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Mental Health and Podcast Success with Alundas Havens
Alundas Havens joins the show to talk about how mental health can impact your success as a podcaster!
Transcript
hector_santiesteban-2022-3-7__13-38-7: And WPI fam what's going on.
Speaker:My name is Hector San Stavan and I am your host , , and I get way too geeked up
Speaker:about creating amazing podcasts that can fuel your lifestyle and your business.
Speaker:And I've been producing and promoting podcasts . For the last half decade,
Speaker:Walts also wrangling some toddlers.
Speaker:And this show here is to help you to learn the things that do and do
Speaker:not work when it comes to marketing and monetizing your podcast.
Speaker:And on today's show, we're talking Toland havens.
Speaker:He's a former Marine and the host of the winners paradigm.
Speaker:It was such a raw and authentic interview.
Speaker:And despite it not being the best audio quality, I thought I had
Speaker:to put it out because of a Lu.
Speaker:Fire his tenacity and his spirit for helping people.
Speaker:So if you can forgive some of the background noise, I know you're
Speaker:gonna love this interview with the Lu havens of the winner's paradigm.
Speaker:. Alandus welcome to the NYP show, man.
Speaker:Thanks for hanging out.
Speaker:alundas_havens-2022-3-7__13-38-8 (1): Thank you Hector for
Speaker:inviting me on brother.
Speaker:I'm looking forward to this.
Speaker:hector_santiesteban-2022-3-7__13-38-7: We were chatting before we hit the
Speaker:record button that we got connected.
Speaker:Via Paul T.
Speaker:And if you guys have not gone and listened to the episode with
Speaker:Paul go back and listen to that.
Speaker:It's probably in the twenties or something like that seems like
Speaker:a forever ago, but I got connected.
Speaker:And what I really loved on this was your willingness to, help and to give.
Speaker:And I think that that's something that's so.
Speaker:So Important in the podcast community.
Speaker:And so when people are doing that and willing, and I learned
Speaker:a little bit about your story, I knew that I had to have you on.
Speaker:So just thanks again, man.
Speaker:alundas_havens-2022-3-7__13-38-8 (1): Thank you brother.
Speaker:And, and I'd second that on there.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:The willing to help people and so forth that all starts with is feeling.
Speaker:That I was the only one going through it, you know, to where
Speaker:things weren't happening for me, I was hitting that road.
Speaker:I finally found something I was good at, which was being in the military in
Speaker:the Marine Corps, get a freak injury.
Speaker:Now my life's changing to where, Hey, I can't stay in for 20 years.
Speaker:Well, I'm going to school, you know, I can start working there.
Speaker:So it was, transitioning from service to civilian.
Speaker:And then realizing, Hey, there's a couple things about me that are a little bit
Speaker:different now than previously before my mindset's completely different.
Speaker:So I started, engaging in small little arguments with people because
Speaker:I wasn't understanding that, Hey, we're thinking totally differently.
Speaker:I'm seeing mission comes first.
Speaker:It doesn't matter.
Speaker:You better get this done because again, military, that's the
Speaker:point being is no matter what happens, the job's gonna get done.
Speaker:So that's why I was seeing life for a short period of time.
Speaker:And that's where it was kind of hurting me, was I wasn't able to see exactly.
Speaker:Hey.
Speaker:Certain people have different perspectives.
Speaker:They're not gonna understand you.
Speaker:Why don't you talk about it instead of getting frustrated with
Speaker:people of, oh, they act this way.
Speaker:Well, why don't you have that conversation?
Speaker:And sometimes, it went, but having that podcast is where you're able to
Speaker:put that through, share these things with you, and then you get those people
Speaker:and say, Hey, I've went through the same thing where I felt like I was
Speaker:working at everything or people in my life treated me a certain type of way.
Speaker:And it was one thing that you kind of just dealt with because.
Speaker:We don't wanna say anything, we wanna be nice.
Speaker:hector_santiesteban-2022-3-7__13-38-7: I lend this what's interesting is that.
Speaker:Had rich card on, he hosts the NFT for newbies podcast and
Speaker:he also is a former Marine.
