Captivating Your Podcasts Audience with CEO of Rebel Base Media & Captivate.fm Mark Asquith on Episode #0142

Intro [0:00]

EA Interviews Episode 142. Inspiration, transformation, success stories, and the Imperfect Action Round seven days a week. Join Mario Fachini for today’s Expert Authority Effect Interview. 

Mario Fachini [0:14]

I have a message. Do you have a business? Do you have people that you want to impact? Do you have people that you want to influence? How do you get out and get that message out there? I like to recommend podcasting because ever since I started it’s been a great time. A lot of people have been helped. A lot of people have been saying a lot of good things. But I didn’t get there on my own. And that’s why I’m super excited to have Mark Asquith here from Sheffield, United Kingdom, CEO of Rebel Base Media. And he’s like all things podcasting. If you’re looking for a website, if you’re looking for hosting. He’s even going to reveal something to me that he hasn’t really talked about in other settings that I’ve heard. And I’m going to bring them up right after we thank our sponsor. 

SPONSOR Acorns [1:02]

How would you like to grow your wealth easier than you think with the change you probably don’t notice anyhow automatically? That’s why I started the compounding interest snowball investing with Acorns and advise you do too. Get started simply and easily today at EAInterviews.com/Acorns. 

Mario Fachini [1:21]

Here he is, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Mark Asquith. Mark, how are you doing today? 

Mark Asquith [1:26]

I’m very good. Thank you, Mario. How are you? 

Mario Fachini [1:28]

I am feeling great. And I’m super excited to have you here. I know you’ve done TEDx talks. You’re the CEO of Rebel Based Media. And you have helped so many people, I don’t even know the number. But like I was saying before we went live, every time I see something online, it’s just good words about what you’re doing with your companies. How did you get into it and why do you have such a passion for it? 

Mark Asquith [1:53]

I appreciate that. Thanks, Man. So I mean, podcasting is – I’m kind of one of those weird people that, like, gets a bit obsessed with things. You know, I’m a big Star Wars geek. I’ve got a Star Wars podcast. I’m a DC Comics geek. And when I get into something, I want to learn everything about it. But not not everything about it on a superficial perspective. I want to learn how it works. Because my logic is that, you can only get better at something if you know how it works. So if it breaks, you can’t fix it unless you know the inner workings of something. So that was the case when I was kind of getting into podcasting years ago. And I got into it through DC Comics, weirdly. So I’ve got a really storied career behind me. I’ve worked for the Air Force. I’ve worked for Navies. I’ve worked for banks. I’ve worked for all sorts of different people and done so many random things. But for about 12 years before I was in podcasting, I used to own a design brand and digital agency. So anyone that knows me will know that I’m very design lead. I’m very much about how things work, the experience, and, obviously, how things look, how they function, and just what they deliver to people. So I was kind of in this agency setting. I built a design and it worked with Adobe and Bosch, and we did work for Fortune magazine covers. And you know, if you open up some Adobe products today, you’ll see some of our work on the Splash screens. So that was kind of you know – I was doing this. And then, really randomly, I started to blog about DC Comics. You can’t quite see it, it’s just off camera. But it’s a big display case of DC Comics stuff. And then my cohost, [unintelligible] [00:03:35], I could have blogged him. My co-founder of the blogs [unintelligible] [00:03:38] shots that I had, which is now sadly defunct, we do Star Wars stuff now. But he said to me, “We should get into podcasting.” And I said, “That’s ridiculous. Why would you want to get into podcasting? It’s not 2005. I’m not going to sit in my pants in my basement talking about lose. Like, I’m just not going to do that. This is ridiculous. Why would I want to do like this?” And he made me do it. You never get into podcasting. We recorded at first then a podcast. And I think it may be still online somewhere. And it was terrible. Like, I was terrible. The sound was terrible. I was using some dodgy old blue Snowball mic. But I got hooked. Like I saw the downloads. Like, two people had downloaded it. I was thinking, “This is ridiculous. I can talk about what I want, and someone’s going to listen to it. That’s exactly – like, that’s me. I’m up for that.” So then I started – people started asking me lots of business questions. You know, we come from a very little town in the north of England. And as you said, I’m fortunate enough to have done TEDx talks and educated at Harvard on podcasting. I’ve traveled a heck of a lot. And that’s not typical for someone from this town. So people in the town and the local city started asking me for advice about business. Like, “How have you done all that stuff?” So I thought, well, I’ll do my own podcast on that kind of stuff. And then realized that was in this mix of just a bazillion other business podcasts out there. You know, I’m just going to kind of podcast. And I just thought, “Let’s just see where this goes.” And that’s how I got into it years and years and years ago. But the second I got into it, we created our first product in podcasting, which was the Podcast Websites product, which is one of our brands today. So I’d been podcasting for, like, 20 minutes. And then by the time I’d been podcasting 20 minutes, I already have a business in podcasting, which is just weird. But it’s just typical of our work. You know, I see some problems and decide to try and fix them. So that’s how I got into it. A really, really kind of quick version of it. It was through DC Comics, which I know is wild and bizarre. 

