In this world, it helps to cut through the noise by finding out the real and taking in the good. Bobby Glen James and Ryan Pilkington understand that as they bring in the fun and authenticity by taking us into their podcast, Biz4GoodShow. They talk about living life being as authentic as we possibly can, letting it show through, and above all, understanding how there is so much goodness in the world. Talking to entrepreneurs and business owners, they discuss the greatest marketing they could do that will spread their brand. Bobby and Ryan also explore the topic of being a commodity as well as the magic of service and giving back.

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Podcasting, Authenticity, And Taking In The Goodness In The World with Bobby Glen James and Ryan Pilkington

Our guests are a tag team and I was on their podcast called the Biz4GoodShow. It’s the funniest interview I’ve ever had. I had a great time. I was inside their studio. I am so jealous because I have a background in my office. You can tell these guys are real pros. Our guest Bobby Glen James has been a part of over twenty startups. He is the owner and CEO of Botecha and the president of SpeakUp Professional Speakers Studio. He is also one of the hosts of the favorite business podcast called the Biz4GoodShow, which we’re going to talk about.

On the other side is Mr. Ryan Pilkington. He holds an Associate’s and Bachelor’s Degree in Graphic Design. With an eye for design, he worked as an artist for several promotional print companies. Later on, he moved and created his own design company called ReGraphixs with twenty clients over a three-year span. Finding his passion for entrepreneurism, he found his way into the Entrepreneur Launch Pad where he met Bobby. Ryan served on the committee for a short time and did spotlight segments on marketing and branding. Finding his true passion and bringing awareness for anti-bullying and suicide prevention, he created The Advocate Tees, an online apparel company that gives back and works with charities supporting the youth and everyone on social issues. The overall mission is to let everyone know that their lives matter. He lives in Holladay, Utah with his wife Linda, dog Bella, and cat Sadie. He’s a huge Star Wars fan and is getting ready to launch a biography book on his bullying experiences to help others. Welcome.

Thank you.

What we’re going to talk is a little bit about content, but why and how these guys created such a great show because their podcast is their content and it’s a blast. First of all, why did you set up your podcast? What was that all about?

I was working with my company, The Advocate Tees, an apparel company and I wanted to talk about social issues. I wanted to have a podcast and platform for giving back in business. Talking about business is giving back. I met Bobby through the Entrepreneur Launch Pad.

He said, “Bobby, do you want to do this podcast thing with me?” I said, “Sure.”

We’d never done a podcast.

I rang back to him after two weeks and I was like, “I don’t know.” Meanwhile, I’m churning in my head for two weeks, “I’ve got to buy a bunch of stuff. I’ve got to do this.” He came in and we had crap ready and we did our first couple of episodes. Ryan says, “I guess we’re doing this thing.” We’re on our third year now. It’s been a blast. We’ve got to interview amazing people doing amazing things. There’s so much good in the world that we don’t hear about.

You just passed your 100th episode, correct?

We’re 105. We’re excited. We’re legit now that we’re past 100. That’s the key to being an actual podcast.

We made it and now we’re just working on the 200th.

You are hilarious together. You’re super synced up. Would you recommend this to other people? Was this an accident? How did you know you were going to work well together?

We had worked on some things. Ryan had done some events and I’ve been teaching entrepreneurs for a long time. We knew we jelled together. I had that vision when Ryan said, “Do you want to help me with this?” I know Ryan’s demeanor and his soft-spokenness and he’s heartfelt. He has such a heart for everybody and everything. I just knew it would be a cool mix, and I was right. Everybody talks about the chemistry between us and the Karma.

We need to release the first episode that’s never been released.

We have two episodes that have never been heard by anybody. They were the very first episodes that we did on the phone.

We interviewed each other.

We interview each other on those first episodes.

What you should do is take that and do a blooper reel. If they’re anything like my first couple episodes, you’re awful.

We need to re-listen to those just to see. It’s interesting in the podcasting world how you morph. I tell people that want to start a podcast, “Just get the first fifteen episodes out of the way. Don’t worry about being perfect because they’re going to suck. That’s just what’s going to happen.” It’s cool how even the 20th, the 50th episode, and the 75th episode, how much we learn as we go along and how much we still love what we’re doing here. Understanding business for good and doing good and being a good business model that we believe is the ultimate business model to success. If you want to have the most success, figure out the most good you can do for people. In this world, there is so much noise. Everybody is trying to figure out the new marketing manipulation tactic to get people. If you just focus on what you can do for them, you’re going to get clients. You’re going to have revenue.

