Episode 050 – Andrew Allemann

---

Automated Transcription

---

 

Richard Matthews  

Hello, and welcome back to the HERO Show. 

 

My name is Richard Matthews, and I am on the line 

 

With Andrew Allemann. Andrew, are you there?

 

Andrew Allemann  

Yes, I’m here.

 

Richard Matthews  

Glad to have you here. 

 

Let me do a quick introduction for those of you 

 

Who may not know who Andrew is. 

 

Andrew is the founder of https://podcastguests.com/ 

 

A service that connects podcasters with guests 

 

For their own shows. Over 15,000 people 

 

Use the service including the HERO Show. 

 

You created the service 

 

Because you were looking for more guests 

 

For your podcasts about domain names. 

 

Your domain industry trade publications,

 

Domain Name Wire was founded 2010. 

 

It’s been cited by the Wall Street Journal, 

 

Washington Post, and NPR. With that brief 

 

Introduction. Why don’t you tell us a little bit, 

 

Andrew. What is your business about now? 

 

Why do people come to you? 

 

What’s the basic service you provide?

 

Andrew Allemann  

I think you summed it up nicely. 

 

PodcastGuests is a service that connects 

 

Podcasters like you with guests 

 

That are looking to be on shows like yours. 

 

I have over 15,000 people using it. 

 

Every week, I send out an email that has a list 

 

Of podcasts that are looking for guests. 

 

You can look through there and if there’s one 

 

That’s a fit for you; you click a link 

 

And apply to be on the show. 

 

Then, there’s also the reverse element, 

 

Which is I have a number of experts 

 

In different fields that want to be a guest 

 

On shows. So, they can be featured 

 

In that service so that podcasters 

 

Can find them. It’s been around 3-4 years now, 

 

When I started it. As you mentioned, 

 

I created it because I had a problem 

 

Of my own, which was I was looking 

 

For more podcasts for my show 

 

And couldn’t find an easy, simple, 

 

And inexpensive service to do that.

 

Richard Matthews  

For those of you who might be curious 

 

If the service works. When we put out 

 

Our first invite for our show, 

 

We put our show out for a year.

 

Andrew Allemann  

It’s great to hear.

 

Richard Matthews  

It’s a very effective service. I appreciate you 

 

Existing and us having a chance 

 

To get connected. Let’s start off with your 

 

Origin story. Every hero has their origin stories 

 

Where he started to realize 

 

That you were different. Maybe, 

 

You had superpowers. And maybe, 

 

You could use them to help other people. 

 

Where you started to develop and discover 

 

The value you could bring. 

 

Maybe, that’s for you. When you got started 

 

On this entrepreneurial journey 

 

Was PodcastGuests your first venture 

 

Or what sort of kicked off this whole being 

 

An entrepreneur journey for you.

 

Andrew Allemann  

Of all the—ever since college—

 

Go back to—I’ve done little entrepreneurial 

 

Things. But in college, I really kicked those off 

 

And was doing various online businesses. 

 

This was the late 90s. So, as the dot com boom 

 

Was in full swing, but it was kind of hard 

 

As an individual to create even a website, 

 

Back then. But I did create and sell a couple 

 

Of websites. Nothing that made me rich, 

 

But really got the bug into me, 

 

And I registered a lot of domain names

 

Back then, as well. That started my online 

 

Entrepreneurial journey. And since then, 

 

I’ve always had something going. 

 

I did go into the workforce after college. 

 

Worked for other companies. But I haven’t worked 

 

For another company in a long time now. 

 

And it’s all been about doing these online businesses; 

 

Harnessing the power of the internet 

 

To connect people. You mentioned, Domain Name

 

Wire, and open. It was 2005 when I created that. 

 

And at the time, I created it;

 

It was basically a blog or trade publication 

 

For the domain name industry. People that buy 

 

And sell domains—companies like GoDaddy, 

 

Governments, lawyers, that sort of thing,

 

Everyone that’s part of this ecosystem. 

 

At the time, I started it as a hobby, 

 

And then it turned into a business. 

 

It’s obviously a niche publication. 

 

But it gets 100 to 150,000 page views 

 

A month now, which is pretty good 

 

For what the domain name industry is. 

 

That’s turned into a business for me. 

 

It’s where I make most of my income from 

 

And then PodcastGuests has been layered 

 

On to that over the past few years.

 

Richard Matthews  

So, the news publication, 

 

What is the monetization strategy 

 

In that business?

 

Andrew Allemann  

That’s all sponsor-based. I have a number 

 

Of companies—10 to 15 at a time—

 

That are sponsoring it, and just have ads 

 

On the site. When I started it, 

 

The advertising models changed a lot, 

 

Since when I started it. But I’m grateful 

 

To have a number of sponsors and advertisers 

 

That are trying to reach my audience. 

 

Some of them have been advertising 

 

For over a decade now, continuously. 

 

That helps that business thrive without the ups 

 

And downs of chasing ad dollars. 

 

Obviously, there are ups and downs 

 

In all businesses. It makes it easy for me 

 

To focus on creating great content, 

 

And not having to worry about chasing 

 

Page views and clicks, and that sort of thing.

 

Richard Matthews  

I’m curious, one of the things we’ve discussed:

 

A number of different business 

 

Types on the show before,

 

But we haven’t ever discussed a business 

 

Where you are essentially creating content 

 

To create ticket eyeballs. Then, 

 

The eyeballs you’re selling to your advertisers. 

 

Your clients would be the advertisers. 

 

I’m just curious how you think 

 

Through a business like that 

 

When you have to create content—

 

Good enough content for people 

 

Who are reading. Do you consider 

 

That your readers, customers, 

 

As well as your advertisers. 

 

How do you just work through that 

 

In your head in terms 

 

Of what you’re putting together 

 

And how you’re structuring the business?

 

Andrew Allemann  

My content is geared 100% 

 

Toward my typical readers. I’m not thinking 

 

About the advertisers, when I create 

 

That content at the same time. 

