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Let's go to Maryland today, and we are chatting with David Griffiths. He is

president and CEO of Content Creating Academy. He is

also a trusted adviser and faith based creator, and

you can learn more about him at contentcreatingacademy.com, which, of

course, we will have a link to here in the show notes. David, thank you

so much for joining us today. It's a privilege to be here. Thank you for

having me. So you do a lot of content creation.

You do video, you do text, you help others, you do a podcast.

How did your content creation journey start? Where where

did you really decide that this was gonna be what you wanted to do?

So interestingly, in in a in a former life, I was a

gospel recording artist And I always used to hear,

David, you know, the most important thing is you need to get more followers on

social media. So I was on YouTube

for 13 years and I only had a

little over a 100 followers. So I was missing some kind of ingredient.

And so, one of my

when the pandemic occurred, one of my friends

created a Zoom chat for us high school buddies to connect on.

And, one of my friends, his mother just passed away and he said,

hey, Dave. Would you mind singing a hymn on

Facebook just every morning for a while just to help me get through the

loss of my mom? And, I said,

sure. At the time, I had really

not, you know, I've been a little bit discouraged with

different circumstances in life. And I hadn't really been

sharing my music or my presence as much as

before. But this invitation was my opportunity

to stop feeling sorry for myself and start focusing in on how I could be

a blessing to someone else. And in so doing, I realized

that if I kept doing that, my friend Kevin would

hear me, but not anyone who hadn't met

me before because in order for other people to discover me on Facebook,

I'd have to pay money to advertise to be discovered. And that's when I

discovered that TikTok was a platform where I could

have organic growth and people could discover me even if they've never met

me. And so it was in this process that I

actually began a journey to where now I have over

1,500,000 followers between my different platforms. Wow.

That's really incredible. Do you think there was something particular in

your strategy, or do you think the emergence of

TikTok itself and maybe being one of the early adopters to have really helped you

out there? It's definitely

strategy. So those 13 years when I wasn't growing on

YouTube, I never I never got a coach. I

never invested in someone who'd already done what I wanna do, who could

then help me get further faster. So when I got on TikTok, I got a

coach. And one of the things I learned from this coach was,

let's say, there's 8 different things that you would like to

share. So you share them and you let your audience

teach you what it is that they really want from you. So in my

case, you know, I I,

I don't have the gift of dancing. So

that that wasn't one of the things that I tried, but I tried different

trends. You know, I I would try, I would

share inspirational thoughts. I would,

ask people questions. I would do community building activities. I would

play piano. I did all these things and

sang, and then I prayed. And the interesting thing was

the things that went viral were when I gave from my

heart something inspirational to people. And so I realized

authenticity was important. And then I also, when I prayed, that was

something that resonated with people as well. So then I realized that while you

can do different trending things, you should be clear on

who you are and who you wish to impact and be authentic. And if

you're authentic, that's half the battle. So

was the TikTok and the social media something that you were doing first and then

the podcast came along? Or did you have the podcast already and and TikTok kinda

helped you to grow it? What was like the how did you add to your

content creation stack, let's say? Yeah. So what

what I my thought was, okay, I've been blessed

with all these followers. Now, what is it that they would like from me that

I'm not giving them already? And so I actually

asked that question on the different platforms. And I was I was

strategic in the way that I grew. I grew on, TikTok

first to then I went from there to

Instagram so that I could see what worked or didn't work. And then

I kept spreading to different platforms because different platforms have

different cultures. And so, from asking people,

I realized that people really wanted to learn from me how

to change. There were a lot of people who really wanted to change

different aspects of their life. And I and I am fascinated with personal

development and change as well. And so I said, okay, this makes sense.

So I entitled the podcast change. And because I had a large

number of followers, it was a little bit easier for me to get some

guests who, who who

had large followings. And it it just

it made sense to me. But but I think

it's just important whether you're growing on social media or you're starting

your podcast to be very clear on what gives you joy

and then who it is that you wanna make content

to serve. Because you can get distracted

in just doing things that get a lot of likes or things that are provocative.

