Building Community Through Live Podcasting | Jeff Revilla

PROFITABLE TALKS...

In this episode of The Profitable Creative, host Christian Brim speaks with Jeff Revilla, the founder of Poduty, about the journey of creating a unique live podcasting experience. They discuss the origin of the name Poduty, the concept of a mobile theater, and the importance of audience interaction in live events. Jeff shares his transition from a marketing director to a podcasting entrepreneur, the challenges of building a business model, and the financial insights gained in the process. The conversation highlights the need for community and connection in today's digital age, as well as the innovative interactive podcast showcases being developed at Poduty.

PROFITABLE TAKEAWAYS...

• The name Poduty combines 'pod' and 'duty' to create a fun brand.
• Creating a mobile theater allows for unique live podcasting experiences.
• Audience interaction enhances the podcasting experience significantly.
• Transitioning from marketing to podcasting requires a clear vision and execution.
• Building a business model involves understanding risks and potential rewards.
• Community and connection are essential in the post-COVID world.
• Interactive showcases can provide valuable feedback to podcasters.
• The financial journey of a new business can be challenging but rewarding.
• Live events can create a transformative experience for attendees.
• The future of podcasting may involve more live and interactive elements.

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Transcript

Christian Brim (00:00.174)
Welcome to another episode of the profitable creative the only place on the interwebs where you will learn how to turn your profit it Take two Welcome to another episode of the profitable creative the only place on the interwebs where you will turn Good lord. I must have had a bad lunch. All right Nick, this is take three

Welcome to another episode of the Profitable Creative, the only place on the interwebs where you will learn how to turn your passion into profit. I am your host, Christian Brim. Joining me today is Jeff Ravilla of Poduty. I want to give a special shout out to our one listener in Frisco, Texas, just outside of Dallas, Texas. I have been to Frisco. Welcome, Jeff.

Jeff Revilla (00:56.639)
thank you so much for having me. Looking forward to this conversation.

Christian Brim (00:59.756)
Well, I am am excited too, especially since you said the word poduti. Okay, so give me the origin of that name.

Jeff Revilla (01:03.359)
you

Jeff Revilla (01:07.744)
Yeah. I mean, go back to 2020. I'm looking for a name for the company and like everybody, you go to a name register and you start typing in names and you know, there's some, you know, there's a great, names out there already with the word pod in it. So I'm trying to think about things and how I can get things to come together. And I, know, I'm doing the thing I'm typing words, not available typing words that's not available. And I wanted to get something short, you know, in trying to get a five or six letter domain names, very difficult.

Christian Brim (01:37.602)
Yes.

Jeff Revilla (01:37.696)
So, you know, I was, I think of this business as my mission, right? This is my, I'm here. This is my duty to get this done. so it's my podcast mission, which is, it's a little portmanteau of the word pod for podcasting and duty as a mission. But when you put it together and say, P-duty, it makes everybody smile and laugh and chuckle like you're a kindergartener and you just said a bad word on the playground. And, and that's really what I'm building. I'm trying to build something that's fun.

Christian Brim (01:45.029)
okay.

Christian Brim (01:58.006)
Yes.

Christian Brim (02:02.709)
Yes.

Jeff Revilla (02:06.856)
lighthearted, you can feel safe saying it and being there. And, you know, we'll get into the story in the background, but the name of it is supposed to be fun and playful and it's Padooty.

Christian Brim (02:17.25)
Yes, when you said duty, my, my fourth grade brain, just like he said duty, you know, so it worked and you made a word. Congratulations.

Jeff Revilla (02:23.018)
Yeah. And it's Yeah. Yeah. A new word in a six letter domain name, all in one fail swoop. I, usually joke in the future, are you going to spend time typing in seven letters to go to Netflix? No, I'm one letter less than Netflix. So

Christian Brim (02:39.266)
Hmm.

Yes, perfect. Well, give us the origin story. So how did this Padooty come into being?

Jeff Revilla (02:49.986)
Well, for those of you who are watching, know how much this is audio, how much is video, but behind me is a theater space that I've been working on. And it's an idea that I had ever since the days of Blab. I'm one of those people who were around for Blab in 2015, 2016. And Blab had this great social element where you could go live and immediately 30 people would converge on your room. And it was one of those first four in the box live streaming services. So.

