Do you want success in the second half of your career? Larry Roberts is sharing the solution so that you can attain success in a second-life career or business.
The solution is to build a business around something you love doing. You need to put yourself out there and be everywhere. You also need to leverage the fact that you’re out there in How to build a business by networking and building relationships?
“Most people, 37 to 45 are like, I’m stuck, I can never get out of this. And my message is that you can.”
Table of Contents
Larry Roberts is a successful entrepreneur who can help you start your second-life career or business
Larry Roberts is a second-life entrepreneur who can help you start your own business. After a successful career in the corporate world, Larry decided to pursue his passion for podcasting and now hosts a popular show dedicated to helping people start their own businesses.
In addition to sharing his own insights and experiences, Larry interviews successful entrepreneurs from all walks of life, providing listeners with valuable insights and perspectives.
If you’re looking to take the plunge into entrepreneurship, Larry Roberts is a great resource. Not only does he have the experience and knowledge to help you get started, but he also has the drive and passion to help you succeed. So check out this episode, and get started on your journey to business success today.
He’s been through it all and knows what it takes to be successful
Larry Roberts knows what it’s like to be stuck in a rut. For years, he worked in a dead-end job with no sense of meaningfulness to his work. But then he took a leap of faith and embarked on a new career path becoming an entrepreneurial podcaster.
It wasn’t always easy, but Larry stuck with it and is now experiencing the success that he defined. Now he wants to help others do the same.
I am a strong proponent of second-life careers. I believe that anyone can find success, no matter where they start from.
If you’re ready for a new career or business, then check out this episode and learn more.
So you’re thinking about starting a new career or business, huh? Well, you’ve come to the right place. In this episode, we’ll be talking all about what it takes to get started on a new venture. So whether you’re just getting started or you’re ready to take the plunge, this episode is for you. So sit back, relax, and let’s get started.
Larry Roberts is an entrepreneur, podcaster, and coach who helps people get unstuck out of their ruts and find their purpose in life. He is the host of the podcast “You’re the Boss” and the founder of Readily Random Media.
This is Larry Roberts’s story…
Best described as a high-energy and charismatic podcaster, keynote speaker, best-selling author, and international top-rated course creator with over 1500 students in 51 countries, Larry Roberts has been in coaching and facilitator roles for more than 25 years from corporate environments to teaching martial arts to online course creation.
Over the last several years, he has grown to be one of the most highly sought-after podcasting coaches and content creators in the industry. Recently named to Podcast Magazine’s Top 40 Over 40, Larry is also the editor-in-chief of one of the largest podcast industry newsletters, The Podfest Messenger. You can find him regularly speaking at industry events, participating in industry panels, and appearing on other podcasts.
In this episode, you will learn the following:
1. What it takes to make a successful second career or business
2. How to get unstuck from a rut and find your passion
3. The importance of building relationships and putting yourself out there.
Chapters
00:00:00 The Dangers Of Not Checking Your Audio Levels
00:03:05 The Benefits Of Recording Spontaneous Podcast Conversations
00:09:34 The Author’s Journey Of Leaving Their Job And Finding Success
00:15:22 The Evolution Of A Public Speaker
00:19:11 The Impact Of Long-distance On A Relationship
00:23:49 The Importance Of A Team Effort In Business
00:28:25 The Difference Between What We’re Good At And What We Love Doing
00:38:29 The Speaker Recognizes A Banner In The Background Of A Video And Realizes That The Video Was Recorded Earlier
Resources
Subscribe to your favorite podcast player.
You can listen to Larry’s podcast, You’re the Boss here.
Other episodes you’ll enjoy:
5 Steps to Launching a Six-Figure Consulting Business – BtR 331
How Creating Disney Magic Changed the Life of Jody Maberry – BtR 170
The Sales Evangelist from Employee to Entrepreneur – BtR 324
Connect with me:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/beyondtherut
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/beyondtherut
Twitter: https://twitter.com/beyondtherut
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerrydugan/
Website: https://beyondtherut.com
Loved this episode? Leave us a review and rating here on Apple Podcasts.
Transcript
Larry Roberts 00:00
So I love the concept of Second Life success. And it doesn’t matter how old you are, if you’ve got a passion, reevaluate what you’re doing, make sure what you’re doing is doing what you wanted to do and the way you want to do it. And if not, jump out there, make that change and get beyond the rut.
Jerry Dugan 00:15
Hey, Rutter Nation, welcome to another episode of beyond the rut, the podcast that shares encouraging stories and practical tools to help pull you out of your rut into a life worth living. I’m your host, Jerry Dugan. And in just a moment, we’re going to be joined by Entrepreneur podcaster and coach, Larry Roberts. Now Larry and I live in the DFW area we’ve met through multiple podcasts and conferences, and we finally got a chance to sit down and talk about the idea of a second life career or Second Life business. So what if you’re really good at what you do? But it’s not what you really feel led or called to do with the rest of your life? Well, is it time for a change? Maybe. So that’s what we’re talking about here in this episode. So sit back and relax, crack open a cold one, if you’re not at the office right now, or you aren’t and you drink on the job actually, that if that’s the case, you probably need some help. Anyway, that’s not important. What is important, Larry and I talking about Second Life careers or businesses. Here we go. All right. Hey, Larry, it’s good of you to join me. And you know, we could have done this in person, but I’m looking at like your backdrop, I’m looking at my backdrop, and we would have lost something if we’d met up in person somewhere. But anyway, all that to say, thank you for joining me here. On beyond the rod. How are you doing?
