Adam Torres and Jason Shupp, Don Booth, and Matt Cook
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Show Notes:
Listen to the Mission Matters PodCon 2024 coverage. In this episode, Adam Torres interviews Jason Shupp, Host of From There To Here, Don Booth, Host of Pitfalls, Traps & Barriers, Matt Cook, Host of Pull Hook Golf, explore launching a podcast and what it takes to grow a show at Mission Matters PodCon 2024.
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Full Unedited Transcript
All right, so our final panel here today three more hosts, which this is going to be a lot of fun. So we’re going to go through one at a time. We’ll start with Jason Shipp. So a little bit about your background and and about your show. I am a legacy business owner, third generation of a construction business in the process of exiting out of that with the recent partnership, which conveniently is going to spend a lot more time with the podcast.
Which we like to hear on the podcast agency. I like that. My show is called From There to Here. It’s unconventional origin stories of entrepreneurs and experts, where we dive into the nuance and the context that led to the inflection points that have, you know, created pivots and personally and professionally in their lives.
That have shaped who they’ve become. And we, we like to spend more time, what I say, in the space in between the milestones to really understand that, that context that that’s got them from there to, to here. Don Booth. Don, same thing. A little bit about your background and and about your show. Well, I’m the CEO founder of the American Institute of Non Destructive Testing.
It’s kind of a mouthful, most people look at you funny when you say non destructive testing. It’s using x ray and ultrasound, magnetic particle, eddy current, and other modalities of inspection for spacecraft, aircraft, bridges, pipelines, nuclear facilities, so we do training globally. I founded it in 2013.
My show is, I think I’m finally finding my feet for it, and my seventh episode went out today, but, Number seven, you’re almost in double figures, come on, we’re getting there. And it’s about, I think I’m realizing that it’s about making entrepreneurs, saving them a lot of pain, hopefully, by explaining things, mistakes that I’ve made in the past, and the failures, and the successes in overcoming them, and that they’re not alone.
And because it’s lonely as an entrepreneur sometimes. And, and you’re in there and you’re thinking, man, nobody’s gone through this before. Yes, they have. And I wanted to bring in people and hear their stories and hopefully help save some pain in the process. Yeah. And Jason, I didn’t get this. How many episodes in are you?
Forgot to ask you. I think I’m at 68 right now.
And Matt, we have a different, there’s some more audience members here who maybe didn’t catch your morning performance. Little bit about your show. So, about the show? Yep. Oh, alright. Well, I’m the director of agency or head of the podcast agency at Mission Matters. So everything podcast related, I do. And I tell you what, I just couldn’t get enough podcasts, so I decided to create one myself two and a half years ago.
Which has a former professional golfer, now a golf hack, that just sits there and talks about other golfers and how bad they are, even though they’re a lot better than I am. That is basically the nutshell of my show, but it’s an unfiltered golf podcast. So, I decided, you know what, I came as a kid, Out of upstate New York that played every sport possible.
And then all of a sudden I got into golf. And when I got into golf, I’m like, you know, they, this is real stuffy, most people say, but this is just like any other locker room. I’m like, shoot, this isn’t a gentleman’s sport. This is a real sport. People talk trash. We’re gambling out there. This is not what they make it out to be on the PGA Tour and so forth.
So I’m like, you know what, when I started this podcast, I go, I want something real. I don’t want that PC BS that’s out there. I want something that people can really relate to and be like, Hey, that’s like me when I go out with my buddies, we’re like, Oh, shoot, we’re going to have a couple of drinks. We’re going to have some fun.
And I used to, used to have a glass of scotch every single episode. And that was my way to kind of loosen up a little bit and start to get into that form. Now I’ve done it so often that I’m like, I don’t even drink anymore. I’m just like, oh, let’s, let’s, let’s shoot the shit. Let’s go. So that’s a little bit of background of Pulled Up Golf.
Alright, so we learned a little bit about Matt’s creative process and how he loosens up. Jason, your creative process in how you go about producing your show. Now you’re, I think, a year and a half in or so? Yeah. Roughly? Oh, well, first cohort, so it’s going to be two. Yeah, it’s going to, yeah, it might be over that, yeah.