And then you end up doing something that eventually the

algorithm understands and you figure out how to work the algorithm. But then

you might not like what it is that you have to create because you

were just following likes and you didn't really have another strategy behind

it. I I think for so many people,

that's a tough pill to swallow because

everybody wants their content to be popular. Everybody wants their

content to get the likes, get engagement, you know,

rise up in the algorithm and become more popular than it is.

And if you tell somebody what you enjoy doing

isn't gonna get you the same reaction as what

this is that's been working,

that that might be difficult for people to take. How do you how do you

reconcile that for for someone? I

think, okay. 22 thoughts.

I am a very passionate photographer.

But I realized after doing it in different

context, that

I specifically like doing portraits.

I specifically, I don't want to be a wedding photographer.

I enjoy taking pictures of, concerts that I go

to just for me. But I realized

the joy that I had, is more so for me

being able to create an image, a concept,

and dive deep into it and and use different techniques and and really

create a vision that I'm passionate about. And so that could be

a hobby. If you wanna make a full time living,

then there might be some other stuff that you might have to do, and that

might not be as enjoyable for me. So that's just one analogy.

Sometimes something is a great hobby, and it doesn't become as great

a business from the other stuff that you have to do to make enough to

make a living. The other thing is

the Japanese have a concept that, apparently, it's

not the way that we use it here in the west isn't as

authentic as the original, but have you heard of

Ikigai before? I believe I have. Okay. So

if you think of 4 circles that overlap,

1, 2, 3, 4. One of them is what is it that you're

passionate about? 1, is it, what is it that you're

really good at? Then one is, what

is it that people are willing to pay you for?

Right? And then one is, what what is it that the, that,

that the world needs that you would be interested in

doing? So if you look at the bull's eye of all those things, that would

be your ikigai, your reason for being or for living.

And so for me, I would recommend that someone

try to find a bull's eye, an overlap because in

reality, for example,

I might like making,

avatars of photo avatars for people, but that trend

might have passed. But that's what I like. So I'm

gonna advertise. Hey. I'm gonna do, you know, this,

digital avatar thing for you, and I only charge you $50

for it, but it's great. And everyone could be, like, yeah, Dave, but

people were doing that, like, a year and a half, 2 years ago. We're not

interested. But I can market it really successfully. I can be

consistent every day and let people know about it. I could be authentic. It's what

I like to do. But in reality, I'll be very poor

because you have to pay attention to what the market wants because

you're in business. And I guess that's the key thing if we're

talking about folks who are doing this not just for fun or not just as

a passion, but right if this is if this is something that you are relying

on for income or you think is gonna be a strong source of

income, then you have to have a slightly different approach to it.

So based on your experience with social media, your

ability to grow your following to where it is today, what would you say

are some things that podcasters typically

do well to create engagement

for their content on social media? And maybe what are some things that a lot

of them are doing wrong? So one of

the one of one of the best ways that I see

people leading people to their podcast is when they

find an exciting moment from their podcast

and they post it and then, you know, they tell people for the

rest, they can go to the actual platform, whether it's

video podcast they can watch on YouTube or if it's audio.

That's very helpful. I think

having a view towards a conversation,

even making a talking head video that's real,

where you're asking a question that's related to the subject of your podcast.

And then you could let's say that you were do you were talking your

episode is gonna be about depression. So you could say,

hey, fam. I have a quick question for you. What's the thing that triggers depression

for you most often? I'll go first. For me, it's when I

have a visit from family and then they leave. And

afterwards, I just feel really low. And it

usually happens even especially at the holiday seasons. How about you? Let me know in

the comments. So you're starting an

actual conversation about something that's relatable to people. You're sharing

your authentic feelings. Then in that discussion,

you can you can, create some authentic

engagement that then sets up for a great

follow-up that leads people to your podcast. So I think

sometimes we just stop at taking a snippet from the

thing and sending people there. But in reality, we could do more on

our social media to actually engage people in conversation.

