So let's talk about the business.
Explain to me a little bit more about the real business connections
and, or your podcast.
I'm open to hearing it all.
Yeah.
So real business connections started as Rochester business connections.
Again, I'm from Rochester, New York.
And when the pandemic hit, um, I was a music fan.
I had a music podcast in my city.
Uh, and I was a marketer.
I was actually a sales executive for a marketing company.
And I had just started in this brand new role.
So COVID hit, I was the last one in first one out, got furloughed and music.
Ben was unemployed music industry was nonessential and I was pretty darn broke.
So I had to reinvent music, Ben to business, Ben and business, Ben's an entrepreneur.
And I already understood marketing and I already had this side passion project
with music podcasting and music marketing.
So I transitioned from a Rochester music show to a Rochester business show
where I highlight local leaders started Balbert marketing and Rochester business
connections, which was a rinky dink, small local podcast grew rebranded.
And now it's listened to globally.
So you have to pinch yourself because it's been many years since I began all this.
But, uh, that's a whole new, the start of a whole new chapter in my life, Javanka.
Yeah.
And, and you know, it's, um, I've spoken to several, several entrepreneurs,
business owners and the pandemic COVID had a really, really big impact.
And I, all the audience will say it over and over again, it either
make you or break you and to those that needed to take a shift of such as
yourself going from music into the business, it had to sit down and actually
think things through, especially being furloughed.
And I'm sure that wasn't fun.
Um, at that time that you decided to go into the business mode, uh, how
did you, how did you get started?
What was that shift and what did it feel like to make that shift?
Yeah, I started asking for help.
Ah, a lot of people don't want to ask for help, but you know, this is vision
pros, I, I want, I almost said it.
I'll just say it anyways.
I, I felt visionless.
And the reason I didn't want to say that is I had some glimpses, like I had skills.
I liked podcasting, I liked marketing, but I definitely felt visionless.
I don't think I was visionless, but I felt visionless because everything I had
worked up to was stripped away from me.
And, you know, I didn't have that much going for me.
I'm just living at home, applying for jobs, not knowing what my next move was.
And I started the business podcast in essence to ask for help.
I didn't know that I was going to be a long-term entrepreneur,
start a podcast agency.
I just knew that if I talked to business owners, I'd learn things
that I didn't already know.
And every little thing that you overlook when you're just working in a role in a
company, like you got to know CRMs, you got to know accounting, you need to know
sales, but you also need marketing and acquisition.
You need to make sure your customers are happy.
You need to give referrals.
And there's so many different moving parts that I didn't know every single
aspect, but by podcasting, by revamping my LinkedIn profile and starting
discussions with thought leaders that I was looking up to online, that was my
version of asking for help and a bunch of little nibbles leads to an entire birthday
cake.
So now I feel like I got the whole birthday cake going.
So it's, it's since you felt visionless, tell me about your vision.
Yeah.
Because no longer visionless.
Well, and I've learned through a mentor of mine, Brian Bogert always says there
is no end destination, only constant evolution of self.
And I feel like I'm still evolving right now in this moment, to this day.
And when I felt visionless and when I was asking for help and when I didn't know
what my next move would be, I started to realize that like, I was, I was, I was
realizing that like a big expense in life is learning from the wrong people.
It's being stubborn and running really fast in the wrong direction.
And then guess what happens?
You got to turn around and run back.
Um, so my goal and my vision has become to get the knowledge and the wisdom from
the people who have it to the people who need it.
And the beauty is Ben was in the need it category.
Yes, so I got to learn every single day and I document with the podcast and the
social media, I document my learning process.
Now I'm at, I'm at a point where I'm not at the top of the hill.
Rome wasn't built in a day.
I was just in Rome recently and that was not built in a day.
And I'm still learning every single day, but as I learn and as I level up and as
I gain more wisdom, I pass that down to others at the same time.
So if every day in every way possible, we can just get the wisdom from the
people who have it to the people who need it.
I think we can all run in the right direction together.
Yeah, we're going to make mistakes, but we don't have to waste our time with
fake gurus and scams and false promises that everybody at some point has been
burned by and I don't want that to happen again to anybody.
You know, Ben, you said something that's truly, truly important.
