S10E12 - Karaoke, Conferences, And Flops To Boost: How Pivoting Saved A Podcast Tech Startup (BTW We Break Glasses, Not Spirits Here lol)!!

What happens when your “great idea” is actually the wrong play? We go there. Mike tells the unfiltered story of mowPod’s first podcasting product—ambitious, clever, and a complete flop—and how killing it fast unlocked mowPod Boost, a transparent, programmatic engine that drives real listeners, not vague traffic https://charts.mowpod.com/. 

From fireworks on a party boat to late‑night pool plots, the thread is the same: people over polish, community over posturing, and data over hype.

We also zoom out. Mike’s two months alcohol‑free and living in Japan, balancing founder intensity with being a present dad, building a soundproof music room, and leaning on “blowouts” like karaoke or a hard run to reset his head. We talk about identity beyond titles, why comfort quietly kills growth, and how thinking like a chess player helps you plan moves, counters, and outcomes without losing the joy in the game. If you’ve ever considered sunsetting a project you love to make space for the next chapter, this will land.

For creators and brands hungry for practical tools, we dig into self‑serve growth that respects indie budgets and why the industry needs to ditch the black box. 

Don’t miss the free resource drop: mowPod Charts offers historic Apple and Spotify rankings with alerts, so you can track trends without a paywall. If you care about product‑market fit, transparent attribution, and building real community that shows up for you years later, you’ll feel at home here.

If this sparked something, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review on Apple Podcasts or a rating on Spotify. Tell us: what will you end or begin to grow on your terms?

To check out mowPod... https://mowpod.com/ and to connect with Mike, you can find him on IG https://www.instagram.com/sobimike/#

Transcript

Cold Open Chaos And Midnight Energy

SPEAKER_14 0:00

Oh my god. Uh uh now now I'm on the you're putting me on the spot.

SPEAKER_05 0:04

I don't know if I can do it.

SPEAKER_04 0:05

Um I don't have it. No, I'm not I can't do it. I can't do it. I'm on the spot, you know. Everyone's looking at me.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

I'm looking at me. Come on, that's funny.

SPEAKER_02 0:22

I do, I do like being on the spot. I do, I do.

SPEAKER_06 0:24

But um I don't have it. Okay.

SPEAKER_11 0:27

Um brave questions.

SPEAKER_04 0:39

No, I I don't have it. I don't fucking have it. I don't have it. Nothing.

SPEAKER_07 0:43

It's just supposed to be welcome to talking to you.

SPEAKER_03 0:48

I just have to say those words.

SPEAKER_07 0:50

Yeah, well, I'm TikTok.

SPEAKER_08 0:54

Welcome to Dr. Whippy. And I'm allowed.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

TikTok is always talking. TikTok is coming in. TikTok is always talking. Copy stick with paint.

SPEAKER_08 1:14

I mean, don't we all like the picket in the name? Don't you think it's a podcast for you?

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Copy stick with paint. Yeah.

Conference Tales And Inside Jokes

SPEAKER_08 1:26

Oh my god. It is fucking midnight. Midnight. And I'm hanging out with one of my favorite people in this entire podcasting industry. Yes, fuck on it, everybody else.

SPEAKER_09 1:42

No, please don't, but my freaking wisdom in the house.

SPEAKER_14 1:49

No one I love talking shit. There's nobody but you. What's going on?

SPEAKER_08 1:54

Oh, we finally have you back. I've been asking you for that. For the entire year. I followed you in Chicago for this. I followed you in Dallas even though you didn't fucking show up.

SPEAKER_04 2:08

I did you. I you know, I actually booked my ticket to Dallas for podcast movement. I I I don't believe in the last like four years I've ever missed any podcast movement.

SPEAKER_10 2:18

And uh this was you also missed it in in DC. I was only with D.

SPEAKER_04 2:23

Oh, DC. You know what? So that statement is completely false. I have missed two podcast movements now, and that makes me sad. But I you know I I go to so many conferences and I travel so much, I kind of lose track of that stuff. And we have the team was all there. So you know, I was there in spirit. Mopod was there regardless.

SPEAKER_08 2:42

And I was you were there in spirit. Um thank you for all the beers I drank on Mopad.

SPEAKER_04 2:50

You have a uh unlimited supply, I believe. Like that's the card we gave you, you know, your unlimited supply. You know, Pasco, uh have four more beers. Yeah, that's you're good.

SPEAKER_08 3:02

I was walking and Chase was rushing to his room. I was like, Chase, are you okay? He's like, No, man, I gotta go cancel my card. Oh, this church is up.

SPEAKER_04 3:14

Actually, um, you're not gonna believe it. I uh uh I'm two months uh it'll be two months on Saturday with uh without any alcohol. And I'm not doing it for a uh you know like an AA type thing or anything along those lines. It's more just like a health thing. I'm trying to like lose weight and uh I give myself a s a a six month window to to cut back and uh yeah, no no alcohol is part of it. So uh two months in of all people not to be having any alcohol.

SPEAKER_08 3:40

I know. Well sound you didn't come to protest movement because I don't know how I would have handled it so by you, Mike.

SPEAKER_13 3:49

Oh, I'm the same. Uh uh alcohol doesn't make me, I make alcohol.

SPEAKER_08 3:53

Oh no, I understand, but it's like it's just much better when you are sharing a beer with your you know, like that that's that's each other. That's that's our relationship.

SPEAKER_04 4:06

No, no, we know each other because uh I smash your glasses and we sing karaoke.

Sobriety, Social Rituals, And Connection

SPEAKER_08 4:14

Oh shit, technical difficulties never end in podcasting. Is it is this still an echo?

SPEAKER_06 4:22

Yeah, there's a massive echo and icon. Uh and like your video's on.

SPEAKER_07 4:29

Oh shit. Okay, what the fuck is going on?

SPEAKER_06 4:35

You're good now.

SPEAKER_07 4:37

Okay, am I there now?

SPEAKER_09 4:39

Yeah, you're good, you're golden.

SPEAKER_08 4:43

Alright, let's get through this before it does anything else, because one thing about being a podcaster is technical difficulties are part of our life.

SPEAKER_04 4:51

However much you know, the consistency in podcasting isn't what makes a great podcaster. It's how you deal with the hurdles.

SPEAKER_08 5:01

Right? Thank you for saying that. So, Mike, we met the night we pulled off the best Shaggy I've ever seen. Even Shaggy can't do Shaggy, right? And then I agree, you know. I I I I'll never forget the one day Shaggy retreated me was on Mike's Shaggy, you know, so when you think about all the time that has passed since then, oh my god, it feels so long ago. I feel like I was very young then.

SPEAKER_04 5:28

We're still so young.

SPEAKER_02 5:29

I mean, look at us, look at it.

SPEAKER_06 5:31

I mean, uh maybe it's the the youth filter I put on, but I also moisturize.

SPEAKER_08 5:38

Um what's been your funniest moped to be moment? Because we've seen around and been around each other for so long now.

SPEAKER_04 5:49

Yes, I mean uh I mean the the the most memorable is definitely breaking your glasses. I mean, that's not the funniest, but it's the most memorable. Because you know that that sent us on this tailspin looking for where can we get the what it was definitely the most memorable was when I broke your glasses, and it started with this long distance across the room. I haven't seen you in forever, running in slow motion and jumping towards each other, the embrace and the glasses shatter. Oh my god, and it was absolutely devastating. This is your only pair of glasses. How are we gonna get through an entire conference with no sight? And somehow you duct tape them together, and we went out looking for ways to get them repaired, and we couldn't find anyone that could do it in time, and it was just an absolute bloody mess, but it created this story that we have forever. Uh, it also um gave us this nice little adventure that we got to go on, and you know, yeah, it it was an interesting Paula and Mike moment.

Tech Gremlins And Podcaster Reality

SPEAKER_08 6:49

I mean, I I I think it can be a funny story because it really is, and I remember I kept on telling people, oh Mike punched me in the face, which maybe just which which which is you know, it's funny if you were on the inside, but you know, on the outside, like who is this freaking Mike guy and why is he punching you? But it was also it's not like a long com like when I saw you because I sneaked up on Joe, and then I saw you there, and then the way we ran and then the head, and then the glasses literally flew from the back to the other room, and I didn't tape them the next day. I literally was walking with just without that extra, and some people literally remember me from that. They're like, I remember when you when your glasses didn't have one side, I'm like, yeah, I squeezed it like a toothpaste tube, and you just came, you know, the glasses just went flying off. Um I forgot her name, uh, from mom's network. She came to me and she was like, after we super glued them because they had like uh a memo over there, and they're like, Hold on, if you're broke, let us know. We can do a go farm me to get you new glasses. I'm like, no, this is character, it has a story. There's a reason. I wanna keep these glasses just the way it is.

