Jay Schwedelson: We are here for the 500th episode of this ridiculous podcast. Do this, not that. Oh, well, what I wanna do on this episode, I'm like, I gotta do something special. I decided on this episode I was gonna read and I am gonna read all the hate mail that I get, uh, but before I get to all the hate mail that I get.

Jay Schwedelson: When I started this podcast, oh, I hated doing it because when I started it, if you go back to the very, very first episodes, they were these long form like, you know, hour long interviews with important people in marketing and it was so boring. I didn't even wanna listen and I didn't, when I was doing the interviews, I'm like, oh my God, I can't, this is so terrible.

Jay Schwedelson: And then I decided, you know what? Who cares. That's what you're supposed to do. Interview people for an hour, get their life story, find out about this, that, or whatever. I said, I don't wanna do that. I wanna make short episodes that are weird and useful and mildly, I don't know, different. So that's what I did.

Jay Schwedelson: I appreciate if you've been here for checking it out for a while. You rock. If this is your first episode, well well welcome to really randomness. And so, um, normally I just give out all these random marketing tips and stuff and I share stuff, what's going on in my life. But we also get in a lot of hate mail.

Jay Schwedelson: So I have a form on JaySchwedelson.com where you can click podcast and there's a form that says, ask us anything. And people put in questions that we answer, but then they also put in a lot of hate mail. And then people also email me. Hate mail. And first of all, I think haters are losers. Um, and I, just so you know, what I write back to every single piece of hate mail that we get, every mean unsubscribe that we get from my newsletter, I, we write back the same thing we write back, smell you later.

Jay Schwedelson: That's it. That's what we write back. And I don't care. I'm a big believer and then I'll read the hate mail that I have, that in order to have people that are into what you're doing, you have to like turn some people off. So it doesn't bother me at all. Um, I'm also sharing this hate mail, not just so that way you, I don't want you to feel bad for me.

Jay Schwedelson: We get plenty of nice, you know, people say, oh my God, this show's great. We love you, all of that. So don't worry about me. But the reason I'm really sharing it is because. We get confused, you know, we'll get a nasty unsubscribe in an email or we'll get somebody that leaves a really awful review. And then we'll forget about all the positive stuff that people like your products or services.

Jay Schwedelson: People will say nice things, people are enjoying what you're doing, and we just focus on the negative. And you know what? Haters are losers and they're having a bad day. They're just trying to get stuff off their chest, whatever, and who cares? That's the, that's a them problem. So here we go. I have a, a, a bunch of these that, that we've, that, that we've gathered from like the last year or so.

Jay Schwedelson: So I'm just gonna read them and then we'll see how it goes. Some of these I haven't even read. Okay, here we go. In no particular order, people like you are. Why no one takes marketing seriously. That's fine. I agree. I mean, why don't take it so seriously. Relax. Okay. You keep pushing AI like it's harmless. Do you just ignore the environmental damage?

Jay Schwedelson: So, first of all, I don't know anything about how to protect the environment. I recycle. Okay? I, um, what else do I do? I use like a mug instead of plastic cup or something, but I'm not, I don't know a lot about it. And what here's, what I do know is that AI's not going anywhere, so me not using it. Is not going to solve a lot of the world's problems.

Jay Schwedelson: So me talking about that's also not gonna solve the world's problem. So I don't even know what to say about that, but I'm sorry, don't use AI. What do you want me to tell you? Anyway, Jay, you have dating advice on a recent episode. Can you just focus on the marketing stuff? The rest makes me take you less seriously.

Jay Schwedelson: First of all, why are you taking me seriously? The last thing anyone should do is take me seriously, but listen, uh uh. If you don't, humanity is what is going to win. Humanity is the algorithm. Okay? If you can't insert some humanity into what you're doing, into your marketing, I don't care how boring your brand is, I work for a regulated industry.

Jay Schwedelson: I'm in manufacturing. We can't do this, that, or whatever. Yes, you can take your camera out, do a behind the scenes video of how you do X, Y, and Z. I guarantee you that post will do better than any of the boring garbage that you put out. And yeah, uh, we get in dating advice questions, and I answer them because why not?

Jay Schwedelson: It's part of being a human. Who cares? Oh, this next one, I already see it. Nobody cares that you eat salmon. Listen. I don't know why I like sharing the food that I eat. And salmon, I eat salmon every Tuesday night. We have salmon night in my house every Tuesday night for the last 16 years because my, my wife didn't want my kids to only eat chicken tenders.

Jay Schwedelson: Here's why I talk about salmon. First of all, it makes me nauseous every time I eat it. My wife would go, was it good? I'll say, yeah, it was really good. And then in and 30 minutes later, I'm nauseous and I'm hungry. So I eat it every week, but it's a myth. And if you don't like me talking about salmon, I don't know what to tell you.

Jay Schwedelson: Listen to another show. All right, next one. You act like everyone should be putting themselves out there. Some people don't want to do that. Listen, I'm, believe it or not, I know everyone says this, like, you know, celebrity people, not that I'm a celebrity, celebrities would be like, I wasn't popular in high school.

