Ep114 Letting your voice be heard with Ronsley Vaz
Your voice deserves to be heard. It's the main message from my fabulous podcast guest this week, the incredible Ronsley Vaz.
Ronsley's bio is an outline of awesome achievement, but why I wanted so badly to interview him is because he's such a beautiful and interesting guy.
Our conversation goes in places I didn't expect and I'm in tears twice!
We talk about his business journey and how you can grow your podcast.
In this episode, you will learn:
- All about Ronsley's journey into his hugely successful podcasting career
- How to stay true to your own voice
- How to get your dream guests on your show!
Show Notes:
Connect with Ronsley here: https://mustamplify.com/ronsley/
Resources:
Ronsley's docuseries: The Psychology of Entrepreneurship
Executive producer of: Should I Start a Podcast
Host of: Bond Appetit
Author of: Amplify
The first Podcasting Conference in the Southern Hemisphere: We Are Podcast
Ronsley's TEDx Talk: The perfect recipe for deep conversation
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Show Transcription:
Tina
Hey, friends, welcome to Episode 114 of Her Empire Builder podcast. Today's guest was not what I expected. I have a very special guest today, Mr. Ronsley Vaz, and I met Ronsley years ago, you can tell from how conversation we don't know when but I think it was somewhere around 2015 and 2016. And he's just a really interesting dude, one of my favourite things about podcasting is getting to have conversations with really interesting people and starting to understand the way they think and to ask questions that you want to know that are behind the business and get to the root of that humanity. And Ronsley does not disappoint in that. For a really successful guy. He is so incredibly humble. I'll read his bio in a moment, which will make you go Oh, wow. So I was super lucky. Ronsley reached out to me about a month ago, just checking in seeing how I was like, Oh, hey, friend. And, you know, luckily, I was able to get him on the podcast, and he's going to be a guest speaker at the her Empire Builder retreat in June, which I cannot wait for COVID stay away. Let us all get together in beautiful Noosa this year. But it's a Ronsley runs like an incredible marketing agency. He is the podcast, absolute King. But what is not better than that, But what is like so interesting, and you'll hear from this chat is the different thoughts that run through an entrepreneur's mind and how philosophical he is. And I know you'll get so much out of it. So formally, Ronsleys is the founder of the award winning audio marketing agency Must Amplify he's also the executive producer of the psychology of entrepreneurship and the host of should I start a podcast, and we do talk about podcasting in today's episode, as well as his journey in how he got to the awesome level that he's at, at the moment, Must Amplify is best known for helping leading brands, personalities, and businesses raise their voice through podcasting while positioning their message to stand out in a crowded marketplace. He is passionate about sharing his knowledge and experience to those interested in adding you know what this this is not this is this bio doesn't give him justice. It's like passionate about sharing his knowledge. You know what he is just, I find really interesting, people are really interested. And he's so curious to have different conversations with different people, and to expand that consciousness of thinking and all of that sort of thing. That's what makes him so incredible at what he does. And he's got such a vast network with so many different people, which is amazing. So the psychology of entrepreneurship, which is his. His audio docu series, is an innovative podcast that dives deep into the minds of creatives using research and data to explore complicated concepts. As the executive producer and host of the show should I start a podcast, Ronsley offers tactical advice and information to podcasting newbies and those curious about podcasting. Along with his first podcast, the mega successful bond appetit, which you'll hear about in today's chat. Ronsley has been downloaded more than get this 5 million times across 133 countries his TED Talk, The perfect recipe for a deep conversation, touches on his passion of exploring the world through his voice and the voices of others. Ronsley’s first book amplify has helped countless companies organisations and business minded individuals raise their voices while expanding their reach to top that off, In 2015. He founded we our podcast, the first podcast conference in the southern hemisphere, this annual event, which is now virtual, brings together the most extraordinary innovative people and companies in the podcasting world. Ronsley’s overall message above else is to use your voice and he does everything he can to make sure everyone knows how. He's such an incredibly passionate guy. And I just loved our conversation. I actually, like got on the verge of tears twice, once because his words was so moving and once because he said, he may be able to hook me up with my dream, podcast guest. You’ll have to listen to figure out who that is. And then you guys, we can all hold him to following through on that for me. So I know you will love this. It is a long one, it is so valuable. And if I tell the truth, it is. I think we go for about an hour. And I could have gone for about three more. There is so much more I wanted to ask. And I can't wait to have longer with Ronsley at our conference for our Empire Builder members, you're just going to absolutely love it. So here he is. Ronsley. Ronsley Vaz welcome to her Empire Builder.
Ronsley
Thanks, Tina. This is so cool.
Tina
It is and I don't have many men on the show. So I'm really happy to have you here today and be able to have you share your wisdom with all of us women.
Ronsley
Oh, I'm so excited. You know what? I think it's about time where I was the odd one out. And I think women have always been the you know, the, the minorities I suppose. So I I love this space. And now I'm learning so much by just hanging out even in clubhouse rooms only with women learning lots and lots that I didn't know.
Tina
There's some positives and negatives to it. Yeah, I mean, I had a conversation with someone the other day, because they there was a guy that was like, I love everything in your mastermind. And it's like her Empire Builder. And it's only women, will you not let me in? And I'm like, you know what, no, I won't let you in. It's like, Oh, that's sexual discrimination. I like well, it's happened in the reverse so much in the past that you kind of have to do it to equal it out. And for a lot of women, they can't thrive in an all male environment.
Ronsley
You know what? I didn't understand that. Until, until I realised that men have been coming into women's spaces and telling you how the space is supposed to look like, professionally. And then I started to realise that it's been happening for so long, that you need to have your own spaces to actually figure out what it looks like for you. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And that's the main reason, right that you have to have your own space. And I think, yeah, you don't have to justify to any men for sure. But I found it easier to like, reconcile that within myself when I thought of it like that.