SPEAKER_04 8:10

Yeah, uh it was that was a story, and then um, I mean, there's been countless moments, yeah, and uh most of them involve drinking or karaoke.

SPEAKER_08 8:22

Oh, yeah, like w that's the best part. Like, I'll never forget the one where you literally went and secured a VIP spot in this club, which was that was one interesting club for the location of where we were, because there was different levels and some cracking on the ropes and some fire. And you literally bought all this bunch of shit, and then I remember that deal was like and then I just left. Like, Jesus, motherfucker, I got a plane to catch, and I'm looking at you like what do you mean, bruh?

SPEAKER_04 9:03

Yeah, it was good. Well, look, everyone had a good time. I feel like uh yeah, we we got it was a nice end to the podfest event.

SPEAKER_08 9:10

Yeah, we we we we definitely did. Like it was uh that that was the night, that was the night also the the podcast event where me and Quinn really bonded.

SPEAKER_04 9:22

Oh Quinn's awesome. Yeah, she's one of my favorite people in the world.

Parties, Community, And Why People Matter

SPEAKER_08 9:25

Yeah, that was a rock star. Oh yeah, we had fun with that in Dallas this time. We made sure to get some pool time. Like the last night everybody was like, no freaking way, we are going to the pool until they chase us out.

SPEAKER_04 9:37

Everybody went in just they had like the lazy river there, I think, right? Oh no, though, that was closed!

SPEAKER_08 9:45

Everybody was so mad. Like, this is why you sold us this hotel. We were all coming for the lazy river. It was closed, but that's that's the one I will remember. Um the the year we finally met for the first time at Portfest, that hotel did have a lazy river.

SPEAKER_04 10:05

Yeah, they did the Hilton uh I think it was, yeah.

SPEAKER_08 10:08

Because I remember in 2021 when they did the smaller version and you guys threw the party in the bot in Tampa. That was crazy. I was like, I don't care what these motherfuckers have.

SPEAKER_10 10:18

They need to be my friend because this is the Yeah, that that boat party.

SPEAKER_04 10:27

That was our very first uh party that we hosted in podcasting. It was at Podfest a ton of years ago during uh right at the end of COVID. Um there was all of 200 people at that conference because everyone still wasn't ready to go out for uh you know for for live meetings and you know, actually like going out in public with people. And we're like, let's just do it. And we joined Podfest for the very first time back then uh as uh an exhibitor and as a sponsor. And we hosted obviously the party, and I got this boat, and we had a flare bartender on the boat and all this uh all this food on the boat. And uh man, it was that was just super freaking we had karaoke on the boat. We were all I lost my voice.

SPEAKER_08 11:12

It's still one of the talked parties, even though not a lot of people were there, but um it made a lot of buzz on social media, like even on the portfest family, because they were talking about it, though pictures, everything. So I think it really brought the hype for most of us, like, oh my god, next year I have to be a portfist. I wanna go to a moped party.

SPEAKER_04 11:34

Yeah, we had like 40 people on that boat, I think, and it just worked out. I don't know if you recall, there was a uh like a point that we wrote we uh sailed past, and they lit off fireworks from that point, and it looked coordinated. It looked like, oh, Mopod got us fireworks to go off on that point right as we're passing. Oh my god, and it just was random. Like some people randomly were like, let's shoot off a bunch of really cool fireworks right as this boat is passing, and it just worked out, and it looked like we were rock stars, like which is I mean, yes, we're rock stars, but like it looked like you know, we were that next level of rock star.

SPEAKER_02 12:10

I can't really take credit for it, but you know, if you don't ask me about it, you know, we just uh we just take a look at it.

SPEAKER_08 12:16

Somebody the moped team planned it without y'all knowing.

SPEAKER_04 12:20

It's very possible. It's very possible. Someone heard about it, they didn't make it to the boat, they weren't able to get on, so they can let me give back by at least shooting off some fireworks when they pass.

SPEAKER_08 12:30

I mean there's a reason they say there's no party like a mop-pad party, like even those people who have never been drama parties.

SPEAKER_04 12:36

They're like, I wanna go drama but I mean like the the parties, you know, uh obviously they're they're not revenue generators or anything like that. At the end of the day, it's just about people. And we found uh in in this business and every business prior, uh an incredible amount of value in just you know, being good to people and having fun with people and getting to know people for who they are, not just what they do. And it makes all the difference in the entire world because then you connect dots that you didn't even know existed, uh, and it doesn't matter what dots you connect or you don't connect, because you have a great time and you make good really good connections with really good people. I mean it's a it's it's a win-win, uh, you know, investing in these types of things. And we love having fun and we love the you know the energy that everyone else brings, and we bring the energy, and uh there there's just no replacing it.

Origin Of Mopod: Boat Parties To Brand

SPEAKER_08 13:24

You guys definitely bring the energy. And and you're sorry when you say it's about the people because I I have seen it firsthand. I have been around you guys like from day one where I always tell people the story where I spent so much time on your booth that first weekend where and I still didn't know exactly what you guys did. I remember coming home and scheduling a call and you're like Joyce, like, what do you mean you're in our booth? I'm like, yeah, but we were just bonding, like just just hanging out and just talking and connecting, and I feel like that I see that a lot, and that's why I feel like even when I'm at potfest, why I keep telling people, go talk to them all by boys. Or some of them who even come to me and be like, Can you introduce me to them? I'm like, you don't know, they have a booth, right? I don't need to introduce you to them. They they literally love meeting people, and they're like, Yeah, we know, but I feel like if we go with you, or we say we know you makes it makes makes them VIP by like you know, proximity. But that's just how they are, they treat everybody like that. It's just we have just known each other longer, so it might feel like that, but people think he worked for Mobile. But I might I I must say, 'cause I mean you guys do show up on my presentation even this year when you showed up for my comedy. Y'all come like proud parents, all of this.

SPEAKER_03 14:52

The comedy was great. I was so happy to go to that thing. That was great.

SPEAKER_08 14:57

Uh some people would feel that way, especially when you guys barely got to any talks or anything, but you know.

SPEAKER_04 15:06

Yeah, I'm not I'm not big on sessions. Like uh I don't even like doing them. Like I've done a few in the past, and you know, they they're always you know decently attended, I think. And I just I don't enjoy doing them really, and I don't I don't typically enjoy being part of them. But if there's someone I know, uh, and obviously if you're up there, uh we're gonna go every freaking time because like that's what it's about. It's about like supporting each other and having fun and um you know just being there, you know, being present. Uh but yeah, the the the idea of conferences and sessions, I understand it from a education perspective if you're trying to learn new things and uh it could be really valuable if you're trying to be inspired or whatever, whatever. But when I go to conferences, obviously as a vendor in the space and uh just come kind of coming with what we uh you know what we can with what we bring to the table, uh uh my time I feel like is so much better spent having conversations outside of the sessions. So most sessions there's a couple that I'll I'll always attend, regardless of uh if I know the people or not, just because it it seems like the the content might be something that is new or you know I just want to get an idea of a trend or something like that. But for the most part, a conference isn't about the sessions for me, it's literally about the conversations.

SPEAKER_08 16:18

Me too. It's about networking and bonding with people, and that's why most of the time I'm there in the rooms. I don't even like people coming to my to my talks. I literally just I literally apply to speak so I can have free teacher. And that's when people ask me, like I never promote my talk, or even where especially when I see people I know who like know me in a in a different level walking into my room, I'm like, why are you here? Like you could be doing it.

SPEAKER_04 16:43

No, no, it's good, it's good, it's good. It's all good.

SPEAKER_02 16:45

You always call them out too.

Pivot Story: The Product That Flopped

SPEAKER_08 16:48

But um, so Mike, this uh I know you've heard me say it, uh, I'm ending talk shit with P4 now. What? But uh, because you know we are growing, we are pre-pivoting, we are rebranding. Uh, I have a lot of stuff that I want to concentrate on next year, and I know I won't give this little baby of mine that has brought so much joy and growth in me the the right attention. We might bring it back in 2027, you know, but next year we have different stuff going on. So this episode, like this season is focused on growth, either in person or business and rebranding and pivoting and having to especially as CEOs or um founders, owners, half of the time you have to change direction, right? And whether you like it or not, pivot. So I believe every CEO has a story where it looked like it was about to flop, but it didn't. It flipped instead of flopped. What's yours?