Larry Roberts 01:37
Doing great, man. I’m glad we finally got this opportunity to get together because we did we tried multiple times. Yeah. I want to say was it at two conferences? I mean, we I think it was pod Fest and Podcast Movement. We were trying to get some time aside, where are we?
Jerry Dugan 01:49
Well, I never made it to pod fest. I know, but I was hounding you at Podcast Movement. But I mean, that is a moving target. And I love recording our podcasts comfortable. I just love recording at conferences. I love. I love the background noise. And yeah, talking about the event and feeding off that energy. But it is a moving target. Because you know, one moment you are expected to take a break at a certain time. But then you run into some like you might run into somebody that you won’t see maybe next time or the next day or the next hour. And so you got to just jump on that opportunity to have that conversation. Or the realize, Wait, I didn’t realize this guy was talking in this session. Let me go there. Yeah. And so I’ve learned that yeah, it gets some good conversations captured at podcast conferences like Podcast Movement. But it is a moving target. Because even me like I’m sitting here thinking, Gosh, I kinda hope this person bails so I can go to the session that I’m missing right now. Or, like somebody completely different shows up. And I have just a random conversation with somebody who’s picking my brain about equipment that I just love that but yeah, we’re here. We were like, you know, we live in the same town. We got recording schedules. Let’s just set something up. And here we are. So I’m excited.
Larry Roberts 03:02
Yeah, man, very excited to be here. Thank you for having me, man. This is awesome.
Jerry Dugan 03:06
Yeah, I know, you left your corporate job. And you have a company called readily random media. I get that right.
Larry Roberts 03:13
Yeah, he did good. Doesn’t really get you drunk the are a little bit readily readily.
Jerry Dugan 03:22
Because what I say before before the show was randomly ready media. And I was like, like that. Yeah.
Larry Roberts 03:26
In all honesty.
Jerry Dugan 03:31
So you have readily random media, you’ve got a podcast called You’re the boss. And you help people really get unstuck out of their ruts, find out where they are in life, and go do the thing that they want to do, or at least voice that message they’ve got inside themselves. So I guess for me to land my plane here and get to the first question of our conversation. Tell us why the name you’re the boss. It’s not like the show who’s the boss from when we were growing up? But you’re the boss. Tell us about that.
Larry Roberts 04:00
Interesting because this is a question I did not anticipate.
Jerry Dugan 04:02
I didn’t even until just now. Oh, that’s excellent. Okay.
Larry Roberts 04:06
I suddenly impromptu conversation. No, you’re the boss man. Because it’s simple. It’s it’s an entrepreneur podcast. It’s stories of entrepreneurs, how they got into the entrepreneurial journey, mistakes they’ve made along the way successes they’ve had along the way. And hopefully, they provide some insight for you as a listener, to avoid those mistakes yourself. You know, and a lot of it too was I left my I divorced my w two January 4 of last year. Like I said, I’ve been with that company. 21 years I was there 21 years, same company. And they were an amazing company. I mean, they took care of me through thick and thin, nothing but the best for that company for me to say about that company. But I also found myself in a rut. You know, I’ve been in their IT department for probably 1919 and a half out of those 21 years. At the end of my tenure there. I was a business and Intelligence Analyst, which is a very fancy way of saying, I wrote reports, I looked at numbers all day, I looked at data all day, I transformed data all day. And man, it just was not what I ever first saw me doing with my life, you know, just this year, I turned 50. So I was 48, when I left that job, and here I am at 48 going, what am I going to do with myself, I can’t imagine doing this for another 20 years. But there’s got to be more to this life than sitting here staring at these databases, and these files, these fields and these numbers, and it’s just insanity. I cannot do it anymore. And I had been podcasting. I started podcasting back in 2014. I started readily random media in 2017. And although it probably wasn’t in all honesty, position where it needed to be positioned for me to make that jump, but I made quite a few sacrifices, and quite a few changes, leading up to me making that jump. I mean, today, my wife and I, we have one car, I sold my cat daddy Jeep, that was always the coolest, but I sold my Jeep in an effort to, you know, clear out the budget a little bit. We paid out all of our debt, minimized everything as far as everyday living expenses, and really positioned ourselves in a way. And I want to say our way, because my wife was there every step of the way, she’s still there every step of the way, still supports me 100%. And if it wasn’t for her support in her direction, never would have been able to make this happen. But I saw the opportunity, even with all the sacrifices that I had to make to get out of that rut. And that’s exactly what I did. Yeah. So
Jerry Dugan 06:31
you made the decision to leave. And you’ve, it looks like you’ve looked at your finances and how long he could go out without any income. How long was it from the moment you left the job until your podcast was fully supporting your income?