Tina
Yeah. And it's just so different. I mean, obviously, I've been part of so many business groups throughout the years, and most of them like majority men, and you know, you walk around a room, you do different things that are events. And it's like, Yeah, man you want to do so you do do. And it's the kind of thing where it's all of as you walk around, you're like, Oh my god, I'm so proud of you. This is so amazing. I love you so much. And it's it's such a different vibe.
I love it.
Ronsley
Yeah, it's and you know what I keep saying? So I've said this on my show, which you're gonna come on to psychology, entrepreneurship, and this is of the show is that I believe mothers are the original entrepreneurs. And I've been going to do every the things that every you know, entrepreneurs have to be mothers of the chef, the driver, the hug giver, the psychology that everything right, and the teacher. And entrepreneurship is quite similar. And I, I yeah, I'm constantly surprised at how it has been under appreciated for sure.
Tina
Yeah. Well, I didn't mean to talk about that at all. But now you are a super interesting dude. I first met you. I think we were talking about this the other day, and I think it was, like around 2010 ish, like, it was a long time ago. And you're doing super interesting things. Then. Now, you've got like books and TED talks and conferences and all these things in the stat that I read that I was like, you have an audience of 2.5 million people in 133 countries. That's
pretty impressive.
Ronsley
5 million now.
Hey, friends, welcome to Episode 114 of Her Empire Builder podcast. Today's guest was not what I expected. I have a very special guest today, Mr. Ronsley Vaz, and I met Ronsley years ago, you can tell from how conversation we don't know when but I think it was somewhere around 2015 and 2016. And he's just a really interesting dude, one of my favourite things about podcasting is getting to have conversations with really interesting people and starting to understand the way they think and to ask questions that you want to know that are behind the business and get to the root of that humanity. And Ronsley does not disappoint in that. For a really successful guy. He is so incredibly humble. I'll read his bio in a moment, which will make you go Oh, wow. So I was super lucky. Ronsley reached out to me about a month ago, just checking in seeing how I was like, Oh, hey, friend. And, you know, luckily, I was able to get him on the podcast, and he's going to be a guest speaker at the her Empire Builder retreat in June, which I cannot wait for COVID stay away. Let us all get together in beautiful Noosa this year. But it's a Ronsley runs like an incredible marketing agency. He is the podcast, absolute King. But what is not better than that, But what is like so interesting, and you'll hear from this chat is the different thoughts that run through an entrepreneur's mind and how philosophical he is. And I know you'll get so much out of it. So formally, Ronsleys is the founder of the award winning audio marketing agency Must Amplify he's also the executive producer of the psychology of entrepreneurship and the host of should I start a podcast, and we do talk about podcasting in today's episode, as well as his journey in how he got to the awesome level that he's at, at the moment, Must Amplify is best known for helping leading brands, personalities, and businesses raise their voice through podcasting while positioning their message to stand out in a crowded marketplace. He is passionate about sharing his knowledge and experience to those interested in adding you know what this this is not this is this bio doesn't give him justice. It's like passionate about sharing his knowledge. You know what he is just, I find really interesting, people are really interested. And he's so curious to have different conversations with different people, and to expand that consciousness of thinking and all of that sort of thing. That's what makes him so incredible at what he does. And he's got such a vast network with so many different people, which is amazing. So the psychology of entrepreneurship, which is his. His audio docu series, is an innovative podcast that dives deep into the minds of creatives using research and data to explore complicated concepts. As the executive producer and host of the show should I start a podcast, Ronsley offers tactical advice and information to podcasting newbies and those curious about podcasting. Along with his first podcast, the mega successful bond appetit, which you'll hear about in today's chat. Ronsley has been downloaded more than get this 5 million times across 133 countries his TED Talk, The perfect recipe for a deep conversation, touches on his passion of exploring the world through his voice and the voices of others. Ronsley’s first book amplify has helped countless companies organisations and business minded individuals raise their voices while expanding their reach to top that off, In 2015. He founded we our podcast, the first podcast conference in the southern hemisphere, this annual event, which is now virtual, brings together the most extraordinary innovative people and companies in the podcasting world. Ronsley’s overall message above else is to use your voice and he does everything he can to make sure everyone knows how. He's such an incredibly passionate guy. And I just loved our conversation. I actually, like got on the verge of tears twice, once because his words was so moving and once because he said, he may be able to hook me up with my dream, podcast guest. You’ll have to listen to figure out who that is. And then you guys, we can all hold him to following through on that for me. So I know you will love this. It is a long one, it is so valuable. And if I tell the truth, it is. I think we go for about an hour. And I could have gone for about three more. There is so much more I wanted to ask. And I can't wait to have longer with Ronsley at our conference for our Empire Builder members, you're just going to absolutely love it. So here he is. Ronsley. Ronsley Vaz welcome to her Empire Builder.
Ronsley
Thanks, Tina. This is so cool.
Tina
It is and I don't have many men on the show. So I'm really happy to have you here today and be able to have you share your wisdom with all of us women.
Ronsley
Oh, I'm so excited. You know what? I think it's about time where I was the odd one out. And I think women have always been the you know, the, the minorities I suppose. So I I love this space. And now I'm learning so much by just hanging out even in clubhouse rooms only with women learning lots and lots that I didn't know.
Tina
There's some positives and negatives to it. Yeah, I mean, I had a conversation with someone the other day, because they there was a guy that was like, I love everything in your mastermind. And it's like her Empire Builder. And it's only women, will you not let me in? And I'm like, you know what, no, I won't let you in. It's like, Oh, that's sexual discrimination. I like well, it's happened in the reverse so much in the past that you kind of have to do it to equal it out. And for a lot of women, they can't thrive in an all male environment.