 

They’re all part of the industry. So, they understand 

 

My audience. In my case, I got the audience first. 

 

Then the advertisers came. 

 

I think very early on, I used Google AdSense 

 

As a way to generate a little bit of money. 

 

Then I had companies come to me and say, 

 

“We like what you’re doing. Can we put a banner 

 

On your page?” Of course, I said, “Yes.”

 

It’s kind of worked out on their—

 

The fortunate thing has been: 

 

Since the early days, I haven’t really had to ask.

 

It’s been more: you put a sponsor 

 

Or an advertising link on the website, 

 

Put together a media kit that is there 

 

For people. They can reach out,

 

And I send them the media kit, 

 

And they can advertise on the site. 

 

It’s never been something I’ve really had to sell. 

 

But I caught myself very fortunate. 

 

I understand that’s not the case with everyone. 

 

My timing was great. I think I put a good product 

 

Out there too. The domain name industry 

 

Is fairly small. There are only so many 

 

Potential advertisers and the audiences, 

 

As I mentioned, somewhat limited. 

 

It’s kind of a niche which is good. 

 

If I were to create—would have created a blog 

 

About technology back then 

 

There were already a lot of competitors. 

 

There were no blogs 

 

Covering the the domain name business.

 

Richard Matthews  

One of the other things I’m curious is, 

 

In that monetization model, 

 

You are generally paid or you’re charged

 

By impression, is that correct? 

 

Andrew Allemann  

That’s something that I’ve done 

 

That I’m really happy about. 

 

I just charge a flat fee per month. 

 

So, if I get a lot more page use than usual, 

 

In a month, that’s great for advertisers. 

 

If I miss—if it’s not a great month, 

 

Then it doesn’t hurt me. 

 

As long as I have a good continuous stream. 

 

If I’m down a lot for a long time, 

 

Then, obviously, that will impact me 

 

Because the advertisers won’t get the results 

 

That they’re looking for. When you sell ads 

 

By impression, which I understand, 

 

You kind of have to do in some circumstances, 

 

Kind of like selling podcast ads by the listener. 

 

It’s a really tough game. 

 

I think that it creates incentives 

 

For you to do things that do not benefit 

 

Your audience—that do not benefit 

 

Your typical reader. Chasing page views, 

 

Writing things that might get a lot of traffic, 

 

But it’s not something that your audience 

 

Will really care about, and your advertisers 

 

Won’t benefit from that audience. 

 

I’ve been very fortunate to be able 

 

To do this sponsor model. They want to know 

 

How much traffic I get. But it’s not: 

 

If I get 150,000 page views one month 

 

And 100 the next, it’s not going to change 

 

The income I make from advertising.

 

Richard Matthews  

I think one of the—I want to call it: the flaws 

 

Of having an impression-based—

 

Our whole internet is free 

 

Because we’re selling attention. That leads 

 

To clickbait problems, because the incentive 

 

Is not to create good journalism. 

 

The incentive is to create things 

 

That get clicked on and drive impressions.

 

Andrew Allemann  

That’s absolutely right. 

 

There’s been kind of erased about them there. 

 

There have been ad blockers which breaks 

 

That model of free content in return 

 

For viewing ads. And a lot of things 

 

Around those issues that have come up. 

 

I think the—but you hit the nail 

 

On the head there. The clickbait 

 

Trying to get people to the site 

 

And not delivering on what they’re looking for. 

 

Those are all problems that come 

 

With that impression-based 

 

Or click-based advertising.

 

Richard Matthews  

Do you see the trend in the industry 

 

Is moving more towards your type of model 

 

For content either—where the advertisers 

 

Are sponsoring it 

 

Or consumers are paying for the content?

 

Andrew Allemann  

I think we’re seeing a lot 

 

Of the sponsored content. And people 

 

Trying to hide the fact that something’s

 

Sponsored which has been a challenge.

 

A lot of that’s been brought on by ad blockers. 

 

As you know, these companies, 

 

Especially a media publication, it has dozens 

 

Or even hundreds of reporters. 

 

They need to make money. I think we’re seeing 

 

Two trends. One is a push 

 

More toward the subscription based model 

 

For online access. It used to be: 

 

You could get this stuff for free; view the content 

 

For free in return for viewing the ads. 

 

Now, we’re seeing more and more sites 

 

That charge for the access, which is a good model

 

If they deliver great content. 

 

It’s very difficult though, for a small publisher 

 

To do that. It’s easier for someone 

 

Like Wall Street Journal or the New York Times. 

 

Very difficult for an individual blogger, like me,

 

To do that model. I’ve just been, I think, direct 

 

Ad sales have always been better 

 

To be able to do that. Then, the commitment 

 

Than ad networks in most cases. I’ve been very fortunate 

 

That my sponsors are making is fairly small 

 

Each month, too. It’s not breaking their bank. 

 

Either way, it’s a fairly small commitment 

 

To most of them. That has helped,

 

Keep this flat fee approach work.

 

Richard Matthews  

That’s really awesome. So, move on 

 

A little bit from your origin story and your business 

 

Model, and now talk a little bit about, 

 

Personally, your superpowers that you bring 

 

To the business. What is it that you do 

 

Or build or offer this world that really helps 

 

Solves problems for people? 

 

Things you use slay this world’s villains, so to speak. 

 

I’m curious in terms of: what is it that, 

 

You think you bring to either PodcastGuests

 

Or the domain name publishing business 

 

That have made them stand out?

 

Andrew Allemann  

I think on the podcast side—we can start there—

 

As I mentioned earlier, I had this problem. 

 

I was podcasting. I had done 

 

About 50 interviews. Most podcasts 

 

Are kind of like this. It’s in Q and A, 

 

Or interview format. I realized 

 

That I kind of gone through my Rolodex. 

 

My podcast was about domain names. 

