Ep. 34 - Fan Psychology Explored: Why We Live and Die for College Sports

Fandom is a social addiction that alters how we view our daily realities. In a culture driven by online division, the stadium remains one of the last places where tens of thousands of people from completely opposite walks of life push for the exact same outcome. We sit down to dissect this intense psychological connection with sports commentator John Nabors, owner and founder of Inside Arkansas.

We get into the unvarnished realities of modern sports culture, examining everything from death threats over coach transfers to the infamous poisoning of the historic oak trees at Auburn. John pulls back the veil on his fourteen year broadcasting journey, breaking down how he overcame a childhood speech impediment to build a premier sports media brand. We cover the tactical choices that separate sustainable platforms from temporary hype, focusing on production quality, audience data, and the raw mechanics of solo broadcasting.

John spent his first three years in podcasting making zero dollars, relying entirely on a relentless work ethic and a refusal to mimic other creators. Viewers walk away from this conversation with a blueprint for building audience trust through extreme authenticity, alongside a critical reality check regarding the mental traps of early financial comfort in the modern NIL landscape.

If you care about sports psychology, digital media growth, and the grit required to build an independent brand, you’ll get a lot from this episode. Please subscribe and share this show with someone who values practical industry experience over textbook theories. For those in the comments, what is the craziest encounter you have ever personally experienced with an opposing fan base?

Transcript

Why Fans Matter In College Sports

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Welcome back to the Radical Moderate Podcast. I'm your host, Pat O'Brien. And back this week is John Neighbors, owner of Inside Arkansas and a veteran of the sports reporting industry and commentator, podcaster himself. I don't think I mentioned that last week. Welcome back for this week's episode, John. It's great to be back once again, Pat. How are you? I'm great. And what I want to talk about on this episode, well, first I should be remiss if I didn't, for anybody who didn't listen last week, and you should go back and listen to it. But we we really got into the business of college athletics. And this is a massive business, over uh $20 billion in revenue and expenditures. We talked about uh things like how Indiana University won the national championship, and they were, it was literally a worst to first type situation, just the laughing stuff of college football. And now they're the ones who are laughing at everyone else. So we talked about the business, but now I want to talk about the customers of the business, the people who support this, you know, why they go to these games, et cetera. You've traveled to a lot of different sports venues, and we we can expand it beyond football, but we can start there. What are some of the when we talk about fan, we're we're it's short for fanatic. And I count myself as a fanatic. Who are these people? For people who are like, you know, sports are fine, but I don't know why people are so into it and they're yelling and screaming and being loud. Who are these people, John? Uh uh pull back the veil and tell us about this species of human that is a sports fanatic.

The Addictive High Of Belonging

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Well, and it's not in an insulting way or anything like that, but they're kind of the salt of the earth type of people, the people that are just the common man, if you would. They are usually the ones that have the most emotionally invested into it because they feel connected with it. And when you feel an emotional connection with something, you're gonna be passionate about it. You're you're going to care about it, you're going to get fired up about it. And when good things happen, you're celebrating like crazy. But when bad things happen, you're cussing, you're flipping out, you're, you know, going nuts over it. And, you know, to some, it's like, well, that seems a little over the top and ridiculous. It's talking about a sport, it's talking about a game, which is true. But to me, it's always just been about if you have a connection, whether it's like a relationship in a way. You know, if you have your son or your daughter, they're going to do great things that you'll praise them for. But when they do bad things, you're disappointed in them and you're mad at them, but doesn't mean you don't love them still. Like you love them still, no matter what happens. And it's the same thing of how a lot of these people take their sports. Uh, because everyone's got a hobby, everyone's got their passions, but there's just, it's the feeling that you have. And I've always compared it to this the feeling that you have when your team, the thing that you feel like you're a part of, the thing that you feel like you're doing, and you're able to have that emotions, whether it's there at a stadium in front of other big crowds or everyone talking about it on social media, or everybody, you know, referring to it in the highlights, you feel a part of it and you, it's an addictive feeling. It's an addictive feeling because you know that it's not something that happens every day. It's not something that just feels that way every day, but you want it all the time. And it pushes you to leave. I want my team because I don't, I can't there, I can't replace that feeling anywhere else. I want my team to give me that feeling all the time whenever they play. And if they don't, I'm upset. So it's just, it's an addiction, is pretty much what it is. It's it's a drug and then some sorts of you if you do it all the time, it loses its effect. But the times when it actually comes through for you and it and it feet and you feel great, it makes everything better. It makes the economy better in your mind. It makes your love life better in your mind. Like it makes everything better in your mind because you are on such a high from being able to have that type of success for something that you have nothing to do with, but you really feel like you did because you're connected to it.

