Tom Schwab is fully immersed in the podcast industry as CEO of Interview Valet; a concierge-level podcast interview marketing service. Tom is an avid mindfulness enthusiast and is passionate to point out how to be a podcast guest and how podcast guesting can help you thrive during this COVID19 pandemic the world is currently experiencing. Tom teaches how being a guest on podcasts can get you long-term return on investment (ROI) that beats blogging, advertising, or social media postings. You can use podcast interviews as a virtual book tour, as a powerful SEO strategy, to propel your own podcast, and to create huge brand awareness.
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Contact Info
- Company: Interview Valet
- Website: www.InterviewValet.com/mindfulnessmode
- Blog: www.InterviewValet.com/blog
- Book: Podcast Guest Profits: Grow Your Business With A Targeted Interview Strategy by Tom Schwab
- Podcast: Coming Soon
Most Influential Person
- Jen Groover, Author of What If? and Why Not? How to Transform Your Fears Into Action and Start the Business of Your Dreams
Effect on Emotions
- Mindfulness has helped me enjoy the highs and the lows instead of being painful in the highs and the lows.
Thoughts on Breathing
- I've learned from running that if I can control and slow down my breathing, that makes the difference as to whether it's a happy run or where I'm panting for life.
- It's the same thing in stressful situations.
Suggested Resources
- Book: Podcast Guest Profits: Grow Your Business With A Targeted Interview Strategy by Tom Schwab
- Book: Thou Shall Prosper: 10 Commandments For Making Money by Rabbi Daniel Lapin
- App: Focus
Free Gift
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Episode Transcript
Note: The following transcript is a draft transcript, and as such, may contain computer-generated mistranslations.
Bruce:
Welcome to Mindfulness Mode. I enjoyed your book, it’s absolutely terrific. It's called Podcast Guest Profits. I'm looking at it right here. Grow your business with a targeted interview strategy and it is such a great book. It is full of information about how to be a podcast guest. And I was just saying that one of the reasons I like this book is because it's, it doesn't contain fluff. It's not one of those books where you think, Oh, I'll have to read, you know, 10 or 12 pages in order to get a couple of good ideas or concepts. You just cut to the chase and you share really good information in here about how to be a good gas done podcast and how to benefit from it, but also how to grow your own podcast. So what would you suggest? Should we start our own podcast first or should we get out there and be a guest on some podcasts first before starting our own?
Tom Schwab:
To me, it's not an either or question. When people ask me that often, I'll just say yes and I use the analogy, it's like asking should buy, should I be an Uber driver or should I be an Uber passenger? It's the same platform but different goals. So if you're a podcast guest, your goal is to go out there and get exposed to new audiences, to get new leads, to get new followers, to get new subscribers to your podcast. So that's what a G being a guest does. Being a host nurtures those existing relationships. So they existing, fans that you have the existing leads, the existing customers. So to me it's not an either or. It's a both. But I, I can tell you that is whole lot easier to be a guest than it is a host. Um, you know, I always say that I feel guilty sometimes because I, come on here, we talk for 45 minutes, this is fun. I leave and then you do all the work. So, I appreciate all that goes into it. Anybody that says doing a podcast is easy as either never done it or never done it well, it's just the great ones that make it look easy.
Bruce:
Well, you know, I think of you as a very grounded and centered person. And of course my podcast is about mindfulness. So I want to talk about your mindfulness and how that ties in with podcasting. But first, what does mindfulness mean to you, Tom?
Tom Schwab:
It's to be present, to be aware, to be proactive, not reactive. Um, and I think the older I've gotten, the more mindful I've gotten and the more mindful I've gotten, the more I've enjoyed life and taken the ups and downs a whole lot better. Um, and putting things in perspective, to me, that's, that's what it means to me. And it's not something that was taught to me, at the Naval Academy or in the military. it's really been taught to me like by friends like you,
Bruce:
well, you live in a part of the country where you can really enjoy nature to you is nature part of mindfulness?
Tom Schwab:
It is.