Building Mopod Boost And Transparency

SPEAKER_04 17:57

Endless stories like that. And I have I have endless stories where it looked like it was gonna flop and it did flop. I have endless stories where it looked like it was gonna flop and it floped. Give me one out of where where it where it looked like it was gonna flop and it did flop. Our very first podcasting product ever. I mean, uh the we we came from newsletters. We were the largest driver of engaged subscribers to most of the major newsletters in the US. Uh, you know, we've probably heard the story before, but you know, it's what got us here. We were um over 800,000 subscribers to Morning Brew before they got acquired by Insider, over 1.1 million to the hustle before they got acquired by HubSpot, uh, and similar stories from many others. And uh, our game and our entire uh business was newsletter subscriber acquisition, and we wanted to be the best at that in the beginning. Uh our podcasting side came when our our newsletter client asked us, hey, could you do what you're doing for us in newsletters or in podcasts? And we got excited. We're like, Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Let's go figure this out. Uh, you know, and that's when you know a month before that, when I listened to my very first uh podcast ever, uh it was a month before we actually launched our very first podcasting product. Yeah, I mean, granted, now you know we started our own uh our own podcast and you know we we you know went through the pain of what it's like to grow organically and uh just really uh absorb everything in the space and just become super fans. And I love podcasting uh uh now completely. I mean it's I'm I'm completely sold on the entire space and everything about it. Oh Friday Night Karaoke, that's the one, that's the one! Built the community around it and everything. We went through like how do you build how do you do these things organically? You know, like uh what what what are the pain points that podcasters have to go through and uh you know the big challenges, and uh that was endlessly valuable, kind of just experiencing all that uh so that we can make our own products better. But anyway, the the the flop that became a flop was our very, very first product ever. And we went out to a major, major uh publisher and player in the space, and we uh built out this very custom, very unique, awesome uh API integration with them to get people to sign up to them. And we uh uh had this huge publisher network from the newsletter side where uh we had these host and post uh pop-ups that would come up and say, you know, Morning Brew, become smarter than your hiring manager in five minutes, subscribe to Morning Brew for free, and you would put in your email and sign up. So we used that same idea originally, uh, and this product doesn't exist anymore, uh, obviously. The same idea on the same kinds of publishers where we would talk about a podcast and uh you know, say that you should subscribe to this podcast, and we would put uh the email field in. You'd type in your email and we ping the player. Does that person exist in here or not already? If they didn't exist, we'd ask for age, gender, and zip, and then we would sign them up. If they uh that was part of the API integration that we rolled out, we were all proud of it because this huge integration that we had. Uh if they were already on there, then uh we subscribe them to that particular podcast, and then we we pulled up a player where they can actually play the episode uh and then we can redirect them from there. And it was a really good idea. Like for coming to podcasting fresh and not really knowing what was important, yeah, and no understanding that the KPI for the people that we were talking to ultimately was about subscribers uh on a platform and about uh just you know the longer tail data uh and downloads, uh, we thought that this was a really, really smart play. And it was a massive flop because we couldn't get it to run on a publisher in a cost-effective manner. So uh you know, all the publishers, all the places that would put that pop-up, because it's such a uh intensive flow that requires so much user action, the drop-off was significant. So to get to pay for an action on that would cost us a massive amount of money, and we can there's no way we could charge that to a podcaster. It wouldn't make any sense. Uh they could never monetize that in a way that would uh you know warrant uh just continued spend or uh just make it part of their growth strategy. So uh we ended up trashing it. And to your point about being able to pivot, you know, you're you're moving away from talk shit with PA for in 2026 and you're rebranding and you're coming up with a new direction. That was exactly what we did. All this hard work that went into this new product, and we put tons of money and effort and you know, built relationships and all that kind of stuff to build this product over the course of a couple months and roll it out, and we learned that uh this just isn't working, it's not scalable, um, that the results were good, but we just couldn't get it at any kind of scale that mattered, and we're losing money on it. So we just all feelings aside, just what how do we fix this? Like what what what needs to happen? And that's where Mopod Boost actually came into play. We learned uh through the conversations that we were having, and just from understanding the space a little bit better, what exactly needed to happen uh and you know what was valuable. So uh you know, we we set out to build Mopod Boost and uh made it uh you know fully programmatic, putting native display ads on hundreds or thousands of sites targeting the specific user profile and uh massively targeted, uh, and then driving them back to a landing page. And you know, we put a lot of effort and uh focus on the Mopod player itself and getting it indexed everywhere uh so that it was crystal clear in uh stats that it was the traffic was actually coming from us and not from something else. Um, which uh it was crazy to me that a lot of the services out there that were uh we wouldn't call them competitors, but you know, the the places that where you would go to get traffic, you know, they didn't do any of that. You know, they it was more just they keep the black box the way it is and you know pay us. And we were very much about you know, here's all the data, here's you know, full transparency into how the campaign was run, uh, and exactly where, what, how, uh, what worked, what didn't work, um, you know, things like impressions to clicks, clicks to uh uh you know, actual plays and uh IEB downloads on that product, and then just every single audience segment and how they all backed out. Um but my my point, long story short, here is you know a flop that became a flop that became a product.

SPEAKER_08 23:51

I love that. And um it's a personal also use of the boost. I love it. I've put on a few people on, and also for people who don't know, I was among the the better tester for the boost.

SPEAKER_04 24:05

Yeah, yeah, one of the first. One of the early ones, yeah.

SPEAKER_08 24:08

Yeah, and they announced it when they came on my show the very first time when I had joined.

SPEAKER_06 24:14

Oh, the self-serve.

SPEAKER_08 24:15

And it it was me and Joe were on the same time zone, and Mike was like on a different time zone, and but but we all shared a drink.

SPEAKER_04 24:26

Yeah, the self-serve came later, and that was uh you know, that was we we realized enterprise was great, yeah, and you know, having a$3,000 minimum was great, but the reality is most of the podcasting space is independent creators who uh are many of them are hobbyists, many of them are hoping it uh their podcast will hit one day. Many of them are not really concerned with that. They just want to be able to show that you know anyone is listening and actually cares about the content, and we wanted an answer for that, so that's where the the self-serve came in. But yeah, we have a we have a bunch of products now, but uh yeah, uh I don't I don't want to make this a sales pitch.

SPEAKER_08 25:02

I love it, and I keep forgetting that more plugins from more media where you guys will literally and the newsletter and side of things like interesting whenever yeah, because we briefly talked about that with Chase because I finally got Chase on uh on the pod.

SPEAKER_04 25:17

Wait, you got Chase on the pod? Did I miss it?

SPEAKER_08 25:20

We recorded in person uh a podcast movement.

SPEAKER_04 25:24

Wait, did I miss this? Is is this out live on the interwebs?

SPEAKER_08 25:28

I'll definitely tell you because we definitely talked about you and said some shit in there.

SPEAKER_03 25:32

Oh, I hope so. There's so much shit to say about me, it's all good. Like uh there's definitely no shortage of shit to talk about.

SPEAKER_08 25:39

We recorded before he actually had to go catch his flight, and as soon as we finished recording, I I went and had one final beer with him, and I was like, okay, go back to Australia. Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_04 25:53

You know, he's actually moving to New York.

SPEAKER_08 25:55

Uh I know he's very excited finally. He's like, I'm ready to settle down and have a place called home. I'm like, and you wanted New York, so here you go. And it's funny because podcast movement is gonna be in New York next year. So I think nothing down the karaoke party that you guys are gonna do because New York is home for y'all.

SPEAKER_04 26:14

That's my home turf right there. We know all the spots, it's gonna be awesome. Joe knows all the good rooftops and all the people.

SPEAKER_09 26:21

In my head, I was like, I don't want to go to podcast movement in New York by the other side.

SPEAKER_01 26:25

I was like, I really want to experience New York with a moped boys.

Self‑Serve, Indies, And Access

SPEAKER_04 26:28

Yeah, yeah, it's gonna be great. And you know, and with with uh Barletta running things now, it's gonna be really interesting and awesome. Like it's you know, changing it up a little bit. Uh yeah, I mean the space is this this space is so dynamic and so interesting, and there's always always something happening. It's exciting. Really, really, really funny. That's great. Again, completely on brand. So for anyone that doesn't know, which is everybody who's listening, um, I I Paula was super kind and scheduled this. I'm in Japan and she's obviously in the States, and it is 1 41 p.m. over here. Uh we're scheduled for 1 p.m. Uh it's midnight over there. So uh most yeah, most most of the most of the meetings I have uh with the US, uh everyone you know wants me to work on their schedule, and I I you know I appreciate that. It's fine. You know, living in Japan, it's a challenge uh from that perspective. Uh most of my meetings are like 3, 4 a.m. or like very late at night. And I totally forgot that I had a 1 p.m. meeting here and I was on a call and I, you know, jumping on. I have a gym scheduled with my wife at two, and uh you know, I had all this planned, and I forgot completely. And I'm like five minutes after, and I got this little alert on my phone, like you have to be on with Paula.

