How Podcasting Can Transform Your Business | Sebastian Rusk DSH #1293

Your personal brand in perpetuity is your reputation.

And

authenticity trumps likability.

And always make time for people, Sebastian.

Always.

You're never too busy.

You'll never be too popular.

You'll never be too big.

Make time for people.

You never, ever forget where you came from.

Okay, guys, Sebastian here.

Today, we are going to talk podcasting, something we both do for a living.

Talking about podcasts on a podcast.

Yeah.

One of my favorite pastimes.

I love it, man.

Great to be here, dude.

Yeah, thanks.

Thanks for coming.

When did you get into podcasting?

About 15 years ago.

Damn.

Blog Talk Radio.

Oh, gee.

I don't know if you remember.

Yeah.

I wanted to, I had like six bucks to my name, and I wanted to meet guys like Gary Vee and Maury Smith back in the day, the Facebook.

Queen.

And I had no way of connecting with these people because I'm brand new.

And I started an online radio show, Blog Talk Radio, and then figured out that it had an RSS feed that I could throw on SoundCloud.

I remember SoundCloud.

Yeah, man.

So I turned that into a podcast.

And I realized, well, if I submit that to SoundCloud, then I can get on Apple.

And Spotify came on.

I was real inconsistent.

I started my first company doing social media and

met Gary Vee in 2011, kind of turned me on to what was going to be happening in this digital landscape and started Social Buzz TV, which was an on-air media outlet, but also turned into boot camps and networking events where I really didn't know how I was going to make money.

I just had like a burning desire to figure it out.

I had lost everything in 2008

and full-time single dad, moved back to Miami from Orange County.

And

I didn't know what I wanted to do.

And in 2010, I just had an awakening moment.

And

I said, I need to go see Tony Robbins.

I need to go awaken the giant within.

So I called a friend of mine that worked for Tony at the time and she fills me in all the details.

She's like, it's going to be in Long Beach in July, 700 bucks.

And I'm like, all right, cool.

I got eight bucks to my name.

I'm going to figure this out.

So she calls me back about an hour later.

She goes, hey, my, my best friend lives on Miami Beach.

I totally forgot to tell you.

She's part of Tony's core team of six, travels the world with him.

You should totally link up with her.

Not this time, Sean.

I'm like, what could I bring to the table for an individual like this?

But she said, hey, it's worth the drink.

Hit her up.

I'll make the introduction.

So she did that.

And I met up with that Friday.

And we met up on Miami Beach for a happy hour.

And about five minutes into the conversation, she said,

so what's next?

And I said, I don't know.

And she said, that's a problem.

And these are my offended days.

So I'm thinking, who is this chick telling me what I'm doing with my life is a problem?

And I thought to myself, she works for Tony Robbins, dude.

You might want to humble yourself and stay curious.

So I said, so what do you mean?

And she asked me a question, and this is where everything changed.

She said, I'll tell you exactly what I mean.

Who's missing out?

Because you're not showing up.

And I thought,

wow.

So spending 2008, 2010 stuck in my thumb, poor, woe is me.

I lost everything.

And then her asking me that question immediately changed my thought process.

Go, wait a second, wait a second.

I have a gift.

I don't know what, my gift is a communicator, but I don't know what's next for me.

But I've been on social media since MySpace.

I got to figure this out.

And by that Monday, I had the social buzz TV logo and I started running around town with a bus pass on my skateboard, evangelizing the biggest, baddest social media company, creating content, going to your events, doing boot camps.

And then eventually people would say, hey, can you help me out with your social media or my social media?

And I said, sure.

And I would, you know, if you had a budget and a checkbook, you were my client.

So I launched the agency a year later and we grew it to a five-figure a month business.

And it was cool and everything, but it was very labor-intensive.

But at that same time, I had developed my craft as a speaker and wrote my first book and met Gary and became friends with him and was an incredible mentor.

And I had honed in a lot of stuff.

And,

but podcasting was not my main go-to.

It was my vehicle.

Little did I know it would become my life's work, but not before I would do some deep, deep, deep work on Sebastian to find out

who I really am and what I, what my purpose was

and what my gift really was about.

I knew I had a gift, but what is it all about?

And what is it going to do for other people?

So in

the beginning of 2016,

I was over it.

I was over it.

I didn't care about your Facebook page and your content.

I was MC in a lot of events.

I had been afforded an opportunity to

MC traffic and conversions with digital marketer.

That was a big one.

And that opened up a lot of doors for me.

And

I saw it as they're booking the Sebastian Rusk, you know, with his bow tie and the whole deal.

And I quickly learned that you're just a hired gun, dude.

And you're the busy, you're the hardest working guy in the building because you're the first one there.

You're the last one to leave.

You're not allowed to leave the stage and you're not the star of the show.

And that was a humbling experience.

And I am so grateful for that experience that Ryan Dice gave me.

Hit him up on Twitter on DM, and he booked me that day.

Cold DM.

Yeah, dude.

Cold DM in like 2016.

Those still work, by the way, guys.