Mario Fachini [5:41]

Well, you’re joking around about it. But why do you think more people don’t get into the business of podcasting? They’re just doing it just to do it. Because you’re joking about it. And I think it’s impressive what you’ve done. But I also know that – I’m new to this. But would you say it’s one to two out of five, maybe three to four out of ten, actually do end up monetizing it or actually even care? 

Mark Asquith [6:09]

Sorry. [Unintelligible] [00:06:10]. It’s more like one out of 1000. I think, what we’ve got to understand, so let’s be clear on, I don’t make money. I mean I make money from my podcast. And you know, I’ve got sponsors on my show. But they’re just people that are leaving. My show is not my revenue. And I would not like it to be. My show now is called The Podcast Accelerator. It’s three times a week, seven minutes, eight minutes apart. I teach people bits of podcasting works. My business of podcasting is I make podcasting products. You know, I make technology for podcasters. So I’m not an online entrepreneur. None of that interests me. I make tech products. I’m a tech founder. That’s what I do. I’m a tech guy. But I love podcasting. So it’s kind of nice that I can make tech products in podcasting. So I love it. The business of podcasting that you’re alluding to there is the monetization side of it. And honestly, this is not going to good. This is not going to be well received. Much of it is a fallacy. Much of it is – it’s simply not an easy way to make money. And a lot of people believe to come into podcasting thinking they can make money from podcasting, and they can’t. Because all they’re doing is they’re content producers. They produce content all of the time, all of the time, all of the time, all of the time. That’s not business. That’s content. That’s content production. You know, Martin Scorsese, he’s a director and a filmmaker. The studios do the business stuff. That’s the distinction. And I think it’s a huge challenge. And we see so many people coming through, certainly with the old podcast websites rather, not now really with Captivate. But with podcasts websites, we’d see people come through that had so much gusto and talent but just thought they could make money within three months of starting a podcast and getting a sponsor and do all that kind of good stuff. But I’ve got the data. Like, I have the data. I run a podcasting hosting company. I have the data. The percentages are low, man. And the reason the percentage is low is that people don’t realize how hard it is. How hard it is. You got to increase your downloads. You’ve got to make sure that that person is getting return on investment. None of this is easy stuff. And if all you want to do is create the content, it’s all right to create a podcast for what it was initially kind of invented to do, which is to entertain people. Podcasting is entertainment. It’s not adding value. It’s not business. It’s not content marketing. Like, if you aren’t entertaining, you’re will die a death. So this is the thing, become a little bit overcooked, you know, the business space in podcasting. You have to be entertaining. There are a lot of people. I talked to a lot of podcasters. And I’ll say to them, “Right. Tell me about your podcast. Like, why is it so good? Why should I listen?” And they said, “Well, I add value to my listeners.” And I think, “What is the point in that?” That is a crazy thing to say. Because by turning the mic on and publishing it, you better hope that you’re adding value. That is the baseline. That’s the baseline. So that’s like a plumber turning up to me and I’m like, “Tell me why you should do the job.” “Well, it’s because I can do the plumbing.” That’s the baseline. And if you can’t do the plumbing, but what else can you do? 

Mario Fachini [9:52]

Like, congratulations on being qualified for what your business is. 

Mark Asquith [9:57]

Exactly. And that’s the problem. Certainly, with the business of podcasting is that so many people spin up so many shows that are not doing anything fresh. And there are nearly 900,000 podcasts out there, I think that’s probably going to — well, probably hit 900K over the next five to six weeks. My good friend, Dan J. Lewis has got the data on that. But you know, 900,000 podcasts, that’s a drop in the ocean when you consider how many blogs are out. But what you got to remember with that is that, not as many people know how to access podcasters or know how to access blogs and content. And so if you’re not doing anything different, if you’re not entertaining, if you’re not making someone laugh, cry, feel angry, feel happy, feel elated, learn something, you ain’t gonna fly. You’ll get a plateau of listeners and then you’re going to find it really hard. I mean, I could go on about this all day, man. But you’re going to find it really tough. If you’re going to be the business podcaster that intends to monetize the show, you better be really clear on how you’re going to do that. And it’s not as easy as its portrayed. It’s not. I’m afraid to say it’s really not. 

Mario Fachini [11:09]

Well, one, I appreciate the honesty. I’m not looking for – I’m not trying to slant it any which way. I really thought it was one to two out of five, whatever, you know. But when you’re saying it’s one out of 1000, I was just shocked. Because it seems like a fair amount of people just kind of kick it with the stick. We’ll see what happens kind of thing. Like, the mentality, “I’m just going to start a show on whatever for whatever reason. And if something happens, cool.” I’m like, it’s like getting in your car going, “Well, I’ll just start driving to somewhere and we’ll see where I end up. Hopefully, it’s somewhere good.” 