Christian Brim (03:09.549)
Mm-hmm.

Jeff Revilla (03:18.978)
Those who they're like have this affinity for blab. They love it. Uh, but when, when it started to get unstable and it closed down, a lot of people who were there, it left a hole in like their live streaming processes and their podcasting processes. And I've been trying to fill that void. Like we did try Google hangouts and YouTube live and appear in and hop in and all these other different services, but nothing really replaced the magic that blab had that.

the social live streaming element where you could do a show in front of an audience. And that spark led me to create something called what I call it a mobile theater or theater anywhere that could fit in the back of my sedan. I would, my goal was, well, if I can't go to blab anymore, maybe I'll go to a park and I'll just set up at a pavilion or along a walking path. And that was kind of this first idea of, you know, where could a theater be? Could a theater be anything anywhere? And that idea kept resonating and resonating and

Eventually booked, uh, some appearances and the first one that we really had booked, uh, where I could go and perform my trivia podcast was at a, at a coffee shop. We're going to do free tacos and live trivia March 30th, 2020. it wasn't the best time. Uh, and so we couldn't do that show of course. And, that idea of, okay, I could take this somewhere. I could set it up. I could do a show and perform for people.

Christian Brim (04:37.4)
Bad timing. Bad timing.

Jeff Revilla (04:49.282)
And, you know, obviously we're in lockdown and quarantine and I really, this idea for years kept thinking. And so I went to the people at PodFest, did a conference called Origins in 2020, which was an all virtual. And I said, Hey, I got this idea and I'd like to present it and see what other people think. And I got the presented PodFest in 2020, this idea of this infinite seat theater where you could set up maybe in a basement or

Christian Brim (05:12.728)
Yes?

Jeff Revilla (05:15.872)
You know, at a friend's party or, know, just set up with some cameras and some live streaming capability and wherever you were, that's where the theater was. And you weren't limited by seating capacity because you could now live stream this to anywhere. So that, that podfest origin that tie in kind of like lit the spark. And then I spent a couple of years really piecing it all together and thinking of like, how's this a business? How can this work? How can we, you know, have a place to walk in turnkey.

put on a show, get a recording, and then give that recording back to the creator. So that's the long story of how we got here, but...

Christian Brim (05:52.76)
Well, not too long. I have some follow-up questions, too. So in your mind, what is the difference when you add the audience? What changes from a normal dialogue like we're having to including audience?

Jeff Revilla (06:15.84)
Yeah, someone listened to this right now. They're going to, maybe they're in their car, maybe they're doing the workout and it's a very podcasting audio. It's not intimate, but it's very one-on-one. You feel like you're in the room and you're just there, you know, immersing in the conversation, taking it all in. When you add live to it, the two benefits, one as an audience member, you get to see, you know, I joke how the sausage is made. You get to see.

You get to see that voice in person. You get to see that podcaster. You can react. You can ask questions. You can hang out afterwards, right? You can, you can hang out, you know, get signatures, buy merch, talk, you know, thank them for some previous episodes. You don't get that. And same thing on the podcaster side. You, you hit publish. All you see is a bunch of numbers go up for the next seven days and it kind of plateaus and you do it all over again. But when you're in front of an audience.

You get that real time feedback that you can't get from an MP3 file. get the audience laughing at you and, and you know, asking questions, maybe even throwing stuff at you if you're really terrible. And then you, you also get to interact with the audience and get feedback right after the show. So this element that you don't get really is a, is a huge benefit to, you know, just trying it, take your show on the road. Maybe there's a local bar or a library near you. Try it out. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised that.

You know, what comes from all that?

Christian Brim (07:43.276)
Well, you know, I used to long time ago, listen to talk radio. and, and of course that's, that's the audio interaction of the audience. and that, that does add, a different element because you really don't know what the audience is going to say. mean, you can screen the calls and, and, that, but you know, once they're live, you've got that, that, button to kill them, but.

You know, you don't really know what's going to come out. And I think that's that's the magic where you get to hear other people like you, I guess, is kind of like and somebody will say something. Yeah, that's what I think. Or, you know, but adding the video element is is intriguing because really you're creating a mini TV show, if you will. Would you would you describe it as that?

