Eric Silverman -- Host of the Rockstars Rocking Podcast

SPEAKER_00 0:04

This is the Beyond the Story Podcast, a show that goes way beyond the story. And now, Sebastian Frost. Hey, what's happening everybody? Welcome to the show. I really appreciate you taking some time out of your day to listen to me. Chat about things that I find interesting that I hope you'll find interesting. The show is brought to you by my friends at Self Publishing School.com. I'm currently writing my second book with Self Publishing School. They've got an incredible program. They put over 2,000 people a year through their program. That means 2,000 people a year are writing a book with their proven system and program. You too can write a book just like I am. Find out more information. Schedule a free consultation call with a book launch specialist just like I did. And uh you too could be making your book dreams come true. More information at self publishing school.com forward slash beyond the story. All right, I think we're live, as live as we're gonna be here. What's happening, everybody? Happy Monday to you. Wait for it. It's my favorite part here. My favorite part. Hanging out with my buddy Eric Silverman, the host of the Rockstars rocking podcast that myself in the podcast launch I've had the privilege of being a part of in order to get launched, which it's all going down. What tomorrow, huh? We're launching this thing. Tomorrow is the day, my friend. All right, that way up. Congrats on that. So I always like to uh to have a conversation with students that have that have uh that are about to launch their show because, well, we've helped them get to the finish line. And I always like to to help other people better understand exactly, you know, why you decided to to start a podcast because those are all really important things to consider uh when when you're starting a podcast is you know, why do I want to start a podcast? So I guess we can start there. Where where you know you woke up one day and said, you know, today today's the day I started a podcast. Why don't you walk us through that?

SPEAKER_01 2:18

Yeah, man. So ever since I can remember, I um back in my uh my old days in a different um a different career form, I would just every time somebody did something good, I would say, Rockstar, like you're a rock star. You like keep crushing it, you're doing great. And um when social media came about um and hashtags became a thing, I started just saying hashtag rockstars rockin'. Every time somebody did something great, hashtag rockstars rockin'. So a couple years ago, I secured the domain Rockstars Rockin' um because my idea was to have a podcast, and all I wanted to do was feature incredible people from all over the world, all over the country, who are doing great things. Whether it's in my industry or not, it's irrelevant. Um, they're crushing life, they're crushing their business. They're just they got tiny tips that they can add value to other people's lives. And um, quite candidly, I just never pulled the trigger. It's been two years of owning a domain, and uh, and I never pulled the trigger.

SPEAKER_00 3:13

It's funny you say that because people ask me the biggest barrier to entry if someone's starting a podcast, their biggest pain point, and it's exactly that it's procrastination. It's literally being able to get out of your own way long enough to actually do something and create something. So congrats on being able to do that and take action. Starting a podcast on your own is not impossible, but it's not the easiest task in town. Number one. Number two, there's a lot involved that goes in with creating the show, planning the show, planning each episode, logistics, iTunes, Spotify, uh Stitcher, Deezer, Tune In, Google Podcasts. There's a lot going on. F that. So you decided to we're a little bit of an echo on your end there. Do you have a speaker on? No, just my mic. Oh, you know, it might be because you're listening through your headphone or you're through your computer speaker. It's all good. It's not that bad. I can hear it because well, it's my job, right? Okay. Um see, I started talking about the echo and and I lost my train of thought. Oh, you decided to hire an an expert to be able to help you get to the finish line. Why did you decide to do that?

SPEAKER_01 4:22

Oh man, I it never would have happened, dude. I had to, I hired uh you for the pre-production. I hired my boy Ryan Miller for post-production because I can assure you my bandwidth is about this big, and I knew it. So if it wasn't for you guys, I it would still be a pipe dream right now. And I knew that I wanted to hire uh you because I mean, dude, the list of people is the who's who of podcasting. And shit, just recently you just helped Shea Robottom launch her podcast. I mean, come on, or are we kidding right now? I mean, this is nuts. So if I could bring you on the team, if you could bring me on the team and we could get this thing moving, uh, it's been turnkey with both of you guys. I didn't have to do anything.