And you said it a couple of times, asking for help and people just don't, you know,
and you starting a podcast was probably a little different way of asking for help.
How do you, how do you think that actually helped you to be able to, to be
where you are right now?
And then what do you say to entrepreneurs or business owners that are listening
that have never asked for help?
Yeah, so the podcast was a tremendously sophisticated way to ask for help.
Because if you're like a high school student or in college and you want a
mentor, you can send me a DM and say, Hey Ben, I would love to pick your brain.
I'm writing a research paper and I'm down, but truly the term pick your brain
is not my favorite because I don't know if I get the brain cells back.
I definitely don't get the time back.
And my time's more valuable than a cup of coffee.
So podcasting was a sophisticated way to ask for help because I found a way to
share mutual value.
And I guess that's really the answer to your question is someone doesn't know how
to ask for help or they're just getting started.
They're have uncertainty, find ways to provide mutual value.
So if I have a question for you, maybe I put it in a research paper.
Maybe I put it in a blog.
Maybe I make some introductions.
Maybe I refer business to you.
One thing I've done to get great podcast guests, it's not that complicated.
I buy from them.
I joined their mentorship program because then you can gain access to anyone,
but it's about providing mutual value.
So I was a small podcaster in a smaller city, but I was the top Rochester
business podcast and beauty of the pandemic is CEOs could show up in their
pajama pants and so it's a sophisticated way of asking for help.
So the question is how can you provide mutual value?
Because if you help others, they're going to help you back.
That's just how it works.
Yes.
And it's that that give and then she'll, it should be given unto you statements.
And I won't say that again.
I'll give you a statement and I won't go as far as to say anything else, but you're
right, you know, providing value, but a lot of people, I won't say a lot of people,
so many individuals that are starting entrepreneurship is really focused on
someone else's vision, right?
And they just get into the business and it's, it's about the money.
So giving value and then being able to receive isn't really as big.
As it, as it should be right now.
When I speak of that, how would someone give value if they're just really just
trying to make money or is that even possible?
I want to address someone sharing someone else's vision.
Yeah.
Now we, we know this.
I know most of the listeners probably know, like you can work really hard at
someone else's vision and if you're miserable, it's just going to eat away at
you because you're like, I'm not passionate about it.
We're not aligned.
The culture doesn't appreciate me.
What happens when the culture does appreciate you?
I think that, so I'm an entrepreneur.
I think entrepreneurship is glorified and there's nothing wrong with being the
number two, there's nothing wrong with being the number three in a valuable
shared vision there.
It's a Ted talk.
Y'all can look it up, but the short version is it was like a high school rock
concert and there's just one crazy dude dancing like a maniac up in the front.
And he's just dancing like a cuckoo person.
Like it's kind of like funny and weird, but then one person joins him and that
second person starts dancing like a weirdo as well.
And once you have two people, now we're starting a crowd.
It was that second person that took a crazy person and made them look cool.
So then the third person joins in and before you know it, it's like a stampede
out of the lion King.
Everyone's running to the front to laugh and dance when everybody was at one
point sitting down.
Now people celebrate the person with the big vision, the crazy dancing person,
but it's really the number one follower, the first person that jumped on board.
Then actually started that movement.
The person, the crazy dancing person gets the credit, but it's the helper that
actually made it all possible.
So if someone feels like they don't have a perfect vision or a perfect product or
a perfect plan, partner with someone who does.
And that's a big thing of what I do.
I don't know what I'm doing half the time, but as a marketer, I get to partner
with brilliant people, amplify their vision, and then the world's a better
place for it, even if I don't get all the credit for it.
Yeah.
Well, you know, that's a, that's a great point.
I'm going to definitely have to look that up, but I don't think that I've ever
visualized it like that, you know, you're, you're right.
The person that looked crazy is now known, right?
But the second person that came in and you know, it's often been that most
business owners and entrepreneurs say, find someone that could help you.
But then there again, not a lot of people ask for help at all.
So they're pretty much, you know, on their own, trying to figure things out themselves.
What's your why?
Those are such big questions.
And I feel like I have a why in different areas of life.
Um, okay.
We're back.
Yes.
We both froze and started turning, but we're good now.
