
I couldn't agree more, Erik, and like I say, I'm sure you're going to impact a lot of lots more than 100 people. But it's been an absolute pleasure to have you here today. Before you go, obviously for anyone who wants to find you anyway and for anyone who wants to particularly find that podcasting course, just give yourself a shout out.

00:28:25:00 - 00:28:27:21
Matt Haycox
Give us some web domains and some social handles.

00:28:27:21 - 00:28:50:18
Erik Allen
Man, I appreciate that. It's erikallenmedia.com. E R I K, A L L E N media.com. There's a ton of free resources on my website, but if you click on the resources tab, when you get there, you'll see my paid courses and then all of the resources that are free. I have a lot of books on there that I recommend. You can go check out all the equipment that I use is listed on there as well, and I'm probably more on Instagram than any other platform.

00:28:50:18 - 00:29:08:01
Erik Allen
So it's EricGAllen on there and you can connect with me. I respond to every comment and every DM so if you have questions, reach out. Again, Instagram, Erik G Allen or erikallenmedia.com. And Matt, it's been such an honor to be on your show, man. I love your questions. I love the flow and being on so many other guest man.

00:29:08:01 - 00:29:12:19
Erik Allen
This is definitely probably the top ten shows that I've ever been a guest on, man. So I really appreciate it.

00:29:12:24 - 00:29:30:24
Matt Haycox
I appreciate that, buddy. And I'm certainly going to come and check out the check out some of your courses and content myself, because I can certainly benefit from some tips from a pro, so thank you. Thank you very much for being there. And guys I know that some of you guys watch and listen to this definitely have podcast aspirations because I get messages all the time from you guys who want to do it and don't know when to start.

00:29:30:24 - 00:29:49:23
Matt Haycox
Don't know how to start. So please use Erik as your podcast light. Guys, if you've enjoyed listening to this, please make sure you like, subscribe and tell your friends. If you've listened to me on Apple or Spotify or wherever you are listening, you can whizz over to YouTube and see my pretty face. But it's got a slightly bent nose from a very dangerous Padel tennis accident.

00:29:49:23 - 00:30:03:24
Matt Haycox
And if you watch it on YouTube but you want to have a week off without looking at make, please jump over to Apple, Spotify, iHeartRadio. Wherever you listen to your podcasts, you can find me anywhere. Like I say, all I ask is that you like or subscribe. If you want to come find me on social, make sure you hook up with me.

00:30:04:09 - 00:30:15:06
Matt Haycox
I’m TheMattHaycox. That’s T H E M A T T H A Y C O X on all things social and until a future episode of The Matt Haycox Show. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening and thanks for being here Erik.

00:30:15:18 - 00:30:19:01
Erik Allen
Man, Thank you so much. I appreciate you.