0:01

Boom, shake the room Fire Nation.

0:04

JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs

0:06

on Fire, brought to you by the

0:08

HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for

0:10

business professionals with great shows like Talking

0:12

Too Loud. Today, we're pulling a classic episode

0:14

from the archives and we'll be breaking down how

0:17

to make your best content and give your

0:19

greatest interview ever. To drop these value

0:21

bonds, we are brought to Caduce into

0:23

EOFire Studios. Caduce is an acclaimed TV

0:26

host, celebrity interviewer and media coach as

0:28

the founder of Media Mastery Academy. Q

0:30

helps leaders own their voice and share their

0:32

story. In today's Fire Nation, we'll talk about

0:34

how you are exactly enough as you are.

0:36

There's nothing else you need to do, how

0:39

to be authentic and clear in connecting with

0:41

your audience and why that matters and

0:43

so much more. And a big thank

0:46

you for sponsoring today's episode goes to

0:48

Q and our sponsors. Marketing

0:50

Made Simple hosted by my friend, Dr. JJ

0:53

Peterson is brought to you by the HubSpot

0:55

Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals.

0:57

Marketing Made Simple brings you practical tips to

0:59

make your marketing easy and more importantly, make

1:02

it work. A recent episode all about how

1:04

Liquid IV is using marketing to shake up

1:06

the beverage world dives deep into the strategies

1:08

that propelled Liquid IV to remarkable success. A

1:10

must listen. Listen to Marketing Made Simple

1:13

wherever you get your podcasts. Caduce,

1:17

say what's up to Fire Nation

1:19

and share something that you

1:21

believe about becoming successful that

1:23

most people disagree with. What's

1:26

up Fire Nation? So the thing that might

1:28

be a bit controversial about my belief around

1:30

success is that it absolutely ought to change

1:32

over time. So a lot of people set

1:35

goals and then they get really rigid around

1:37

those goals. I think we get

1:39

to be flexible because along the way we discover who

1:41

we really are in the process and what we really

1:43

want. I love that because flexibility is

1:45

always been how I've grown my business. When I

1:47

asked my audience, hey, what are you

1:49

struggling with Fire Nation? You tell me I have no idea what

1:51

you're going to say, but then I create

1:53

the solution around that because I'm flexible. I can make

1:55

those things happen and that Fire Nation is

1:58

the flexibility key. and

2:00

wow, we're having a fantastic conversation

2:02

today, Q, about how

2:04

to make your best content and give

2:07

your greatest interview, which is a little bit of

2:09

pressure on you, brother, that in the title,

2:11

we have give your greatest interview. So here we

2:14

are interviewing. Starting something

2:16

called Media Mastery Academy is a

2:18

surefire way to lose more sleep.

2:20

Love it for all of those

2:22

reasons, and let's just dive into

2:25

the meat and potatoes of today's

2:27

conversation. Why the heck does your

2:29

brand story even matter? And

2:31

Fire Nation's needs to know why their brand

2:33

story matters. Talk to us about this. Well,

2:36

it seems like a lot of people skip to

2:38

the service or the product, right? They focus on

2:41

exactly what it's gonna do

2:43

in the marketplace, and then we forget

2:45

about the why sometimes. And Simon Sinek

2:47

said it well in his TED Talk

2:50

about the why, and so going even deeper

2:52

on that and understanding that I wanna hear

2:54

a hero's journey from the people I work

2:56

with. I wanna know all

2:59

of the blood, sweat, and tears that went

3:01

into what it is that I'm buying into

3:03

because there's a lot of other options in

3:05

the marketplace. So I've found with coaching hundreds

3:07

of people around exactly what their origin story

3:09

is that those that find the pain to

3:11

purpose journey are the ones that stand out

3:14

the most. And I remember sitting there with

3:16

Louis House back in the day as we

3:18

were talking about the School of Greatness, which

3:20

is now this multi-million dollar empire he's built.

3:23

And at the time, Louis hadn't really

3:25

been vulnerable with his audience about exactly

3:27

how he became the voice

3:29

that he is. And so there was

3:31

like this missing piece in the puzzle.

