How Can Podcasting Build Relationships That Drive Business?

Jeremy Weisz (00:02) So it's just how one relationship, putting out content and profiling someone leads to more and more things over a decade, you know? Ben Ard (00:38) Welcome back to another episode of Content Amplified. Today I'm joined by Jeremy. Jeremy, welcome to the show. Jeremy Weisz (00:43) Ben, I'm excited. Thanks for having me. Ben Ard (00:45) Yeah, Jeremy, this is going to be fun. I'm excited for us to talk about what we're going to discuss today. It really comes back to the core of why we care about content. But before we dive into that, let us get to know you, your background, your history, and all that kind of fun stuff. Jeremy Weisz (01:00) Yeah, so I'll give a 15 second version. I studied biochemistry at Wisconsin University of Madison and ⁓ went on to chiropractic school. My dad suffered with really bad neck pain when I was young and nothing really helped him for years until he finally saw a chiropractor. And then like a couple months, he was almost 100 % better. So I saw him go through that. I decided I think that's what I wanna do. I went and interned in high school with the chiropractor that helped him. And I just saw people come in with a frown and leave with a smile. And I'm like, this is what I wanna do. And so I went on to chiropractic school and I practiced. And they don't teach you anything. And you're like a master marketer from when we were talking before we hit record. They don't teach you anything about business and marketing in chiropractic school. So like when you go out and you're starting a practice, I'm like, I have no idea what I'm doing here. And so I was starting to go to business and marketing conferences at the time we're talking like 2006, seven, and there were internet marketing conferences. That was like a genre of thing, right? Obviously everything's on the internet now, but ⁓ So I found some of the cross this thing and at the time it wasn't called podcasting. Most people didn't know what a podcast was. It was more just like publishing content online, audio interviews online. And I really took to it. It's everything that I love, which is professional development. It's learning, it's relationships, whether it's referral relationships or not just referral, but client relationships. It's SEO. It's all wrapped into one 30 minute conversation. and I get to reach out to the top people I admire. And so I started doing that back in 2007, eight, and people were coming to me, and by the way, I'm running a full-time chiropractic practice, coming to me asking me to help them launch and run a podcast. So by accident that turned into a separate business, I did practice for 15 years. I eventually sold the practice and the commercial space that I owned. And over time I built up this separate business and I met my business partner through podcasting. So Ben, you'll appreciate this. You know, with all the podcasting episodes you have, when I look at my life, when I look at almost everything good in my life tracks back to a podcast. Okay. Now I did not meet my wife on a podcast. That's the exception, but my best friends, I've gone to weddings, I've gone on family vacations. my business partner, that's how we met through podcasting. And so just forming these amazing relationships. so fast forward today, that's what we do. Rise 25, we help businesses build amazing relationships through podcasting, through gifting, and I love what I do. And so it was funny because for the first couple of years of running that Rise 25, One of my friends said, Jeremy, you're running an agency. I'm like, what's an agency? I didn't even know what that was. I was just like helping people, solving a problem. I'm like, oh, you're doing this thing called agencies? Then I like kind of dug deeper into that. And so I just started reaching out to mentors and people. Jason Swink was one of them where he built an eight figure agency, sold it, and then he was running agency groups. So I just was searching out. Ben Ard (04:08) you Jeremy Weisz (04:11) That's what I love about podcasts and your podcasts. I can learn from people. And I think I listen, I hate to admit this Ben, but I think I listened to probably 300 of Jason's podcasts on like three times speed, granted. And then I reached out, joined his group or whatever, but I just, to me is really fast forwarded. And as my friend, Ed O'Keefe wrote the book, Time Collapsing, time collapses money and time for me. So I'm always looking at people who are doing what I wanna do and are doing amazing things. that's kind of, you know, I just love this medium. Ben Ard (04:52) I love it. And I agree 100%. I have gone to conferences and spoken on the power of podcasting, challenging the audience that every single person should run and start their own podcast. It is the coolest platform. And you're right. Like there are so many good things that come from the relationships that I've built through the podcast. And it is a platform that everyone needs to start, especially in a fragmented world where we have the internet. Not everyone's working in an office. If you want to meet people, this is one of the greatest ways to do it. So I'm so excited. We would have never met if it weren't for this awesome platform. And I'm excited about that. Jeremy Weisz (05:26) Yeah, when I'm in Utah, I'm sure we'll hang out. I you're in Chicagoland, we'll hang out, so totally. Nice, I love it. Ben Ard (05:31) We'll get Garrett's popcorn together. That's like my go-to. I'm obsessed with popcorn and Garrett's is the pinnacle. So I love it. So Jeremy, what we're going to talk about today, and I love this, you brought up this idea and I think it's amazing. It's kind of going back to the core of content. It's why, why do we actually share content? What's the whole point? And I want to get your take raw, unfiltered, unedited. Why do we create and distribute and share content in the first place. Jeremy Weisz (05:59) So like, you know, I kind of bucket content and when I think of content, whether it's on social media or podcasting in the kind of two separate