Episode 060 – Arnie Chapman

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Automated Transcription

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Richard Matthews  

Hello, and welcome back to the HERO Show. 

 

My name is Richard Matthews. And I’m on the line 

 

With Arnie Chapman Arnie. Arnie, are you there? 

 

Arnie Chapman  

I am. Yes. 

 

Richard Matthews  

Awesome. So glad to have you here, Arnie. 

 

Arnie is the host of the Football History Dude, 

 

Podcast on iTunes, which is a show that is 

 

Dedicated to the rich history of football. 

 

Even more specifically, you said 

 

Almost like the ancient history of football way back 

 

In the 20s and 30s. Sort of what turned it 

 

Into the sport it is today. If I understand correctly, 

 

Your first time being interviewed on 

 

A podcast even though you host your own podcast. 

 

Pretty excited to have you on today. Let’s just 

 

Start off right there and talk about what it is 

 

That you’re known for. What is the show known for? 

 

What do you guys do? 

 

What’s your business strategy behind that?

 

Arnie Chapman  

Yes, I am the Football History Dude. 

 

The show covers the rich history of the NFL.

 

As my tagline: “Take you back to the yesteryear 

 

Of the gridiron.” Each episode, each week, 

 

We hop on my DeLorean, that’s also the tagline. 

 

We get the baby up to 88 miles an hour, and 

 

We go explore somewhere in the past. More recently, 

 

We’ve really focused on the beginning of the NFL, 

 

Which was in the 1920 season, September 17 1920, 

 

Was the founding of the NFL. This is technically,

 

The 100th season of the NFL. It just fit in nice and perfectly. 

 

We’re covering all the original 14 teams of the NFL 

 

From either interviews or just solo shows covering to understand: 

 

How was the NFL born and how did they 

 

Get to where it is now.

 

Richard Matthews  

Awesome. I understand from our 

 

Conversation earlier, that it’s a fairly

 

New show. You guys have been on air for 

 

About a year and a half or so. You’re just getting 

 

To the point where you’re working on monetization. 

 

What was the goal in starting this show? And are you 

 

Looking to have it be an income? Or maybe 

 

Even become a sole income in your life 

 

At some point? What’s the plan, how that happened?

 

Arnie Chapman  

Ultimately, yes. I would like this to be 

 

The primary source of income. Not necessarily 

 

This particular show, only. The goal is to create 

 

A network of football history podcasts, possibly 

 

Even branch out into other sports. I’ve been toying 

 

With the idea of yesteryear media.

 

Talking about bringing other guys, like myself, 

 

Who are interested in specific passions and going back 

 

In time learning about the history of their 

 

Particular sport or particular team, whatever 

 

It may be. The particular for me, it’s football, 

 

It’s the NFL, that’s all I really focus on. But I’d like 

 

To turn it into a point where it’s a net worth bringing in. 

 

Yes, advertising dollars and things like that. 

 

But take it further so we can bring in as far as —

 

A way to be able to bring information 

 

To people about sports that they know and love now, 

 

But they have no idea how it was brought.

 

Richard Matthews  

Interesting. What made you get into this?

 

We talked a lot about the origin story on the show.

 

Every hero has their origin story. It’s where you 

 

Started to realize that you were different 

 

That maybe you had superpowers, and you could

 

Use them to share and impart your knowledge to the world. 

 

How did that journey start for you? Where you wanted to get 

 

Into this podcasting and possibly building, in 

 

Essentially, a media company around sports?

 

Arnie Chapman  

I would say my origin story actually happened 

 

A long time ago. I started a podcast around my 

 

Fantasy football league, maybe eight to 10 years. 

 

I don’t really know the exact time when I did this. 

 

I really enjoyed it. I thought it was pretty cool. 

 

I’ve always been known as the football dude, the football guy, 

 

Whatever you want to say. And everybody always 

 

Comes to me for advice about football fantasy lineups, 

 

And things like that. I was gonna start 

 

A fantasy football podcast called the Fantasy Football Dude, 

 

Couple years ago. As you may know, that’s flooded market. 

 

I started to research and I knew I wanted to do a podcast. 

 

I had just finished my masters and I had 

 

Extra time on my hands. I knew that that’s the avenue 

 

I wanted to go into. However, fantasy football 

 

Was not the stick. I looked up other ways and 

 

Other possibilities, and I found out that there 

 

Aren’t any podcasts about the history of the NFL, 

 

Or at least on a consistent basis. So, I decided to go down 

 

That avenue. And I guess deep wormhole later, 

 

I find myself. I’m at 88 episodes releases as far as next week.

 

Richard Matthews  

Awesome. What kind of interest 

 

Have you had a regular growth in subscribers?

 

Have you seen in a show on the history of —

 

Arnie Chapman  

It’s been a — I wouldn’t say a hockey stick by any 

 

Means because I wouldn’t tell anybody 

 

That you’re going to get into podcasting and 

 

You’re going to be rich overnight.

 

It’s an ongoing process. Building a meat. 

 

Build a fan base of rabid fans at the beginning. 

 

Then from there you can build from that base 

 

You can go ahead and you can branch out. 

 

But as far as the topic itself, because it’s somewhat unique 

 

In the space, the super fans, 

 

They really latch on. They love it. They can’t wait 

 

Until the next episode because of the information. 

 

Maybe because of my storytelling abilities, 

 

I like to think that. But that cool information, 

 

The golden gridiron knowledge nuggets 

 

That you can’t find anywhere else at this point in time 

 

Without doing research on your own. I think that’s really 

 

What they grasp on to.

 

Richard Matthews  

Interesting. What are your plans on the monetization front?

 

Because history seems like iit’s a difficult subject 

 

To turn into —I would say — podcasters, generally, are going

 

For sponsorships or for selling product. 

 

Is it along the lines of selling information products 

 

Or getting gear that people might be interested in? 

 

Or is it just sponsorships? Or just some of your ideas?