I have trouble, um, answering what's your why, because I feel like my why shows up
in different ways in different areas of my life.
Like my why at home is that I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not
my why at home is just to be the best partner I can be.
Yeah.
My why at work is to help amplify brilliant people.
Um, so they don't feel silent so they can reach more people so they can help more
people.
Um, really my why at the core is just to be the best Ben that I possibly can.
And to share that with the world.
So whether it's being the best, you know, partner, I can be at home being the best
marketer I can for my client or taking care of my body, taking care of my soul,
doing it for a higher purpose beyond just me.
I have trouble with the why question.
I know it's like a common question, but my why evolves as I evolve.
And I just want to show up and do the best job I can everywhere I go.
You know, and that's, that's, that's so fair to answer it that way.
Um, why is a big question?
I don't even know why I want to be happy or something, you know?
Yes.
And I want everybody else to be happy, but it's so funny because we can't say
that cliche stuff, right?
I want to be happy and I want you to be happy.
So let's talk, let's go into your marketing side of the business.
Um, tell me more about that.
Yeah.
Um, I mean, there's a lot of categories.
You want to talk about podcasting.
We'll, we'll just talk about podcasting.
Let's do it.
Um, because it's, I started with a marketing company where we did the works, web
design, social media marketing, search engine optimization, content video.
We did all of it.
So when I started my company, I just started doing all of it because I was
just doing what I know, but on the side, I was podcasting for fun, doing the
music podcast and the business podcast.
I had no products for podcasters at all.
I was doing the podcast to network, meet brilliant people, ask for help,
get answers and share it.
But since I had a traditional online marketing background, I understood the
websites, I understood the SEO, I understood the content and it took a lot of like
pinches and I feel like a couple of slaps in the face where people are like,
Ben, you're the podcast guy.
And I'm like, yeah, I podcast for content and relationships, but I sell X, Y and Z.
And my friends like you sell X, Y and Z, but you do A, B and C.
In order to get clients for X, Y and Z, why don't you just help your
clients with the podcast?
You're making it complicated.
So I was able to take those traditional marketing skills because I'm just going
to be transparent.
Podcasting is super popular and a lot of people roll out of bed and go, I'm going
to start a podcasting agency, but they don't understand the fundamentals of
online marketing.
So what I do is I just apply the fundamentals to online marketing and
fundamentals to online marketing, to podcasting.
And then I get to do that every day now.
Wow.
Okay.
So your marketing is teaching people how to be a podcaster.
Most of what I do, so all that stuff's free.
We talk about it on my show all the time.
What I mostly do is the agency end.
So there's a thought leader who's way too busy shaking hand, taking names,
how fires and we partner with them to be their number two and do their podcast
production and marketing for them.
So I don't have any products on the education side.
You can get all of that for free.
I'm for the super busy thought leader that can't do it on their own.
That's where I come in.
Interesting.
I mean, because it's totally just blows my mind.
Like you said, people just roll out of bed and say, I want to have a podcast.
Never having any thought process to it.
Also having a business, realizing that podcasting can actually expand the business.
And so when you do get someone and it's an idea, where do you take them in order to begin?
Um, we just, I mean, I don't want to get super technical, but we just get started.
You know,
you make things Ben, like you make these just sound so smooth and so easy.
Um, it really is though, because when you're picking up your phone and you go to your
favorite podcast app, you're going to look for a cover art that catches your eye.
And then you're going to listen to it.
And then you're going to hope for good quality audio and a good
topic and a good conversation.
Now there's a lot of technical stuff.
But I don't want to, I want to not get super technical with somebody.
I just want them to show up.
It's their podcast and I'm just the bridge to get them to a more audience.
You know, do the technical stuff to get them to more people.
Wow.
I mean, like I'm truly blown away because I've never thought of marketing in, in that aspect.
And so with that being said, what advice would you give someone who's
just starting a podcast to build their brand?
I know you say just start, but what more would they need to do to start?
Yeah, this is a great exercise that you probably only have to do once.
Um, I would take a sheet of paper and I would draw a two lines.
So you have three columns and I would write a plus, I would write a minus
and I would write an equal.
