How One Podcaster Built 6 Shows and a Powerful Personal Brand Through Podcasting

What does it take to build not just one podcast but six successful shows?

In this episode, we sit down with serial podcaster and entrepreneur Rory Paquette to explore how a personal mission turned into a podcasting ecosystem that serves multiple audiences and creates real impact. From launching Power of Manduring a difficult season of life to building communities around speakers, authors, faith leaders, and industry professionals, Rory shares the lessons he's learned from years of podcasting, public speaking, and entrepreneurship.

You'll discover why perfection is the enemy of progress, how podcasting can become a platform for brand building, and why taking action before you're "ready" is often the fastest path to growth. Whether you're considering starting your first podcast or looking to expand your existing show, Rory's journey offers practical insights and inspiration.

In this episode:

✅ How Rory launched his first podcast during a major life transition
✅ Why he grew from one podcast to six different shows
✅ The entrepreneurial mindset behind successful podcasting
✅ The connection between public speaking and podcast hosting
✅ Building communities through niche podcast content
✅ Why action beats perfection every time
✅ Lessons learned from creating, launching, and retiring podcasts

For business owners and marketing leaders, this conversation highlights how podcasting for marketing can help build authority, strengthen relationships, and create opportunities that extend far beyond the microphone.

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Transcript

0:00

If you want to learn, you typically go to someone that's done something a lot successfully. This week's guest, I don't want to call him a serial podcaster, but in a way, yeah, he's got an amazing base right now and that is why you're going to want to stay tuned. So Rory, thanks for coming on. But you started the first show, Power of Man from a really Vulnerable Place. And I mean, we're recording this mid June. It's going to come out end of June and that's Men's Mental Health Awareness Month. So there's there's a reason why I'm excited about this. But you've got like, like only like five hundred other podcasts. I know that's an exaggeration is you've got it's, it's six or seven total, if I remember correctly, uh, which is maniacal, but really like how, like, how the hell did this start? He said. I appreciate the question. Um, I do have currently six, uh, podcasts that are. That's all. I've made some changes. I had as many as ten. Uh, I do like to kind of try some things out once in a while, throw them against the wall, see if they'll stick. So, um, I mean, that's you don't know what works until you try it. So, um, you know, how did all this start though? Um, I, uh, you know, much like everybody else, I was, uh, doing something different prior to, you know, the, uh, the event that shall not be named, you know, type of thing years ago and, um, uh, had to change, you know, I was doing a lot of public speaking. I was doing a lot of in-person coaching. I was working in, uh, real estate and things like that. And that all just disappeared, you know? And I said, okay, so we've got to change some things up. So I started looking to the internet, started looking to Zoom meetings, things like that. And I listened to podcasts regularly. And I finally just said, hey, um, maybe I should do one of these myself. Maybe this is a great way to get going. And one of the podcasts I listened to had kind of a, uh, did an episode on, hey, if you want to start your own, uh, you know, men's movement and help fathers and husbands, this is kind of how you start. I listened to that and I just looked in the mirror and I went, why am I not doing this? And that was really it. I told my wife, I'm going to do this. She goes, okay. I mean, I've done so many crazy things in my life. My wife just looks at me like, all right, is this supposed to shock me? So. And, uh, and I started and, you know, so I ordered the stuff and I was like, oh, I got the stuff from Amazon. You know, I set my computer up and I got audacity all ready to go, you know, because I knew what I was going to do. And then it all just sat there in a box while I tried to figure out how to do it. And, uh, one night my wife looked at me when I was talking about what I was going to do with the podcast. And she goes, enough, why don't you just go downstairs to your office and record something? And my little Italian wife, just with a little, you know, right across the face woke me up and I said, you know what? You're right. I went downstairs, I recorded something, it was awful. I made ten mistakes. I figured them all out. I recorded something again, and that was my episode one. And that's how it all started, brother. So I mean, really, this started, there was a call in another podcast that was like, hey, you should help start this movement. Yeah, yeah. It's incredible to because to me, it's the, uh, that's not the typical path, so to say, because most, I mean, especially having six, most podcasters are not calling other people to podcast because let's face it, there's a lot of podcasters out there, um, to hear that and for you to be actionable about it, actionable about it. That's, it's truly awesome. And I mean, I love the fact that you've dove into that, but the fact that this has now turned into that, which is still going very strong. And