Ronsley
You know what? I didn't understand that. Until, until I realised that men have been coming into women's spaces and telling you how the space is supposed to look like, professionally. And then I started to realise that it's been happening for so long, that you need to have your own spaces to actually figure out what it looks like for you. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And that's the main reason, right that you have to have your own space. And I think, yeah, you don't have to justify to any men for sure. But I found it easier to like, reconcile that within myself when I thought of it like that.
Tina
Yeah. And it's just so different. I mean, obviously, I've been part of so many business groups throughout the years, and most of them like majority men, and you know, you walk around a room, you do different things that are events. And it's like, Yeah, man you want to do so you do do. And it's the kind of thing where it's all of as you walk around, you're like, Oh my god, I'm so proud of you. This is so amazing. I love you so much. And it's it's such a different vibe.
I love it.
Ronsley
Yeah, it's and you know what I keep saying? So I've said this on my show, which you're gonna come on to psychology, entrepreneurship, and this is of the show is that I believe mothers are the original entrepreneurs. And I've been going to do every the things that every you know, entrepreneurs have to be mothers of the chef, the driver, the hug giver, the psychology that everything right, and the teacher. And entrepreneurship is quite similar. And I, I yeah, I'm constantly surprised at how it has been under appreciated for sure.
Tina
Yeah. Well, I didn't mean to talk about that at all. But now you are a super interesting dude. I first met you. I think we were talking about this the other day, and I think it was, like around 2010 ish, like, it was a long time ago. And you're doing super interesting things. Then. Now, you've got like books and TED talks and conferences and all these things in the stat that I read that I was like, you have an audience of 2.5 million people in 133 countries. That's
pretty impressive.
Ronsley
5 million now.
Tina
5 million Holy guacamole. Is that through? Like through podcasts downloads?
Ronsley
Yep. All podcast downloads.
Tina
Wow, That’s a big ass podcast.
Ronsley
Yeah. You Yeah, I've been doing it for a while, like, you know, seven years. And I've interviewed so many amazing people. And I realised that I'm a bad listener.
Tina
Obviously not. So with numbers like that, which is crazy. And you say, you know, I've been at it a while seven years. I mean, dude, I've been podcasting for three and a half years, and we have 3000 downloads a week, and I'm like, Oh, my God, this is amazing. So yeah, don't undersell your awesomeness at all. So how did you? How did you get started in business? Like, what's the origin story there? Because a lot of people will see that and go, Wow, like, how did that even begin?
Ronsley
Yeah. So I, I didn't think of myself as entrepreneur, I got, I had a nine to five I, I said to you at the start that I'm Indian. So we, I did IT to figure out what to do with the rest of my life. And I did a Bachelor of Engineering in computer science.
Tina
And I love that you just like embrace the stereotype.
Ronsley
Just like, of course, how we roll I put that in my textbook. You know, because for the longest time, I was, I realised as well, when I was in Australia that I was called on to stages, and I was the only brown guy. So I used to use that as well. I'm here just for the diversity. And you know, I would just say that and everyone would laugh and they would be like, Oh, yeah, he's the only brown guy they will not even realise that you know that. There's only one perspective being shared. So yeah, I think for me, what happened was, I got the entrepreneur bug, and I didn't know what to do with it. Like I knew I wanted to start a business and the best thing I could think of was, you know, people love my food. When I cook for them. People have cried people have like, different like, mental stuff that has happened, right? So like, Alright, let's start a restaurant. So that was my first business I put all my life savings even know this. Yes, all my life savings into a restaurant, which was the first Indian Portuguese restaurant. So it was Indian spices with Portuguese flavours. It never existed on the planet. Yeah, it was my dad's Indian Malawi's Portuguese, I brought them two together and beautiful. Yeah, and, and made up a menu paid a head chef, to train me to get my cheffing licence because I didn't, you know, and then ran that business. And, you know, from day dots, we were like, negative 200 grand, you know, the business was running from negative 200 grand onwards from day one. And then 2011 hit, like, long story short. 2013 I think it was that. That shut overnight, the locks were changed. And I had $478,000 of debt, three months after being married. And that's the origin story.
Tina
Wow. Okay, so definitely wasn't 2010 that I met you as much later than that. Wow. Okay, so you went from that? And then how do you pick yourself up after? Because you would have felt like, a big massive failure and going, what do I do with my life? Now? How do I go from there?
Ronsley
Yeah. You know, before I got married, I kept asking people around me what the role of a husband was, and everyone kept telling me that different versions of being some sort of protector and you know, the old normal sort of, and, and I said, and I felt, let me know, in hindsight, when I look back, I feel like the universe wanted to teach me to be a real husband. And I just borrowed courage from my wife, really, to be honest, that's really what happened. She just gave me her courage. And I just put one step in front of the other. And we paid off by the way that that $478,000 got paid off in two years in one month.
Tina
Wow. Okay, I'm gonna get back to that. But so you just be married for a few months, when that happens. Like, that's a huge amount of pressure on a new marriage to be able to do that, like, did you how did you rally through that?
Ronsley
Oh, my god goosebumps thinking about it even think during that time, we both saw versions of ourselves that you can't run away from. And we just saw each other for who we were. And you know what she remembered this particular fight, to be honest, and I don't think I've shared it, but I think it's important. But we were having this argument and obviously the five people who have been married hadn't been long really know exactly what I'm talking about. You're not we're not saying good things to each other. And Rochelle, this stops 20 minutes in and just looks at me and goes, Rafi, I love everything about you. I love how you stick to your guns. I love you. I love how stubborn you are. I just love you. And I cried for 45 minutes.