 

Had interviewed 50 or so people that I knew 

 

From the domain name industry, 

 

And I was looking for more. I looked out there 

 

And saw that the market for finding guests 

 

For podcasts, for getting people booked 

 

On there. There are services out there, 

 

That are very much, they aren’t platforms,

 

They’re agency models and you have to pay 

 

Quite a bit of money, especially

 

If you’re just starting out 400-500 dollars a month 

 

To either find people for your show 

 

Or to get booked on other shows. 

 

I knew that I couldn’t be the only one 

 

Having this problem. 

 

I think one of my superpowers, 

 

If you will, be kind of figuring out 

 

How to put tools together to make things work. 

 

As a solo operator to do that 

 

With very little upfront investment. 

 

I realized that there were a lot of free online tools 

 

I could use—free or inexpensive— 

 

To put this together and see if it worked. 

 

I needed a Mailchimp account to send out 

 

This weekly newsletter, and I needed a way 

 

To collect these applications for people. 

 

It started out very modest 

 

With using Google Forms which I actually 

 

Still use to this day. And a website, PodcastGuests, 

 

To find those new users. And in Mailchimp. 

 

I sent out the first newsletter. I reached out 

 

To people individually; said, 

 

“This is what I’m trying to do. Do you want 

 

To participate?”  My first newsletter went out 

 

To about 150 people. It featured, 

 

I don’t remember how many podcasts, 

 

Maybe five or so. But even then, 

 

The podcast got 5-10-15 applications 

 

From other people that wanted to be 

 

On their show. I realized this was working 

 

Richard Matthews  

Really cool. 

 

Andrew Allemann  

It was very exciting for me. 

 

At that point, I put in some elbow grease. 

 

I’d spent some time on it. 

 

But Mailchimp is not expensive. 

 

Google Forms is free. It’s kind of finding out 

 

How to get these pieces together 

 

And I modeled it off of a service called 

 

“Help A Reporter Out” or people call it HARO 

 

In the industry which connects—

 

Richard Matthews  

I’ve heard of that before. 

 

Andrew Allemann  

Let’s say you’re a Wall Street Journal reporter, 

 

And you want to write about people going

 

That have had problems with their mortgage 

 

And they were able to work it out. 

 

It’s not easy to just pick up the phone and call 

 

And find people like that. So, they’ll 

 

Put out a request on HARO for that 

 

And people will respond. It’s kind of 

 

The same idea here. If I’m featuring 

 

Your podcast, you go in and you say, 

 

“This is what I’m looking for.” 

 

Then, there are a lot of people 

 

That want to get on podcasts, 

 

And they can respond to that. 

 

So, creating the community’s been fun. 

 

Another thing I’d say is the superpower 

 

Is kind of the incremental. 

 

I did the minimum viable product; 

 

Got this out there, it worked. 

 

Then, I listened to my audience, if you will, 

 

The people that were using it. 

 

To figure out what they needed and that, in turn, 

 

Made ways for me to make money 

 

Off of the service so I could continue to grow it. 

 

This point I’ve invested quite a bit money 

 

Into it, but it’s been basically all money 

 

That’s come in through the service as well.

 

Richard Matthews  

I think that’s a really important point too, 

 

Is when you build something new 

 

Is really listening to the user-base 

 

And directing it to solve their problems. 

 

One of the things we talk about regularly 

 

On this show is that the businesses 

 

That succeed the most are generally the ones 

 

That they don’t bring a product to the market. 

 

They find a market that has a problem 

 

And they solve it. Which seems like 

 

It might be neither here nor there. 

 

But it’s really an important distinction—

 

Because when you’re working 

 

To solve market problems then you’ll build, 

 

And grow, and scale your product, 

 

And continue to meet their needs, 

 

And it continues to grow.

 

Andrew Allemann  

Right. What you’re doing can change. 

 

I just read a new book by Marc Randolph, 

 

Who is one of the co-founders of Netflix. 

 

It’s called “That Will Never Work.” 

 

It’s about the launch of Netflix. 

 

His original idea was to to rent videos 

 

Via the mail like VHS, 

 

Because DVDs were very niche at the point of cost 

 

Over $1,000 to buy a DVD player 

 

When you launch the business.

 

Then, it talks about how the business morphed 

 

And they were actually selling DVDs 

 

At the beginning and 97% of the revenue is coming 

 

From selling DVDs rather than renting them. 

 

It’s something where, I don’t even, 

 

They might still ship DVDs, but everyone just 

 

Streaming. So, the the business changes 

 

And you kind of figure it out as it goes 

 

By listening to your audience which is something 

 

That companies like Blockbuster didn’t do 

 

Effectively. They didn’t see these changing trends 

 

And, now, there’s one Blockbuster store left.

 

Richard Matthews  

Is there really? There’s still one left?

 

Andrew Allemann  

There used to be one or two 

 

In Alaska. I believe it’s in Oregon. 

 

Maybe it’s closed down now, actually. 

 

Because I keep—once a year, they’re like, 

 

“This blockbuster closed.” 

 

But it was usually in remote areas 

 

Where you couldn’t get good internet to stream. 

 

Certain areas of Alaska for example. 

 

Richard Matthews  

That makes sense.

 

Andrew Allemann  

But the company’s— 

 

Richard Matthews  

It’s crazy, too, 

 

Because they were a powerhouse in the 90s. 

 

I remember growing up as, 

 

“Mom, can we go down to the Blockbuster 

 

And pick out a game or DVD or whatever, 

 

And some snacks and come back home?”

 

That’s how we we hung out after school.

 

Let me move on a little bit and start the other side 

 

Of your superpower is your fatal flaw. 

 

Just like Superman has his kryptonite.

 

Or Batman is not actually a superhero. 

 

Something that you have struggled with,

 

When growing your businesses

 

Over the years that you’ve worked on.

 

I guess more importantly, what have you done 

 

To help sort of overcome that for people 

 

Who might run into the same kind of issues 

 

In their entrepreneurial career?

 

Andrew Allemann  

I would say there are a couple things 

 

That I struggle with to this day, really.