five friends today anyway. Five. Right right right right right. At one point it had nine siblings. That's correct. Um, yeah. Like what? What happens? And I can already tell you have the personality type. Most public speakers, most coaches have the personality type of if one is good, one hundred is better. Um, but like where, where did, where did this, where did this stem from? Uh, you know, I, I love, I've been an entrepreneur my whole life. Sure. I was the kid who, you know, uh, wanted money and never wanted to ask mom for it ever, uh, had a really rough childhood. So asking Mom and Dad for money was not an option. And I said, look, I want to be able to buy something from the ice cream truck for this really, really cute little girl across the street. Right? It was in my grade. And I said, how am I going to do this? Well, you know what? There's a shovel in my driveway, Right. And so I'm going to go shovel snow or there's, um, you know, a lawnmower, an old push lawnmower. I'm an older guy. You know, the clip, clip, clip, you know, not the big, you know, gas one, but a little clipper one. And I'm going to go do a lawn. And I said, how can I just offer stuff and get paid for it? And I honestly was running lawn mowing businesses when I was, you know, nine, you know, so, I mean, I was gonna buy ice cream for the girl across the street. I, you know, drew pictures and sold them to my friends for a nickel each. You know, it was like the, the dumbest stuff, but anything I could do to create and sell it. I just started doing that when I was, I mean, a child and I never left me. You know, I've been an entrepreneur most of my life, um, on and off, you know, again, during that, that short period there, uh, I drove a truck, you know, I mean, to make sure I was part of the supply chain because, you know, I was, you know, going to make sure I took care of my family during that little time. But, um, other than that, I've, I've been in sales, I've done my own thing. I've been, you know, commission only I've been an independent contractor. I've always just said, look, I want to go out and kill what I eat. I want to go out and make my own way. I've never been the, you know, eight to five sit in the office, stare at the wall, wait for the cubicle to fall down in front of you kind of guy. It's funny. It always starts with a girl. Um, I, I, I joke about this. I got into motorcycles initially because I wanted to impress girls, and what I found was I really got from that was. Hey, dude, nice bike. Um, from other guys. Uh, that was and I thought, but, you know, I really enjoyed this motorcycling thing much the same way you're like, hey, I'm going to earn the money. You kind of enjoyed that entrepreneurship thing. Um, the feelings you get from it, the, I mean, the ownership of, and it's one of the things that I love about podcasting too, is it starts to grow. And as it starts to gain some audience, the feeling that you get from that of holy cow, someone, someone's besides mom is listening to this and connecting with people is truly awesome. Your podcasts, they're a bit diverse, but kind of not what, what, what made you think to go to all these different topics? Every topic? It's a great question. Every topic, every podcast has a distinct purpose to it. Um, the, you know, power man started because I went through absolute hell and I went through it alone. And, um, I decided that I didn't want any other man to have to go through something like that alone feeling as alone as I did. Um, because of the ramifications that almost happened, you know, I mean, I almost ended everything, man. Um, I didn't want someone else to have to feel that way. And so I said, look, if I can do a podcast and help one guy, you know, one guy to not go down that path, to not be so far down that he walks down the hallway and says goodbye to his kids. You know what I mean? That type of thing. And so that was the purpose of that podcast. Um, that podcast's purpose evolved over time because it was the only one I had for a while. Uh, but then I said, hey, I also want to help kids get scholarships for school. So I created another one called the Impact Recruiting Podcast, which did not make it, you know, it was a great idea, just didn't put it in practice. Right. And I said, okay, well, you know what? I was in real estate for a long time before the crash. That's kind of where I, you know, built myself up. Um, so I'm going to do a real talk for realtors podcast and I'm going to do my real estate coaching. Well, that didn't take. So that was like, okay, see you later. Um, I decided just to focus on Power Man for a while and get good at podcasting. And I said, I'm going to figure some things out on this. And then I'm sitting there one day and my son is involved in an MLM. He's doing isagenix, you know, stuff where he's selling health goods. And I'm listening to a podcast called MLM nation, you know, for this, this guy and it's a great episode. He talks to all these sales people. And I said, you know what? There really aren't too many podcasts out there that are for podcasters, you know, and my wife and I looked around, looked it up, you know, and at the time, there really weren't too many of those out there. There was a few. And I said, you know, I really want to bring podcasters on to tell their stories and just kind of build community that way. And I said, like a nation of podcasters, I think I want to do the podcaster nation, you know, and it just clicked. And my