Becoming A Fan And Loving Crowds

SPEAKER_00 4:14

When did you become a fan more than just like trying to figure out what was going on in any particular sport, but where you actively started cheering? Like how old were you and what were the circumstances?

SPEAKER_01 4:26

Yeah, I mean, I was probably, I'd say 10 years old was really the first time I can remember like knowing what was going on, you know, because as a kid, I would go to games, but it wasn't about, oh, well, like paying attention to the score and what was going on. You know, I was distracted by other things. But I would say when I was about 10 years old is really where I was invested a little bit and paying attention to what the score was, paying attention to what was happening on the field or on the court or anything like that. And I I've always felt this way, and it may seem almost like a deeper thing than what some people may look at it as, but there's something very unique about an unmassive amount of people, group of people, whether it's 10,000 people here or 50,000 or 100,000, whatever it is that you're in the same spot, that everyone's wanting the same thing. We don't get that anywhere else in life. You know, whether it's politics, whether it's food, whether it's like anything. There are very few things that where you come together as a collective unit, all in the same place. And all of you from different backgrounds, from rich to poor, different races, everything's different. Everyone in that one place wants the same thing, their team to win. And there may be disagreements on how they want to go about that win. There may be some disagreements on how you know certain calls that are being made or certain plays or all of that. But at the end of the day, everyone wants the same thing. And there's something really special about that. And there's something that, again, you can't get it anywhere else. And that's why I love going to these events and being such a sports fan is, you know, I could see people I would never meet in a million years, but we have that connection of ah, we we love our team and we're here together to root on our team. So I think that's the connection I've always had is just the emotion of it, the energy of it, but also the fact that everyone there together at the same time is wanting the same

Sports As A Safer Outlet

SPEAKER_01 6:20

thing.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Yeah, I think you're right in terms of like a refuge from the daily grind, and everybody's got coworkers that that maybe they're on the same page, maybe they're not. You certainly politics, it's very we're it's designed, at least now, and I would say the social media age to be very adversarial. And you feel like I think there are some people who hate other people who they've never met. And maybe one way of looking at it, I've always kind of thought sports in general, whether it was pro or college, it's a better way of getting out your anger and frustration than taking a swing at somebody or shooting at someone. Uh, and I'm as passionate uh of a fan, and for the Arkansas Razorbacks is anyone you're gonna meet out there. I have stories of verbal uh disagreements with uh fans from other places. And but it, I never got in a fight. You know, I never I never was that stupid, but I was so passionate about it, and they were so passionate about it too. And then you release that energy, and you it even when you lose, you do feel better about it. Do you have any story? You ever had any run-ins with uh opposes? Because uh, for those who I don't know if we made it clear, you're an Arkansas Razorback uh advocate, and that's what you your focus has been the

Social Media Trash Talk Turns Dark

SPEAKER_00 7:42

whole time you've been in sports. So have you ever run into people, an LSU fan or somebody like that, that you want to tell the audience about?