SPEAKER_00 5:05

Good. Good. Well, we're glad to have you. That that's that's uh and we've also made some other moves. There've been a couple people that have seen your content that are in your network, you've sent over to me. I know Chuck Farmer, we're getting ready to launch his podcast, got some great things uh cooking with his show too. So but at the end of the day, you're you're not a podcaster. Like a pot podcasting doesn't feed your family. So let's let's help us better understand what you got. I mean, what's your big boy job, right?

SPEAKER_01 5:30

Yeah, man. So my big boy job is I uh I'm in the employee benefits world. Uh we help uh employer groups and people all over the country um tighten up their benefits. Cause let's frank, let's let's just face it. You say podcasts suck, employee benefits suck for most companies and most employees. That's what my shirt should say. So the end of the day, um, you know, I've been doing this 21 years at this point, and um, some of the most incredible people I've been able to help and partner with all over the country. And the reality, man, is everybody um has benefits and insurance on their mind, whether they want it or not, particularly in the age of COVID, nobody's canceling insurance. People are clamoring to get insurance because they don't know what the hell is going to happen.

SPEAKER_00 6:11

Sure. So 21 years you've been in this business, social media started to become relevant, I would say about 10 years ago. That's right. Probably 2010 became relevant. Yeah. So you'd already been in business 11 years. Social media came onto the landscape here, and you've when did when did you decide that you know having a digital strategy is important? Were you there at the kind of the inception?

SPEAKER_01 6:34

Yeah, no, not at all. I uh I was about five years behind the ball. Uh, but fortunately in around 2015, I I saw the value of LinkedIn immediately and I hopped on the LinkedIn train. And uh it's been just uh a godsend to my career and it's exploded onto other platforms. And look, the reality is back in my old days, I've always been an entrepreneur, Sebastian. I've always had my own company. I've never worked for anybody other than high school, but I always worked for one big, big, well-known insurance carrier, and uh I was branded as such. So when I left that world, I needed to unskin myself from the carrier days. I couldn't be recognized as that anymore, which meant guess what? I needed a personal brand. So I've spent the last five years trying my damnedest to build a personal brand, which has helped explode my company voluntary disruption uh to the next level. And I think this is gonna be a nice conduit to help us continue uh growing and getting the reach out there.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

Absolutely, and that's the way that it should be done from now until forever, in my opinion. Your your your personal brand in perpetuity is now your reputation. That's right. So I would say let that sink in, but I don't like that term at all. Let that sink in is very uh highly offensive. Okay. And we're living in an offending world, so I would hate to offend someone. Yeah, no, I don't want to offend anybody. That's another podcast episode, uh, Eric. Uh but uh you've been in business for 21 years and you've you pivoted 15 years later into the digital space, you would consider it late to the game. I don't think there's really a time frame. The important part is that you're in the game. Right. But for those of you watching and listening right now, for those of you that have uh a day job or you have a business that you've built like Eric's, where you work with a company or for a company, which you essentially worked for yourself. If you have a job, if you have a boss, if you work remotely, if you have any type of traditional business, I don't care what you do or how boring you think that it is, there's someone out there to consume that content somewhere along lines. Number one, number two, I'm gonna let you all in on a little secret. When you're creating content and your job is really boring, like you do like litigation. Insurance. Yeah, insurance, right? You don't have to talk about what you do. That's right. It's better when you don't, it's better when you talk about something that complements your brand. So, for example, Eric's starting a show to feature other people that are doing great things in life in general, not in the insurance business, not in the benefits business, but where his business can tie in, and it will tie in eventually is this episode of the Rockstars Rocking Podcast is brought to you by uh Eric's Benefits Company. Right, right, right. That's how you're able to fold in what you do and make it partially relevant. People start to ask what is that? Well, that's my this is my passion on what I'm doing here. So the reason I wanted to to bring you on uh and and go live and chat about the uh the the podcast launching tomorrow is number one, we we helped you do it. So we're very much involved and excited for you. We share your excitement um with the launch, but more important, you're you're I don't I don't want to use the term everyday Joe, but you're you're you're you're you're very the the the individuals that are watching this can probably resonate with you has a job, has a family, has a side hustle. Like it's a very but the side hustle came along with the content part. It came along with making a decision to get out of your own way and start creating content and building something above and beyond your your your benefits business. A personal brand is is is is is is is doing just that right. So my mom calls me a couple weeks ago and tells me she's having trouble sleeping at night. I'm like, mom, what's your deal? She's like, Well, you know, the pandemic. I said, okay. Understood. But I didn't waste any time. I called my friends over at gloryblends.com and uh said, I need some of your dream formula for my mom. She took it the first night, said she has never had a better night's sleep after taking it. Now, this isn't Tylenol PM or some sort of you know sleep pill, some medication. This is El Natural. You put a couple drops underneath your tongue depending on what you what you want to feel. Do you want to feel better? Do you want to sleep better? Do you want a better mood? Do you want to be more focused with more energy? They got several different types of CBD, whether it's drops or pills, all located on their website at gloryblends.com. I've been taking this stuff for the past four months and I'm hooked. I absolutely love it. And you will too. Use promo code CBDBUS. You'll get 20% off your order, gloryblends.com. Tell them I sent you.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