wife looked at me and said, so go start it. And I said, I'm gonna. And I sat right there. I didn't move. I mean, I grabbed my phone and I went to one of the podcast groups and I said, I'm starting a new podcast. Who wants to be interviewed? I got one hundred and sixty five responses. That's a day. That's all. No big deal. I said, all right, well, I just started booking interviews. You know, an hour later I'm booking interviews and I'm like, this podcast is alive. I don't even have the the art done yet. Sometimes you need to put the cart before the horse. You have to you have to start. And so they all kind of had that kind of a story behind them. Um, you know, I've got one where I speak to Christians, you know, uh, have them come out and share testimonies. That's got a big story behind it. Um, I have one where I was coaching some podcasters who wanted to get into speaking. I have a lot of experience there, and I ended up having to drive all the way to, you know, Ohio and I live in Indiana. So it wasn't, you know, it's not like I went to California, but it was, you know, four or five hours in order to record my student doing his speech because he couldn't get anybody to record him so he could do is signature talk, you know, and I went, why is there not a podcast for this? And my wife said, why aren't you starting one? So step up to the mic was born. And I say, I'm, I'm seeing a pattern. Oh for sure, for sure. Uh, and you know, I bring speakers on to do their talks, right? Uninterrupted as if they're on a stage and then they can take that link and send it off to help them get booked for events. And then the, the, the right path, the same thing, you know, authors give them a platform, but don't just say, so what made you write the book? You know, it's I hate that. Why? Right. I mean, I've written two books. Okay. There's a reason you go through that hell, right? One hundred percent. Did you do this? You know what is really behind it? And that has completely blown up and taken off. And then my last one is a corporate podcast for a particular industry. It's called Restoration Nation. And that's my entire corporate footprint. So all my corporate clients, I work through that umbrella. Currently, I have six. It's it's so funny you say that though, because each one of them. And once again, it started with a girl saying like, just go downstairs and just do it. Damn it. Um, it's, it's a theme. And it's so funny because so much of his, so many of us get caught in that where I want to be really good before I start. And it does not work that way. No, but that that brings me back to something else. And like when I started to listen to your podcasts, I'm like, oh, damn, we're going to have the, the, the voice competition, which you've already won here is you've got a great voice, man. Thanks. But, but with that, like, I want to go back, like what skills from podcasting do you feel like have crossed over that, that you've brought from your public speaking into podcasting? What, what are some of the basic skills that that you felt were transferable. That's a that's a great question. The, um, right off the bat, I, I knew how to put together a talk. And so I recognized that doing a solo podcast is really the same thing as doing a talk. You, you start, you build to a point, you close, you have a finish, you know, a call to action type thing. Uh, and so I used my format of delivering a short talk on whatever it might have been. Um, and I used that as the blueprint for every solo episode that I've ever done since episode one, really, you know, and the other part of public speaking is that you, you have to recognize that you're not just up there, you know, speaking, there's people listening and you're talking to people. And so what you're doing from start to finish isn't about you. It's about them. And when I went to podcast, I imagined all of those people in the room that I was talking to. And sometimes on the early, early, early YouTube videos, you know. I'll, uh, I'll be looking from side to side, you know, as if I was on stage because this is normal and I forgot I needed to look into the camera because all my audience is right there and they're all in one very small section. Yeah. You know, it's funny. So that's how you adapt it because that's, that's something that I always, I always find interesting with public speakers because I know some people that are great on stage, but as soon as they get in front of that blank eyeball that is staring right at me, that emotionless, just black chunk of plastic that's sitting in front of me. Plastic and glass. Uh, a lot of people have an issue with that because like, as public speakers, it's so easy to say like, you say something and if the crowd laughs, you're like, okay, more of that. And if they acknowledge it and if they don't, you're like, okay, less of that. I have I have done many presentations where they have started out one way and finished vastly different in terms of the attitude. And you. So was it tough for you to commit and be like, look, I'm not going to get any feedback until a couple of weeks later when looking at the camera with that. I don't think so. Okay. And the reason it wasn't because it would have been I didn't start off on video. I started off on just audio. Nice. And I didn't get to video until my first interview came out. And I had to use Zoom to do the interview. And when I was doing that interview, I was like, wow, this is really weird. I'm, you know, seeing