Empowering Conversations and Community Building in Content Creation with Vinnie Potestivo

Speaker: 00:00:01

Catharine O'Leary: Hey everyone, welcome back to kickstart the conversation and I am so thrilled to have Vinny I'm gonna say this wrong pot estivo because I asked him how to say it to begin with, and of course, I'm gonna screwed up. Um, but I have Vinnie on Vinny and I met back in pod fest. We've had a couple of conversations since then, and he's got some amazing and interesting viewpoints on a couple of things. One of those things we're going to start on today, but just to give you an introduction, Vinnie is a trusted Emmy winning Media Advisor for brand strategy consultant to leaders, executives, and creatives. He's a keynote speaker, he's an awesome podcast host, as well as guest and he is probably one of the most generous people, he has a link for everything. I swear, if you want to get connected to or if you want to learn about or if you want to, he's got a link for it. It's amazing. At pod fest, I probably emailed myself about six times with six different links. It was great. So Vinnie, thank you so much for being on kickstart the conversation with us,

Vinnie Potestivo: 00:01:05

maybe let the use of it makes me think I should have a quiz for links. You know, I'm all about systems. And part of the way I operate. And I really appreciate the way you describe me, thank you very much. It's I hope my mom listens to this episode, because it's wonderful when the effort I put into being a good human being and a great leader in this world is received, the links are a result of me knowing too much and not remembering all the places to go. So if I thought to myself, if I could create a short link vp.tv/and, then put the intention behind what I want that link to be, there wouldn't be a lot easier for me to remember. So I actually just sent a friend of mine vp.tv/grief He just lost his Pup, unfortunately. And it's heartbreaking. And as a dog owner, I can relate to that. And the author of Eat, Pray, Love, lost her girlfriend, actually wife to cancer and wrote a beautiful article about grief. And so vp.tv/grief If you're looking to celebrate, and cherish and acknowledge the love that you had for someone who was once here present with us, who's now maybe looking down on us from up above, you know, so links, links are important resources are important. And I'm not going to talk about anything that I can't back up with like step by step processes for y'all to take action. And a lot of these links are required no extra cost. Like I'm very sensitive about that, too. So I'm sending you to paywalls or anything like that where you gotta pay to play. No, no, no giving, giving, giving.

Vinnie Potestivo: 00:02:41

Catharine O'Leary: i This is why I ended up like having to email myself six times. Because like I you know, I sit there and I'd wait and I get three links. And then I think, Okay, we're done now done. And then I'd email myself. And then we go to lunch. And it was like, oh, there's a whole thing about LinkedIn, or IMDb or something? I don't know boards. Right? Yeah. How to win awards. Yeah.

Vinnie Potestivo: 00:03:04

So when I might, you know, so many people have blogs, they create blogs for their podcasts or their businesses and they rely on SEO, we know what SEO is, right. So we rely on SEO, search engine optimization for to try to tell the computers and the bots what what it is so that people can find it. I use vp.tv/verify Google News. And what that does is it takes your blog RSS address, and it connects it to Google so that you can be the source of information, not just a storyteller of of talk points and interesting facts and stories that you want to share, but actually be the source, listen to the source. And this allows hundreds and then 1000s. And then hundreds of 1000s of blogs to pull your content because you are the source verified by Google. That's a great way to get discoverability without needing to earn website fair favoritism of website or SEO and all those immediately. It's an immediate thing. So click

Vinnie Potestivo: 00:04:03

Catharine O'Leary: on that. And that was that was verify. Verify

Vinnie Potestivo: 00:04:06

Google News, VP e.tv/verify. Google News.

Vinnie Potestivo: 00:04:13

Catharine O'Leary: Okay, so that'll be also in the notes. And I have a feeling that I'm going to be typing. Oh,

Vinnie Potestivo: 00:04:16

get your notebooks. Get your notebooks get ready.