Speaker:And you guys both talk about this mindset that you have.
Speaker:So I'd love for you to catch us up on how you ended up starting the podcast.
Speaker:You started it I think you're now in your, in your second year.
Speaker:But how did the transition from needing to find your, your path post-military, how
Speaker:did that end up turning into a podcast?
Speaker:alundas_havens-2022-3-7__13-38-8 (1): So you hit it on the head.
Speaker:Actually, what's funny is I was thinking about it for quite some
Speaker:time about starting the podcast, but never really formulated it.
Speaker:It was funny.
Speaker:Zach Babcock came out with his podcast powertrain course at the time,
Speaker:and he was like $48 for Christmas.
Speaker:And I didn't really have money back then, but I was like, you know what?
Speaker:I was working at a mortgage brokerage at the time and I liked
Speaker:it, but this was the first time in my life that I actually hit road.
Speaker:The reason why is I've naturally been, smart had the good grades
Speaker:worked on things, but I was doing so much at the time that I failed
Speaker:my mortgage broker exam three times.
Speaker:So I was already in a bad place to where I was, you know, I hate this job.
Speaker:I said, as a pride thing, I'm gonna stay here for six months, and work until I can.
Speaker:Take the test another time.
Speaker:So within that period, was this battle of whole shift in my mindset because I
Speaker:started thinking about things negatively as, oh, I failed at this, I hate this job,
Speaker:and that was where, when that course came out $48, I started going through
Speaker:it and I was like, you know what?
Speaker:This would be awesome to start the podcast.
Speaker:And then it ended up going into I transitioned jobs.
Speaker:So I was just, staying up all day, trying to figure out the podcast.
Speaker:So what we're gonna kind of do then initially I wanted
Speaker:it to drop in June of 21.
Speaker:But that didn't happen because, you know, I couldn't get everything done,
Speaker:wanted to be that perfectionist.
Speaker:So went to July and then all of a sudden I noticed it was in November to where I
Speaker:finally , had the product out finished the podcast away, somewhat of what I
Speaker:liked it, after rerecording everything.
Speaker:And that was where I was able to a week before my daughter was born, told myself,
Speaker:Hey, you know, I'm gonna drop this.
Speaker:We're gonna start the podcast and be able to start voicing what we're talking about.
Speaker:Because again, one of my main things is integrity.
Speaker:Values, let's be able to talk to people and let them know, Hey, this is okay.
Speaker:What you're going through, it's common.
Speaker:We're gonna interview people and we're gonna talk about those stories like
Speaker:me and you were talking about before, having those compelling stories to
Speaker:reach out to people and say, Hey, doesn't matter what you're doing,
Speaker:whether it's addiction, you know, it's transitioning from service to not
Speaker:everybody goes through something sometime.
Speaker:So it's great to be able to hear a message or hear people
Speaker:that you're like, you know what?
Speaker:They did this, obviously, if they can get themselves out of it, I can do the same.
Speaker:hector_santiesteban-2022-3-7__13-38-7: Yeah.
Speaker:It's amazing what podcasting can the opportunities right that it has.
Speaker:And I think what's really interesting is what pushes people to start a show and
Speaker:there's usually like a big, life event.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:I remember I started my first show right around the time where I had my first kid.
Speaker:And I don't know what it is about having kids that makes,
Speaker:someone wanna start a podcast.
Speaker:But, I'm curious, what got you through the hurdles, right?
Speaker:The life that comes.
Speaker:Being a dad need, you know, all the things that come along
Speaker:with that needing to provide.
Speaker:All the things that come along with putting out a show take me
Speaker:back to, how you got through it.
Speaker:What were you thinking mentally was there any times where , you
Speaker:kind of considered giving up and, how did you kind of get over
Speaker:alundas_havens-2022-3-7__13-38-8 (1): Yeah, it started so before I worked at
Speaker:that mortgage broker, so probably six months before that, this was like my
Speaker:second month out of the Marine Corps.
Speaker:My grandfather passed away and that was , the kind of tip of the iceberg
Speaker:that sent me into depression, into where I was kind of, battling something.
Speaker:Because he was always that person who was that father figure, me and
Speaker:my dad don't have the best relat.