SPEAKER_08 27:40

I'm like, Rap shit with P is more than just a name, it's what we do. We make visions come alive from branding and match to curated gifting and virtual assistant services. We help creatives, entrepreneurs, and businesses show up bigger, bolder, and better. So if you're ready to level up your vision, connect with us on IG at RapshitwithP or Rapshitwithp at gmail.com and that's W R A P S H I T W I T H P RapshitwithP at gmail.com or wrapshit with P on Instagram. Rapshitwith P where access meets energy, where passion meets execution, and where every detail gets wrapped with love and excitement. So here's to season ten. The final season of talk share we pee.

SPEAKER_04 28:46

And I you know ran over to my freaking phone and uh yeah, we were very gracious.

SPEAKER_08 28:51

For taking away gym time.

SPEAKER_04 28:53

No, no, no. You know what? I'm so excited, I have an excuse not to go to the gym.

unknown 28:58

You know what?

SPEAKER_04 28:59

I'm gonna I'm gonna go eat some freaking ice cream after this just because like I need gym, might as well freaking double down.

Life In Japan And Health Resets

SPEAKER_08 29:06

Speaking of Japan, and since we're talking about change, right? You recently moved to Japan. I'm curious, right? Um, is there a different mic there compared to the US mic? Or like did you realize something indifferent about yourself?

SPEAKER_04 29:20

Because you know, sometimes when you're in a new new place, no, I'm I'm exactly the same mic. It's the the the scene has changed. In fact, you know, oh I've been here for three years and like the bar I go to regularly, it's called 40 ounce, which is great. You know, they they import 40 ounce bottles like of Mickeys from the US. You know, and you can you can go to the gas station in like New Jersey and buy a freaking you know a Mickey's for like three dollars. They they sell it for twenty. And and and you know, these Japanese dudes and and gals are are buying it and you know pouring it out for each other, thinking it's like this fancy thing.

SPEAKER_02 29:56

And I'm like, dude, like we wrap a plastic paper bag. Around it and drink it in the street. Come on. Come on. That's this is not fancy America drink. You know, this is this is uh liquor.

SPEAKER_08 30:09

I should have shared with them the whiskey you collected the last time you were here. I think it was Port Festway. You were very excited, you got your son.

SPEAKER_04 30:17

Yeah, really nice uh Japanese Yamazaki. It was great. Uh uh I'm I'm a whiskey guy. Uh but like I mentioned, two months, no alcohol.

SPEAKER_06 30:24

So I'm proud of you.

SPEAKER_04 30:26

Pretty wild. Um I I do I I I am trying to just uh you know, I'm 44, I want to get more healthy and uh just in general. Like it's it's really easy when you're working and uh you know after a move and you have two kids and um you know it's a it's a great life, but it's uh really easy to just get sucked into everything other than taking care of yourself and recognizing that and just addressing it, I think is really, really important. So um yeah, that that's that's where that came. That that's where that comes in and came from. I I'm not I'm I'm not strict about it either. I mean, like if you know I'm I'm gonna be at Podfest very likely in Orlando because I'm not missing an excuse to go to Disney.

SPEAKER_05 31:04

For anyone out there that doesn't know, I love Disney.

SPEAKER_04 31:10

It's not so much Disney, but it's Disney karaoke.

SPEAKER_08 31:12

I like it it really does. And that's the thing about that first podcast, uh Podfest we went to when we did karaoke outside. It was a lot of before you did the Shaggy, but there was a lot of I remember that girl, Bad Moon or something, I forgot her name, but I remember Handle. She had a crutch as well, but she did also Disney song. It's like everyone else in a Disney, it was just so much fun, and I think we were outside. It was May. For the first time, Podfest was in May.

SPEAKER_04 31:45

Yeah, I I I have like a whole bunch of go-tos, and it's like uh I'm not a great singer, but I like to have fun and I like to do voices and stuff, so it just uh it's like an escape. It's uh it's a very healthy, fun, random escape. And like, you know, we mentioned Friday Night Karaoke before. I mean, but yeah, Joe and I built this community of like but now it's 40,000 members almost, uh, that post hundreds of songs of themselves just singing every day, and the whole idea is negativity-free, ad-free, just karaoke, and it's about a love of music, and obviously we have the podcast that spawned from that as well, uh you know, back when we launched everything here. And um yeah, it's it's been awesome. It's uh it's still to this day a nice escape. You know, admittedly, I don't get to sing as much as I I I would want to in there. Although, although I am building a house right now with my family, like we're we're about to move in in November in Japan, and one of the rooms of the house, it's called a Boanchitsu. It's fully soundproof. It has like you know really thick, uh, like one meter thick rooms or whatever, or walls, or something like that. And uh you can't hear anything outside that room, and it's a full recording studio. Uh, and I'm putting like all the inch like every instrument I could possibly find. Like I just bought like this stupid like$140 freaking like harmonica. I don't know how to play a harmonica, but I'm gonna figure it out. I'm gonna jump popper the shit out of this.

SPEAKER_08 33:01

And you have to spend one forty on it. You know you could start with a cheaper version until you learn how to.

Friday Night Karaoke And Creative Outlets

SPEAKER_04 33:06

No, no, that that's bullshit. That's bullshit. Because you know what the you know what the the flaw in that logic is? The flaw in that logic is I'm gonna buy a cheaper version and then I'm also gonna buy the more expensive version later once I'm better. Might as well just buy the more expensive version and then not buy a fucking cheap one. You know, just suck it up, buttercup, and go get it.

SPEAKER_08 33:24

I love it. By the way, your community is so amazing. I remember one time I needed votes for something and you went and asked them to vote for me. They even reached out and they're like, Paula, we have never received gotten anybody who has like 800 and something votes. I'm like, it's the power of the more the karaoke Friday night karaoke community because I I swear I think those votes all came from there because they were literally Yeah, those people are great.

SPEAKER_04 33:52

Uh I I appreciate the hell out of them. And you know, they've made like um yeah, they they've made life way better, you know. Like uh no matter how hard your day is or what's going on, you know, they just have this place you can go where everyone's just you know again, it's negativity free and everyone's just chill, and you know, you you get to know everybody, and obviously I'm the founder of the community, so uh I get that little you know that little riz, which is nice.

SPEAKER_08 34:17

And since you um you literally touched upon um health and and the community when you're stressed and stuff, so I have to ask, what's keep what uh I'm gonna guess the karaoke, but I'm still gonna ask just because what keeps you grounded when stressed and how do you and again, you know, I I'm big on mental health and um I'm an advocate for mental health. So how do you protect your mental health or take care of your mental health inside?

SPEAKER_04 34:47

That's a that's a loaded question because there's a lot of things that go on there, and I'm uh, you know, I'm I'm I'm complex as is laid back and easy as I look, you know, I'm pretty complex. Um yeah, I mean karaoke's one depending on the day and uh the what's going on, you know, karaoke is one outlet and it works well in the times that it works, but it's not always the outlet, and it's not even often the outlet, it's just uh one of many outlets. You know, another one when I'm doing it is going out for a run works, but that's definitely not a a common one, but it it works really, really well when I do it, uh just for resetting your brain and uh just changing how you think about things. Because I think ultimately it just comes comes down to perspective. And if you don't do anything, if you're if you're not feeling great about something or you're um kind of in your own head and you're spiraling a little bit, um sitting at home or staying in the same situation that you're currently in and not really changing it, just turning the TV on or doing something like that is typically not gonna work, in my opinion. At least for me, it doesn't work. It what it does is it just like amp uh amplifies it or it drags it out even longer. Um but if I do something that is almost like a shock to the system, karaoke is a good example, running is a good example. Uh I I these these things I call them blowouts, um, where I'll go out and I'll you know it's a a night of like you know going to the bar and it's not drinking like crazy, but it's uh going out and just having as much fun as possible with people. Uh and it's it just kind of changes how I uh how I perceive this moment right now. So when I come back from that, whether it's karaoke, whether it's a run, whether it's that, whether it's anything else, when I come back from that activity, um I'm not thinking about things in the way I was before. I have different perspective and it's easier. And uh from a mental health perspective, I found that always doing something helps. It's when you become kind of lethargic and you just live inside your own head that it becomes really dangerous or or scary.