myself and I was kind of dealing with it during that first interview. But I had an awesome guest on. And so I was able to focus on him. But I probably watched that video. ten or fifteen times, like within two days, because I was just fascinated by the way everything operated. So at that point, I already had thirty some solo episodes under my belt of just talking to nobody. And, uh, because I didn't have to see myself and because I didn't start off with video, I think I was able to adjust, um, without it. I think that honestly was the key. I've never been asked that before. That was a great question to me. Well, and so I do some public speaking also with another podcast that I do and things of that nature. So I always find it fascinating when I get to talk to people that have kind of those things in common because it's, I realize one hundred percent it's completely different when you step into an auditorium that has, I mean, even twenty or thirty people, like it's electric. You're like, yeah, there's this energy here. When I come into the studio like, this is my home studio. This isn't even like I'm in my basement. If there's electric here, there's a problem. If there's electricity here, there's there's bare wires showing someplace that I need to, that I need to take care of. I want to go to. You've got a unique, a unique philosophy on stuff. And I want to read a quote here. It's stop letting people who can't make money podcasting tell you how to make money podcasting. I found that so interesting because I, I, my dad had done some stock trading for a while and he looked at stuff and he's like, these people have these programs. And I'm like, well, if they were successful stock traders, why the hell do they need to sell a program for nineteen ninety five that like, I would hoard that and just beat up the stock market and roll with it instead of doing the thing? So to me, you've I mean, you aren't necessarily traditional ad based monetization, you're not looking at like you're not waiting for YouTube to send you MrBeast like checks. Um, they may they may be MrBeast like checks. The decimal point is in a very different place. We'll assume you can assume that safely. Yeah. I'm not I'm not going to front. Yeah. Right. Right. I do very well. But you know what? No, I'm not Mr. Beast. Right. So to me, like what made you think like, hey, I'm going to take a different approach to monetizing my podcast than just the straightforward, hey, everyone put ads on my podcast and go from there. What made you, what made what was the trigger that said, I'm going to do this differently? Um, well, another great question, man. I've never been asked that the, uh, it didn't make any sense. I had, uh, I've been in sales in one way, shape or form my whole life. And so I've sold, I mean, everything I've sold everything from, uh, you know, TV, radio, billboard Advertising. I, you know, ran a newspaper advertising, uh, you know, group. I, uh, I've been an entrepreneur in all those things, all kinds of, you know, advertising and stuff for real estate and marketing and all that on my own company. Um, I've even sold chiropractic back when I was real early in my sales career, like at the mall, you know what I mean? So I've done it all in terms of sales and it made no sense when I got into this, I said, wait, I'm doing all this work. I'm trying to build this podcast up. I'm putting all this time in so that I can make three cents on a download this. Wait a minute. I'm not going to get more than a cup of coffee. This is so stupid. And, and I just pulled back and went, what, what, what is the selling proposition? What do I actually have that's valuable? And it took about two seconds for me to say your podcast is a billboard. And that's what I try to convince everybody of. When, you know, everybody's like, oh, you got to have interactions and You can have downloads. And, you know, social media is the same way. Your social media is your billboard. Have you ever seen anybody run up and hug their TV when it ads on? No. Do you ever do you blow a kiss at the billboard when you go by or give it a little hug emoji? No. You view it and you leave. It's branding. It's recognition. And that's what we have. And that's what a podcast is. And I said, now that I know the value of it, now I know how to go sell it. And that's how I sold it. I said, here's my views between a podcast and social media combined. Here's what I know that's worth out in the marketplace. So the only question is, do you want to be associated with my product? And I went to people that had some similar interests, you know, for my products. And people were like, I love this. No one's pitching me on this. This is great. Where do I sign up? And my monetization was born through flat based, monthly paid brand awareness sponsorships. Truly, it's truly amazing with that. And it's funny because what I the thing that clicked for me and what I suspected with it is in so many cases, when you do the standard monetization route, you're paying for someone else to do the sales for you, whereas someone like yourself is like, why do I want to pay someone else a commission? I'd much rather pay the commission to myself. And it also opens up so many more opportunities for you because once again, it's not just who's advertising through the platform. You can go to other people that may not advertise through a platform and you can be like, I have, I have something you value here, other people's attention. And but the