One of the things that I wanted to get into was authenticity because that’s what I loved about you. It was authentic. It didn’t matter where our interview went. There were times it went off the rails, but it was fun. If you were going to tell people out there who want to start a podcast and want to create content that’s authentic, what’s the key?

Just take on your weaknesses. If you’re not comfortable, just be comfortable. You’ve got to be you.

Our comfort zone is there to move us, and we should be out of that comfort zone. In this world, we talk about so much noise. Being real is the only way to get noticed. We all know when somebody is full of crap. Right now, with all the social media and stuff, we see when somebody is trying to do something that’s supposed to get them engagement. When somebody is real and laughs about Chewbacca masks and gets millions upon millions of view, it’s because she was so real and that’s the stuff that connects with people. Everybody asks us, “What do I have to do? Do I have to say this? Does it have to be this long? How long should it be?” Just be yourself. That’s the stuff we want to see. That’s why reality shows are so popular, even though they’re not very real.

Authenticity: If you want to have the most success, figure out the most good you can do for people.

The truth is that we do like to see the realness. We do want to see people being real and not trying to be something. I was at a podcasting event and I asked a question to the main speaker. I’m a little outgoing. I’m like, “I’m Bobby Glen James and I’m asking you this question.” He’s like, “You’re a podcaster, aren’t you?” I said, “Yeah.” He goes, “Some people get on there and they do their podcasting thing, their radio voice and all that, and they’re not real.” Everybody was like, “Are you putting Bobby down?” The next person that asked goes, “If you know Bobby, that’s 100% how Bobby is. That’s what he is. He’s always like that. When you see him in the street, he’s going to be like that. That is not a show.” I was like, “Thank you. How sweet was that?” Just be real if you want to get above the noise.

When I was on the show when we were trying to figure things out, I wanted to look polished. It’s what I’ve heard on podcasts worlds. I’m like, “We’ve got to get to this format. This is the goal and the benchmark.” The more we just had fun and the more I was me, I could just relax behind the camera. I could relax behind this mic and just realize my goofy weird little sayings were worth something. We had a good chemistry together. I don’t care about the polished stuff anymore. I like how it gets off craziness and that’s what’s cool. We get to have fun with the guests and that’s where the content comes because the guests can relax and they can be themselves and then they can share who they are authentically.

What do you hope that people take out of your brand?

I hope they take a look at the situations that we are living currently in a world that’s in chaos and a lot of bad news out there. I hope they’d take a good reflection of who they are, where society is going, and realize there’s a lot of good people out there.

If you watch the news, you’re always seeing that there’s a lot of bad stuff and we forget that there are a lot of great people in this world doing great things. Our passion is to let people know that there are great people in this world doing great things. There are people that understand that the more good you do, the more of an impact you’re going to make on this life. Our biggest mantra is, “If you want to make an impact, go out and see what kind of good you can do for people.” It’s that simple. When we first started doing this, I originally thought that this is a no-brainer. There are a lot of companies out there that aren’t being good, that aren’t doing good. Our mantra is, “Get out there and do some good and see what you can create.”

It’s awesome the way you share to those to people. One of the things that I loved about your program is that you have a game. Tell people about your game.

We have a game called the Google challenge. We started a long time ago just goofing around.

We pit the most powerful search engine on earth against our guests. Our guests always win. It’s our show. We say who wins.

Tell us the rules of this game and how you play.

All we do is we take the title of the show and we plug it into Google. We look on the third page of Google because nobody looks at the third page. We just go down and we find that article that matches the topic and then we go through that. It’s a great way to start a conversation back and forth.

It’s cool because the guest gets, “I have some material that I can talk with, and it’s fun to pit us against Google.” It’s fun to think of the big search engine and see what it comes up with. Even on the third page, most of the time it’s very relevant. It’s not gibberish, it’s not goofy and over half the time, the guest ends up agreeing with what we find on Google and then add their two cents to it. It makes it a fun part of the interview.

We do our best to put the link on Facebook and on our content.