 

One of those that I think a lot of people face 

 

Is self doubt. That is questioning if your idea 

 

Is actually going to work. It’s hard 

 

To put both feet in when you’re like, 

 

“This could be a failure,” and to worry 

 

About failing, too. There are a couple things 

 

I’ve done to deal with that. First of all, 

 

Most businesses fail. A lot of people 

 

That have had a successful business 

 

Have had many that fail as well. I think, 

 

The more you learn about those circumstances, 

 

And the more you look at things like Facebook, 

 

And Netflix, and Google that were successful 

 

And realize they’re really an anomaly 

 

That the founders had a lot of luck. Reading 

 

This Netflix book, this company, 

 

Netflix could have shut down on many occasions. 

 

They were really—lots of struggles that they faced,

 

And they had some good fortune that made it work

 

For them. Realizing that failure is just part 

 

Of business, and getting past that. 

 

I think, is very helpful for overcoming self doubt. 

 

Another thing you can do is test. 

 

And that’s what I’ve done with PodcastGuests.

 

I didn’t put 20 grand in it to start. It was, 

 

“Let me figure out a way to do this for $1,000, 

 

And get it off the ground. And see if it works.”

 

But I think that’s something that a lot of people 

 

Deal with, throughout their life, especially 

 

Entrepreneurs. It’s a constant struggle. 

 

It’s something that as I’ve gotten older, 

 

I have greater perspective, and it’s helped with that. 

 

But it’s still a challenge. I think even people 

 

That outwardly suggests that they don’t have 

 

Any self doubt. I think internally, a lot of them do. 

 

Another challenge that I’ve had is juggling multiple things. 

 

I have https://podcastguests.com/ 

 

I have Domain Name Wire, 

 

They both demand attention on a weekly basis, 

 

If not daily. Moving between those, 

 

I also sell ads from my wife’s podcast and such. 

 

Shifting between those is difficult 

 

And there are a lot of tools out there now 

 

That make that easier. Google or Gmail 

 

Makes it easy to get all your mail into one box 

 

And separate it and do that sort of thing. 

 

At the same time, though, it creates some of that 

 

Constant fidgeting between one to the other 

 

To the other. That’s a lot of work. 

 

I think people that can do one thing 

 

And do it well, that’s a smart approach to take. 

 

I’ve never been able to do that. But a lot of times, 

 

I think that’s why little projects that I launched fails. 

 

I don’t dedicate enough time to them, 

 

To see them, and get them off the ground. 

 

I think a lot of that depends on your personality, 

 

But I do have a challenge where I’m moving 

 

From one thing to the next. I think, as a result, 

 

That’s still something that causes me 

 

To struggle getting businesses 

 

To where they need to be.

 

Richard Matthews  

That’s one of the things that comes up,

 

Regularly. We underestimate 

 

How much work it takes to get something going. 

 

We think we’ll be a lot farther along in the year 

 

Than we are. Realize: how much of a difference 

 

You could take, if you actually really dedicated 

 

A decade to doing something. Then, you can create 

 

Much more sustainable businesses 

 

And how much effort it takes to put into something.

 

Any of our side projects generally don’t turn 

 

Into big businesses unless they start getting the focus 

 

Like a real main project.

 

Andrew Allemann  

 Exactly. That’s a great point.

 

Richard Matthews  

I want to talk about this, a little bit interesting. 

 

Because one of the things we talked about 

 

Is your common enemy. Generally, in terms 

 

Of removing things from your clients life 

 

That you think hold them back. I think, 

 

In terms of your PodcastGuests service, 

 

1. A) Who would you figure your primary client is? 

 

The podcasters, or the guests looking for interviews? 

 

And what’s one of the primary problems they run into 

 

That you think if they remove that, change 

 

That mindset, they would get better results for them?

 

Andrew Allemann  

I don’t think one is more important than the other. 

 

Effectively, what I’ve created is a platform 

 

Or a marketplace. eBay wouldn’t be eBay 

 

Without buyers or sellers. You have to have 

 

Both there. In my case, that’s the podcasters 

 

And the audience, and experts that want 

 

To be guests on our show. Now, what helped me 

 

Get it off the ground is that in a lot of cases, 

 

That’s the same people. You’re a podcaster,

 

But you’d probably like to be a guest 

 

On other podcast, too. It’s a great way 

 

To grow your show. I only had to bring in 

 

One group. But it breaks down,

 

If I’m not providing value to both 

 

Of those groups. I think, the value, 

 

In your case, having been featured 

 

In the newsletter to you is, I can bring you 

 

A lot of applicants to be on your show 

 

That will pitch you directly and easily,

 

To be on there. Rather than you going out 

 

And reaching out to all these people. 

 

Then, for those experts, it’s valuable to them 

 

To see, “Here’s a podcast that does want guests 

 

On it.” Their alternative is to go out 

 

And just cold email, Cold call, a bunch of podcasters, 

 

Who may or may not be looking for guests 

 

For their show. One thing I did, 

 

One of the challenges, that the experts told me 

 

They had is that they’ll apply to be on a show. 

 

In a lot, in some cases, I don’t know 

 

How many applications you got, 

 

But they can get 50 to 100 applications 

 

To be on their show. And they’re featured 

 

In the newsletter. The challenge there is standing out. 

 

I had some experts that said, “Look, 

 

I love what you’re doing. But is there any way 

 

I can pay something, so that I don’t have 

 

To do all the outreach.” For that reason, 

 

Or as a result of that feedback, I created,

 

A push model for these experts 

 

Where I have a directory that they can pay 

 

A monthly fee to be in, and then podcasters 

 

Can come looking in there for guests as well. 

 

Then, I feature some of these experts as well 

 

In the newsletter. So, they get in front 

 

Of 15,000 people, many of whom are podcasters 

 

And they can get invited on the podcast. 