fact that you're willing to sell that is to me is huge because so many people, They. They aren't. And those are the ones that are going to go to the regular like, hey, YouTube sell ads for me. Um, and they're going to let YouTube take seventy five percent commission on that, which okay, sure. I guess Google, Google has shown that they've, uh, I guess I don't want to say have earned that, but they've, they've built a little YouTube's a decent sized platform now. Um, a little bit. Yeah. There's a couple of people on YouTube. Sure. Um, you have done, you've mentioned like, there's no rules in podcasting. Uh, I'm sure there's a few things though that could, I don't want to say be rules, but could be guidelines because you've put up and taken down a number of podcasts because you're like, well, that didn't work. Um, absolutely. When and, and I totally understand that. And it's one of those things that show that speaks heavily to the entrepreneurial side. There's, there's a risk involved. I'm going to put this out here and see what happens with this. It's either going to fly or it's not. But I got to try it. What are some of the things that you have learned from either ones that have taken off, or ones that have just straight into the ground? There you go. Um, the I'm going to go back to the fact that it's all about your listeners. Um, it doesn't matter what you're interested in. At the end of the day, it matters whether someone else is going to be interested in hearing you talk about it. And I think that's a big thing that people miss. You know, they're like, oh, I love this. So I'm going to talk about this. And it's like, but who are you talking to? You know, uh, I had a discussion with somebody yesterday on a coaching call who was just convinced that all of his people were on LinkedIn because those were his type of people, you know, the professional based and executive level and education wise. And I said, that's, that's great, but you're running a podcast. So who's listening to your podcast? And he goes, well, okay. Um, I guess, you know, the people who are buying these products of these people, well, the people who are buying the products of those people, are they on LinkedIn? No, bro. They're on Facebook, man. Okay. Looking for recipes and, you know, putting up pictures of their kids. So what are you doing? And one hundred percent it's that kind of, you know, stuff. I think that's one of the biggest things we lose sight of, is that just because it's interesting to you doesn't mean that, number one, it's going to be interesting to somebody else, or that it's interesting enough to somebody else that they want to listen to you talk about it, or that at some point someone's going to want to buy anything regarding anything from you about it. So there's just an awful lot to be talked about from the listener standpoint. And so whenever I'm coaching podcasting, especially, I'm like, okay, the listener, the listener, you know, and so one of my kind of rules, even though there are no rules, is when you do a podcast. Everybody goes, oh, I listen back to it when I was editing it. Okay, well, if you're editing it, you're making a mistake. But anyway, um, keep on going. And that's why we're here. Listen to it. Exactly. Okay. Listen to it on Spotify. Okay. Like a listener, because you're going to hear a whole different show than what you heard when you were giving it. And when people actually take that advice, they come back and they're like, whoa, I had no idea I sounded like that. Or when I made that squeak, I didn't even know it. And it sounded like, you know, a ten year old girl on the podcast. Whoa. I probably should have edited that. It's like, no, make a joke about it. But anyway, so, you know, these are some of the things, you know, um, that I do sort of preach that we should do, but I'm also very, very big on it's your podcast and nobody has the right to tell you what to do with your podcast. So, you know, I have a. I butt heads with the folks at the top of our industry a lot because of that. I it's funny you say that because I, I, I, once again, I get and see both sides of that. Um, and there are a couple of things that just work and there are a couple of things that just ain't gonna work. Um, and it's a reason why in many cases, like we say, we won't do broadcasts. Um, if it's just a bunch of guys hanging out and talking about randomness. Well probably not. We're like, you need to stick to a subject. You need to, you need to find a spot to be in. But once again, I do like the fact that you need to figure out the topics that your people want to hear from, that your audience wants to hear from. Uh, it's, we've recently pivoted on another podcast to do the business fix because we realized we initially started it for small business owners. And now we realized it's mid managers and executives that are listening to it. And we're like, oh, well, we need to talk about what those people want to hear, if they're the ones listening to it. We don't necessarily need to talk about like how you lost fifty dollars on this thing. When we're working with executives that are dealing with fifty million dollars budgets. They very, very different conversations there. And we've made sure that we are talking to those those people. So to say what I I'm assuming that you have probably another. Fifteen podcast ideas that you're going to start here momentarily. Uh, what, what does the future hold, um, for you? And then I'll ask a follow