SPEAKER_08 36:49

I love that. And you're sorry, doing the same thing as in her. Like I had to sometimes even change the layout of my room so that I can have like a different environment.

Mental Health, Perspective, And Action

SPEAKER_03 36:59

I do that. I do that. I I in fact, but I don't do the room, I do the house. I do the whole apartment. I'll change the thing.

SPEAKER_08 37:05

Because moving, you can't like if moving was easy, I'd probably be moving every now and then, but moving sucks.

SPEAKER_10 37:12

So instead I just change the layouts just so I can feel like I'm in a new environment and I get excited all over.

SPEAKER_04 37:19

Yeah, I haven't done that since I moved to Japan, but in America, I did that all the freaking time. My family would come back and the house would be completely like my my my daughter's room would be in a different room. Like, what what what did you do?

SPEAKER_08 37:31

I I it's not alright. And it kind of helps with your mind creativity. Like after doing that, you're like, oh my god, it makes you give you the part. Like, I used to feel like I could be a um home decorator or like design. I'm like, I did that. Look at all this shit.

SPEAKER_04 37:50

No, I mean uh so it's that stuff I definitely don't enjoy doing. I just do it uh it's it's like a its own de-pressed.

SPEAKER_08 37:57

Yeah. Um, speaking of your you're an incredible father, but you also have incredibly talented kids. Like I I stuck your Instagram for your kids, and your daughter is amazing, your son is adorable, like um I wish I had I know I I keep saying this even though I started activities a long time ago, but like the activities you you do with your kids are very inspiring and very uh amazing. So how is fatherhood like um I mean I'll say something as CEO, right? You're a son, a brother, a husband, a father, a friend, a business partner. So what's a way that Mike is Mike, not as the CEO grown is just Mike?

SPEAKER_04 38:47

You know, it's uh uh it's a it's been challenging. You know, the move to Japan has made it really, really challenging. So the the that's like a big question mark, you know, uh like who what what what do I actually like and what do I enjoy? Because my my time is primarily spent working, you know, and building out Mopod, and you know, we have a really big team now, and it's it's been an awesome, awesome journey. I love it, and it's uh I wouldn't trade it for anything. Um, but it's very time consuming and mentally and you know physically. Um and then you know the family obviously and the kids, and I make a very strong point to uh be at like every soccer game that my son has or every soccer practice that he has, my daughter, whenever she has her swimming or anything else, I like to be there for it. Uh just even at practice. And uh I feel like being physically present is really, really important. But all these things, you know, like uh for my wife as well, and like the things that we do together. Uh, but if you're like looking at who who is Mike and what does he want and what is he, you know, what is he who is he um outside of kind of obligations and just the things that I feel are important because I'm a dad or whatever, uh I I feel like those things have slipped away a lot and it's it's a it's a challenge because I want I I don't want to lose them. Like I'm a skateboarder and a snowboarder, I always have been, and uh, I always identified myself in that way as like this is who I am. I'm a skateboarder, I'm a snowboarder, and that was important to me. And being associated with that was always very important to me, and I care about it, and I still care about it. Uh, but I don't do it. Like I haven't I've been on my skateboard in forever, like uh eight months maybe, and before that it was even lower. Um uh and back in the when I was in the US, uh, I used to go all the time. And um, yeah, similarly for other things like music, uh you know, I obviously I have this in the house, I'm prioritizing this bow on shitsu in the recording studio, and I'm getting one of every instrument, and I'm I'm really hoping by by having that there and being so accessible, it'll just give me that outlet that I can go you know explore who I am a little bit more again. But uh yeah, to your to your point, it's really, really challenging kind of navigating the line between here's what who I need to be and here's who I am.

Identity Beyond Titles And Roles

SPEAKER_08 41:03

And I understand that, and I think that's one of the reasons why I'm also putting Talkshire We P on hold. And like it's a problem to have for some people, like, and and it's a problem some people are looking for. Like, I feel like I've built Talkshi WiP such a brand in a way that is so recognizable in conferences, like in the podcast industry. Like everybody knows talking, but then I was losing myself in talk to pee. I was like, who's Paula apart from doing all the things? Because I felt like my entire being was surrounded with talk shiwip, like the the podcast side, but who's polar without talk she we pee? Like it was like even sometimes I would hang out with like you know, when we're at Podfest, especially me, I don't really get to talk to people as much because I'm always running around and here and there and whatever. So I took going to other conferences where I actually have time to like really sit down and talk to people for more than five minutes. Even Chris, it took him three years to when he finally came to FinCon and we were just walking in the booth. It wasn't our event, so we finally got to sit and say, Man, Paula, I thought I knew you, but it took me three years. I'm like, because we you know the talking with people, you don't know Paula compared to uh I I I not everybody is like a small part because I have so much access to you guys and I talk to you guys so much. It feels like you guys know me but the other people, so I I really get that. And um I hope but I think the joy is also in rediscovering yourself again, right? There's so much joy in that, in figuring out what what do you re do you still love what you used to love, or are you finding these new things to explore and and feed into?

SPEAKER_04 42:51

I think that's important. Uh so the idea that that's all I am or that's all we can be, right? Is is a really bad idea to get stuck in, you know, to stick with, right? Um if you're receptive to like look, I'm in Japan now, I have all these new things and new uh you know, it it's different, sure. It's harder because it's you know, there's language barriers or there's other things that make it more challenging. But that's an opportunity. It's a it's actually an exciting opportunity if you stop trying to constantly be comfortable, and I think that's the problem. People want to be comfortable, and if they just direct themselves towards what's comfortable, they'll never grow into anything better, right? But if you make yourself uncomfortable conscio uh uh continuously, um you'll grow exponentially more, and uh you'll you'll find things uh about yourself and just you know abilities that you have, or uh you'll find success that you never thought you would find because you're open to everything else that's going on. Doesn't mean like you know, accept everything that comes in, just go with everything. It doesn't mean go with the flow on everything. I mean that you have to be intelligent about things and you know life is absolutely chess, right? You know, if you're a chess player, you're gonna do really well in life, I think, if you apply those learnings to life. Uh you can't be just looking at the piece that you're moving right now, and that's kind of going with the flow, right? Oh, I'm gonna move this one, I move this one. And you're not really thinking about what's gonna happen. You need to know that when I move this piece, they're likely gonna move one of those pieces, and when they do that, here's what I can do. And when that I do that, they're very likely gonna be in this position. And it's I think it's very important to be able to think about those things in or life in those ways. Um, if if your goal is success. If your goal is just to you know if your goal is just to be happy, um I don't have an answer for you. Um you know, that you can give me the answer. Like some someone someone else give me the answer. I you know I'm still looking for that. But if your goal is success, if the goal is, you know, uh putting the scoreboard on, you know, how much value can you drive or how much money can you make, or uh how much money can you make for other people, or whatever it is, like whatever the whatever that those goal wherever those goalposts are that you're trying to kick through, um, if that's ultimately the goal, it's a lot easier, right? Then you can uh you know take a strategic approach to life. Uh, and then you can segment things. Like I've segmented like my my being a dad and the things I need to do there, and I make the time for that, or I segment the time for the business and I I make the time for that, and it's really easy because I can compartmentalize it all. But uh, if the goal is happiness, that there's like that's a very loaded uh subject, and it's very, very challenging um to kind of define, and it's different for everybody, so I don't have an answer there.

Comfort Zones, Chess Thinking, And Growth

SPEAKER_08 45:36

And that's true. About the comfort zone, I feel like most people's failure comes from comfort zone as a person who from a young age has been moving countries to countries I have to be. I I I I am very good at being uncomfortable. And I think that's where we talk shit with Pete has always been in my head. Oh, if you meet me, I like making people uncomfortable before I get uncomfortable. Because to me, it's like if you can pass that new and you can vibe, otherwise we can't, and that's why I say so much shit and to see who can get along with the shit.

SPEAKER_02 46:09

Yeah, I don't think you've ever made me uncomfortable, so I think we're good. I think we're I I I think I gravitated towards it.

SPEAKER_08 46:16

But speaking of that, um you have known me since 2022, let's say. So it's been like five years now. What was your I I've been asking people a lot uh this question for season 10 because uh again, it's my growth pivoting, so I wanna see where my growth has been. And you do not want to hear Joe's question. It was like, are you sure you want to ask me that? Oh no, I even just I was like, should I but um what was your first impression of me when you met me, and now that you have known me for these five classes?