 

Arnie Chapman  

A couple of them would be — sure the whole 

 

Advertising model down the road with the networking 

 

And the more — the CPM model of having

 

The downloads per thousand or whatever that is. 

 

That’s going to be part of it. But I don’t think that’s really 

 

Where it’s going to be. The big model is going to be partnering 

 

With different companies such as, an auction site 

 

Called Pristine Auction, I just throw that out there as an idea 

 

Because they focus on memorabilia from the past. 

 

Partnering with companies that really would hit that niche, 

 

One thing that I’m creating is what we call football history minutes. 

 

They’re just one minute clips of football history. 

 

Remember, the old what’s the guy’s name, because of the rest 

 

Of the story on the radios. I can’t think of the guy’s name, right now. 

 

But he would always come on —

 

The beginning of the morning, he would tell you 

 

Part of the story. And then it was like, “Now, the rest 

 

Of the story; it’d be in the afternoon.” But they would always 

 

Put advertisements around that. I’m going to start off 

 

With — it’d be my dad. Down in Mississippi, they have 

 

A radio station. We’re going to start there to 

 

Proof of concept that it would actually work. They’re going 

 

To purchase time on the radio, put advertisements 

 

Around it on both sides, and then go from there. 

 

I believe that we can branch that out and then get into —

 

We have some software development ideas down the road. 

 

Most of that stuff is way future state 

 

It’s not even really something that I want to discuss 

 

That I’m going to be doing right now.

 

Richard Matthews  

What’s interesting about that is: I think 

 

A lot of people put the cart before the horse, so to speak. 

 

And in today’s market, you’re in the 

 

Business of attention. You have to gather 

 

The audience; get the attention before you can make 

 

An offer and make sales, whatever that is, whether 

 

That’s advertising or products, or whatever it is you’re 

 

Putting together. I think you’re doing a good job 

 

On that front where it’s like: I’m building an audience 

 

And putting together a great product. Realize that 

 

The monetization strategy is going to come 

 

After I build the audience.

 

Arnie Chapman  

That’s definitely true. Am I going to get some here 

 

And there from Google AdSense and Amazon affiliates 

 

And things like that? But you’re right. 

 

I’m focusing on the audience first, and then 

 

From there, then we can find ways — 

 

You bring up a good point, the monetization strategy 

 

Will come from what the audience wants. After I find out 

 

What they need and that kind of thing.

 

Richard Matthews  

Out of curiosity, since it’s not at that point yet, 

 

Do you have another business or another 9 to 5

 

That you use to self-fund the growth of this business?

 

Arnie Chapman  

I’m a nine to fiver guy. I’m going back 

 

Into my original story. We could dive into that 

 

If you want. As to why am I an entrepreneur style.

 

Richard Matthews  

Absolutely. I’d love to hear that.

 

Arnie Chapman  

I’ll start it off here. When I was — I don’t know 

 

If I was three or four or if I’m making this up — I don’t know 

 

How old I was but my mom tells me when I was 

 

A very young lad, we’ll say, she said that I took 

 

My sister who was either one or two years old. 

 

I was going around the neighborhood. She said, I put 

 

My sister in a wagon and a bunch of toys because 

 

I was trying to sell toys to the neighborhood people 

 

So my mom didn’t have to work two jobs anymore so 

 

She could come home. That was, she said, 

 

My first business. Of course, these kids are people 

 

Are buying from little kid because 

 

They want that cute little guy running around. 

 

But that’s sort of my entrepreneur style. I’ve done 

 

The whole eBay business; the Amazons. I’ve done all these things 

 

Where I was unsuccessful, I would say, because I start-stop, 

 

Start-stop. But I learned a lot of things along the way. 

 

To go back to the whole how do I fund this.

 

Nine to five. I’m a full time worker for a company. 

 

I’ve been there for almost 16 years, now. 

 

I started off in manufacturing, then I worked up 

 

Into supervision. Then, I ended up going 

 

Into plant management for a new facility down 

 

In the Texas area, in the DFW area. I guess that’s

 

Where I go to the whole hero – superhero

 

Type of story because it  reminiscent of Thor. 

 

Thor is my favorite superhero. Remember, in the 

 

First Thor movie, when he got stripped of his powers.

 

He lost the hammer and all that. 

 

I would say that’s reminiscent of when I went to be 

 

The plant manager. I was young, the job was too big 

 

For my britches. I wasn’t prepared even though I thought 

 

I was. Thor was a little cocky going into that, and 

 

I won’t want to say I was the same way. But I was that way. 

 

Then, essentially, I failed fast. I was able to be removed 

 

From that position, technically, got demoted. Just like 

 

He got demoted: got his powers taken away. 

 

Then I moved into, what they will call a supervisor role 

 

Down there. At that time, I was able to learn 

 

A whole lot from the plant manager that they brought in, 

 

As far as people skills and I think that’s where that helps here. 

 

With the podcast. Because I really talked to a lot of people 

 

And I would help them through the processes. 

 

And things like that. Going from there, 

 

I worked in the same company for a while. I’m still 

 

At the company. But, now, I’m in quality assurance 

 

And I’m regional manager for there. Same company throughout.

 

Richard Matthews  

That’s really cool. I totally resonate with 

 

The entrepreneurship as a kid thing too.

 

My first business, I was 13, I think, 

 

And I was buying — I managed to convince my dad 

 

To give me a $50 loan. My $50 loan I went 

 

And spent on on candy at the Big-box store.

 

I bought Nerd Ropes and the other big candy things 

 

That you couldn’t get at the school. 

 

And I brought them into campus like the quintessential guy 

 

Selling fake watches under his trench coat in New York. 

 

I was: sell you my wares kind of thing. I sold $1500

 

Worth of candy before I got shut down by the government. 

 

Arnie Chapman  

Are you serious? You actually got shut down? 

 

Richard Matthews  

I did. I got shut down because apparently you have to have 

 

A business license to sell food on campus. 

 

They won’t give a business license to 13 year olds.