So you have three columns, a plus column, a minus column, a plus column,
a minus column in equals column.
You can obviously do it on a desktop as well.
And your pluses are your mentors.
Those are the people you want to learn from.
And those are the people that your target audience also wants to learn from.
So you make a list of all your dream guests, your dream mentors, the
people that know things that you don't.
Your minus is your mentees.
These are audience members.
What do they, I write actual names, but what do they look like?
What do they need?
Um, how can I help them?
So I understand who I'm going to learn from, who I'm going to teach.
And the last category year equals that's the peer to peer support.
So if I'm an online, uh, web designer, but I don't do social media marketing,
I want to build a network of social media marketers.
If I'm a podcaster that does audio, but I don't do a ton of video, I might bring
someone on who does video and learn about that from a roofer.
I'm going to bring on a landscaper.
If I'm a CPA, I'm going to bring on a financial advisor.
I'm going to find equals.
So if I understand who am I learning from, who am I teaching and who are the
peer to peers that maybe we're not spending money on each other, or maybe
we don't even listen, but like we can collaborate.
Then I have clarity on exactly who I serve.
And I took me forever to figure this out.
Like you can have clarity from day one.
If you just know who am I going to learn from who's my peers?
Who am I going to teach?
Let's build a podcast around those three categories of people.
Again, Ben, you make it sound so easy.
And I'm telling you, my mind is just going and going.
And I know that half of the audience that is listening will
definitely have an understanding.
But interesting enough, I just fell into the podcasting life, you know?
And I didn't have any background.
I love people.
I love speaking to someone who's just as knowledgeable in areas that I'm not.
So interesting enough is that you're saying for people to do that.
Intentionally, I've done this unintentionally.
I get to talk about Ben's vision and how he got where he got.
And so interesting enough is maybe someone just falls into it, but I love
the fact that you have an intentionality about that in teaching people how to
get to where you are and what I fell into.
And before we leave, I actually have a really interesting question.
What was your most significant learning experience in this all?
We got so many of these significant learning experiences.
You know, I think the biggest one we already talked about, like you
might feel visionless, you might feel lost, you might be broke, you might be struggling.
And there's a narrative that you have to grind and pull yourself up from your
bootstraps, no, but you can't, someone made the boots.
So like we can't do anything without a collective help.
I might be wearing clothes.
I didn't make the clothes.
We do nothing alone.
We do everything with a community, making it possible for each other.
So if you feel lost, you don't know what to do.
That's how I fell.
Start reaching out to people that might have answers.
And still to this day, I don't know.
I don't have this perfect people come on.
I'm sure they come on this podcast.
They're so confident about exactly what they're here to do and why to do it.
I'm not a hundred percent sure.
I'm here to learn and I'm here to collaborate and ask for help on every
single day, because in those darkest moments, I'm not 100% sure.
In those darkest moments, I know that I'm just a DM or a phone call away for
someone that can bring some light.
Yeah.
And I love that.
I just love how you're just easy going and you're going with the flow and your
answers are so authentic and genuine.
Ben, I truly appreciate that about you.
And I tell you as from your shift to music, to where you are now, I'm super
proud of you.
You made it work.
You know what I mean?
And when you didn't have a vision and now you're giving other people vision and I,
I respect that.
And I applaud you for taking something that didn't feel so good to making it
feel better, not only for yourself, but those that listen in to your podcast.
Um, please share with the audience where they can hear your
podcast that and your website.
I'm going to give a two part thing.
Part one's most important.
If you guys haven't like hit subscribe here, if you haven't hit five stars here,
bonus points, if you actually leave a written review, like none of this is
possible without the team at vision pros.
So show some love here first, because if you just type in the words, real
business connections into Google, realbusinessconnections.com real
business connections, any podcast staff, you can find me, but you would have
never had the vision to find me if you weren't here first.
So show some love here and then type in the words, real business connections.
And that's where I'll be.
Thank you for being here today.
I'm really happy that you tuned into vision pros live.
I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions as these
episodes continue to move forward.
This is going to get more and more fun.
We'll have more and more engagement as well.
We'll invite people to participate in the show and thank you for giving us
your time and attention, have an excellent time building out your
vision and becoming a vision pro yourself.