SPEAKER_04 46:54

So uh I we I I had no idea when I first met you who you were. Like this person who apparently knows everybody who has massive amounts of energy and it just is apparently not giving me a choice, we're just gonna be friends. Like you're like, hi! We're friends now, and I'm like And like that I I I didn't have a chance to think about this. You know, the chess player and me had no chance to freaking plan anything. It was just like oh, hi there you are. I'm glad you found me. Uh so uh that that was my first impression. I had no idea I didn't have a choice. It just we we we were friends before without knowing we were friends and then we were um and and you were very uh direct and you were very uh very helpful and very high energy, like I said, and it was it was great. Um and we you know instantly got along and uh I I I felt like the first time it was a it was as if we were already you know buddies, and uh it was already we were already close and i i it was there was no like transition to that. It was just like here we are, oh I found you, great, you know, and uh we went from there. And the transition from that to where we are today, we're still right there. There's there's no difference. I mean it's grown in in obviously uh you know, we have a lot more experiences together, you know, uh at a lot of conferences and just in general and in conversation and um just everything. Um business advice and life advice, back and forth, uh just a little bit of everything. Um but the fundamental fundamental things that made it that kind of brought us together haven't changed.

SPEAKER_08 48:39

I love that. And um I I was talking to when I asked Chase this question, I was like, Well uh to be honest, I didn't know how much you loved Mopad and Well that's still that's still a mystery to me.

SPEAKER_02 48:55

I'm like, why?

SPEAKER_08 48:57

Like I I love Mopad too, but it was like I I'm still confused that was Jason. I was like, I'm still confused, and I'm like, and it's funny you say how uh how we met, how I said we're gonna be friends and you had no choice. Because literally when I saw those uh of 2021, because I I I couldn't make it, um I was like, I don't care who they are, what they do, but they seem fun and I'm going there to meet them. So when I when I met Ed, it was like we're going to karaoke. Um Joe and Mike are gonna meet them. I'm like like it didn't register yet. I'm like, who are those? They're like, Joe and Mike, karaoke, I'm like, oh I'm gonna meet them, yes.

SPEAKER_04 49:42

Yeah, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_08 49:49

We had the most fun, and I will never forget that Uber, right? And that's why from there I was like, I'm gonna be like wherever they're gonna be, that's where I'm gonna be. And that's why even until today, I ignored the message, you guys randomly. I love you guys, you guys are not allowed to divorce me. Like, I remember even if we sing you a song, like even if we do a breakup song for you, I'm like, I don't care what you do, you're not allowed to break up.

SPEAKER_02 50:13

We're good, we're good, we're lifers, we're all good.

SPEAKER_08 50:17

Well, Mike, thank you for spending so much um this midnight time with me. I feel like a vampire now. Um, before we end, I'm gonna do some wrap-up questions, right? These are like quick questions. No, no long answers. You just gotta have a part was a passion, what kind of troublemaker would they be?

SPEAKER_04 50:38

Oh my god. I don't know. Uh what's his name? The the comedian um who yeah with Ariana Grande and stuff. What's his name?

unknown 50:46

Pete Davidson?

SPEAKER_04 50:48

Pete Davidson. It'd be Pete Davidson.

SPEAKER_07 50:52

Oh my god, I'm not even gonna ask why.

SPEAKER_14 50:56

Yeah, move on, move on. Move it along, move it along.

SPEAKER_08 50:58

What's one myth about you as a CEO that people would be shocked? Ain't true.

SPEAKER_04 51:06

A myth. Um I don't I don't know that people talk about me in that way, that there's myths about me.

Quick‑Fire: Industry, Myths, And Success

SPEAKER_08 51:11

Um so I don't know if there are I don't know like if there are you danced with one leg in the clo in in in in coffee.

SPEAKER_04 51:19

I did, I did, but I mean there's like there's no it's not like a myth. I mean there was a fact, right? Like I I danced, you know, I I I was out there with one leg, you know, uh I'm pretty so get you even a CEO, no offense. No, no, no. That's absolutely true. So I think to that that question, and I know you said short answers, but I think that question for me doesn't apply so much because I'm very, very open about everything. Like there's no there's no there's no secrets to my life. Like I'm very if someone asks me something, I will I'll tell you.

SPEAKER_08 51:51

You are who you are.

SPEAKER_04 51:52

Yeah, I am who I am. I'm I'm I'm apolog unapologetically who I am. And that's what you yeah, so so that's it's for the for good or for bad. Um, you know, obviously from a business perspective, it's easy to think that that's probably a negative, but it's worked really well for me and it served me really well. And you know, honestly, it's way less to manage mentally to just it really is positive.

SPEAKER_08 52:16

Like most of like the excuse me, the CEOs that are related to are people who don't even kind of see themselves as CEO if that makes sense. Like they know they're CEOs, but half of the time they kind of like they're not quick to say I'm a CEO. Oh, and you know, like it's not about the title, but more about who they are as uh person. I think I get that, and I I and that's why maybe I get along with those types of CEOs or companies, founders, owners. Okay, finish this sentence.

SPEAKER_04 52:51

The podcast industry would be better if if the platforms all shared uh if all the major listening platforms openly shared uh their analytics. Uh so like if we were able to pull all the analytics from all the platforms and all the players and pull them all into one place, uh and everyone just shared that data, you know, for around listenership and they are you know how how far into something someone someone's listening, and uh it you know, just if I okay, I'm gonna start over. The podcast industry would be a better place if they remove the black box.

SPEAKER_08 53:27

All right. Love that. Um what's the biggest lie you've ever told yourself about success?

SPEAKER_04 53:35

That's a good question. That's a great question. I like that. Um it's because the lie you tell yourself, I freaking love that. Uh the biggest lie I've ever told myself about success would be it's not about how much you sell. Um I you know, I think it's really easy to get caught up on, you know, I need to sell things. I need to, you know, sell as much as possible. But it's not about that, it's about driving uh driving a result for your clients, right? So at the end of the day, um the focus should not be on how much money can I make, but how much can I win for them? Because if they're winning, they'll pay you. And you'll make money and they'll keep paying because they'll keep being happy at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_08 54:13

So uh and they'll bring people for you.

SPEAKER_04 54:15

Yeah, exactly. And they'll bring people, it's it's it's far better. So when you you know keeping a focus on product and on results is far more important than keeping a focus on revenue. And it's really easy as an early founder or a CEO to get lost in the idea that I need to go make you know a deal for$1,000 or$5,000, or oh my god, I need to get this deal for$10,000 or whatever it is. And that's not what it's about. Uh getting a deal for one you know one time for$5,000 or$1,000, or$10,000, or$100,000 doesn't matter. Uh you want that client who's gonna stay there for years and years and years um because you delivered something truly amazing. Uh our retention is like 70% plus uh on our clients. And uh I I that's really, really important, I think. I think it's uh the most important thing.

SPEAKER_08 55:05

I love that. I mean, I came and I never left and I don't spend a time. I got my patch.

SPEAKER_04 55:15

Unrelated, unrelated, um, but I'd like to shout it out as a big pat on the back. But in seven years of business, uh, and you know, we're 17 employees right now, uh, we have never uh we've never had an employee leave. Uh so we've let a couple employees go, but we've never had an employee leave.

SPEAKER_08 55:34

And you have had people wanting to work for Mopad. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 55:40

We actually just hired someone else. Uh you know, we just hired someone new. Uh you'll you'll see the announcement. But um, yeah, we're she's a rock star, we're pretty excited.

SPEAKER_08 55:48

Tell them be be ready for Paula television because I have Mopad employees.

SPEAKER_04 55:53

Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_08 55:55

I try to make sure I I I make a connection with every one of them just somehow.

SPEAKER_04 56:00

She'll be stoked to meet you.

SPEAKER_08 56:03

What advice would 2025 Mike give 2020 Mike? But 2020 Mike probably wouldn't have listened because you know 2020 was a wild ear.

SPEAKER_05 56:15

Get into podcasting.

SPEAKER_08 56:17

Now speaking of 2020, one thing you thought you thought mattered in 2020, but you laughed at it now.

SPEAKER_04 56:25

One thing I thought in 2020, but I laugh at it now.

SPEAKER_08 56:28

You thought mattered in 2020.