Bruce:
And maybe that's just because it's normal to me, but still, you know, my, my bride and I, before this whole thing, we tried to live in one new city a week out of every month. So, even when we were in Manhattan last summer, it was still able to be mindful in all of that noise and all of that, commotion there just to, to stand and look around and see what man had built and how many people were there and you know, how, how much diversity there was, but how much we had in common. So I, to me, nature helps, but I can find mindfulness really wherever I am. Well, that is awesome. I love how you put that. Tom, I want to share a little bit specifically about you with mindful tribe. Tom Schwab is fully immersed in the podcast industry as CEO of interview valet, and that is a concierge level podcast interview marketing service.
Bruce:
Tom teaches how being a guest on podcasts can get you longterm return on investment that beats blogging, advertising or social media posting. You can use podcast interviews as a virtual book tour. You can use them as a powerful SEO strategy. You can use it to propel your own podcast and to create huge brand awareness. And, we've already talked about how you're an avid mindfulness enthusiast and you're just passionate. You're so passionate to point out to people how podcasting can help people thrive. But I think particularly now, when we're all locked in with this coven 19 pandemic, get your voice heard. You know, what's your area? What's, what really makes you tick? You could be going out there and talking to people on podcasts or of course starting one, but what are your comments about people who are locked in and, and could be using the benefits of podcasting?
Tom Schwab:
Yeah. You know, one of the things I found is the, the more I look inward or it's all about me, me, me, the worst things get right. if you think things are bad, start serving other people and that gratitude, that joy comes back to you. And so with that, I think a lot of people struggle with, well, what do I have to share? Right? I'm not an expert. Bruce. Well, a friend of mine, Nick Pavlidis, um, helped me with this. Nick is a recovering lawyer and, he pointed out the definition of an expert. The legal definition is someone who by their training, their experience, their life has more knowledge than the average person. So, right. We always think of that is the PhD. Well, that's one kind of experts. That's the, you know, the doctor, right? Um, the professor, well, there's also the expert that's like the Sherpa that, that person that's been to the mountain numerous times.
Tom Schwab:
And then there's also the expert that's the traveller that that is just like one step along with you going through the journey with it. And all of those people have expertise. So I always challenge people. What's ordinary to you is amazing to others. And I think we're all blessed to be a blessing. Um, I've been taught a lot of things in my life, had a lot of lessons in my life. A lot of people have helped me in my life and I want to make sure that I take what I've learned and help other people. And, you know, I didn't learn it all myself. That's why I love always giving credit to the people that taught me. But, I always picture it, um, you know, being at the pearly Gates and, having to answer the question. Um, the had so many people that helped you. Why didn't you help more people? And I, I can't say, well, you know, I live in Southwest Michigan. There wasn't a whole lot of people to help or yeah, variety in is hard for me. I'm an engineer. I really couldn't write a longer or book for Bruce. Um, you know, now it's so easy, right? As a podcast guest or a podcast host on social media, on, on video, whatever medium works best for you, share what you know, because in a lot only help other people, but it'll help you also.
Bruce:
Well, that's, that's really a good thought, you know, like get out there and help other people. I totally agree with that. And one of the things I think is that I've noticed myself the last week or so, I've been thinking when I go out every day and I do my 45 minute walk, I want to listen to a podcast that's a little lighter. Sometimes that's not going to be talking about coven and not going to be talking about all the challenges or talking about how I should be building my business. Sometimes I just want to listen to something that's going to be funny or light or easy listening. And almost every one of you mindful tribe have some kind of an interest or a hobby, you know, whether it's cooking or, or whatever it is that you could just get on and chat with a friend. And it could be very light.
Bruce:
And funny, last night I was listening to a cooking show and it's not that I'm totally into cooking, it's just that they were just laughing away and talking about all these things about cooking, octopus and, and all this stuff. And it was just taking my mind off everything else. So I think every one of you mindful tribe could go on, a podcast as a guest. I know you could, and I think every one of you could start a podcast if you felt like you wanted to. And it's fun and it's exciting and, it's something you, you should do, right, Tom.
