As we celebrate 500 episodes of Podcast Talent Coach, I want to share with you six mentors who have shaped my journey over the past 10 years.

LEARNING FROM MENTORS

I learned long ago that I don’t know everything and never will. Every experience is an opportunity to learn something.

Conferences and conventions are always such a powerful experience for me.

Many people say they rarely go to the session and instead have conversations in the halls. I can understand that. But, I think they are missing the power of the collective mind.

Mingling in the halls during a conference will definitely grow your network. It has a place in your business.

However if you skip all the sessions, you are missing ideas that could take your business to an entirely new level.

We would attend the Country Radio Seminar every year in radio. I would travel with my music director for the station.

During the day, we would take in all the sessions of the conferences. At night, we would split up to attend events and network with artists and record labels.

From the sessions, we would learn new ideas to implement with the stations. At night, we would network with people who could help us implement those ideas.

Then one day our company decided it wasn’t necessary for both of us to be there. That single decision cut our learning in half and diminished the networking we were able to do.

The company thought the conference was nothing but a party. It may have been for those who spent all of their time in the halls.

When you’re learning from mentors and expanding your thinking, things are possible beyond your imagination.

These six mentors helped my achieve levels bigger than I every dreamed. It is my hope that these nuggets spur some new ideas for you as well.

DAN MILLER

The first of the mentors is someone who has influenced my life the longest.

Dan Miller’s book and podcast “48 Days To The Work You Love” inspired me to follow my dream and start my own business.

Dan is author of the New York Times best-selling 48 Days To The Work You Love and Wisdom Meets Passion, No More Dreaded Monday and An Understanding Heart.

His 48 Days Podcast consistently ranks in the top 1% of all podcasts worldwide and his 48DaysEagles.com community is viewed as an example around the world for those seeking to find – or create – the work and the life they love. His podcast sits at the center of his multiple streams of income.

Unfortunately, we lost Dan in January of this year after a very brief battle with cancer.

Dan’s attitude through that entire struggle was impressive and uplifting. He kept asking as he always did, “What does this make possible?” Dan saw the silver lining in every cloud.

He was an amazing man and a mentor to me in so many ways.

Dan joined my on Episode 466 to discuss multiple streams of income. You can find the episode at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com/466.

DAN’S NUGGETS

Here are a few nuggets from that episode.

Resilience in the Face of Adversity: “When we hit Covid and I couldn’t have live events for a couple years there, that had been a big resource for us, a big revenue stream, but not being able to have live events, it didn’t really affect us. My revenue continued to go up because we made content available to people in other ways that they could experience, even if they didn’t come to Franklin, Tennessee.”— Dan Miller 00:24:39 – 00:25:03.

Life Reassessment in Midlife Careers: “What surprised me is I had doctors and dentists and pastors and engineers and accountants showing up and why you guys here? And it was like, well, we’re doing okay. You know, everybody looking in from the outside to see us is doing okay, but I don’t think this is it.”— Dan Miller 00:26:29 – 00:26:45.

How to Turn Your Writing into Income: “How do you take just a raw idea and turn it into real income? But those came directly from people asking, how do I do that?”— Dan Miller 00:30:42 – 00:30:50.

Easy Income Streams for Podcasters: “The easiest next step is coaching. Because if you have a podcast and you’re talking about personal development and growth or business success or how to scale or those things, you’re inevitably going to have people ringing your doorbell saying, can I talk to you?”— Dan Miller 00:44:47 – 00:45:43.

I’ll always cherish everything I’ve learned from Dan and all the inspiration he provided. You can find more about Dan at https://www.48days.com.

MARC MAWHINNEY

The next of my mentors who has been a big influence on me over the past decade and 500 episodes was one of my very first coaches.

Marc Mawhinney is a lifelong entrepreneur who helps coaches get more clients without paid advertising! He achieves this with his coaching programs, his podcast Natural Born Coaches, his Facebook group The Coaching Jungle, and his Secret Coach Club.

Marc has been a speaker at events like Social Media Marketing World, frequently makes media appearances and contributes for Entrepreneur.com. He is a master at joint venture partnerships.

I discovered Marc through his Coaching Jungle Facebook group and he soon became my coach. He taught me the power of sending a daily email. Our coaching sessions helped me refine my offers and get my business to the next level.

Marc appeared on episode 333 with me to discuss the power of joint venture partnerships. You can find the episode at www.podcasttalentcoach.com/333.

MARC’S GEMS

Here are a few gems Marc shared during our conversation.

Stand Firm on Your Beliefs: “Sure, you’re going to turn some people off, but you’re going to attract the people who you want to attract, and that’s exactly what you do.”— Marc Mawhinney 00:16:25 – 00:16:31.

The Importance of Community for Coaches: “Whatever you do, you need a place to gather your potential clients. You know, people to get to know, like and trust you.”— Marc Mawhinney 00:20:27 – 00:20:34.