3:34

And once he shared about his why

3:36

in a vulnerable lane, he shared about

3:38

this issue he had in childhood and

3:40

all of it tied together the human

3:42

for people in a way that cut

3:44

through that perfection that can be so

3:46

easy to buy into when we see

3:48

a guy like Louis House doing his

3:50

thing. And then all of a

3:52

sudden, he's an actual human that people can relate

3:54

to. And I think that's the opportunity everybody has,

3:56

even though some people discount

3:59

their struggle. and they don't think

4:01

that it's enough to make a hero's journey, I

4:03

would assert that most people have something, some kind

4:05

of a painful moment that is probably the reason

4:07

why they're so passionate about what they do and

4:10

offer the world. Q, let's be honest. There's

4:12

a lot of noise out there in this

4:14

world today. And if we want to make

4:16

the kind of impact that we all want

4:18

to make in this world, we need to

4:20

break through this noise. So

4:22

how do we do that with our brand

4:25

story? Like, what makes specifically a breakthrough

4:28

brand story? Well, it's

4:30

being really authentic and

4:33

so clear in connecting

4:35

with an audience about why it

4:37

matters, why they ought to do

4:39

the thing that they're suggesting they

4:42

do. And that usually requires

4:44

someone to take down the veil of perfection

4:46

so that we can see the person behind

4:48

it. But that's the scariest thing for most

4:51

entrepreneurs. Most entrepreneurs walk around thinking they've got

4:53

to have it all together and they've got

4:55

to be so crisp

4:57

and polished when they get on

4:59

camera. And I'm telling you right

5:02

now, that is the biggest misconception that most

5:04

people have when they make content. And they

5:06

come off as these people that are not

5:08

necessarily the type of person that we spend

5:11

time with. We see them and it's like

5:13

they're up on a pedestal and that unrelatability

5:15

becomes a wall for people. When a push

5:17

comes to shove, when they see the two

5:20

products on the shelf, they know the origin

5:22

story of one founder and the struggle that

5:24

they went through versus the other product. I

5:26

will guarantee you they will buy that other

5:29

product that they know that founders struggle

5:31

to put on the shelf every single time.

5:33

I mean, I'm over here taking furious nose-fire

5:35

nation. If you're not, please check your pulse.

5:37

I mean, here's a few things I've been

5:39

writing down. Be authentic and

5:42

clear about why it matters,

5:44

about why it matters. And

5:46

I loved this quote that

5:48

you shared. Take down the

5:50

veil of perfection. Take down that veil

5:52

of perfection. And something that I'll add

5:55

to this is Fire Nation,

5:57

fake it so you make it is the worst

5:59

advice you will ever. get. People want to connect

6:02

with a human being, a flawed

6:04

human being. Be that flawed human

6:06

being because we all are flawed

6:08

human beings. So stop the

6:11

faking to you, make an S, be genuine,

6:13

authentic, be true to yourself. And Q, before

6:15

we move on, is there one or two

6:17

examples you can share about how somebody that

6:19

you know, or maybe even you, who knows,

6:21

like is doing it right? Well,

6:23

I always like to start with our

6:25

own journey. I told Louis a story earlier

6:28

and that felt like a little bit of

6:30

an adjacent example to what I think

6:32

is really important in actually modeling what

6:34

it is that I'm talking about, which

6:37

is sharing my journey to starting Media

6:39

Mastery Academy because I essentially

6:41

looked around the media training landscape. I

6:44

remember when I started at MTV, there

6:46

was really nothing that supported me to

6:48

feel better in my own skin. I

6:50

felt so fraudulent being

6:52

on that stage at MTV

6:54

because I did not feel

6:56

like the cool person that they hired. I

6:59

felt like I was inadequate. I wasn't smart

7:01

enough. I wasn't cool enough. I didn't have

7:03

enough experience in broadcasting. All those things. Imposter

7:05

syndrome was raging in my mind and

7:08

there was nothing around me that

7:10

supported me to dismantle those limited beliefs in

7:12

such a way where I could step on

7:15

stage and feel as good as I looked.