Tina
What a wonderful wife.
Ronsley
Yeah. Right. And and that's just context. She's an ICU nurse by trade. So I think she was training for me.
Tina
And she's made of tough stuff if youre an ICU nurse.
Ronsley
Yeah, so yeah, that's, that's, that's really what happened. And I think it's fascinating. When I think back about it, we could think back to it, because she could have easily said to me, you know, do this we got to do that we'll put pressure on. It was not none of that. It was like, you know what's best when you already do what's next. That's it.
Tina
And so you made it back in two years. I mean, for that I can completely 100% relate, I had a similar moment, not in as much debt, but when we couldn't afford to live in our house anymore. And I had to basically make a call straightaway to either lose the business or lose the house. And so I put all the money into the business and then had to tell my husband, I've just run the real estate agent, we're renting the house out so that we can keep the mortgage and keep the house but we can't live here anymore. So we rented a dingy granny flat, to live in two bedrooms with a two year old and a three year old and it was awful. But I remember sitting on that backstep, the day that everything got moved out and just sobbing uncontrollably, feeling like I was just the greatest failure in the world. But what it did from that is it lit the most incredible fire in my belly. And no matter what I think of that moment, every I reckon not a month would go by that something doesn't happen. And I think of that moment and go, Oh, I didn't know what I was going to do when I was sitting on that step. And if I figured that and did that, there's no problem that can happen that I can't deal with. Was it a similar thing for you? Where you kind of like, have gone through this? It's certainly up for me.
Ronsley
Not Well, not really. I do look back at that point. Constantly when hard things come up. Yeah. And I go, what's the worst that can happen from here, really. And I think what, what I do remember was growth, like I do remember the result I do I I am way more resilient now in the sense that there are things that will affect me then that don't even touch the surface right now. So I feel so different to the person that went through that. And I also think that one of the biggest learnings I've had over the last couple of years is learning to love that failure, honestly, that did that. Because that was the you know, the the sprouts with everything else that was to come.
Tina
And so what did you do next that allowed you to build?
Ronsley
Well, I, I started a podcast or a chef business that I was running, which was like chefs were plugging in into people's homes and cooking their whole meals for them really for the weekend putting in the Google calendars. And so I started a podcast to kind of educate parents that if they were giving the kids a happy meal after like this incident, then the kids would have that food memory and would always resort to a happiness in this relationship with food was such a deep one, right? Because we were cooking for like these high performers that we tried like fish fingers in the in the freezer, and you know, like so. So I wanted to have those kind of conversations and that's I didn't think much of it really. It was bond appetit name of the chef company. I started the podcast and I released it is Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 8am. And iTunes. I decided to put it on the banner section next to Triple J and ABC Radio for like, three months or four months or something. Yeah, and then then I just got really famous for being the podcast person. Yeah. So a bunch of people a bunch of my friends and you know, on the symbolist of entrepreneur space and in Australia, they were like help me start a podcast. So I created my first training programme in a week to eight people were in there 32 grand in the account, which went straight to paying the debt. Yeah, I did 1718 rounds of that training, paid that debt off, but in in that time I started the first podcasting conference in Australia in 2015. And then amplify agency, which is basically now our bread and butter is started in 2016. So, yeah, April 2016, is when we, we we went debt free. Amazing.
Tina
Amazing. Okay, so my first question is, What? What did you do that made you so special? With your podcast? I mean, first podcast to get there and get next to Triple J and for it to gain so much traction. What was that, like special sauce that made it so good?
Ronsley
You know, I don't know, to be honest, my wife keeps telling me I love it. It's like I teach podcasting. Um, I don't know. I don't know this is magic. It is magic. inconsistency is magic in replication is magic in, in. And that's why you know, what I love hanging out in women's spaces is like, I want to learn how you have intuition. Like your intuition is off, we can learn so much from your intuition. And I think that is the mat. We think it's not that magical, y'all. It's just like another sense, right? And magic. Yeah, this magic it is. So I, I feel like if you put your reps and you put your thing in the right order, the universe works in magical ways. I can't repeat that necessarily, like, insane. This is what's going to happen to you if you do that. But I didn't give iTunes my artwork. Like I don't know how they got it. I lived I swear to you, I have no way I have no way of knowing how they took my end. It was different from anything that I had. I don't know how they did it. I don't know where they got it from. I don't know how they put it up there.
Tina
So a very important person listened to it and loved it.
Yeah, hope well, flow. You know, I never even thought of that. I just
putting that on the banner that's happening.
Ronsley
Yes. I just accepted it. And I was just so grateful. And I and I and I couldn't believe that people weren't cared about it to me really, to be honest.
Tina
Yeah. And so do you think there's a difference between because you mentioned you released that three times a week? Is there magic in? Like you said, consistency and frequency? Have you found something works? Because I know traditionally, and I do it as well, the weekly podcast? Have you seen that more frequent ones work better?
Ronsley
Yeah, anything that you do more times is more reps. Like if you if you run three times a week is very different to you running once a week.
Tina
good analogy.
Ronsley
So I think just in that alone is a big is a big learning. And then if you think if you have an interview style show, and you're talking to three amazing people three days a week, god damn. So that's literally right now Hi, introduce myself. Tina is Hi, I'm Ronsley. I'm best known for having famous friends. It's true, it's because of my podcast. It's true.
Tina
Who's a who's been the most exciting, like who's been the person that you've been most excited to interview?