 

So, I got shut down by the powers that be — I say it’s 

 

The government but it was whoever’s 

 

In charge of the school, which is technically —

 

It’s a government entity of some sort. They shut me down. 

 

I remember my first lesson. I was like, “I spent $50 

 

And I made $100.” Then you have to go and pay back your loan. 

 

So, I paid back the loan, and then I had to buy more candy. 

 

I had to replenish my stock. I paid back the loan 

 

And bought $50 worth more candy, and I had zero dollars. 

 

I was like, “I’m really confused. I thought I made $100. 

 

And I made nothing.” Because I didn’t understand 

 

The difference between revenue and profit. 

 

That was my first lesson at 13. The difference 

 

Between revenue and profit. I was like, 

 

“I’d made $100 in revenue but $0 in profit.”

 

Arnie Chapman  

But it’s an early age, like you said. That’s pretty cool.

 

Richard Matthews  

It was a cool lesson to learn real early. It’s been 

 

Going on from there. I’m curious to talk a little bit 

 

About your superpowers. It’s what you do 

 

Or build or offer this world that helps solves problems 

 

For people. The things that you use to 

 

Slay the world’s villains, so to speak. Being in 

 

The entertainment space, I’m curious what you think 

 

Your superpower is when it comes to your podcast.

 

Arnie Chapman  

I would say for my superpower for 

 

The podcast, specifically, is just the passion that I have

 

For football, curiosity, and learning about things 

 

That happened and why it came to be. As far as learning 

 

Some things, my superpowers came from being 

 

A supervisor — a manager for so many years.

 

Working with people. Asking them 

 

About their stories. The first thing I would always do 

 

In the morning, and I still do is: how’s things going? 

 

I would ask them a crazy question.

 

I’d ask them the question: if you want to take my DeLorean 

 

Back in time and go anywhere and point in history, 

 

Where would you go? I’d like to see what they say. 

 

Then, I can learn a little bit about the person.

 

From there, we can have a general conversation.

 

I think that would be my superpower is just 

 

A general curiosity of why and then actually listening 

 

To the person and from there sparking a conversation.

 

Richard Matthews  

An ability to dig deeper and that kind of stuff. 

 

How has that served you 

 

In creating the content for your show?

 

Arnie Chapman  

I would say that the few interviews that I’ve had. 

 

Now, I’ve performed 5 interviews 

 

With other guests. A lot of the other episodes 

 

Are solo shows. But when I have those interviews, 

 

At the end of them, each guest has said, 

 

“You had a good way of transitioning from topic to topic. 

 

You asked me questions that I’ve never been asked before.” 

 

So that I can draw out the stories that they haven’t told.

 

Or they’ve wanted to tell. Or they haven’t told 

 

Since they were back at Christmas parties. 

 

Back in the day or something like that. 

 

Unique type stories, I would say.

 

Richard Matthews  

That’s an important skill, especially, if you’re doing 

 

The interviewing stuff. Learning how to dig deeper 

 

And get good questions out of people.  

 

Since we both sort of do that, it’s something 

 

You have to practice and get good at.  

 

It’s definitely a good skill to have if you’re in this space. 

 

Or you’re interested in starting a podcast realize 

 

That part of that process is learning how to be 

 

A good interviewer and be interested in the stories 

 

That people are telling and where those lead.

 

Arnie Chapman  

I would say that for any advice, 

 

If anyone’s starting a podcast, just have conversations 

 

On a daily basis. I was fortunate enough 

 

As a manager supervisor. That’s what I do. 

 

Most of my day is talking to people. If I didn’t 

 

Have that, then I would have a real hard time, I think,

 

When I’m having interviews. I still get nervous, every time. 

 

I was nervous, right now, starting this —

 

My first time ever being interviewed. Because I had 

 

That experience. The muscle memory. You always 

 

Fall back to the level of your training or your experiences. 

 

The same thing goes with whether 

 

I’m having a podcast interview, or if I’m calling a customer 

 

On the phone, and I know I’m about to deliver 

 

Some bad news. Instead of going into it. Sure. 

 

I may be nervous but because I’ve had experiences 

 

And I think even now having this podcast because 

 

I’ve put myself out there, publicly. It’s really helped me 

 

Even in my work life too. The communication skills 

 

Or even the whole fear of the unknown. 

 

You know how it is when you —

 

The imposter syndrome and you’re like: if I’m going 

 

To go on. I’m going to talk to somebody. Because 

 

The current job I’ve been now, I’ve been in there 

 

For about a year. I had no clue 

 

About how roofing works. I was in the manufacturing side 

 

Of things and now it’s like: I don’t know what I’m doing 

 

All the time. But at least I can come to it with a power. I guess, 

 

A point of: it’s okay that I don’t know.

 

That’s really what is; it’s okay. Because I just tell the person 

 

I’ll get back to them. As long as I get back to them and I

 

 hold them my say-do ratio, then I think I’m going to be okay.

 

Richard Matthews  

I like the idea of dealing with your nerves 

 

And realizing you’re gonna fall back 

 

On your training and stuff like that. My secret, so to speak, 

 

For dealing with the nerves because I speak 

 

On podcasts regularly, obviously, and I also do webinars 

 

In front of lots of people. I have training from 

 

A Bible College and I’ve preached a couple of times. 

 

The secret that I’ve always used for dealing with 

 

Those nerves is something one of my Bible college professors 

 

Taught us. It was the idea that it doesn’t matter 

 

Who you’re speaking to, or in what situation. 

 

You’re always speaking just to an individual.

 

You know how to speak to individuals. You know how to be one on one 

 

In a room with someone and talk to them. Because it’s something 

 

You’ve done since your childhood, and everyone’s got that skill. 

 

It’s just learning how to sort of apply that skill 

 

To different situations. Whether it’s podcast interview 

 

Or standing on the stage. I was always like, 

 

“How can you apply that standing on a stage? There’s 1000 people 

 

Out there, and there’s you.” I remember he made 

 

The class do an exercise where you’d stand up in front 

 

Of the class. And if you asked the whole class, 

 

Basically what you want to do is I want you to ask 

 

The whole class a question, but look at 

 

One particular individual when you ask the question.