Look, I mean, at the end of the day, man, a lot of my uh connections on LinkedIn and social media happen to be in the employee benefit space. They happen to be in the insurance world, and that's fine. And I'm gonna highlight a number of those folks. And yeah, at some point we may talk about benefits, but I've made a purpose, purposeful effort to tell every one of my guests that I've already interviewed that we have in the pipeline that we don't have to talk about employee benefits or insurance. I want to talk about you. I want to talk about what you do in your hobbies, what you're doing, what you're passionate about. Um, and some of these um these conversations have been absolutely incredible. Um, and it's it's far surpasses the insurance and employee benefit space. I just like sales and marketing and management and leadership. So I've reached out to folks that I've looked up to for years. And I got to tell you, if anybody's launching a podcast, people love to be interviewed. If you reach out, I gotta tell you, it's very rare, if ever, that I've had somebody say no, I would not want to be on your podcast. It's very rare for that. So you can get some of the most incredible people that in a million years you may not think you could get just by asking.

SPEAKER_00 12:34

Oh, I've built my brand interviewing people. That's the only way I can definitely have any any other means of being able to get to people other than going, well, you know, I've got the ability to interview someone. Right, they can be on my podcast. And I started my podcast in 2011 for that specific reason because the person that you're calling that you want to do business with doesn't want to talk to you about doing business with you. But when you reach out and show them that you're just there to talk about them and make it about them in through means of a of an interview, doesn't matter how it is, but you know, this day and age it's extremely easy to do. Well, then now you've got somewhat of a captive audience with that individual that you've been trying to chase down to attempt to sell them something. I I can tell you this, they're more inclined, and I and I live this day in and day out from whether I have guests on my show or I, you know, I get hired by a guy like yourself that's just over the moon about his podcast launch and is telling everybody in anybody about it, including me in that process and sending people that want to start a podcast, etc. Um it it it it it uh it there's a lot to be said when you when you're when you're open to things outside of just what you're doing on a daily basis and what you're doing, uh your your personal brand goes above uh far seeds what you're doing on a daily basis, I believe. And I'm you know, and then the next thing I want to talk about is that you know, you don't know where this show is gonna go. You have you have no idea. One of the one of the number one questions I like to ask people is uh you know, what do you want uh your podcast to do for you? And um, you know, I think you and I have chatted about this before, but I think it's important to maybe revisit you know what what exactly your your goal is, because eventually the show can be monetized, whether it's sponsors, affiliate programs, biz dev deals, JV deals, partnerships, reseller, some sort of means of being at policies, finding clients, helping them out, etc.