Vinnie Potestivo: 00:04:19

Catharine O'Leary: I'm telling you, I am telling you like it's it's

Vinnie Potestivo: 00:04:22

not the end of the class, there will be

Vinnie Potestivo: 00:04:26

Catharine O'Leary: there will be a test. Can you tell us a little bit more about you know, like what you do? And who you sir. Oh,

Vinnie Potestivo: 00:04:31

gosh. Now I serve people who are looking to make a change in a difference. I was blessed to get to work in the boom of cable TV from New York. So I got to work on news networks and launched news programs and ultimately news teams. MTV News was one of the bigger breaks that I got early in my career and that led to launching the talent development department at MTV and I went in with this idea that like you can't, you can't change the truth of what's out there. But you can add a couple of extra facts if if those facts exist. And it's a great way to mold and shape the truth is by fact finding fact creating and ultimately, Sharon Osbourne love that idea. Jessica Simpson, love that idea. Ashton Kutcher love that idea. And they got punked and Osbornes. And newlyweds respectively. And reality TV sort of took shape there. And I was at a network that already understood reality TV, you know, real world. So they've been doing that since 92. When I got there in 98. And had this idea to change the conversation by adding in a couple of extra words, I needed to do that by creating space. MTV had space literally on television, 30 minute blocks. Now this some people are putting that together. Don't blame me for getting rid of the music video. Blame YouTube for that, by the way. That's the that's the big YouTube because on my blog, did you fall unless you love the idea, then thank you very much. No. But I got to work and create shows that just created space, and they're still going while and out. is in season 21 Right now, like just won an award for Outstanding Reality programming for the NAACP, and it's making big change. It's created hundreds, if not 1000s of jobs, hundreds of careers have been launched from that program, and even more conversations started. And it's those conversations that gets started by TV shows that networks love the most like when I'm pitching a show to a&e or Bravo or discovery or NBC or CBS one of the one of the ways that we frame what the series impact will be is do you want to be the platform that started this conversation? Do you want to be the do you want to be the platform that normalizes crazy families? I eat a Osborne's? Hey, look, you know, you're talking to the we were the house on the block. So I knew we were that house, you know punked you know how cool to add a word to the lexicon that our parents or grandparents or children or cousins or friends or peers in multiple languages, it's a great way to connect. And then with newlyweds specifically, was designed to create space for women in media. Because man when I got the media and then late 90s, there shows an idea of what women should look like and should sound and should be and should do and should be prepared for and what better time than I did, as a newlywed to reframe that. And it was Jessica's brilliance. Chicken is this chicken is chicken tuna of the sea as their chicken in this. She's a billionaire. So yeah, laugh, laugh all you want at her. But she laughed all the way to the bank and touched all of our hearts with something that was just so human and so real. And now I focus on helping companies and business leaders that are looking to make change and impact. They can create content, they can own content, which is those people that I've been named dropping so far, they don't own those shows. MTV is a company that's owned, it's on the stock exchange, it's owned by the American people. And what that means is that there's a financial responsibility to make as much money as a brand as possible. So they take that show and they own it. They own the show. Here now you this podcast you own this show. Our podcasts industry is growing because you're making more episodes, you're part of the growth of it. And our good friend Alex Sanfilippo, from pod match. And I will talk about pipe match quite a lot probably later on. And there. Yes, there is a short link for that just actually posted something on LinkedIn that I saw 18 to 24 year olds favorite podcasts over TV, there's actually more podcast consumption by the younger audience now than on television. And look, I got my started at MTV, and then MTV to MTV trace, and we took MTV as a music cable network in America and turn it into a global pop culture brand with a local product. And I got to be a part of that it's supporting the conversation that matters. And in creating the space to be a leader in collaboration, we created lead magnets for advertisers that now wanted to be advert working and collaborating with us. We created lead magnets for celebrities who wanted to get executive producer credits and extend their creativity into television and actually produce content that they were a part of big names that came and did it. And look, I'll end this and then I want to and then we can move on but I'll say and platforms need their stars. And I think I was there at a really interesting time on the network. Where, look, CBS, NBC, ABC we always kind of hurt you know, in the 70s 60s. They had talent deals with talent that they would just bring from show to show and that was their way of investing in stars and TVs way wasn't necessarily to own the talent but to collaborate with them and to own Then the co owner will actually to own the IP. And then yeah, collaborate in that. Johnny Knoxville, Ashton Kutcher trying to think of Nick Cannon, Rob Dyrdek, who's got a show that's been on forever called ridiculousness on the network that's going on and on. And, and I realized that in building leadership, we build leads. And I even took that I even came up with an idea to do a talent showcase. Because we were just finding so many great talent that we couldn't use all of them. And executive said, why would we do a talent showcase for people outside of MTV? Like, what what's the point in that make the point, my, my dear friends, is that I'm supporting a greater talent community. And if we create, if we create an environment where we're truly supporting the larger community, and not just our siphoned solo, teeny, tiny audience, which is going to change based on advertising specs, then we're gonna get pitched a lot more, and we're gonna get pitched first. And yes, there's a list of people that people want to work with. But if we're first on that list, it puts us in a really good position. And again, yeah, leadership creating leads. So that's what I that's what I that's what I aim to support. Now. There's people who are not just creating content, but are creating content with a goal to support those conversations, whether it's on LinkedIn, or with a product or service, or community, or a mastermind or something like that. I really get passionate about that. So