Viral Topic – The Power of Community: “I can’t count how many times someone said to me, mark, I love your Facebook group. It’s helped me so much the last few years.”— Marc Mawhinney 00:20:55 – 00:21:44.

I can’t thank Marc enough for pointing me in the right direction with his coaching. Find Marc in his Coaching Jungle Facebook group.

CINDY J. HOLBROOK

One day Marc was invited to participate in a giveaway. It didn’t fit in his marketing plan at the time, so he sent the organizer to me feeling we might work well together.

That organizer was Cindy J, The Visibility Wiz. Not only did I participate in her giveaway, Cindy soon became one of my mentors and my next coach. She’s one of the best in the business.

Cindy guides entrepreneurs and small business owners to thrive as you go up the ladder from being the best-kept secret to Trusted and In-Demand Authority. She has been coaching since 2009.

Through our work together, Cindy taught me the power of visibility, how to use giveaways to grow my list, and ways to partner with others.

She is simply an all around great person. I love her to death and really appreciate all she has given me over the years.

Cindy was on episode 479 of Podcast Talent Coach to talk about visibility. You can find the episode at www.podcasttalentcoach.com/479.

CINDY’S SUGGESTIONS

Here are a few things we learned in that episode.

From Social Services to Coaching Success: “But I have all this knowledge of the online world that I utilized to get clients. And, I was able to leave social services within 2 years of becoming a coach, and that’s when I started attending a lot of events. And people were constantly coming up to me.”— Cindy J. Holbrook 00:20:23 – 00:20:41.

Title: Maximizing Advertising DollarsQuote: “My advertising dollars goes towards participating in giveaways or speaking in front of people, you know, being a sponsor at events. That’s where my advertising dollars go because I get more return on my money that way.”— Cindy J. Holbrook 00:35:04 – 00:35:18.

The Power of Collaboration: “I didn’t start collaborating with other experts till, 2014. And that’s what finally pushed me over to 6 figures was whenever I started collaborating with other experts.”— Cindy J. Holbrook 00:39:11 – 00:39:24.

How to Boost Your Business Today: “If you start doing something every day, you make sure you do at least 1 money making activity Monday through Friday or whatever your workdays are. You’re going to start seeing an increase in everything, in visibility, influence, and profits.”— Cindy J. Holbrook 00:42:44 – 00:42:58.

Cindy is amazing when it come to leveling up your visibility. Find her online at https://www.cindyjholbrook.com.

IMAN AGHAY

After I was working with Cindy for a few months, she suggest I attend Collaborate. It was an amazing 3-day event to meet JV partners.

This one event changed my business more than I could ever have imagined.

At the time, Collaborate was run by Iman Aghay and Rich German. Iman has been so influential in so many aspects of my business and is easily one my mentors. Through this event, Iman taught me how to properly joint venture with others.

He has taught me how to create my courses and events. More importantly, Iman showed my how to sell what I do.

Iman Aghay is a serial entrepreneur, international speaker, and a nine-time #1 best-selling author. He is best known as the co-founder of Actionera, a platform that assists experts in building mobile apps to enhance their income and impact.

Iman hasn’t been on the podcast. However, I did a deep dive into finding promotional partners using everything Iman taught me. You can find that in episode 391 at www.podcasttalentcoach.com/391.

IMAN’S INSPIRATION

Here are few takeaways from that episode.

How to Skyrocket Your Podcast Growth: “Just imagine how your podcast and your business could grow if you could find 40 partners who would be willing to promote you to their fans, to their tribe, to their followers.”— Erik K. Johnson 00:01:07 – 00:01:14.

The Best Part of Pitch Refinement: “But the best part is everybody in the circle’s on the same page with regard to who talks, what they talk about, how long they talk. There’s no pressure. You don’t need to awkwardly walk up to anyone to strike up a conversation like you would in a at a networking event.”— Erik K. Johnson 00:06:20 – 00:06:38.

Power of Partnerships: “I’ve been able to grow my email list from about 500 to nearly 4,500. My podcast downloads have doubled. I’ve made affiliate commissions from promoting those partners, and I had partners promote my courses and my coaching to their audience as well just to help me grow.”— Erik K. Johnson 00:10:08 – 00:10:30.

The Power of Partnership: “If you wanna go fast, travel alone. If you wanna go far, travel together.”— Erik K. Johnson 00:10:53 – 00:11:01.

Iman Aghay is an amazing online marketer. He is also the co-owner of Actionera. It is a platform to help you build your own mobile app.

Find details on Collaborate at www.podcasttalentcoach.com/collaborate.

You can learn more about Actionera at www.podcasttalentcoach.com/actionera and find Iman at https://www.imanaghay.com.

JIM PADILLA

While I was attending one of the Collaborate events, Iman invited a guest speaker to that event. That guest talked a lot about actually making sales.