I thought to give you a little turnaround to this fair play. Podcast authenticity. Which do you think? Listen to Harry authenticity, the death of authenticity.

Authenticity is a marketing buzzword that has ripped into our every day and trickled into our everyday. What is authentic and what happens to a person when their persona becomes a commodity? Our two guests discuss the intersection of individuals and brands in the age of social media.

What does that mean when you become a commodity? Is that a way of calling that an influencer?

Authenticity: If you want to spread virally, then do something great. Do something so awesome that everybody wants to talk about it.

I talk about it in entrepreneurship all the time that you are your brand, whether you like it or not. What you wear, what you do, your outward facing is your brand. You better understand that and look at that. Once your brand becomes noticeable, then you become worth something in the industry or in the world. That’s just how it is and it’s sad. Have any of you seen the Fire Festival documentary? Have you heard of that?

Is that the one that paid models to endorse and then it never happened.

That documentary is like a train wreck. There are two different documentaries. One is on Netflix and one is on Hulu. It’s a perfect example. They had all these influencers and they use them as a commodity to grow some hype instead of creating something great. It was a commodity. It wasn’t coming from a “be good, do good” mindset. It was coming from “How can we use this to pocket some cash?”

When we talk about authenticity and being in alignment with your brand, can’t tell when somebody is in it for the money and not in it for the joy? People can tell from the outside.

Part of the reason that we have seen success with this podcast is that we’re not money-centric on it. It’s our hobby.

It’s a business podcast per se, but we’ve never monetized it. I tell people all the time, if we had two listeners, I’d still be doing this because it’s just so awesome.

How do you feel that this is helping the entrepreneurs out there that you serve?

As an entrepreneur, as a business owner, we are always looking for the magical marketing piece that’s going to blow you up. You look, you read, you pay thousands of dollars to marketing companies that tell you, “We’re going to do this and this,” and nothing happens. Most business owners have been through that where they’ve done marketing things and it’s failed miserably. Out of our show, we believe the biggest marketing piece you can do is the good you do because it gets out. If you want to spread virally, then do something great. Do something so awesome that everybody wants to talk about it. That’s how you market and market in a way that’s genuine, authentic, and real because you care about your people. We know when somebody is full of crap. We know when somebody just wants money out of it. We’re not stupid anymore. We’re not just blind to the marketing Gods like we were. Just be real, be authentic, and go out and help people. This doesn’t just mean nonprofit. You can help people and make lots and lots of money. Just don’t make money the focus.

I was talking to some people and all they kept going back to is, “What kind of ROI am I going to get out of this?” It’s what you put into it and how you put it in. I can’t guarantee that just by creating this, you will get something out of it. It reminds me of those people where you ask them for something and they’ll say “What’s in it for me?” There doesn’t have to be something in it for you.

The magic of service and of giving back is there’s always more in it for you. When I’ve helped someone or went to a food kitchen or went to a homeless shelter and assisted, the shot of awesomeness that it gives me is much bigger than the work I put out for it. That energy is just so powerful. You can get what’s in it for you by not thinking about what’s in it for you.

We have a checklist that we created. We have a challenge and a gift if you want to download it.

Checklist.Biz4GoodShow.com and it’s just how to live a Biz4Good life. It’s just every week you check off, do this to live a Biz4Good life.

You help podcasters all the time. You have this great studio, you have set up at a local junior college. What do you tell new podcasters that want to do this? How do they get started and what do they do with it?

Starting a podcast is insanely easy. Now there are so many tools, but the hard part is the content. Anybody can start a podcast in 30 seconds with all the different tools out there now. The most important piece is content. How do you get above the noise? The only thing you got is you. Don’t try and figure out what everybody wants to listen to. Figure out what you want to listen to, what you like, and then do that. If you try and figure out what everybody else wants, you’re going to connect with nobody. Know in your heart, “This is what I want. This is what I want to talk about.” That’s why we have so much passion around this being good and doing good, and that it’s just super fun for us. If you try and find the thing that you think will get people’s most attention, that’s a total crapshoot. If you live in your passion and you get up there and you talk to people about it and it’s infectious, then you’re going to have a following. We have people come up to us and say, “Bobby, I listen to every show. I love it and I always get a golden nugget out of it.” That makes me feel good, a business gold nugget out of it, because sometimes we think we’re just shooting the bull.