SPEAKER_01 14:23

Right. Yeah, look, my my initial why is just I wanted to um this is uh I I hate this term. I really effing hate this term, but it's it's my my millennial pod or my millennial passion project, right? I hate that term, but it really is. I mean, there's no other way to describe it unless you can think of one. I just wanted to do this. I'm not I'm not shy on on camera or video or audio. So I just thought this was a natural fit to do audio and video. Um, and sure, could it lead to something in the future? Uh yeah, I've already had uh insurance carriers uh that know about this. I've already had some brokerage shops that know about this that would love a big audience. Um, and they're they're listening in. They want, they asked me already, hey, are you planning on having real sponsors in the future? And my response was, I'm open to anything. I'm just I'm learning. And uh, I said I'll I'll consult my boy Sebastian and figure out how that part works because I think that's a chapter in your new book coming out.

SPEAKER_00 15:17

It 100% is. Podcasts suck if you don't have one. We'll be on shelves wherever you uh buy books uh soon enough. I thought it was gonna be the end of August, but it's it's soon enough, ladies and gentlemen. I would say within with the end by by fall. We were gonna do it by summer, but well, that that editing process is well a little bit longer than I expected on here. So a podcast so you've been you've been in the business 22 years, you got into the social media space about five years ago, you're now all in with that process. In the next five to ten years, you can potentially generate more revenue in five to ten years with your podcast than you did your entire career, and it has nothing, and it may have to do something with your business, but maybe not. I mean, that's kind of crazy to even consider, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Dude, it's mind-blowing. And look, I'm the guy in 2009 or 10, whenever Facebook came out. I remember my wife got it and she's showing it to me, and I was like, you know, mildly interested. But I'm looking and I'm like, that's just where like 10-year-old girls go to post pictures of their their food they had for breakfast. Like, what do I need that for? And then it just exploded, and I started learning it. And now, all these years, I study it, I watch YouTube videos, I read books about social media and LinkedIn, and you got coaches out there that you can hire. And and believe it or not, I'm not I'm no expert on LinkedIn and and social media, but I've actually been paid. I've had people hire me to help coach them just on how to build a personal brand because I literally did it between 2015 and 2017, and the rest has been good history.

SPEAKER_00 16:56

So it takes a little bit of time to get into the content game, to like create a habit, to be able to like start creating content. You know, what because I think a lot a lot of people get overwhelmed with the idea of what it may look like to start creating content, and then you're you know that's when the excuses start to show up, and we start to write you know different stories and different outcomes about things that don't even exist, pertaining to, well, I could do that, and I, you know, I could do this. What do you think the biggest shift was for you to be able to go, you know what? I'm gonna start taking this whole personal branding thing seriously, and I'm gonna start creating content around it. When when did that happen?

SPEAKER_01 17:32

So I don't think I ever shared this story with you. A lot of folks that I'm follow that I'm connected with know it, but I'll I'll share it real quick. You know when it started happening for me to get in this habit and this routine? I'm gonna tell you right now, National Cupcake Day. That's right. National cupcake day. You say, what the is he talking about? So, Sebastian, we've only been connected for a few months. I don't know if you've noticed, but there's not a day that goes by, 365 days a year, including weekends, where I don't post something that's national, whatever the F Day, National Podcast Day, National Cupcake Day, National Uh Today, uh National Cheesecake Day. Um uh and how did that start is what really was the catalyst for my social media branding growth. I was sitting at breakfast with my uh then six or seven-year-old daughter, I think she was six at the time, and we're literally eating breakfast. And the news pops on in the background and says, Hey, go grab your cupcakes today. Today's National Cupcake Day, and she's six. So she was like, I want a cupcake. Can you get me a cupcake today? And I'm like, All right, I'll pick one up on the way home from work. No problem, did it, never thought about it. Next morning, having breakfast, she says, Dad, what's today? And I don't remember the date, but I literally said uh Thursday. And she's like, No, no, no, what's today? What's today? You know, yesterday was National Cupcake Day. What's today? And I was like, Oh, geez, honey, I don't know. Let me let me look. So I pulled out my magic um pocket computer, aka my iPhone, and I looked it up. And sure enough, dude, there's like 10 national days every single day. And I showed her the list and she thought it was a blast. So I kid you not, every day for like the next six months, she picked the national day and I posted it on LinkedIn just for fun because I'm not a big believer that LinkedIn has to be all professional 24-7 and all suits and ties. So that started gaining a following. And I kid you not, all of a sudden, over a few month period, I didn't have a brand other than, hey, you're the national day guy. What's today's national day? And I catapulted that into what I'm doing now and then some. And cut quite honestly, I still do it because it works. And too often, as human beings, we do something for so long that works and then we stop doing it. Three years later, we ask ourselves why we stopped, and we don't have an answer. So this morning I posted national um uh uh uh whatever I can't even remember. Like it's just a habit. I don't even, it's uh I'm just it's like a robot now. Like I just do it and I get reactions, you know, and I love it and it's fun.