7:17

And so I decided years

7:19

later when I still didn't see anyone

7:21

in the marketplace solving for that inside

7:24

out issue when people get on camera,

7:26

get on Clubhouse or whatever medium we're

7:28

using to feel more real

7:30

and feel like we can be in flow state

7:32

and we can be truly accepted and celebrated for

7:35

who we really are, not what we think we

7:37

should be. I decided I

7:39

needed to do that because I had a

7:41

nervous breakdown at the beginning of my MTV

7:43

career. Backstage, I literally fainted

7:45

in front of my new colleagues my

7:48

first summer on the job, devastating. It

7:50

was traumatic and I don't want anyone

7:52

to feel like that ever again. And

7:55

so that's why I created Media Mastery

7:57

Academy because I know there's people listening

7:59

right now. that have been turning

8:01

themselves inside out trying to be perfect

8:03

on camera on the microphone or on

8:05

clubhouse and they clench up every Time

8:07

they get tagged into a conversation live

8:09

and then they put on what they

8:11

think we want to hear a seed

8:13

and that Does not work not only

8:15

for the audience watching but for ourselves

8:18

Then we stop trusting ourselves and our integrity

8:20

goes out of the frickin window and we

8:22

wonder why we can't sleep at night That

8:24

is my origin story to creating media mastery

8:27

academy where we can actually have a safe

8:29

place to Explore our voice find our voice

8:31

own our story and share it in a

8:33

powerful way that makes a difference for people

8:35

Fire nation. I hope you're seeing why cues had a

8:38

type of success that he's had I mean here he

8:40

is being open and honest and flawed with you right

8:42

now And I mean, you know We can all step

8:44

back and look at him and all the accolades he's

8:46

had and everything he's done and who he's met and

8:48

be Like this guy has it

8:50

all he knows exactly what he's doing. He's

8:53

perfect But hey, he's willing to open up

8:55

his kimono and share the truth I actually

8:57

am wearing something like a kimono over here.

8:59

That's very intuitive of you I'm literally walking

9:01

the streets of Boulder, Colorado and yoga pants.

9:03

I did you not Freaking

9:05

frickin cold people looking at like a lunatic, but

9:08

I'm comfortable. Let me tell you you do three

9:10

thousand of these interviews You start to kind of

9:12

you know be intuitive about who's on the other

9:14

side of the mic So I have just this

9:16

full picture of you right now to you and

9:18

I won't go into any more details But it's

9:20

amazing and Fire Nation We have so much more

9:22

that we're gonna be talking about that You need

9:24

to be taking as furious of notes as I'm

9:26

taking right now as soon as we get back

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I want to talk right now about

11:26

making contents because I guess we want

11:28

to shearer voice a message or mission

11:30

maybe or face with the world but

11:32

you know from the do that we

11:34

need to make content of this gonna

11:36

rise above the fray the to brush

11:38

going to see here. and hopefully

11:40

adhered to how they have to we

11:43

do that i don't want to be

11:45

reductive about it but it is truly

11:47

about sharing your story because if we

11:49

have an authentic origin story that is

11:51

the why behind what it is that

11:53

were selling the world than sharing that

11:55

with pieces of content to matter what

11:57

the medium is go to make the

11:59

content sticky, it's gonna have people understand

12:01

that why constantly. And I think some

12:04

people think, oh, I'll make one post

12:06

about my origin story. Uh-uh, no, no,

12:08

no. I think we want to reiterate

12:10

that origin story in all the ways

12:12

we can because there probably

12:14

are multitudes of moments that led to why

12:16

you're doing what you're doing, right? So I

12:18

want you to think about all those moments

12:20

and think about all the content you can

12:23

make with that. You can write

12:25

about it. You can shoot a video about it.

12:27

You can host a conversation on Clubhouse about it.

12:29

But really mind that story and you'll

12:31

find that there's something that's, uh,

12:33

it's almost like you create a

12:36

mythic experience of yourself because

12:38

people start to realize exactly what went into

12:40

it and all of the journey. And it

12:42

feels like, I like when you know when

12:44

you watch Lord of the Rings and you're

12:46

like relate to Frodo by the end of

12:48

it, you're like, man, I would die for

12:50

Frodo. You know? And

12:52

that's exactly what one creates when they come

12:54

from that place with their content. You create

12:57

advocates. Nevermind customers. You create advocates. People buy

12:59

into what you're doing. Like it's a movement when

13:01

you do that. There are

13:03

multitudes of moments that make up

13:05

your story. I mean, Fire Nation

13:08

really absorb those words, really understand

13:11

these words that Q is breaking down

13:13

for you. There are multitudes of moments

13:15

that make up your story. Your story

13:17

is not one moment in time. It's

13:19

the multitudes of moments that make up

13:21

you, your story. And I love

13:23

that you've actually mentioned Clubhouse a couple of times

13:25

now. You obviously personally love the platform. So let's

13:27

kind of divert here for a second and talk

13:29

about Clubhouse. What do you like about it?