Yeah, they totally do.

So I went to a gig in Boise, Idaho.

I've never been to Boise before, but don't ever go there.

And

it didn't work out.

Well, I wasn't aligned with the guy.

I was filling in for a buddy of mine.

And

I wasn't aligned with the client.

And on the long journey back from Boise to Miami, I had a sobering conversation with myself.

I said, Sebastian, what do you want to do?

Like, really?

What do you want to do, dude?

I said, I want to do three things.

I want to do keynotes.

I want to do comedy.

I want to launch podcasts.

And if it's not those three things, I'm just not leaving the house.

And

so as I started to phase the stuff that I, my non-negotiables out,

there was still a lot going on in here.

So if there's a lot going on in here, it's going to affect what's going on out there.

But I didn't get that yet.

So I decided it was time for a girlfriend.

So I hopped on Tinder when Tinder was still at dating site.

So don't hat me.

And I met a girl on March 1st, 2016.

Met her for a drink at Fort Lauderdale.

And she said,

I'm in a personal development course right now.

And it's incredible.

And I said, huh, let me tell you about personal development.

Tony Robbins walked on via her twice.

What I didn't tell her is I didn't do anything with the training after I went to them.

I was just quack, quack, quack, quack, quack.

Ego, ego, ego, ego, ego.

Well, she got me to the doors of this training.

Thank God.

I'm so grateful for her.

Broke up with me in the middle of the training as if personal development is not hard enough, right?

And I went through this eight-day training.

It was one long weekend and then a five-day training.

First long weekend is let's just figure out what's going on.

Then the five days is let's get in there and let's just.

Let's just rip it out of you and let's set you on a new path so you can start living the life that you were designed to live.

So when I got done with that training, I came out of it real clear.

I thought I hated what I was doing with social buzz and the MC work.

I didn't hate the work I was doing.

I hated myself.

And when you hate yourself, you hate everything around you and in your path.

So I learned how to love myself.

And in addition to that, I learned how to be fully accountable for my life, past, present, and future.

Whatever's happened in my life, whatever is happening in my life, whatever will happen in my life is my fault.

So I forgave my parents.

I stepped into my power i stepped into my gift and i got explicitly clear on my non-negotiable boundaries on all i'm doing is speaking comedy and launching podcasts

and i

after i got done with that year i took you know unplanned six months off to repair sebastian thank god i did and um I said, let's, let's get back in the game.

We got to figure out what's next.

Let's phase out social buzz.

Let's let clients know heart's no longer in it.

Let's not renew any contracts.

Let's figure out what's next so i went and rented a co-working desk for a couple hundred bucks a month around the corner from my house and i was leaving that first day i rented the desk and i ran into an old friend and she had an internet radio show and i'm like what the hell is that she's like well we like you know we got these channels and i'm like i'm already confused but is it working she's like well i go yeah i'm not convinced you know you can just start a podcast right she goes i'm headed out why don't you walk me to my car and i go all right cool so i walk her to her car and i said um you know start a podcast I've done it before.

I haven't been as consistent, but I have a podcast.

She goes, I don't know how to do that.

Why don't you create a solution that helps people start a podcast?

Immediate antennas up.

And it was like this, just like total, just God moment.

And it was like, hold on a second here.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

This is everything that I've been asking for all wrapped up into one.

So I said, hey, it was great seeing you.

I'll be in touch.

We're going to get your podcast started.

I ran back upstairs to my, to my rented desk, took out two sheets of paper and a pencil, and I mapped out what will become the podcast launch lab, which is a turnkey podcast launch solution to take you from ID to iTunes in 90 days or less with our proven podcast launch solution.

And that was what I started to evangelize everywhere.

So we phased out like, how do you leave the digital world and stay in it?

Bingo, podcasting.

So I started to dig a little deeper and I told the story to a buddy on the golf course right around that time.

And I said, I grew up in a a radio station.

My dad was a DJ for 30 years.

I've never had any like intention of following in his footsteps.

But here I am in the world of podcasting.

And he said, Man, our genes sure are powerful, aren't they?

And I said, I don't know anything about genes, but my grandfather's name was Gene.

Maybe that has something to do with it.

So it's kind of funny how it all started to culminate together, but I contribute 90% of it to my own personal healing journey and really being able to step in to who I've was designed to be.

I always ask people, are you willing to give up who you've become to be who you are?

And that is a very puzzling question for some,

but also very sobering for others to go,

yeah.

Because I think that when we are walking around with a mask on,

we are so desperate to take that mask off, but we don't know it

until we realize that there's an opportunity to go and do so.

And never in a million years, Sean, Sean, did I think that podcasting would become my life's work, not because it's a great profitable business.

It is, and I'm grateful for that.

But I get to see people experience what I experienced.

I get people to get to see people step into a completely different version of themselves because they started a podcast.

I get them to see them grow their business through a conversation on their podcast.

