Recently I saw a couple people share the same story from Reddit.
At first I ignored it, but when I came across it the third time, I felt I should read it. The headline caught my attention. A story about regret from a 46 year old man. Why had it gone viral? I read it and what he said wasn’t anything that others have gone through. I think it’s because his story is so relatable and he publicly shared it that it became viral.
When reading his story, I just saw a life that so many people live. No matter at what age. Those who are similar to his age realize they have neglected what’s most important in life. They’ve lost their identity.
Those who are younger can feel they are heading down this path and are scared.
In today’s podcast, I share that story and offer my own advice so that you can avoid the same fate.
In my podcast episodes, I often address a problem that is common for a lot of people. It’s always a problem I’ve dealt with first hand and I know there are so many others that have that issue.
The problem for this episode is believing that just waiting long enough and good things will start to happen. Yes good things come to those who wait, but those who are waiting are also taking action. Good things don’t come to people who wait around for luck to happen. They’re waiting for someone to come into their lives and grant them three wishes.
In this short, but to the point episode, I give a wake up call to those who need it. It’s for those who wait around for change to happen. (Hint: You’ll be waiting for a very long time.)
I’m excited to talk about today’s podcast episode because I’ve been working really hard on it this year. In fact it is my full time business now. I was a beginner was I started. The idea of selling t-shirts online sounded great. Liking an idea and committing to that idea to become successful are completely different.
I talk about the business but more importantly I talk about lessons that helped me get to earning six-figures in profit in just five month. I know it seems like some too good to be true story, but it’s not. In fact, there are sellers who are making way more than me.
Four years ago if you told me I could make this much money selling t-shirts, I would have said no way. However, companies like Teespring.com empower individuals to run a t-shirt business with zero up front costs. It’s amazing.
I hope this podcast episode gets you start on an idea you have in your mind
Links for this episode
Teespring.com (free to join)
Tee Inspector (How to get started selling with Teespring)
I know there may be some of you that want to start selling t-shirts after listening to this episode. I don’t have my own course, so wanted to find a course that I’ve bought and gone through that I could recommend. There are lots of courses these days, but this will provide a nice foundation for a reasonable price.
I saw something this weekend that shocked and upset me.
It’s been 2-3 months since I have checked my ratings and reviews in iTunes for the Get Busy Living podcast. Last time I checked, I had a good amount of five-star ratings and reviews (thank you to those who left one) and less than five one-star ratings.
Though even just one one-star rating hurt, I understood that maybe the podcast wasn’t for everyone. No negative reviews were left, just someone giving me one-star. So I didn’t know why someone didn’t like it. No big deal though. I would just keep focusing on the listeners that do enjoy it.
On Saturday night, I decided to check iTunes after I finished recording a new episode. I was shocked by what I saw.
Forty-one one-star ratings left! Forty-one??
I know I’m not a pro at this, but I don’t think I’m that bad to warrant that many one-star ratings.
I checked the most critical reviews, and they were left in August and September.
After doing some digging this is what I found:
Each called me amateur, which I found kind of odd that they use the same description. Their reviews were very amateurish though. I highly suspect fake names as well.
One account only reviewed my podcast.
One account only reviewed two podcasts (mine and the School of Greatness).
One account only reviewed four podcasts (I got one-star. The three others got five-stars).
One review said my interviews are recycled guests. Clearly this person hadn’t bothered to listen or look because I’ve only done four interviews and they aren’t guests you find on every single podcast. That’s why they were chosen.
One mentioned a podcast called the Art of Charm in the review, while another account left a five-star review for it.
One mentioned the School of Greatness in the review, while another account only reviewed only my podcast and that one.
First of all, I’m not sure why my podcast is being compared to The Art of Charm or the School of Greatness. The formats are different. Theirs are interview based. Out of twenty-eight episodes, I’ve only done four. I like to focus more on solo shows.