Vinnie Potestivo: 00:11:30

Catharine O'Leary: one of the things that I love about Vinnie is a he walks the talk, right, like so like he, he does, he has all these links, and he's, you know, 100% Let me help you. Let me connect you let me let me support you. But I even just connected a friend of mine with with Vinny and his first reaction was, well, uh, yeah, absolutely, because I'm here to support women in media, and, you know, help that conversation. So it's not just a conversation about how do I, you know, get down there 10%, you know, conversion rate or KPI? These are bigger conversations that I think, and I think, you know, this is where you and I have talked in, in the past, those bigger conversations, they need to be supported, they need to be had, and people are ready for them. I think. And I think that that's more where a lot of our content is going. And where our lead generation can come from is if we're in those higher level conversations, and actually having a voice around those higher level conversations, as opposed to staying so siloed. And so within our own, you know, kind of community, our own headspace, if you will, just like you know, I'm just trying to hit six figures, or I'm just trying to hit seven feet, whatever that is. What does that bigger picture look like? I think is is what what you're saying for leadership,

Vinnie Potestivo: 00:12:48

you know, lead? Oh, sure. Yeah. And I think that's why I focus on community building more so than audience building. For community efforts, that community is the entire galaxy, and, or the entire universe. And then, you know, audiences, just our little galaxy and inside of a gigantic universe. And what I do is I do all this gross work, this gross outreach, and this gross impressions, in larger and larger places where I can then net out in the social networks, my audiences, depending on where they want to consume me, like I'm giving them that option to pick and choose when and how they do it. Also, I think it's, it's in this rat race of social media, where every platform seems to want to encourage you to post every single day because that's how they get more ads in front of more people. Look, I call it what is even television. Everyone's like television is a dying industry. No, no, advertising is a dying industry on television. Be very clear, like there's television consumption is important. Because if you're not watching the full 30 minutes, you're not watching those commercials. And that's the most important thing about it. I just didn't want to have a relationship with content where consumption was the goal. Education is important for consumption, I want you to watch the entire thing. So you understand the process and then go out and do but entertainment, if entertainment is geared towards keeping you glued to that screen, chances are you're either paying a membership to not get ads, or you're getting served a whole lot of ads in between and like that's not impact to me. And to make impact. I focus on asking questions that I can not that I should the ones that I should ask are conversations that are probably out there and I can provide really strong answers and, and even maybe ask questions back to the author of the initial question, but what I can do is use my unique experiences my unique point of view, and I don't know, look, I can't predict the future but I know I can create it. I know we can do so like that's sort of like and I come from a place of abundance. I'm Yes, I I believe that I'm promised tomorrow I'm willing to bet my life on it that I will be or tomorrow, and guess what's gonna happen the day I get this wrong, I ain't gonna be here to find out. And that's like, a wonderful way for me to step into life knowing that I'm promised tomorrow, the things I'm doing today are intended to help me out and to help us out. And all of us out to have a better tomorrow, right focus on the future, and I process the past.

