Episode 029 – Maxwell Ivey

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Richard Matthews  

Hello, and welcome back to the HERO Show. My name is Richard Matthews. 

 

I am on the line with Maxwell Ivey. Max, are you there? 

 

Maxwell Ivey

Yeah, I’m here. 

 

Richard Matthews

Awesome. Glad to have you here, Max, just do a quick introduction before 

 

We actually get into the content. So basically, you help people tell their stories

 

So they can attract new clients, sell more of their products and services online. 

 

And you do this by connecting hosts with people with hosted podcast, 

 

Radio shows, virtual summits, so they can basically share their stories 

 

And reach new audiences. And you have your own podcast called, and I think 

 

It’s a book as well, right? It’s, What’s Your Excuse?

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Right, that is the name of the podcast and the book isn’t out yet. 

 

But it’s a, we’re working on an anthology type thing. Where lots of people 

 

Will share their stories of how they overcame their excuses, and were able 

 

To succeed at whatever their big goal or dream was.

 

Richard Matthews  

So I haven’t mentioned this yet, but what is your excuse? That that has 

 

Motivated you to do what you do?

 

Maxwell Ivey  

I really don’t know that I have an excuse. A lot of times, it’s just come down to, 

 

Of not having a choice maybe, as far as when I’ve done just about anything, 

 

Whether it was starting my first website as, The Midway marketplace, 

 

Selling amusement rides, or the Blind Blogger or my first book. It was always, 

 

More of somebody said, “Hey, Max, would have you ever done it?”Or, 

 

“Would you try doing this?” Or in the case of the Midway was like, 

 

“Okay, the carnival world is over, I need to do something else. What do I do?” 

 

I don’t know nothing else. So this has to work. So I would say, not an excuse. 

 

But as my dad used to say, “We didn’t have – I didn’t have a choice.” And a lot of times 

 

That seems to be the work what works for me.

 

Richard Matthews  

So why don’t you start off with telling us what you’re known for today? 

 

What is your business like, now? What do people come to you for?

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Well, what they come to me for now is to help them get exposure 

 

For their businesses or for their creative projects like authors, musicians, filmmakers, 

 

And I help them get clear on their story and then share their story. And that includes 

 

The connecting them with podcasts shows, and radio shows. It also includes 

 

Social media promotion, direct marketing outreach for them. 

 

And it’s really interesting because I originally thought I was going to be a coach 

 

And help people get unstuck and accomplish their big goals. But nobody 

 

Wanted to hire me for that. But what they did keep asking me is, 

 

“Max, how do you get on podcasts? Can you get me on podcasts?” 

 

“How about if I pay you to get me on podcast?” So that’s how I got 

 

To where I’m at now. I’v decided to find a place where what I’m good at 

 

Is what people want to hire me for. And it’s working really well.

 

Richard Matthews  

So you do a lot of helping people like booking, right? So you would get them 

 

Booked on podcasts and radio shows and stuff like that.

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Right. But it’s a little more than that, because there are a lot of people 

 

Who do what we’re talking about. But with me, what I’m really doing 

 

Is telling their story in a much more condensed version. To pique the interest 

 

Of the host to the point where they pretty much can’t say no.

 

Richard Matthews  

So, you’re making people irresistible to media outlets. 

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Exactly. 

 

Richard Matthews  

Makes a lot of sense. And this is definitely an in need thing. I know, podcasting 

 

Is sort of recently overtaken radio for a number of listeners and that kind of stuff. 

 

it’s one of the fastest growing mediums on the planet.

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Right, and you have radio holding companies and investment companies 

 

That are now buying into the podcast space and acquiring podcast platforms. 

 

And you’re starting to see people with podcasts being recruited onto 

 

AM and FM radio networks. It’s been interesting to see how first radio and 

 

Television thought podcasting. And now they’re just trying to co-opt it in 

 

And see if they can make a living off of it too.

 

Richard Matthews  

Makes a lot of sense. It’s one of the things that’s growing. So let’s talk a little bit 

 

About your origin story. Every hero has one. It’s where you started to realize 

 

That you were different. Maybe you had superpowers, and then maybe you 

 

Can help people use those superpowers, help people accomplish their goals. 