So your creative process now, maybe even when you started to now, like, what that journey’s been like for you. Well, the premise of my show lets me, lets me be less prepared than probably most, most shows probably would want to. I used to like, like, was echoed in earlier ones, had a little bit more structure.
You know, I would, I would, you know, scrub, you know, LinkedIn details about my guests, and I would make some notes of things that I thought would be of, of interest. And then early on I had an episode where, you know, where I asked one of my prepared questions, And she threw me for a complete loop. And I immediately realized that, that Was that the good stuff too?
Well, it was, it yes. It was, it was great content. But I realized that my notes were irrelevant. And I, I actually wadded up my, my show notes and threw them in the trash can, you know, while we were recording. And what I learned is that, at that moment, what I need to be is completely engaged in the conversation.
And, and listening intently to what they’re saying, and if I’m paying attention to what I want to ask, you know ahead of time, I’m not paying attention to what I should ask during the, the actual conversation. So now I’m going to, I still have three prepared questions which are very, very, don’t influence the story at all.
But what I’ve realized is, again with the premise of my show is, I, I want to honor the story of my guest. And the more prepared I am, the more I’m directing their story to how I think that it should go, rather than listening and asking questions that let them tell their story. Authentically for themselves and, and again, with the purpose of my show, that’s my job is to honor their story, not to change their story or, or, or correct their story.
Was it easy to make that transition or that shift? Was it like immediate, like you threw it away? I mean, probably everybody won’t get this reference, but like, Little Wayne, you know, getting rid of his notebooks? A couple of you got that. Probably not everybody, but it’s okay. It was immediate. I mean, I stopped doing show notes beforehand for every episode after that.
And I think a lot of that would be it wasn’t hard for me because I’m a very curious person and, you know, I would like to think that I have the ability to process information pretty quickly so that I can, I can ask very genuine questions without having to grasp for what I want to ask. I mean, things just come to me pretty quickly when I’m, when I’m immersed in that conversation.
So that, that made the transition easy. But as far as realizing that that’s the direction I should go, that wasn’t a struggle at all. That, that’s what’s going to give me, Presence real presence and authenticity authenticity during the conversations. Do you feel like it gets easier with time? Like the more episodes you’re doing, the more you get into it, the more experiences you have to share from being behind the mic.
Cause it’s a little different than just having a conversation with somebody sometimes. Or am I off? No, it actually gets easier and not just from the comfort level of just doing it more, but I’ve grown so much as a, as a, you know, just through my abilities of conversation how, how it’s changed me as a person, like intrinsically makes the process easier because I, I’m listening better I am, I’m just more receptive to just to the nuances of conversation better.
So, those tactical abilities, I mean, that improve from the show is what’s made it easier, more so than just the repetition of doing the show. And that’s why, that’s why we talk about that pretty often, about like a host finding their voice or, you know, taking time to grow into those shoes and to let the show develop and almost come to them while they’re going through the act of recording and going through that process, because it’s going to continue to evolve, like, over time.
My show, I mean, it’s still, it evolves every week, I feel like, and it’s only moving faster based on content. And based on even trends, just even the conversations you’re having, because I have a pretty broad show, and based on what Jason’s doing, you can have a lot of different guests as well, so I see some similarities there.
Don, so your show and your process, first off, your wife is here today, right? Absolutely. So, other than so it’s like, it’s a team. What I love about this is, and even since we talked about it in the beginning it’s a, it’s a team and it’s a family affair the way I see your podcast developing. Like, who’s coming on the show, what’s next, ideas, things like that.
Like, and I’m not saying the other hosts don’t have that, I just haven’t had those conversations maybe with them. But I love the way the show’s coming along. What’s, what’s your process so far and how does the, how does the team work? Well, that is evolving, just like everything, right? I’m finding the process is changing for me dramatically, real quickly.
I mean, I’m building out, I have a PowerPoint template that I built out before with the host’s bio and some questions I want to bring out of them. But I’m finding as I go through these episodes that It’s, it’s never going to work out the way you lay it out. And all of a sudden they’re going to answer a question that you haven’t asked them yet, and it suddenly slides down.
