Driving Innovation and Building Networks Through Podcasting with Brian Kearney

Speaker A: Welcome to Cash Flow Podcasting, where business owners reveal how their podcasts have supercharged their success. Ah. My podcast completely transformed my training business. So I've seen firsthand the magic that podcasts can work. And here's the best part. You don't need millions of downloads to boost your business's revenue and impact. Let our guests show you how. Brian, welcome.

Speaker B: Thanks for having me.

Speaker A: I'm excited to dig into your wisdom. I know you are a believer in podcasts. Uh, that was how I think our business relationship first started, if you may recall, years ago, you invited me to a podcast.

Speaker B: Yeah, I do remember that. That was kind of the start of my podcasting journey. And I've learned a lot of hacks to network with podcasting since then.

Speaker A: That's cool. That's cool. Well, I want to dig into all of the goodies there, but first, let's get oriented. Who are you and what is your business?

Speaker B: Yeah, my name is Brian Carney, live in central Illinois in, uh, God's country, as we like to call it. But the business I have is Farmland Stock Exchange. And what we are is a way for farmers to keep the ground that's in their business and allow outside investors to partner with them, but not have the outside investors own the whole farm. So. So that's our company.

Speaker A: That sounds very cool. If I am a farmer, I like those that value. So can you help me figure out how do you generate revenue?

Speaker B: M. Yeah. Great question. So a couple ways. The first one is when a farmer buys a farm, we get 2% of the farm value to set up this deal and to bring investors. That's the main way we make money. The other ways are when investors allocate money. We have a sliding scale based on the amount of money they're putting in, and we charge a small fee for that, between 0.5% and 2% one time. And then it's a 0.5% asset management fee. So it's a fund. It is an asset management fee, but we're really low fee because we want everyone to be able to access this asset. And a, uh, 2% fee just doesn't make sense, uh, with this asset.

Speaker A: I see. So it's sort of. If I may, in some ways, it's you're like part Realtor, part investment banker, part financial planner, asset manager in the

Speaker B: agriculture world, I would say not part Realtor, because it's not a real estate transaction at all. It's a financial transaction. But you're spot on with investment banking and fund manager. It's Kind of like a weird mix of those two, because each of these farmers, you think of a farmer, you think of someone driving around their tractor in a small area. You don't know if that tractor's actually been driving itself for five years. It's autonomous way before Tesla. And the average farm operation is 3 to 5 million dollars in revenue. They're big businesses.

Speaker A: Yeah. And I hear you, uh, when it comes to your strong reaction on realtors, like, no, no, no, no. The land is not changing hands. The farmer continues to own that land, and that's critical.

Speaker B: Correct, Correct.

Speaker A: Understood.

Speaker B: The farmer has to own 51% with our model will never buy more than 50, 49% of a farm.

Speaker A: Okay, and so what's interesting, I believe all of our other guests have been bootstrapped businesses, but you have venture backing and are fairly young. When were you founded?

Speaker B: We were founded six months ago.

Speaker A: Six months ago.

Speaker B: So very new. Uh, maybe seven at this point as we're recording. Yes, we have some funding. We got 400,000 initially and we are currently negotiating a, uh, million dollar raise, which we will sell 20% of the company for. So that is funding. We're very new and we have three farms locked down. We'll probably have $10 million of assets under management by the end of the year.

Speaker A: Okay, cool. Well, so then that's the business, and we're, uh, oriented there. You're pretty bullish on podcasting.

Speaker B: Yes, very much so.

Speaker A: Take us through your journey.

Speaker B: Yeah. So where do you want me to start with my journey?

Speaker A: How about your first podcast ever?

Speaker B: Yeah, my first podcast was actually for my first business I started. That one was Bootstrapped, and it was a handmade rosary manufacturing business. And rosaries are a, uh, Catholic prayer item. Interviewed Pete for a podcast I was launching for that brand. Met him through University of Illinois, through nonprofits, and that was kind of crazy to me. It was my first view that you can pretty much get anyone you want on your show if you try hard enough. Because, Pete, you have a large podcast. You're on the board of a nonprofit that my wife was working at. I also got a. One of the larger influencers in the Catholic world to jump on my podcast, and he hadn't ever met me, and there was no connection there besides you have a podcast.