Mark Asquith [11:44]

Well, actually, just to jump in on that one, I actually think that stands a better chance. The most well planned business podcasts. 

Mario Fachini [11:52]

Oh, do dive deeper with this. Because like I said, I’m new. I’m open to this. And I just – I was asking because I don’t know. And obviously, you have the experience with it. But just from what I’ve seen in the short time since I started, even though it’s 100 plus episodes ago, it’s just fascinating to me. So why do you think that would stand a better chance? 

Mark Asquith [12:16]

And I’m saying that in a flippant-ish way to kind of open people’s eyes a little bit. And what I mean by that is, there’s nothing wrong with jumping in the car, not knowing where you’re going, if you love driving the car. There’s nothing wrong with that. And the thing about that is that you’re doing it for the enjoyment of it. If someone comes along, and they said, “You know what? Actually, did you know there was a really cool steakhouse down there.” That you never found had you not come down this street and just happened upon this thing. An opportunity presents itself that you didn’t expect. And it becomes a new favorite thing. That’s a very random example. But I’ve seen the same thing happen time and time and time again in podcasting, where someone starts a crazy little show and it goes crazy. It goes nuts. Because they’re not trying to monetize it. They’re not trying to sell the pre-roll and fix their own price of sponsorship early on because they don’t know what they’re selling. Okay, you can come up with a business plan for the podcast. That’s easy. Lay it flat. Let’s do a business plan for a podcast right now. Come up with a format, have a few segments to it, name them something quite cool, have some transitions that you edited thrills in, and then we’re going to sell a couple of different spots, and we’re just going to find the right kind of sponsors. And that’s the business plan. That’s it. Like, I could sell that coaching model to a bazillion people right now and the payment 997 bucks down from 17 grand. And they’d pay me that today for that. I’ll just have to embellish it a little bit more. But that’s the basics of it. The other option is you monetize it on the back end. Create your online courses, do whatever the heck you want to do, or do listen to support via Patreon. The thing is your sponsors need to see something. Why? What are they sponsoring? They’re sponsoring your download numbers. But the problem is download numbers are transient. What happens if my internet goes down and I can’t publish something? What happens if I have Christmas off? Well, you can’t have Christmas off because you got a sponsor that’s expecting download numbers. So you can’t have time off. So you make yourself this prison. This podcasting prison. So when you start to sell downloads, that’s when it becomes a problem. And that’s why the shows that are akin to jumping in the car and kind of naturally just progressing along, the fun thing with that is that the people that – you’ve seen Rocky. We’ve all seen Rocky. Great film. Those kids chasing him believe in him. They believe in him entirely. They didn’t know that he was going to be running through the streets. He didn’t know he was going to accrue all these funds as he was going on these most recent run for his fight with Apollo. It just happened. It’s a natural coincidence. And if he has a week off, if you don’t podcast for a week, those fans are still coming back every single time. So the point I’m trying to get to with this is, that those serendipitous shows, those shows that I’ve done for love, they find a little bit of magic early on. Now, when they find the magic, the sensibility that is required to monetize that is the clear common sense to recognize that there’s some magic happening to identify what that magic is, and to do something with it. But if you treat a business like a – sorry – a podcast like a business with a business plan, which is fine. Cool. Go for that. People see straight through it. And they’re not going to believe in it. All they’re going to do is they’re going to consume. And here’s the thing, here’s the kicker with this. You got to remember that everyone that is doing this business podcast is talking to the same 200 people. Because podcasting is now a PR outlet. So if you if you are an author, better get on some podcasts. Wrong. You’re not coming to mind. I’m not interested in your book. And the reason for that is that my listeners are not chasing that person. They want to listen to that person. You don’t want to listen to him on all of the other shows. 

Mark Asquith [16:12]

They might even have their own. 

Mark Asquith [16:14]

Well, in that point [unintelligible] [00:16:18] of the books, they’re coming for you, Mario. They’re coming for the host. They’re coming to follow you. So what can you do to get more of you into your show? Because that’s where the magic is. That’s, absolutely, what we’re talking here, man. And people are tuning in to listen to you talk to me. So this is always very interesting for me. Look at the shows that do well on Patreon. Because that’s the most natural link between a podcast that people believe in and people taking action to support. There’s no more natural link. The downloads don’t matter to these people that are making 5K, 10K, 15K a month on Patreon. It does not matter. It could get ten downloads. But as long as those ten people are still believing in that show and contributing via Patreon, it’s fine. So the KPI is that the business indicators become different. We stop selling downloads. We get off the hamster wheel. We produce less content but it’s better quality. We can market it better. Get more from it. And guess what? We can have a week off. So I know that’s a long rant. I could do an-hour-and-a-half talk on this. Well, I’m glad you

Mario Fachini [17:30]

Well, I’m glad you can be. Because, clearly, you’re passionate about it and you have people’s best interests at heart. And that’s one of the reasons I even invited you on the show. Because there’s a ton of successful people out there. And that’s what I’ve realized. I get requests all the time. I want to be on your show. But I’m always looking for people that actually care about people and get results. And I know you have and I know that’s what you’re about. So that’s why I’m staying a little bit quiet going – you know, I want to learn just as much as everyone else. And you’re sharing some really good things. But I do want to ask you about – let’s dive deeper with your companies. What are they? How are you helping? And then I’ll ask you about the people. Like, tell us a little bit more for the people who don’t know about your companies. And if you could, for me, elaborate and productivity. 