SPEAKER_00 20:03

Well, it's relatable, it's relatable.

SPEAKER_01 20:05

That's exactly right.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

Everyone like everyone can relate to a cupcake.

SPEAKER_01 20:09

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

And if you can't, then we can't be friends, you know? If you can't relate to a cupcake, then you probably wear a mask in your car. All right, all right, all right.

SPEAKER_01 20:18

Um wait, so it's happened that that's in Florida too, not just Maryland.

SPEAKER_00 20:23

Yes, the the show, the show, um, the show launches uh tomorrow, right? Rock Rock Stars Rocking. That's what you're gonna do. That's what you're gonna search for in iTunes or Spotify. I think we may be able to get a jump on it before the launch. Is it live yet? Is it live tomorrow?

SPEAKER_01 20:40

I think the first true episode is gonna go live tomorrow, but the the the teaser episode is up.

SPEAKER_00 20:46

Okay, that let that's gonna let you. I'm gonna drop a link in the comments after we're done. This will also be in the show notes. I'll turn this into a podcast episode so that you can uh go subscribe to it. It'll it'll be a link uh directly to iTunes and to Spotify, the easiest ones I believe that people are listening to. But you can go do that right now. So if you're like, oh, I want to go check it out ahead of time, you you can do that. It launches tomorrow with episode one, but you can you can you can listen to the teaser and uh subscribe to the show. You'll be one step ahead of the game. You can even leave a review if you'd like to get a jump on that too. That always helps. Well, you know, Eric, it uh you know, it's it's an absolute pleasure to to see yet another podcast being launched that we had the opportunity to have our hands on and be a part of. Uh, I hope that the process that uh whatever I've been able to bring to the table has helped empower you and encourage you on this podcasting journey because you need every ounce of you know motivation and atta boys and out of girls you can get within this process because it it it there's several layers to it. And it's not as easy as just press a button and you record. You can do that, but when you're looking to make sure all of your I's are dotted and your T's are crossed, you definitely need the right tribe around you. You've you've done just that. So hats off to you to that. I'm stoked to I, you know, hopefully we'll have you back on when you hit a hundred episodes. Absolutely. We're talking about, you know, what I'm I'm excited to see what's gonna happen because you're a mover and shaker. So you're out there already having conversations with existing people that you've known for 22 years in your existing benefits business, and they're already asking questions and you're like, I'm open. And in the beginning, you can be very open because you know, you're making up the rules. I mean, you always make up the rules as you go as far as how you end up monetizing the show. But I always like to remind people that it's the people that are already in your existing network that will that will get around the new idea of what you're doing, probably because they're not doing it and they don't understand, but they know that podcasting is here and that you talk to people and it that you're in their space. And well, that's that's that's enough for them to stroke a check for 500 bucks a month or whatever the case may be. But um and congrats on the launch, dude. I'm fired up for you, man. I'm excited to see what's gonna happen with all this and stoked to to you know to continue to keep you here in the podcast launch lab, but you know, as long as I can to see what we can do to help continue to take the show to the next level.