Jay Schwedelson: I was a nerd. Whatever. Okay, whatever. And then, you know, uh, uh, when I, so I'm saying that because in my regular life, I'm a quiet dude. I really am. I sit on my couch and I watch reality TV. I, I, I'm just a quiet dude, and, but in my work life, I don't know. This is what I do. I don't know what the hell to tell you.

Jay Schwedelson: I don't even know what that means. All right, the next one. You suck. That's fair. I think I do suck on many days. That's awesome. Uh, I do suck. Great. You I agree. Double down on that. Double click whatever you're supposed to say. Alright, Jay, you are a grown man talking about reality TV. Like it's important.

Jay Schwedelson: That's embarrassing. Do you even have a man card? What, what does that even mean? So, uh, would you be, would you rather me sit here and break down the NBA playoffs and tell you, uh, uh, about what I think the Knicks are doing right or wrong? How boring would that be? Okay. Um, I don't, I, I, I hope I never even had a man card.

Jay Schwedelson: I don't know what that means. That is the lamest, dorkiest, pathetic. Hate mail I've ever gotten. So yeah, I don't take my man card. I don't care. I never had one. Um, Jay, you are negative about socializing with people. Your negativity is bad. Okay. First of all, I don't care what you tell me. Going out with people sucks.

Jay Schwedelson: Okay? Because, and I have to do it all the time because 95% of people are annoying. They're self-absorbed. They, they're just bragging. They, they suck and I wanna get out of there. By the time I get my appetizer, I wanna leave. So I have a problem. I'm aware of this. I have to force myself to hang out with people.

Jay Schwedelson: I don't know what that means. I am working on it. Actually, no, I'm not. Okay. Next one. You act like everyone should be on video or speaking. Some people have real anxiety. First of all, I am, I'm all in on the fact that mental health is, is an enormous, huge deal. I deal with real anxiety issues. I do. I have to meditate, uh, every morning.

Jay Schwedelson: I have to go on long walks. I do so many different things. I do cryotherapy. I, I, I do all, I, I can't even tell you. I've done cupping, I've done acupuncture recently. I do so much stuff trying to, trying to manage my anxiety. So I feel for you. Um, and, uh, me going on video or speaking doesn't. Help or hurt my anxiety.

Jay Schwedelson: I'm not saying it's for all people and I never wanna minimize anxiety. And, and by the way, anybody that you think has their act together, that they have it all together, that they don't have stress, that they don't have anxiety, they are full of it. They are the ones who are just lying to themselves. 'cause everybody is dealing with real deal stuff.

Jay Schwedelson: You never know what somebody's dealing with and you gotta be cool with everybody. Okay, Jay, you seemed very entertained by yourself. No one else is. Why do you listen? Why are you subscribed to my newsletter? It doesn't make any sense. You nerd. All right. Uh, what should we call it? And the last one, no one would miss this if you stopped.

Jay Schwedelson: Ooh, that's a, that's a, that's a dagger. Um, well. Screw you, number one. Let's start with that. Number two. I will tell you I've learned a lot about doing this podcast because, um, one of the things I believe, and, and you don't need to have a podcast, you don't need to have a newsletter, uh, but you need to have something, even if you send out a Slack message to your team that you work with every week and say, here are three new trends that are going on in the industry.

Jay Schwedelson: Even if you send out an email to, let's say, the 10 people on your team in your company. It's saying, here's the article I found most interesting every week, and you do this every week. I believe you need to do something. Everybody. I don't care if you are starting out in your career, if you're a CEO of a company, whatever, you're, whatever.

Jay Schwedelson: Doesn't matter what industry you're in, I believe every single person needs to do something. Every single week that they never stop, that allows them continuously to learn, right? This podcast and my newsletter, because I put it out every week, it forces my hand to look stuff up, to read certain things, to try to understand new stuff that's going on, so that way I can talk about the podcast or put it in my newsletter if I didn't have something that forced me every single week.

Jay Schwedelson: To do that, then the only way I would learn would be just doing the regular work that I do every day, and there's no way for me to really learn a lot more. I would just learn the little bits here and there. So whatever you are doing in your life, I believe you need to have something, a little thing that forces you to learn in whatever industry that you are in.

Jay Schwedelson: Putting yourself out there slightly. It could be a Slack message to a team. It could be an email message to a team. It could be a podcast, um, it could be a social post that you do every week. It doesn't matter if you get zero likes, right? Where you're saying, this is new stuff this week that I just learned about, and you do it every week and you never, ever, ever, ever stop.

Jay Schwedelson: That's why I do the podcast. I hope you find it useful. If you do find it useful, amazing. On the 500th episode, you wanna leave a review. Amazing. If you wanna leave me hate mail, you could do that too. And go to JaySchwedelson.com. Let's work together. We'll see you at the thousandth episode. Yeah, if we really get there, that'd be wild Later.