 

Then ask the class who you ask the question to.

 

The person you looked at and the whole circle of people 

 

Around them all raise their hand and be like, “You looked 

 

At me and asked that question.” But if you repeat the exercise 

 

And you ask the question to the class, but you don’t look 

 

At anyone you look between people. And you ask the class 

 

You’re always speaking to an individual. 

 

Who did I ask the question to? No one will raise their hand. 

 

It’s a skill set you can come back to.

 

Arnie Chapman  

That’s really good advice. Because I’ll tell you, even though 

 

I’m getting better, the public speaking is still something 

 

That — nerve wracking. Even as simple as I used 

 

To give daily talks as a supervisor to 7 or 8 people, 

 

I would be shaking in my boots. Now, maybe,

 

That’s not so bad. But if I’m getting 

 

In front of 30-40 people that’s like —

 

Richard Matthews  

I remember, the hardest speech I’ve ever given 

 

Was: I did the eulogy at my grandmother’s funeral. 

 

She was like an angel sent down from heaven.

 

When she had her funeral 600 people showed up

 

Which is a lot of people. So, I’m at in front, 

 

And I’ve got to give the eulogy. I was probably closer to her 

 

Than anyone else in the family, which is why 

 

I was given the eulogy. It was already it was already tough 

 

Because of the situation it’s in. But I’m also in front 

 

Of 600 people. I remember the only way I could get through it — 

 

There was one person sitting in the front row 

 

That was just paying really good attention to me. 

 

I gave the eulogy to that one individual. 

 

Arnie Chapman  

Then it just went through?

 

Richard Matthews  

It just went through. I was able to actually perform 

 

The way I needed to perform in that situation 

 

Because I was nervous and I was emotional and other things 

 

That are all stacked together. Plus, you’re in a room full 

 

Of 600 people; half of whom you’ve never met before.

 

They’re all expecting you to give them closure 

 

For this person. It was just really stressful situation. 

 

I remember thinking: I had to go right back 

 

To my training from Bible college.

 

Just pick someone in the audience and give your message 

 

To that person. And that’s it, just like you’re sitting 

 

In a room across. Sitting across the coffee table 

 

With them. I had to really use all those techniques 

 

At that point. Everything else has been easier than that. 

 

Arnie Chapman  

That’s something that I hope too in the future. Going back 

 

To the beginning, I would love to create 

 

A conference; convention; what have you for 

 

The history of the NFL. That’s something that 

 

When I think about that, I go, “That means 

 

I gotta get on stage. I gotta be the one 

 

That does this CMC.” It’s something that I —

 

I appreciate that as an advice. Can I go back 

 

And ask you about Bible college? 

 

Richard Matthews  

Absolutely. 

 

Arnie Chapman  

I have one question. 

 

I saw that the reason why you initially went into it was 

 

To learn how to read and write ancient Greek. 

 

Was that something that’s a true statement?

 

Richard Matthews  

It was. In high school, I had gone 

 

Through a couple of summers doing some in depth 

 

Bible studies with a couple of professors at 

 

A local Bible college. They had put on a summer 

 

Bible camp for more advanced stuff. 

 

I realized that one of the most important things 

 

In understanding scripture was understanding 

 

The author’s intended meaning, which is a — 

 

It’s a hard concept to get. We even struggle 

 

With that politically, today. People are like, 

 

“No, the Constitution means what I want it to mean.” 

 

I’m like, “No, it means what the original authors meant it 

 

To mean.” That’s the way where you’re supposed to interpret 

 

Ancient documents. Which I assume as a studier of history, 

 

You understand that concept. That you have to really 

 

Look at what the people were doing 

 

At that time. The situation they were in. The language 

 

They were speaking. And the culture they were in. For me, 

 

I wanted to understand the — I guess it’s almost 

 

A selfish thing. I wanted to understand this person that 

 

I claimed to worship better, might as well 

 

Actually, learn the language and the culture 

 

And whatnot that it was in. So, I went to a Bible college 

 

That offered studies in ancient Greek; in ancient Hebrew. 

 

Took a couple of years of each of those. 

 

I learned a whole bunch of other things while I was there, 

 

But that was the thing I wanted to get out of it. As luck 

 

Would have it, my professor in Bible college who taught 

 

Ancient Greek, his name was Dr. Dull. He was probably 

 

The coolest guy in the world. But true to his name, 

 

He was completely monotone. Never once did he ever 

 

Have vocal intonation that changed from the straight 

 

Middle of the line thing. Which was funny because, 

 

We get a lot of our interactions with people, based 

 

On vocal intonations, and he had none. But he was super smart 

 

And super funny. You could rank the intelligence 

 

Of the people in the room by 

 

When he would say a joke; how long it took them to laugh.

 

Because everyone has to think about it. Because there was 

 

No indications that what he said was funny. There’s 

 

No other body language or vocal intonation. You just 

 

Have to understand what he said. And he was one of 

 

Those guys that worked for the CIA doing translations 

 

Of ancient scripts and stuff like that. He was fluent 

 

In ancient Sanskrit, ancient Greek, ancient Hebrew, 

 

Ancient Arabic, ancient Aramaic, as well as German, 

 

Spanish, English, Italian, and a few other languages. 

 

He had the level of knowledge is like, he would probably be 

 

Talking about the word milk in Greek and he was like, “Okay, so 

 

Here’s the funny thing about milk.” He’s like, “In 630,000 AD.

 

The culture, they used the word this way. But then 

 

When sheep started doing this thing. Then they changed the word. 

 

And the word had — he knew more about the history 

 

Of the one word and how it changed over the course of time. 

 

Than I know about everything in my life. He knew that 

 

For every single word there was. I was like, ” I wasn’t even 

 

Aware that you could have etymology that was 6000 years long 

 

And actually know all of it.” It was super fascinating to learn 

 

From a gentleman like that. 