Speaker:So he would always step in, when things would go on, he would take care of me.
Speaker:So to me it felt like, I lost my person that last year of his life,
Speaker:me and him both got, really close.
Speaker:And that was where we started having conversations.
Speaker:He started understanding, okay, scenarios differently.
Speaker:You're not a kid anymore.
Speaker:And that, and that took that hard.
Speaker:It was kind of, for me, I was real angry because.
Speaker:There was a lot that I didn't, get a say with him or angry at my dad.
Speaker:And it was just one of those things where I needed to take back and unwind, so as I
Speaker:start going through the mortgage brokerage and fell in there, I was looking at it
Speaker:and I'm like, well, I still have a wife.
Speaker:I'm still going to school working on my bachelor's degree.
Speaker:And it was like, you can't blame yourself.
Speaker:And it's like, we want to I start gaining weight and I realized was,
Speaker:Hey, I'm always in the gym, but now it's the discipline factor.
Speaker:Eating clean, the things we don't wanna do, we have to.
Speaker:So my wife, you know, got me on a meal plan again.
Speaker:And for me, I always feel like I need to push myself, up to it.
Speaker:So I started just kind of thinking about ways to reinvent myself
Speaker:per se and say, Hey, what is it?
Speaker:Or what is my mission?
Speaker:Obviously it is my family.
Speaker:I didn't wanna be cliche, but that is huge part because growing up it was different.
Speaker:I didn't have that, family, you fall back on.
Speaker:I went to all these other different people.
Speaker:So I was like, I want to have that great marriage with my wife.
Speaker:I wanna be able to be the best dad I can be.
Speaker:And I think like you said, father.
Speaker:Changes you a bit.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:You just start like before I would be petty and then now it's, you know what,
Speaker:I don't wanna waste my energy on that.
Speaker:It's like, you're having a good day over there.
Speaker:You're smiling.
Speaker:Why am I gonna come mess it up?
Speaker:One of those type things, so for me, it was slowly piecing those things and
Speaker:pushing through it, finding that meaning.
Speaker:And then I started thinking differently.
Speaker:I'm like, I had three good friends die.
Speaker:My grandfather died.
Speaker:Why don't we say it's for a reason, why don't I say that everything I'm
Speaker:gonna do is to kind of help them out or excuse me, in this case, do
Speaker:it for them per se, to be able to say, Hey, they're not here no more.
Speaker:So it'd be disrespectful if I didn't.
Speaker:So in my head, I trained myself, retrained myself, I should say just
Speaker:start thinking at it differently where I'm like, Hey, I need to do this,
Speaker:or let's approach this differently.
Speaker:Or if I, I'm not able to do something today, well, let's find time tomorrow.
Speaker:And it was one of those things where.
Speaker:I stopped, making the excuses complaining now, get it done.
Speaker:I actually recently went through another short thing like that, that
Speaker:brought me back to that message was I was like, Hey, I don't have time
Speaker:to use CAMBA to do certain things.
Speaker:And I go look at my wife, she starts building me things
Speaker:and she's like here done.
Speaker:And I'm like, oh, it was that simple, the way you work it.
Speaker:So it's one of those things.
Speaker:hector_santiesteban-2022-3-7__13-38-7: I'm curious if you've put this together
Speaker:because one of the things that I noticed as you were talking was the connection
Speaker:between your show and your mental health.
Speaker:And I'm wondering if that's become.
Speaker:Something that you are intentional and, consistent about, or because it
Speaker:seems like it played a role in it, in kind of, whether it's an outlet or I
Speaker:don't know, but how did the, podcast play a role in your mental health?
Speaker:alundas_havens-2022-3-7__13-38-8 (1): that's huge.
Speaker:Absolutely did.
Speaker:And the reason why it did, all that other stuff going on, like you said outlet.
Speaker:I was able to finally get some things off my chest and talk about.
Speaker:The way I was the reason why is my family kind of always labeled me or in
Speaker:this case, they would be like, oh, you don't know what you're talking about?
Speaker:My dad's the crazy one.
Speaker:You're his son.