Speaker A: And Was that Matt Frad?

Speaker B: So that was not. Yes, Matt Frad, too, but it was actually Jason Evert. So Jason Evert jumped on Matt fr. Working on that when I sold the business. And then the podcast did not continue.

Speaker A: And it's funny, in the Universe of podcasts. And I've heard this many times there are like these niche celebrities, right? And folks get so excited about this. Like, oh my gosh. So, so folks who are into listening to Catholic media stuff like, oh my gosh, Jason Everett. Wow. And everyone else is like, I don't know who those people are. Um, and I think that's intriguing in terms of relationship building because in a way, again, this comes up again and again, you don't need to be huge, but rather you kind of have to be engaging the niche, the community that you're into.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's very true. And I've had another podcast since that has. It will restart. But my co host and I both run startups, so it's just, uh, it wasn't really working. And with that one, it was on investing in Africa and it was the same thing. We got multiple billion dollar founders from Africa to jump on the show and we're not VCs, we don't have any money. It was just talk about your journey. And that resonated with them. So we were able to get those people on the show where if we would have asked for, can you jump on a call for 30 minutes? There's no way they would have said yes, there's no way. But if you pitch it as, do you want to be interviewed for 30, 45 minutes, that's intriguing to them, that's value for you and them because it's also something they can use. It is more press, it is more primary. That was kind of the second show, the third show we're actually launching right now with Cashflow Podcasting. The last one was with Cashflow as well. And we are interviewing people in the farmland space. And a couple of the names I don't want to drop yet, to be honest, but they are kind of like when we were talking about Matt Fred and Jason Everett. You would not know their name unless you're in the industry, but if you're in the industry, you're going to be very impressed with the type of people we're getting on the show already. Again, for a startup that's six months old.

Speaker A: Oh, well, that is super cool. Just six months in. Uh, because we say we're very honest and upfront. Hey, podcasting, in terms of generating business, it's a long game. You're not going to expect. Make an episode and then money falls from the heavens into your bank account. And yet you're seeing some results immediately in terms of opening doors that would have previously been closed and, and so this is kind of speculative at this point, but, I mean, it's kind of cool and fun and makes you feel like a, uh, smooth VIP rubbing elbows with these folks. But how do you think those conversations will result in actual business benefits?

Speaker B: Yeah, well, the two that I'm thinking of specifically, one is one of the most powerful people in agriculture. He was on Trump's agriculture committee. Like, he is very well connected. He's very big in the investment side as well. So it's good to be connected with people like that. And short term, I don't think anything, to be honest, will come of it, besides being able to get other guests by saying he was on there, which is kind of cool. And those relationships will be quicker to convert, but it is just building that relationship, having someone like that know you where you're not going to them as a, uh, you know, do me this favor. It's almost as a. Not, uh, quite as a peer, but a different type relationship where it's closer to being a peer because they're coming on your show. That's pretty different than, hey, can I pick your brain for 25 minutes and buy you a coffee? That's a different type of relationship, certainly.

Speaker A: And in a way, that's the. The beauty and mystery, I suppose, of relationships is you don't know where that could go. That could turn into a couple introductions, like, oh, it sounds like Brian does exactly what you need to do with your farm. You should talk to Brian. Three, nine months later okay.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker A: Glad we had that conversation. Or, hey, you know what? We're going to need another amount of funding actually in, um, some time from now. Is like, what do you think is. Well, you know what? I got a really good vibe from you. I really. You seem like an honest, swell guy and I enjoyed our exchange. So all kinds of cool things can happen when relationships are built. And if it's just fun or if it's cash, uh, money.

Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, absolutely. And the couple of things I'll note there, the one is, particularly in this industry, relationships are everything and people are everything, and your reputation is way more important than how much money you can make someone. That lends itself perfectly to podcasting. Podcasting is we always like to say, you know, it's relationship building at scale, and that is exactly what you do with a podcast. The other note I'll say is you also can't go about it with a view of, I'm going to book this interview because I want this to convert at this time. Part of why I want to book this Interview is he was the fourth largest hog producer in the country at a time when hogs were selling for 9 cents apiece. You could buy a pig for 9 cents. And I just want to know, how did you survive? I don't know that industry that well, but I have to imagine it costs way more than 9 cents just to feed a pig for a day. Correct. So I just, I want to know that. I want to know how he survived. That's just fascinating to me and that's so valuable to me and the audience that he would be willing to have that conversation.

Speaker A: Yeah. And that knowledge of perspective is so cool, uh, in terms of where that could lead as well. I was at a random seminar once and I thought it was very well said. He, he said there are, there's a variety of forms of wealth. You can have wealth and money, you can have wealth in time, you can have wealth and knowledge, and you can have wealth in relationships. And these things, uh, can really kind of in some ways be traded. It's like, oh, I'm going to part with money to go to an event. So I trade some money wealth for relationship wealth because I want to meet some people at the event. I just thought that was really kind of cool how that those things are interchangeable and valuable, and it just kind of expanded my, my mind horizons a bit. So. Well, let's see here now. Now, when it comes to raising money, you get a lot of input, um, from a lot of investors who say you should do this or that with your business, with your marketing, with, with where you place their funds. So I'd like to hear what have they been telling you? Is the, uh, the optimal or suggested means of putting your marketing dollar and how have you thought through podcasting relative to the alternatives?

Speaker B: Yeah, that's very true. And that's part of the beauty of bootstrapping is you get a little bit more, say, we've got great investors, so they're more understanding, but they still have their ideas. And the main places people spend advertising are like performance marketing, things like Facebook, Google, all of that. And, uh, then SEO is a big one as well. Those are both really expensive, way more expensive than cash flow podcasting. And I don't think the long term ROI is there for some of that. At our scale, once we have more money, once we have a clear Persona, it makes sense. But right now we're just trying to build relationships at scale. And I think you do that better from these type of conversations than you do from Facebook ad or a Google Ad. So the two Places. We are doing marketing right now and in full transparency we'll do performance marketing probably in six months plus, I don't know. But right now we're just doing podcasting to build kind of the bank of content for which is SEO. Like SEO. People talk about, oh, I'm going to do this or that for this like ephemeral SEO thing. And all SEO is is good content. If you have good content, people will come. So there are some things you can do to make Google rank it, but that takes an hour. Most of it is the content. Podcasting is good content and you can repurpose it. So we're going to be repurposing for a blog post for uh, our newsletter for social media, for white papers, for a lot of things we're going to be able to build out of it. So that's why we're investing there early with our kind of limited money. And then we're actually doing mailers, which is also not something that VCs like to hear, but.

Speaker A: Well, I love it. I mean I know like the Dan Kennedy copywriting old school guys weekends.

Speaker B: Exactly.

Speaker A: And sometimes. And they'll tell stories in terms of, boy, there's these some young 20 somethings doing direct mail. All their peers think they're nuts, but they're seeing some cool things happen. And especially with in agriculture. I'm speculating, you tell me. It feels like sometimes some of the old fashioned things are, are appealing or even more trusted.

Speaker B: Yep. Oh, that's exactly it. And the people were mailing. You know, we're putting a picture of like me and my family. We're saying, here's our office, come by and stop in like grab a coffee. Because there's always that like view of I'm um, getting spam mail or scams. It's like, no, we're the real company. Stop by little old El Paso, Illinois and drop by and grab a coffee. So yeah, you're right. I think it does. And also part of what I want to hit is I was reading Claude Hopkins book. I think it's my life in advertising that might be. Yeah, I think that's Claude Hopkins. And he had something in there where he said he, he sent 1,000 mailers and got 200 sales. And I'm like, hm, that's absurd. I want to figure out how to do that. That is insane. Could that work now? Could that work with my product? No. But if I could spend $3,000 to get 300, I'm going to do that every time. 300,000, not $300. That's more like performance marketing. But anyways.