buckets and one is external companies, like interviews, right? And two is thought leadership, which is the company person's thought leadership. And so, and we were talking a little before we record is I kind of to my fault, really focus on the first one, which is profiling and featuring others businesses that I admire and respect. And, you know, I go into a relationship, even when people talk to me about sales and they're concerned about sales or, you know, they're talking to a customer or client or whatever, I don't think of it like that. think I go into the conversation not thinking I want to get this person as a customer. just, the way I think of it is how can I add value or help this person? And it takes a pressure off me. I'm not trying to sell them something. Now, if what I have is, of course I'd love to work with them if it's a fit for both of us, but that's not my intent going into a conversation. My intent is how do I add value? And the added value could be nothing about their business, right? It could be, I've had people say, Jeremy, I have this like weird tickle in my throat. And I'm like, you know, that's my background in biochemistry and health. I'm like looking up and we start chatting for a half hour about their health. And it's like, oh, wait, wait, I wanted to talk about business, I'm like, don't worry about it. We could talk about that another time. Let's talk about what's pressing for you. And so I go into that conversation about how do I help them? How do I add value to them? And so the same thing I think about with content, which is when I'm posting on social, again, maybe to a fault, 99 % of the stuff I'm posting about companies and people that I admire and love and sharing what they're working on. All right? maybe too little on our company and our thought. Listen, if I form a relationship and they'll figure out what I do eventually, and if it's a fit, it's a fit, right? And so that's kind of how I approach content. And that could be like, I mean, I love LinkedIn from a B2B space. know you're in the B2B space. So LinkedIn I love, but it could be any social. It's on the podcast, it's on YouTube, wherever it is. No one's ever said, like after this interview, Ben, you know, I'll take a screenshot and I'll post about your company on LinkedIn, okay? No one's ever said to me, Jeremy, stop posting about me and my company, okay? Ever, right? And it also makes it easy for them to share it and market their own company. It's also, I feel like an edification. It's easier, so I'm giving a talk. at a conference in Atlanta at end of the week. And I want to profile some of the company, the people in the room in my talk. And one thing I wanted to do is I wanted to deliver value ahead of time. so again, I have right now it's a Tuesday, it starts Friday. So I have like three days to like prove this out. But what I'm going to do is I'm just going to go to their partners and start introducing. I don't know them. I don't know their partner. Ben Ard (08:49) Yeah. Jeremy Weisz (08:57) Okay, but I'm doing an experiment. I like to do experiments when someone has me talk, which is adding value to the people there. And the experiment will be, hey, this person is in your, this is like, these are functional medicine, doctor, chiropractors. These people, this person's in your area and it may be like, let's say a fitness studio or someone that's a potential partner. I'll go to them, I'll go, hey, you both should meet and collaborate. You're both doing cool things. I don't know either of them. by the way, but I can do that. it means, as opposed to that company reaching out, it's a different approach and it's a different authority if someone else is doing it than if that company is doing it. So we'll see what happens. mean, either way, when someone responds like, cool, you want me to make an intro? Cool, I'll intro you and you'll see where it goes. Ben Ard (09:43) I love that. And I'm going to actually put a reminder. I need to email you and see how this goes. I'm curious. This is going to be fun. So when you're looking at it, so I love this concept of adding value. You're trying to help people. And a lot of these examples are one off, right? So it's the ability to go to a specific person, specific business. How do I help them? Is there any way to multiply the impact of help beyond just a single person or is that good enough? Like, what are your thoughts and opinions there? Jeremy Weisz (09:50) Yeah. Yeah, totally. ⁓ That's a good question. when I look at, this goes to one of my favorite books is Adam Grant's Give and Take. And he talks about the most successful and least successful people are givers. Okay. And there's matchers and takers. And the reason, and I was looking at, know, he's a researcher, so you could check out the book, but you know, the difference between the most successful and least successful givers are, it depends who they give to. Right, and so I personally look at one, am I giving to other givers who are gonna appreciate it and just in their, like if you introduce people to me, I'm a natural person who likes to make introductions. I probably make five to 20 introductions a day to people, okay? That's just my natural way of being. So if I do that for other givers, it's the same thing. But to your point is, okay, so one, I give to givers. The second is, What's a leverage way of doing it is to, look at, I think of the exact question you asked, because it can be a very like manual process, but I look at referral partnerships and strategic partnerships. So who are the companies and people have reservoirs of the exact same type of people that I want? And so that one relationship that it's like that small hinge that swings big doors type of situation. What's that one relationship that could lead to 20, 30, 40, 50, 100 relationships for both of us. And like when we were talking, that's just how I think. When I was thinking of your company, cause like you help people kind of put all of their content into a database so they can access it and the sales teams and marketing teams can access it. And you're like, okay, these