Mark Asquith [18:18]

So where to start?

Mario Fachini [18:22]

Podcasts Websites. Go there. 

Mark Asquith [18:24]

Yeah. That’s a good – so we can go back to the beginning. So end of 2014 that’s when I launched my first show, in September international podcast in 2014. And like I said, I had a digital agency at the time. So it was very simple for me to sign up with a hosting company and kind of link it to my website. Even for me, I was still very confused about, “Okay. How do I link all this stuff together? Wait a minute. I want a scalable site because I know as an agency guy that WordPress is the best. Mapping out memberships on an e-commerce and do my own about page and my forms and my pop ups for the lead magnets,” and all that kind of goes stuff that we see online. How the heck does someone that doesn’t know how to do this and just gets into podcasting, how do they do this? And this is back before a lot of the – this is back before a lot of the newer tools, like Captivate, making some of this a lot easier. So we create a podcast website and we did a joint venture kind of, it wasn’t really a joint venture as such. It was more of a kind of enhanced partnership with John, as you know, from EOFire. A good friend here and he had great friends. And a lot of time and respect for them. We worked together for up until probably August or July this year on Podcasts Websites. And he’s building out this WordPress platform for podcasters. And that was the first business that we had. But we always have this strategy in mind of, actually, there are other things that we can do. As often you see in industries, they are starting to do well, like podcasting is now. We didn’t want to be the people that came and saw the money, created a product and after four months decided, actually, we got this a little bit wrong. And kind of, you know – we wanted to do the time. So we spent three or four years working on Podcast Websites. We built some amazing friendships, helped thousands of podcasters to launch, and build this amazing WordPress, personal branded site around their podcast. All the while we were designing a slightly different business structure. So Podcast Websites is the managed WordPress platform for podcasters. It’s the world’s number one. There’s no one else that does it. And no one else that certainly doesn’t do it like we do it. Then we created Rebel Base Media, which is a huge Star Wars reference. And we were essentially – Rebel Base Media Is a group company. So Kieran and I own Rebel Base Media, which in turn Rebel Base Media provides localized, regionalized consulting for brands in podcasting. And we’ve got a couple of podcast studios in the UK as well. So that’s like the face-to-face kind of touchy feel. If your brand wants a show, let’s come and design and open. And James, leads that and does all that. And then we’ve got Captivate.fm, which is the world’s only growth-oriented podcast, which Kieran and I single handedly – dual handedly? – he and I have built this over the last year. [Unintelligible] [00:21:16] ]. And that’s a hosting company. So you know, instead of seeing our Blu-ray somewhere else, you know, it comes somewhere a little bit more modern, hosts multiple shows, that’s what Captivate.fm is. And we’ve got the Podcast Success Academy, which is a membership that teaches all the growth skills for podcasting. Basically, all the stuff that I ranted about, like, in courses. And then the last one, as you as you rightly mentioned, is Poductivity. So it’s Poductivity without the R, which is kind of cute. I cannot say too much about it because it’s still a little bit stealth. But our Poductivity – 

Mario Fachini [21:54]

Sure you can. It’s just us. 

Mark Asquith [21:56]

Oh no, it’s just us. Well see, is it just you and me as it’s just us. So we’ve got for each of our businesses, Kieran and I, we’re West Canada Strategic Leads as the whole group. But each business has got its own product lead and its own team. And the Poductivity team, led by a guy called Eddie. He was wonderful. I’ve known him for years. We’re building interaction technologies. But it’s not – in the words of Luke Skywalker, it’s not going to go the way you think. So we’ve got a lot of interesting announcements coming up over the next, I would say, three to six months. We announced a podcast movement in 2018. Then being completely straight with you, we got hit with some legal paperwork from a certain brand that said, “You can’t use the word pod.” And we were like, “Well, yes, we can.”  So we – 

Mario Fachini [22:47]

You can’t use the word what? 