Jeff Revilla (08:40.246)
Yeah. It's like a DIY television station. Really. I always joke about weird Al's movie UHF. I sometimes say Jeff. This is the Jeff TV studio where you can come in, perform your show. You can bring in your own props. I don't care what, like what you bring to the stage, anything you want to do to set up. we have five cameras plus an HDMI input for, like a laptop. If you want to also run slides or, you know, some people like multimedia.

Christian Brim (08:44.781)
Yeah.

Christian Brim (08:48.376)
Yes.

Love it.

Jeff Revilla (09:09.314)
All those things are considered during the setup and like just like a TV studio, we have different angles. We can capture different shots and your guests or you or the whole stage. All that is really just like, you know, a little Saturday at live studio where you can watch it live on the internet or you can be in person at the theater.

Christian Brim (09:30.04)
So do you still do it mobile or is it now just a permanent location?

Jeff Revilla (09:35.454)
No, now it's permanent. Yeah. come to the theater now and we'll produce it there for you. maybe somewhere down the road, I'll, I'll do some remotes just like, you know, full circle, like a radio station. you know, you pay enough money for a sponsorship. I'll be at your, I'll knock on your door and I'll be there Saturday morning. help you sell some cars at nine AM.

Christian Brim (09:46.743)
Right.

Christian Brim (09:55.168)
Right. So did you have a background in radio or TV or how did you get into podcasting?

Jeff Revilla (10:02.12)
I'm a marketing guy. digital marketing. I've been a marketing director for like 14 years at an auto group. there's, there's the tie into, I'll help you sell remotes for cars. but I love marketing. had a skateboard shop back in 2002. And back then, you know, skateboarding is a very multimedia sport, especially that time on the internet, you're taking photos, you're making videos. We would have message boards and we had our own little social media site, little social network.

Christian Brim (10:09.262)
Okay, all right.

Christian Brim (10:31.811)
Mm-hmm.

Jeff Revilla (10:32.096)
And all those things, I'd love media and independent production. would make my own magazines like fanzines. I love that aspect. love the, I love the DIY aspect more than I love the media aspect. So the, the idea that you can show up and create something and share it with the world. That's what I love that creative process and, and, and putting it out there and see what happens.

Christian Brim (10:54.05)
Yeah, so how, this is kind of fascinating. So how did you decide that this was a viable business model? Like I can make money doing this.

Jeff Revilla (11:04.29)
Yeah. Well, obviously thinking about for seven years helps, uh, acquiring things. I'm a big, uh, bootlegger or a shoestring budget, just trying to piece things together. So I can go into some of the, some of the things I spent money on and what I didn't spend money on. Uh, but there was a local cohort, um, through Bridgeway Capital in our area. I'm in kind of a depressed area and they're helping, you know, small businesses get started. So I spent a year prior to this.

building a business plan, consulting with accountants, consulting with tax people. It is all covered through this program that really helped take a lot of that burden off me, other than like the initial capital to raise, to get this set up and running. I had some great assets and great allies with that cohort and I met some other local business owners. We've done some collaborations together and that helped me really see that, okay, there is some risk to this, but there's...

If I can get this thing turning on all cylinders, there's another car reference. I'll be, I'll be, this would be this thing scales quickly and without a lot of overhead.

Christian Brim (12:10.264)
So when you're thinking of scaling, I'm assuming you're talking about multiple locations.

Jeff Revilla (12:16.254)
I would love multiple locations, even ones that I don't own. I would love for people to take this model, just like comedy clubs in the seventies and eighties really didn't exist, but they started to pop up. So comedians could tour just like small clubs and theaters and bars started hosting bands and live entertainment. And those bands can go from bar to bar. I think spaces like this could exist. Like I'm in Pittsburgh. I'd love to see one in Cleveland and Columbus and Wheeling, West Virginia. So that podcasters can, okay.

Christian Brim (12:19.095)
Right.

Jeff Revilla (12:45.642)
I can go to a place, maybe make four or $500 on a night for an hour show. And then I can go to the next town and just travel around. So this idea, I don't want to have any, you know, it's not my idea. This is a thing that the world could launch and we would have so much fun as podcasters taking all of our podcasters to the next level and getting out there in front of people and doing these small little tours. know, for some people, podcasting is a hobby. Maybe you take a two week vacation.