 

I found myself very lucky to be able to sit under his tutelage. 

 

Learned a whole bunch and I actually dropped out of college 

 

When I figured I had enough information on what I wanted 

 

To learn there because I wasn’t intending to go 

 

To a Bible college to get a job in the ministry. 

 

I was going because I specifically wanted 

 

To learn that skill. And started my business after college. 

 

That is true. 

 

Arnie Chapman  

Do you still speak right? Can you in Ancient Greek? 

 

Richard Matthews  

I can read the Greek. The Hebrew I cannot read, as well, 

 

Because it uses is a different script. 

 

Unless you practice it regularly, it goes away, it probably 

 

Wouldn’t take long to get it back. The other thing is 

 

They also don’t have vowels. They do, 

 

But they don’t show on the script. You have to just know 

 

Where they go. So, if you don’t practice it;

 

It’s difficult to keep. Greek is a lot easier. As long 

 

As you remember the sounds the alphabet makes, 

 

You can read it, which means I can.

 

My knowledge level is not fluent. It’s like, 

 

I can look at a Greek word and pick up a Greek lexicon 

 

And go through and figure out what it means 

 

And that kind of stuff. I have the basic skill set 

 

To look things up, use it, and be able to see that kind of stuff.

 

Arnie Chapman  

That’s pretty cool. I know this has nothing to do with it. 

 

But I was joking. We’ll call it 72% serious 

 

That I’d love to learn Japanese so I could watch 

 

The original Godzilla the way it was intended to be.

 

Richard Matthews  

That would be excellent. 

 

Arnie Chapman  

It would take quite long time just for that.

 

Richard Matthews  

My understanding is that Japanese is very difficult.

 

Arnie Chapman  

Thanks for ruining my spirits there. 

 

Richard Matthews  

You can totally do it. If you’re interested, a guy named, 

 

Tim Ferriss if you’ve read any of his stuff.

 

His book on meta learning, 

 

I can’t remember which book that is, might be 

 

The Four Hour Body that’s about meta learning. Or no, 

 

It’s the 4-Hour cookbook. At the back of 

 

The 4-Hour cookbook, he has a whole section 

 

On learning Japanese in 6 weeks.

 

Arnie Chapman  

I guess I know where I’m headed.

 

Richard Matthews  

The 4-Hour Chef, is that book and 

 

He has a section on there. It’s about how to learn 

 

Any language in 6 weeks. Actually, goes through

 

How there’s — basically, he reverse engineered language. 

 

There’s 6 sentence structures, 6 grammar structures,

 

And 6 of these other structures. And 130 words, 

 

That pretty much makeup 80% of language.

 

If you can master those, you can master those very quickly. 

 

And you can get to conversational fluency very quickly. 

 

But not being a native speaker. 

 

You’ll never be a master at a second language, but 

 

You can be conversationally fluent very quick. 

 

Arnie Chapman  

Sure, sure. 

 

Richard Matthews  

Anyways, resources. Back to our conversation 

 

On your story. I want to talk a little bit about your fatal flaw.

 

Superman has his Kryptonite. Or Batman is not actually 

 

A superhero. He just has to work really hard at the things to do. 

 

What do you think is something that you’ve had to deal with 

 

That has held back either your podcast, your business growth, 

 

Or any of the things that you’ve been working on in your life?

 

Arnie Chapman  

It was tough to choose one. Because 

 

It’s easy for us to look at like, 

 

“I suck at this. I’m not good at this. I’m not good at that.”

 

But then, for me, I would say it’s worrying 

 

About finances to even go back to our point of

 

My monetizing this or how am I going to monetize it? 

 

When I start worrying about monetizing, and just finances 

 

In general, then it clouds my judgment. It clouds 

 

My decision making and I don’t get stuff done. 

 

I would say that if I could just not worry about finances, 

 

Then life would be gravy and I would just keep rolling on. 

 

That’s gonna be my fatal flaw.

 

Richard Matthews  

It’s an interesting thing too, because it’s, 

 

You want to have to not worry. You have 

 

To not worry about it in order to do good work. 

 

But you also have to worry about it at some point, 

 

So you’re going somewhere. It’s doing the thing 

 

You want to do. It’s like a Catch-22. 

 

How have you been managing that?

 

Arnie Chapman  

As far as the finances go, 

 

You not worrying about it. I make sure that I put it 

 

In order as far as what needs to be done. Then I focus 

 

For the business podcast portion is the strategy 

 

Because going back to another fatal flaw would be 

 

Just shooting from the hip following the shiny object 

 

Just going every which way as opposed to 

 

Doing busy work. Working in the podcast; instead of working 

 

On the podcast which is why I reached out 

 

To you. I want to be promoting myself more in promoting 

 

The show as to reach out. Every week 

 

I use the the planner method, you could say.

 

The one thing or, I use the top 3 I look at 

 

And I focus on the projects I have to work on. 

 

Then I create every single day, I write down 

 

The goals that I want to remember. My one thing 

 

I need to do and then I have the little list. 

 

The the action items that I will get to. But always focus 

 

On one thing as the most important. 

 

Today, my one thing is: let’s record an episode with you.

 

Richard Matthews  

That’s a good thing. I like that, because I was

 

Having guests on my show. This question, I think, will be 

 

A little bit interesting because most of 

 

My clients are not in the media space. They’re, generally,

 

In the delivering product or delivering service to customers.

 

We talk about your common enemy. Common enemy is, 

 

The way we, generally, talk about it is if you could remove 

 

One thing from your clients life that you think 

 

Is holding them back. But in your space your clients, 

 

Your listeners are people who are interested 

 

In the history of football. I’m just curious 

 

What is one of the things that you think 

 

Your clients are either struggling with or fighting with, 

 

That they’re coming to listen to your show 

 

To help deal with? Is it just entertainment or 

 

Their just really interested in the knowledge? 

 

What do you think some of the things your clients 

 

Are thinking about? When they’re like, “You know 

 

What I’m going to do today is I need to go listen 

 

To an episode of Back to the Future Football Style.”