So you quickly scroll down and delete that one, or drag it up, or, you know, so it’s evolving quickly for me. And the last one was, Really nice, it was 57 minutes, we talked about time, a few people, and I agree, it’s like, as long as it’s interesting. Now this last one that launched today, amazing woman from Costa Rica which wasn’t my wife, but we know her.
And and, but it ended with, she just said, I just want to bring this to children and help change their lives, and, and that’s my dream and goal. anyway. I just knew, I said, that’s a perfect time to end this. Let’s end it on that note. And it just brought you right out, right? It brought the whole thing full circle.
So, I’m learning to do what you’ve learned to do. And that’s that, don’t overdo it. Have that conversation and, and listen to them. And I’m pretty quick at processing things as well. So, just to come up with a natural flow. So, I think that’s what I’m doing. So, you, two and a half years now, I think you mentioned, so from beginning to where you’re at now, talk a little bit about your process.
I mean, my process, I build out an episode outline for every single show. However, I don’t overcomplicate it. Think of being in probably 7th grade and having to build out an outline for a teacher. It’s like one to two words that just keep me on track and keeps the guests on track as well because guess what?
Nobody ever looks at it So they come in and they’re totally fresh and as soon as they start going down a rabbit hole like whoo right back Here we go So I’ll redirect with another question or a follow up question in order to get them right back on track but that that process really hasn’t changed since the very beginning which is weird because It’s something that I kind of stress to everybody that, hey, don’t overcomplicate this, don’t script out your show, because then it’s going to be unnatural, it’s going to, you’re going to be reading off of your screen, and unless you are at ESPN or one of the other broadcast groups to where you’re reading and really good at reading a teleprompter without moving your eyes, which is very complicated by the way, I’ve tried it, not good at it.
So, we’ll see anyways, down the road maybe I’ll do that, but no, right now, it is all about creating great conversations, and you do, you have to be present, you have to listen to the answers, because I never write follow up questions. That’s all me on the fly, being able to stay on topic, but dig deeper, ask that second, third level question, in order to really get to it, because I deal with caddies, PG tour players, I mean, Golf instructors that want to try it because they’re used to all the PC interviews.
So all their, all their answers are normally very PC to begin with. Guess what? I got to keep digging, keep digging. And then all of a sudden they can lose enough. And guess what? That’s where the special sauce is. To where all of a sudden you’re like, holy shit, did he just say that? That’s incredible. So, and of course, might get him into trouble, but that’s okay.
That’s fine. He’ll get over it. And that’s my creative process. So, we’ve talked a lot today about the host side of things, but I know some people are interested in being guests on more shows. What do you look for in, in great guests? Like, how do you decide who you’re going to invite in number one, and then Any preparation go into like, easing them into the show?
Like, what’s that part of the process? So, from the guest. Well, for my show, you know, the premise is, again, unconventional origin stories, which I try to stay as true to that as possible, so there’s a bit of a vetting process on those who have some, you know, non linear lives. I have found that everyone has, has a version of that, so really, really anyone could, could, you know, be a guest, because there’s going to be amazing nuance behind whatever track they take, even if it’s seemingly linear.
As far as preparing my guests, I, I sent out a little email just to give them the general details of, What to expect is audio only, so they’re not stressing over, you know, the video piece of it. Things like that, and the three questions I asked, so they can have a little bit of a preparation for it.
But I, I don’t, again, I don’t encourage them to overthink it. You know, I want them to, I want them to, you know, come there just being prepared to talk. One thing I do remind my guests, and we were, some of us were talking about this earlier today, is, Is that, you know, this is a, well for me it’s a person based show, it’s not a cast based show, or a theme based show.
But not to, not to turn it into a promotional thing, that’s the one thing that’s an immediate turn off. I had one guest that did that, which was very, very challenging and it’s my least favorite episode. I, I, I almost didn’t, didn’t air it. And it was just constantly getting her back on track of, no I want to hear about you.
Again, you can go on several other podcasts and talk about what it is that you do. So many people just, you know, reminding them what the purpose of the show is. If they want to sell something, I’m not the product for that. How about you, Don? Well, you know, I think, I’m just looking for entrepreneurs of any type.
I think every entrepreneur has a story. And I’ll just talk about the one, the one that launched today is, I, I’m a, a sucker for the underdog, so I like underdog stories ’cause I’ve considered myself one and my story’s long and, and interesting too. But the, the last lady that was on my show, she was like selling peanut butter, homemade peanut butter on the streets of Costa Rica.