And you travel and you do five shows maybe on your vacation and you cover all your expenses and you get to meet fans and friends all over the place. So the big dream, you know, few years from now is this becomes more than just one little place in Pittsburgh, but you know, little spots all over the world.

Christian Brim (13:32.898)
Who do you see has had early success using this model? Like that have used Podacity.

Jeff Revilla (13:39.842)
Yeah, so far the I've done mostly like fundraisers, you know, nights out I do, I host a trivia show. So I do live trivia. We have some fun with interactive trivia where people are playing in the theater. They're playing maybe in Portland, Maine or Portland, Oregon. And we're having this, this shared experience, this shared moment. But we did a great fundraiser for local animal shelters. We raised like $800 in like 60 minutes. It was ridiculous.

Christian Brim (13:43.374)
Okay.

Jeff Revilla (14:06.934)
So those types of things that have a communal element. So I don't think, you know, as much as I've been thinking about a live podcast theater for seven years, nobody else has, right? I know that this is, there's a learning curve to teaching podcasters like, this is another thing you can do. And I'm teaching the public, like this podcasting isn't just something you listen to on your morning commuter at the gym. You could, this could be a thing that you do when you go out. So I I'm going through this learning curve and you know, just trying to get

Christian Brim (14:16.557)
Right.

Jeff Revilla (14:36.118)
people to understand. And when you see people see it, like their faces light up like, my goodness, this is what you built. It's, that's the rewarding part to me is really sharing this love and this passion.

Christian Brim (14:49.41)
So back up a second, how did you get from director of marketing into podacity? Like what did that journey look like?

Jeff Revilla (14:59.234)
I started, I was a big, I got, when I had my skate shop, let's go back to like 2006, 2007, I fell in love with like marketing podcast, like marketing over coffee, the bean cast, Joseph Jaffe had a marketing podcast back then. Maybe it was called advert cast or something. And I would, I'll be packing orders for my mail order skateboard shop and listening to podcasts. I'm like, Oh my goodness, I'm getting this education, this free education.

I tried a marketing show with a great coworker, not a coworker, but somebody else in the industry in 2011. She went on to accept the job as the marketing director for Jaredelli chocolate. So she left. She wasn't going to stick around to do my silly little Pittsburgh podcast. So 2011, I did my first dabble. then 2015 is when I really jumped all in with podcasting with my trivia show. And blab was a big, a big part of that.

And I just kept going and going and you know, you're learning every time you record something like I've learned. If I hear me say, I lose my mind. If I hear myself say right or yeah, like those, that muscle you learn from hosting. You start to tune that out and you learn, you you flex that muscle and become a stronger and stronger host. So around 2015 is when I really dove all in for podcasting and just, just love.

Like I said, I love that DIY element that you can create something and put in the world and you own it. You're not beholden to some sort of corporate dollar or structure. This is your thing.

Christian Brim (16:29.794)
Yeah.

Christian Brim (16:36.15)
Yeah, that's interesting. So what was that transition like going from an employee to a business owner? Was that a challenge?

Jeff Revilla (16:45.378)
Well, I'm doing them both right now. hopefully, you know, I, hopefully I get to the point where I'm doing one or the other. We'll, we'll find out how it turns out. Um, my goal with this project was I went through that cohort and I was turning 48 and I said, I've been thinking about this for so long. I need to now execute. I need to know by the time I'm 50, is this a thing or not a thing? And so we just opened in June. This is still a new concept we got, we're getting our legs underneath us. And I signed a two year lease. said,

Christian Brim (16:46.978)
Okay.

Christian Brim (17:07.022)
Hmm.

Jeff Revilla (17:13.986)
I, we opened June 13th. My birthday is June 12th. So, you know, June 12th, two years from now, this is either a thing or it's not a thing. So if it's a thing, hopefully this is what I'll be doing in two years full time. If it's not a thing, I'll, I'll just be a marketing director again, but I'll know. I'll know then it won't eat at me anymore.

Christian Brim (17:31.765)
Yeah. Yeah. Well, no, I think that's important. think as creatives, we oftentimes have a lot of ideas. And the filter that I've begun using is, OK, if I'm on my deathbed, am I going to regret not trying it? You know, and that kind of helps me filter because some of the things I'm like, no, I probably don't. I won't care. I I won't lose any sleep over that. But.