SPEAKER_01 7:48

Well, I've had obviously a lot more run-ins on social media than anything just because it's a lot easier. Um, you know, Kentucky basketball fans by far were uh the most vocal because Arkansas hired John Callapari, who was the Kentucky basketball coach for over 15 years and he won national championships. It was a really messy divorce. It was a shock of the world. And when he came over to Arkansas, a lot of those Kentucky fans kind of saw me because I was in I was in a documentary about Cal and I was kind of talking some trash and in a fun way, but they took it really seriously. So I had a lot of bad interactions with them. In fact, the worst thing I've ever been told uh from anybody on social media came from a Kentucky fan. And I don't know, hopefully I can say this on here, but I own the show, I alright, feel free. I got a I got a DM, and it was the week leading up to when Arkansas was going to Lexington for Cal Perry's return trip. And uh Kentucky fan DM'd me and said, I don't know if it was verbatim, but said that my mother should have used a clothes hanger to have an abortion before I was born. And I was like, that I don't know, I was like, I wasn't even really mad about it. I was like, that is just another level of crazy. But it's like so social media is just it's you know, it's not real life. Uh, but as far as like in person, there's only been three occasions that I can remember where it was actually like an uncomfortable situation. And two of them was against Texas AM. I am not surprised at all. And the other one is against LSU. So uh Texas AM, Artisan used to play Texas AM and football down in uh Dallas or Arlington at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium every year. They used to do that, and it was always half AM, half Arkansas fans down there. They did it forever. And for whatever reason, man, I don't know if it's just the the cultural difference because AM is very different from all the other uh football programs.

When Rivalries Get Physical

SPEAKER_01 9:39

They just the their fans were very obnoxious, and a guy just said a lot of expletives to me in my face, and I don't know why, and he's just staying, that's something he was drunk or whatever. But you know, it kind of got a little bit uh dicey in there, and then some people hopped in, but uh, which was very random, and it's the kind of the same thing the other occasion, but the the random occasion was the LSU fan, which was just happened uh last year at the College World Series uh up in Omaha, Nebraska. Arkansas baseball was playing in the College World Series up there as well as LSU. And those are two teams in the SEC. They got a lot of history. And again, I haven't had as many problems with LSU fans in on social media. In fact, most fan bases I haven't had a problem with or have had a problem on social media with fans. LSU was the only one where I had more problems in person than I did with on social media. It was crazy. They just will let you know how they feel about you. And I was actually in in the bathroom, uh, it was actually at a at a spot that was outside of the College World Series. And it was a famous bar, and it was really crowded, both razorac fans and LSU fans. And I was using it while this LSU fan just goes up and kind of uses his foot and kicks me into it a little bit. And just because I was an outrageous, so you know, that kind of got a little dicey too. I didn't really feel like I wanted to get into a fight into a bathroom at a bar with an LSU fan over something stupid like that. But still, there's a lot of uh lot of interactions that happen, especially down here in the Southeastern Conference, where as they say, it just means more. It means more to them, where it's not just like, oh, a couple of teams playing sports. It's it they they view a lot of fans view it as a battle. It's like a it's a war. And, you know, we may not be there on the field, but we have to do our part up here. We got to make sure people know how we feel and how awesome we are. So it's it's competitive, but those are those are kind of the main examples. I'm sure there's been a lot more, but I usually just try to ignore it because I'm like, what am I gonna win in this if I if something happens? Like what am I what am I gonna do? You know, I'll defend myself, but I'm not gonna try to be like, hey, some idiot fan just goes F you and I'm gonna be like, all right, we got to fight now. That's like, is that worth it? No.

SPEAKER_00 11:43

But as long as they keep it within check, I can usually appreciate it. Well, I'm probably gonna piss off some uh wrestling fans with this next comment. But I watched wrestling, professional wrestling when I was younger and didn't realize that it was all fake and made up and that sort of thing. And maybe somebody will come on as it's not fake. I I don't know. I I haven't watched it in so long, but it's dramatic and it's entertaining and all that. I think what's interesting about college athletics, a guy kicking you in a bathroom, that's not fake. I mean, he had no one to impress. It's not theater. His passions and and was this before or after they beat the Razorbacks? Do you remember? It was after the first time, but before the second time because they played twice. That's right, and lost twice, unfortunately. But the yeah, I think it it was real. It was a real moment for that person. They probably, you know, need to see a therapist or something. I can tell you this. Uh, my wife has many times had to put her hand on my hand and just pat it and say, hey, which means like chill down, you know. But I I get I get incredibly excited. And I also try not to be too big of a critic when my team loses. You know, like I I call it enjoy the show. I'm being entertained. I get, I get, as you talk, you called an addiction. Um, there's the long-term consequences of losing or uh or having a high from sports are not nearly as catastrophic as you know, being addicted to a heroin or something or a meth, I would assume. But yeah, it the passions, they're

Iron Bowl Madness And Poisoned Trees

SPEAKER_00 13:20

real. I mean, how much uh for those who are more casual listener or sports fans, what is your knowledge about the Auburn versus Alabama rivalry? And just like, what do you see even up and to this day?