Vinnie Potestivo: 00:15:22

Catharine O'Leary: Right? When you're at something like pod fest, and pod fest, for those of you that don't know, is a large kind of conference for an exhibit for podcasters, whether you're a guest, or a host, it happens in Orlando, once a year, it happens actually all over the world at different points, but there was probably about, I want to say 200, maybe 300 people maybe even more last last time around. And it was just a Congress that like it was all conversations about how people can launch podcasts, how they can get, you know, their voice out there, how they can monetize, like, I mean, it's a business, and you don't shy away from, you know, the business side of things, either. And, you know, whether it's, you know, how do you be a good coast? How do you be a good guest? How do you get sponsorship, like all these kinds of education, speakers, and then there was, you know, areas for networking, but when you go into something like pod fest, like what did you What are your intentions? What are because you what you make, like you were born like kind of a North Star for a lot of people. And, and the conversations that you know, you were a part of you didn't always initiate but you were, you know, you're a partisan, pretty cool conversation. So how do you how do you walk into something like a pod Fest and stand out like that?

Vinnie Potestivo: 00:16:37

Oh, that's a good, thank you so much for that, by the way, I'm, I'm present, I'm really present. I'm not on my phone. I'm not juggling work. I'm not wishing I was someplace else. I've worked out my schedule. So I can focus on the people in front of me, to be really honest, like, like I mentioned to you, I know I'm promised tomorrow. So today really matters. And I know that today is the day that we're all chosen to be here in person. And I think that every room every conversation, and every place where I stand is where I'm meant to be and I try to be really present. Maybe some of that comes from my casting background. You know, I interviewed hundreds of 1000s of people in one on one in casting rooms to do all these reality housewives and all the different types of shows that I've been a part of the creation process of you have to be president, you have to be a strong solid, good listener, to be able to engage in an actual conversation and then have something to say have something to contribute to it. I think my intention is I know I have a lot of ways to support people. That's why I have these. I feel like I feel like the guy in Times Square with like the jackets got like all the different watches. Yeah, he wants watches. He wants watches here. Get your watches you. Okay, I got links for everything links for everyone. You got a dog, I gotta link you got.

Vinnie Potestivo: 00:17:55

Catharine O'Leary: next podcast, I'm gonna bring in jackets for you.

