The Courageous Path: Amplifying Voices through a Podcasting Community. A Conversation with Alex Sanfilippo. (Epi. #200)

Guest Bio:
Alex Sanfilippo is the founder of PodMatch, a revolutionary platform connecting podcast hosts and guests to amplify independent voices. As the host of the top-rated podcast Podcasting Made Simple, Alex is a leader in the podcasting industry, dedicated to empowering creators through innovative tools like PodcastSOP.com and PodAwards.fm.

With a journey spanning humble beginnings in the aerospace industry to building a thriving podcasting business, Alex combines his passion for service with a drive to elevate others. Together with his wife, Alecia, he continues to create a lasting impact by fostering community and innovation in the world of podcasting.

About this episode:

In this engaging episode, Shilpa interviews Alex, the founder of Podmatch, about his journey from a corporate career to creating a powerful platform for podcasters. They discuss the importance of finding one's 'why', the impact of a meaningful and intentional approach to podcasting, and how Podmatch supports independent creators with comprehensive educational resources. The episode also touches on personal anecdotes, the significance of authenticity in the age of AI, and practical steps for new and transitioning podcasters to overcome self-doubt and connect deeply with their audience.

00:00 Introduction and Warm Welcome
00:49 Shared Interests and Personal Stories
01:50 Corporate Life Reflections
04:15 Discovering the Why
07:22 Podcasting Journey Begins
10:36 Challenges in Podcasting
13:34 Podmatch and Education
16:52 Buil

✨ Feeling the pull to pivot from corporate, but unsure where to start? ✨

 I help high-achieving women create the runway to pivot in the next 6 to 9 months from corporate to a profitable, aligned business in the wellness or creative space using my Amplify Authentically™ process

DM me #AMPLIFY ON IG https://www.instagram.com/omni.mindfulness/ OR https://www.linkedin.com/in/shilpashukla/

https://www.joinpodmatch.com/podmatch_omnimindfulness

Level up with PodMatch
Match with your ideal podcast guest or host

Level up with PodMatch
Match with your ideal podcast guest or host

SPI (Smart Passive Income)
Earn smart passive income while you relax or work!

Connect with ConvertKit


Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Transcript

[00:00:00] Shilpa: Hi, Alex. Thank you so much for being here. 

[00:00:07] Alex S.: Shilpa, thank you for having me. It's truly an honor to be here with you today. 

[00:00:10] Shilpa: Well, it's an honor for me, and I'm just really excited. I, like I, before I press play or record, I was telling you that I did a little tiny bit of research, not to put any fear, but I always enjoy, um, a little bit of homework.

[00:00:24] Shilpa: So to get started, I wanted to, um, first share the Podmatch platform you've created and the entire ecosystem around it is so immensely useful and so empowering for people to amplify their voice. I just wanted to let people know, and the intro already shared with others, what it is that, um, you offer. Now, before we get started, I wanted to tell you that we have something in common.

[00:00:54] Shilpa: Great. 

[00:00:57] Alex S.: I love that you did some research and now like edge of my seat. [00:01:00] What is it that we have in common? 

[00:01:02] Shilpa: Well, um, I heard that you mentioned. That you're a fan of a certain sitcom, that my husband and I are also a fan of, The Office. 

[00:01:12] Alex S.: Yes! 

[00:01:15] Shilpa: And, funny enough, and I know you like stories, so I'll just give you that little story so it ties everything together.

[00:01:21] Shilpa: When my husband and I met, We bonded over Steve Jobs, Apple, and The Office. And our favorite movie was Office Space, so shortly after meeting, this is like months after meeting, we threw an Office Space party. where you had to fill out a TCP report and the prize was a red stapler. 

[00:01:45] Alex S.: Wow. It's my, I love the office and I love office space.

[00:01:50] Alex S.: I did 15 years in big corporate, uh, before becoming an entrepreneur. And I resonated with so much of that, especially the copier. I mean, if anyone remembers that movie or seen that scene, I won't spoil it, but [00:02:00] basically someone gets into a really aggressive fight with a, with a, fax machine or printer all in all in one device.

[00:02:05] Alex S.: But that is so funny that we have like that in common because people always like you like that, that show and you like that movie. Like, I'm like, yes, that's my favorite. I, it's the only show I've actually ever watched all the way through that I can recall at this point. 

[00:02:17] Shilpa: Oh yeah. And I can, I can probably go into detail about why that resonates so deeply, but one thing I, it, it piqued my curiosity when I read about that.

[00:02:27] Shilpa: And then I thought, let me ask him. How did that show spark something inside of you about your why? So that fast forward now, you're helping maybe those very souls stuck in that cube environment amplify their voice or their soul. 