Ronsley
I just interviewed four gentlemen that on death row. That was probably the highlight of my interviewing career in the sense that I would have never imagined that will come across my desk. One of them 27 years, one of them for 21 years who claims to be innocent of the of the crime. And I interviewed them not necessarily because they were I mean, yes, they are on death row. But they're award winning poets, artists, rappers, music, MCs. From behind bars. It's it's goosebumps today in America, the are in American North Carolina on death row. Yeah, so that just blows my mind. Yeah. I became godfather for the second time because I interviewed a friend who I interviewed so I never knew but interviewed him a few times. And then we became buddies and she had a second baby and made me godfather. Like I I just blown away by by the people I meet on my podcast, I interviewed my dad. That is just, I mean, you know, I knew more about him in that one hour than you know.
Tina
There is something beautiful about being to us being able to ask questions to people and getting into an interview space.
Is there someone that you're wanting to interview that's like top on your list? That's like your most exciting?
Ronsley
No, not really. I mean, like You know, so for example, I'm a weird person, like in the sense that we all wish, although not all the time, by the way, it's just the weirdest boy I've ever met. Yeah. So Vayner Media being a talent, they're all clients of ours. But I have no interest in getting Gary on the show necessarily, you know, like, and it could be quite simple. I mean, I'm not, I think I just feel like I am in a pursuit of trying to get voices that traditionally are not heard. Because we were put we are pushed and in society and how we're trained. I sort of teaches to keep quiet and not ask and not, not question and not critically think and not, and have, and have other people tell us how to think and what to think. So I feel I feel like my role or my responsibility is almost to, to find voices that have not been heard and make sure that they get heard.
Tina
You made for podcasting.Oh, my gosh, I see why you're so good at it. Yes. That's a beautiful mission to have. Mine is delta goodrem. She's like my number one, or really, one day I will be able to interview her.
Ronsley
Yes, I might be able to make an introduction. Just I don't even know how I could lose my shit. Uh, yeah, just, uh, yeah, I might be able to make an introduction.
Tina
Yeah, look, I started crying. Like, straightaway when you say that say I just, I couldn't be cool with it. Sorry. Anyway, I've met so many amazing business people and done so many cool things. And I've only ever lost my shit a couple of times, and they'd be like, three people. She'd be one of them. Yeah. Anyway. Well, I'll talk to you about that later.
Tina
Um, okay. So I want to talk about for other people doing their podcasts, because a lot of listeners that we have to the show are course creators and the women who have had a huge amount of experience and expertise in corporate and in business, and then have packaged their expertise into online programmes, and now building through personal branding. And to me such a large part of that is podcasting. I mean, I know I'm talking to the converter, but podcasting just it opens up so many roads, and being able to have really good conversations with really interesting people learn so much, but also be able to open to a wider audience that you've never been exposed to before. For people that are reluctant to podcast, what do you think are the biggest benefits?
Ronsley
Well, the people around you see that you're using your voice is the biggest benefit. That you're just setting an example. And sometimes we think that no one's looking but everyone's looking. Kids are looking partners are looking, parents are looking family is looking friends all looking. And I think that that's probably the first main thing is like using your voice to talk about things that you really care about, like really care about, and then find a way to, like, link that into into your business. Because, you know, we've heard this people don't people love buying stuff. But they hate being sold to. Right. I think that's a Glenn Carlson quote.
Tina
I'm going I've heard that a few times.
Ronsley
But when they want to buy they want they want to buy the person like yes, they buy you, Tina. That's why personal branding is so important for everyone. So just using your voice and then refining the argument. So when you're having the conversation with people, that's the way I see it. If someone asked me, What is the silver bullet? And I had to say, Well, this is the way I suggest you do podcasting is when there's a great quote by Philip Mckernon is a friend of mine, he writes, the quote is your greatest gift lies next to your deepest pain or your deepest wound. And deep you're always audience has have these conversations in your head. Have you questions they asking themselves and when they asking themselves these questions, they feel like it's only happening to them, they feel like they're alone. And if you can have the conversations around those questions, and make them feel not alone, you're winning from day one. Yeah, you're creating this community around you and you're also being the hub that brings the right people to allow those conversations to be put in perspective so that the people who are struggling actually get the right information.
Tina
And so with that, how have you dealt with? Because you're obviously you've got cultural things that you talked about before as well. And then coming into Australia and now having such a global audience, how have you developed personally in terms of being comfortable? Being so heard and being so exposed with the world?
Ronsley
Well, you know, to when I got to Australia, 20 years ago, I spoke English my whole life, by the way, so English is my first language. I studied in English, but when I came here, I spoke funny. And I had to give three English exams to become Australian. And I only found out last year, after 12 years of being Australian, that the history of my country is really, really bad. And, and I'm like, wait, I was trained in all these aspects, but I wasn't told the basic history of my country? So I find it constantly constant, I constantly find, I'm amazed that I'm in this role that I, you know, I'm heard so much. But also, I feel like I have to have practices to keep me grounded. I have to have people around me to like, keep me grounded. I really have to put things in perspective. And not I suppose. But the he will take over.
Tina
Yeah. And so what practices have you got that? that stop you feeling like you are Master of the Universe?
Even like when we just reconnected and I like, so, what have you been up to recently? Like, oh, you know, I did a TEDx talk that got turned into a TED talk. And I'm like, like, if that was me, I'd be like, a whoop, whoop, whoop, but just happy dancing across the screen. Like, do you still when you say keep your ego in check, you still have those moments where you're like, Oh, my God, I just did the most amazing achievement and I am actual awesomeness.
Do you give yourself that?
Ronsley
That's hard. I have to admit that that is one of my entrepreneurial wounds. I think I think I just kept going from one accomplishment to the other and then just kept collecting them and, and I'm getting better at loving myself. And this is a new thing. This is really new, maybe a year and a bit. And I'm like, Tina, I'm I'm like you I'm really surprised when things happen. Like they happen every week. You know, like, at the end of last year, on the 31st of last year, I got a video to be on a paid board membership for a castle in Ireland.