Vinnie Potestivo: 00:17:58

Just have a Linksys pull up that little like a little paper links and

Vinnie Potestivo: 00:18:04

Catharine O'Leary: label maker. Yeah, right. But look, I'm

Vinnie Potestivo: 00:18:06

gonna stick with this analogy for a second. Because if that was true, in Time Square, what I wouldn't do is run around, trying to meet and give everybody my links, what I would do, but you're calling out what I would do is stand still be present. And I would let those conversations come to me, I would start conversations where I'm grounded. I choose to spend a lot of time in the hallways because the the rooms where a lot of those conversations are happening. And information is being shared. With all due respect, that's the speaker's space to have those conversations. And I really try not to have private conversations in the back quietly while someone else is speaking, because our intention in that room is to consume the knowledge, the experience the education that that speaker is doing. Also, I'm gonna name drop pod match again. And for people who don't know pod match is an amazing platform that connects podcasters whether you're a guest or host to really valuable tools to succeed in podcasting. And yes, it connects guests to hosts and hosts to guests. And anyone is interested to vp.tv/pod Match pod Ma Te ch. It is an affiliate link, so I want to disclose it. So there's a membership fee to join pod match, which I actually appreciate because you get a more astute in tune and active audience that's on there versus some of the other platforms that only aim to connect to people. And then I double my affiliate commissions and we actually make a donation to the Asian American podcasting Association run by Lee Hara in New York. So I put that to use also. But it's again, it's my way of investing in a community that I support and that has always supported me and those that's like my goal. My goal is to surround myself with people that I can support who also support me I want I want reciprocal support. So this is like, big for me, I've been part of a lot of wins, where I didn't walk away with an Emmy because I wasn't as supported as the executive support each other, because of my age or because of my experience, even though it's fully my idea. And I put myself in a situation like that. And I decided I would put myself in better situations, and I have to be mindful that there's politics inherent everywhere, so I'm just gonna get a little, I'm okay with politics, by the way, there's like, I'm not going to ignore politics, there's politics. This is a spicy yer that that for me to see this, by the way, but I'm not going to ignore politics. Because if we don't talk about it, then we don't have control over it. And what I think is best for us is to have real active conversations dialogue about it, and I got links for that, too. But pod match is amazing. They also have something called pod score, which is a free test that anybody can take. And it's vp.tv/pod score. And it actually lets you know what your strengths in podcasting are. So it then points out who you might want to connect with or what type of skill set that person should have at you're looking to work with or collaborate with that might have. So maybe you're a strong writer, you got technic tech skills, but you just don't understand distribution or discovery yet, then it might say to you that these this is an area that you should maybe focus on, because Because more people saw a lot of people think you need more episodes to get more visibility and to get more discovered, but you need more distribution. That's as simple as I mean, I come from, I come from cable TV, and TV. When I got to MTV in the 90s. We weren't everywhere yet. Not below the Bible Belt and not certainly in that Bible belt and not up to Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, the back of nipple gate, you know, that challenged us but that that distribution is really important. We didn't need to make more shows to get seen, we needed more access to more eyeballs, their screens everywhere now. And the airport and the gas stations, on our phones, in the hotels in our our cars, the cars, all of those places have closed circuit networks. And like if we can get our content on those screens, and that's just more distribution for us. Right. But I think I go in, I go into pod fest. And I am excited to talk to people that I don't know, I'm excited to meet the people that I meet. I don't go in with this with a lead magnet or a product or a service to sell, I have faith that my relationships will lead that conversation to convert to a client. And to be honest, I don't even have my products or services listed anywhere. If anyone wants to know how to work with me and what I do, then reach out and talk to me. Like that's something I'm happy to share in private. Because I do believe that like there's only I have a finite amount of power and energy. And as you mentioned, I'm all in when I'm present. And you get a very personalized experience working. I mean, I didn't need the experience at MTV to create the shows that we created and to do the things we did it. So like, I'm not going to poopoo experience the experience is an edge. I have more education than experience in the past. But I'd like to say like I am. I am the experience. It's it's how we do it. You know what I mean? Yeah, it's how we do it that matters. And that's what people are going to see. And if I'm out there on LinkedIn, or from out there in social groups, and my card has a link to buy my my mastermind or buy into my one on one services or buy into some of the products that I like to utilize to help people succeed and grow, then the goal could be that that's just not I was gonna say misconstrued but that's just not the goal. The goal for me is connection. It's connection, genuine, genuine friendship connection. There's no people like show people. It's really true. I love I love creative people. I love people who have talent who have output needs. I love the balloons pop up. Sorry. That's it. I said the right words. I don't know. That's what the that's what attracted me to MTV. And we have a lot more in common with Mariah Carey and Mandy Moore and Jessica Simpson now than ever, we create a content that no one asked for that we had a finance that we've put out, and we hope people like it, and we hope they share it and then we hope they want more. And I don't know, I just think that that's a it's a it's an honor to be able to. I mean, it's really a privilege to be able to own your content, especially in America. It's a privilege to get to own your content and have it be out in public and being consumed. And if I can surround myself with more people who are reading conversations of impact, those are the conversations I want to be a part of.

Vinnie Potestivo: 00:24:57

Catharine O'Leary: Yeah. And I think one of the key things things that, that this kind of outreach in this kind of a little wild lifestyle really. And it's a, you know, it's your mission and vision, you get to work with the cool people. And you get to tell the not so cool people that it's not so much.