Others is like, yeah, definitely. would, I would regret not trying.

Jeff Revilla (18:02.85)
Yeah, this is, this definitely had that feeling for me. And I joke too, with the people that I work with, would, someone asked me a question about podcasting or something. And I'd always look at the clock and it was always like 111 or 333, or I'd look at, I'd think about on the way home and it was 444. And so I started, I was like, I'm seeing, I'm seeing these numbers way too much for this not to be a thing I'm going to regret if I don't do it. So that was kind of like, I don't see them anymore.

Christian Brim (18:26.892)
Yes. Yes.

Jeff Revilla (18:30.772)
Only when I was deciding to go all in, I was seeing these, I know it sounds crazy, I was seeing this alignment of triple numbers or quadruple numbers and

Christian Brim (18:39.246)
It sounds like an episode of Fringe. don't know why, that just popped to my mind.

Jeff Revilla (18:41.708)
Yeah.

Jeff Revilla (18:45.568)
Yeah, so I mean, that's not why I decided to go forward with this, but there was this weird like synchronicity with these numbers and I was like, okay, it's now or never, let's just do it.

Christian Brim (18:56.832)
Okay, so speaking of the numbers, what do the, the, what's been your experience with podcasting as, a business financially? Like what, what are some of the, opportunities and challenges that you've experienced?

Jeff Revilla (19:12.608)
Yeah, so I'm in about a break even process right now. We're like six months into it, seven months into it. Some things help me out. have some AdWords money that comes in from Google Ads. have it, my trivia show gets picked up by local cable television. So I get to sell that back to the cable company. They edit it, give me back the audio and a check. those things that I've built up through podcasting have helped out a lot. I'm starting to get into this connection idea of

Christian Brim (19:33.87)
Thanks.

Jeff Revilla (19:40.972)
bringing podcasters together. Cause when I do virtual events, they fill up in like three days. We just did a two six hour live streams with new podcasters taking the stage every 30 minutes at the end of September. I had, I had 25 podcasters in three days, fill it, fill it up. It was just like, it was so easy. But with Pittsburgh, there are, I have a list, a spreadsheet, maybe 70, 80 local podcasts and

Christian Brim (20:01.419)
Right.

Jeff Revilla (20:08.79)
trying to get them into this idea, this concept of bringing them to the theater, it's a hurdle. And I've had a much bigger, a much more difficult time locally than I do virtually. It's because everything I've done up to this point was virtual. So I started doing these meetups. I did a Pittsburgh podcast meetup about two weeks ago. And it was like that light bulb moment where, okay, there was like 20 people showed up for this and they're hungry, but they were very...

Christian Brim (20:15.8)
Yeah.

Jeff Revilla (20:37.506)
very much just getting into podcasting. Some of them only recorded their first episode. Some of them were curious about recording. I had maybe two people that recorded more than 10 episodes. So I was like, okay, now this is something that's helping me locally and people are excited to be here. So these two things like came together about two weeks ago. I'm going to do a same one because I am pretty strong virtually. We're going to do a global podcast meetup once a month too.

So I think these two events in combination will be something that helps propel the growth of this theater a lot faster.

Christian Brim (21:06.348)
Nice.

Christian Brim (21:12.79)
Yeah, I mean, like if you were to replicate what you have there in Pittsburgh at another location and you didn't take seven years to go through the garage sales, what would it take to set up what you've got there in another city? Not rent, I'm just talking about furnishing it with the equipment.

Jeff Revilla (21:24.822)
you

Jeff Revilla (21:36.01)
Yeah. mean, rent, rent, it's going be a little bit different in the Pittsburgh area. I'm, somewhere around $5 a square foot. if you know, yeah.

Christian Brim (21:39.266)
Right.

Christian Brim (21:44.716)
No, no, no, not the rent, like, to put, the theater together.

Jeff Revilla (21:49.098)
Yeah, yeah, I'll point to everything real quick. The stage is a thousand. The trust is a thousand. The chairs, actually, you know, shop around. I like bootstrapping things. I got I got 100 chairs for two dollars a piece. So these orange chairs I have, I still have 60 in the basement that are sitting there. All these other chairs I use. All there's so many Amazon auctions out there. You can find these blue chairs were four hundred dollar retail. I got for fifty dollars.