[00:02:51] Alex S.: Yeah. You know, obviously that show for me, I was, I was working a desk job, but kind of similar environment.

[00:02:56] Alex S.: We, I don't know if we had like a true Michael Scott there, but we had a few Dwight's. [00:03:00] And so at the very least we had that going for us, but I can remember always laughing at the show and like, Oh, how fun it would be to work here. And I'm like, wait a minute, I worked there. This is not real. Yeah. Cool.

[00:03:09] Alex S.: Right? Like in that reminder, I'm like, this is not what it's like, because if, if anyone said in these things, doing these things, like you would, you'd be straight in HR's office. You would never get another job type of situation. Right? Like, and there was serious work to be done if you wanted to also keep your job and keep the company afloat.

[00:03:22] Alex S.: And so it was interesting because for me, I was like, Oh, it'd be so cool to work somewhere like that. I can remember a few of my coworkers. voicing the same thing. I'm like, wait a minute. That doesn't exist. That's not real. And, and, and it shouldn't be right. That's why it's TV. It's fun. And so for me, I kind of realized that when I went to work, although I thought like, oh, it's so fun.

[00:03:40] Alex S.: It looks so funny in the office. But the reality is when you're in a true office, it wasn't. And not that I didn't like my job. I actually really enjoyed being there. My corporate career. I did 15 years. I thought it was super fun. Like I loved it. I had some tough years, of course, and some highs and some lows, some things I love, some things I didn't, but most people around me were miserable.[00:04:00] 

[00:04:00] Alex S.: And it wasn't because the company had a bad culture. It's just like, Oh, is it Friday yet? It's like the mindset. I'm like, man, it's, it's Monday. Like, but you, you shouldn't hate the next five days of your life just to get the two that you're going to enjoy. And if that is the case, maybe something wrong is happening here.

[00:04:15] Alex S.: And that idea made me very passionate in my career to help people enjoy the work that I did. So I did my best to be a, not a Michael Scott, but a fun boss, one that people like being around. I had big teams that I was managing. Uh, and, and divisions of the company, uh, but more so help people realize that like, Hey, maybe this isn't right.

[00:04:32] Alex S.: And I'll share one more thing here. There was one time I let an employee go and she wasn't, she wasn't performing too poorly. And, um, I took a risk in letting her go, assuming she wasn't going to try to sue or do it, do anything like that. But I had a feeling she wouldn't. And she's like, well, why? And I was like, I know that you want more.

[00:04:51] Alex S.: And I know this isn't what you want, but you're comfortable right now, and you're never going to rock the boat. And I'll never forget. She like bawled her eyes out. Like, and she's like, no, you're right. Like, this is the [00:05:00] best thing that could be happening to me is me getting to now pursue what I want to do.

[00:05:03] Alex S.: And it was, that was like a, an eyeopening thing. I'm like, wow, there's more than just the job that we have today. There might be something better or there might be a different mindset that you can have in this or maybe something of your own. So, uh, that's probably more than you wanted Shilpa, but I feel like that was important to share.

[00:05:18] Shilpa: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. What I, um, really love about the fact that you did have that moment of reflection, like, what is my why? And perhaps, um, even if you were not miserable, like many people seem to be in those corporate situations, you had the seat of thought, like, what is my why? And, um, can you share anything about how that leaped into your podcasting journey and particularly how it ties with.

[00:05:48] Shilpa: Maybe, let me, let me ask this and this might be an amusing way to transition, is if one of the characters from that show were to go on in the future, hypothetically, and have a [00:06:00] podcast show, Which one needed the most? 

[00:06:05] Alex S.: Oh, that's a good, good question. I'm going to answer like the, uh, the non fun side, not, not, not non fun, but like the more serious side of it.

[00:06:12] Alex S.: The, uh, but to answer that, I would probably, let's see, which character would I say? It'd probably be, Well, Angela has one. I don't know. I think her real name is Angela and she has office girls. Right? So they've gone on to do it. So I'll use someone other than her and, uh, in Jen, Jenna or something like that.

[00:06:27] Alex S.: It's her name. The two girls actually have a podcast about I think they call it office girls. But beyond that, I'd probably say the early stages of Jim who hated, you know, his career, right? And he's always like the first few seasons. He's like, I hate this. Like I want to leave. And he got into like a fancy startup and stuff.

[00:06:41] Alex S.: Anyway, that's who I would say going to my own story about this though, the story I just previously shared about like me trying to like do a good job and to serve the people that I was working with. That was as deep as my why when at that moment, cause I didn't really take the time to figure out what it was.