Vinnie Potestivo: 00:25:14

It's a circuit lifecycle in a circle, by the way. So we all have those when I was working with Beyonce, and I got to be a part of the team that cast her for her first lead in the film Carmen Hip Hop era. She had Destiny's Child had just broken up, I literally was getting notes from the network saying, like, Are you sure she's the person we should be going after, they can't even sustain a girl group. She's literally a liability to music right now. There's, there's no definite future for her. But the way she showed up for me, and the way she showed up for the community that that I support, and the one that supports me, was inherent. And it's some of it's a gut instinct. Some of it is I don't know. I mean, yeah, it's, I want to say, I want to say love is the word I want to say. But it's love. It's loving someone in knowing how talented they are, and knowing what their potential is, and knowing that they just need that right moment. And a lot of things needed to align for that to happen in the 90s. In the early early y2k days. Nowadays, you don't need a casting director like me to tap you on the shoulder for your moment of discovery, you're in charge of that. And when you decide you want to be discovered, you are surrounded by all your episodes, all of your words, all your values, all of your goals already in action. And when people find you, there's a hopefully a catalog, a library of proof that you stand on, of what those goals and value and what that community looks like. And that's something that a casting director and executive producer, a general manager, you know, President of a network, a lot of things needed to align, to make that happen. And that's just not the case nowadays. So if I can help people create content that they own, and spaces that they own, and have conversations that they share that support a more positive, inclusive and successful community, like sites and me out for that, Sign me up. I'll say I'm gonna give I there's like one thing I wanted to say about pod fest. So thank you so much for calling out what you did. And I really, truly do love connecting. And there's that there's an introduction part, right. So my shoulders are always back. I try not to have on too many layers, because I want people to see that I'm going to be there for a little late. I try to put my back to the wall so that I can have more people around me. And I'm always constantly opening up the conversation. So if someone walks in, I immediately seek a man, what's your name, introduction, we're talking about blah, blah, blah, I've never let anyone wait around. For me to stop looking for them to introduce themselves, then walking into the circle was enough that they need to do is now my responsibility. I take on as the person who is holding court or holding on to the conversation or the pace of the conversation, to bring that person in. Something else that I'll do that you'll you'll notice is I'll usually have a coffee cup with me. And that coffee cup is usually opaque. You can't see if I have a lot of coffee or a little coffee. And if I feel like I need to be someplace else, or I want to excuse myself, or I just need a break. I'll often say You know, I'm just gonna go get a little bit more coffee. I'll be right back. Can I get you anything? Because you know, at pod fest, they as a speaker, you get access to a special room. What can I get? Yeah, we got granola bars in there, we got fruit in there, I can make. Let me come back. Let me this is you know, this is my MO at MTV too. By the way. The top managers love doing deals with me because they would be like alright, now what do we ask for? I'm like, well, Sharon Osbourne got a bonus check when she hit over 10 million viewers in one episode. So you should ask for that, because that happened. And you should also ask for at least 10 VMA tickets he's like, but we're the number one show we're gonna give him a ticket. So I'm like, man, if it's in your contract, you're not gonna put that in your contract. That's how you get, that's how you get that stuff. So being in the room, being in the room, I learned that stuff. And that that's something that, you know, wherever and I say this quite a lot, especially in my inner circle, wherever I go, you go. It's a big part of how I like to operate. I just don't enjoy being certain places or having certain paths level or something like that, that bars us from engaging and interesting. If that's true, then you won't see me in that other space. You'll see me in the greater space where there's more access to all of us, or I leverage it. I leverage it. It's not mine. It's mine to share though and I'm happy to do that. But I use a cup. I use a cup often too. As an excuse to you guys talk. I'm gonna get a little bit more coffee. Yeah. And can I get you anything and that that gives me air. It gives me pacing. I might go into that room and just breathe quietly for a little bit put on chapstick. As you all heard, I'm a talker. I'm a New Yorker, I talk very fast. I try and this is with me, this is me training myself to be better at this too. But that authentic, that authentic Vinny is something that, I'll tell you what. Maybe in my mid 30s, I was able to find again, and really lean back into the version of me I wanted to be versus the version of me that corporate America or corporate media America wanted me to be, which was a little less flamboyant, and a little more masculine. And I'm like, but by my creativity is a feminine energy. It's like Mother Earth, it's, it's by the way, I have to be careful how I tell this joke, I have to work on the wording on this one. So I'm speaking from a farmer's perspective here. But creativity, it's it's the chicken or the egg. It's never the the See, we're never the rooster is what I'm, let's put it that let's use that word. So like, I don't know, I'm proud to have that feminine energy. And, again, as a gay man growing up in the 80s 90s, it was, you know, a challenge. And there's a lot I carry with me. So, but that imposter syndrome coming into play, right? That's that like that? That idea that I should be this, I should be that I can't do this. If I'm this. I can't do that, if I'm that. And I think that in some ways, imposter syndrome. Acknowledging impostor syndrome, seeing imposters, knowing that you're feeling impostor syndrome, I think that's a superpower. I think that that is, what a gift to know that you are better than you withhold my gift to receive that message from the universe that you know what, maybe what I've been listening to for all these years, and my case, 40 plus years, maybe all the things that people told me to protect me or in their, in my own best interest or from their own experiences isn't true for me. And what if my facts are different than their facts, then my truth is different than their truth. And I think impostor syndrome, when you have it, and you acknowledge it, and at first, it's like a little dinner, you know, it doesn't taste too good. But like, we know, in medicine, they make medicine that's better when they want you to know that it's present. And this is your body's way of saying something is off here. We what did we believe? What did we think, Who did we trust that told us, you know, these crazy foot doctor things that all of a sudden, we can now have the ability to change our life. And when I learned I could change my life by changing my story by adding new facts to it. And that's literally what I walked into MTV with. And that's what I think in a lot of ways reality TV, became was our was society's way to claim who they want to be, who they were meant to be, and who they should want to be. Not what you want them to be in reality TV gives a lot of funny slack. You know, it's guilty pleasure. They're like, they meaning everybody. But it's a beautiful tool for so many cultures and communities to claim themselves and now that you can own your content. And that that there's more, even more now than ever more responsibility from the networks on what types of conversations are coming from these programming, from programming, even more. So.