 

Arnie Chapman  

That’s a unique because, I guess 

 

The problem that I am solving would be learning 

 

About the history of the NFL. That’s the majority 

 

Of the fans. But I think, going even further, it’s really 

 

They’re looking for the story aspect of it, because 

 

Anybody can listen and learn about — they can read 

 

A history book. Reading a textbook for school, and 

 

Then waking up 5 hours later after you fell asleep 

 

Because it was so boring and it was monotone like your 

 

Previous professor. But I think they come for 

 

The entertainment value of being whisked away in the DeLorean.

 

In the theater of the mind. And to really, truly be plopped 

 

In that situation to be able to say, “It was so cool 

 

To think about back then.” Because every episode, 

 

I always start off by some kind of event that happened. 

 

If we’re going back to 1920, I would bring up an event 

 

That’s not even related to football to try to give almost 

 

An idea of what was going on at that time. And 

 

Then we tie it into football, and then we close out the show. 

 

I would say that in a long way, the escape from reality 

 

And learning about the history.

 

Richard Matthews  

I think what’s really interesting about that —

 

I think you caught it a little bit. You said, 

 

They’re interested in the stories. One of the things 

 

That I tell all the time to my students, my clients, 

 

And my kids, is that we’re a story-born people. 

 

Your stories are how you learn things. 

 

It’s how you educate. It’s how we judge the depth 

 

Of a relationship. I still tell my kids this is that 

 

The difference between an acquaintance is 

 

Someone who’s name you know, but whose story you don’t. 

 

A friend might be someone whose name you know, 

 

And whose story you know. A best friend,

 

Is someone who you guys have shared all your stories 

 

With each other. The only way to continue deepening 

 

The relationship is to go out and create new stories together.

 

We judge the depth of relationships based on stories. 

 

When it comes to teaching anything 

 

That you’re teaching someone is just data. 

 

I like to think of data like nails and stories are 

 

The hammer that drive them home. Without the stories, 

 

People aren’t going to be able to grasp on hold those things. 

 

You’re using stories as a way to both 

 

Teach history and to entertain people, which I think is 

 

A really powerful thing.

 

Arnie Chapman  

It’s been fun so far.

 

Richard Matthews  

Cool. I want to talk a little bit about some practical things.

 

I have the thing I called the heroes toolbelt. Maybe, 

 

You have a big magical hammer like Thor. A bulletproof vest 

 

Like your neighborhood police officer. Maybe, you just really love 

 

How Evernote helps you organize your thoughts. I’m curious, 

 

What are some of the practical tools you use 

 

To manage your podcast. Things you couldn’t live without? 

 

Maybe, it’s your schedule or the team you have doing 

 

The production stuff. What is some of the practical tools 

 

You use to make your podcast reality? 

 

Like mic-setup you have going.

 

Arnie Chapman  

If I were to — I would mess it up. 

 

My computer’s currently sitting on a cat tree 

 

In our bedroom. I wouldn’t say that it’s any 

 

Magical tool set. As far as my team, my wife 

 

Does all the editing for me. I really appreciate 

 

That. She does a really good job for it. If she didn’t spend 

 

That time, then I would have even less time to work 

 

On the show. As far as the tools I use other than 

 

The fancy, it’s not really that fancy of equipment,

 

But I use the Audacity program for recording and editing, 

 

My wife does. Then I have a website hosts/media host 

 

Called https://podcastwebsites.com/ 

 

They’re a unique thing where it’s a WordPress site. And it’s also 

 

The hosting at the same time. It’s all unlimited and 

 

They’re really cool group of people to work with. 

 

If anybody’s interested I recommend using them. For me, 

 

It’s beneficial because I don’t code. I don’t know any of that

 

Type of stuff. I can drag, drop, and just type in things. 

 

I use the super basic stuff Excel Spreadsheet 

 

To keep track of what episodes are going to come up.

 

OneNote. Nothing fancy. I’m, I guess, 

 

A little old school when it comes to that.

 

Richard Matthews  

I love the idea of using Excel Spreadsheets 

 

To track things. I am a huge fan of the spreadsheet. 

 

I use Google docs for my spreadsheets because I have 

 

To share with team members and whatnot. 

 

But same kind of thing. Lots of formulas and keeping track 

 

Of things in there. Really useful for that kind of stuff. 

 

What did you say the name of 

 

The podcast site was will stick it in the resources 

 

For people who might be interested?

 

Arnie Chapman  

I would say to them because they’re launching 

 

A new one that’s called https://podcastwebsites.com/

 

Then it’s also actually run by Captivate.

 

Richard Matthews  

Interesting. We’ll check those out and put them

 

In the resources for people who are listening.

 

Speaker  

Music is by Purple Planet Music. Visit https://www.purple-planet.com/

 

Richard Matthews  

Next thing I want to ask you about is your 

 

Own personal heroes. Frodo had Gandalf. Luke had Obi Wan.

 

Robert Kiyosaki had his Rich Dad. Who were some of your heroes?

 

Were they real life mentors, speakers, or authors? 

 

Peers who were just a couple of years ahead of you? 

 

And how important were they to what you’ve accomplished 

 

So far? Either in your personal life or here 

 

With getting your show off the ground.

 

Arnie Chapman  

This is another one of those questions where 

 

I could talk to you for days because I couldn’t really 

 

Pick one. But for some reason, my Grandpa 

 

On my mom’s side stuck in my mind. There’s been time 

 

He since passed away. He owned his own business my entire life. 

 

The business that he owned was this little model. It’s like 

 

A little miniature railroad where you can drive it, 

 

But it was like a little park and everything. And they’d have 

 

A lot of other family picnics type stuff. We were always there. 

 

When I grew up. Before he passed away, I didn’t really 

 

Appreciate it. But I realized later in life, he did exactly 

 

What I want to do. He was passionate 

 

About trains, and he owned a business. And that’s all he did. 