Christian Brim (22:03.948)
Nice.

Jeff Revilla (22:18.572)
So same with the lighting, that's $300 of lights. I got through Amazon Auctions for $30. So when you start to get into this and all this like pipe and drape, if you have a price pipe and drape, it's like $170 for like eight by 10. Again, I'm using Auctions and I'm buying, I bought all the pipe and drape in the theater for maybe like $300. have, there's a ton of pipe and drape. I get a little crazy with the pipe and drape. But if you want to.

Christian Brim (22:33.506)
Right?

Christian Brim (22:44.322)
But then you got your camera equipment.

Jeff Revilla (22:46.178)
So the cameras I got, they're just few worlds, something, I forget the actual brand name. They're decent. They got good guts. They're like $400 a piece. They're not PTZs yet. That's my dream is to upgrade to the PTZs. So you're talking, know, maybe 1500 for the cameras. I bought a Roland mixer. It's a VR6HD, which has six audio inputs and six HDMI inputs all on the one board.

which is really nice. I can do all my switching. can control all the audio. So that was like 3000. So I mean, all in, you know, I would say under under eight to 10,000, you could set something up like this fairly easily.

Christian Brim (23:32.002)
What, what, this sparked a question. Do you do the production for the show or, okay, they don't have to bring their own producer.

Jeff Revilla (23:38.156)
Yes. Yeah. Under you can't see it on this side. There's another pipe and drapery here. That's a little control room that kind of goes into the front of the house. I'm back there switching and running everything back there.

Christian Brim (23:52.13)
Well, one of the things that I think I see in the creative world is what you recognized a few weeks ago in Pittsburgh is this craving for community. you know, virtual is a low bar, right? But in some ways, it's lacking. We're looking at doing a...

we're going to have a live event in October of next year. And the reason why is because you just get a connection at a live event that you don't get virtually. And I think this sounds like a great opportunity to leverage communities.

Jeff Revilla (24:43.006)
Yeah, 100%. Like you said, the virtual, the ease of access is there, and so is the investment, I think, that your attendees bring, right? It's too easy to get there. I can get the recording later, or they're not as invested as if they had the...

Christian Brim (24:48.622)
Yeah.

Yes, yes, yes.

Christian Brim (24:58.926)
I can do something else while I'm listening. I, you know, I can do work. Yeah. Yeah. And it, you use the right word investment. There's not a lot of investment. So it's a different energy that people bring.

Jeff Revilla (25:12.992)
Yeah, so when you can also come here, that's, I try to say, think of the stage like a portal. You could be on stage performing your show and behind the curtain there is a 72 inch TV. You could have a virtual guest. You could be interviewing somebody from California on the stage in front of a live theater. And those people in the theater could actually ask questions back to the stage and back to the virtual guest. And people watching can have asked questions.

Christian Brim (25:32.226)
Right.

Jeff Revilla (25:42.048)
So when you're there or whether you're watching virtually, I'm trying to really build that, that we talked about that intimate experience of, a listening to a podcast by yourself, because when the lights come down, the people in the theater, all they can do is just see what's on that stage and it draws you in. I'm trying to create that, to, create engagement, to recreate that feeling that you get in your earbuds.

Christian Brim (25:58.455)
Right?

Jeff Revilla (26:05.986)
I'm trying to do that live so that the investment, when you come to the theater and you're in there and you're, you know, you're just looking up at the stage and taking it all in, you know, I'm giving you that same experience that you might get it when you're at the gym or on your morning commute. not only do you have to invest more time to get there, but the reward for being there in person, like you're saying, it's so much greater. The connection is so much greater with the people on stage and you walk away with something you're never going to get.

in a virtual environment.

Christian Brim (26:39.178)
Yeah, absolutely. And I'm not driving or flying to Pittsburgh to do a show. But, you know, are you considering doing a your own show besides the trivia, like in the theater?

Jeff Revilla (26:56.65)
Yeah, one of the ones I launched recently with Wise Otero and Maria Daniels is called Rise and I'll Shine. It's a podcast showcase. So part of this community building and connecting people is we ask podcasters to come on. They do a 10 minute segment of their show. Most of the time it's live, but I also accept recordings if you want to do a 10 minute recording.