I see them get to start having a presence

on social media because of their podcast.

but more importantly i get to hear the stories of transformation of man there's so many wins i could have never forgot i i could have never predicted this sebastian and that's that's my real joy that's what fills my cup yeah yeah podcasting has changed my life it's changed yours i mean um yeah let alone the money just the information you learn from the guests the networking access I mean, we got billionaires coming on both of our shows.

What kind of access could you get without a podcast?

It's really hard.

Kickstarters, it's the ultimate networking tool.

Ultimate.

Yeah, nothing comes close, dude, because I've paid a lot of money to go to events and I've met some good people at these events, but compared to podcasting where there's little cost, it's a game changer.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But launching one's hard.

So what you're providing is a good solution.

And the crazy part is that everybody in the space, and you know, you're in the space, none of my peers want to do what I do.

Yeah.

I mean, it's, you're putting yourself out there, man.

You know, it's not a comfortable position at first.

You know, I was really nervous at first, exposing a lot of my history, went through some trauma and stuff, but now it feels really liberating.

Well, I like I told, I met a girl yesterday at lunch at

the conference here, and she's a widow and she's now a grief counselor.

And

she

used to run marathons around the world with her husband.

And now she continues to do that to keep his legacy alive.

She says, I'm writing a book and What do you do?

I said, I help people start a podcast so they can radically change their life and their business.

She goes, wow, I kind of thought about that.

So we exchanged information.

She texted me this morning and said,

I can't stop thinking about our conversation yesterday.

And I need a little bit more selling on the idea of starting a podcast.

I said, I don't think you do.

She said, what do you mean?

I said, I think that your story is going to be someone's survival guide and your mechanism to be able to get that survival guide to people that you don't even know yet are through your message and your book and your talks and your podcast and your ability to network and connect with people.

You're not starting a podcast just to start a podcast.

We have plenty of podcasts out there.

And

it's interesting to see where these conversations go because I'm not here to sell anybody on anything.

I'm here to remind you who you are and help you step into the version that you were designed to be and

experience some of the incredible things that I've been able to experience realizing these things and realizing that, in fact, she said this quote to me yesterday and I live my life by it.

The only way out is through.

You know, we live in a world full of vices and escaping and trying to get away from it all.

But if we go in, we find a way out.

And it's so

unique for people to find that path.

And it seems so normal to me now.

Cause I know when life gets hectic, it's time for me to jump on my yoga mat, light some sage, put some meditation music on, and just go in for a minute and just go everything we need is inside us.

Every single thing that we are desperate to want to know and have the answers.

And I'm a man of faith.

I believe God,

our gut feeling is God's whisper that allows us to navigate through our live and lives and be able to figure out what those answers are.

And that still small voice is there.

If we can silence our noise enough to be able to go and hear it.

Yeah, I love that.

Why do you think so many podcasts fail?

Because you see these stats on like what percentage make it to episode 10, episode 100, it's super low, right?

Yeah, I

people give up.

We live in an instantaneous,

instant gratification world.

We want everything yesterday, want it right now.

Why go to In and Out?

We can Uber Eats it.

Well, I don't think they Uber Eats, but bad example.

I wish they did, actually.

Um, I, and I think that, um,

people's level of commitment isn't where they think that it is when they first get started.

And I am adamant about making sure people stick to what they said they're going to do.

Right.

Because the shows that have the biggest success happen to be my most successful and wealthiest clients.

And that's not because they have money and because they're successful.

They have sustainability.

It's no wonder they're successful.

It's no wonder that they're in business and they're doing the things that they're doing because they stay the course and they're willing to get in there and they know that it just takes one conversation to change it all.

And with that consistency and sustainability, that's where the magic happens.

But people get in and they're like, hey, you know, it doesn't work.

And I think in addition to that, even more important than that, Sean, it's when you try to do it all on your own.

Yeah.

Let's record some episodes.

Let's see what AI tools are out there.

Let's, I got a cousin that used to edit stuff.

I think he can help me out.

I think it's taking it all on your own.

If you don't hire a professional, at least have a freelancer, a VA, somebody to come in and take the content, edit it.

That doesn't happen a lot either.

Just record something and throw it on the internet.

But I think those are the two main things, consistency to give up, and then trying to do it on your own.

Yeah.

Yeah.

People ask me every day, and I'm sure you get asked this too, how to grow the show.

And it's like, they expect some magic answer.

Yeah.

But I'm posting 20 times a day on my Instagram.

Like I'm posting every single day on YouTube.

It's just consistency.

And I've done that for two years straight.

Yeah.

That's how we're pulling numbers.

Right.

But they expect me to give them some magic formula.

It's crazy.

Right.

Exactly.

There is no magic number.

It's time and patience and consistency.

Yeah.

And being able to go and do it and, you know, and not trying to do everything yourself and realizing, I don't know what's on the other side of this, but I know there's something there for me.

So I'm willing to stay consistent with it.

Yeah.

I like what you said about hiring because the editors for me, absolute game changer.

If I tried doing the clips myself, there's no way.

I would rather wake up in the morning, punch myself in the face and eat my pillow than edit a podcast.

But I have a whole team that loves their work and I'm grateful for that.