 

I think that the model before to get booked 

 

On podcasts, and still this is a viable model, 

 

It’s just expensive is kind of the agency 

 

And the cold outreach model. There are lots 

 

Of services out there. Many of them are great 

 

That say, “We’ll get you booked on five podcasts 

 

A month.” It’s $600-$1,000 a month to do that.

 

And they do a fine job, but not everyone wants 

 

To spend that kind of money, especially 

 

When they don’t have to.

 

When there’s a service out there that will do it. 

 

Do it for free.

 

Richard Matthews  

One of my staff members does that. 

 

They do the reach out and finding stuff for us. 

 

It’s certainly something we pay for. 

 

But we get good results from podcast thing. 

 

It’s really cool. So, I’m talking about your driving force. 

 

Just like Spider-Man fights to save New York. 

 

Or Batman fights to save Gotham. Google fights 

 

To index all the world’s information. What is it 

 

That you guys fight for at PodcastGuests?

 

Andrew Allemann  

That’s an interesting question. I think, 

 

I really want people to be successful 

 

And to succeed in their goals. One of the—

 

When it comes down to it, we all, I think 

 

Everyone’s ultimate goal is to be happy. 

 

We accomplish that in many different ways. 

 

For many of us, it’s doing something 

 

That gives us purpose. Hopefully, what you do 

 

Is business isn’t just to make money. If it is, 

 

Hopefully, that drives happiness somehow, 

 

But that’s easier said than done. When I think about 

 

A lot of the people that use my service; 

 

A lot of them are solo-preneurs. They’re people 

 

That have decided, or were forced to decide 

 

That the corporate world isn’t really for them ,

 

And working for a company isn’t for them. 

 

They want to work for themselves. 

 

They want to take control of their own destiny. 

 

So, they are an expert in something. I want 

 

To get them in front of as many people 

 

As possible that will want to learn 

 

About them, and learn about what they have. 

 

To educate and spread their knowledge. 

 

I think, the power of podcasting, 

 

Which has become immensely popular 

 

In the past few years, or now, I think on Apple 

 

Podcast close to 800,000 podcasts. 

 

It’s a great way for people to do it. 

 

I want to help them do that. I want to help them 

 

Achieve their dreams, and ultimately lead 

 

To happiness. If you wake up everyday 

 

Saying, “I’m helping people achieve their dreams 

 

And be happy,” that’s pretty cool.

 

That gives you a lot of backing, 

 

A lot of support, a lot of drive to do what you do.

 

Richard Matthews  

Absolutely. Viewers like yours 

 

Has a tremendous ripple effect as well. 

 

You don’t just directly affect the people 

 

Who are using your service, but all their listeners 

 

And their audience, something like that. 

 

You have a reach beyond your reach. 

 

That makes sense.

 

Andrew Allemann  

That’s great. I appreciate you saying that, 

 

Because it’s not something I always think of.

 

You think of: so thousands of people 

 

Have gotten booked on podcasts 

 

Or my service. Then, how many people 

 

Have listened to those podcasts who would not 

 

Have heard that person or learn that tidbit 

 

That maybe sparked an idea in their head, 

 

Which then started another business? 

 

That’s a great way of looking at it. 

 

I appreciate you bringing that up.

 

Richard Matthews  

I love businesses that have the I call it 

 

“The ripple effect.” Where the the impact is greater 

 

Than the input. Which is, I think, super cool. 

 

I want to move a little bit and go practical 

 

On you and talk about what I call 

 

“The heroes tool belt.” Maybe, 

 

You have a big magical hammer like Thor. 

 

Or a bulletproof vest like your neighborhood 

 

Police Officer. What are some of the tools 

 

That you use to sort of make the business go round? 

 

You mentioned a few of them early on. 

 

MailChimp and Google Forms, but what is it— 

 

Some of the stuff that really powers 

 

PodcastGuests and makes it do what it does?

 

Andrew Allemann  

I would say, in addition to those 2 tools. 

 

I use WordPress for the website 

 

And have some plugins on there 

 

That have been—I hired a developer. 

 

This was my bigger investment, was to create 

 

This directory on there that works 

 

In the back end where people can invite people 

 

On to their show. WordPress is probably 

 

In a lot of people’s tool chest. I would say 

 

On the PodcastGuests business, 

 

I don’t have a lot of tools that I use.

 

And I don’t spend a lot of money 

 

On those tools. So, WordPress, Google Forms, Mailchimp.

 

Richard Matthews  

Very lean business.

 

Andrew Allemann  

It is from a tools’ perspective. I use Stripe 

 

As a way to collect payments. 

 

That’s another thing that I use. Then, 

 

I’ve grown the business a lot through Facebook, 

 

And Facebook ads. I think, that’s something 

 

That people should look into. Then, I have 

 

A Twitter presence as well there. I’ve found 

 

That even for my Domain Name side, 

 

I have 35,000 Twitter followers, and get a lot 

 

Of traffic from that. My audience on Facebook 

 

And Twitter for PodcastGuests isn’t nearly 

 

As large but they’re very engaged. 

 

Whenever I feature someone in my newsletter, 

 

I also include them on social media. 

 

That generates a few more inquiries, a few more invites, 

 

To that person to be a guest on their podcast 

 

A lot of times. I think that’s helpful as well. 

 

I would say a lot of tools. 

 

Gmail is basically free. Depending on how 

 

You use it. I really do have a lot of tools 

 

That when I think about it, I use in my business, 

 

A lot of applications, but a lot of them 

 

Are kind of specific to Domain Name investing. 

 

They probably aren’t that useful, 

 

I would say, to your audience. 

 

But it’s amazing now. And how much 

 

You can do for free. When I started websites 

 

In the late 90s. A hosting account was 50 

 

Or 100 dollars. A domain name was $70. 

 

Then, you had to figure out how to create 

 

A website on it. I used Microsoft FrontPage 

 

Which as a college student, I could go pick up 

 

As a man. Go pick up the CD ROM.

 

Let’s remember here, at the computer store 

 

For 5 bucks because they had a student discount. 