Larry Roberts 06:46
Well, and that’s where a lot of people, there’s a bit bit of a misnomer there. Yeah, the podcast necessarily that’s supporting what I do. It’s the business itself, the podcast is I like to refer to it as my ticket to the dance. You know, the podcast has allowed me to position myself as an industry expert within the podcasting space. For the last 12 months, roughly, I’ve been traveling across the country speaking on podcast stages, from LA to New Jersey, and everywhere in between. And that’s what supporting my business, putting myself out there. And establishing myself as someone that can help, as you alluded to, earlier in their conversation, help others get their message out there help others find out what they could do, regardless of where they’re at in their careers or their age. I mean, I was 48 years old, when I stepped out. Most people, you know, 37 to 45 are like, I’m stuck. I can never get out of this. And my message is that you can you do have to make some changes, you do have to make some commitments, and you do have to have your own ticket to the dance. And that ticket has opened up a number of doors. So in a sense, yes, the podcast was my ticket out. It was my it’s what enabled me to make that step out from the corporate conundrum that I was in. But it’s not solely supporting what I’m doing. The podcast allowed me to start the business. The business is what supports me.
Jerry Dugan 08:04
Nice. Yeah. And that’s something I come across a lot. In fact, my cousin had thought that I got paid based on downloads, kind of like YouTube or Tik Tok. It’s like, oh, did you hit like a million downloads? Are you like, you know, an influencer? Now? Like, no, I get a few 100 of an episode every 30 days, or in the first 30 days. It’s like, I’m up there when you look at ranking, but it’s not like I don’t get paid by the download. And and so that is the way a podcaster does it? Well, I guess it’s kind of like the Wild West when it comes to how can a podcaster make a living off of being a podcaster? And it’s almost like any way you can like, some people go, yeah, there are those who go like the sponsorship route, those who go the affiliate marketing route. But more often than not, I see a lot of folks that they give away information, they they give inspiration, they give some education. And if you need more help, or somebody to come alongside you, maybe their business serves provides a service or provides a product with some consulting consulting. I never said it that way. But today, I did it out there. Yeah, right. Yeah. I gotta make this a 30 minute episode. fluffing a book. And then public speaking is another thing. So yeah. So there’s a variety of ways that a podcaster can earn an income. But I guess for you, though, like, what are some of the key things without giving away all the proprietary stuff, but what are some of the key ways that you find yourself building a business around something you love doing?
Larry Roberts 09:43
Honestly, it’s laying that foundation, and it’s putting the steps in to be recognized as someone that can actually help somebody else. So you can provide a service you can provide the direction that somebody else needs, and I did it slowly but surely, and I definitely made a ton of mistakes along the way. One of the first things that I started doing was putting myself out there in a way because coming into that company that I was with for 21 years, I actually came into the training manager. So I came in, and I wrote policies and procedures for all the different functions in one of their distribution centers. So I had six people underneath me that would then go and actually perform the training. So being in front of people being in front of a group was something that always came natural to me. So when I saw the opportunity to do that, in the podcasting space, I jumped on it. Now trying to get on stages right out of the gate, very, very difficult. And a lot of people are always asking, How can I become a public speaker? How can I get paid to speak. And it’s a long journey, but it’s very similar in the podcasting space, or being a podcast speaker as well. So I started seeing opportunities, some folks put on virtual events, smaller virtual events, and I reached out said, Hey, here’s what I can do, I started creating a relationship with these folks that were putting these events on, said, here’s some of the topics I could talk about, do you think I could be on one of your virtual events? And they eventually started saying, yes. Now these virtual events, there was nothing glamorous about it. And most of them were presented on Facebook Live. So they’re a smaller event. And I don’t know if you’ve ever been on Facebook Live, but when you’re doing a live a live stream on Facebook, you can actually look up in the top left hand corner of the screen there and see how many people were watching? Oh, yeah. And there were many, many times on these virtual events that I looked up in that top left hand corner, saw the big goose egg. So okay, no, no, no, brother, I was right there. So but that’s something we have to do, we on a per, he goes to check a lot of times too, and we gotta, we gotta kind of take those bumps. So what ended up happening though, was even though nobody was watching these live events, it still gives me an up gave me an opportunity to hone my craft and hone my skills and hone my messaging. So as the smaller virtual events continue to go on, I started getting experience, essentially building a resume a resume, which started opening doors for larger virtual events. And then COVID hit, and the virtual events, events got even larger. Yeah, so these stages, after COVID, started tapering off, started opening up opportunities for me to go on live stages, and actually speak in front of a live audience. And it’s just evolved and grown from there. So I started at the very, very bottom of the tree. And I’ve slowly just been climbing my way up.
Jerry Dugan 12:20
Yeah. And we’re talking about a two year timespan, too, it’s not like it took you a decade to get here you started. And
Larry Roberts 12:26
that’s one of the things too, and you know, it happened a lot faster than I ever anticipated. Yeah. But at the same time, it happened that fast. Because I stepped away from all the other distractions, I stepped away from my nine to five job, and I focused on it 100% of the time. Yeah. And I was focusing on building relationships and putting myself out there and being everywhere. I get asked that question a lot, Larry, how are you on all these stages, you’re literally all over the country, I never know where you’re gonna pop up next. And it’s because I put myself out there. And not only do I put myself out there, but I do it in a way where I can then leverage those appearances on social media. So my Facebook, it’s always changing. If I have a new, a new speaking engagement. That’s the cover image on my Facebook profile picture. On Instagram, I always build my speaking engagements there. Everywhere that I have a presence. Everybody there knows that I’ve got this speaking gig and I got that speaking gig. So we have to not only put ourselves out there, we then also have to leverage the fact that we’re out there in a way that lets others know we’re doing it. Yeah.