That is great advice because everybody goes into it with, “How am I going to monetize that?” I know a ton of people who are very successful at this that just went in to do it for fun, and the monetization was an accidental benefit of it. That’s what I love about it. What do they have to put together as far as the brand? You had to do some artwork, you had to do some other things along the way and make some decisions about what your brand was going to be. How did you get into those decisions and make those?

Authenticity: It’s just so much more powerful when you have a team that has the same goal in mind.

Luckily we had a graphic artist, a specialist in branding. We got lucky that way.

Bobby is technical. He does all the technical stuff here and then I do all the creative stuff. That’s what’s a good mesh between us. We’re able to use our talents in the studio. We don’t have to outsource.

It’s important to have a team and to not do this by yourself. I know lots of podcasters that do it by themselves. We have a producer that takes care of the show and puts it up on the website and all that stuff. We have a technical guy in studios, Cedric, that does cameras and stuff like that. It’s just so much more powerful when you have a team that has the same goal in mind. I know some podcasters are going to do it by themselves. They’re going to bootstrap. There’s some power when you get a couple more brains in there with you. Some people say, “Don’t have cohosts and stuff like that.” My vision is, I love it.

One thing I want to add is to have fun. If you think you’re sucking or whatever, just have fun.

The team thing is important. Years ago, I did my podcast by myself. I edited, I did everything, and it didn’t last long. I was like, “I need to do some income producing activities because I have a business.” Now I do have a team around that. I do this and hand it off and go onto the next guest or whatever else I have to do. The value is there in hiring that team. Do you have a free gift?

Checklist.Biz4GoodShow.com.

Where are all the places that your podcast is at?

It’s on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, and TuneIn. If you got an Alexa, just say, “Alexa, play Biz4GoodShow,” and it will play the Biz4GoodShow. It’s pretty much anywhere there are podcast outlets.

It’s also on Spotify.

Please subscribe to Biz4GoodShow channel, YouTube.com/Biz4GoodShow.

You have something over on Facebook too, don’t you?

It’s Facebook/Biz4GoodShow. We do a lot of content on Facebook. We have a little over 11,000 followers on Facebook. We like putting content on there. We’re old guys and Facebook is still relevant for old people.

Thank you so much. It’s been fun. I wish I could say it was as fun as when I was on your show. I want people to go listen to yours and see what authentic looks like. Thank you.

Thank you, Juliet. You’re a rockstar. We love you.

Important Links:

• Biz4GoodShow
• Botecha
• SpeakUp Professional Speakers Studio
• ReGraphixs
• Entrepreneur Launch Pad
• The Advocate Tees
• Checklist.Biz4GoodShow.com
• YouTube.com/Biz4GoodShow
• Facebook/Biz4GoodShow
• iTunes – Biz4GoodShow
• Stitcher – Biz4GoodShow
• Google Play – Biz4GoodShow
• TuneIn – Biz4GoodShow
• http://www.Biz4GoodShow.com/

About Bobby Glen James

Bobby Glen James has been a part of over 20 startups, currently the owner and CEO, of BoTecha and the president of SpeakUp Professional Speakers Studio. He is also one of the hosts of the favorite business podcast the Biz4GoodShow.

About Ryan Pilkington

Ryan Pilkington holds an Associate’s and Bachelor’s Degree in Graphic Design. With an eye for design, he worked as an artist for several promotional print companies. Later moved on and created his own design company “ReGraphics” with 20 clients over a 3-year span. Finding his passion in entrepreneurism found his way to Entrepreneur Launch Pad where he met Bobby.

Ryan served on the committee for a short time and did spotlight segments on marketing and branding. Finding his true passion and bringing awareness for anti-bullying and suicide prevention, created Advocate Tees an online apparel company that gives back and works with charities supporting the youth and everyone on social issues. The overall mission is to let everyone know that their lives matter. Currently lives in Holladay, Utah with his wife Linda, dog Bella, and cat Sadie. A huge Star Wars fan and is getting ready to launch his biography book on his bullying experiences to help others

ReGraphixs is the official name. My Apparel business is currently under new development but I am now working on publishing my biography and bullying story along in 2019 the book is called Advocate’s Viewpoint bio and inspiration by Ryan Pilkington

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