 

Nothing was easy back then. Now, you can spin up 

 

A website with a domain name 

 

With an SSL certificate. An ecommerce store 

 

For less than 100 bucks in a day. 

 

It’s really amazing what you can—now.

 

Richard Matthews  

You can get it up in five minutes 

 

If you have your resources put together.

 

Andrew Allemann  

It’s really remarkable what you can do, today. 

 

I would say, if anyone’s thinking 

 

About starting a business, there’s so many tools 

 

That make it super simple now. They bring it 

 

All together. GoDaddy has a great, they call it 

 

Websites plus marketing, 

 

Where it really brings the whole thing 

 

That help you create the site and do the email 

 

Marketing behind it. Do the ecommerce. 

 

Shopify is a great platform. 

 

We have Squarespace, Wix, Weebly, all these things 

 

These days. That doesn’t mean that the moment 

 

That make it super simple to start a business 

 

You turn it on, all of a sudden 

 

You’re getting customers. You still have to work 

 

And figure things out. But it’s so much easier 

 

Than it used to be, and so much less expensive. 

 

I would encourage anyone who’s going 

 

To sideline. Just take the leap. Get out there. 

 

Do something, and see if your passion 

 

Is really as strong as you think it is.

 

Richard Matthews  

It seems like nowadays, you can focus 

 

On just the important aspects of business. 

 

Instead of focusing on all the tools and the things. 

 

The proverbial business card that you have 

 

To get done. You can focus on the things 

 

That really matter. Which is finding a market 

 

That has a problem and solving it. 

 

Then, getting that message to them. 

 

Which is really what is going to drive revenue 

 

For your business and that’s all you have to focus on. 

 

You have to figure everything else out.

 

Speaker  

Music is by https://purpleplanet.com/

 

Richard Matthews  

I wanted to talk about your own personal heroes. 

 

Frodo had his Gandalf. Luke had his Obi Wan. 

 

Robert Kiyosaki had his Rich Dad. Who were some 

 

Of your heroes in your entrepreneurial journey? 

 

Were they real life mentors? Were they speakers 

 

Or authors? Maybe peers who were a couple years 

 

Ahead of you? And how important were they 

 

To what you’ve accomplished so far?

 

Andrew Allemann  

That’s a great question. I know, 

 

From your previous interviews that you asked that. 

 

So, I’ve given some thought to it. I really struggle 

 

With it because there’s not one person 

 

That I would say, has driven me to do 

 

What I’ve done in life. I think, my parents 

 

Were wonderful. My wife is wonderful 

 

And supportive. I had some great professors 

 

In college. Mentors when I worked 

 

For other people and such. But there’s not one person. 

 

I think for me, what it’s more is that 

 

I’ve had individuals that have influenced 

 

A couple of years of my life. That have put me 

 

In the direction that I’ve that ultimately gone. 

 

Then, I also have a good network of friends 

 

Who are in a similar situation me. They run 

 

Their own business that has been great. 

 

One of the things that I was very fortunate 

 

To do starting—it’s been over a decade now, 

 

Is I got involved with an entrepreneur group, 

 

And this is when I lived in Austin. 

 

It’s all local entrepreneurs. We’re all 

 

At different stages of our business. 

 

Having a sounding board like that is very important. 

 

If you’re in a situation where you can find people, 

 

They don’t need to be in the same type of business 

 

As you, but just in a similar situation. 

 

It can be very informal at first, but just a group 

 

That you can get together with. 

 

Whether it’s once a month, once a week, 

 

Maybe it’s even remote. It’s over Skype or Zoom, 

 

A video conference. I think that’s been 

 

One of the most valuable things that I’ve done

 

That’s really helped me get to where I am. 

 

I wouldn’t say it’s one individual person, 

 

I would say it’s having a sounding board. 

 

Having a group of people that I could rely on 

 

To provide advice, counsel, motivation. 

 

It’s really hard when you’re off on your own 

 

To be motivated sometimes. Those sorts of things 

 

Have been extremely helpful to me.

 

I’m sorry, go ahead.

 

Richard Matthews  

I found that groups like that are also useful 

 

For the proverbial ass-kicking to you like, 

 

“I’m going to do this.” Then, they’re going 

 

To pound you to make sure you do it.

 

Andrew Allemann  

Accountability partners. You can look at it 

 

Like that. Which is someone who 

 

Every month is going to say, “You said 

 

You’re going to do this, did you do it?”

 

And like you said, kicking your butt, 

 

Making sure that you do this. 

 

It’s very valuable that way.

 

Richard Matthews  

Absolutely. I agree. I’ve been—

 

If I were someone who asked me that question, 

 

Who are my heroes, the list would be really long. 

 

It’s all the people that have had 

 

A positive influence in my life. 

 

It’s a hard question. I think it’s a useful one 

 

To think about. Just to go back and realize 

 

How many people have impacted your life 

 

And some of them in small ways. 

 

You probably don’t even know and realize 

 

That you probably have the same impact 

 

On other people that you don’t even know which is cool.

 

Andrew Allemann  

I did think about that for 20 minutes. 

 

I have a lot of friends who are like, 

 

“This one person, these two people 

 

That change the course my life forever.” 

 

And I don’t think I’ve had that. But I’ve had 

 

A lot of people that have had a big impact on me.

 

Richard Matthews  

Definitely. There’s always people that puts you on. 

 

Might nudge you in the right way. I’m fairly certain,

 

I had a seventh grade teacher who pulled me aside 

 

And help me with writing a little bit, 

 

That probably doesn’t even realized that 

 

That’s become a major part of my career 

 

And trajectory in life. It’s cool stuff 

 

That happens like that. I want to get on 

 

To the last question we get into here. Which is 

 

Your guiding principles. Basically, what are 

 

The top one or two principles or actions 

 

That you put in practice sort of everyday 

 

That you think contributes to the success 

 

And influence of your couple of brands. 

 

Maybe, stuff you wish you’d known when you started?