[00:06:59] Alex S.: And I think [00:07:00] for everyone here. No matter what, no matter what it is that you do, even if you're stay at home, you have a part time job, you're doing something in tech, you have some sort of startup, like you have to slow down and get very intentional to discover your why and to really map it out. And so I was doing the best I could based off what I knew, but I never gave myself the space to truly discover why, why was I doing this?

[00:07:21] Alex S.: Why did I want to do this? And podcasting for me was a way for me to discover that because even when I started looking inside. And it happened kind of abruptly, our company went public, and I realized when it went public that as good as I was doing, I was actually better at working in a public company than I was at a private company, which is funny, but I liked it much less.

[00:07:39] Alex S.: And that's what prompted me to say, man, I got to look inside. Like, I don't think this is Alex forever. I think there's something else I need to do, or I don't know. And so kind of out of desperation, I decided to start a podcast. It helped me get my thoughts out. It helped me learn from other people much smarter than me.

[00:07:55] Alex S.: And through that, I just discovered that this world of entrepreneurship, this online digital [00:08:00] space was extremely attractive to me. And the vehicle of podcasting, right? Like if the road is online and the vehicle I wanted to choose just happened to be the podcasting space. Like I realized I loved it. I think I was good at it.

[00:08:12] Alex S.: I was able to articulate, I show up transparently and more, the more and more I was doing that. I felt that I was discovering this why, like I was starting to really get grasp of it, but it takes that intentional effort of stopping, slowing down, thinking about it, exploring things that are interesting to you.

[00:08:28] Alex S.: That's the only way you can really determine what that why is going to be. 

[00:08:32] Shilpa: And it does require some level of courage to go there because I know making such transitions, if you had asked me 20 years ago, when I was comfortable in those, um, corporate gigs. I would have thought, well, that's so impulsive. But I heard from a woman who's like a mindfulness coach that sometimes those impulses aren't a whim.

[00:08:58] Shilpa: It's maybe your [00:09:00] intuition guiding you. 

[00:09:03] Alex S.: Yeah. You know, real quick, this reminds me of a past episode of your show. I'm sorry to cut you off there. I just feel the need to mention this cause I've been listening to your podcast and You do such a good job. There was an episode where you had angel Hartwell on and I wrote down the title because I knew I was going to mention it today.

[00:09:18] Alex S.: Uh, it was titled leading mission based visionaries and it was on June 25th, 2024. And something she said is, am I capable of doing this? It was an internal question. She said, that was the question. We all ask ourselves when we're going into the unknown. And I'll tell you what, when I was discovering this, why?

[00:09:33] Alex S.: My question to myself was like, can I do this? And I think that again, the beauty of podcasting for me was I discovered that the people on the other side of the microphones, I just assumed were perfect in every way, actually weren't, I would ask questions. They'd be like, I don't actually know the answer to that.

[00:09:46] Alex S.: And I'm like, really, you don't know the answer to that. Right. But maybe realize, Hey, I'm stepping in this unknown. But I can do something about it. So anyway, I just want to call it that past episode. Encourage anyone hearing this one, go back, uh, leading mission based visionaries, June [00:10:00] 25th, 2024 with, uh, Angel Hartwell, brilliant conversation.

[00:10:03] Alex S.: So, um, I just want to make sure I shared that real quick. 

[00:10:06] Shilpa: Absolutely. And you know, what's really cool about Angel is that I became aware of her through Podmatch. And I want to just quickly speak to that. I mean, I mentioned in the very beginning, but you went from, you know, I, I may be paraphrasing, but Oh, podcasting seems like interesting.

[00:10:25] Shilpa: Let me try it to creating an empire. I believe, um, products. Of services of vision. And that kind of brings me to my next point. Let's talk about the state of podcasting for what I think the correct term is indie creators or independent. 

[00:10:43] Alex S.: Yeah. 

[00:10:45] Shilpa: So the stats you've been sharing are pretty eyeopening. Only 14 percent of podcasters are still active among those that are the independent podcasters.

[00:10:56] Shilpa: They had more data written up. So maybe you could [00:11:00] elaborate on that in terms of why do you think podcasters Fade out. And how does pod match help? 

[00:11:07] Alex S.: Yeah, actually, when, when, when I got into podcasting and I started and got in the industry side, I think, so we launched pod match, I immediately noticed what I thought was a problem with our software.

[00:11:18] Alex S.: So Shilpa, I was talking to my, my co founder, he's a developer. I was like, dude, there's something wrong here. He's like, what am I, hosts are leaving. Like. There's clearly a problem. It's not working. It's not helping them. Like we need to figure it out. And I was like, I'm going to start getting on one on one calls with anyone who cancels their account that will book.