Jerry Dugan 13:30
Oh, yeah, that’s huge. And Larry’s not joking, either. He is everywhere. Like, I started following somebody on Instagram, and they’re like, Hey, I’m at this conference, and I’m meeting some great people and, and sure enough, in the background, or two faces that I recognize right off the bat, and one of them was wearing a red ball cap, and that’s Larry, in the back and the other person che sparks, and I’m like, seriously, like A’s everywhere. It’s like, both of you are just everywhere, meeting people, building relationships, adding value to people. That’s the other thing consistently. That’s what your people say about you, as well as Shay is that you pop in, you’re connecting the people you’ve just met with other folks that you already know. And you’re you’re making these connections here, like hey, you’re a veteran podcaster and you’re looking for other veteran podcasters Well, here’s a group of them bone, you’re like what? Or hey, you’re looking to build a speaking business out of what you do. Welcome to the club. That’s what I do. It’s really neat to see that happening. And and that is very key. So about how many hours a day would you say you spent building relationships when you first left the corporate job? I mean, I’ll tell you right now, that might be asking for a friend by the way.
Larry Roberts 14:52
I don’t know when I’m not honestly, it’s probably easier to say that I’m not putting effort into growing the business. There’s a couple of T He shows that my wife and I, we don’t miss, you know, that’s our time together. It’s kind of funny because we have to set some time aside now to be together. But my wife, I met her at that company that I was with for 21 years. She’s still there to this day. So, you know, jumping out here it was, it was very impactful on our relationship as well. And we still struggle, we still got some adjusting to do on our end, because we were literally together all day, every day. And now we’ve gotten to where I’m traveling, typically about a week, if not more a month. Yeah. So we went from literally commuting to work together, going to lunch together, we worked on the same floor at the company, I could literally stand up and look across the floor into her department, and I could see her, she couldn’t do that, because she’s only about 411. So she couldn’t quite see over the dividers. But I could because I’m six, three. And if she hears that, and she probably can to be honest with you. But I always give her grief because she says she’s over five put in she’s dying. But that was a huge, huge adjustment, you know, so that time that I’m spending man, there’s it’s just so much, you know, in every client that I have, they have access to me via cell, almost 24/7 Yes, I definitely sleep but do I work weekends? You bet I do. Am I available for an extra call if they need me to be on an extra call if they have a tech question or something? You bet I am. So you know, it’s a seven day a week gig. I try to make opportunities happen even when I’m on the road. I mean, I was down in Austin for a gig just this past weekend. I had a meeting Friday morning, actually, I had two meetings Friday morning, hung up from the second meeting, grabbed my suitcase drove to Austin flew down to Austin got situated just in time to hop on another client call immediately hung up with that client got on another client call. And I was in Austin for business. So I mean, that’s just that’s, that’s the commitment that you have to make. If you want to make that transition if you want to get out of the rut, because there is no you know, I’m going to do this for four to six hours a day and make it happen, because that’s not going to happen. It is life. Now you go Larry, you got out of that corporate rut. But now you’re in this rut where you’re you’re married to your phone, you’re married to your business. And you’re right, I am right now, do I see that as a long term call? No, not at all? Do I see me traveling as much as I’m traveling now, next year, maybe next year? I’m gonna say probably yes for one more year. But after that, I don’t see it happening nearly as much I see myself being much more selective. I see myself being positioned more so that I don’t have to necessarily be out there as much as I am now. Because I’m already seeing a major transition with my business. I mean, last year, when I left, it was long about August, and we were looking at the bank account, my wife said, Larry, we need to have a chat. And she said it in a way that I knew it wasn’t going to be a fun chat. So we started looking at the numbers and I realized, man, you know, this plan that I have, it’s not working. It’s not even remotely working. It’s not working a little bit. This is not going to be sustainable. So what do I need to do to make this happen? I mean, and I tell people this I’ll share with you as well. Last year, my business I brought in $20,000 for the year. Wow. A year? Yeah, I made $20,000 In a year since I was about 16. Yeah, it’s just it’s that that’s no money. And people think that it’s just so glamorous, because they see me everywhere, and you must be crushing it. And this year is a drastically different story. I mean, I did extremely well this year, much better than I ever anticipated, completely blew my corporate salary out of the water this year. But last year, in August, I had to have that little come to Jesus talk and realize that, hey, this little pipe dream that I had of doing it this way, this isn’t going to work. So what are we going to do to make the changes necessary to move forward to make it work. And that’s the humility that I had to have, and face the fact that what I thought was going to happen wasn’t happening, and then make the necessary changes to push it forward. Yeah. And I think if you look at my social media, that’s when you’ll see things really started blowing up as far as me getting out there and me being everywhere. It was that realization that guess what, this isn’t just a career, this is a life, this is a lifestyle. And this is what you have to do to make it work. And lo and behold, when I made those changes, and I made those realizations, and a good friend of mine, Alex Sanfilippo, helped rebrand Oh, layer with a red hat that you now see me wearing everywhere that you’ve alluded to spotting, even in the background pictures, that’s made all the difference in the world. So those are the types of things that we have to be aware of, we have to be cognizant of as we try to grow our businesses as we try to grow our podcasts and as we try to make those transitions from average everyday podcaster hobbyist type podcaster to wanting to do it as a career. So a bunch of changes there a bunch of of realizations along the way and a bunch of mistakes too. And I continue to make them I’m not saying I’ve got this thing nailed down in any way shape, fashion or form. I although I did really well financially this year, it’s not what I wanted to do. I didn’t reach my goal. So I still got a lot of changes and a lot of growth to go through.