Speaker:You're the crazy one.
Speaker:So I always had this image of me being crazy or that where I
Speaker:was just really misunderstood.
Speaker:My dad doesn't really know the real me.
Speaker:So it was all those things where it was like, Hey, this is you let's talk.
Speaker:And when I talk about things and open up to people, oh, what, you're totally
Speaker:different than what I was thinking.
Speaker:So it was one of those things where the podcast allows you to have that
Speaker:outlet, to talk to people on that.
Speaker:But two on the mental health side, we're talking to people who have done
Speaker:things, you know, accomplish things.
Speaker:So you're able to extract that value you yourself, interpret it.
Speaker:And you're like, you know what?
Speaker:That was a great conversation.
Speaker:But two, you're also able to show people, Hey, these are the stuff
Speaker:people battle on a daily basis.
Speaker:This is what people go through.
Speaker:In our case, you have to mentally be prepared to do the podcast,
Speaker:have to mentally check in.
Speaker:So if you're not feeling that way, you won't do it that day.
Speaker:But if not, you're able to say, Hey, I made it here today.
Speaker:I'm learning these things or this is a hiccup I ran into.
Speaker:Hey, now you guys know one thing you guys.
Speaker:Are informed about, so you're gonna be able to have the simulated
Speaker:experience to where, oh, you heard somebody else do this, or they
Speaker:faulted on this in their business.
Speaker:Now we're able to move on from that.
Speaker:Cause we learned from their mistakes.
Speaker:So that was kind of two parts there for me.
Speaker:hector_santiesteban-2022-3-7__13-38-7: Interesting thing is that
Speaker:you seem to be resourceful.
Speaker:I think Tony Robbins talks about, people is not their resources,
Speaker:but their resourcefulness.
Speaker:And we got connected in the alpha podcasters community.
Speaker:And so what has.
Speaker:Done for you.
Speaker:What has, immersing yourself into a, community or, surrounding yourself,
Speaker:even with, someone like your wife who's, supportive of, you and, can you think
Speaker:of a time where, you've leaned on that in terms of your, podcasting career?
Speaker:alundas_havens-2022-3-7__13-38-8 (1): the whole podcasting career has
Speaker:been leaning on other people.
Speaker:And what's funny is naturally I say, and it's funny, people laugh.
Speaker:Sometimes I'm a extroverted introvert, right?
Speaker:So if I have the option, I'll stick by myself.
Speaker:Like I really I enjoy people, but.
Speaker:With me, I have a really bad problem to where I extract
Speaker:value outta the conversation.
Speaker:I'm really transactional.
Speaker:So if we're having a conversation like, we're talking about podcasting
Speaker:or life, I can have that, but if we're talking small talk, oh, how you doing?
Speaker:What are you do for work?
Speaker:I get really angry.
Speaker:Cause I'm like, I don't wanna talk about this.
Speaker:Like I know you don't care about the conversation at all.
Speaker:So why should I care?
Speaker:And that's kind of where I check out, so in this case being able to see for
Speaker:myself, the way I was and Hey, we can talk to other people on the show.
Speaker:We can be able to go from there.
Speaker:We can learn more, allowed me to be able to tap into more so as in the
Speaker:whole, you know, resourcefulness it broke me outta my shell.
Speaker:It made me realize that, Hey, I gotta go to Paul.
Speaker:I can meet other people or.
Speaker:For example, you know, I was thinking about public speaking.
Speaker:So I went to one of my friends, Dave, Hey brother.
Speaker:How could I be able to public speak?
Speaker:Like you, I see what you're doing.
Speaker:Well, what are some pointers you can give me?
Speaker:And he was like, join Toastmasters.
Speaker:So then again, you have a different outlet of where you can go to train,
Speaker:equip yourself with the tools and that's all about, being resourceful is Really
Speaker:you're finding what works for you, whether it's TikTok, YouTube videos,
Speaker:talking to other people reading books.
Speaker:Whatever works for you, whatever you're able to get into your game plan.
Speaker:One what actually you're able to retain and that interests you.
Speaker:Cause I know for me, for a period, you know, is I didn't wanna read books.