SPEAKER_01 22:57

Yeah, man. No, I'm super pumped. I appreciate it. And if you want, let me let me take two seconds though and tell folks why I I really wanted to bring you and and my post-production guy aboard. I mean, the reality, Sebastian, bringing you aboard is the equivalent of hiring a personal trainer. And um, and I I'm not Mr. Fitness, but I have lost 20 pounds in the last hundred and four days. But who's counting? But uh, but here's the deal, right? Um, I'm just as much uh in need of accountability as I as I tell my my staff, my team members that work for me directly, and um and and I'm all about it. So, dude, I I I never would have launched this, it would have just continued to be that pipe dream. But by literally spending money with you, that was my accountability to make this happen. And then the way that you have to put uh for for timing, like the no the way you do notes, anybody who hires you will see it immediately. Um but uh but but you keep us on target, and you're like and and here's the thing I don't want to be the guy holding it up. So when you're like, dude, get me this, get me this, and then we're done, I can go do this. That's the most important thing that I needed. And I kept fooling myself for the last six months thinking I could just hit record. Yeah, maybe some people can, but it never would have flipped and happened had it just been waiting on me.

unknown 24:16

Right.

SPEAKER_00 24:16

I mean, if you're gonna do it halfway, but there's a right way and a wrong way of doing things, you know. That's right. Hiring an expert that knows what they're doing. I'm a big fan of if you don't like doing it or you don't know how to do it, then to hire someone that does. That's right. And uh and and and get it done. So yeah, dude, I think this show is gonna rock pun intended, and I'm stoked for the I'm I'm literally stoked for uh the launch. This is uh, by the way, there's always different music playing. That's because, well, I don't want to get sued, and I want to make sure we're playing royalty-free music. This is the background music for the rock stars rocking podcast. So I'm really fired up to be rocking it here uh as we chit chat a little bit about uh the show launch. It's all going down tomorrow. Wherever you consume podcasts, you can search for Rock Stars Rocking, iTunes, Spotify. I this is where I recommend you go and search. That way you can subscribe, you can leave a review if you'd like. And then episode one drops tomorrow. Five stars would totally rock. Yeah, five stars would totally rock, just like the outro says. That guy's voice sounds familiar. Amazing, totally familiar, totally again. Thanks again for believing in what I'm doing here at the podcast launch lab. I'm wishing you nothing but the best uh for the show, and I look forward to continuing to help you, you know, swing for the fences for the next thousand episodes. How's that sound?

SPEAKER_01 25:26

Man, I love it. It totally rocks.

SPEAKER_00 25:29

So do you, dude. So do you, bro? All right, man. We're gonna turn this into a podcast episode. So, podcast listeners, if you listen to this in the show notes, you're gonna be able to find a link to be able to subscribe to the show. If you're watching this live right now, we're live on LinkedIn, we're live on YouTube, we're live on Facebook. All the links are gonna be available in the comments. I don't know if LinkedIn LinkedIn does LinkedIn stay around after. I don't know if it's it keeps the archive up.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

It may just be live, but in any rockstarsrocking.com, rockstarsrocking.com.

SPEAKER_00 25:53

Rockstarsrocking.com. That's with a G rocking dot com rocking with like complete sentences here. Rockstarsrockin.com is will take you right to the podcast website on here. Make sure you're connecting uh with Eric too. All of his LinkedIn and Instagram links will be in the show notes too. If you're watching this live, you can just search for Eric Silverman, just like it sounds Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, D, all the above. You need to take a look at benefits for your business. Hey, that's available too. That's not what this video is about by any means at all, but you can for sure chat with him about it. Hey, brother, keep rocking in the literal sense here. And I'm stoked for the launch tomorrow. Come back soon, will you?

SPEAKER_01 26:28

Absolutely. Thanks, brother.

SPEAKER_00 26:30

Thanks, man. Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of the Beyond the Story podcast. Be sure to appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show. This way you'll get updates as new episodes become available. If you feel so inclined, please leave us a review. Be sure to appreciate it. Signing off from the podcast, launchlab.com studios. We'll talk to you next time.