Mark Asquith [22:49]

Pod, P-O-D. “You can’t use the word pod in your brand and trademark.” “Okay. Well, we can.” So we had a bit of a chat through with those guys. And we got that all squared off in the UK. So that’s all good. So we spent 2019 really quietly doing what we did with Captivate the year before, which was very quietly designing some of the infrastructure behind the scenes, lining up some of our advisors, lining up some of our partnerships, lining up certain things. 2020, we start to see some announcements, actually, over the next few weeks. Very slowly getting ready to roll that one out. So we’re going to essentially do what we did with Captivate, which is stealthily build something, tease people out with what it is, and then launch it with a bum, which is what we did with Captivate. And that’s going crazy. So Poductivity, I’m excited about that. Captivate and Poductivity, they’re my two babies. I worked with Kieran on Captivate, we’re kind of product leads on that. And as myself and Ed, lead of Poductivity. And then we’ve got Sam and James in the Podcast Websites’ team doing their thing as well. So it’s good, man. It’s a lot of work. But it’s – you know, it’s what we’re there for. 

Mario Fachini [23:59]

Anything worth doing is. 

Mark Asquith [24:01]

It is. And I was talking to Sam about this. So unfortunately, after to work – with my girlfriend, Sam, it was fantastic. She keeps me on track and calls out a lot of my BS, which not many people do. Because as you can tell, I talk a lot. And to get a word in edgewise is difficult. So she keeps me on track. And we were talking about this last week and we just said that, “A lot of people look at what we do is Rebel Base.” So she said, “Wow. You’re doing a lot. You should focus on one thing.” And I always say, “Well, I understand that.” But ultimately, we are focused on one thing. And nice further in podcasting. It just so happens that, you know, the mistake that we could make is to believe that I, myself, and Kieran, and just a small team could work on every product. And we’ve been very strategic and smart that each product is a separate business, a separate legal entity, we have a separate board, and it’s got a separate set team members, and options pools. And it’s got a separate set of everything. With one exception, which I think is the key to all of it, which is that the customer experience team is agnostic across all of the brands. So they understand every brand, how it talks, how it works together, how it works individually. So that if you came in, Mario, to Captivate, we could talk [unintelligible] [00:25:17] on Podcast Websites or Poductivity or the Academy in our studio as anything else. That’s the key thing. You know, for anyone that’s managing multiple projects, make sure that you’ve got the support. Whoever is customer facing, make sure that they are agnostic to everything. That’s vital. That’s a huge thing to learn. 

Mario Fachini [25:39]

That is impressive because you have boards and everything is segregated out. But you still have it gelled together it sounds like. 

Mark Asquith [25:48]

Yeah. And it’s a story. You know the old Donna Miller Brown story idea. We tell a story. Rebel Base Media is a podcast tech company. We build various pieces of technology. And if you want to know our productivity work, you can talk to me or you can actually talk to Ed. Podcast Websites, go and and talk to Lester. You know, you want to talk to Captivate, talk to me or Kieran. Or the Academy with James and Sam and Allegra. And it is about fostering a community of people internally and externally. He believed [unintelligible] [00:26:18]. He had the halo effect of things. It wouldn’t work without having put the time in on Podcast Websites. Had we been arrogant and throwing our hat in and saying, “We’re number one. We can do everything. And we’re going to reinvent hosts and we’re going to do this.” People wouldn’t have believed it. But they saw how we handle things. They saw that we’re very fair. They saw that anyone, honestly, ultimately, I might be the CEO of it but I’m doing support. I’m listening. I’m learning. I’m at the conferences. I’m doing the top. But I’m also – like, you’ll never see me do a talk and then not be on the booth. Like I will have – three days – I mean, as you’ve seen, we’ve been together at the conferences. I’m at the booth 24/7. I’m not one of those guys that will speak and then I’ll disappear off to some exclusive lunch for the the elites. Forget all that. People are people. Let’s all just mix. Let’s just be friends. Let’s learn. Let’s listen. Let’s help. And I think that is vital because, remember, the way that you pitch yourself is the way that you’re remembered. The way that you’re remembered is the way that you are branded. And that is, I think, absolutely vital. So yeah, you got to learn from that. You’ve got to tread the carpet now every single day. 

Mario Fachini [27:29]

There is a very good Expert Authority insight. That was good. 

Mark Asquith [27:34]

Thanks, man. 

Mario Fachini [27:35]

And without a doubt it shines through with everything you’re doing. And I realized that from day one, even before we met in person and everything, I’m very excited for you for what you’ve done and what you’ve got coming up. I want to ask you with all the people you’ve helped, who would you say – maybe you can name a couple. We’ll talk about success stories. What’s one or two of your favorite success stories of someone go, “I started off with nothing. I used your stuff.” And now, you know, their show just blew up. 