Jerry Dugan 20:03
Wow. The key thing is, though, you recognize and you talk, like you’ve gone through this whole journey with your wife, like, it hasn’t been a moment where you’re like, I’ve got this, I’m doing this, and you’re either with me or not. Yeah, it truly has been a team effort from the very start. And it sounds like she actually approached you and said, Alright, we gotta have a business meeting, in a sense, and or she called it a chat for you. My wife called it a business meeting just a few weeks ago. And it truly was like, we had my daughter come in and mediate. She’s a business student at a university. And she led that meeting, I was I was sidenote, really impressed. My daughter led a business meeting. I don’t know where she found the time to type up an agenda. But she had one, like, wow, I mean, she didn’t hand out copies or anything, but she just had a flow she was gonna go through and, and we mapped out what is Jerry’s plan over the next three months, when you take this sabbatical. And we iron out, I’m going to write a book, I’m going to explore business opportunities, and options I have in front of me. And for the backup plan, because you know, we do have certain income needs, I’ll search for a job. But it’s not just a nine to five, I’m open to, you know, contract work and or, you know, some freelance type of stuff as well. So it’s not like I’m bound that I have to do a nine to five, plug back into the matrix kind of thing. So it’s really cool. And so those are sort of two key things there. And it sounds like you were able to make a pivot, like you didn’t just like say, Okay, watch the chug along for six more months, you recognize something was not working, and you made an adjustment, you took action, you put it into high gear. And then on top of that, you’ve got an end game in mind. Everybody’s endgame is different, I assume. And, but you gotta have some kind of in game, like, are you really gonna just be married to your phone all day, every day, for the rest of your life? And you know, for you, the answer is no. Why am I doing this? If that’s the case? And so you’ve got some in goal items in mind. Yeah, just
Larry Roberts 22:05
because you say, you say no, and I want to say no to, but at the same time, man, I just, I love it. I love the hustle. I love being overwhelmed by text. I mean, I’ve had three or four come in while we’re on the call right now. And I’m like, Oh, my God, I gotta answer because I just I just Jones out. But it’s, I just, I love it. So, you know, I didn’t love being a business intelligence analyst. I didn’t love that at all. I hated it. I loved it, I dreaded it. My Sundays were ruined at about 10am. After breakfast, I’d be like, oh, gosh, go to the office tomorrow. And now I’m kicking rocks for the rest of Sunday. And it was just, it just was not a pleasant experience. But this is pleasant for me. And whether I’m doing work at 11pm, or I’m doing work on a Sunday at, I don’t know, 11 o’clock in the morning, it doesn’t matter. Because I’m doing stuff that excites me. And that I get pleasure out of I don’t necessarily have a lot of hobbies. Never really did even before, you know, so now I get to do my hobby, I get to do what I love. I get to create content, I get to go on podcasts like yours, I get to once again do my podcast that I I went on a hiatus with that back in April. So I’m just now bringing it back. But it’s just there’s so much stuff going on. And personally, I love that. So I want that excitement. I want that engagement. I want that constantly answering emails and answering text messages and getting on phone calls and troubleshooting this, those types of things are fun to me. It’s it’s a hobby. And that’s the difference. You know, I can’t imagine doing business intelligence all day every day, or, you know, working on a new database structure mapping out a new report structure on a Thursday night at 11pm. I can’t see that. But I can’t see me sitting at my other desk, my development office over there and having a podcast, maybe go into the background because that’s typically when I listen to my podcast is when I’m doing actual work. And I’m enjoying a podcast, I’m enjoying whatever it is that I’m working on over here. So it’s all fun, and it makes all the difference in the world. Yeah,
Jerry Dugan 24:08
I think that’s a big key thing. There’s you’re doing something you’re passionate about, as opposed to something you got to do to kill because you’re good at it. And it pays the bills. Like there’s a huge difference, right? Like the Yeah, I was like man was my question.
Larry Roberts 24:25
I didn’t mean to cut you off, but we had a little we had a silencer. So I jump in.