And while you're doing that, the judges, which are myself, Wize and Maria, we're scoring on our phone. And so are the folks at home. And we have little slide scales. you can, audio quality, engaging hosts, does the content match the description and production quality. So we're scoring the show in real time and kind of like a star search, you know, we're trying to give feedback with, with this respect, with love, with caring back to the podcast.

Christian Brim (27:27.534)
test.

Christian Brim (27:40.782)
Yeah.

Jeff Revilla (27:47.33)
There are a lot of times they're very vulnerable to come on the stage to do 10 minutes of the show in front of a live audience. So we're all we want to do is give them real time feedback. How are you doing now in this moment? And then after you submit your score, while the show's going on, we ask everybody just type in any words that you can think of. you inspired, entertained, engaged? And a lot of times people put jokes that they heard on the show and they'll type in some funny words that they heard. And we build this word cloud in real time while you're on the show.

And then when that's over, we talk about how it went. we, know, we asked them if they, know, how do they think they did? Can they have approved? Then we go over the scores with them. Then we go over the word cloud with them. And obviously they get the plug and promote their show at the end, but that idea again of community and sharing and helping each other grow, just something I really love doing. It's a, it's the direction I want to take the shows that I'm producing and is, you know, enter interactive, entertaining, engaging.

and just keep building on that community aspect.

Christian Brim (28:50.494)
I think you're definitely onto something and I'm kind of like you. I'm not the, the, the, vision is not entirely in focus, but I can see the elements there, right? I don't know exactly what the, how this works out to be profitable, but I think the, I think the elements of profitability are certainly there because you've got people engaged and that's a step one.

Jeff Revilla (29:18.37)
Yeah. I think, I think, especially with the, with the global summits that I'm to do monthly, I think there's, there's opportunities certainly there for sponsorship. Somebody, if I can, if I'm bringing 300 podcasters together once a month, somebody has some interest in that value. So I think in the short term, getting past breaking even through sponsorships at events like that. can still offer a free ticket to a virtual guest coming into a podcast meetup.

Christian Brim (29:34.936)
Sure.

Jeff Revilla (29:46.432)
That's, I think that's a no brainer for a lot of businesses, podcast hosts or other services that podcasts offer. that that's, I think that's the easy, I think it's the low bar, but from there, can that turn into, you know, a semi-annual event or an annual event where with a paid ticket with the, you an in-house ticket too as well. So, you know, I, I, like you, like you said, all the pieces are there. You know, what, what this all means.

I think I have probably the best grasp on it, but it's still a puzzle and I'm still putting the pieces together.

Christian Brim (30:21.41)
Yeah, think so what's coming to my mind, I just am finishing Unforgettable by Mershon. He's a event strategist out of Wichita, Kansas. And he talks about making live events transformative and all different formats from

you know, conventions, trade shows, workshops, you know, whatever they be. and, a lot of what you're talking about is resonating with what I'm reading with him. And, and I, I just, I go back to in today's age where everything is technical, everything is, is technologically enabled.

there's this, and AI is just it on steroids, is this really, this need for authenticity, for real connection with people. And I think you're on the right track. I just, I'm not exactly sure how it works. So I'm very curious to see how this works out.

Jeff Revilla (31:43.37)
Yeah. And what I built too, I control the entire process. you know, we didn't talk about the nuts and bolts of it, but when you come to me with an idea or a show and you want to get on the schedule, I can build a landing page for you. can facilitate the ticket sales for you. I'm recording that for the con the creator and I'm giving them back. take no ownership rights on their content. They give it back so they can release it later as a podcast. And the way the business model works.

At the end of the night, there's no minimum at this point. We're just going to split the door 50 50. So whatever tickets you can sell, whatever I can do to help you produce it, we're going to split the door 50 50. So my hope is, you know, maybe your first show, you'll sell 10 tickets. You walk away with 50 bucks, which isn't for most podcasters. They're going to jump for joy. That's they just covered all their expenses for a month. Like they're pretty excited for 50 bucks. But we build on that and next time maybe you get to 20 tickets and or 30 tickets and

You know, that's the goal. This being a new concept and bringing in new talent, we're developing that talent and we're getting it to grow. Like I have a guy coming in Friday, we're doing a show. He's from North Carolina. He's going to be in town for the holidays. Like, let's do a show. And I'm really excited about doing that because that's somebody who's, you know, bringing in, you know, people from North Carolina to watch online, but he has local friends and family locally. So they're going to come watch it. And that's just.