[00:11:33] Alex S.: So we made an automatic email when you were leaving. It said, well, you get on a call with the founder and just explain why. And not all of them would get on calls, but almost everyone would at least respond to that email saying, Hey, Sorry, I'm not getting on a call. Just letting you know, there was nothing wrong with pod match.

[00:11:47] Alex S.: I'm just quitting podcasting. And yes, of course, that wasn't every time I'd say like 5 percent of the time there was a reason or someone's just like, you guys suck, right? Like there was something along those lines, but the mass majority of the time, [00:12:00] over 90 percent was the fact that they're like, I'm not leaving pod match.

[00:12:03] Alex S.: It's good. I'm leaving in general. And what I realized was, I was like, man, That's a high like churn rate. Like I was blown away. I was shocked. And at that point we weren't helping with anything on the educational side of podcasting. So it was kind of like, I'm natural, help you find your guests and good luck.

[00:12:19] Alex S.: Right. And I'm like, man, there, we need to add something to this. We can help people understand that it's possible to do it. And so now on pod match, we have people that. I'd say we really took off with that about a year after launching the company. Um, so 2021 is when we started getting really good in the education side and we have a bunch of people in podcasting that started then and are still with us today.

[00:12:40] Alex S.: And now a common question I get, which is really funny is how do you have so many really big podcast on pod match? I'm like, Oh, well they weren't big. When they started, they just stayed because we helped them understand that it's possible and what they could achieve. Uh, but the data is staggering. Like it's unbelievable how many people just, Don't stick with it.

[00:12:56] Alex S.: And there's of course reasons for that, but the big thing was people get into it [00:13:00] and they don't realize how much work it's going to be. Just like any form of creation. I mean, starting a podcast is like starting a business. It's, it's a lot of work. There's a lot that goes into it. It's blood, sweat and tears often.

[00:13:10] Alex S.: Right. And so I think that people just don't realize and they start and they're like, wait a minute, this is just too much for me. 

[00:13:16] Shilpa: And you know, when I started, it was somewhat of a leap of faith and kind of, I think of itself as like, you know, when you're a kid and you're playing in the dark and you have.

[00:13:26] Shilpa: Blindfolds, and you're like looking for stuff. I was sort of like, I'm looking for the right solutions. I would pay a lot of money at times, not always get it. But to your, um, point, I believe that of all the different things I tinkered around with to get better at what I was doing, Podmash offers the most comprehensive I've been through most of the modules, as I've often told you, and they are so reasonably priced, the price point.

[00:13:56] Shilpa: I mean, I spent up to a couple of thousand dollars with [00:14:00] dead ends in the past. With yours, it is sincere. You deliver. So I just wanted to maybe even have you share what facets does that education cover? 

[00:14:12] Alex S.: Yeah, and thank you for acknowledging that Chopra, that means so much going from you. I respect you as a, as a creator and just as a, I mean, you're, you're an icon in the space that you're in.

[00:14:21] Alex S.: So thank you for, for sharing that. And when we decided to get into the education side of things, I just didn't want to do it halfway. And I can't tell you how many stories, including my own. I've heard where people are like, I spent X dollars. I shouldn't have spent when I got started, but thankfully I learned, or I quit because I spent too much money and I didn't realize I was doing the wrong thing.

[00:14:39] Alex S.: And so for me, it was about 5, 000. I spent when I started that I really had no business spending, but like you, I was wearing a blindfold just going anywhere. And someone's like, here, grab my hand, but give me five grand first. I was like, okay, sure. Help me. Right. And it just, it led me to a dead end. And I was like, man, we can't do that.

[00:14:53] Alex S.: And so when we built out the, uh, like the, the course that we have, it's It's freely accessible to any podcast [00:15:00] host. Like we don't, there's no upsell, there's no paywall behind it. That's just a free thing we wanted to include. And uh, but what I did is all those podcast hosts that were leaving Podmatch, the ones that would get on a call with me, I would ask them some key questions.

[00:15:14] Alex S.: Once I learned that, Hey, they're not just leaving Podmatch. So this isn't me getting Podmatch feedback. This is me finding out why did you quit? And so I decided like, I need to figure this out. And so I talked to. 1600 podcasters, which I now admit is way too many, but I just, we just had this thing going automatically and not all of them quit.

[00:15:30] Alex S.: Some were extremely established. I talked to some to ask them, why'd you stay podcasting? Why'd you quit podcasting? Why are you still podcasting? So I kind of had like three groups of people. Cause I was like, if I'm going to do this education thing, the problem with education in most spaces is that it's all guessing.