I’m sure they’re fine podcasts, cause they’re highly ranked, but I don’t listen to their podcasts so I don’t know how they are similar nor do I try to emulate them.
Those two podcasts are ranked in the top ten of the self-help category. At the time of this post I’m ranked 163. I’m a small fish. So why the comparisons? I don’t even think I’m in the same level as them. I’m certainly no threat to them.
There are many other solo show type self-help podcasts in top 200. Why not compare me to those? Why no reviews of one of those as well in addition to mine?
I clicked on other podcasts in the self-help category just to see if others had gotten this many one-star ratings. I didn’t click every single one, but in my research only four out of 200 had more than 30 one-star ratings. Most had ten or less one-star ratings. Some had zero. Some have been podcasting for years.
I started in January and already have 41 one-stars ratings.
(Note: When I say ratings, what I mean is that someone just has to click how many stars they want to give. 1-5 stars. That’s it. Completely anonymous. A review and rating must have the person logged into their iTunes account. Whatever is written will be shown along with their account name.)
Brendon Burchard’s podcast, The Charged Life, has 34 one-star ratings. However not a single person who gave it one-star left a review for it. When I filter for the “most critical” reviews, only five-star reviews are shown.
I enjoy his podcast, and his books, so I was surprised to see so many one-stars.
I found three other podcasts that have hundreds of five-star ratings, but also 40+ one-star ratings. For two of them, when I went to read the most critical reviews, again not a single person who wrote a one-star review. Zero. Zlich.
One podcast had three one-star reviews, but they were left in 2009 and 2010.
These podcasts are all in the top thirty of the category. Meaning lots of daily downloads and a huge listening audience.
I’m unsure if they are being negatively targeted, or those are genuine since they have thousands of downloads a day and therefore a much higher listener base and negative ratings are bound to happen.
What I do know is that I’m in this rare category of having 40+ one-star ratings.
What to think of this?
I’ll be honest, I was pretty hurt by seeing so many one-star ratings at first. Forty-one? That’s more than half of the five star ratings I’ve gotten. What was going on?
My first thought was maybe I should quit. Maybe my podcasting skills are terrible. Maybe these are legitimate.
Lately I’ve been feel uneasy. I can’t seem to relax. When I’m standing in front of my computer, I feel like there are a hundred things I need to be doing. If I’m not on my computer, I’m on my iPad or iPhone. That makes me feel stressed out and unable to focus for long periods of time. My mind is jumping from one thing to another.
Even when I’m trying to read a book, my mind begins to drift just a few minutes after reading.
It’s a problem that I want to solve. I want to have more focus and feel more calm. I don’t like feeling jittery. I want to be more productive because I have better focus.
In today’s episode I share the techniques I’m using now and will be using to improve in this area. It can be improved. We didn’t just wake up and have short attention spans. It’s because of the habits we’ve built over time. It’s because our mind isn’t trained enough.
I believe if this is one area we can improve, we can be more productive and feel an overall sense of calm in this busy world we live in today.
Are you stuck in a job and so badly want to get out? Do you dread each day you have to go to work? Life is too short to be doing work you hate. We live in a world today where it’s easier to create your dream job. Yes it’s true! Five years ago I wouldn’t have been able to create an iPhone app. It’s easier than ever to publish your own book and keep more of the money through Amazon Kindle. A job used to require being in an office, but now it just takes a computer and internet and that work can be done anywhere in the world.
I really wanted to get Kary on the podcast because he helps individuals find their purpose in life. He helps guide them from escaping their day job to going after their dream job.
He not only wrote about how to do that, but he went through his own escape. He was in a typical job and on his way for a promotion when it just didn’t feel right for him. While many people would think he’d be crazy for leaving a great job, he still did. Now he’s a writer, speaker, and coach working with individuals and organizations on reaching their true potential.
In this interview, I ask him about making that transition. He shares so much great stuff!
A must listen if you want to escape your day job prison.