SPEAKER_04 56:31

I thought mattered in 2020. Like clubhouse, was the shit and now we're like, I I thought I thought that buying a so this is dumb, uh, and it's not it's not funny or anything, but it's true. Uh I thought that um I I was living in Stamford, Connecticut at the time with my family, and I I I was dead set, you know, we're early in the business, you know, two years into the business, and I was dead set on uh I need to buy a house in U Canaan, uh, which is an expensive area, you know, houses are like three, four million dollars, and I'm like, I'm gonna get there, I'm gonna do this. Um in order to fit in with society, I need to do these things, which is uh you know, off-brand for me. But at the time, you know, because things were on the way up and it was you know looking really good, and I've had a couple exits before that, and everything was like looking lining up. Um I thought that was important. And you know, now when I look back and I'm like, I'm so glad I didn't do that. Like that's not the life I wanted, that's not the people I wanted to be surrounded by. You know, like the it was like so stuffy, and it's just it's not that wasn't the life. And uh I laugh about uh about it, but I am also like super thankful I never went that direction. Like uh you know, moving to Japan uh in that regard was one of the best things I've ever done because it it's you know we live in in a nice, easy area, you know, the the there's no you know, flaunting of wealth or anything like that anywhere around me. It's it's it's actually it's exactly perfect.

SPEAKER_08 57:50

And I'm and I'm glad for you too, because I've never seen you like from ever knowing you, I've never seen you as that type you just described in a.

SPEAKER_04 58:00

It's different when you have a family that you're trying to set up.

2020 Lessons, Status, And Values

SPEAKER_08 58:03

So and I get that, you know, um, as a person who also comes from times of me like Africa, and um there's certain things where even now when I look, when I see like I'm still trying to still figure it out, and the people in my age group back home where they are, they have families and businesses and all this. But then again, they're back home. Where if I was back home with the connections I have and uh the name I have, because again, I'm a government kid, I probably would have been fired as well. But I chose that unconventional here. But every now and then, like you can't have the mind or the brain to just kinda, you know, that's why mental health is important, right? Because your mind plays tricks with you, it makes you feel like you're less than even though you are living the life you want to live, it might not be the one that the outside wanna see or approve or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 58:57

Who cares? Who freaking cares? Exactly.

SPEAKER_08 59:00

And and that's why people get anxiety and depression because you're trying to match people instead of actually matching what you want.

SPEAKER_04 59:08

Uh yeah, and you know, the the idea that you know the family needed this, you know, that's around the time my son was born. So uh you know, the the idea that this would be the thing that you know would make the family stronger uh is was silly. And uh it was a good realization. Uh so but yeah, I yeah, that's one.

SPEAKER_08 59:24

We live and we learn.

SPEAKER_04 59:25

Sometimes Yeah, absolutely. Well, hopefully you learn. That's the thing. If you don't if you live and you don't freaking learn, that's that that's the fucking problem. It's different language.

SPEAKER_08 59:34

You're supposed to learn, and that's why I tell people the losses are not losses if you're learning things. Because once you're learning, they're no longer lost. So the last one, this one is a tricky one, and to hear your answer. If we had to describe our friendship in a podcast title or a song title since you're a karaoke guy, what would it be?

SPEAKER_04 1:00:02

Yeah, I'm I don't go overboard. I uh you know I'm there right to the very end with everybody.

SPEAKER_08 1:00:09

Yeah, go with it.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:10

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_08 1:00:12

Do you think one of my favorite moments this year was you and Joe reciting my cards as a Shakespeare play in the at the bar? So fun.

SPEAKER_09 1:00:24

Yeah, so this is embarrassing, but fun at the same time. Everybody's stopping.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:32

It's great.

SPEAKER_08 1:00:33

And it's funny how I can always find you guys even without texting you. Like if I just reach a conference and people are like, Oh, are you looking for your mopai boys? I'm like, no, I'll find them at the right time. I'll see them. And it's always at the right time, at the right spot. We are ready for it. Now it's end. Um, I asked Joe this question as well, and he had a very interesting answer. Now you see, uh, when I asked Joe this question, it was when I was still figuring out where I wanna move with my new direction of life and starting this consultation farm and everything. If you said you were gonna give me like a job description or something that, yeah, I can see Paula doing this, what would that be?

Friendship, Serendipity, And Support

SPEAKER_04 1:01:16

Okay, it's uh a challenging question. I mean, you have the personality of someone who runs her own jam, right? And like who hypers people up and uh I guess if you ran your own uh like events type consultancy where you're uh and I I'm really not sure because I don't know what the experience with actually hosting events is, but I know you have the energy and the network of people that you could lean on to make that successful. Uh so if you were able to let's say you go went and got a client tomorrow to uh help them jam out their uh an event that they want to build out for uh something that they're doing and you want to fill it up and you want to get it, you know, really, really rocking. Regardless of what you're able, uh what you personally can do on that front, you have the energy to do it and you have the people that you could lean on. Like you can call Joe, you can call me, you can call the other people. Like we're two of many people that you know really, really well and that you know you get along with, and that you have this, I'm gonna pick up the phone and call them type of relationship with. And you could literally lean on all of that to uh to make that event a success, and then you could take that and replicate it at scale, and you now have an events business, and that could be really interesting. Um because like you're you're again you're front and center and you're there.

SPEAKER_08 1:02:28

Um It's funny, you and Joe Zency are not very off from each other.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:33

What did Joe say?

SPEAKER_08 1:02:35

Because he he didn't say events necessary, but he said anything to do with people because Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because you know, like if all that could do with people. Um and and and and it's funny because um uh Chase gave me a hard time while recording, but also um the Picoball night, the hired party uh James, shout out to James, the military creator con and Joe gave me a very hard time. They're like you have people, but you don't ask for help. I'm like, I'm saving my favors for that.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:12

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:13

Like rack those favors up for the one big job, like well, you you you got more than enough, uh you know, queued up and and banked up with us, so you're good.

SPEAKER_08 1:03:27

Oh, but yeah, that's one thing. Uh and uh as we come to an end, I just want to say that um I love how you guys love and support men are always there for me, like I know we have jokingly talked about this, but I literally say my wedding veil will have Mopad on it, like it would be like you're already on the walks about my veil, and then um just gracefully offered to throw more padded, will be sponsors of my um, we're not gonna call it a bachelorette party because I have more guy friends than girls.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:03

So I I I will dress in a dress if you invite me. I promise. I will wear a skirt, I will wear a skirt and and high boots if you invite me. I am wearing this. I was Dr. Frankenfurter in my uh in my college production uh Rocky Horror Picture Show. I can dust that off. I am in. Let's go.

SPEAKER_09 1:04:25

Oh no! Let's go, girlfriend. Let's go.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:31

Oh my nice. I was telling chase, I was like, it better be like a month before my wedding, because otherwise none of us are making it to our wedding. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:39

It's gonna take a month to recover for sure, but you know what? It's gonna be worth it.

SPEAKER_08 1:04:43

But I love you guys. So, Joe, before you leave, why did I say Joe? Call me Joe, don't call me Joe. I think messing up all your names. When I'm with Chase, I call him Mike when I'm with Joe. Don't look at anything like Joe.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:57

He's way funny. Oh no, he's not as fuzzy anymore. He shaved his beard, it's horrible.

SPEAKER_08 1:05:01

I know, I know. Like, I'm tired of him surprising me with his new looks randomly. Like, I needed to get it together. Well, um, before we leave, there's uh one thing I wanted to for you to share briefly. Um recently I know uh there's the mopad charts. I wish you guys would have called it Mocharts, Mocharts.

Mopod Charts: A Free Data Resource

SPEAKER_04 1:05:24

Uh Mopodchards. Well, well, we we thought Mopad charts made more sense. So it's yeah, charts.mopod.com. Chartable, if you're familiar with the platform, in October, I believe it was like middle of October at some point. Last year, Chartable Sunset, they were purchased by Spotify. Spotify ran it for a while and then sunset the whole thing back in October. And Chartable was like the only place uh with really good data that had uh historic information about your show on the Apple charts. Uh right now, if you go into Apple Podcasts and you look at your charts, even if you're signed into Apple Podcasts Connect or anything, the only th the only thing that you can really see is your current ranking. So if you wanted to get your past ranking, uh you really couldn't do that and see trends, etc. So uh we responded to that sunset right away. October 23rd of last year, we launched charts.mopod.com and uh is a forever free, and we really mean that forever free. There's no calls to action on the pages that ask you to buy anything. Uh it we literally want it to be the single best free resource for uh podcast chart information on the web. Uh so we have both the Apple Podcast Charts and Spotify, current and historic, for any show with email alerts. You can uh and again, we're not selling you anything in any of this, uh including any of our services. Uh, it's just we want the Mopod brand in front of your face while you get the best data you can possibly get uh on your show and uh you know evaluate those trends, etc. So charts.mopod.com, go check it out. It's free forever and awesome.