Mark Asquith [28:07]

I think there’s a couple of great examples. We’ve got a few of them. And we’re fortunate enough with Captivate to get people moving into us as well. So people like the Gerry Anderson Network. And it’s great because I’ve got a free Thunderbirds t-shirt. It’s amazing. So those kind of people that use the tools who are already doing well, but then excelled even further when they’ve got a little bit more support. But – excuse me – I think, probably an example of someone who started from scratch with us. He’s a guy called Carm Capriotto from Remarkable Results. And he took a chance on Podcast Websites on February the 12th, 2015, which is when we had our launch webinar with John. And it was very much. Look, if enough people sign up to make this viable, we will make it. And that was it. That’s the way we run it. And Carm signed up. And since then -you know, he didn’t have a business plan. He was a guy that retired from the automotive aftermarket. He was just like, “You know what? I’m going to do it. Sure. And I want to just educate this market and I’m going to use podcasts to do it.” He is now the number one podcast network, the only major podcast network in the industry. He, obviously, just crushes it financially. And I mean, that’s kind of a heck of a lot. And he’s a great friend. And he is just so impressive because what he does is he gets in the car and he just drives. And what he does is, he realizes, “Well, that’s a nice place to stop. But these are the ten places I don’t need to come back here.” And the fun thing about it is that he takes hold of it. He grasps it. And he takes a business plan. And he turns it into a business based on what is working. And he will act. Just what he has done and the way that he does it is so impressive. I’d actually likened him to what you’re doing, if I’m honest with you, Mario. And that’s not just because we’re talking now. He produces things in a very similar way to what you’re doing. It’s very well produced, very conscientious, very well-articulated just like you are with this show and everything that you do. You’re on a parallel with what Tom is doing. And you know, he saw the long term for this. He was doing it. I think he started early 2015. And he’s just crushing it, man. He’s a keynote speaker. He’s been asked to do things all over the country. And he’s just – yeah. Carm Capriotto, so go and check out RemarkableResults.biz. Go and check out all of his shows in the podcast. I think you’ll be impressed. 

Mario Fachini [30:47]

Well, I was just about to. First off, thanks for the compliments. I appreciate that. And also, I was going to ask you, could you name the network again. But I’m glad you did. I definitely do want to check it out. 

Mark Asquith [30:58]

I think he’s launching something new, Remarkable Results Radio is the show. But if you do a Carm – you know the hilarity with this. He won’t mind me sharing this. He’s in the automotive industry and I kid you not, his first name is Carman. It’s spelt Car-man [unintelligible] [00:31:16] for anything. 

Mario Fachini [31:22]

Let me pause you right there. Let me – let me pause you right there. Can you go back where you said, “I kid you not, he’s in the automotive.” 

Mark Asquith [31:32]

Yeah. I kid you not, he’s in the automotive aftermarket trade. And he’s name is Carman, spelt Car-man. And he’s just the perfect name. And so if you search for Carman Capriotto or Carm Capriotto in your podcast app, you’re going to find all of his shows. But I’m fairly sure he’s got something fancy coming as well. 

Mario Fachini [31:52]

Where’s he from? 

Mark Asquith [31:54]

He’s from New York State. 

Mario Fachini [31:57]

Okay. 

Mark Asquith [31:58]

Yeah. He’s from New York. 

Mario Fachini [32:00]

I’ll definitely have to check that out. I mean, if you’re going to talk about one thing here in Detroit Rock City, it’s a automotive. 

Mark Asquith [32:07]

Oh, he’s been there a lot, man. And I’m trying to get him down to Podfest, you know. But I think he’s speaking at an event that weekend, which is a shame. But I was trying to get him down to Podfest. And I think we’ll announce it live – dum, dum, dum -I think we’re going to do a meet up down there. A bit of a world of [unintelligible] [00:32:23]. So if you’re down there, come along, man. You’ve just got the first invite to our meet up – our event at Podfest. 

Mario Fachini [32:32]

Well, I appreciate that. That sounds like a lot of fun. And I’ll definitely be there. I’m actually speaking this year. 

Mark Asquith [32:37]

Yes. Congrats, dude. 

Mario Fachini [32:39]

Thank you. I’m excited about that. So if you were to ask – if someone were to ask you, “I’m thinking about starting a show. What do you think I should do?” What would you tell them? 

Mark Asquith [32:52]

I think just make sure you’ve got a structure to it. Make sure you’ve got a decent structure to it and you’re not just rambling along. You know, you’ve got to produce something of high quality, that’s entertaining, that’s valuable, that’s funny, that’s emotive, that’s educational. You know, pick one and stick to it and be good at it. But it would just truly be lean more into yourself. If you’re starting, sure, everyone else is going to say, “Just do it. Just press the button.” That’s easy advice. That’s cool. That’s fine. Yes, do that. But lead into yourself more. All those trades that everyone says you have, double them. Because then it will really come across on your audio. Then it’s really going to come across how you are. It’s like karaoke. You feel like you’re going all out on karaoke. But to everyone else, you’re just kind of showing in there. When you feel you’re giving, like, 500 percent and your hair is all over and you’re going crazy on karaoke, you’re really pushing it to like 10X levels. It’s only then that people can see that you’re putting something into it. The same to be said for podcasting and your personality. Figure out those little nuances of your personality, the bits that people really, really feel make you you. And really lean into them and expand on them, and let them breathe ,and let them come about. and then don’t be afraid to change things up. You know, if you do a format and you do five episodes, and you’re bored of it, change it. It’s a podcast. Not the end if the world, everyone is still alive. Change it. This is your medium. No one’s regulating it yet. 