you know, getting butts in the seats and turning over that room over and over again. So those little things help you grow along the way. And I know like six months from now, those things start to pay off in dividends just by that turnover, that velocity. The more people I can get in and out of there, the more that'll resonate for future shows down the road. And that's kind of the thought process I've been taking with us, know, building that community, getting velocity through there, turnover through there, and just keep

putting out a great experience, like probably what you're reading, like, you know, this is something people have never experienced before. But when they walk out of there, they're thanking me and they're saying, that was great. You know, I'm so glad I got out of the house. Some of the things that you were mentioning about, you know, people longing for connection. I think it's small and I don't think you're going to see this on a great scale right away. But a lot of people right now are waking up to the fact that they are unbelievably addicted.

Jeff Revilla (34:07.298)
to their phones. are starting to like, need to detoxify from this. need to get this out of my life. where you see it the most is like kids who are like 10 to 18 years old have seen what it has done to their parents where they can't be at home without their parents on the couch just mindlessly scrolling. They're seeing that this technology isn't giving you great connection. You're connected to everything.

Christian Brim (34:07.368)
yes.

Christian Brim (34:24.343)
Yeah.

Jeff Revilla (34:36.054)
But you have no connection to anything and you're seeing this a lot with a younger generation. You're starting to see it, but you know, people are still addicted. they, people are saying they know it's bad, but they don't, that doesn't, hasn't stopped their behavior yet. So, that's right. And I think, but I think people are getting, becoming more aware of it. And obviously since COVID there haven't been the same type of connections that we had.

Christian Brim (34:45.358)
Sure.

Christian Brim (34:50.392)
That dopamine button still keeps getting pushed.

Jeff Revilla (35:03.362)
prior to that, you theaters are still barely recovering. Movie theaters, especially, you know, people going out, restaurants are seem to be doing okay, but people are starting to get out more and they are yearning for an actual human connection. And I think, you know, as those numbers get, maybe it's only three or 4 % right now, but I think, you know, people tend to move and herd. So, you know, maybe we'll get to eight to 10 % by the end of next year. And there'll be a tipping point at some point where people are like, okay,

Christian Brim (35:06.819)
Mm-hmm.

Jeff Revilla (35:32.194)
There's a whole world out here. Why aren't we enjoying it?

Christian Brim (35:35.598)
Yeah, and for most podcasters, know, they're not going to go drop 10 grand to set up a studio for their show. But it would definitely make sense if you had, you know, 50 to 100 in your metro area that they could, you know, use the space. I mean, I think that's a brilliant idea. What, our work? We don't know, but I think it's a brilliant idea. That's right.

Jeff Revilla (35:58.466)
Yeah, well, now in two years for sure.

Christian Brim (36:03.234)
Well, if you've got the content lined out, I'd love to talk to you further about coming to our event in October, because that would be a great presentation. And we could do a live podcast there at the event.

Jeff Revilla (36:14.042)
great.

Jeff Revilla (36:20.084)
Yes, let's talk some more. I'd love to do that.

Christian Brim (36:21.984)
Yeah. Well, Jeff, I really appreciate your time. I love what you're doing. How can people find you to learn more about Padilla?

Jeff Revilla (36:31.618)
What the I think you could buy my last name and it almost sounds like the yeah, like the onion blossom from the Outback Steakhouse. get a Padilla. It's padudy.com P-O-D-U-T-Y. You can find me at on Facebook. I'm 50 years old, right? So you know, I'm on Facebook at facebook.com slash Ravilla R-E-V-I-L-L-A or I'm on LinkedIn too.

Christian Brim (36:35.064)
I've already screwed it up. Yes, I did. I screwed it up. Padooty.

Yes. Yes.

Jeff Revilla (36:58.294)
You'll find I have a pretty nice following over on LinkedIn, Jeff Ravilla, LinkedIn or padutti.com. There's always a connect with me button over there.

Christian Brim (37:07.598)
Perfect. Listeners, if you like what you heard, please rate the podcast, share the podcast, subscribe to the podcast. If you don't like Jeff and me, messages and I'll find some replacements. I don't know who, but we'll find somebody. Until later, ta ta for now.