Vinnie Potestivo: 00:33:23

Catharine O'Leary: Yeah. So there's, there's owning your content. Yeah, there's owning your imposter syndrome. And that's the that's your little check in that something is probably being told to you that wasn't true. And that you can actually step into whatever you're trying to step into. And I think that that's very powerful. Like impostor syndrome is basically telling you why you're on the right path.

Vinnie Potestivo: 00:33:49

Yeah, right. I'm like, I'm a 47 year old guy that plays video games, when Super Mario Brothers starts getting really challenging, you know, you're headed in the right direction when your game boss is like, one foot away. Yeah, I think it's a gift. It's, it's a better gift. And it's an it's but it's not, it's almost similar to grief. It's not meant for you to, to put your head down and experience it in solitude, it's meant for you to share it. It's meant for you to overcome it. It's meant for you to be in it, and to trust that it exists. And now that you know it exists now what now what? Now what you get to decide when that happens. And that's that comes in owning that and owning your content. You get to decide there's privilege in owning your content, because you get to decide what you say, who you support, what brands you support, what communities you support. Who gets to listen to this. I mean, you can even pick which podcast directory you want it on or don't want it on and there's a lot of power, a lot of power in, in distribution, to be really honest. Right? There's here so I have a gift Veep. he.tv/gifts was a couple of deaths like one big link for a couple of for a couple of links in there. I have about I think 50 District distribution partners for podcasts that I believe are often overlooked. Because maybe boomers, baby boomers.org, or Boomer Boomer audiences, or international audiences that care about American culture that have English listeners, like in India, or Australia, or Ireland, or, you know, the UK, there are little distribution platforms, podcast directories, that aren't part of the normal, I don't know what's we're gonna roll mici, mainstream process to publishing your podcast, and the devil is in the devils in the detail, you know, there's money in the nuance. And if you can really tap into a very specific audience and cater to that audience, and give them the content, where they want to consume and where they trust to consume it. I like LinkedIn a whole lot, I spend a lot of time on LinkedIn, I spend hours a week on LinkedIn, I have an open door policy on LinkedIn, because I had an open door policy at MTV. And if you can get into MTV, then you can come to my office, if you can get on LinkedIn, then send me a DM and let's talk because I'd rather know you. And when you need a little advice, or need some information or like support on what to do on your neck, so I'd rather have a relationship with you upfront, then only as a response to you needing something from me. So I put myself out there, so that the people who do want to connect with me can and the people who just want something from me, I don't offer help. I offer support. I'm not looking to sell your shows or launch your product, I'm looking to support your shows and support your product, I'll help you sell the shows as a part of my support.

Vinnie Potestivo: 00:36:53

Catharine O'Leary: Yeah, I think that's the big distinction. Like I'll support you, as opposed to, you know, doing it for you.