SPEAKER_01 13:34

Well, it's it's crazy to think that, first off, like whenever you hear stories about fan bases and about the insanity that goes along with them, people have to understand that's not everyone in that fan base. Now, is there a lot of them? Yeah, probably. But, you know, people, there's been times where I've heard, oh, these certain these fans are awful, these fans are awful. But then uh I just mentioned why I went to Kentucky for and Lexington on social media, it was awful. But in person, it was a pretty pleasant experience. People are really nice. So it's always about the instances, but with Alabama and Auburn, you know, that's about as an intense of a rivalry that you'll ever see in college sports in general, not just in football, but in general. Uh they call it the Iron Bowl. You know, there's been a lot of crazy moments between the two teams, and there is a sheer hatred for one another. Uh, and it and even if you're not even an Auburn baseball fan, for instance, but Auburn baseball is playing Alabama and baseball, suddenly you're an Auburn baseball fan because it's Alabama. Right. You know, that that's the way it's looked at. Uh, but there's been instances and stories, well, you know, it was a couple uh decade or so ago, where you had uh really you know strong ties between the two programs being really good and they played each other at the end of the year. But one of the craziest things was there was an Alabama fan uh named Harvey Updike who saw that on Nick Saban or a Paul Bear Bryant statue, who's an iconic Alabama coach. There, it's almost like their god, if you will, like who's there forever. He's actually from Arkansas. He's from Arkansas. Yeah, another coach that's from here that didn't coach here. Love that. Uh, but he had a statue up there, and somebody put an Auburn fan put a Cam Newton jersey on him, which Cam Newton was a Heisman trophy winner at Auburn, won a national championship. They put a jersey on it from Auburn. And it upset him so much that he went to Auburn, Alabama, where they have a thing called Tumor's Corner. And there's these, there is these huge trees that it's the strategy shows you the absurdity of college athletics. Like, what does trees have to do with the Auburn Tigers? So you, but there's these trees that anytime Auburn won a game, they would take toilet paper and they'd roll the trees. They roll Tumor's Corner. It's their tradition, it's a tradition they do all the time. These trees have been there forever. I mean, huge, hundred years. And he went over there and he poisoned the trees and they died. Only because that random Auburn fan put a jersey on Paul Bear Bryant statue.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

Which could the jersey can be removed, but we easily we poisoned the trees. The trees died, right? They did. They tried to save them dead.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

And and that and and I think they replanted they did, but I mean, it's like, you know, it's kind of like uh imagine, of course we talk about Arkansas, but Arkansas has a building called Old Maine that's been on campus since like 1873. Imagine someone just burned it down. It's like, yeah, it's like, well, I mean, you can always build it back, but it's like it's not gonna be the same. And that's what it was. And so to your point about the rivalry, that's just one of the example of how intense it is, where it had nothing to do with that personal, nothing to do with Harvey Updike personally, or whoever that Auburn fan was personally. It was no, Auburn did that, did that to us, Alabama. And they took it upon themselves to be like, this this is eye for an eye. Yeah. Because he related to a jersey being put on a statue. I gotta go and I gotta kill these trees. So yeah, it's never short of any sort of crazy and tense moments.