 

I’m passionate about football. And I want to own a business. 

 

That’s all I want to do. I didn’t realize it back then. 

 

That’s the guy I want to be. When he was around,

 

I wish I would have asked him more questions 

 

About stuff like that. I really didn’t, 

 

So that’d be one as far as a personal hero. As far as 

 

The podcasting space. They’re called 

 

The Fantasy Footballers. They were software engineers. 

 

They owned a company. Then they moved 

 

Into creating a show about fantasy football. 

 

That’s all they talk about. Fantasy football.

 

The dream, the life, and now they’re touring 

 

Around the nation and things like that. 

 

That would be one of my podcasting —

 

Richard Matthews  

That’s crazy.

 

Arnie Chapman  

Exactly. It’s just crazy to think that 

 

The power and the medium 

 

Of a podcast and other types of internet-based applications 

 

And you can, like yourself, you’re traveling around 

 

The nation. It’s just super cool to me to be able 

 

To think that which, speaking of that Pat Flynn 

 

From long days ago, he’s always been a hero of mine 

 

For this type of thing. Storytelling, Dan Carlin, I don’t know 

 

If you’ve ever heard of hardcore history. I tried to —

 

Richard Matthews  

I’ve heard of Dan Carlin. I haven’t listened to it, 

 

But I’ve heard of it. 

 

Arnie Chapman  

If you like history. If you like anything 

 

Revolving around military history, I tell everybody out there 

 

You’re doing yourself a disservice not to listen to him 

 

Because he tells the stories like nobody’s business.

 

Richard Matthews  

That’s awesome. It is definitely crazy, 

 

The kind of stuff that we can; I almost feel like 

 

We get away with it today. The good life 

 

And businesses that we can lead and run that just 

 

Weren’t a possibility 10-15 years ago. It’s super cool. 

 

Who would have thought that you could run 

 

A successful business that replaces a couple of 

 

Software engineering jobs talking about fantasy football? 

 

Arnie Chapman  

And I know they’re making more 

 

Now than they ever did. But that’s not even the reason 

 

Why they do it. They’re always able to work their lives 

 

Around their children. That’s what I want to do too. 

 

That’s my ultimate win or my goal is just 

 

To be able to take my daughter to school, go to the gym, 

 

Come home, work on my show, go pick her up. 

 

Just that kind of thing.

 

Richard Matthews  

If you think about it, every business that you could 

 

Possibly be in, you’re in the business 

 

Of attention. We’re all in the business of gathering attention.

 

Then using that attention to help solve people’s problems. 

 

Podcasting is one of the fastest growing mediums 

 

On the planet and I believe just last year I think it overtook 

 

Radio listening in the car, which is insane and it’s still growing. 

 

Radio listenership isn’t growing. But podcasting is. 

 

It’s definitely a great way to grow and build an audience 

 

And keep holding people’s attention. That’s why we’re doing it.

 

That’s why I’m recording my show, while you’re recording your show. 

 

Just different topics. But it’s super fun.

 

People ask me all the time, like, “Why are you running 

 

A podcast?” I’m like, “Honestly, the reason I’m building 

 

A podcast is because I get to talk to cool people.” 

 

Whether or not I build an audience or does 

 

Cool things for my business is secondary. 

 

But it’s definitely fun. What I want to do is bring it home 

 

For our listeners and talk about your guiding principles.

 

Top 1 or 2 principles or actions that you use regularly 

 

That you think contribute to the success and growth 

 

Of your podcast. Maybe, something you wish you’d known 

 

When you first started out and recorded your first episode?

 

Arnie Chapman  

If you’re going to take it there.

 

I would say — before recording my first episode, 

 

That guiding principle that I knew was something 

 

That I listened to. I like to tell this because there’s a guy, 

 

Another hero, Jocko Willink. He has a podcast himself. 

 

 His an ex-Navy SEAL like Supreme Commander. I don’t know 

 

What their titles are. But I listened to his show and 

 

I heard somebody talked —

 

I’m not sure what his title is in the Navy. 

 

Richard Matthews  

Supreme Commander. 

 

Arnie Chapman  

I know doing that a disservice as well. 

 

But the guy is extremely intelligent. 

 

He is super motivating. I remember an episode 

 

Where he was talking to his co-host. The co-host 

 

Just kept complaining about not being able 

 

To do something. His mantra is discipline equals freedom. 

 

The guy kept saying — I forgot what it was. 

 

He kept complaining, “I can’t do this because of this.” 

 

And Jacko just kept saying, “You do it or you don’t.”

 

Those simple words. You do it or you don’t. 

 

That was about the time where I started getting 

 

Back to working out and things like that. 

 

I set my alarm for 4:46am every single day. And that would have 

 

Those words go through my head: you do it or you don’t. 

 

It’s like I’m either going to wake up or I’m not. I’m going 

 

To go to the gym or I’m not. I’m going to start my podcast 

 

Or I’m not. I’m going to record or not.  

 

Just the simple thing. You do it or you don’t. 

 

I guess that’s a mantra rally cry that I could use. 

 

I wish I would have had that at the beginning because 

 

There’s a lot of times when I was going to start a podcast 

 

Or start another thing and I never did. Because I didn’t. 

 

Instead I should have done. I would say 

 

That’s my guiding force. Do it or you don’t.

 

Richard Matthews  

I’ve heard that multiple times in 

 

Different ways from different people on the show. 

 

I think it comes back to this idea that, particularly,

 

The discipline equals freedom part. 

 

How many people talk about their calendar.

 

Having a strict calendar has set them free.

 

It’s in that same vein: if you’re just going to do it.

 

I find it really interesting because I’ve noticed the same thing 

 

In my business is that when you just set up your life.

 

It’s like “I’m working on this thing. At this time. 

 

It’s on the calendar and it’s just going to happen.” It frees you up 

 

To not think about that until that time. If your calendar —

 

Everything on my count is only down 

 

To like, I’ve got my family time on my calendar because I know 

 

If it’s on the calendar, then I can be all the way there. 