And we have an entire assembly line and we do incredible work.

The client records their stuff, uploads their content, moves on with their day.

Yeah.

They get clips in their inbox the next day.

That's it.

Yeah.

The clips are important these days.

I see attention spans drop.

I think the short form is going to be more and more important.

It is.

And I, you know, we're always going to, I get that question a lot.

Aren't there already too many podcasts out there?

And I immediately respond, are there too many books out there?

People are going to stop writing them?

Probably not.

People will always start writing books, stop writing books.

Some finish them, some don't.

Same thing is going to happen with podcasting.

I think that with the onset of AI, it's cute and everything that you can have an AI co-host.

That's adorable.

But I don't think that we are trying to expedite the process of

lacking or shortening the opportunity for human connection.

I don't think that that's that we're not going to try and diminish that.

I think we are going to crave that at a level that we don't even understand right now because the robots

have entered the room and are here to make life easier, to make life better.

I think it's going to be one of the most exciting times in our entire life since the dot-com era, since the onset of the internet.

But I don't think that.

It's going, we're already seeing that with what happened with COVID.

We were locked up in our house for a year.

We just couldn't wait wait to hug somebody again.

For real.

We couldn't wait to have a meal.

We couldn't wait to be back in person.

I mean, as a speaker and a communicator to like do gigs on Zoom, it wasn't the same.

No.

That's why I don't do pods on Zoom.

Yeah.

It doesn't hit the same.

No.

Like, unless they can't do it in person for some reason, I've only done one virtual, but in person just one only, yeah.

And he was banned from the U.S.

So that's why I did it.

Yeah.

Shout out to that guy, Santos Bonacci.

Oh, yeah.

Banned from the U.S.

Wow.

And I didn't feel like going to Mexico.

So I was like, all right, you're the one guy I'll do it for.

But other than that, you're coming to Vegas or I'm coming to you.

Yeah.

You know, it just doesn't feel the same.

No.

That's why with events too, I only go to events in person.

I don't really like the virtual ones.

Yeah, no, I don't either.

I mean, I'll do them.

There's nothing better than, you know, being able to be in my shorts and flip-flops and deliver a talk.

And it was cool for a little while, but I like to look people in the eye.

Not the Zoom screen eye.

Yeah.

Like make that connection.

And when I'm landing a point, that ability, that eye eye contact is so vital from the platform to the audience and being able to make sure that you're resonating because people come up to you after and go, I feel like you were talking to me.

And I go, it was.

What's the biggest stage you've spoken on?

I would say that

traffic and conversions, even though I wasn't necessarily a keynote,

being on stage for three days in front of five to 7,000 people.

And those are high-level people too.

And that's where

comedy started to come into play was because I could go hit a large stage, deliver a talk, whatever it may be, and no problem.

But when it came to comedy, I'm like, I'm not going to go to a bar, make 50 drunk people laugh.

I'm out.

So I had my buddy Manny Garavito, who started the Miami comedy scene on my show

a couple of years ago, 2021, I think, not a couple of years ago, several years ago.

And I shared that story.

And he's like, dude, you're like that social buzz guy, right?

He's like, I've been following you.

Like, there's no way that you're scared of comedy.

I go, oh, no, I am.

And he goes, well, listen, we're doing a show in Doral next week.

It's an open mic.

You should come out.

It's five minutes, dude.

Bring your notes.

Very informal.

I'm like, all right, cool.

Well, at the time I had been writing, I had been writing for like two years.

And a buddy of mine that I went to high school with is a brilliant writer, would never do comedy, but was a brilliant writer.

So we had been writing like crazy.

I just need to be unleashed and I needed to get out of my own way.

And I needed to, you know, just the guts to actually go and do it.

So I'm like, all right, we're doing this.

It's five minutes.

I got this.

And

I ended up writing a whole bit about

dating a Venezuelan girl that fed me Enpanadas.

And the area of Miami and Doral is very much populated with Venezuelans.

And the place was packed with Venezuelan girls.

So I get there and he says,

all right, you're third up.

And I said,

on the open mic, right?

He goes, no, no, you're in the showcase, like with the five comics.

Oh, wow.

So don't bomb.

And I think it's like a competition, not really, it's a comedy show.

Yeah, so there's like

five comics, and then the open mic starts after the show.

So, I was third up in the show, packed brewery, people everywhere.

Yeah, my knees are like knocking my like nerves.

And uh,

I got up there and did seven and a half minutes, and the place was just rolling.

Damn, and I'm like, I got it.

This well done, yeah.

And then I started doing um

like other open mics mics with them but miami's like an up-and-coming scene so manny does comedy shows at like unconventional spaces like bars yeah so like ride a passage with comedies that laughs in miami it's getting people to shut up so you can pick up drunk right and it's loud they just don't care so i was like okay we got to continue to like unravel this comedy thing so um

i'm part of ryan stewman's mastermind apex in Dallas.

And he bought a building a couple years ago where the headquarters is at and gutted the first floor.

And it's the theater where we do all of our meetups quarterly.