[00:15:44] Alex S.: Oh, people need this. How do you know that? I just, I just know. I'm like, well, we don't know. Let's ask them what they actually need. And what I learned was shocking. Like the things that we put in there, I was like, man, I, I want to actually know before we build this. And so I think that some advice here for listeners today, like if you're building [00:16:00] any sort of educational piece to what you do, talk to the people that it's for before you start, because if not, you might build the wrong thing.

[00:16:06] Alex S.: I was 100 percent going to build the wrong thing because what I thought people needed is And why, what would help them the most? I was completely wrong on. And so for me, like, I just wanted to make sure we got it right. So we did is we just took the top 10 things that were the responses to why people were quitting or why they were staying, put them in order of importance based off of what people were telling us and how high they ranked it.

[00:16:26] Alex S.: And then responded to those. So for me, anytime something came up, that was a question that we consistently heard or a pain point, we would just make things on it. So we go into everything from. commitment, like committing to a certain amount of time to making sure that you have the right organizational tools to ideas for monetization, to ideas for growth, to ideas for automating.

[00:16:44] Alex S.: Like we, we go through all these types of things that I just think are super important. And the last thing we end with is community. Because here's the thing, like you can learn until you're blue in the face if you're doing it alone. That's tough. Like get some people in your corner. So we just built an established community alongside it.

[00:16:57] Alex S.: And to this day, I love [00:17:00] Podmatch. I love what we've done. But my baby and my true contribution to the podcasting space is the educational side of what we do. And I say that as humbly as I can. I can tell you I put nine months of work into it. Which that number seems to be significant in some ways, right?

[00:17:13] Alex S.: But I was just like, that's This is what it's going to take. And I spent a lot of nights and weekends working on that to make sure we got it out there for people. But that's, that's my true contribution in legacy, if you will, to leave in podcasting. 

[00:17:25] Shilpa: I truly have found such value in it. And if anyone is listening, wants to do it, I don't know if there's necessarily a right way, especially with creativity.

[00:17:35] Shilpa: However, if you'd like to do it in a way where someone meaning Alex and his team has thought through all facets, I would say holistically, On what it means to be in the space. And you also go into the wise early on, which is, I think, aligned with what I call mindfulness or spirituality. Now, um, Alex, a little bit of a [00:18:00] transition, but.

[00:18:01] Shilpa: Before we dive further, Alex, I saw your recent survey about people's comfort levels with being interviewed by AI. I just wanted to put you at ease that I'm not AI. 

[00:18:14] Alex S.: Ooh, I've been really worried. 

[00:18:17] Shilpa: And I think I might even have a little more empathy than the AI's out there. 

[00:18:22] Alex S.: I think so. Yeah. 

[00:18:25] Shilpa: Okay. So AI is a really powerful tool.

[00:18:27] Shilpa: And it can, though, feel that it can clash with what I think of as authenticity. And I'm on a mission to amplify our voice with AI, but with authenticity. And having said that, can you share how do you strike a balance within Podmatch, making sure you help people streamline their workflows, using AI without losing the human touch.

[00:18:55] Alex S.: Yeah. I'm, I'm glad you bring this up. No, no one has brought this up. So thank you. This is a gift to be able to talk [00:19:00] about today. For me, I drew a line in the sand when AI first came out and it took me a little bit to figure this out, but I finally determined, I'm like, I'm okay with AI in every use case, except for direct communication.

[00:19:12] Alex S.: So example, like I'm, I'm going to send you something saying, thank you for having me on the podcast after this. It's just what I do. I don't mean to spoil that for you, but like, I'm going to say, thank you. I'm not going to ask AI to write me a thank you note to send you. I think that that takes away. The human element, right?

[00:19:27] Alex S.: Like, yes, I'm not necessarily the best writer and I might have a typo and I might not know what to say, but it's so much better that way than just write me something really nice to pass along. So to me, direct communication is always going to be the line. And I actually don't have a problem with like an AI co host.

[00:19:44] Alex S.: I have a problem when it's not. Disclosed and that was like what kind of made that whole post come to life is the fact that we realized that there are people starting AI podcast where the host is AI and it's not telling the guests or the listeners that it's AI and people aren't [00:20:00] realizing it in some cases.

[00:20:01] Alex S.: Now, I think that kind of it's been exposed and people are like, okay, this is what you need. If you hear this, you know, it's AI type of thing. And so for me, once again, I think it's kind of fooling people like we can't lose the human element of what we do. And so very. Proactively, um, actively, I guess, in pod match, we're going to do.