Speaker A: Yeah, understood. Okay. And so now in. In full disclosure, you are a part owner and advisor in Cash Flow podcasting. Uh, but you did not get a

Speaker B: discount, so I didn't know I did.

Speaker A: Thank you for your. You're like the hair club president who's also a client. But your hair is great.

Speaker B: Appreciate it, appreciate it.

Speaker A: So you're paying for it and I'm curious. So you, in some ways, you know better than most. Kind of how the sausage is made and what's under the hood, what sort of gave you the confidence. And you also know, frankly, how to do a podcast all by yourself or with a cost effective helper somewhere. Why go this route?

Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, you're right. I could do it myself, but I don't think it's where I'm best suited, if that makes sense. It's not the best use of my time, and in business that's more important than money. Could I do it myself? Sure. But it would take me, I don't know, 60 hours to set it up and do it really well. It would take me 10 hours every episode. That's 10 hours a week. Like, I don't have that kind of time. I don't have four hours a week to do it. And I know that getting multiple opinions on the content with people who do live in it day to day, because yes, I am a co owner of the company, but I wasn't doing the podcast coaching or the podcast production every day. Like I know how. But they're experts. Like our team are experts in that area. So I let them do what they do best. And what I do best is going out and getting more deals. And that's how my company makes money. So if spending that 60 hours means I sell one less deal in the year, I just paid for Cash Flow podcasting for the whole year. And that was one deal. So that's how I looked at it.

Speaker A: Understood. And tell me, since you've launched a podcast a number of times, can you contrast the experience of doing it yourself versus having the Cashflow podcasting team in your corner?

Speaker B: Yes, I definitely can. My first podcast was not great. The design was bad. It was super unprofessional. The editing was bad. I just did it myself in no time at all. So the quality of product I'm putting out with Cash Flow or with on my, or, uh, doing it on my own are very different. And when you have a business, that quality that you're putting out is a reflection of your Entire business. So you. It'd be better to not do it than do it poorly. And I know if I did it on my own, I'd probably do it poorly because I don't have the time. So, I mean, the time savings, insane. I've probably put maybe 10 hours of work into everything for the show, and half of that was just like, talking through what I wanted to get done with the show or doing outreach to guests. So it really is not a huge lift. And I think the quality of product we're putting together is really, really good. The one thing I'll say is you want to be somewhat involved as well. Like, it is your business, it is your vision. You are going to understand it more than our team does, but you need to be able to explain that or our team's not going to be able to capture that vision that you're going for. And you also need to, you know, if something comes back that is not exactly what you want, let us know that, because we have to know that to correct it, and then we'll be able to get to what you want. And now I'm super happy with everything that we're putting out. And if I would have just ignored any input from my side or just completely let the team handle it, that doesn't work well either. We can get out a product. It'll look good, but it might not match your vision.

Speaker A: Yeah, I think that's very well said. And, uh, I too, have had the experience of launching some podcasts on my own and then really, in a way, being client associated with the relaunch of the Cashflow podcasting podcast. So meta, um, and it just feels so great in terms of, oh, you worry about everything. And it's like, I don't have to be the boss for a little while, which is. I like. It's like, I get to be the client and say, yes, I like that a lot. Can we take that? Can we change that? Thank you. It was like, make it better. And then they sweat it, as opposed to me sweating it, and it's cool. And then once we're dialed in, it's like, oh, yeah, you're just off for the races. It's just, okay, well, now I'm just going to have some fun conversations and then they do everything else, and I chime in here and there. Easy peasy.

Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Completely agree with that. And the automation side of not having to do the show notes or the blog or the social templates, like, that is also huge. That I was not good at keeping up with when I was doing it on my own. I could create all the templates, but I wouldn't do them. I just, in the end just record it, post it. Didn't even edit much because time gets filled up. Mhm.

Speaker A: And I'm curious, is any part of your experience, has it been especially wowing? I mean, hey, saving time is great and that feels good, but were there any moments along the way like, oh, wow, that is brilliant and I would not have thought of that. Or what a refreshing delight to be working with you. Who's more on top of it than most?