 

I can be all the way in. I don’t have to split my focus 

 

Or worry about other things that I didn’t do because

 

Discipline equals freedom, essentially. 

 

Arnie Chapman  

I definitely am not all the way there by any means. 

 

I’m going back to my Thor character. After Endgame 

 

When he was melted ice cream Thor. I’ve gotten back 

 

To melted ice cream Thor myself. But I need to do it or I don’t 

 

And get back to the gym. And discipline equals freedom. 

 

Richard Matthews  

I’m probably that way too. I’m definitely not all the way there 

 

In my business. But one of these days, 

 

We’ll be snapping our fingers and saying: I am Iron Man. 

 

Arnie Chapman  

Exactly. Yes. Thank you for bringing that back home.

 

Richard Matthews  

That scene in that movie was gut wrenching. 

 

I was surprised how bought into that character 

 

You were. Or at least, I was. You’re like, 

 

“I can’t believe they made it seem like this 

 

As emotional as they did over a superhero.” 

 

Which is I think super cool. They did a good job. 

 

Arnie Chapman  

That entire series. I can’t even explain 

 

How excited I was for it. Because I was so excited 

 

In the anticipation after Infinity War and waiting so long. 

 

I was actually let down by the movie. The first time I saw it 

 

Because of my internal anticipation. The second time I saw it. 

 

I was like: It was amazing. Captain America going —

 

The first time ever saying Avengers Assemble. It’s just —

 

Richard Matthews  

You’re like: that’s what you wanted. You wanted it 

 

So bad. I remember, for me, the most gut wrenching scene 

 

Was when Black Widow sacrificed herself to save Hawkeye.

 

I teared up. I was like, “I can’t believe I teared up 

 

At a superhero movie.” I blame it on being a parent. 

 

Being a parent makes you tear up a lot of things 

 

You wouldn’t have teared up before. 

 

That’s how I get away with it. I’m a dad, it’s okay.

 

Arnie Chapman  

Don’t worry, man. I’ve been emotional my entire life. 

 

I’ve always been known for the guy that would 

 

Tear up. Let’s go back then. I’m changing my answer. 

 

My superpower is my empathy and my willingness 

 

To show my emotions and cry with people.

 

I’ve always been the guy that would say, 

 

“I don’t care if you have to verbally abused me. 

 

I don’t care. Tell my text. Call me and complain to me. 

 

Yell at me. Swear me out. I don’t care.” I guess 

 

That will be my superpower. 

 

I’m willing to absorb all of their raw emotion. 

 

Richard Matthews  

I have three daughters. I’ve gotten really good 

 

At that. They have a lot of emotions that are too big 

 

For their tiny little bodies. For whatever reason, 

 

Those emotions piss my wife off because she’s a girl. 

 

She’s like, “They just need to get over that.” 

 

I’m like, I’ll just hold them in my lap, 

 

Let them cry on my shoulder. I’m like, “It’s okay. Just cry.” 

 

After 20 minutes of them crying my shoulder, 

 

They’re all better. And she’s like, “I don’t know how you do that. 

 

I just want to wring their necks.” I’m like, “I don’t know. 

 

Just go let them cry.” Last thing that I do 

 

On this show is a real simple thing. It’s called 

 

The Hero Challenge. It’s pretty simple. It’s basically this: 

 

Do you have someone in your life or in your network 

 

That you think has a cool entrepreneurial story? 

 

Who are they? First names are fine. And why do you think 

 

They should come and share their story on our show?

 

Arnie Chapman  

I’m going to say that the guy I think you should 

 

Interview would be Charles. I would also call him 

 

One of my mentors. He also is an Evangelist for Christ. 

 

He was the guy who helped guide me through 

 

My supervision at the beginning and teaching me 

 

A lot of things. But the reason why as far as entrepreneurial 

 

Is he takes everything that he believes.  

 

He’s had books and all these other things. But the way 

 

That he tells stories and his passion. He makes you believe,

 

Even if you’re not. No matter what it is. I think 

 

He doesn’t do this. But I told him, he needs to start 

 

A podcast. Needs to be a public speaker. He does a lot 

 

Of these public speakings, but he’s the one that officiated 

 

My wedding. The reason why I chose him was just 

 

Because I knew that there was connection there.

 

He was the one that was channeling everything. 

 

I would say that’d be the guy.

 

Richard Matthews  

Awesome. That basically brings us to the end

 

Of our show. We’ll go ahead and connect about getting him 

 

On the show, afterwards. What I want to do is I want 

 

To find out from you where people can find you. Listen 

 

To your show. Maybe your website, that kind of stuff.

 

Who are the type of people that would be interested 

 

In listening to your show.

 

Arnie Chapman  

You can hit the show up at any podcast player. 

 

It’s called the Football History Dude. It’s a show 

 

About the rich history of the NFL. If you like football, 

 

The NFL. If you’re curious about learning 

 

About the yesteryear of the gridiron, and you just want 

 

To know how it was built, or just want cool stories 

 

About how it was back in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s 

 

For the most part, then you want to 

 

Go over to https://thefootballhistorydude.com/

 

Richard Matthews  

Awesome. Thank you so much for coming 

 

On the show, Arnie. Really appreciate it. It’s been 

 

A wonderful conversation. Any final words of wisdom 

 

For our audience before we I hit the record button here.

 

Arnie Chapman  

Other than the whole, you do it or you don’t 

 

I just wanted to thank you, personally, for letting me 

 

Come on and have my first interview ever. 

 

It was very fun. Thank you.

 

Richard Matthews  

Awesome thank you for coming on the show. 

 

Really appreciate it. So, if you’re listening 

 

To the show and you like football. Or you’re interested 

 

In football. Or you like stories in history. Hit up 

 

The Football History Dude podcast, probably iTunes 

 

Or Google Play Store. Good place to go find those 

 

And thank you for coming on the show, Arnie.

 

I really appreciate it. 

 

Arnie Chapman  

Thank you. I appreciate it as well.