And then that that heightened awareness is a

good, bed for you to follow-up with and send people to

your, podcast. Yeah. I mean, that's so

interesting. The the lots of folks do like putting

clips of their show out there and hoping that people see it and hear it

and think, oh, this is interesting. Maybe I I wanna listen to more. And,

you know, there's probably limited success with those.

Right? When we're on social media, we tend to be on social media. But, yeah,

this idea that you are providing something, this idea that you

are engaging with your audience specifically in building a

relationship, does tend to have does tend

to pay off more. It might not pay off right away. That one post might

not get a lot of people to actually click over, but it'll

maybe get you that follow. It'll maybe get you that comment, which then

moves you up in the algorithm. Right? It it increases

your probability of engaging with this person because now the

platform knows, oh, you like this content, so maybe it'll bring it back a little

bit more of it to you to show it to you, right, when you're here

more often. So, right, it's it's not just always about a subscriber

really building the the engagement, building the

relationship, and and, you know, getting yourself in front of that person more

often than not. What about for someone

who, you know, they they know they have good content,

they know that they can help people,

but, you know, they turn the camera on, they turn the microphone on, they're

trying to make that sincere, authentic

moment. And, you know, just as soon as the mic turns on, I'm just like

right. They got nothing. How do you how do you learn to overcome that,

or how do you learn to be able to talk to your

audience, especially when, right, for the most they're not there. You're really talking

to your phone and then putting it out there on the world. And

for some people, that's that's not the easiest thing to do.

I believe that you have to get your reps in.

I believe that well, for me,

it's very fun, but some days I'm going

like, what on earth is going on? Like, why am I making all these

mistakes? Then other days I get in the zone and like,

I should record a bunch of things because I'm in the zone.

Usually, I get in the zone when I feel something deeply,

and then I can speak in that feeling

and often, you know, I'm well rested, maybe I've just taken

a walk, I've drank some green juice, like,

I've I've gotten all the planets in alignment as it were And then I get

that sweet spot. And then, yeah, I can go. And what I

found is you have to just put in the reps. So you have to

be okay with sitting down and saying, alright. For the next hour,

I'm just gonna even if I have 15 minutes of something to say, I'm just

gonna go through it. And I may do it 3 or 4 times until I

start to feel fluent. This starts to feel like I'm talking to my best

friend. Right? So that's one thing that I encourage

people to do is to put in the reps. Sometimes it can be helpful.

Like, I have some clients who I support, where

they have anxiety with creating content. And sometimes they come

into my studio and then they talk to me. Right?

So they're talking to the camera, but I'm on the other side of it.

And we just get them to a place where they're,

they have, like, a framework of what it really feels like to be

talking to the person through the camera. Yeah.

Yeah. And that that's I I love that advice. It's something that we always told

our podcast clients, which was not to look at this microphone and think

about the audience, but to look at this microphone and think about, like you said,

your best friend. Right? That that person who when you talk to them,

you, you know, you sit up in your chair, you lean forward, your shoulders are

relaxed, you you're not thinking, you're just being

and doing, and and, you know, it it tends to produce the the best results

for you, which, you know, if if one

person feels like you are engaging with them as if you've been their best friend

their whole life, everybody listening will also experience

that same feeling. So I I think that's some great advice. We're chatting with David

Griffiths, president and CEO of Content Creating Academy and, the

podcast change. You can check out more at contentcreatingacademy.com.

David, for everybody who comes on the show, we have a couple of questions we'd

like to ask everybody. And so one thing I'd like to ask you about is,

in the podcasting space specifically, is there anything you would like to

see improved, whether it's from the creation side,

distribution, marketing? Right? Just is there something when you're dealing with your

podcast, you're like, man, I wish blah, blah, blah, was there. Something

else was easier to do. When I first was getting started, I wished

that there was an easier path to understand,

the steps that I need to take towards monetization. That was

something that I thought, you know, like, of course there were some high ticket offers

that were available, but I thought in a general sense, that would be

great if there was some more information that was available just

as a process for people to think that way. Right? As opposed

to just, oh, I'm just gonna start a podcast

and just, you know, sponsors will fall out the sky.