Speaker:I didn't wanna do anything.
Speaker:I just had to find the good books that interested me.
Speaker:All of a sudden I'm reading a little bit.
Speaker:I start watching YouTube videos because content that I actually believe I'm
Speaker:using applying and it's working.
Speaker:It's just those small things that you don't think about in my case,
Speaker:you know, I talk about kind of having that mental barrier to where
Speaker:you don't process those things.
Speaker:And that's where we gotta break out of that shell to just say, Hey, we can do it.
Speaker:It's that mental fear.
Speaker:It's us having that belief that we're gonna fail, that's stopping us.
Speaker:So in this case, you know, taking that shot, even though
Speaker:you may have that uncertainty.
Speaker:hector_santiesteban-2022-3-7__13-38-7: I want to get a little tactical.
Speaker:And I'm curious, is there anything that you wish you did sooner in your
Speaker:podcasting journey or something that you did from the beginning, or if you had to
Speaker:start over, something that you would do now that you know what you know now.
Speaker:alundas_havens-2022-3-7__13-38-8 (1): I would do two things.
Speaker:So first one, I would've just probably started it sooner.
Speaker:The reason why is just, I've got in connection with so many
Speaker:people already within a short.
Speaker:four months of having a podcast.
Speaker:So just the connections, you're gonna be able to be connected with people
Speaker:longer, but what I would say definitely kind of learning the technical aspect.
Speaker:And that was one thing that held me back initially was I didn't want to record it.
Speaker:I recorded a zoom call one time and the zoom audio didn't work.
Speaker:So going back to the other.
Speaker:Per the guest and saying, Hey, I gotta reschedule you brother.
Speaker:Never got him back yet.
Speaker:Because of the way our schedules conflicted.
Speaker:So it was one of those things of, Hey, knowing how things operate
Speaker:by having that backup plan.
Speaker:In that case, I didn't have that backup plan.
Speaker:So I ended up moving on from there, and it was one of those things of learning, but
Speaker:at the same time I ended up recording a different episode and I had a wire headset
Speaker:and I was like listening to it after.
Speaker:And I actually didn't notice it for like three episodes.
Speaker:I was just like, oh, it could be the other person.
Speaker:And that's when I noticed there was like a wishing sound and it
Speaker:was from the wire hitting the mic.
Speaker:So just learning those little technical aspects where you're like,
Speaker:Oh, this can mess up the audio.
Speaker:You can try to filter it in my case, I'm not dive too deep
Speaker:in that technical aspects.
Speaker:I'm not good at that stuff.
Speaker:So that's where I was.
Speaker:Hey, you need to take some time to learn it that way.
Speaker:If things happen like that, you can do it.
Speaker:I also had a time I was using Zencaster and my audio files than an upload.
Speaker:So it was one of those where I was listening to a prior recorded
Speaker:episode and I was trying to piece in.
Speaker:What was going on.
Speaker:I ended up missing a little chunk and cut it out because it just didn't align.
Speaker:I was like, honestly, I don't remember what I said.
Speaker:So it was having all those, plans and then saying, Hey, if this doesn't
Speaker:work out, what are we gonna do?
Speaker:How are we gonna approach the guests?
Speaker:So they don't get offended or, Hey, we just had this conversation for an hour.
Speaker:You know what, you're a hundred percent right.
Speaker:Technical difficulties.
Speaker:Could I take some time, to be able to re-interview I'd really love this
Speaker:content for both of our audiences.
Speaker:And it was one of those where it was like, okay, Learn these things
Speaker:now let's not have it happen again.
Speaker:hector_santiesteban-2022-3-7__13-38-7: Yeah.
Speaker:Been there for sure.
Speaker:One other.
Speaker:Technical question.
Speaker:Is, has there been a moment where you saw your downloads jump, and
Speaker:if, so, what did you do anything?
Speaker:Or like , do you remember,
Speaker:alundas_havens-2022-3-7__13-38-8 (1): I would say two.
Speaker:So initially I seen a, huge following of downloads.
Speaker:I contacted people and the podcast dropped and I sent out to you needed to
Speaker:fight people to be able to get ranked.