Tom Schwab:
And even for introverts, right? A lot of times we'll be talking to prospective clients and we'll say, you know, would you drive across town to speak to, you know, to 10, ideal clients, which would drive across the state to speak to a hundred? And you can just see their face, drop, over zoom here. And they're like, yeah, I don't want to talk to that many people. Well, he just talked to one person. This is the same conversation Bruce and I would be having over zoom, if we were just talking. So it's so great that it's, it's accessible to everyone. Even if you're an introvert, if you're an extrovert that is, stuck in, in your home, it doesn't matter. You can do this from, you know, home from work. I've done some of my biggest podcasts and abuse from on vacation or in a hotel room while I'm traveling. I love to teach people how to be a podcast guest from anywhere.
Bruce:
Wow. Yeah. You can do it from anywhere. Well, you know, the one thing I thought when I started as well, you know, where will I, where will I find people who want me to be a guest or where will I find gas? And that really isn't a difficult thing to do. You can find podcast hosts out there that are looking for people who are dads, are looking for people who are into running or just about any topic that you can possibly imagine they're looking for you. And then if you were a podcast host, there are all kinds of people out there that would love to be a guest. But you got started with your business interview valet and you started connecting these people. How did you get into that? How did you get started with it, Tom?
Tom Schwab:
Well, I always would love to say this was just this great business plan, but the biggest piece of fiction I've ever written or wrote, was business plan, right? I really just tried to listen to what people were telling me, what customers told me they loved and what they load. So my background was inbound marketing, using content to attract, engage. And delight customers. And in our 15 years ago, that was guest blogs. Instead of writing your own blog, getting as seen by three people, well put it up on the Huffington post, wall street journal, wherever your audience was, get that know, like and trust. So back in 2014 I hypothesized that you could use podcast interviews the same way. So I started to test it. It worked really, really well. We saw conversion rates of visitors to leads that were like 25 times better than blogs.
Tom Schwab:
And first I'm like, I'm skeptical. I'm like, ads just got to be a personalities gotta be a niche. So kept testing it. People were asking me how I did it. So Bruce, I put this little PDF together. It said, okay, here's the playbook, here's how you do it. It was the precursor to podcast. Guest profits gave that away to everybody. And then some people said, you should do a course. So I did this online course and I never took it out of beta. It sold real well. But people, you know, at the back end, you can see they weren't getting results with it, they weren't getting all the way through it. And I didn't want to just sell a course to sell a course. And the ones that were honest with me, they told me, listen, you gave me the cookbook, you've given me the videos, I don't want to be the chef.
Tom Schwab:
You know, I want to be the guest. You take care of all the rest. And I'm like, Oh, that's good copy. That's going to be our tagline. So with that started to beta test a done for you service end of 2015, it worked so well. We'd launched that in early 2016 and now four years later, we've got a team of 19, um, two in Canada, three in Europe and the rest in the United States. We love to teach people how to be a podcast guest. And we serve about a hundred different leading brands. So authors, consultants, speakers, coaches and brands really to get out there. That is fantastic. So tell us more specifically what your team is doing to help people in this industry. Right. And that's the thing is we want to help the entire industry. We see this as a relationship based industry, not a transaction one, right? So we build relationships.
Tom Schwab:
And so about a third of our team, our podcast relationship managers and Bruce, there's one person in our team that's assigned to Bruce his show and there are reaching out. They're trying to understand what are you looking for in your show? What are you looking for in guests? we're going to all the meetings, not only to present it down, but to sponsor them, to speak at them. So you'll see us at all the meetings. We're trying to build the relationships so we can serve the podcast host. Now we serve the podcast host, but the clients are, are get our, our, our, the guests are our clients. They're the ones that are hiring us to get them on shows. And so with them we're, we're getting them the professional equipment, so they sound great. We're teaching them the best practices. We're putting together a one page media kit.