She had a thousand dollars in her checking account and launched her therapy business and now she has hundreds of customers. It’s an amazing story. I love those stories. I almost get choked up when I hear that because it’s so touching to me that to overcome when people overcome things. You know, and so, I’m, I, I think everyone has a story.
And so, I’m willing to take just about anybody on my show right now. And I think we can bring out some of those stories and challenges, and just about anybody who wants to talk about it, because I don’t think there’s anybody in this world who hasn’t been challenged at once. So Matt, technically speaking, you were my golf coach.
So does that mean that I keep coming to the show? Adam has a golf swing that is unfixable, folks. Like I have never seen anything like it. It is special in his own way. And I just, I got to a point where I couldn’t touch it anymore. I just let him absolutely, that is you, that is your golf game. It’s never going to get better.
It might actually get worse. So, just roll with it. And yeah, so technically you are my golf coach. You are my golf coach. Oh, God. Okay. So, that means, you know, I, I, I, I throw him off at that one, right? Okay, so I can’t come into your show, it sounds like. No, absolutely not. I would never, ever, ever. How do you, how do you, how do you bag your guests?
Like, what kind of guests do you look for? I go after, I actually reach out to almost every single one of the guests that I have on the show. Okay. And there are people that I’m interested in. The one person that was actually kind of interesting to bring onto the show was a PGA Tour player named Kevin Strelman.
I’ll throw him right under the bus because I was working out with him and he’d always ask me, because he started listening to the pod and then he’s like, Hey man, how’s the pod going? How’s the pod going? How’s the pod going? And I’m like, Kevin, do you want to come on the pod? And he’s like, no. I’m like, yes you do.
I was like, come on. And he was always a very PC guy. Like, Duke University. Like, clean cut. And sure enough, I got him on the pot. I got him drinking a little bit. I was like, we’re going to have a bottle of whiskey here on the show. We went through an entire bottle of whiskey. And I got him to open up and we had an absolute blast.
And he loved it. And ever since, he’s been a little bit more himself in media and in public. Thanks. Then he ever has been previously, and he’s been a little bit more outspoken about the PGA Tour that he had never done. He was always a company man, always drank the Kool Aid, not drinking the Kool Aid anymore.
So, I normally will go after him. He was somebody that I probably would have never invited onto the show, and I’m glad that I did. And I have had fewer, like, few requests. I get quite a few requests every single day, and I normally will try to find somebody that I find interesting. Or somebody that I feel like I could break down and break the mold of what they are right now, if they’re willing to do that.
Some say that they’re not willing to do it, and then all of a sudden they get on. And it’s a completely different ballgame. I mean, I had one player in particular on, James Hahn, who was talking about how pips were his pips in Oakland. That were, used to wear the big yellow or bright green velour suits and everything.
He’s like, those guys were my roll moms. And I’m like, he would never know it because of any other media he’s ever done. So, that’s that’s kind of the The secret sauce behind it is that I normally will look for people that I’m like, Okay, who can I have an interesting conversation with, or who can I break the mold of?
So, do they all have to be good golfers? No, but you’re not caught on. They all have to drink whiskey. Usually that’s prerequisite, but I don’t drink anymore. Well, lately I have not drank, so we’ll just, we’ll just put it that way, that it is no longer prerequisite. However, it is highly recommended to drink.
So, one of the things that a lot of the hosts that I invited here today that are part of the network is, we’ve been having this conversation internally about doing interviews and doing more public interviews and doing them in person. Because after COVID, so this was basically, the network was birthed during COVID, so everything was 100 percent virtual.
I, myself included for the most part and now that, you know, events are opening up, things are opening up where I’m encouraging more people to go out and to do interviews in person. So, Matt, this one’s for you. You’ve done, you’ve done some interviews in a lot of different places from barber shops. Just talk about it.
Talk about it. I want you to inspire the other hosts here about, cause they just see what I’m doing sometimes but I want them to hear where you’re doing interviews cause this is amazing. Yeah. Yeah. So we’ve done, my. Barber has a huge community of like professional athletes and everything that he cuts the hair.