companies have HubSpot, you know, are often on HubSpot and Salesforce. You know, usually someone on HubSpot and Salesforce are bigger companies anyways, and they're SaaS companies. Ben Ard (11:29) Yep. Jeremy Weisz (11:54) I'm thinking, okay, well, who are the top people I can introduce to Ben who are EOS implementers who may have like 30 clients, right? EOS implementers, I mean, they're paying, you know, a decent amount of money to have that. So they're kind of pre-qualified to work with Ben in what they do. Who are the Salesforce or HubSpot ⁓ agencies? They may have like 30 or 40 clients that would be like, this is a cool solution. We should have them check it out. Ben Ard (12:03) Mm-hmm. Jeremy Weisz (12:20) Right? And so that's the way I think of it. Obviously that person's a giver and then they are kind of serving the same type of clientele that I am. That's the way I think about it. So if I put a lot, a lot of energy into that person, no problem. You know, that could lead to, as opposed to pouring that one energy into a client, which is a potential client, which is fine. But I, again, that's a, this is a long game. Like it's not going to be like boom. someone's, something's gonna happen. It's like, I form a relationship over a year, two years, three years, four years, five years, and we start collaborating together. That's the way I think of it. Ben Ard (12:57) I love that and I love that definition. I love how you're focusing on the relationships that can expand and grow and can exponential and all that kind of fun stuff. because we're running out of time, we're so close to the end and I feel like you have such rich experience. I'm going to throw you a curve ball. It's kind of hard to ask these questions because it's out of nowhere. Any cool stories or experiences that you've had about providing content and value to people that have built like cool relationships, cool experiences. Jeremy Weisz (13:14) Let's do it. Yeah. Ben Ard (13:24) Things like that that have helped your life. I mean, you talked about vacations and friends and been to weddings and all that kind of crazy stuff. But as I'm saying this really long winded question, trying to give you time to think any examples or anything like that, that comes to mind from like leveraging value to build up a new partnership. Jeremy Weisz (13:34) Yeah. Yeah, totally. Yeah, I'll give you, I have a lot of examples. One in particular stands out. So a good friend, Chad Rubin, he runs a company, Prophecy, and they basically help, they're like a pricing tool for e-commerce on Amazon. Originally we met, and this may be thinking, I don't know how many years ago, let's say it's seven years ago, I don't remember, but we, had him on, we were chatting. for a podcast episode. I was profiling at the time. He was running Scubana, which is a software for e-commerce logistics. And we just hit it off. Okay. I promoted his company, obviously on the podcast. And then I'm like, listen, I love what you're doing. First of all, I became a customer of his for my separate e-commerce business. Second of all, I said, Hey, I'd love to gift you some sponsorship to my episodes because I love what you're doing. I gifted him a couple of episodes. He eventually hired us to help him with some of the content that they were doing. We went and stayed at his house in Miami and I'm in EO Chicago, Entrepreneurs Organization, and he had our whole group out on his boat. But it started with profiling his company and it started with me being like, I just want to continue. sharing what's going on with your company. As you know, that one podcast episode is a blog post. It goes across 12 different podcast channels and YouTube and we email out to our list. We share it with our 20,000 person LinkedIn and everything like that. So just adding value there. But again, he just had a birthday party. He had a non-traditional birthday party called the Chad accent at a conference for his birthday party. and it was a conference of his best friends and so he asked me to speak there. And this comes full circle, you know? I probably chat with him on a daily basis. So it's just how one relationship, putting out content and profiling someone leads to more and more things over a decade, you know? Ben Ard (15:42) I love that. And my two cents real quick before we end this episode and get people back to their days. This is the exact way that you should quote unquote network. There are so many people when they talk about networking and it's just about what can you give me trying to get in there with the sales pitch, things like that. Real networking is building value, creating value, building relationships. And then eventually over time, yeah, it may yield some fruit on the, partnership side, but It really is building that relationship. So I love the perfect example of how to network. That's amazing. Jeremy, we're out of time. I told you go by quick. These are fast episodes. I am so impressed. I love this conversation. It was amazing for anyone listening that wants to reach out and connect with you online. How and where can they find you? Jeremy Weisz (16:26) I mean, you could go to inspiredinsider.com is my podcast. It's funny, this whole process we're talking about podcasts, I can never mention my podcast, but you can contact me there or rise25.com if you email the contact form. I'm also very active on LinkedIn under Jeremy Weiss, W-E-I-S-Z. You can connect with me. I do check, even though I have 18,000 people that I'm connected with, I do literally check every message and usually I'll accept ones that send me a personal message. So please just say, if you mentioned Ben's name, of course you're in, I'd love to connect with you. So you can connect with me there as well. Ben Ard (17:04) I love it. For anyone listening, just scroll down to the show notes. We will link to all that different information and to Jeremy right there so you can connect quickly with him. Jeremy, thank you. Thank you for the insights. Thank you for everything today. This was amazing. Appreciate your time. Jeremy Weisz (17:17) Thank you. Thanks, Ben.