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This episode is a first for The Solopreneur Hour:  we’re coming to you live from 30,000 feet in the air! And my co-host for today is another first, he’s our first five-time guest, Mr. John Lee Dumas of Entrepreneur on Fire and Podcasters’ Paradise.  John and I are heading to Greg Hickman’s wedding (Greg of Mobile Mixed) in Denver, Colorado and we decided to record in the air.

On this episode we’ll talk about the importance of keeping your mind and your body sharp as a solopreneur, what John’s four months in India gave him and our upcoming appearance on Creative Live.  Buckle up and join us for all of that and more!

More About This Show

If you haven’t heard John on the show before you can catch his first visit here, and all three of his previous appearances are linked in the resources section below. And if for some reason you have no idea who John is, he’s the mastermind behind Entrepreneur on Fire, a daily podcast where entrepreneurs spent 30 minutes with John answering questions and helping John’s audience “prepare to ignite”. (You’ll have to listen to one of his shows if you don’t get that reference).

One of the things that allows John to do a daily podcast is his commitment. He will out-hustle, out-market and out-work anyone else on the planet. His military background plays a role in this as does his upbringing; his parents expected him to become a lawyer like his dad or a doctor. And when he chose neither path, it was a significant turning point for him. It was after a semester of law school that he knew law was not for him; and that meant he had to face one of the hardest moments of his life: he had to tell his parents he wasn’t going back.  And after he talked with them, he decided to go to India for four months and figure some things out.

So off he went and those next four months changed him. That trip changed his perspective on life and he came back a different man. He no longer carried the weight of the world on his shoulders, and it also recharged his spirit. He was more confident and yet still humble, he understood how insignificant he was in the grand scheme of things. That understanding enabled him to embrace failure and see it as a pathway to success, not a stopping point.

Over the next few years he took a few more corporate-type jobs, crushing it at all of them but hating the work itself. Eventually he came up with the idea for Entrepreneur on Fire and even though no one said it could be done (including his coach Jaime Tardy and a few other notable podcasters), he did it.

The finer details of the show include:

• Zone of genius: what is it?
• He was in a Bollywood movie: true or false?
• What percentage of John’s podcast success comes from his format?
• Who instilled the reading bug in John and at what age did he pick up the habit?
• How many people are expected to tune in for our Creative Live show?
• And so much more!

And for the next several years John poured everything he had into Entrepreneur on Fire and then Podcasters’ Paradise. So much so that his health took a backseat for the most part, until he recently decided to change that. After getting some biometric testing done and changing his diet, he’s revived his energy levels and he’s ready to take on even more kick-ass projects, including an entire day-long segment on Creative Live.

Just a few weeks ago, John received a call from Alex Blumberg asking him to be on his Creative Live presentation on podcasting. For those of you not familiar with Alex he is the man behind such NPR greats as This American Life and Planet Money. Alex is starting his own podcast called The Start-up Podcast and it’s about how to start and run a successful podcast if you’re completely new to the medium.

In order to start his show, Alex has resigned from NPR. Why leave such a prestigious position with all the fame and the following he’s created? Because he has seen people like John make serious money in podcasting. Already having the basic foundation and know-how as a broadcaster, Alex is entering the world of podcasting. He’ll be releasing three shows, one of which he hosts and the other two he’ll hire other people to host, and he’ll be supporting all three shows through sponsorships. In case you had any doubts about whether or not podcasting is a viable business model, Alex’s decision should solidify that it is.

Back to the Creative Live opportunity – as soon as Alex asked John to provide a day’s worth of content for his 3-day long course, John said yes. He had an already-packed schedule but he knew this was a major opportunity. Being the generous man he is, John asked a few of his friends to contribute. Nick Unsworth and Greg Hickman will both be doing segments for John and so will I.

Both John and I are thrilled for the chance to be on Creative Live, it has an enormous reach and will educate even more people about the ins and outs of podcasting. In fact, the audience is expected to surpass 70,000! Because it’s shot live in San Francisco we’ll be spending a few days there around the middle of October for this incredible experience. We’ll give you more details on how and where to tune in as they become available.

Please join me in thanking John for being our first 5-time guest and our first in-the-air co-host! We hope enjoyed being with us on the 172nd episode of The Solopreneur Hour. It was terrific to have John back to the show and I’m excited for you all to listen. Thanks to John and thanks to all of you for tuning in! Til next time…

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Episode Resources

Entrepreneur On Fire web site
John Lee Dumas’ previous episodes on the show
John Lee Dumas on Twitter
Podcasters’ Paradise
Mobile Mixed
StartUp Podcast
Nathan Latke on the show
Sara France on the show
Proudly Unemployable, the Facebook group
SoloLab: A Unique Mastermind
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