[00:20:16] Alex S.: People have been asking, Hey, can you help us build an AI inside a pod match? It'll do the pitch for us. So I can pitch a host really well. The answer is no, absolutely not. Uh, because I don't want you to just push a button and then host thinking that you actually did a good job pitching when the reality is you don't know their name because you didn't even listen to the podcast.

[00:20:34] Alex S.: And so again, I draw the line with direct communication beyond that. It's kind of fair game. I think it helps a lot. So for us, we use it in our development tools. We have a few different AI features inside of podmatch. Now it is very powerful for creators. I think that the more that we embrace it from that side of things, the better we're going to position ourselves.

[00:20:51] Alex S.: Here's an example. When I first started podcasting, I looked at the greats and I was like, man, they're doing so much. They had teams of 20 and 30 people. Now I'm able to [00:21:00] do that by myself and yes, I do have a team, but like, I'm able to do most of those things that once were considered impossible for an individual to do.

[00:21:06] Alex S.: Now you have to have self discipline to not do all the things, right? To go really deep with just a few that work. But again, use AI because it's helping us be able to do that really well right now. 

[00:21:17] Shilpa: You know, and I, I agree because this is something going back to more of a, kind of a spiritual take on it. I started doing what I do and will continue hopefully evolving.

[00:21:30] Shilpa: Because of my why, my why is my son Omni. And yet I would be lying if I said it's always easy. I, I'm a one person shop. I'm still building. And so streamlining is of inherent importance. What I feel like AI provides us is streamlining. Like even within PodMatch, for those who don't know, you've built in workflows, which I've created spreadsheets on, but now I may be able [00:22:00] to, Relinquish that control because like you were just mentioning earlier, podcasting the pre work production, um, recruiting before and after, and depending on how elaborate you get, it's a lot of work.

[00:22:17] Alex S.: It's a labor of love. I tell people like what you don't, what many people don't realize are listening is what Shilpa is doing right now. This time with me is about 10 percent of the work and there's 90 percent that you don't see. And that work is not as fun as this for most people. Some people might really enjoy it, but Yeah, it's truly a labor of love.

[00:22:34] Shilpa: And there's ever evolving, constantly new technologies to fine tune things, but still, you're, you're doing it. You know, like, two days ago, our internet was just really slow, and I told my husband what normally would have taken the pre production work of just creating covers and doing soundbites. It took me three hours versus 30 minutes, because of the internet.

[00:22:58] Shilpa: Okay, so [00:23:00] we both agree with the fact that there's a connection between authenticity and AI and the importance of it. Um, if you could share, um, let me rephrase this. Have you ever had moments where you doubted yourself? And where I'm going with this is that, for me, personally, and I, I think I speak to some people that I know, authenticity ties deeply with imposter syndrome, which I struggle with.

[00:23:30] Shilpa: And so, have you ever had moments where you doubted yourself, even if you kept moving forward? And how do you overcome those moments and connect with your purpose? Because while I feel like I'm authentic, sometimes I struggle because of the imposter syndrome. 

[00:23:48] Alex S.: Yeah, for, for me, imposter syndrome is, is a real thing for sure and still is and, and it's, it's interesting because some people probably hear you say that right now and they're like, what?

[00:23:58] Alex S.: Shilpa, no way. And there's [00:24:00] people in my world that I say they're like, you struggle with imposter syndrome? Like, why? And that's, that's the question. But it's because nobody knows. Us inside, right. And we can show up authentically and we can sometimes do that in a way that looks really, uh, courageous, really confident.

[00:24:16] Alex S.: Right. But the reality is sometimes us being authentic is being scared and all that. Right. And just sharing it. And so for me, like I've definitely doubted myself quite a bit. And it's, it's not like I doubted myself at the beginning and now I've arrived. Right. I still doubt myself most days. And I don't say that to, to make it sound like I have like a, um, I don't know, some sort of complex or a problem, and I'm not like getting constant counseling.

[00:24:42] Alex S.: Now, I do seek wise counsel, of course, but the reality is, like, those thoughts of self doubt come up quite a bit, and they're just there. And I don't know necessarily what that is, but the thing is, it kind of goes back to why, which we already talked about. You, you have to connect these two things. So [00:25:00] imposter syndrome, self doubt, I'll put those in the same group, your why, which is on the total other side of the spectrum.

[00:25:04] Alex S.: Right. And when you can tie those things together and show up authentically throughout that, which means being willing to acknowledge the fact that, Hey, like I'm terrified of this. Right. Or sometimes just, I don't have it all together. I don't know the answers. Being able to do that helps a lot, but also again, remembering your why along the way, like what, what keeps me moving forward when I'm doubting is the fact that I'm like, you know what, I'm doing this for a purpose.