Jerry Dugan 24:31
But there’s a huge difference. Like, there are things I am good at that I don’t love doing. And there are things that I love doing. And I just don’t because, you know, I haven’t figured out a way to earn a paycheck with it yet. And so how do we dis determine the difference between the two because a lot of folks might just leave their corporate job and just own the thing they already hate doing. So maybe there is somebody out there who is good at doing business analyst type of data crunching and playing with bi type of software. And he leaves the job they hate and dives right into opening a business that does the same exact thing. And they’re still miserable. And I think that might be a situation where they saw something they were good at, and just left into the same thing that they’re good at, but they hated doing after all. So how do we find out what we really do enjoy? And then how do we start to decide or determine how do we make a business out of that?
Larry Roberts 25:27
You know, I think it’s inherently obvious to us what we love. I mean, everybody, if you ask me, Hey, what’s your favorite thing to do? They can typically give you an answer to my bet, some may hesitate a little bit, but most of the time, we know what we love, we know what brings us joy. Now taking whatever that may be, because those things vary greatly from person to person. And some of them are more monetizable than others. But we have to start looking at it from a perspective of how would I pay for this? Or why would I pay for this? Or what would someone be able to provide to me as a service or a product that would enhance this experience that I would be willing to pay for? You know, it’s like with the podcast space, I got into podcasting in 2014. I loved what I was doing, didn’t know what the heck I was doing. But my show I it got to be pretty good size, you got to be big, actually. And it was a comedy podcast, and that was getting 1000s of downloads per episode. The content wasn’t necessarily fulfilling. And some of it well, it was a very blue show, and anybody that understands comedy, the term performing blue, there we go, I got I got I got tongue tied. Reporting blue means that there’s profanity and some, you know, not. It’s not family entertainment. We’ll put it that way. Yeah. So that’s how that podcast was. And although it was getting the downloads, and we were having a blast doing it still in corporate America, and the show got a little too big, because you already kind of wearing my merch. Yeah, we’re making a big deal out of it. And it wasn’t as well received as it once was. And it started getting some attention by some of the upper levels of management. They didn’t. Well, we had to have a chat. Yeah. And, and they didn’t they didn’t care for it. So I ended up killing that show. Wow, no, before I killed it, we took it to a live stage show here in Dallas. And to this day, after we killed the podcast, the show evolved into an open mic for comedians. And to this day, every Monday night, it’s still the largest comic open mic outside of a comedy club in DFW. So we did some great things with that show. And we had a blast with it. And I had a ton of fun. And you know, old school comedy that was just my jam. It’s always been my escape. It’s been what, put a smile on my face back in the day. So killing that show. I’m like, Man, I still love this podcasting. But what can I podcast about now that isn’t going to be offensive isn’t gonna get me in trouble. Because I mean, I thought podcasting, you could say what you want to say and not get in trouble. The fact of the matter is, yeah, you could say whatever you want to say on a podcast. But that doesn’t necessarily take away the consequences of some of those things that you say. So I had to figure out what I was going to do. And I knew I still wanted to podcast. So I started an entrepreneur show called readily random. Now, that’s a testament to the fact that I had no idea what the podcast space was or how it worked, because that’s the absolute worst name you could possibly name a podcast is readily random, because the first thing you want to do with a podcast is you want to put it in a niche, you want to have a focus, you want people to know, just by the name, what that podcast is about. And readily random doesn’t necessarily convey that message in the slightest.
Jerry Dugan 28:24
So exactly a phrase people Google on a regular basis, either Oh,
Larry Roberts 28:29
I’m looking for something readily random. And honestly, it goes all the way back to the MySpace days, I had a blog back then called readily random. And I just wanted to podcast and I couldn’t think of a name didn’t know the industry didn’t know that I should take some additional branding steps in there to figure out where we should go. And I just said, You know what, I’m just gonna name it that and went with that. And then I just doubled down on the terrible name and started my business under the same
Jerry Dugan 28:56
as you’re talking to the guy he shows called Beyond the rut, like, whose search is that?
Larry Roberts 29:00
Yeah. But at the same time, it tells you what it is. I mean, I used to think that we’re stuck in a rut and we want to get out how do I get out of the rut? You know what I mean? Yeah.