 

Andrew Allemann  

I would say guiding principles. One thing 

 

And this is something that I do credit 

 

My parents with, is honesty needs to be 

 

Something that guide you everyday 

 

In what you do. It seems like 

 

There’s not so much of that in the world anymore.

 

Even in business, we’ve seen some high profile 

 

Blow ups where people weren’t as honest 

 

With people as they should have been. 

 

I think, when you’re honest with yourself, 

 

And with other people, it helps you 

 

Sleep well at night. It’s just one of those things 

 

That if you’re, I think people can tell 

 

When people aren’t being honest. Even though 

 

They can get away with it for a while. 

 

Eventually, it comes back to get them. 

 

You see a lot of people that make a lot of money 

 

Or who are “successful” who really aren’t honest. 

 

I think most of them get their comeuppance, 

 

Eventually. Another thing I’d say, is to always 

 

Accept feedback, and I’ve used that in 

 

My businesses. Feedback, I treat that as a gift, 

 

Even if I don’t necessarily agree with 

 

What someone’s saying, or they aren’t saying 

 

It in a friendly way. I found that feedback 

 

Is what has driven me to make changes 

 

In my business and my approach. 

 

Even if it’s blunt feedback. In fact, blunt feedback’s 

 

Usually the best, it’s good to think about that feedback. 

 

Soliciting feedback is important too.

 

A lot of times people won’t tell you 

 

What they’re thinking, unless you ask. 

 

Then, I’ve given a lot of thought, recently 

 

Moved about four months ago, five months ago, 

 

Across the country from Austin to the Seattle area.

 

It’s kind of been—I’m 41. It’s kind of been

 

One of those reset moments where I give 

 

A lot of thought to things. I mentioned this earlier, 

 

But I think we’re all trying to be happy. 

 

That’s our end goal and whatever we do, 

 

And a lot of us are doing things that don’t 

 

Make us happy. You might think 

 

That I’ve been one of those type A people all my life. 

 

I got into a great university program; graduated 

 

Top of my class there; made a lot of money 

 

My first job out of school. When you sit back and say,

 

“But why am I doing this? I was to be happy. 

 

Is making money going to make me happier 

 

At the end of the day? Or am I stuck 

 

In this rat race of making more money 

 

To buy more stuff?” I think when you go 

 

“I’ll be happy when this happens.” And then, 

 

Through life, you get to these things where you say, 

 

That happens, and you’re happy for 24 or 48 hours.

 

Then, you’re back to where you were and you’re like, 

 

“What’s my next goal that’ll make me happy?” 

 

I’ve really tried to focus and this is fairly new 

 

For me but thinking about: will this ultimately 

 

Make me happy? There’s a great book. 

 

I meant to bring it into the office here, 

 

So that I could just show the cover. But let me do 

 

This instead. I’ll look it up. I apologize for doing this. 

 

So, I can give the name. So it’s called Happier. 

 

That’s the name of the book. It’s a Harvard professor 

 

Pulling this up right now to get his name.

 

Tal Ben-Shahar. He’s an educator, he teaches 

 

At Harvard. He is taught about how to be happy. 

 

He grew up in Israel and said he wanted to be 

 

The squash champion of the country. And he was, 

 

And everything he was doing was driving toward this.

 

Then, he was happy for—he was blissfully happy 

 

For a day or two after he won, but then he realized 

 

That wasn’t his everlasting thing. 

 

It wasn’t going to bring him happiness. 

 

So, he studied a lot about it. Great book, 

 

I highly recommend reading it, and thinking 

 

About what you’re doing in your life, 

 

And your business. And personally, 

 

How that’s driving you 

 

Toward what your ultimate goals are.

 

Richard Matthews  

I’ve discovered personally that, for me at least, 

 

I think for a lot of other people, 

 

It’s generally the journey; not the destination 

 

That brings the happiness. Even when it comes 

 

To things that you want. It’s the wanting 

 

Of the thing that’s exciting; not the having 

 

Of the thing. You remember that from being a kid, 

 

You really want the toy or whatever, 

 

Then you finally get the toy and you realize

 

That it’s not as fun as wanting the toy was. 

 

It’s short lived anyway, I think that’s—

 

Andrew Allemann  

Go ahead. Looks like we froze for a second 

 

But there’s another great book, “Happy Money.” 

 

It talks about 5 principles . But one of it is 

 

The waiting for it is the most exciting 

 

Part. I know when we bought our Tesla, 

 

The most exciting part was the long wait. 

 

While we were waiting for it to show up 

 

That the two months, the excitement around it 

 

And that sort of stuff. Whereas once you get it, 

 

And this goes for any car, and you start driving it

 

After a month it’s nothing. That wears off, 

 

So chasing things like that

 

It’s just how you get around. I think that book 

 

Also had a pretty big impact on me. Happy Money.

 

Richard Matthews  

Absolutely. I like a lot of those. That kind of thinking 

 

And I just realized, at this point in my life, 

 

When I want things, it’s like, “Does this actually give me 

 

Opportunities to experience things 

 

I couldn’t experience before?” 

 

I have—those are the only kind of things 

 

I have on the list. Because otherwise I’m like, 

 

“I just don’t care.”

 

Andrew Allemann  

That’s another principle of Happy Money, 

 

Which is spend money on experiences, not things. 

 

Because those experiences you’ll remember them 

 

A long time from now. They continue to pay dividends. 

 

Whereas, your first car you spent money on is long gone. 

 

It’s providing no enjoyment to you now. 

 

Whereas the memories of experiences, 

 

And friendships, and such are much more valuable.

 

Richard Matthews  

That basically brings us to the inner end of our interview. 

 

I have one more thing I do on every show. 

 

I call it The HERO Challenge. It’s someone 

 

In your network who has a really cool 

 

Entrepreneurial story. Who are they? First names 

 

Are fine. And why do you think 

 

They should come share their story on our show?

 

Andrew Allemann  

I have so many people that I love their story.