 

So tell us your story. Where did you start with this whole entrepreneurial journey?

 

Maxwell Ivey  

That’s one of those questions. I never really know how far back 

 

Do you want me to go. So if –

 

Richard Matthews  

I started like nine when I tell my story, so –

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Okay, all right, well, in 2003, my father died. And by 2006, I realized that 

 

Me and my brothers weren’t going to be able to keep our family Carnival going. 

 

So I thought, what else is there that I know, since I had helped the family sell our rides 

 

When we needed to sell the old stuff, so we could buy some newer stuff? 

 

I felt like I could try that and make it a career, I quickly realized 

 

How much I didn’t know, and how much I’d have to learn because 

 

This was pre-WordPress, pre-Wi Fi and pre-Facebook, I had to learn 

 

How to hand code HTML, recruit client, set fees, write ad copy, manage media, 

 

Record videos, build an email list, use social media and a whole bunch of other stuff. 

 

It seemed like, every week, month, there was something new that either, 

 

I needed to learn because it would help me or, because other people said, 

 

You really should be doing this. So I did that. And I still do that, The Midway Marketplaces 

 

Still there to help people who need a ethical broker in the music world. 

 

But people were saying, “Max, you’re very inspiring.” We love how you take on 

 

Difficult challenges with joy. And we want you to share more of what it’s like to be 

 

A entrepreneur who happens to be blind. So I decided to start a second website. 

 

I asked people what I should call it. People like, “Nice, we’ve been calling you 

 

The Blind Blogger is shorthand for two years now, why don’t you just go with that?” 

 

So I did. Turned out it’s been a great thing because people assume that 

 

I’m the only blind blogger. It’s worked real great for branding. From that, 

 

A good friend challenged me to write a book as part of an online summit. 

 

So, I started writing the book. The summit got canceled, but I finished my first book, 

 

Leading You Out of the Darkness into the Light, A Blind Man’s Inspirational Guide to Success. 

 

That led to me winning one of the Amtrak riders and residency, 

 

So that I traveled cross country solo, which is also in a later book 

 

The Blind Blogger’s NYC New York City Adventures. I’ve been blessed 

 

To speak at conferences around the country, from the books that led to the, 

 

To me being on a lot of podcasts and radio shows. Podcasts and radio shows led me 

 

To helping other people do it. It also led to me starting my own show, 

 

“What’s Your Excuse?” And there again, the name came to me from my fans online 

 

Who said, “Max, if you can do it, then what’s our excuse?” And I really thought 

 

That name, I was hoping to find something better, but it stuck. So now, 

 

What’s Your Excuse is my tagline for the Blind Blogger. And I think 

 

That gets us up to today. But if I were going to pick one superpower, I would say 

 

It’s the willingness to, to either ask for help, or accept help when offered because

 

There have been a lot of places along the line where I wouldn’t have gotten 

 

To the next step, if somebody didn’t come along and offer to help me or 

 

If I hadn’t decided, I don’t know what to do next. I need to ask enough people 

 

Until I find somebody who knows the answer.

 

Richard Matthews  

So, if I if I’m just hearing your story correctly, you started off in the carnival world.

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Yes. 

 

Richard Matthews  

Then you transitioned into Carnival agency where you’re helping carnivals 

 

Promote and get things going. And you transition from there into blogging. 

 

And now you do basically media management, where you help people, I call it, 

 

New media management, you help people get booked in and pitched on to podcasts, 

 

And radio shows and such. That’s quite the arc. You’ve been all over 

 

The place in the last 15 years.

 

Maxwell Ivey  

But think about it this way for a minute, I’ve gone from a carny kid who used 

 

To have to promote our festivals and fairs and, help get people out to The Midway, 

 

To a blogger and podcaster, who’s trying to get people out to the virtual Midway. 

 

Trying to get people to listen to people’s shows, reading and buying their books, 

 

And things like that. It’s not really all that different. It’s just – it just seems different. 

 

Because the two worlds are so different.