Jerry Dugan 29:08
And not just get out of it. Live beyond it. So exactly. Okay. Yeah,
Larry Roberts 29:12
I think it’s amazing. But you would ask me, you know, how do we how do we know what we love? And even though I had to kill the comedy podcast, I knew I loved podcasting, and I knew I still wanted to be a part of it. And yeah, readily random struggled. And honestly, when it first started, it really wasn’t an Entrepreneur Show. It was really a random show. I had people from that it started in the show Ozark on Netflix. He came on the show, one of those guys came on the show, not Jason Bateman, of course, but one of the one of the one of the B level members, but he was still cool, you know, recurring role. So that was fun. A lot of people don’t know that. Oh, Leia here loves origami. So I reached out to the premier origami artist in America. And he’s an MIT mathematics professor and I had him on the show. And it was cool for me. No one else cared, but it was cool for me. You know, I think 25 people maybe downloaded that An episode. And I think 24 of those were bots. And the other one was me, but who, you know, I was having a good time, I was having a good time podcasting. And, you know, I quickly learned because of the success I’d had with the first show. And the failure that I had with readily random, I started looking at why was I not getting the same attention with this show, as I did with the other show flow. And the other show, you know, you’re just kind of picking it low hanging fruit. People didn’t like jokes, so it worked out. But I had to really dig and start learning the industry and realizing, oh, okay, so if you take this step, this step, this step, you can start a show, you can have a show, and it can actually grow. Okay, this is the recipe for success in podcasting, I just kind of stumbled into low level success with my first show clearly by accident. So I started seeing that there was a pattern to this, and I knew I loved it, I started seeing a way for me to help others do the exact same thing, help others launch their shows. And that’s what readily random media ended up becoming. And that’s what we do today. And my big pivot last year, though, also was that in August, up until August, I was working with independent creators, I was working with clients that I found on on clubhouse and in podcast conferences. And while they’re phenomenal to work with, and they’re inspiring individuals, they don’t necessarily have a budget as an independent podcaster to sustain a business. So I had to come to the realization, I still want to be in podcasting, I still want to help people. But I had to make that shift. And what I ended up doing was I shifted my attention to brands, businesses and organizations. So I started working with companies that have a marketing budget, let’s have a direction for the podcast that have a goal in mind for the podcast and understand the power of a branded podcast. So learning that through a process of elimination, and a lot of mistakes along the way. That was the realization that I had back in August, that was the change. So when I started addressing brands, businesses and organizations, I started to develop as a business as well. So I knew I loved it from the start. But I had to go through several iterations and made a ton of mistakes over the last one and eight years to try to figure this game out. So is there a direct answer on to how you can monetize your passion? I don’t have that right off the top of my head. But a similar process could be put in place. And I think it all starts with going what would I do as an individual? That what would I pay for? That someone could do for me to provide the same level of enjoyment with what it is that drives me? That is my passion?
Jerry Dugan 32:30
Yeah. Yeah, cuz there are people out there they’re thinking and acting and maybe even saying out loud, Larry, I will or even Jerry, are you listening in the back of the car that you’re in right now on the way to work and the carpool to people? So carpool anyway, that’s an important.
Larry Roberts 32:50
I’m a carpool. We have an HOV lane in Dallas, right. Yeah, mostly carpool. I don’t know if they still do.
Jerry Dugan 32:54
Oh, man. Somebody out there, though, who wants to hand you money and say, I would give you this money? If you could provide blank for me? Yeah, based on your skills? I know, you could do it, I trust you could do it, right. I just need somebody somewhere in the world to do and I think you’re the guy to do it. And so I think the trick for us also is to find out what is that didn’t know that that person is out there, they want to give you money for a specific good or service or product. And it is something that you can easily do or even with effort do and make it highly profitable. So that that I’m saying that out loud, mostly for myself, because that is where I am right now. Awesome. So now when people want to reach out to you, so I know that you’ve got meet Larry roberts.com As your website, and then that’s where it tells everything about you. And I recognized the the graphics you have on there currently. So if you’re listening to this years down the road, past the year 2022. It may be different graphics, because it will probably be at a different conference. But it was at the Podcast Movement here in Dallas. I think it looked very familiar. I recognize the banner in the background.
Larry Roberts 34:08
On the landing page that was from pm in LA.
Jerry Dugan 34:11
That was earlier in the year though the one I missed. Yeah, that’s so close. But I recognize the banner. Sounds good. Yeah. That makes more sense, because I’ll sit there like when I saw that just earlier, before we got on the call here. I was like, I don’t remember there being a photographer in the front row.
Larry Roberts 34:28
There wasn’t I recorded that footage myself. Yeah. So there we go. That’s a trick of the trade brother. And this is for anybody listening. Take the opportunity to record yourself whenever you can create that content. You know, content is so King right now, we’re sitting here creating a podcast, which is content right now. But you can’t rely on others to do it. I mean, I’m giving a speech next Tuesday to the success North Dallas young executives. It’s another trick of the trade there. I got involved heavily in the Dallas community. And that’s been amazing. But I hired a videographer to come out and film the talk. because I want people to realize that I’m out there, I want to repurpose that content. So take advantage of every opportunity you can to create that content yourself. And that’s exactly where that banner came from. That was my cell phone, stuck it on a tripod, put it on a chair in the audience turned it on, went up there did my thing came out, I’ve got my own content. So that’s, that’s something anybody and everybody can do, and definitely should do. And that’s
Jerry Dugan 35:23
a powerful nugget there. Because whether you go into business for yourself, or you’re talking about a career in corporate America, no one’s gonna care about your career more than you. And you’ve got to take it by the reins, where do I want to be 10 years from now? What kind of skills do I need to have? What kind of projects should I be on? To hone those skills? What kind of behavioral competencies should I really start developing? You know, what does the end of my career look like, as opposed to having somebody else dictate it to me and, and just taking a little bit more control of where you go, how you get there, and partnering with your employer, as opposed to just being told what to do by your employer? I think that’s a big shift that we’ve made in the United States over the past decade or two. Is that, like, I had a team of people who reported to me, and I hated it when they said they, they work for me? And yeah, it’s no, no, no, you work with me? And they’re like, What do you mean, I’m like, Texas, is that that will state at any time you can quit? And I don’t want you to. So this is a daily agreement, you came in to work great, you’re here. Here’s what I need. Are you up for it? And it goes two ways. Like if they’re like, oh, take this and shove it. It’s like, oh, well, I can’t work with that. I need somebody who’s willing to do this. So there’s that as well. It’s like, yeah,
Larry Roberts 36:40
it’s so funny, because one of the managers, one of my last managers that I had, before I stepped out of the rut that I was in, we acquired a new company, and with that company, contractually, there came some management with them. And I was lucky enough to get one of these new managers, and there was some sarcasm laced on that lucky. He made sure that we didn’t I was like, the first week that he was there, he made sure that we all understood that he was the manager, and we were his subordinates. And we had to have a private conversation, because Oh, Larry, here, he didn’t take to the word subordinate to well, so we had to have a little closed door. And maybe I overstepped my bounds a little bit. But that’s just not the mentality that I’m going to work around. I’m nobody subordinate. You know, I respect your position. As a manager, I know you make the calls. And I respect that, that respect the title that you have, but I don’t necessarily respect you. And for you to look at me and tell me that I’m your subordinate, not gonna fly brother. So I love the fact that you made sure that your employees are those that worked with you, your teammates, understood they worked with you and not for you. And I think that’s so critical in establishing strong, long lasting relationships in a corporate environment.