 

One of them is actually the person 

 

Who does the audio for my podcast. What I love 

 

And I don’t know how much you talk 

 

About your story, but his is kind of similar. 

 

He now drives around in an RV exploring the country, 

 

Doing this for the road, which is very admirable. 

 

Carey, he runs a service called Podcast Fast Track 

 

Who does audio editing and he’s got a team, 

 

And it’s all remote. That’s one person when I think 

 

About the types of people that are living 

 

A good lifestyle that I think are very interesting. 

 

I have lots of friends who have been very successful. 

 

But I think that’s one that jumps to mind 

 

That I think is great for your audience.

 

Richard Matthews  

Awesome. I would love to reach out. We’ll connect 

 

Later about connecting with him. 

 

And last thing here is thank you so much 

 

For being on the show. And where can people find you? 

 

I assume if they’re either running a podcast 

 

Or they want to be featured on podcasts, 

 

Or if they’re interested in the domain namespace, 

 

Where can they find you? What should they do 

 

Or the ideal people to expect?

 

Andrew Allemann  

There are a couple things here. One is that—

 

Do go check out https://podcastguests.com/ 

 

If you’re interested. If you either have a podcast 

 

And you’re trying to find guests or you’re interested 

 

In being a guest on podcasts. I put together 

 

A free guide you don’t even have to provide 

 

Your email address to download it, 

 

On being a guest on podcast. The value is 

 

How to do it step by step, and you can get 

 

That at https://podcastguests.com/guide/ 

 

I personally respond to all the emails that come in 

 

On https://podcastguests.com/ 

 

I send out a weekly email. If you respond to that, 

 

I personally get that. That’s great way 

 

To connect with me. If you’re interested 

 

In domain names, check out https://domainnamewire.com/

 

It’s kind of a fun little industry. 

 

I know a lot of people own domain names 

 

For their business. You might learn a thing 

 

Or two there and hopefully get sucked in.

 

Richard Matthews  

Personally, because I’m curious how much 

 

Has the new top level domains—there’s like 100 bajillion 

 

Of them now—how has that affected the industry?

 

Andrew Allemann  

Those started rolling out in 2014. Their impact’s 

 

Been nominal. Some people are using them 

 

But they haven’t taken off like they expected. 

 

So, dot com, at least in the US is still king 

 

By far. People prefer to have that. The impact 

 

Has been fairly minimal. It drove a lot of money 

 

Into the industry for a while. It’s kind of pulled back

 

Because they haven’t been quite the moneymaker 

 

That people expected. There are some successful 

 

Companies that operate them. I’m sure you’ve seen 

 

Some of them out there in the wild 

 

That are being used. But it just hasn’t had 

 

That big of an impact on how people use 

 

And think of domain names.

 

Richard Matthews  

I’ve noticed that out of the whole hundreds 

 

And hundreds of them that have cropped up. 

 

The ones that seems to be the most popular 

 

Are dot io and dot pro. Some of the 

 

Adult specific ones that have have popped 

 

Into being used, but really, it’s culturally, 

 

Nobody thinks of them as domain names.

 

Andrew Allemann  

And dot io and dot pro are actually not part 

 

Of this new top level domain program. 

 

They’ve actually been out for a long time,

 

Which is those two letter domains 

 

Or country code domains, like dot co is another one, 

 

Which is actually from Columbia. 

 

There were already hundreds of choices 

 

That people had. Adding another 800 choices 

 

Didn’t really open up the namespace that much. 

 

It’s been interesting to watch though, for sure. 

 

I’ve obviously written a lot about it.

 

Richard Matthews  

I can imagine. I was curious from an industry insider.

 

Because as an outsider, who buys domains 

 

For personal use, for businesses and for clients. 

 

Our recommendation hasn’t changed. 

 

If you can get the dot com. If you’re 

 

A personal brand, you might use something 

 

Like me, for occasionally and maybe if you’re 

 

An internet organization, you might use io. 

 

But for the vast majority of clients, 

 

If you can get the dot com, get the dot com. 

 

Andrew Allemann  

I think for the Investment Authority of cases 

 

That’s the right advice. I have noticed 

 

Quite a few people that are using PodcastGuests 

 

Will use for their show, for their podcasts, 

 

They might do something that’s a little bit different. 

 

I think there’s talk show out there. 

 

But there are lots of things that you could use 

 

For a podcast, and it really depends 

 

On what you’re using it for. But most of the time, 

 

Try to get the dot com, even if it costs a couple

 

Thousand dollars to buy it from someone else. 

 

That’s the right advice.

 

Richard Matthews  

I have theheroshow.com

 

And thehero.show. And theheroshow.com 

 

Is just so much easier to roll off the tongue 

 

And actually use. I don’t think we currently have 

 

That domain, but we did for a while. 

 

Anyways, it’s really interesting.

 

To finish this off, remind people 

 

It was https://podcastguests.com/guide/ 

 

If they want to learn about the value 

 

Of being a podcast guest and what can do 

 

For your business. If they run a podcast 

 

And they want to be featured in the newsletter, 

 

Same place, just https://podcastguests.com/ 

 

Andrew Allemann  

All you have to do: put in your email address 

 

And your first name. And you’ll be signed up. 

 

Every Monday morning I send out my email 

 

That has the list of experts and podcasts. 

 

You can click a link and apply on them. 

 

It’s super simple. That’s what to do. 

 

I really appreciate you having me on the show.

 

Richard Matthews  

Absolutely. Thank you for being on the show. 

 

Really appreciate it. 

 

You have any final parting words of wisdom 

 

For our audience?

 

Andrew Allemann  

Do something. Nike says just do it 

 

When they think of athletics. I say the same thing 

 

When it comes to business. Take that next step

 

To do something that’s going to improve your life, 

 

Improve your business, move it forward.

 

Richard Matthews  

Thank you so much for being on the show, Andrew.

 

We really appreciate it. 

 

Andrew Allemann  

My pleasure.