Mario Fachini [34:25]

That is more great expert Authority insight. Because there’s someone I was talking to, a dear friend of mine, last night. And I’m going to make sure she sees this. Because there are so many people that, I think, just second guess themself with too many things instead of, like you’re saying, put some time into it and just go for it. You obviously have no problem if someone wants to do a pivot. 

Mark Asquith [34:54]

No. I mean, everyone’s pivoted all the time. You know, if your show is 60 minutes long and then one day it’s 53 minutes long. Oh, guess what? That’s a pivot. People have freaked out of this pivot word because it’s a cool startup word. You know, it’s who cares? Pivot is you’ve got one foot on the floor then you change direction slightly, but you still got one foot anchored. That’s, the thing. Nothing is ever final when it comes to this sort. You just tweak and optimize and tweak and optimize, tweak and optimize, tweak and optimize. Because that’s the game that we’re in, is making things continually better. Now you’ll geek out, you’ve got a Heil LPR 40. You know, next time you might end up with a Shure SM7B. You might end up with an ATR2100. Either way, you’re going to iterate, you’re going to change. you’re going to tweak, you’re going to change your tie, you’re going to change your vest, you’re going to change. We’re just iterating every time, every time. People get stuck because they’re like, “Wait a second. So I’m going to ask 15 questions and it’s got to be 32 minutes long. And I’ve got to have a 90 second promo. Exactly two-minutes-30.” Forget all of that. Just do what’s natural. You know, everyone always asks. This is a great example, “What is an ideal length for a podcast episode?” Just keep talking until you sound boring. That is it. [Unintelligible] [00:36:20] then quit. Stop. Put a pin on it. So yeah, don’t be afraid of changing things. People get scared so much about that. 

Mario Fachini [36:29]

That is awesome. I have just a couple more questions before we thank our sponsor. And one of them – I’m a little bit on the fence about. I got to be honest because we’re having a great conversation. And I got to ask it though because it’s what I’ve based my show off of. What do you think of video podcasting? 

Mark Asquith [36:48]

It depends on whether we’re talking genuine video podcasting, as in uploading a video to a media host and only consuming that in a podcast app. But I don’t think that’s what we’re talking about. I think we’re talking about sticking it on YouTube and repurpose it out to different places. It’s all right. It’s got its place. You just got to ask yourself, what’s the point of me listening to your podcast if I’m watching it? But on the flip side of that, if I don’t know about podcasting, I’m seeing you on Facebook or YouTube, it’s more exposure. So there’s arguments either way on that one. I think crack on it. If it works for you, crack on. 

Mario Fachini [37:25]

All right. So we’re still 50-50 I didn’t know if you were one way or the other. But I appreciate the honesty as always. Now, this is what I call the wheel of whatever. Do you want to see it? 

Mark Asquith [37:42]

Well, I’ll just dive in. Is the option to see or to just dive in? 

Mario Fachini [37:48]

Well, no. We’re going to dive in. But you know what? I like you, we’re going to bring it on here. What do you think about that? 

Mark Asquith [37:56]

Oh, yeah. Go on. I like this. 

Mario Fachini [37:59]

All right. So I have been teasing everyone about this for, probably, 50, 60 episodes. And I was like, I should get a wheel where I can literally spin it and it will have questions on it. 

Mark Asquith [38:14]

Okay. I like this. 

Mario Fachini [38:15]

I’ve kept it under wraps because this is not black and yellow. We’re in the process of – you know, we’re making another iteration on the show, if you will. So let’s just pretend there’s questions on it. And oh, we just landed on one right here. It has nothing to do with podcasting or business. But what’s your favorite conspiracy theory? 

Mark Asquith [38:37]

Oh, JFK, easily. 

Mario Fachini [38:39]

Why is that? 

Mark Asquith [38:40]

I just find it interesting. There’s so many moving parts with it. And it happened at such a pivotal time in history with the Cuban Missile Crisis just around the corner. And it just intrigues me that something of that magnitude could be carried out by a lone gunman. Yeah, I mean, there’s just so many moving parts to it. I think it’s very interesting. 

Mario Fachini [39:03]

So what do you think is the real story? 

Mark Asquith [39:06]

Honestly, I think it probably is an inside job but it was CIA job. I feel like some of the facts that you see, some of the kind of connections that Oswald had. And I just feel like somewhere down the wire, he was being manipulated somewhere by someone that was getting paid by the government. That’s what I reckon. 

Mario Fachini [39:32]

All right. I appreciate the honesty. You’re big on the honesty. You’re not holding back on anything. 