up to that too. What, like, what do you see? What are some moves that you're thinking about making because of what you see the market doing? Well, I love that. Um, I could start another podcast right now. Actually, I, I'm sure there's five that you're like, hey, just press record, I've got this, I've got a bunch. And as you know, you know, once you learn how to start a podcast. It is not tough to start a podcast and knock it out and begin and actually have a podcast. Now, doing one successfully is a whole different kind of story, but just starting one, you know, for whatever reason, your starting paper is something that you could do easily. Um, where I was, was I had ten and I was trying some out and it was really kind of, um, it was an experimental stage like, hey, with this podcast, let's try this with this podcast. I'm going to try that. And then I gauged the response, you know, I ran enough control group experiments on all my different podcasts to kind of decide, um, where should I be spending my personal time, you know, so I get the best ROI on that. And you know, when you're looking at that, uh, my decision right now, because I have increased in my speaking opportunities, I said, all right, I'm going to cut the podcast down then and only deal with the ones that are monetized that I, I know, you know, I'm making money on, um, how I'm making money on them. It's been proven at this point, you know, that type of thing. So in my in my life, that's where I am sort of as a stage in my life. It's let's make everything even more sturdy and stable and really build out what we have. Before I add another one, you know, I added a bunch, I brought them down and now I've got my really good base that is very strong. Uh, with the six that I have. Um, you know, I mean, the, the newest one of all of them is the Right Path podcast. And when I launched that, we had over a thousand downloads and episode one within the first hour. Wow. And I, I was like, okay, this is working. Yeah. And you know, we have a eighty four interviews booked to do for that. Wow. I mean, congratulations. It's crazy. Um, so I'm like, well, I'm where I need to be. Yeah. And my speaking opportunities are expanding. And so I'm focusing more on that. And the podcasts are what has given me the credibility to do everything else that I do anyway in the first place. And I have two books that are in development right now that I'm working on, you know, in pieces. Um, so those are going to come out. The speaking is growing and, uh, the podcasts are going to get stronger and more solid than I have now. That's the plan. Now I'm going to put up the asterisk. Like you said, I can start a new podcast in a week. Right, right, right. And I reserve the right to go off the rails and start another podcast in a week if I need to. Right. And your wife's going to encourage it, which is just do it. Just do it. Just go in your office. Leave me alone. Yeah. Uh, it's interesting because I, as we've started to develop some speaking gigs, I have seen that it used to be you had to have a book. A book is still a great thing to have for speaking gigs, but a podcast because once again, people can go online and get a pretty good I like before they could read a book and they'd have a, an okay ish idea of how you may present, uh, now they can go online, they can hear, see, and like know exactly how you're going to work with that. And to me, that's a, it's a big bonus. And it's a big benefit about podcasting, especially when you're a guest. It makes it opens up the panelists things super easily, uh, because once again, they know how you're going to answer questions and things of that nature. When as we go through things, there's, there's this little thing called AI. Um, I don't know if you've heard of artificial intelligence, but it seems to have been in the news, maybe a hint over the past, I don't know, a couple of days. Uh, nonetheless, I always like to ask a question, like, what do you see as like the future of podcasting here near term? I mean, I, my crystal ball is broken. I don't know what's going to happen three months out, but it's always nice to say like, look, here's what I see as a good thing about podcasting or a bad thing or like, what's your take on the, the future of podcasting? Let's say near term as a whole? The, uh, I think I've been around too long, uh, in a lot of ways because I've seen this movie before multiple times. Um, and, you know, we, we as, as humans are constantly trying to become more efficient and, you know, do this and do that. And, uh, for years in sales, it was okay, I'm making phone calls, you know, uh, when I should be knocking on doors. No, no, use the phone. Right. Use the phone book. Okay. That's impersonal. Then it became, well, I'm gonna send emails because I don't want to have to make phone calls. You know, then it was, I'm going to text people because I don't want to have to send emails. Right. Um, every step along the way, we've done something that's easier for us And may or may not be easier for our constituents, our, our customers, our clients, whoever it is. And AI is no different. Uh, AI makes our life easy, but it makes the listener experience less. Yeah. And there's always a blowback. So, you know, I believe in the pendulum theory and that is that we always pull that thing way too far off to one side. Uh, with all of our progress, with all of our, um, uh, efficiency, with our, our, our new developments and technology and everything