Speaker B: Yeah, two places I would say. The COVID art, uh, we have now is really good. And it took a little bit of like iteration to get to really what like I had in my head, but I couldn't quite say perfectly. And I never could have done something like what it looks like now on my own, like never. But it's, it's perfect for the industry, it's perfect for the company. And then the other one is the music. I'm just not very good at that. I know for a podcast I had in the past, I chose my music and it probably took me like four hours of going through these different like music ones and I'm like, oh yes, I found it, it's perfect. And then I showed it to my wife and she's like, that sounds really bad. Like, all right, back to the drawing board and that part. I'm just particularly terrible at anything with design or music. It's not in my strengths. And the music we have for this one's really cool. I didn't even need iterations. I just got the like three samples, like, oh, that one's really good. And everyone I've showed it to has said the same.

Speaker A: Yeah, that's true. There was really no substitute for, for slogging through dozens of options there. I have and I've gone both ways in terms of trying to find pre made stuff and working with a composer. And um, in both instances there's no substitute for someone somewhere has to go through a lot of options to get the goods, even if they're trying to create it from scratch. So having that leverage is handy. Okay, well, tell me anything else you want to share about what you, you might have done differently or other top tips for folks who might be thinking about a podcast.

Speaker B: Hmm. What I might have done differently. I think that building as many automations as you can is vital and getting to the point where I love Tim Ferriss. He was my first intro into podcasting. He was many People's first intro to podcasting. If you've been in the industry more than like six years, it was pretty much Tim Ferriss or Joe Rogan or uh, maybe serial. Like those were the three that got you into podcasting. I love his idea of what would this look like if it were easy? That's the quote or uh, the thing he always asks himself. And building systems with that in mind is really helpful because you're running a business, it's going to be crazy. But the most important part of podcasting and the most important part of a relationship is doing what you say you're going to do. And when you're podcasting and you say it's going to be every week, it needs to be every week because that's uh, if you don't follow through on that, how can the audience trust you with other things? So making it as easy as possible to hit that weekly cadence is really important. So things like Calendly Links is huge. Booking time to do outreach to guests because that's the. Usually the biggest reason people stop their podcast is they don't have enough content, they don't have enough guests. If you're doing a solo show, definitely booking specific time each week for ideation and then a specific time each week for recording. Just systematizing everything is super important. And historically I've not been very good at that. But the past like three or four years I've been really pushing into being a little bit more organized and it makes a huge difference.

Speaker A: Mhm. I think that's a good notion associated with the trust and the expectations. And you don't have to set the expectation that's going to be a show every week. Could be every other week, every month, it could be seasons. But just so long as that's kind of what kept me pushing through when I felt tired. It's like there are thousands of people with their phones in hand awaiting this episode. And it's true. Like I've got the data on the, on the back end statistics there and, and uh, just as we, I think we've all felt the disappointment of oh, there's not a new episode of this thing I like. Oh, okay, I guess, uh, I'll do something else. And just to, to not deliver that thousands of times that to people was, was enough of a motivation to okay, let's, let's, let's power through. And even better if you have someone else powering through on your behalf.

Speaker B: Yeah, oh absolutely. Uh, yeah, that's exactly the case. That's actually my main gripe with Dan Carlin if you know his podcast. Oh, Hardcore History. Yeah, it's so good. I think it's the best podcast produced. I really do. It's insanely well done. But he's just so inconsistent. It drives me insane. Part of it's because they're like, literally book length. It's like 12 hours of really highly edited hardcore. It is hardcore. But, man, I just. I would love if you put it out in like 2 hour increments once a month. I'd be so happy with that. So that's. Yeah, that's an example from my life.

Speaker A: Yeah. Okay, cool. Well, well, Brian, this has been fun. I wish you and Farmland stocks lots of luck and hope that, uh, your conversations and, and podcasts flourish and, and do all the things perfect.

Speaker B: Thanks, Pete. Thanks for having me on.

Speaker A: Thanks for joining me today. If you're ready to start your podcasting journey to grow your thought leadership and boost your revenue, schedule a call with, uh, us@cashflowpodcasting.com chat. Don't wait to take your business to the next level. I'm Pete Macaitis, and until next time,