Mark Asquith [39:36]

Nah. Nah. Just straight out with it. 

Mario Fachini [39:39]

All right. Well, I very much appreciate it. I know Expert Authority World does too. We’re going to thank our sponsor and we’re going to come back for the Imperfect Action Round. 

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Mario Fachini [41:02]

All right. We are back with the Imperfect Action Round. Mark, are you ready to take imperfect action? 

Mark Asquith [41:09]

Let’s do this. 

Mark Asquith [41:10]

So this is 60 second rapid fire responses. And the first question is, what is the fastest path to the cash? 

Mark Asquith [41:19]

The fastest path to the cash is sell something that people want. 

Mario Fachini [41:24]

Great answer. Keep it simple. Number two, what is the biggest problem you see your prospects making and the fastest way they can fix it? 

Mark Asquith [41:32]

Trying to be entrepreneurs. Only Richard Branson is an entrepreneur. 

Mario Fachini [41:36]

Okay. I’m going to expand on this past 60 seconds. Why do you say that? 

Mark Asquith [41:41]

Everyone else is a small business owner, man. That’s it. Richard Branson has proven that he can scale business. And there’s Bill Gates and, you know, everyone else, [unintelligible] [00:41:51]. But if you scale a business to, like, 10K a year or 100K a year or $2 million a year, you’re not an entrepreneur. You’re a small business owner. Let’s be absolutely clear. Five million dollar turnover a year is a small business. Like, don’t chase the tag, chase the actual money and the profits and the ability to create a product that people want. And if you want to be an entrepreneur, prove you can keep doing it. Different things, different markets, different niches time and time again. Because doing the same thing over and over and over every single day does not make an entrepreneur. That makes a small business person. That is it. And I know it’s a weird distinction to make. But as soon as you get the fact that you add, “I’m just here to run a business.” You forget all of the ego stuff. You forget all of that stuff. And you start focusing on what matters. See me 1,000 times man, honestly, so much. 

Mario Fachini [42:52]

Great answer. I don’t think it’s weird. I think your honest to God truth. And that’s your distinction of it. And It’s not inaccurate. 

Mark Asquith [43:03]

Number three – it’s a good one, I promise. Number three, what is – actually it lines up right into what you were saying – what is the best way to maximize customer lifetime value? 

Mark Asquith [43:20]

Be an actual person and just talk them like an actual person. And also, don’t believe that the customer is always right. People will – familiarity breeds content. All right? So if you over deliver, everyone says, “Over deliver. Over deliver. Over deliver.” Well, if you over deliver all the time then you’re not over delivering. You’re just delivering because that’s what they expect. And then what will happen is people become very pushy with you. So you’ve got to be a person. I have a bit of a one for this. Like, if someone’s been a little bit rude to the team, I’ll step in on that, “Look. Okay. You’re a little bit frustrated. Fine. I understand that.” There’s a difference between being frustrated and being rude. You are a customer but you can also not be a customer. Now, that is an instant level. So people will respect that and guarantee – pretty much 100 percent of the time, guarantee to become a lifetime customer. So be a human being and understand that they are as well. Customers are not just card numbers. They’re people. 

Mario Fachini [44:23]

I love it. I love your attitude. Like I was saying earlier, it’s one of the reasons I even wanted you on the show and invited you is because the servant’s heart that you do have. But, obviously, you’re successful with everything too. You need – you know, fruit on the tree. But you just have such a heart for helping people. And I’m glad you didn’t back down from anything and didn’t think you would. But you did surprise me with a few answers which I enjoyed. So I fully appreciated everything you said. Thank you very much. Where would you like people to visit to learn more about you? 

Mark Asquith [44:52]

You can just check out – just sit down and hit me up on Twitter. You know, no lead magnets, anything crazy. Just hit me up on Twitter if you want to have a chat, @MrAsquith That’s where I do most of my chatting these days. So just hit me up over there and we can just have a chat. 

Mario Fachini [45:04]

Excellent. Well, I appreciate it so much, Mark. Thank you for everything you’ve shared. I look forward to seeing you at the next event. 

Mark Asquith [45:12]

I’ll see you soon, man. Thanks for having me as well. You’re a great host. You’re doing great work. And just keep it up. I’ll see you on Facebook doing what you’re doing. I’m always encouraged by it. So congratulations on everything, dude. 

Mario Fachini [45:20]

Well, thank you very much. It means a lot. All right. Expert Authority World, we got another great episode here today. I’ll see you tomorrow. Have a great day. 

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www.EAInterviews.com [46:21]

Hey, thanks for listening to today’s episode. I hope you got a lot out of it. I know I sure did. If you haven’t done so already, I invite you to subscribe to the show. And also be sure to check out EAInterviews.com for complete show notes, the full interview video experience, links to the resources we mentioned, and more. Have a blessed day and I’ll see you tomorrow.