What? What? I could have never put that on a vision board.
I'm constantly amazed. I'm doing a club house in a couple of weeks with Naveen Jain who is the guy that wrote moonshot. And is is mining, gold and cobalt from the moon and is curing chronic disease with his other business biome, like icon. You know, I am constantly like, I'm surprised, and I have to keep that. I don't know how to I don't know how to contain it. Sometimes I don't know what to do with it. It's like I felt it this morning with your puppy. Instagram, I felt like that it happens to me. And I don't know, I get to share it with people like you who understand. My wife doesn't know. He's like, Yeah, whatever.
Tina
I do sometimes feel like and I mean, as an entrepreneur, I do think we definitely there's huge elements of luck and the universe and magic in there. But there's also we create these opportunities and you know, even unconsciously we do put ourselves in the path to be able to be ready for these things and do them but I like he just said this morning I am constantly in the situation where and I'm generally excited and enthusiastic about life. And I will literally bubble over and just like have to stand there and just I'm so excited and happy and grateful that I just don't even know what to do with myself. And I have to like nail I take very seriously my meditation and my yoga because otherwise I'm literally too emotional. I'm all over it and just it's too hightened all the time.
Ronsley
But that's beautiful that i think i think emotional. The thing is that we feel the emotions but we are so good at holding it. But you are you've got, you've got a skill that you don't have to hold it. How? How amazing is that? Like, I mean, I, I feel that people keep telling us how to behave. And you know, you're so special Tina, now I mean, when we catch up like we just, I mean, you can tell right? Like you can tell when someone creates magic on the planet, like you can tell someone,
I've actually got emails from you, because this is what I want to leave back to as well. So I've got emails from people telling me that I'm too happy. And it's really disheartening to a lot of people that I give this fake depiction of life of life being so happy and rosy when it can't possibly be. And I always go, I actually downplay on social media how awesome My life is. Because to do that, but I am just a naturally happy person. I had an email from a guy last year that told me, I giggle too much in my podcasts, and I'll never be taken seriously when I giggle. And so, like you would get with that much audience, you would get feedback. How do you deal with that negative feedback and go You know what? I'm here to serve the people that are engaged, and everyone else, I'm just gonna block that out.
Ronsley
Oh, that's such a good question, Tina, because I first of all, I just listened to you and I feel feel for you listening to those dum dums, who don't even know who you are, right? They don't know anything about you. And it annoys me that some guy tells you how to be professional. It's so it's like, what it's like a priest giving you marriage advice. It's I can get on a soapbox about that. I really feel like it's important to put in perspective as who's giving the Where's, Where's it coming from? And why are they having that reaction? Because we all have these wounds that basically are meant to pick the right people at the right time. I consider that to be the best gift I could give anyone. Like I have realised that my whole life, I've asked a question where someone has got an upset. The reason they've got an upset is because I've unconsciously asked the question, and never questioning anything. We're just asking a question that they were hiding from the world. Yeah. And that was my gift. What my gift was to find was to unconsciously let people be freer from their past, I suppose. And I'm saying this for the first time. So I've never thought of this stuff before. It's not a pitch. But I think that that is what I've been doing. And I've been doing, and I've just embraced it. And I've kind of gone well, it's great. It doesn't have to be the reaction I want. Like, you know, it can be the reaction that they're having. And it's their journey. And if I tell them what reaction they're meant to have is no different than them telling it to me.
Tina
When it went into the TED Talk stratosphere for you. Did you feel more pressure from that? Because I know I listened to an amazing podcast after Brenet Browns TED Talk went viral. And Brent Brown, I think it's like one of the most exceptional people on the planet, and listening to how hard she found it to deal with negative feedback. Have you got any of that?
Ronsley
Of course, I mean, comes all the time. Do you know like negative feedback? If you look at the TED Talk, I'm pretty sure there is. There are comments on there. I don't remember what they are. But I did remember when it first came out like it came out in 2017. So it was around for a little while before you're in last year the solder last year I found out that ted.com. It is because I didn't have any sane I didn't know how to hide what made it was it was no tactic. It was no getting on this list. I didn't you know, mail my subscribers anything.
I feel the same way about the TED Talk. By the way. That's why I put it everywhere. Because I'm like, first of all, I can't believe I have TEDx talk. That I cannot I can't believe it's a TED talk. It just blows my mind. Yeah, um, but yeah, I get I get it all the time. People call me a creep. People call me different things. But you know, I understand their pain. I understand. I understand. I i understand where they're at because I used to Also look at other people and call them creeps.
Tina
Interesting. Okay, I'm going to get back to podcasting. When people are starting at once you've Alright, I know I'm going to need this for my personal brand. I'm going to get over the fear of judgement. I'm going to put it out there. And then people would do it and they get their consistent 100 downloads a week. What kind of strategies can people use to grow that podcast?
Ronsley
Yeah. Well, there's multiple now. And podcasting is so it's so much more mature now than it was seven, eight years ago. So one of the best ways to do it is who has your audience, and has no competitive overlap with what you do? Right, like, and then find all those podcasts and say, hey, I've got this 30 second promo for my show, do you mind just putting in at the end of your show, and I'll put yours on mine. And you create this really amazing 30second promo for your podcast, and just do those swaps and religious ads on on everyone else's? It's simple to take a podcast listener but one similar podcast to another similar podcast. That is definitely one strategy that is good to work. There is an amazing. So we've got an event coming up next week, which I'm really excited about, because it's probably the first time we our podcast has, all keynotes are female. And I'm really excited. So one of the keynote is how to do a $5 a day, Facebook ad funnel for your podcast. Yeah. So there's a there's obviously a way to take your podcast and get really good video content that you can create a $5 a day ad, and drive traffic to increase more listeners when you know the audience. And that's obviously one two strategies. One's a paid strategy. And one's a partnership strategy that works really well for growth.
