Chris Do: Hey, everybody, Chris here. We're trying something a little bit different than what we normally do for the podcast. We're doing solo episodes. These are shorter, more contained, built around certain themes and questions I think are very relevant for us to be talking about. So wherever you're listening to this, however you're seeing this, let us know in the comments and the feedback, what you think, and we'll make some adjustments.

For this episode, I want to talk about another Scott Galloway concept, a Professor G episode. And he says, virtual reality is here, but it's not happening in the eyes. It's happening in the ears. He says, if you think about it, that's what podcasts are. We're able to experience. real reality with some augmented version of reality because we're hearing a story.

We're learning something while we're doing something else. And that's a powerful concept, which reminds me of like why I didn't even want to do podcasts to begin with. So I want to tell you that story. Actually, I don't want to do media at all. I know it's really weird. You're listening to this. You're seeing me everywhere.

And you're like, what? That guy doesn't want to do that. How could that be? That's so inconsistent with the way that you're acting today. Well, sometimes we don't know what's good for us until it happens. Lemme take you back to 2014. My school friend, Jose Kavier said, Hey, let's go make some YouTube videos together.

And I just did not want to do that. But in that kind of classic Godfather thing, he made me an offer I could not refuse. He said, you get to sit there and say nothing and I will do all the talking. And true to his word, he could do all the talking and allow me to say nothing. But eventually I figured out like I want to do this thing.

I can be good at this thing if I work at it. And so we're humming along the channel's not exploding by any stretch of the imagination, but we're starting to build a small audience and the audience who shows up says, you know what, Chris, I can't watch the YouTube video. Can you make a podcast version of this?

And I resisted for a long time. I was thinking, why do you want to give us more work to do if it's literally taking the videos? Stripping out the audio and dumping it on podcasts. Why would I do that? Why would anyone care? And oftentimes what we're doing is we're presenting visual materials and I'm not going to describe it because the YouTube audience will think, what an idiot, we can see with our eyes.

Don't do the see say thing. But you know what? What I didn't realize, and it's humbling to think about it, is there are a lot of people who have technological issues, who don't have fast internet. And so there are people all over the world, like say in the Philippines, they would go to the library, they would download the episode, and then they can listen to it.

But YouTube doesn't allow you to do that. At that time, it didn't allow you to do that. So it's an important concept. So, okay, fine. We'll do the minimum viable product, which is to just quickly translate YouTube episodes into podcasts. And we do that and we don't do that for very long before I realized, wait a minute, this is a completely different medium.

It's an audio only experience. It's really, really intimate. People are having your voice quite literally in their head, between their ears, you exist and the relationship that you have with someone on a podcast is vastly different than the one that you have with them on YouTube. They're seeking you out and they're sharing a little bit of the reality with you.

And this is a powerful thing.

The Futur: It's time for a quick break, but we'll be right back.

Chris Do: When I started my motion design company blind in 95, there was a lot I didn't know. So I tried reaching out to other business owners and professionals for help. What did I find? Many saw me as competition and those who didn't. Weren't able to give advice that made sense for my line of work. Thankfully, I was able to find my first and only business coach, Kira McLaren, who mentored me for 13 years.

I also learned that my story isn't unique. Many entrepreneurs feel like they're left to figure everything out on their own. It's why I created the future pro membership, a community I wish I had when I first started. And I'd like to invite you to check out all that we have waiting for you inside at the future dot com slash pro.

The Futur: And we're back. Welcome back to our conversation.

Chris Do: I want to drive this point home. I want to ask you this question because I did this for a period of time in my life. There was a period of time in my life when I wanted to do public speaking because I wanted to practice. I wanted to teach. I wanted to build an audience.

I knew public speaking was one of those ways. And so in the early days, I didn't know what I was doing, so I'm not going to get paid. In fact, I had to pay to do public speaking. What do I mean by that? Well, I worked on the deck for weeks. I wrote the material. I drove myself there. So now it's costing me time, money and resources, and they didn't pay me any.

I paid for my own parking. They didn't even reimburse me for my own parking. How crazy is that? And after I was done, they're like, don't let the door hit you on the way out. Now, many of you who are listening to this would say, like, I would be glad to have that kind of opportunity to speak in front of two, three hundred people to be able to develop my thought leadership, to be able to be more confident in my public speaking.

And we do, and I know people who are on the speaking circuit who have now taken the plane, stayed in a hotel, all at their own cost so that they can be in front of two or three hundred people. They would do that. That's not even to take into consideration the days and weeks of preparation for that talk to deliver it, and the refinement that it takes, and everything else that goes into it.

Why am I bringing this up? Well, think about it. If you create a podcast, you might not have more than two hundred people downloading it, but you have two hundred people showing up for you week after week. listening intently, anxiously anticipating, and consuming every word that you say. So you would pay for it to do it on a stage, but you're not willing to invest that same time and energy in just something that you get to do for almost for free.

What's really wild for me, as a person who's very reluctant to create content on YouTube, Instagram, every place, I'm just reluctant, I guess. But eventually, when we create the podcast, something really weird happens. People tell me this all the time and it's a strange phenomenon. They will say something like, I went to bed with you last night with my wife.

I'm like, this is a little kinky. I didn't expect that. They're like, no, no, we just listened to you. And people will then say, I dreamt about you. Isn't that wild? The kind of intimate relationship that you can have. It's not exactly bi directional, but it's super scalable so that your voice is in their head.

And when we say what, what did brands do? They occupy space in your head. And this is what I get to do with the people who show up and listen and consume our content. By the way, I love doing podcasts now. I actually look forward to, and if you're enjoying this and you appreciate what we're doing, can you do me a favor and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts?

It'd mean the world to me.

The Futur: Thanks for joining us. If you haven't already, subscribe to our show on your favorite podcasting app and get new insightful episodes from us every week. The future podcast is hosted by Chris Do and produced and edited by Rich Cardona Media. Thank you to Adam Sanborn for our intro music. If you enjoyed this episode, then do us a favor by reviewing and rating our show on Apple Podcasts.

It will help us grow the show and make future episodes that much better. If you'd like to support the show and invest in yourself while you're at it, visit the future. com and you'll find video courses, digital products, and a bunch of helpful resources about design and the creative business. Thanks again for listening and we'll see you next time.

‍