13:32

How are you using it? What kind of

13:34

success are you having? Tell us all. Well,

13:36

I think it's that thing that reveals who's

13:38

actually real because when we get into a

13:40

live conversation, we get

13:42

to see what people are made of. And

13:45

there's a different sort of a texture and

13:47

aesthetic to it. And we're in it. We're

13:49

actually having a conversation. We're not just looking

13:51

at a post that's been carefully crafted by

13:54

a social media team, you know? That really

13:56

feels amazing because especially in a pandemic when

13:58

we haven't gotten to the nearly as

14:00

much as we used to. It's also

14:02

creating a really cool ability to

14:05

bump into people and have those moments

14:07

of serendipity even within a platform like

14:09

that. So it's been magic. And I've

14:11

found that because people can hear exactly

14:14

my inflection, my energy, my

14:17

passion as I'm speaking on there, they are

14:19

so much more apt to click through to

14:21

my Instagram, click through to the DMs. Like,

14:23

yo, what are you up to? I wanna

14:25

connect. I mean, I've had so many people

14:27

make that transition within 10 minutes

14:30

of listening to me. They'll be into

14:32

my Instagram and so deep into advocacy

14:34

around what I'm doing. So it's been

14:36

incredible. It's probably the most powerful conversion

14:38

I've seen any conversation online. Well, I

14:41

just followed you. So I'm now one

14:43

of Caduce's followers and Fire Nation that's

14:45

Q-U-D-D-U-S. So

14:48

I will be a part of your future clubhouse

14:51

conversations. And I'm definitely having a lot of fun

14:53

as there as well. I mean, it is just

14:55

a place that for me just immediately collects. I

14:57

mean, I'm not gonna lie, everybody's like, JLD,

15:00

you gotta get on TikTok. TikTok is amazing. There's

15:02

so much awesome stuff going on. And I know

15:04

there is, and I'm sure there is. It's

15:07

just not my type of platform for reasons we

15:09

won't go into that it's not important right now.

15:11

But when I start club house, I'm like, I've

15:13

been doing audio only interviews for literally

15:16

a decade. I've done

15:18

3000 audio only interviews where I'm

15:20

live with my guests. But

15:22

one thing that is kind of missing is I'm

15:25

not live with anybody else. I love interacting with

15:27

multitudes of people and being able to answer questions

15:29

on the spot, et cetera. And man, Clubhouse

15:31

is a fantastic place to do this. So

15:33

Fire Nation, if you haven't checked it out

15:35

yet, make sure you follow Caduce, make sure

15:38

you follow JLD. Like surprisingly, Jonny Dumas is

15:40

my name there. So go over there, get

15:42

in it and enjoy. And I

15:44

wanna talk as we kind of come to an end

15:47

of our conversation here, Q. How

15:49

the heck can we make marketing fun

15:52

and transformational at the same time? I mean,

15:55

it's easy to make marketing fun or

15:57

transformational. I wanna make it fun. and

16:00

transformational, break that down for us. The

16:03

thing that most people do

16:05

is we sit there and we

16:07

strategize and we try to calculate

16:09

what the audience will resonate with

16:11

and there and by, we basically

16:13

outsource any bit of intuitive

16:15

wisdom that we might have that had us

16:17

get to the place where we're selling what

16:19

we're selling in the first place. So I

16:21

think that the first thing to make it

16:24

transformational and really authentic is actually in

16:26

the process of creating marketing, checking in

16:29

with your ideal client for sure and

16:32

with yourself and what

16:34

you wanna share about what it is

16:36

there. So not getting to the point

16:38

where the center of gravity so much

16:40

on the consumer listening that you're not

16:43

even listening to yourself anymore, right? So

16:45

that's the transformational piece is like owning

16:47

that hero's journey that you are absolutely

16:49

uniquely positioned to offer up and market

16:51

this thing in a way that no

16:53

one else can. So when we actually

16:55

allow the center of gravity to come

16:57

back to our seat, then it becomes

17:00

an authority that then emerges with the

17:02

content versus this sort of placating tap

17:04

dancing. I see a lot online where I'm like,

17:06

is this what they think I wanna see? That

17:09

ain't working, no, no, no. So I

17:11

think it's that balance. It's considering one's

17:13

audience, but not going and castrating your

17:16

own authenticity and your own voice in

17:18

the process. And by owning that authority,

17:20

by owning your journey and your story,

17:22

it becomes transformational because guess what? Then

17:24

you get to speak from the hero's

17:26

journey. And then you truly are that

17:28

Frodo Baggins of your story to take

17:30

it back to the Lord of the

17:32

Rings. And it's so powerful to sit

17:34

in that seat and not flinch for

17:37

a second about why you're there and

17:39

your ability to convey what you

17:41

need to convey. And then the fun part is

17:44

thinking about all the ways to tell that story.

17:46

There's so many ways, especially now with Clubhouse, with

17:48

Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, there's all these different ways to

17:50

do it. So think about what lights you up.