[00:25:25] Alex S.: I'm doing this for Shilpa. Shobha, mention how helpful what we're doing is. This is why this thing is not going to slow down, not going to shut down. We gotta keep on moving because her voice is reaching people that my voice will never be able to reach in a super authentic way that's serving the world.

[00:25:38] Alex S.: We gotta keep it going. And so for me, I overcome by going back to the why. It keeps me moving forward. It's that north star that we have to have. And at the end of the day, like you used the word courage earlier. It takes courage. And the my favorite definition of the word courage is courage means being afraid, afraid.

[00:25:54] Alex S.: Then doing what you have to do anyway, most days I do my job. I'm terrified. I [00:26:00] really am. And like, not, not that I'm like, again, in the corner of crying, screaming, like not knowing what to do. Like I know what to do, but it's all new territory. Every day, the company grows every day. New challenges come up every day.

[00:26:10] Alex S.: There's something that a CPA or a lawyer wants from me, right. To, to continue moving the thing forward. And that's great. That's part of it. I'm just going to be willing to step up every day. And again, if, as long as I don't lose focus of the why, which is I shared at the beginning, takes that intentional effort of sitting down with yourself, discovering and exploring it.

[00:26:27] Alex S.: The more connected I am to that, why the better I show up, the better I'm overcoming self doubt, the better I'm at moving forward, the better I am at really showing up the way that I can to serve and love the people in my life. So that for me is huge. And the only other thing I'll mention here is I happen to have, I'm a person of faith.

[00:26:44] Alex S.: I believe in Jesus from the Bible. I spent a lot of time in prayer, spent a lot of time listening, I spent a lot of time in worship, and that stuff to me helps me so much because it reminds me that my why is connected to the person of Jesus, which is to love and to serve others. And as long as I am doing that in my lane, the best of my [00:27:00] ability, I don't know if I can really lose.

[00:27:02] Alex S.: Even if it's scary, right? And so I, I, those are things that have helped me a lot along the way. Although it's never an easy process and I can't say that it gets easier. So for everyone listening, I'm not trying to, to doubt, you know, to be like, well, there's no light at the end of the tunnel. There is because it's worth it.

[00:27:16] Alex S.: I enjoy it. I love it. Knowing that I'm making an impact in the world, no matter how big or small, as long as there's an impact being made, gets me up in the morning. I'm excited about it. 

[00:27:26] Shilpa: And, um, you really did answer my next question, but I'll go ahead and paraphrase it. The, how do you know when you're. In spiritual alignment.

[00:27:34] Shilpa: And how do you ensure that the next steps in your evolution as a podcast, um, entrepreneur are aligned with your purpose and your true values? 

[00:27:46] Alex S.: Yeah, it goes back to knowing those things. So like, not just your why, but like, I've developed like some, some core values. And so for me, like my core values are super important to me, uh, love God, love others are kind of like the top two, if you will.

[00:27:58] Alex S.: Right. So [00:28:00] in spiritual alignment to me means like, you have to actually prioritize that. And I think we live in a world, unfortunately, and I know that, you know, this is where people are like, Oh, I'm a really spiritual person. And then you ask them, well, what does that mean to you? Um, Yeah. I have some spiritual books.

[00:28:12] Alex S.: I'm like, do you open them? Do you know, do you read them? Like, are you doing anything with that? And I think that it's just maybe like a bit of a, like an automatic response of like, especially in my place, people are like, yeah, I'm a Christian. Right. And I'm like, okay, well, what does that mean to you? And so I think first and foremost, it requires actually prioritizing that.

[00:28:28] Alex S.: So for me, the first two hours of my day, I'm not using my computer. As a matter of fact, I put a screen time password on it that I don't have. My computer will not let me on it for the first two hours. I'm awake, so I don't even have any temptation. That's what I'm getting in the Bible. That's when I'm praying.

[00:28:40] Alex S.: That's when I'm seeking that again, that spiritual alignment, because without that, I found I could crash and burn on my own. Like Alex, without that is not the Alex that shows up when I'm, um, properly aligned. So for me, I think prioritizing it, being willing to dive deep and explore that because my why is tied to it.

[00:28:57] Alex S.: So it helps me discover that even further. And as [00:29:00] we all grow and evolve, our why changes over time as well. Right. And so like, again, letting that be what guides you and connects you has been a huge help to me. 

[00:29:10] Shilpa: That ties in really well with my particular philosophy. I, um, my, I have a group where my Hansa Yogananda and his guru Um, would say that everything else can wait, but search for God cannot wait.