Tom Schwab:
we're giving them a practice interview. We prepare them for every interview. And so with that, we want to make it very easy so that we can make that introduction the personally introduced them so that they can go on the podcast, connect with the audience, and really bring value and grow their business from that. Also, you know, my Bruce, my point of view today is this idea of breaking through the noise is laughable, right? Um, I think we're all just yelling and adding to the noise. I think it's much better to get in on the conversation that people are already listening to and if you can get introduced to somebody that's a thought leader, a friend of theirs that can introduce you to the crowd, their crowd, their tribe, I think that's, you know, that's very, very powerful. Well, I really appreciate the people that have been
Bruce:
introduced to me through your organization through interview valet that has really been tremendous. And you know, I really love how you have a section at the back of your book called getting started fast. I mean not only is the book, like it cuts to the chase anyway and it has all the different chapters which are so valuable about how to get right in and get doing things like one of the chapters is a who do you want to speak with, where to find podcasts? I mean you, you really zero in on everything and then you've got at the end the getting started fast section so that you can just move to that if you want to. But another thing that's very generous about you, Tom, is that you're offering this book, podcast guests profits for only $5, which is unbelievable because it's such a great book and so valuable. Wow.
Tom Schwab:
You can buy it on Amazon for full price, but it's going to take like two months to get it from Amazon. Right now I, I shipped more of these out here and I just want to cover the cost of the shipping and the printing of it, right? Um, my goal on this book was to help people get their voice out, to help them get their message out, to help grow their business. And if I can help them at interview valet do that, that's great, but I just want to make sure that everybody is making the most use of their time there, that they're adding to the ecosystem. I see a lot of people out there and I saw one the other day that, um, that said, you know, sign up to get my free, what was it? Fill in the blank, step by step, a cheat sheet on how to get on podcast interviews. And I'm like, there is no hack. There is no cheat sheet for anything in life, right? It's a formula. You've got to do the work, you got to build the relationships and it doesn't take that that long, right? You say the fast start guide in there in 30 days, you can definitely do that. You know, patience is a virtue, but it's not one that I have, you know, one of my prayers is always God, give me patience and give it to me now. I think it just causes him to laugh.
Bruce:
I think you're right. Yeah. That's really funny. Well, I think it's very kind of you to put together, an actual spot on the internet where mindful tribe, you can go interview valet.com/mindfulness mode. And so Interview Valet, valet is V a L E t.com/mindfulness mode. So head over there, get this book and see what else Tom's got for you over there. Now, Tom, as we, move forward in the interview, I always ask a question about bullying because I worked in the bullying field for a long time. Do you have a story that can share with us where mindfulness would have made a difference? I don't know whether it's in your adult life or as a kid or one of your children or whatever it is. Could do you have a story you can share with us?
Tom Schwab:
Um, yeah, there, there's a couple that come to mind. One that's, you know, as a child, but I think the, the bigger one comes as an adult, right? As, as a business owner. Um, there are certain people that, that I choose not to work with, no judgments on their good or bad. but there's the bullying personality, um, that I, when you lose, um, and a confrontational is not one that I'm comfortable with. Um, I, I believe everyone is good at heart. I want to help people, our team wants to help people. And we've even got a spot in our agreement, that says it's the no jerk policy, right? So we're all in this together. And that came out of early on, um, or working with some clients and our team wanted to do the best for them. And then there was just nothing that we could ever do.
Tom Schwab:
They didn't want to work our systems. They wanted to, I would say more, not treat us as partners, but treat us as rented mules and, and to bully, the people that were working for him. And I don't make judgment on that, but that's not a relationship that I want to be a part of. And so really early on, um, we put that in the agreement that that's, that's, um, reason to be terminated, right? if you start swearing at our team, being demeaning to our team, bullying our team, we're not going to work together. Um, and even on the, um, the initial discovery calls, we look for that and our, our team knows is, is this somebody that we want to partner with or is this somebody that's looking to bully us? And we're not going to work with people like that. Cause I think it's amazing.