He cuts the hair of John Rahm if you know of golfers, but Needless to say I’m like, hey man, we should do a show in here. He’s like love that idea So we did a show all around the barber shop and talked golf and talk shop He even did my hair a little bit like in between little segments and whatnot Then we do that for a free haircut Absolutely, free everything.
But you need a monetization, you gotta be creative with the podcast, see? It’s the wild west out there, as I like to say. Now, I also have done them at golf courses, and we’ve got a great relationship with this liquor store called Trevor’s that actually gave pork loin from Barstool. He actually rated their pizzas the best pizza on the west coast.
So, literally, I’m going in there and I’m like, Hey, can I get a pizza after 5 o’clock? Because they have a rule that you have to dine in in order to get a pizza after 5. And I walked out of there and there were eyeballs all over me. People were not happy that I was leaving with a box of full pizza.
Unbelievable. But anyways, I get off topic here. This is how the show goes, too, by the way. Now, With that, we’ve done it at golf courses. We will do it at sunset at golf courses. I have a complete cart that I basically show up and do all the setup myself. So, it is not something outside of the realm. And I have about three lights.
And people always ask. They’re like, wow, my husband does a podcast or I do a podcast. And all of a sudden, it’s like, what are these lights? What do you got going on here? Because this is really cool that you can set up and do everything on site. And you just like. We just showed up, and it’s like, well, we got invited, but yeah, we kind of just showed up and put it all together.
But yeah, and then, gosh, where else? I mean, there’s been, we, I was telling my co host that I was like, hey man, we’re basically doing a podcast tour right now. Like, we should actually, like, let people know and start building out an audience. Then we started getting audiences that would start to show up, and it became pretty interesting.
And so for the network, everyone here, like, that’s already doing podcasts or otherwise, like, this is, he says, you know, yeah, but we were invited. Well, I’m experimenting with, I wasn’t invited. Hang on, hang on, hang on. I was just about to say, Adam showed, I, I had some wireless mics. Adams in Phoenix. So these mics just for context because I, and again, this is for the hosts in here, like Corey and Marley and all the other hosts.
Like these, these, these mics are next level. Now these little road mics, like you don’t have to, he has a cart and he has all these other things I do too. You don’t have to do that anymore, like, I’ve already downsized to a very small little, like, bag, basically, now when I’m going to certain functions where I’m not going to have a huge booth or something.
Like, so there’s a lot of different ways to do it, and the audio recording that we were testing, we were doing it in the middle of a tailgate. I’ll let you finish, Matt. Oh my god, I got season tickets to the ASU tailgates, okay? And ASU’s actually pretty good this year, which is why I’ll mention them.
Normally, I would not just be like, you know, we go to a tailgate. No, but Adam all of a sudden is like, hey, I got an idea. I got a buddy who’s an absolute character. Has owned bars throughout Arizona. Kirk Hoffman, and all of a sudden Adam’s like, I want to interview Kirk. And I was like, well, I haven’t talked to Kirk.
He goes, screw that. He’s like, let me grab your two little wireless mics. I’m going to hook one on him and I’m just going to say let’s go. And sure enough, he did. And it was actually really engaging. I was shocked, but it was really good. I wish that too, it was good. You and me both. And the audio quality. If you can’t tell, we’ve known each other for 20 years.
The audio quality too. Oh, the audio quality was really different. There’s people yelling in the background and everything, but it’s very faint. And it’s something that with proper audio production, it can be removed from the actual episode. So it’s like it never happened at a football tailgate. Which is pretty sweet, and it’s high quality audio.
Yeah. Yeah. And the main thing I like to think about is it’s fun. Like, we did we did one at, at Lattentooth. We literally just set it up in the middle of the, in the middle of the thing. We had a couple minutes there and we just did it right there. And that’s coming out, actually, I think next week.
So you’ll see. But, but it’s fun. It’s fun to not be so stiff and rigid in your show. And what I find too, and what I’ve gotten feedback from the audience, is that, you know, Like, they’re following you on that journey as well, and it becomes really interesting because they can even tell. So you’re saying, hey, I’m at so and so event, or hey, I’m here, and they feel like they’re with you as they’re going through.
So that’s been a fun part of it. It gives a different feel. Amen. Amen.