He was Jim Padilla and he is my fifth of my mentors on this journey.

Jim is a Global Impact Strategist & Investor and the founder and CEO of Gain The Edge. It’s a done-for-you provider of industry-leading sales systems and unicorn sales professionals.

Jim co-heads Gain the Edge with his amazing wife, Cyndi Padilla. The two of them have generated over quarter billion dollars in sales for a long line of high-level entrepreneurs.

Jim’s mission is to help purpose-driven thought-leaders untangle themselves from the day-to-day minutiae of seeking leads and sales, so they’re free to amplify their impact – while scaling their business!

Shortly after getting into Jim’s world, he became one of my mentors and my coach. Jim helps me build my sales systems and strategies.

I’ve gone from being an entrepreneur to actually running a business. The transformation has been amazing.

Jim joined me on episode 465 to discuss making sales. If you want to increase your sales, find this episode at www.podcasttalentcoach.com/465.

JIM’S GENIUS

Here are few nuggets from my conversation with Jim.

From Struggle to Success: “And little did I know that, you know, 20 years later, I’d be making 1,000,000 of dollars teaching other people how to read the room and how to bend influence in their direction so you can be asset instead of a threat to the people who show up in your world, and then they wanna be able to buy from you and give you their credit card.”— Jim Padilla 00:12:06 – 00:12:58.

The Core of True Expertise: “What people need to dive into is they understand that you’re an expert, but they really need to understand who you are as a person and why what you do matters.”— Jim Padilla 00:19:07 – 00:19:11.

Seeing Opportunities in Chaos: “All they see is all the problems that are in the world are truly just opportunities waiting to be solved if you know how to talk about it and know how to articulate it and to see things differently.”— Jim Padilla 00:24:57 – 00:25:04.

Maximizing Your Existing Network: “Most obvious buyers you have are the people who already bought from you.”— Jim Padilla 00:44:07 – 00:44:10.

Jim and Cyndi are amazing. Find them at https://www.gaintheedgenow.com.

DAVE JACKSON

The last of my mentors I want to share with you is the guy who became the inspiration for this podcast.

In 2013 I was writing articles about podcasting for New Media Expo.

Out of the blue, I got an email from Dave Jackson at the School of Podcasting. He was interested in having a conversation to see how we might support each other.

During that conversation, Dave said he loved my articles. Then he asked why I didn’t have a podcast of my own. Great question, Dave.

If I’m writing about podcasting, shouldn’t I have a show of my own.

Shortly after that conversation, this show was born. And our friendship has continued over the years.

Dave Jackson launched the School of Podcasting in 2005. He was inducted into the Podcasting Hall of Fame in 2018. He is the author of the book, Profit from Your Podcast: Proven Strategies to Turn Listeners into a Livelihood. Over the years he has launched over 30 different podcasts with over 4 million downloads.

Dave and I currently co-host the Podcast Review Show where we help podcasters improve. You can find that show at https://www.podcastreviewshow.com.

Dave was a guest on episode 485 to talk all things podcasting. You can listen to that episode at www.podcasttalentcoach.com/485.

DAVE’S BRILLIANCE

Here are a few takeaways from my conversation with Dave.

Viral Topic: The Importance of Mic Technique: “When I moved into this house had no carpet, and it was just this giant echo chamber. So the first thing I did was, like, okay. We need we need a carpet. We need some rug, something like that.”— Dave Jackson 00:32:58 – 00:33:07.

The Blue Yeti Misconception: “Technically, it’s not a bad microphone, but what most people overlook is that thing can pick up, if you want, in every single direction. Well, that’s just screaming, pick up the neighbor’s lawnmower and everything else.”— Dave Jackson 00:33:44 – 00:33:57.

Mastering Freelance Success: “If I’m trying to position myself as an expert, I either want to interview people who know the people that should be hiring me or in some cases, just interview the people who should be hiring me.”— Dave Jackson 00:37:54 – 00:38:03.

Big thanks to Dave Jackson for all the help and inspiration over the years. Find Dave at www.SchoolofPodcasting.com.

FIND YOUR MENTORS

Those are six mentors who have had the biggest impact on my journey. There are so many other people who have inspired, helped, and collaborated with me over the years and through these 500 episodes. I would never have enough time to name all of them.

From my wife Jen, to Jon Fugler and the various members of our mastermind over the years. From the clients, partners, and supporters, each has played a part in this journey.

But most of all, I want to thank you. Without your support week after week and episode after episode, this show would never have reached 500 episodes.

Thanks for being here. Thanks for allowing me to be part of your podcast journey. Let me know how I can help.

If you don’t have mentors who can take your hand and walk you every step of the way, go to www.PodcastTalentCoach.com/apply, click the button and apply to have a chat with me. We will develop your plan and see how I can help and support you to achieve your podcast goals.