else. And AI is right there. There are podcasters who do not exist. The podcast is an AI podcast. The host is AI, the imaginary guest is AI. And they're having conversations that were programmed into half. And there are people listening to these. And I'm going, okay, Great. And if that's what you want to create, that's what you want to create. Power to you. There will be. And I'm already seeing that there is a blowback to that, because people can only do that for so long and they want to have connection. So as much as we want connection, if the only way we're going to get it is through a screen and through a podcast, then the level of the connection, I think becomes even more important. So, you know, I'm already reduced to having to connect with you right through this, uh, or through this. Well, if I'm going to do that, I at least want to be connecting with a real person, not some imaginary, you know, a cartoon or something. I think AI is going to continue to get bigger. And then I think you're going to see a huge blowback against it. Like we have all other technologies and the podcasters who continue to do their thing and be authentic about who they are and do the work and keep grinding are the ones who are going to still be standing when this is all over. That's my guess. I love that, and it's interesting, I kind of I have I share a similar opinion in that and I feel like it's gonna. And I agree with you too. There's a saying that I have that goes along. Um, it's you never see the pendulum at the bottom. Um, you see it when it's swung way over here and you see it when it swung way over here. You just ignore it when it's here because it's not a big deal. It's a big deal over here. And it's a big deal over here. But you're kind of like, yeah, when it's in the middle, I feel the same way that like, people still want people. They still want to know that it's a person they're now there's a lot of stuff that we do a tremendous amount of work with AI, but that it's like, I mean, I know you said driving a truck. I was in trucking for a while also. And, uh, that last mile, um, a truck may be able to go down the freeway right now autonomously, but that last mile, that last mile delivery still needs to have hands on it. And I feel like that human connection is what's needed with that. Um, that being said, I, this has been an absolute blast. You've been a, just a treasure trove of information. Where can people find you? Give, give people all the places to find you and how to connect with you. I I'm, I'm an old guy. I'm telling you, it's hilarious because, uh, the best way to reach me, honestly is just on Facebook at Rory Paquette on Facebook. Uh, I'm not a big proponent of websites and all this other stuff that you spend money on that people don't go visit. Um, come find me where you're going to be anyway at Rory Pocket. Um, you can DM me there. You can leave comments on my posts, you can find out all the stuff I'm doing. And it's just the easiest place in the world to find me. And everybody's part of it and it's free. So you know what? Just come look me up there. This simplicity is awesome. I truly love it. Rory, I want to thank you. Um, really appreciate the time today. For everyone else, I have got some summarization to do. I will be right back. We've heard it time and time again that the number one piece of advice is just press record or just start. Just do it. You know it's going to be awful. We have told you time and time again that it is going to be awful. We get it like Lewis Hamilton or Max Verstappen, whichever one you're a fan of, if you like Formula One, they didn't start in a Formula One car their first day. Oprah Winfrey did not do well on her talk show. The first day Michael Jordan got cut from his high school basketball team. Don't expect to start as a pro. It's just not going to happen. What you need to do, though, is you need to start. It's an overarching theme that we have with so many of our guests, and I'm truly grateful that they're willing to share those stories of how yep, I sucked when I first started. It's a big deal. It truly is. From that, I'm not necessarily going to recommend that you go out and start ten podcasts. Probably not the ideal thing. Now, granted, if you're going to start that and have us produce them and want to pay for that, by all means, let's talk. I say that in jest, though, because really that is a heavy lift. He he truly loves doing that. And what I'm making the connection here with is with that public speaking, there's a natural jump from public speaking to working on a podcast, especially if you're able to talk to a camera the way I am right now. It's granted, it's this glass eyeball, but I know that you are sitting right behind that. I'm talking to you. I'm not talking to the camera. And as long as you can get that in your head, if you do public speaking, you should be doing a podcast too. It's it really is. It's that logical step. It offers so much support and it offers so many ways for you to expand those horizons. Speaking of expanding your horizons, do me a favor. Make sure you're subscribed. Follow. We'd love to get a review. Also, go to Pedal Stomper productions dot com, like see the website, see what we've got there. If you'd like to be a guest, I would love for you to submit the contact form there. Absolutely love to hear from you. That all being said, do me a favor. Take care of yourself. If you can take care of someone else too. I will see you very, very soon.