Yeah. Hasn't happened yet, I'm sure. Nobody ever has ever podcaster,

sponsors fall out of the sky as, as cloudy as it might be

that day. Is there any tech on your

wish list as far as something that either is out there

that you've been wanting to get your hands on, whether it's for video or audio

or, maybe something that hasn't been created yet that you'd love to see

made that would help you in the hardware, software, anything like that?

Not really. I'm trying to think of the name of that switcher.

The broadcaster video, the Blackmagic.

Yeah. ATEM Mini. That YoloBox. That one.

Go back. ATEM? Yeah. Yeah. The Blackmagic

ATEM Mini, the video switcher? Yeah. I've been interested in

that a little while back. Save your money and keep

your eye on the RodeCaster video. It looks like it is,

it it it costs a lot more, but it looks like it's worth it.

Phenomenal product that can do a whole lot of different things,

in the video world. We'll we'll we'll make sure we put a link to it

in the show notes so everybody can see what we're talking about. But, yeah, Rodecaster

video is the next generation, I would say, of that

video switcher, that you're talking about from from or from

Blackmagic. Alright. And lastly, are there podcasts that you have,

that you listen to, you're subscribed to that, you know, no matter what you're

doing when this episode comes out, you're gonna stop and listen to it or, you

know, it's one of those shows that you will not miss an

episode of it.

It usually, I would I would like to say there's one

diary of a CEO. But, but in

general, I have different it just depends on what season I'm in. If

I'm in a head space trying to figure out

how to keep my mind shift going well, I might be listening to Mel

Robbins. Right? If I'm

or or Jim quick, just to kinda just depends on

what it is that I'm working with in that season.

Yeah. Interesting. I never I never, you know, usually when I hear somebody say

that they have seasonal podcasts, it's usually like,

well, it's football season, so I'm listening to the Ravens or, you know, now we're

into baseball and so it's the Capitals, but you're saying it really is

about what's happening during the year and what you're feeling and

which creator is gonna boost you up and and kinda support

your mentality? Absolutely. And, you know, and I'm also a public speaker

as well. I can speaking this Friday. And so the things that I was listening

to are related to me having value to share when I talk. So

that's that's that's part of it too. Part of it is so,

you know, I have several 1 on 1 clients in addition to the

community that we have content creating academy. And so for the 1 on 1

clients, some of them are dealing with particular

issues. And then if I know I have a 1 on 1 with them coming

up the day before, I'll probably be listening

to certain things as well, just to,

to, to have that in my mind. Yeah. So that's the, for

me, it's more of a functional thing based upon what I

do. So there's different different kinds of,

information that I need for different people that I serve. And so that

determines who I'm listening to. And I think what you're saying, by the way, is

a great example and a reason why podcasters

shouldn't just promote their content that came out that day,

that week. You know, maybe you're doing an episode

today that when you send it to your audience, they don't need it. But

in 6 months from now, you repost that content, and you might be hitting that

person who wasn't ready to hear it then, but they're ready to hear it now.

Or like you said, right, like, it's it's more topical to what I'm

working on, what I'm doing, what I'm thinking about. And so, you know, really strong

argument for getting out there and making sure that you are

constantly repromoting and repurposing,

your content or your podcast and and, truly, any of

your, content creation journey. So we've been chatting with David Griffiths,

president and CEO of the Content Creating Academy, host of the podcast Change.

We'll have links to all those here in the show notes. David, thank you so

much for joining us today. It was my pleasure to be here. Thank you so

much for having me. Thanks for joining us today on Podcasting

Tech. There are links to all the hardware and software that help

power our guest content and podcasting tech available in the show

notes and on our website at podcastingtech.com. You

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