[00:29:24] Shilpa: And everyone's definition of God may be different. I I'm very deeply aligned with knowing that there's something bigger in the universe and that action that I take the first thing in the morning is meditation. It aligns me. And, um, it sounds like you have your own practices and modalities. Um, okay. So as we're wrapping up, uh, I believe your work has helped so many podcasters.

[00:29:54] Shilpa: Would I keep re using the word? Um, I keep using the word. [00:30:00] Amplify. So I believe you helped so many podcasts amplify their voice and truly make an impact. What's the legacy you hope to leave behind in the podcasting world? 

[00:30:12] Alex S.: The legacy I hope to leave behind in the podcasting space is directly tied to podcast hosts.

[00:30:19] Alex S.: Releasing episode. So releasing episodes of their podcast. So for me, that, that goes to both the guests and the hosts, because there's typically a guest involvement as well. Right. But I like to see episodes getting released because that to me means like, Hey, there's something being put out into the world, which I believe is someone's authentic truth.

[00:30:35] Alex S.: It's what they believe it's their contribution to the world. We talked about it earlier, but podcasting is a labor of love. There's a lot of work that goes into this. And so I can't imagine people are doing this. because they just like, Oh, it'd just be cool to get it out there. Like, no, they have a reason for it.

[00:30:49] Alex S.: And what I've learned about the human voice and about how we connect with another human being is I can tell you something Shilpa, and someone can say it almost exactly word for word. And it will only make sense to you from [00:31:00] one of us. That's the unique connection we have, the dude we have. And we've all got someone where we can share an extreme story.

[00:31:05] Alex S.: I'll share one with my brother real quick. I gave my brother the same advice for seven years. The dude never took it. It was the advice he needed to take. Somebody told him almost the exact same thing. And he's like, that's brilliant, I'm gonna do it. And he did it and changed his life. I'm like, what? And here's the thing, I didn't get too frustrated because the reality is, The way I was saying it was not understandable by him just as wiring.

[00:31:23] Alex S.: Right. But somebody else said it slightly different way that he's like, Oh, I get it. Now the legacy I want to leave behind in podcasting is exactly that. Helping podcasters be positioned to release those episodes that are going to have someone say, I finally get it because I heard what Shilpa said. And so I want to be part of that because I believe one day at a time that makes the world a much better place.

[00:31:45] Shilpa: Oh, how I love your response. That is. Absolutely resonating with me. Um, okay. So finally, for listeners who want to start or restart. their creative journey, perhaps as a podcaster, what's the one piece of advice you'd [00:32:00] give them so that they can take that next step? 

[00:32:04] Alex S.: Yeah, for me, I think it goes back to reflecting on that.

[00:32:07] Alex S.: Why figure out the purpose behind it. And just as important as that, the next thing I would want people to do is figure out who it is that you're going to serve with that. Really figure out who that is. Find people that mirror that avatar or that ideal person you serve, right? Find the people that mirror that and have conversations with them.

[00:32:25] Alex S.: Really try to get to know them. Really get down to the core and make sure that you're on the right track because it might change things a little bit for you. And the more you talk to people, you're going to find, okay, this is the problem that I think that they might have that I think that I can solve because it's connected to my why for wanting to get into this creative space in the first hand.

[00:32:41] Alex S.: It doesn't have to be podcasting. It can be anything really. It's just a matter of, again, figuring it out. Making the avatar that you're going to serve and find people that look like that and starting to build those relationships to really determine what it is that they've got going on. 

[00:32:53] Shilpa: That is wonderful, Alex.

[00:32:55] Shilpa: And you know, that can start at any age. I know some people that are retired, some people that are pivoting and [00:33:00] transitioning, or those who are just young and trying to figure it all out. These rules still apply. Oh 

[00:33:06] Alex S.: yeah, I've heard people from young kids doing podcasting. I met a 10 year old doing a podcast and she had a great purpose and why for it.

[00:33:14] Alex S.: I met somebody who was in their, they were late 80s starting their first podcast. All the joy in the world coming from it. You're absolutely right. I think that's the beautiful thing about the podcasting medium and the creative space. It has no, it's not looking at your age. It's just looking at how you want to show up to serve people.

[00:33:30] Shilpa: Thank you, Alex. Well, one day, hopefully, I could have you back so we can go deeper on any one topic. Um, but until then, Alex, I hope you have a wonderful day and I so appreciate you. 

[00:33:43] Alex S.: Yeah, Shilpa, thank you for having me. You're doing beautiful work here, so thank you so much for your contribution. 

[00:33:47] Shilpa: Thank you, Alex.

[00:33:48] Shilpa: I really appreciate you and I appreciate Podmatch.