So I hit him up like last year and said, hey, man, after the night one of our meetup, I want to turn the theater into a studio, into a comedy theater.

And I want to invite like all my Dallas friends.

And of course, everybody's already in Apex as well.

He dabbles in some comedy.

I want you to do it.

My daughter lives in Dallas.

She's going to open up for me.

We've got our MC that does our meetups anyway.

He's got a puppet, Danny.

He can be the host.

So I ran to the theater out

and

did a, I did a 45-minute set.

So that was like, it was like this proven to Sebastian.

Can I really do it?

But so my daughter opened up for me.

Stewman did 10 minutes.

Stewman did some comedy.

Yeah, dude.

Yeah.

Like off the cuff.

Like he doesn't write anything.

He's just like a loose cannon, but he's funny.

So I.

Like, I mean, I'm like, you own the joint.

What do I tell you?

No.

But yeah.

So after that, like after being able to do like 45 minutes, I was like, all right, we got this.

And comedy's not, I'm not, I'm not pursuing this for a Netflix special and to like pursue a comedy career.

I'm doing it to bring it back to the keynote stage.

I'm doing it to bring it back to the podcasting world.

Because if I have an event booker looking at a speaker and a speaker and a comedian, I'm getting the gig every time.

Two in one.

Right.

Because also it's like, hey, deliver a keynote during the day, roast our attendees before the cocktail party.

Like Like I did a gig in Cancun.

They were taking us to Circus Ole that night.

I did the gig on the tour bus, the 45-minute ride there.

So I got a tour bus full of like all the attendees.

That's funny.

I don't know if you've ever been to Cancun before and those tour buses, those guys drive like lunatics.

So

it's just those unique experiences of being able to, plus adding comedian to your resume.

It just is, what do you do?

I'm a speaker, comedian, and a podcaster.

All terrible career choices, but I got lucky.

Statistically, yeah.

right exactly uh and i just love the world of comedy you know being able to if you can impact someone's life through your message and what you have to do in your life and how you show up and you can make them laugh i mean come on some of my favorite pods are comedy podcasts yeah dude theo vaughn he's brilliant it's hard to make me laugh i'm not gonna lie but his show is just so funny he doesn't even try yeah that's the best part about theo it's my favorite one right now by far yeah him and schultz schultz is pretty funny i mean he has a lot of yes men on the show just laughing at all his jokes, but other than that, it's a pretty good show.

Yeah, I mean, Bethiel would just come out of nowhere.

He's like, you know,

you do cocaine one night and you'll start giving your email address to a dolphin.

And it's like, and he said that to Trump, too.

It don't matter who the guest is.

Yeah, it gets you feeling like a mechanic.

Yeah.

That's why I love it, though, because he's the same on every guest.

He was on Road Rules back in the day on MTV.

I told him.

I didn't know that.

Yeah, I didn't either.

Somebody had mentioned it.

I was like, dude, I knew I had seen him somewhere.

Wow.

And it was Road Rules where they would go in an RV.

It was kind of like the real world back in the day, but in an RV called Road Rules.

And I think that was his first TV experience.

But he's definitely, people ask me a lot, who's your favorite comic?

I'm like, right now, Theo.

Yeah.

Yeah, he could be the GOAT if he continues this career trajectory.

Yeah, he's killing it.

I mean, he's pulling serious numbers.

Yeah, he is.

What's the idea behind podcast suck?

So my first book was

social media sucks if you don't know what you're doing.

And I wanted to call call it like, how to use social media.

And I was working, I was working with my branding,

my friend Michelle Villobos, brilliant branding expert.

And I was having a meeting with her.

I was telling her about the book idea.

I told her about the name.

And she goes, no, it's not going to work for your personality.

You have this like in your face, like over-the-top personality.

And you're going to write a book called how to use social media, not going to work.

So I'm like sitting face at the wall as we're having this conversation because I'm thinking and I spun my chair around.

I go, how about social media sucks?

She goes, that's it.

So when I had the opportunity on the idea for the second book, it had been seven years since I wrote a book.

I wrote the first one in 2013, wrote podcasts suck in 2020.

I'm like, let's keep the whole sucks thing going because it's a tongue-in-cheek.

It gets, it gets attention.

It fits my personality.

So that's kind of where it came to fruition was let's follow the trend of sucks, but it doesn't.

And this one has caught a little bit more traction because people were like, podcasts suck, but you're a podcast.

Oh, if you don't have one

and then i launched the show a couple years ago because i'm a firm believer that if you know something that someone else doesn't know it's your responsibility to share it so if you can't afford to hire me read my book go to my youtube channel watch my youtube watch my uh watch my youtube channel listen to my podcast read my book and you can do it like i give you all my secrets and i think that there's nothing in this day and age the age of transparency is so important and making sure that we get our message out to as many people as possible.

Yeah.

That's where Gary B crushed it.

He made everything free.

Yeah.

You know, I used to watch all his videos when I was first starting on my journey.

Shout out to him.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Cool.

You built a relationship with him.

He's amazing, dude.