SPEAKER_00 17:00

And that that specific example, which I think ESPN did a documentary on or a 30 for 30 for 30 on, that is that's really bad. Yeah. But that it usually doesn't get to that level. But it I think it it kind of reveals something about human nature in general, where let's let's take just say the Middle East, and you've got the Jewish people who are primarily in Israel and then surrounded by Muslim faith people in all these other countries. There's so much padblood. There's so many things that people feel slighted. There's been wars, deaths. I, you know, it's really hard to get over stuff like that. That is real stuff. This guy simply saw a jersey on his idol and decided to take it out on these portries at Toomer's Corner. But I think it's revealing of why to the point I try to make to people who are not big sports fans, what else would you have me do with my time? You know, like I go to Tailgates, which is really community. I get to see friends. You know, I tell people all the time, hey, I haven't seen you in a while. I've got a tailgate. Please stop by. There's people who I I never get to see once a year. I get to see them then. It's a common language. And you're talking about, you know, when you're talking about everybody having the same goal, uh, you know, there's a lot of documentation about the putting a man on the moon. But I'm a big fan of the show Mad Men. And I've seen every episode in the episode where the the background context is that they're putting a man on the moon. You can see in the acting, everybody was polling for it. Like everybody was on the same page. This will be so amazing. But they also knew there could be problems. Like it could have gone badly, and that would have been crushing to everyone. And so that kind of unity to get that many people all, you know, on the same uh page is very difficult. And the last thing I'll say about one of the reasons I brought up Alabama and Auburn is that, you know, I own Sonics in that state. So I'm there on business quite a bit. And even my not, what I'll call

Building A Razorbacks Media Business

SPEAKER_00 19:16

my non-sports employees, which quite frankly is most of them. The majority of them are not that big into sports. They all know, at least in football, when Alabama and Auburn are playing. We do like no sales at our restaurants. We may as well just shut them down because everybody's watching the game. So culturally, it's it's it's massive. Um, you you do a let's talk about this. You you've done a you've built a business by talking about the Arkansas Razorbacks. And I know there's probably people who maybe not have your exact story, but people who've done similar things. What to what do you attribute the business that you've been able to create in terms of like what is it your customers, the fans want from you? What do they want to hear? I mean, and why are people like me crazy enough when it's not football season? You know, it's it's the middle of spring, and I should be out, you know, enjoying myself. Instead, I'm trying to figure out what is the Arkansas football recruiting picture. What tell us about your fans?

SPEAKER_01 20:17

Well, the thing is, is there's a lot of different ways to be able to be in the business of whether it's podcasting or live streaming or in sports talk radio, which is what I got my background in for a long time. You can be informative, you know, and be like, here's the stats and here's what's going on. And and you can also be opinionated. Uh, you can be educational. Like there's a lot of different ways you can approach it, but it's a matter of what's going to be most effective for you to connect with your audience. Now, I don't know if I'm the best broadcaster of all time, you know, I don't think I'm uh to a level to where I'm just so I'm just so easy to listen to because it's just the way I sound. But what I try to do is I try to be as relatable to my audience to where if they're hurting, I'm hurting. If I'm if they're mad, I'm mad. And it's not to say I just react to them. It's like, no, because I am one of them. I understand that. If if Arkansas loses a game, I feel like they do, and they need somebody to justify or at least to connect with in their own mind to somebody else. It's like this person feels this way too. Or if it's a celebration, you know, they just want to celebrate and have fun with it as well. Uh but my whole motto has always been I don't have to be right, I just have to be interesting. And it's not to say I don't have to be factually correct, but what I have to be is I have to be somebody who is presenting things to where people may see things from a different angle, or maybe they didn't think of certain things, or maybe they just need somebody to be mad with or to be happy with, they have a place they can go. And like they feel that connection because I keep I keep using the word connection. That's what fans of sports want to be. They want to feel connected. And if they can't directly feel connected with their team or whatever, they can feel connected. Feel connected with somebody that has a platform that can kind of be a voice for them in a way. I'm not arrogant enough to say I'm the voice of the Razorbacks, but I do believe there is an element of people viewing what I do and how I do things and the way I feel. And they say, hey, I may not always agree with John. I may not like the way John talks or if the way he even looks, but I know that he's feeling the same thing I'm feeling. And there's always an emotional connection where if you have that with somebody where you both feel the same way, there's like a almost like a bonding over that.