Jerry Dugan 37:44
Yeah, yeah. It’s like the title was director, there were some responsibilities with it. But it does not make me a better person than anybody else in the room. whatsoever. It just means if things go right, I get to praise my team who pulled it off. If things go wrong, I get to talk to my leader about why it went wrong. That’s what Director means. Leadership. Yeah, leadership. 101. Exactly, exactly. So now, if people want to reach out to you, and they’re like, I want to hire Larry, for some thing. I know, I just told them earlier. Meet Larry roberts.com. But who should be reaching out to? And? Yeah, I think that’s yeah, who
Larry Roberts 38:23
should be I mean, anybody’s welcome to reach out to meet meet Larry roberts.com Is my calendar link. So if you want to set some time aside, you can have a 30 minute call with me, we can sit down, have a little discovery session, see if what you’re doing is taking you the direction that you want to go. And maybe I can add some value there and suggesting maybe some tweaks or changes along the way. And maybe who knows, maybe we can end up working together long term. I think that would be amazing. So meet Larry roberts.com Is my calendar calendar link again, you can follow me on Instagram, the Larry Roberts on Instagram. And also you can go to the Larry roberts.com. That’ll take you to my website as well. So all things Larry Roberts,
Jerry Dugan 38:58
nice, nice. You got there first, there’s a Jerry Dugan out there who beat me to all things Jerry dugan.com. So I
Larry Roberts 39:04
didn’t get there first. That’s why it’s the Larry roberts.com because somebody else has Larry roberts.com. And they want way too much money for
Jerry Dugan 39:11
it. My gosh, I do have the real Jerry dugan.com. I need to make sure I still pay for that. All right. I gotta go. Now, any final words of wisdom before we get Larry?
Larry Roberts 39:24
That’s pretty much it, man. Other than you know, I was on a podcast even earlier today. And I said the same thing. I stepped out of the rut when I was 48 years old. It’s never too late to do it. I was at success with Dallas last two weeks ago, and the presenter there was talking about they call it a second life career. And maybe that’s a common term, but it was the first time I’d ever heard it. And I loved it. So I love the concept of Second Life success. And it doesn’t matter how old you are. If you’ve got a passion, reevaluate what you’re doing. Make sure what you’re doing is doing what you wanted to do and the way you want to do it. And if not Jump out there and make that change and get beyond the rut.
Jerry Dugan 40:02
Awesome. Larry, it was great to have you on here officially on the show. And I look forward to bumping into you again and again and again.
Larry Roberts 40:08
I appreciate it, man. Thank you so much, Jerry.
Jerry Dugan 40:11
So you heard Larry share from his own experience at the age of 48. Realizing that even though he was good at his corporate job, it was time to make a change. And he’s been building a business and a lifestyle ever since it is never too late to follow your passion. As long as you’re breathing. That’s what we’re here about, you know, if there’s a dream or a passion that you want to pursue, and you’re not quite there right now, now’s the time to start thinking about where is it you want your life to go? What do you want your life to look like? What’s that first step to take? And what do you need to stop doing so you could free up the time to go make your thing happen? Now, you can get more information about Larry about beyond the rut about my new business, BTR impact at beyond the rut.com/ 332. That’s the show notes for this episode. There, you’ll find links to Larry’s stuff, my stuff, and more. Now, the best way you can pay me back is to pay me forward. So hit the share button on however you’re listening to this right now. And share it on your social media. Maybe include a little picture of yourself where you are right now, as you were listening to this show. Now, unless you were in the bathroom, then that’s kind of gross. Don’t do that. But let’s say you’re at the office, you’re at home, you’re in the carpet, maybe at a stoplight, take a take a selfie, share this episode right away on your social media, and tag me so then I can also kind of get in on the conversation. And thank you for tagging me. So that’s all I’ve got for this week. I’m glad you joined me this week. I look forward to joining you again next week. But until next time, go live life beyond the rut. Take care