Speaker:So I was just hitting, people up on Instagram.
Speaker:What I did was I just looked at, the stories to.
Speaker:Who was active for like the past two hours.
Speaker:So I was like, I know all these people are on their phone.
Speaker:So I just started shooting the messages, got ranked.
Speaker:So first you see the skyrocket, then it goes down because
Speaker:people are gonna unsubscribe.
Speaker:Naturally.
Speaker:They're gonna see the episode come for a week.
Speaker:And then from there I went on a little hiatus to where I was,
Speaker:interviewing people, but only doing like one a week, two a week.
Speaker:Trying to go on other shows.
Speaker:I was having that problem with it.
Speaker:And that was where I was able to start saying, Hey, you know, I have a top rated
Speaker:podcast, two, move it into their win on pod match, started going on other shows.
Speaker:And once I was able to get a couple of those out, that's
Speaker:where those numbers gradually started to increase a little bit.
Speaker:hector_santiesteban-2022-3-7__13-38-7: Yeah, this is good.
Speaker:I really enjoy the mental health aspect of a podcast, especially
Speaker:in, the circles that we kind of run around and there's so much around
Speaker:monetizing your podcast and monetizing your brand and, Celebrity, persona.
Speaker:And I think all there's, there's so much value to all that, but I think
Speaker:there's also value to just having an outlet where someone can go and talk and
Speaker:whether a thousand people listen or, one person that just that person listens,
Speaker:just having that outlet, , I think is so powerful that often gets overlooked
Speaker:By a lot of people who are just seeing podcasts as a channel to monetize.
Speaker:alundas_havens-2022-3-7__13-38-8 (1): I'd agree.
Speaker:I've seen a couple people like that where it just didn't
Speaker:seem like they were lying in.
Speaker:And it's just really about what the peop what, what the individual who's
Speaker:starting, the podcast wants, you know, if that's their goal, in my case, yes.
Speaker:You know, would absolutely love to have a.
Speaker:High celebrity guests on which in the future, that's in the works.
Speaker:But at the same time, what is the podcast about?
Speaker:It's about extracting that value, finding out ways to win asking
Speaker:other people about their stories.
Speaker:So we can be able to inspire other people, show people that,
Speaker:Hey, anything's attainable.
Speaker:If you work at it, certain people went through different things.
Speaker:You hit a bottom, you end up.
Speaker:Battling some things that you never thought you would
Speaker:it's life, things happen.
Speaker:All you gotta do is put that one foot in front of the other, take
Speaker:it day by day, and then you can be able to accomplish things.
Speaker:So it's awesome.
Speaker:You know, Us having the floor to be able to let people know is,
Speaker:Hey, this is what's going on.
Speaker:Share a little bit personally withable to find those answers
Speaker:for people as well as ourselves.
Speaker:hector_santiesteban-2022-3-7__13-38-7: this has been a , fun conversation.
Speaker:The name of the show is the winner's paradigm.
Speaker:, you mentioned it came out late last year and it's available,
Speaker:wherever you get the podcast.
Speaker:Is there anything else that people should do or if they
Speaker:want to get connected follow up,
Speaker:alundas_havens-2022-3-7__13-38-8 (1): Good question.
Speaker:So if you want to get connected my websites, the winners, paradigm dot
Speaker:X, Y, Z, just go to the about me page.
Speaker:You can be able to fill it out.
Speaker:Let me know.
Speaker:Hey, I have questions of, how to break a habit, how to formulate.
Speaker:New mindsets or new strategies to be able to help me out.
Speaker:We can be able to talk and see from there, you know, on what you
Speaker:can be able to do just one thing a day to be able to help you out.
Speaker:So definitely check that out.
Speaker:Other than that join alpha podcasters so you can be able to join the network
Speaker:Hector and I are, and be able to get in touch with those other podcasters
Speaker:that are looking to do the same exact thing, feed off each other's
Speaker:energy, be able to network and get some great content for people.
Speaker:hector_santiesteban-2022-3-7__13-38-7: Yeah.
Speaker:And guys, thank you for being part of the NYP fam and, and sticking with us.
Speaker:We appreciate you guys being here.