Tom Schwab:
You know, today we live in a different world, you know, um, I don't know, maybe even 30, 40 years ago, if somebody didn't leave live within 10 miles of you, they couldn't be your customer. Right. And today is so much different now we've got access to hundreds of millions of people that could be our customer and I don't need more customers. I need better customers. So with that, I'm, you know, very open, no open to knowing that, um, that I'm a nice person and I want to do everything I can for people. but I want to work with people that want to work with me, not bullying me.
Bruce:
Right. That makes sense. Yeah, that really does. Do you have a story about anyone who has been a client that you've really been able to take from point a to point B and really make their life different as a result of the help you've been able give them?
Tom Schwab:
Oh, it is. And it's one of the best feelings that I have, you know, our goal is to personally introduce inspiring thought leaders to millions of ideal customers that they could serve for the betterment of all. And so when I open up the wall street journal and I see Chris Tufts book, um, the millennial whisper is on the wall street journal best seller list. I'm like, that is amazing, right? Cause we helped him, on the virtual book tour, the same thing with Steve Anderson who, you know, from the Bezo’s Letters. We worked with him early on that. When I see customers out there and are saying, they come back to us and say, we need to slow down the podcast interviews. And my first, my first inclination is what's wrong? And Craig Cody the came to us and, he's an accountant, an ex New York city detective.
Tom Schwab:
And he says, no, the problem is, is that I've done these interviews and I have sold out of all of my capacity. I need to go hire a few more accountants. I love that, to be on your podcast. I'm a like a Lochhead on marketing or follow your different, with Christopher Lockhead. And when he says that his podcasts, um, that we helped him launch that by getting him guests, by helping him be on other people's show, um, that just, it just warms my heart. Or even hearing a podcast host say, you know, my good friend, so and so, my good friend David Rendell, um, and know that, Hey, we introduce those two people. And so to me, I think the best gift you can ever give anybody is an introduction, an introduction to a new idea, a new person. It's something that you couldn't give your, get yourself. Right. I'll be forever grateful for the, the person that introduced me to my bride because I couldn't have done that myself. And the idea that we get to personally introduce, you know, inspiring thought leaders, that's what gets me up and kiss going everyday. Wow. Wow.
Bruce:
Well, you have been living in different cities for a month. I did not know that you had this, this goal of, you know, just checking out different cities around the world. What's an interesting city that really pops into your mind that you spent time in and it was so different and interesting, but you loved it.
Tom Schwab:
I would say everyone has, um, has something different about it. So, you know, when we went to California, that was amazing to see, to see Napa, to see some friends, that lived in, um, on the beach and in Santa Cruz there. That was amazing. to be in Nashville and not just as a guest or not if flying in for a day, but to have a home for a week. You know, we do air BnB, to see that. Years ago, it was about 18 months ago. Went to Austin and learned how to surf at an indoor surf park. And that was just amazing. And to be there even when we were in Orlando, you know, most of the time we'll do the week around some event. So we were down there supporting, podcast movement last year when we came a few days early, left a few days late.
Tom Schwab:
Karen, my bride is training for an iron man and it's like, well, how am I going to get my, my training and during this? And I'm like, I think there's an ocean real quick to this. She'd never been able to swim in the ocean before. And just to think that we could drive an hour in the convertible, with the sun and everything like that. No one else in, in NAHB Orlando would rent a convertible in August because it was so hot. So we took it and just to go out there and to swim in the ocean. So I think there's beauty where ever you go. Like I said before, being mindful whether or not she gets a swim in the ocean or a stand in Manhattan and, and look out and realize just how big the world is, you know, to think I need, I could never serve more than a, a thousand clients.
Tom Schwab:
Um, you know, with our business, right now we've got a hundred and idea of serving a thousand is just mind blowing and to look out a window and see, I could probably see about 2 million people from here. So all of a sudden the idea of a thousand doesn't sound that much. So, that was a non-answer to a straightforward question. I don't know. I, I love every city and want to go back to everyone. But we're always looking to go to a new one to have new memories, because that's, that's the thing that we focus on is, making memories, not buying stuff.