SPEAKER_08 1:06:58

All right. Well, thank you very much. And uh let the people know where they can find you, where they can check out mopad. By the way, y'all can schedule a free demo. Like, literally, go if you have more questions about mopods, go schedule free demo and see it for yourself. I'm just saying it's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:17

Yeah, but you know, really just go to mopod.com, www.mowpod.com and you can check it all out. Um, I'm not gonna go into a big sales pitch here or anything, but uh yeah, feel free to reach out to us if you want a demo or you want to run through what we're doing or just want to shoot the shit. You know, talk shit with P might not be around in 2026, but I promise you we'll be talking shit with P all throughout 2026. So um we'll talk shit with you too.

SPEAKER_08 1:07:42

So I'm gonna check out Friday Night Karaoke.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:46

That's more important.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:47

I'd rather you do that.

SPEAKER_08 1:07:49

Yes, let's do the campaign, the community, and everything.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:54

Facebook.com slash groups slash Friday Night Karaoke, or just go into the little search box in the top of your Facebook app and type in Friday Night Karaoke. Search down that little list, it's gonna be right at the very top. Nice and easy. You click on it, you click on join group, and oh my god, answer three questions, and you are in life, Lynn, baby.

SPEAKER_08 1:08:12

Mike, if you ever walked in radio, like you do such a I don't want to work in radio.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:17

That's the thing. I don't I don't want to work for anybody ever. Uh that's uh that's the whole reason I've I've been running businesses forever. I I and uh and I don't want to do anything in radio.

SPEAKER_10 1:08:28

You can stretch you on radio.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:30

Call my radio people out there, you know. I respect ya, love ya. I don't want anything to do with your business.

SPEAKER_08 1:08:37

Give me a talk shit with the intro, like while I have you right now in in in your best voice. Like, give me g give me a talk shit with the intro.

SPEAKER_14 1:08:46

Oh my god. Uh uh now on the yeah, you're putting me on the spot.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:50

I don't know if I can do it.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:51

Um I don't have it. No, I'm not I can't do it. I can't do it. I'm on the spot, you know, um everyone's looking at me. Come on, that's funny. I do, I do like being on the spot. I do, I do.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:08

But um I don't have it. Okay.

Where To Find Mopod And FNK

SPEAKER_04 1:09:11

Um I don't have it, I don't fucking have it, I don't have it, nothing.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:32

I just have to say those words.

SPEAKER_08 1:09:34

Yeah, where the shit becomes you know, go ahead, please down for me. Talk shit with me.

SPEAKER_14 1:09:41

Talk shit with me podcast.

SPEAKER_09 1:09:43

Sorry, Paula!

SPEAKER_14 1:09:45

Fucking I don't have it. I don't have it.

SPEAKER_08 1:09:48

This is the first time Mike is crumbled on the mic.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:54

Like, I No, it's not the first time. I've actually crumbled on the mic so many times. I remember at TA Tech, which is a talent acquisition technology conference, uh a shitload of years ago. I got up on stage, I was all excited, I had this like really good session, all planned about something I knew nothing about. And I uh I thought, you know, I went out the night before and you know, in my normal fashion and through an event, and I got back at like four in the morning. My my talk was at 10 in the morning, and I'm like, I don't need to sleep. And I didn't know the subject matter, and I didn't write out my my plan. So I got up on stage, I have 40 minutes to talk to everybody, and I just it was bad. Like I just I had I was like just done, and I'm like talking about stuff I didn't understand, and I eventually was just like I'm sorry. I about 15 minutes in, I just told everyone, I'm sorry, I can't do this. Thanks so much.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:50

And I I bounced out and I I just I couldn't even fake it.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:54

Um it was it was a humbling, horrible I mean, I I'm still friends with everyone in the space, and I I had a really good business in that space. But um, you know, this is a lesson. You can fail miserably and publicly, and it's okay. It's okay. Own it, move forward. You know, I uh you can take moments like that and you can you can just look at yourself and you can just again fall inward and be all depressed and be like, I'm not worth it, I can't do this. What was I thinking? And yeah, you know, a big life lesson about like preparing better for these things, uh, and just you know being well rested and all that jazz before going on. But you know, in in this particular experience, I learned really, really fast uh just uh how um you you you can't wing everything, or at least I can't wing everything. And um being able to recover from that uh was literally just accepting like almost laughing about it, like yeah, that happened, you know, at the conference later. Um yeah, you're laughing. It's you might yeah, you you bring it up. Yeah, you be the one that brings it up, and you you know, you you poke at it, and uh you know, then it doesn't matter who else brings it up. But and then you move forward and then you're good. And then next time, knock it out of the fucking park, and that's it. You know, you you you you mess it up, great. Now it gives you all that energy to go and you know win even harder next time. You know, that's exactly what happens, and yeah, we're good. But um, I don't remember where the story was coming from or why.

SPEAKER_08 1:12:16

Well, it was coming from because you were not able to give me an introduction.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:19

Oh, I couldn't give you an introduction. I was put on the spot there for something I don't normally do. So I was trying, I was trying.

On‑Mic Flops, Recovery, And Owning It

SPEAKER_08 1:12:25

I I was just like, oh my god, I keep forgetting how Mike sounds when it does this kind of like your impressions, and I'm like, since I already have him, why not just make him, you know, do it, you know?

SPEAKER_02 1:12:40

Do it, yeah, yeah. Give me a script, maybe I'll go. I'm good. Uh it's it's been a long day.

SPEAKER_08 1:12:46

Well, okay, listen up, y'all. I'm about to give y'all a great ass tip, okay? Y'all know I barely read my DMs and God don't get me started on tracking my links. But now I'm lucky organized. And you wanna know why? You wanna know what the secret is? Stamp it social. So stamp it social, it's like um if Instagram, Linktree, and your favorite social media intern had a baby, but with boundaries and vibes, lots of vibes, you get a full dashboard that tracks what people are actually clicking on. Now, wouldn't you like to know that? Like I do, and I enjoy it. I've been obsessed with it. Like, for once, I know which post made your run to my link and which ones have flopped harder than my ex's mixtape. Sorry. Plus, here's a kicker. Get this right, there's a seven-day free trial because we don't do commitments without a test drive, y'all. And if you're feeling spicy, or should I say extra spicy, use code POLA20. Yes, that's P-A-U-L-A 20 for 20% of a plan every month for life. Yes, forever, ever, ever, ever, forever, ever, ever. So if you're a content creator, podcaster, or just tired of shouting into the void, go check out Stamped Social because your content deserves better than linking bio with zero context. Again, that's Paula20 P A U L A 20. Because I love you, but I love organized chaos even more. Don't say I didn't tell you, don't say I didn't share, don't say I didn't give you the good good. Don't come back to me complaining because it's right there. Go on now. Go get your seven-day free try. Thank me later. Now I'm gonna let you go so you can have your ice cream for the day.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:50

I know, I know. She's at the gym right now, like putting getting her sweat on and in hot yoga or whatever the hell she's doing. And um, yeah, I'm just gonna go. Not for me, ain't for me, not for me.

SPEAKER_08 1:15:02

If I did it once, I couldn't. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:04

I I don't have respect. You know what? I have respect because you're not in my gym while I'm at or while I'm working out. You're in you know, sweating in some freaking room with a bunch of other sweaty old people. It's great.

SPEAKER_09 1:15:15

Alright, and this comes to an end until next time. Paula, thank you so much. My pleasure.

SPEAKER_08 1:15:23

And with that, happy Thanksgiving, shit talkers. Let me know what you are most thankful for this year. Thank you, Shit Talkers, for tuning in and spending your valuable time with us. We appreciate you. To connect with us more, make sure you subscribe to our newsletter and catch all the shit talking vibes before anybody else. You can subscribe to our newsletter through our website www.toxitwitp.com and or our marginalized website www.toxitwiftp.show. And while you're there, feel free to shop away. ToxicWiki is available on all social media platforms with the handle Toxicwifty. Follow us and engage with us. Better yet, if you're feeling generous, give us a review on Apple Podcasts and all rate us on Spotify. You can also share a beer with me where my beer lovers are. I mean, what better way to support the movement than sharing a beer with me by buying me a beer at buymecoffee.com. Thank you for listening, sharing, engaging, and support in any way that you do. Remember, new episodes are out every Wednesday, and for part two, it's any on Fridays. Let's talk and I'll listen to some shit. Happy TikToking.