That's one of the most humble human beings I've ever met.

He's in town, right?

He was speaking at something.

He was.

Yeah.

I haven't seen him in like five years now.

We used to just run into each other because we first met in 20,

we connected right when I write my, so the story was my buddy called me in 2010

and said, hey, you got to meet this guy, Gary Vanderchuck.

I'm like, who?

He goes, You got to read his book, crush it, but get the audio version.

I'm like, Dude, I don't have any money.

He's like, You're logged into my account, download it, put it on your iPod.

I just dated myself.

So I did that and I started reading it, and I immediately resonate with him.

So I reached out via an email, started asking some questions.

And I think one of the first things I ever emailed him when I was starting social buzz was like,

Hey, man, I'm starting to do this, but like, I just want to give up.

And he replied, Do it.

Like, give up.

And I'm like, I'm not giving up.

A little reverse psychology.

So like, I think two years later, his second book came out, Thank You Economy.

And I connected with his right hand at the time.

Team was small, like two or three.

Guy named Phil Tarano was his right hand at the time.

Phil went on to run his venture capital firm, president of his venture capital firm now.

So shout out to Phil.

But Phil

got the interview on the calendar for, I found out that his bookstop was going to be around the corner from my house in Miami at a local bookstore.

So I reached out like, hey, Phil, I'd love to do like a, like an interview, like hallway, you know, quick little before his book signing.

And he's like, yeah, Gary said he's down to do it.

So just meet him there at book signings at seven, meet him at six, and we can make it happen.

I go, cool.

Well, a day later, I get a phone call from a video production company.

They're like, hey, man, we've seen your work and we want to work with you.

And I'm like, like, year like two, social buzz.

I'm like,

my work?

Well, yeah, my work.

Absolutely.

I'm like, like, we'd love to work with you.

I go, cool.

What do you guys do on Tuesday night, next Tuesday?

They go, we're wide open, actually.

I go, cool.

I have a book signing for my buddy Gary Vaynerchuk.

You don't know him yet, but you will.

Books called Thank You Economy.

He goes, oh, this is perfect.

We just did Russell Simmons' book signing last month there.

I was like, done.

So Gary rolls up.

I meet him, walks up the street.

First time we met in person.

Film crew rolls in.

D-Rock?

Yeah, no, this was right before D-Rock.

Okay.

No, no, D-Rock had just started with him, but D-Rock wasn't with him.

Got it.

So my film crew that had called me was like, hey, want to work.

They showed up full-blown setup, lights, cameras, mics, all nine.

So Gary and I spent like an hour sitting down.

I thought it was going to be like a whole way interview.

We spent like an hour full-blown conversation, my story, like full circle.

I executed on the Crush It blueprint and

we kept everybody waiting for the book signing like way longer than I had expected.

And after that, I became an MC and his speaking career was really, I mean, crushing from the get.

And every time we'd see each other again, I'd be MC in the event.

He'd be keynoting.

I love it.

And now he charges a quarter million to speak.

Yeah, he's up to like $350 now.

Damn.

Yeah, it's nuts.

So it was like, and he'd always be on his way back to Miami because he's good friends with Coach Spo for the heat.

Yeah.

So it'd be like Philly or New York or traffic and conversions

was one of them.

It was funny that I had he did traffic and conversions and he got there that afternoon.

And part of the whole deal is like, you know, book Gary, like you get FaceTime with the guy that books you.

Yeah.

Guy who's still in the event.

So him and Ryan Dice are chatting in the green room.

It's like only two of them and i and i just walked in to like grab a water and and gary's like give me a second and like gets up from the conversation ryan's like what's going on here and i i didn't mean to disrupt the conversation i i know how the whole program works but we got a chance to like have a conversation and hey how you do man how's everything and ryan's like are you done yet are you done with my mc yet like can we get back to the conversation as well and And I told Ryan, I was like, hey, man, I didn't mean to like, he's like, no, I didn't know you like knew him, knew him.

I'm like, yeah, I'm not, there's not, I'm not a clout chaser here.

Like, but you provide value, you know, people notice.

People come up to you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, that's, that's been the beautiful part of the journey, even though I don't see Gary a lot.

I, he did an event in Miami in 2018 called Agent 2021 at Dolvin Stadium.

And I hit him up.

I'm like, hey, man, I'd love to be there.

And, you know, once he's like, hey, this is my boy.

Let's cover the event.

So there was like in the media room.

There wasn't a bunch of media there.

So we spent the whole day together.

Damn, I love that.

And his mom was there.

his family was there.

It was, it was super dope.

And I was doing a lot of MC stuff, and we walked down to the stage together.

And I didn't even think to ask him, who's introducing you?

And sure enough, it was the AV guy.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage, chairman of Vayner Media.

Had I asked him, he would have done it.

But I'm sitting there and he's during his talk.

And I was walking, I got up and I was like walking across.

I made eye contact with him real quick.

And he's like, for all the Sebastians and Carlos's and Jessicas that are out there like doubling down on content, and I got the clip.

I love that.