Vinnie Potestivo: 00:37:01

Yeah, help. And that's just like, it's like a one time thing. Also, my good friend, Judy Fox on LinkedIn, talks about this quite a lot. And I agree with her help tends to be free. So when we say I help business owners do something, I tend to be like, Oh, can you help me? And you're like, Well, yeah, but that's not like really, really what I meant was like, I get paid to do the work with people or yeah, now there's this weird now people use Collaborate and appropriate, I'd like to collaborate on a business opportunity with you if you buy my product, and I'll do the service for you and my co How's how's that? I mean, I could fall under the collaboration definition. But that's like a, that's a stretch. I mean, we played balderdash and boggle. We're, we play games in my family, we play word games, you know what I mean? You gotta come up with like titles and people's names for living. By the way, my grandmother and my mother and my family gave me what a skill set they gave me to, just to, you know, and you also get superpowers and you get bit by a spider. So there's some, there's some childhood trauma that I had to, you know, go through, don't become a people pleaser. You don't need to make everyone happy in the room, you don't want to put everyone before you. Because that's how you wake up, you learn, you learn to do that. And I'm grateful that I did. And I hope that I can help people with the experiences and education that I have. And I'm not going to, I don't know how to say this, but like, I'm not going to do the work for you so that you're not resilient. And you don't have the ability to rebound from what life is gonna throw at you. It's a turbulent world out there. It's a violent universe that we live in, and it's cyclical. So it doesn't just happen once their cycle. I mean, this is awesome. I love working with women, they believe in cycles. They got like monthly cycles and annual cycles that just some men don't fully understand the power of acknowledging what that path looks like. Yeah, predicting what tomorrow would look like. I don't know what it's gonna be. I can make it though, but I can predict what could potentially happen because I'm gonna make it happen today. That's powerful.

Vinnie Potestivo: 00:39:08

Catharine O'Leary: Very powerful, as are all your links, you so much. And just to reiterate, you have vp.tv/gift that has a bunch of free information and you also dropped a few other ones that we'll put into the show notes. But thank you so much, Vinny, for being part of this conversation. I thoroughly enjoyed it. And I hope everyone out there learned a little bit about all your content, about being authentic about being present. And about just, you know, just showing up with that kindness and that you know, hey, how can I like honestly, how can how can I help because if I can help you in some way if I can, if I can connect you to one person if I can, if I can do that, I'll do that for you and Vinnie is one of those people so i i highly recommend reaching out if you are if you're looking for some some forte, and Vinnies are like, you know, anything that you'd like to leave our listeners thinking about? Or yeah, sure.

Vinnie Potestivo: 00:40:06

All right. So if anyone goes to VP e.tv/gifts, I've got how to distribute your podcast to 50 plus podcast. You talked about monetizing your content, I have over 99 platforms that are looking for micro influencers, micro creators like us, because we have high trust value with our support. And I have over 99 platforms that you should be aware of to help you monetize your content. If you are a podcaster, how to get your podcasts successfully on IMDb, the Internet Movie Database, and I tell you why. Because it creates a data point that Google and Bing understand, which means GPT understands it. And the future of discovery no longer ends with the Google search results. That's where the future of discovery begins. So if I can explicitly tell the machines in the box who you are, and I do that a lot in a very well on IMDb, it will change your Google search, it will change your Google search, it will change what videos pop up on you, you have a lot of control over that self determination. It's called self determination. If anyone uses vp.tv/gift, or any of the links that I've sent here, pop quiz, like send me an email on LinkedIn connect with me, let me know what links worked for you. And I'm happy to support you to amplify and maximize your use on those. There's there's a lot of ways to customize success because I've worked with many different types of creators and institutions and families and platforms and leaders. And I've learned that while there is a tremendous amount of strategy that's out there, it doesn't all work for everybody. And I'm really good at customizing it. And I'm happy to do that. I'm happy to share that gift.

Vinnie Potestivo: 00:41:45

Catharine O'Leary: Awesome. Thank you so much, if any I suggest to anyone out there if you are interested to connect because even a quick conversation could actually be the catalyst for a big change in your mindset at the very least, if not your business. So thank you again Vinnie. And for all those people out there. Remember to keep the conversations going. Ask a lot of questions get super curious. Thanks so much.