SPEAKER_00 22:33

I I yeah, as you were talking, it kind of made me think that there's some similarity to people running for office because one of the things I think voters want is somebody who understands their situation, who you talk kind of like of the people, you know, like has a similar background to me and is mad about the same things. And we'll speak truth. You know, I I'm not, we're not going to take a severe turn into this, but I think that part of the appeal of a Donald Trump was he was already, you know, a known quantity, but then he really started uh addressing issues that there was a constituency that felt they weren't allowed to talk about that and they they were being shamed, like you're not supposed to think things like that. I disagree with the man on so many levels, but I don't think there's any question that he has spoken for the Make America Great Again community and given voice to them, and that's why he has won the presidency twice. And I think that uh, you know, it must be similar, I guess, being in a business like yours. Now, go back to a little of the bio for a second. Uh, you've been doing this about 14 years. I'm assuming the first couple of years weren't super easy. So, how did you find your voice? How did all that transpire?

Finding A Voice And Staying Authentic

SPEAKER_01 23:54

Well, no, it wasn't easy because uh, and it's funny, I still have my uh audio of my radio show, my very first radio show I ever hosted, and it was in 2012, and it's awful. I mean, it was just it was just awful. But it's, you know, you got to find your footing a little bit and you got to find uh a way to navigate and be interesting and, you know, to be confident in what you do and to say things without worrying about how it sounds, just do it and then worry about the thing afterwards. And I've always said, you know, I read numbers, I don't read replies. So I don't let people dictate my content. I let the numbers speak for it. If the numbers continue to grow, if it continues to get great, I'm doing something right. Uh, but if they're if anybody ever tells me they don't like me, and I'm like, okay, that's fine. Like I'm not for everybody, not everybody's for everybody. But starting off that way, I had to make sure that I took care of the things that I could control a lot easier. For instance, I naturally lowered my voice and made it stronger. Uh, I did these full practices where it just got going. Yeah. Did some practices and everything and got it to where I'm not sounding because it, you know, whenever you have a stronger, deeper voice, you sound confident in what you're saying. And so I had to learn how to like hone that. Uh, because I grew up with a speech impediment. And yeah, yeah, I couldn't say my L's or my Rs growing up. Like it was, uh, so I had to go through therapy for all that. But anyways, you know, I had to work at that. And when it came to anything, like it was audio. I want to make sure my audio quality is the best. I want to make sure my video quality is the best. Like, yeah, you can sit here and you can have the best opinions all day long and the best takes. But if you look like crap and you sound like crap, no one's gonna care. So I had to take care of those little details things before that. And once I got that, I just found what works. And I just keep doing it and keep going and keep growing and keep taking advantage of opportunities and trying to learn everything about everything. So that way I can have at least a little bit of an idea of where everything comes from. And then once I see everything, and one of the funniest things is, you know, on my podcast, I speak by myself for 30 minutes, roughly. Uh, there's been times I did radio shows for three hours where I just spoke by myself. And I think a big part of that was because I was one of those weird kids that I was, I was very independent. I just kind of had lived in my own little world, but I had conversations with myself. I know it sounds crazy, but it's like, you know, I was the one that had imaginary friends and stuff. Like I was just crazy. But I think that helped me later in life with this, because now I can I understand how to have a conversation with myself to where it's not, I don't feel like I'm talking at somebody. I try to make myself sound like I'm talking with somebody. And if people are listening to that or watching it and they feel that way, they're not gonna, they're gonna be a lot more engaged into it than they would if someone was just giving

Career Advice For Young Broadcasters

SPEAKER_01 26:37

them a lecture, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 26:38

All it makes sense, and I appreciate you kind of sharing all that stuff. And what advice, if somebody's listening to this and they're they're younger, they could be in high school, they could be college, or you know, they're still trying to figure out, like, I don't know what I want to do, but they say, Oh, I want to be a sports journalist, or you know, that sort of thing. What advice would you give them, period, but certainly in terms of like, how long do you give it? You know, you know, to it's like say you want to be an actor, how long do you give it until you know, am I an actor or am I a bartender? So, like, what are your thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_01 27:17