Tina
Yeah, nice. And when you said, you know, you get to interview you've got now all these famous friends. How do you go from because I know when I first started my podcast, and I wanted to get you know, these amazing people, and they didn't even respond to my pitch emails, it's taken a long time to be able to do that. Is there a certain strategy people can use to go? How do you get the good guests?
Ronsley
Yeah, I have a very simple strategy in the sense that it's literally think of it as a pyramid and you put your most of the guests that you want the most of the top. And then you say to yourself, when I pitch to this guest, who two other guests will I have to interview already that this guest would go Oh, this is a no brainer.
Tina
Ah, that's so clever.
Ronsley
Yeah. And then you do it, too. So then you have those two, and then you go to the left hand side, and you do it again. And then you do it one more. So you have three levels. So you have at the bottom, you have eight boxes of people in your immediate network, and you start interviewing now, and you work your way up.
Tina
That is so clever. I've never heard anyone say it that way before. But it is so clever and so true. Because I know I only started getting more high profile people, when I lucked out getting one person to say yes, but then other people would see that they said yes and go, Oh, okay, well, if they're on the show, then it's okay for me to be on the show. And now I get other people say, Hey, can I be on your show? And it's like, haha, but at the start, it's so hard. That's a beautiful strategy. You guys listening? do that? That will work. And then so podcasts, a lot of the feedback that I hear from people is podcasts are all well and good, but how do they actually translate into business? When you're working with people with podcasting? How do you how do you use call to action strategies? Or how do you get that to actually grow the quality?
Ronsley
So amplify the agencies we specialise in, you know, I suppose to all personal brands, because they are, you know, actors, politicians, entrepreneurs, influences athletes. Artists, so they, they all have a personal brand, they have a business or multiple businesses that are attached to their personal brand, really. So the thesis is that everything you touch goes up if your personal brand goes up. Yeah, really? That's what we do. And we there's no way to substitute voice. That's why clubhouse is the most social platform because I can't have my assistant on there. Right? I have to be there myself. And it's my voice and when I say something you can tell if I'm a jackass. Right.
Tina
I mean, it's one of the main reasons I love podcasts is to get that know like and trust factor people can get to know you so well from running a podcast,
Ronsley
right? And and you hear people say to me Like, hey Ronsley How are you? How's Rochelle? Like? Yeah, she's fine. Hi, what's your name? So it's, it's great in the sense that when it comes to business, the podcast back to people think the podcast element people think is the lead, attract part of the business. But it is not the leader track part of the business is the lead nurture part of the business. And there is no form of content that's more engaging than voice. That's why parents sing to their kids before they even born voices just so captivating. So you can take all your attention pieces, and you drive it to this engagement piece, which is your podcast, and you have to then work out from your podcast, how do you translate, translate that to sales, which is get attention, get engagement, get sales, this the principles of marketing. Now to get sales, you have to have, you know, you have to have something to sell, if you could sales that you offer, or enough enough downloads to warrant a sponsorship. However, you get the sustainability of the art that you're creating, you have to make sure the sales allows you to sustain this audit it has it can't be as it can be a hobby podcast, but it has to be sustainable. That makes sense. So there are different ways. Obviously, there's courses of masterminds different ways to use your podcast to make money but but I think when people think about making money from your podcast, the only thing about sponsorship and that's really limited in what that can do for you.
Tina
Yeah, yeah. Great. And you mentioned clubhouse just before? What do I need to know your views on clubhouse? Is it gonna be here to stay? Is it gonna go? What do you think?
Ronsley
Three or four years ago, Tina, when I was doing keynotes, and I was convincing people to start a podcast in Australia, which you know, back then three or four years ago was a big ask of people. I was saying to them things like can you imagine what will happen when we have social media for audio? Right now we have social media for images and we stop our most favourite events to capture this image because there's social media for it for for images. Now with the most connected form of any content which is voice we have social media for voice which has come on now like four years later so I've been saying this for three years. It is so insanely connected that's why you can separate like you can kind of go into a room and go that that guy's full of shit I don't want to be in this room I want to go somewhere else. And and and and you know you you start to understand that this voice things is really really powerful visits that being thrown out. And I I've tried to verify it and try to look for the actual origin but I couldn't but the stat I've heard more than once is clubhouse is 370% more addictive than any other iOS app in the history of apps. Really.
Tina
Yeah. So how do you because I'm I was actually on on your room on the weekend. I was like, Oh, you know what, I've got a minute I'm gonna go on and that was the second time I'd been on clubhouse. Because I go, who has the time to sit there listening to people live because it's live. So podcasts I love because you can kind of on demand when you're in your car, do that club house. I'm like, you've literally got to sit there listening. I'm going, Who are these people that can do this? How much time are you spending on doing this?
Ronsley
A lot. But for me, it's my business. Like it's not only my business it's also the only platform that I've been most social on. Like I i've been off email Tina for three years. I don't see what I don't know. I just don't see email. Jenna handles all my email. I don't see email at all zero. .
Tina
Everything you say something I've got like 10 more questions that I want to ask you about the thing that you just said. I'm coming back to email keep telling me about how you do clubhouse without going insane and losing your day.
Ronsley
So I've never been more social on like I don't like hanging out on Facebook. I don't like hanging out on Instagram. I don't like creating content either one of those spaces LinkedIn either. And clubhouse I just feel drawn to have conversations with people I haven't drawn to listen to voice I'm drawn to like, hearing people speak up for the first time. So just That in itself feels like that's my platform. So that's probably Problem number one. addictive nature number one And the addictive nature number two is I will start a room and some one of my favourites friends will pop in, and the room will blow up. And that's so I used to introduce myself at the start of the year as ronsley making podcasts for amazing people. And since starting clubhouse, I realised that that is not what I do. I just have famous friends that make me look good. And they like so. So that's
Tina
Even though you yourself are one of those famous friends for other people, right.