So, that was the last time we got a chance to spend some time together, but um, he's gone on to be a worldwide phenomenon

literally with the book too.

Yes, that was a good book.

I read that one, yeah.

Um, yeah, his philosophy on content changed my life, how you repurpose to every single platform.

Now, I'm posting everywhere.

Yeah, I mean, that was just a game changer, yeah, and it's such a cost-effective method of gaining attention.

Yeah, like his humility is, um,

I think people mistake it based on his energy level.

Yeah.

And how he shows up.

He's highly engaged when you're talking to him.

Like a suitable.

You feel like you're the only person in the room.

That's cool.

One of the first things I ever learned from him was

your personal brand in perpetuity is your reputation.

And

authenticity trumps likability.

And always make time

for people, Sebastian.

Always.

You're never too busy.

You'll never be too popular.

You'll never be too big.

You make time for people.

You never, ever forget where you came from.

And I've never forgot that.

Can't get too big time, man, because they'll come back to bikes.

Yeah, I'm sure you experienced this a lot with the level that you've been able to grow the show and the people you have conversations with and the people that probably hit you up too.

I mean, egos are on like high alert.

And I think that there's a shift happening right now where when you show up with your ego through the roof, it's less attractive and less appealing to people to go, you know what?

I want to be around that guy.

100%.

But when someone shows up and goes, dude, I, I put my pants on just like you do every day, one leg at a time, you know?

Um, I think that's what resonates with people.

And that's who I'm trying to be.

I'm trying to be someone where, you know what, I, I, I'm a better person because I know Sebastian Ruskin.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm constantly checking my ego.

I'm evaluating conversations I had throughout the day, reflecting on them, how I could have, you know, talked better, if anything.

It's important.

It really is how we show up and check on ourselves because it does matter.

It's like I was talking to the Uber driver on the way over here.

It's here.

It's here at the studio on Wednesday.

And he's like, man, you know, I work over at Caesars.

I do this part-time.

I work over at Caesars and

work in the mechanical department.

Man, these guys' mindset is just terrible.

You know, they're always talking about, you know, must be nice to do this and must be nice to do that.

I said, yeah, man, scarcity mindset will get you.

He said, you know, I woke up this morning in my head.

I said, oh, man, you got to get out of your head.

I go, the great Mel Robbins says, if you're in your head, you're behind enemy lines.

I said, the only way to get out of your head is get into your heart.

And you got to ask yourself, you know, when you're in your head, somebody's missing out on you.

He said, man, I got to tell you,

I've been looking for some answers all day and I didn't know I was going to get it on an Uber fair on the way over here.

I love that.

Thank you.

And I said, I didn't know I was going to be able to bless you on the way over here, you know, but I'm just trying to shine my light as bright as possible everywhere I go.

I don't care.

Sometimes it's the stage.

Sometimes it's the podcast.

Sometimes it's at the grocery store in the back of an Uber.

I don't care where it is.

I just want to lead people different.

Shout out to Mel.

I'm reading her new book right now.

Let them.

Let them.

Yeah.

It's pretty good.

Yeah.

It's important to have that mindset as you get more and more attention too.

Very much so.

Humility goes a long, long way.

And I'm so, it's been 15 years since Gary and I met.

And that's like, what's your one takeaway?

I was like, humility.

Well, because life will humble you constantly.

Real quick and constantly.

Yeah.

So why not keep it in check and realize that, you know, we're all fighting a battle, some bigger than others, but gratitude and humility will combat a majority of life's battles if we're willing to just take a deep breath, take a step back and realize the power between

reacting versus responding.

I love that.

Lately, I've been telling myself,

you have a choice, Sebastian.

Like, I know that you absolutely want to light this guy up right now, but you have a choice.

And he's got a battle that he's fighting that you don't know nothing about.

And if you respond with grace, you may be able to help him through that battle.

I mean, you're seeing that with Breco versus Cardone right now.

These guys just want to light each other up, but it's like, it's kind of making them both look bad in a way, you know?

I thought about that.

I thought about that when I saw the post last week.

Yeah.

I thought, is this the best way?

Public beef is like,

I've done it before and I'll never do it again.

I'll say that.

Because even though I got scammed basically and I blasted the guy, nothing good came out of that.

I lost friendships.

I never got the money back.

It wasn't even worth it.

So I'm never going to do public beef again.

I think that

learned a long time ago that if we can waive our

desire to be right, we can open up so much freedom for ourselves because we live in a world that we just want to be right.

Just to be right.

Cause it's that quick hit.

I want to be right.

It's kind of like getting pissed.

You snap.

It only feels good while you're snapping.

After that, you got to go cleanup mode.

Yeah, you regret it.

Yeah, that's so true.

Yeah, a lot of people want to prove themselves right.

I don't need to be right.

I just don't at all.

You can be right.

You got it.

You won the argument.

You'd be surprised how many times you can diffuse a conversation by saying, you know what?

You're right.

Most conversations probably.

You still out there in Miami?

Yeah.

It's gotten crazy.

It's not the same Miami I grew up in.