Well, it's it sounds like it's a cliche thing to say, but to me, it's about you know it's over with if you feel like you stopped growing. If you feel like you've stopped, where and it's not a daily thing necessarily, but if you just feel like you've plateaued and you're not getting those opportunities that maybe you wanted, maybe you're not growing with your audience, maybe your brand isn't growing, you know, whatever it is. The the time happens then when you don't feel like you're growing anymore. Because the second you stop growing, what what else can you do? You know, it's not just something to where, oh no, I can change this and then I'll grow. It's like, no, you you have to put in the work for it and you have to have that passion for it. Uh, you know, we all want to do things that we're passionate about for a living, but it's not always easy to do. And I think that, you know, the two things that I've always felt was the most important thing that I've learned. Um, number one, consistency. Again, duh, of course, yeah, we all want to be consistent, but it's consistent when you know no one's listening. Yeah. You can start a podcast, you can start a on a radio show or whatever. And if you get on there expecting everyone to listen to you and you have this huge, you're it nope, not gonna happen. And if you get let that get if you let that discourage you, this ain't the business for you. I didn't make any money in radio for nearly three years, three or four years. My locked on Razor X podcast, which is the number one Razor X podcast out there, been doing it since 2018. First three years, I made no money in it. But I didn't have a very good rate of return, John. It's not, but I knew I believed in it. And it was like I I had a passion for it and I kept at it. And now, you know, it it's it does make a lot of money, and I do make a good living in it. So consistency is number one. And the number two thing, and again, it's cliche, but to always like be yourself, I don't want to be someone else behind this microphone. I don't want to be someone I'm not because when I'm someone I'm not, I'm not comfortable. And if I can't be comfortable, I'm not gonna be very good at this. And so you may have an inspiration of somebody that you really like the way they did a show or a podcast. You're like, I want to do that. But if you go on and you start trying to sound like them, it's disingenuous. And your audience is not stupid. They will hear and they'll be like, no, this this is this guy's full of it. So the biggest thing is you're no, you're never going to be better behind a microphone and behind a camera and more comfortable if you're just yourself. And then let the audience dictate whether to invite you in, let the audience dictate if they like that or not. Uh, because if they feel like you're being disingenuous, they're not gonna come back. But if they feel that you're real, if they feel that you're willing to admit if you made a mistake, if you're willing to say, hey, I screwed that up, or if you're willing to, you know, take chances, people will respond to that a lot more. So again, I know it's a lot of uh stuff to go out there, but to me, consistency and being yourself is what's gonna drive the vast majority of your journey and doing something like this.

SPEAKER_00 30:16

Well, I and you didn't use the word, and maybe you didn't do it because you want to be self-deprecating, but you're being authentic. You're just who you are. You can somebody can like it, they can not like it, that's their choice, but you're not gonna change. I'm gonna conclude the episode by by wrapping some things

NIL Money And The Value Of Struggle

SPEAKER_00 30:32

up here. During the course of the episode, talking about college athletics, one of the things we talked about was NIL and how some athletes, let's just say a half a million dollars a year, which is for many athletes, is it that's happening right now. And not, we're not necessarily talking about the stars. We're just talking about people who are on the team, maybe they're a starter, but they're not the quarterback. They're not even the point guard, that sort of thing. But they're making a half a million dollars, and they do this for three, four, five, six years. What I thought was so powerful about what you just said is the struggle. You didn't make anything, you didn't make money for three years, the growth. I think that that's what the these kids are gonna miss is they're they think it's easy because it's been easy from ages 18 to 22, when in reality, that's probably when you need to be struggling the most and figuring out who you are and learning the hard lessons, because life life is not simple. Well, thanks again for being on the podcast these

Final Takeaways And Thanks

SPEAKER_00 31:33

last two weeks. I've enjoyed it. Hopefully the audience has enjoyed it. And I think my biggest takeaway this week, John, is that if you're passionate about something and eventually people show a response, just go for it. I mean, your journey is is probably just not not even close to peaking, would be my guess. So, folks, thanks for listening uh to this week. That is the POV of POBIC.