I'm going to work on you owning your awesomeness throughout the year. Yeah.
Ronsley
Yeah, it's a problem. So yeah, I think clubhouse so I'll put it in perspective of followers, right. amplify agency has been operating for five years now in Facebook. We've got maybe two and a half 1000 followers. I've been on clubhouse for one month and two days. And I have more than that. Yeah. And followers. So and my club has 1000 followers on top of that.
Yeah. Which is out of the cloud as well. You are next level clubhouse? Yes.
Tina
I wanted to start a club and I couldn't figure it out. And then I had to put time in. I'm like, no one's got time for this. So you think it's worth the time then? Is your answer to that?
Ronsley
Yeah, I think it's worth the time. I think it's not worth the time doing what other people are doing and just hanging out in these big rooms. It's, I think it's important to have a strategy on what content you're going to create on clubhouse, and then what content Do you support and what time you support someone else so that they can support you when you're creating upon?
Actually, you know what, Tina, I'm going to invite you when I do the one with Naveen Jain, and we're going to add you as a moderator so that you can come and hang out with us.
Tina
Okay, I will. Do you like talking of that? So I was talking to someone the other day, and using this analogy of the small rooms are better than the big rooms? Do you go to South by Southwest in Texas?
Ronsley
I haven't been but I know.
Tina
You would love that so much. It's like a conference made for you. And at South by Southwest, they have like 2025 concurrent sessions running and so you go to the one that you want. And often I go to the really big ones with like Barack Obama, and Brenet brown and all these amazing people. And one day, I just could not be bothered doing lines. So I went, I'm just going to go to the little ones that I find interesting. And I went to this one that had Ron, who wrote a book called the orbital perspective, who's an astronaut. And he'd gone there the month after landing back from like, three years in the space station. And he was talking about the whole experience of coming back to Earth. And there was like, 15 people in the room. And it was the most incredible talk I've ever had in my life. And that’s, yeah, that's what I mean by small rooms. It's sometimes you just never know what you're gonna get.
Ronsley
And you know what, Tina, when I first started in my room, the first room was, I think, on the sixth of January, or something like that. I was alone in that room for seven minutes. It was the loneliest seven minutes of my life.
Tina
Did you just sit there or do when you're talking? Were you just sitting there silently? Oh,
did you talk?
Ronsley
No. Talk to whom? Like there's no one in this? I was just like, Oh, okay.
Tina
Cuz it's not like say like, if you go on live, like a Facebook Live or an Insta live and no one say you gotta talk because people are gonna watch it back later. But it's just disappeared, isn't it?
Ronsley
Correct. It just live. And it's like a talking stick. right in. That's it. Here's where you notice people's demeanour, right, or their, their exact character or their politeness, I suppose is how much they interrupt someone. Because it's like a token, there's only one person talking at any time. And you have to listen longer than you speak. And hopefully people starting clubhouse or getting into clubhouses are thinking of that. And unfortunately, what happens is with the other platforms, right? It is more about publishing. And I think the automatic response is, oh, I've got to speak. If I'm not speaking then I'm not being valuable on this platform. But it's actually the opposite. Because you have to listen, you can't interrupt the conversation and just say what you want. And if you do, it's really off putting for everyone in the room. So yeah, it's it's really fascinating, fascinating.
Tina
You've inspired me I'm going to give it a red hot go then because Glenn was talking to me about it the other day to Glenn Carlson For everyone listening Run Key Person of Influence. and he's an absolute business superstar. And he was saying, Come on, Tina, you've got to get on there. And yeah, okay,
I'll give it a go. We'll give it a go.
Last thing I want to ask you about is this email situation. Sorry, how do people get in contact with you? And how do you how do you do this?
Ronsley
Well, people send me emails, but I don't see them. I mean, Jenna sees them all. She processes them how I mean, how they're meant to be processed, I just see the things that I need to see. She sends stuff that needs to go to accounts to account she sends stuff that partnerships or you know, getting another podcast or whatever reason, right,
you have time to go and clubhouse, correct.
you outsource all of that.
Correct. And email is a big one for me, because I noticed my my energy levels and my emotions were being dragged around, and it would like, dragged around like people I didn't even know and I didn't want to put myself through that day in and day out. And, and Jenna's removed from it, or whoever's in that position is removed from that, and my days happy.
Tina
Oh, my gosh, I love that so much. I could talk to you for like, hours and hours more, but I just looked at the time ago. Okay, wrap it up, Tina. Um, you know, I said at the beginning that you such an interesting guy, and you are such an interesting guy. There's just so much that goes on. The last thing that I want to ask you, though, is like, what's ahead for you? What are you working on this year?
Ronsley
Well, I'm just working on on myself, really, to be honest. I feel like I feel like me just understanding myself a little bit better and understanding the wounds of my past and, and why I do certain things that makes me more empathetic towards others. I don't really, I don't really have goals for my business necessarily, really, in the moment because, you know, even the last two weeks, I couldn't have imagined what has happened. Like, there's no way I could have written that down as gold. So I've started to just open my heart really, and, and, and, and reach out like, you know, us read, I was having this conversation with pure intuition and synchronicity, I mean, think about it, right. And, and I'm constantly you know, as to how, you know, women use intuition and how it's such a powerful sense. And I'm slowly starting to tap into that and understand that.
Tina
I love it, Ronsley thank you so much.
Ronsley
Thank you, Tina. I'm so so happy that we had this conversation. So cool. Thank you.
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