What's changed?

Everyone moved there.

New York ruined it.

Shout out to New York.

Wow.

I thought you were going to say Cali ruined it.

Yeah, both of them did.

Yeah.

It's just become like a Vegas, you know, just party central.

It's the OnlyFans capital.

Yeah, OnlyFans and crypto.

Yeah, it's how I started my OnlyFans Toes account.

Yeah, it was crazy.

That's a whole other other conversation.

You're on Foot Finder.

Yeah, Miami is nuts, man.

Dating must be tough out there these days.

Yeah, it's comparable to

walking cats.

Yeah.

It is a less than pleasurable experience.

I write a lot, a lot of majority of my comedy materials written around in my dating life.

Yeah.

I bet you got stories for days on that.

It's just,

yeah.

I told a story of meeting a girl and asking her what her love language was and she said Spanish.

And I was like,

you had to learn spanish out there didn't you i still have and i grew up there you still don't know it no that's like half the woman out there you gotta be able to pick them up in multiple languages yeah

i was talking i wrote a bit about i was watching the world cup a couple years ago and one of the bartenders

went up to go get a beer and she's like you look like that actors people tell me i look like michael keaton a lot a younger michael keaton don't at me

And

so I go, she goes, you look like that actor.

And I go, wait, don't tell me, Michael Keaton.

She goes, no, Beetlejuice.

What?

Isn't that the girl?

Well, he was Michael Keaton back in the day.

But I was like, can I get Batman?

Come on.

So, yeah, it's definitely a challenge to

communicate down there if they're not bilingual.

But I'm in a different, I'm in a, you know, I'm in a different space in life.

I'm 46 years old.

I feel in I feel 26.

I'm an empty nester.

I spent 20 years raising my daughter on my own.

Dance.

Set her off to college out here in Phoenix.

She graduated with a psych major.

Nice.

Moved to Dallas with her boyfriend, finishing the master's program right now.

Completely self-sufficient.

So check plus on raising a

contributing.

Thank you, man.

Contributing member to society.

She is my greatest accomplishment.

She is.

a great human being.

We have an incredible, incredible father-daughter adult relationship now.

I'm in thanks to Stuman's group, Apex, for allowing me to be in Dallas almost quarterly, sometimes more than that.

My daughter lives about 30 minutes from Sueman's office.

That worked out well.

It worked out real well.

So I fly in a day early.

We do a little daughter-daddy day and

then I go do my thing with my Apex fam.

And it just Dallas become my second home.

So I really just enjoy the freedom.

Like I've been like.

people mode all week here, conferences, even whether I'm speaking or I'm attending or whatever it may be.

It's still,

I'm an extrovert, but I recharge by being an introvert.

So I am, in fact, changed my flight to go home on an earlier flight today.

Yeah.

I've done that before too.

Yeah.

Just to get home to complete silence for the next two days and not think,

not talk.

I feel more drained from conferences than playing sports.

Like I'd rather play sports, hit the sauna, and I'd feel better than a conference sometimes.

Yeah.

Because people are just yapping at you all the time.

I did, I did back-to-back talks

last week at a gig in Miami.

And by four o'clock, I couldn't keep my eyes open.

And I was stoked that that happened, Sean.

I went home literally,

took a shower, ate dinner,

like went to bed at five o'clock.

I don't care.

Shut all the shades down, blackout shades, and just it's time to recharge.

And that let me know that I left everything on the field on those stages.

And that's what it's all about.

If I'm not doing that, then I'm doing my job wrong.

I'm in the wrong place.

We're on the wrong stage on there.

But I was like, why, dude, it's 4.30.

Like, I can't even keep my eyes open.

But yeah, there's highs and lows of the

speaking game, but I'm grateful for it all.

Yeah, I think it's more of a net positive in the long run.

You'll always have those weirdos, but you meet some great people at events like that.

Yeah, you really do.

Yeah.

I mean, it's more of the impact.

It's that ripple effect.

You know, ripples become waves.

And you never know.

You just never know whose life is going to be radically changed and who needs to hear that word.

And sometimes like, I didn't even mean to say.

what I said.

And someone took that and took the ball and ran with it and changed their life.

Like, what?

I love that.

Sebastian, where can people find you?

Where can people become a client and keep up to date with you, man?

Yeah,

podcast suck.

It's podcast plural on Instagram at podcast suck.

Sebastian Rusk on Facebook, on LinkedIn.

If you've been thinking about starting a podcast to change your life and your business, all my links are in my Instagram profile.

You can book a call with me, not somebody on my team, me.

Not AI?

No, I want to talk to you.

I want to get to know you.

I want to find out if you're a fit.

Not everyone's a fit, but I usually know in the first 32 seconds seconds whether or not you're serious about changing your life and your business by being able to do it.

So

I really look forward to seeing what's possible.

Awesome.

I really appreciate this opportunity, Sean.

Yeah, thanks for coming on, man.

I'll see you in Miami.

Yeah, I dude, let's do it.

All right.

Check them out, guys.

See you next time.