17:52

Maybe you're not necessarily the video type that's gonna

17:55

jump on an Instagram Live and feel great. Well,

17:57

maybe you're more of a writer. So go ahead

17:59

and see. and write that piece and allow

18:01

yourself to luxuriate it and not think so

18:03

much about the metrics on the other side,

18:05

but like really truly enjoy the process. And

18:08

that's obviously a really beautiful piece of

18:10

wisdom for living life in general, which

18:12

is, let's not abandon the journey, the

18:15

juice of really

18:17

taking those steps and all the

18:19

process involved in the

18:21

thinking about the impact and then not

18:23

enjoying the journey along the way. I'm

18:25

sure I'm mangling the idea, but

18:28

you know, paraphrasing it will

18:30

still convey the point, which is just, you

18:32

know, let's really enjoy the process. Like every

18:34

piece of content can be a celebration of

18:36

how awesome it is that you get to

18:38

give that service, that you make that product,

18:40

that that person and the other side of

18:42

it is gonna enjoy that, you know? So

18:44

really enjoying it. I love that you've used

18:46

the phrase, the hero's journey multiple times now

18:49

in Fire Nation. I want you to be

18:51

thinking as you're listening to

18:53

this episode, as you're hearing Q's words,

18:55

like what is your hero's journey? What does

18:57

that look like? So you can really articulate

19:00

it when it comes time to do just that.

19:02

And Q, I really want

19:04

you to step back now, take the

19:06

mic, come up on stage and really

19:08

just share the one thing out of

19:10

all the things we talked about here

19:12

today that you really wanna make sure

19:14

Fire Nation gets from our conversation. You

19:17

are enough. You are enough

19:19

exactly as you are. There is nothing else you

19:21

need to do. You get

19:23

to just sit in that perfection. There's

19:25

no mistake that's ever happened in your

19:27

life that is unredeemable in you luxuriating

19:30

in exactly who you are. Because guess

19:32

what? I've had a bunch of things

19:34

in my past that I've regretted, that

19:36

I've thought were wrong turns, bobbled

19:39

balls. And guess

19:41

what? Every one of them is now a

19:43

story I get to tell. That

19:45

hero's journey that I get to celebrate with

19:47

everyone saying, God, I've been through a struggle like

19:50

that before and they connect with me that much

19:52

more. And the same is true for all of

19:54

us. There's no one listening right now that hasn't

19:56

been through something that can be transmuted and translated

19:59

into a powerful story. You are

20:01

enough Fire Nation. Say that to yourself as many

20:04

times as you need to until

20:06

you start believing it because it

20:08

is truth in Q.

20:10

How can Fire Nation connect with you?

20:12

How can they learn more about what

20:15

you have going on with media mastery

20:17

and everything else that you're doing? Take

20:19

it away. You can find me on

20:21

Instagram at QUDDUS. I'm also on the

20:25

Instagram adjacent experience Facebook. I call

20:27

it Instagram adjacent because Facebook is like

20:29

a shell of itself now. It's

20:31

like so true. But

20:34

yeah, I'm on Facebook as well and also

20:36

on Clubhouse and Twitter and I

20:39

also have a website QUDDUS.co. So find

20:41

me there too. Fire Nation, you are

20:43

the average of the five people you

20:46

spend the most time with. You've been

20:48

hanging out with Q and JLD today.

20:50

So let's keep up that

20:52

heat. And if you head over to eofire.com

20:54

and type QUDDUS in the search bar, his

20:56

show notes page will pop up with everything

20:59

we chatted about. Best show notes in the

21:01

biz. Q, thank you brother for

21:03

sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with

21:05

Fire Nation today. For that, we salute you

21:07

and we will catch you on

21:10

the flip side. Thank you brother. Hey

21:12

Fire Nation, today's value bomb content was brought

21:15

to you by Q and Fire Nation. Over

21:17

the last decade, I've interviewed more than 3000

21:20

of the world's most successful entrepreneurs

21:22

and created a revolutionary 17 step

21:24

roadmap to your financial freedom and

21:26

fulfillment. I put it all into

21:28

my first traditionally published book, The

21:30

Common Path to Uncommon Success, personally

21:32

endorsed by Seth Gordon and Gary

21:34

Vaynerchuk. And the Common Path to

21:36

Uncommon Success by a Nation is

21:38

the step-by-step guidance you need to

21:40

achieve the lifestyle of your dreams.

21:43

Visit uncommonsuccessbook.com to learn more and

21:45

order your copy today. I'll catch

21:47

you there or I'll catch you

21:50

on the flip side. Marketing

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