 

Richard Matthews  

And the medium. The medium of delivery is quite different. But it’s the same type of concepts.

 

Maxwell Ivey  

So it still comes down to putting feet on the ground, butts in the seats 

 

Or faces behind the screens.

 

Richard Matthews  

Absolutely. So just out of curiosity, what would you say the ultimate benefit is 

 

To your clients with getting on to podcasts? We probably have a lot of listeners here

 

Who haven’t yet started getting onto podcasts, I would assume you recommend 

 

They do it for running their business? Why would they do that?

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Well, the number one reason is, when you and I have a conversation like this, 

 

People get to really, they feel like they’ve gotten to know us in a way that 

 

They’re not going to feel from a blog post or an email newsletter, or social media post. 

 

We will have a personal, sometimes intimate conversation about things 

 

We both are familiar with or are interested in. Or you know, you’re at least 

 

The kind of person that you’ve done enough interviews that you can probably 

 

Understand just about anybody that comes on your show. So you know, 

 

We’re talking with a host, he gets us or he can’t get us. We’re talking in front 

 

Of an audience that already likes the host. So they are more than willing 

 

To give us the benefit of the doubt, they’re going to listen to us 

 

At least, for the first few minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, whatever. 

 

Because they like, know and trust you. So that’s the really big benefit of being 

 

On the podcast is that you get to take advantage of exactly – 

 

You get to take advantage of an audience that already wants to like you. 

 

Because they like the host

 

Richard Matthews  

And it does. I think it does a number of things. Like, one of the things I’ve noticed 

 

For my clients and in the past, is that your podcasts, yes, are some of the 

 

Most engaged audience you have. So you might have your people 

 

Who follow your posts on Facebook, or the people who subscribed to 

 

Your stuff on Instagram, or the people who watch your YouTube channel. 

 

And then, you have your podcast guests and or your podcast listeners. And we did – 

 

We did split test with one of my clients where we were promoting to his

 

 Facebook audiences, YouTube audience, and his podcast audience. 

 

His YouTube audience was gigantic. It was like 20,000-40,000 people, 

 

His podcast audience was only about 1000 people. But when we promoted, 

 

Promoted events and stuff, we would convert 90% of our sales 

 

Out of the podcast audience, more than we would like his big YouTube audience. 

 

When we’re doing videos and stuff on YouTube. And this is a theory, I want to know if 

 

You agree with it or not, that one of the things that podcasts do that 

 

No other mediums do is like you’ll, you can’t see this, because  blind blogger or not 

 

But I’ve got a pair of headphones in right, you got a pair of headphones on your head. And 

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Yeah. 

 

Richard Matthews  

The people who are listening to us are probably, they’re in their car, 

 

They’re at the gym, and they’ve got a pair of headphones in. And we’re like literally 

 

Talking inside their heads. It’s a level of intimacy that you don’t get with almost 

 

Any other medium. Where you close your eyes, and you can just hear 

 

The person inside of your head. And a lot of times, for a long period of time, 

 

And on a regular basis, every morning at the gym for 45 minutes, right? 

 

Whatever it is, it’s a level of intimacy that’s just not available in most other mediums.

 

Maxwell Ivey  

You know, I never thought about the whole image of being 

 

Inside somebody’s head with headphones and all. But I definitely 

 

Agree with you there. And of course, it goes back to what I said in the beginning 

 

Of this section is it’s an intimate conversation, and it’s being heard when you 

 

Get into that format, and like you say, they’re generally more loyal to podcasts, 

 

And they’re going to listen to the same day, same week. You’re going to get – 

 

They’re going to listen for longer periods of time, which is great, because on your 

 

On the YouTube, they may have only been listening for the first few minutes. 

 

But on this podcast, they may be listening to the entire show. A couple of 

 

Other benefits that I’ve noticed from podcast, guests appearing 

 

On other people’s shows; One is you get the opportunity to get so much clearer 

 

On your message. You get to practice, not your elevator pitch, but at least 

 

Your answers to the usual questions that clients are going to ask you. 

 

So you get that information out there. But to me, one of the really big benefits 

 

Is the emotional value. Because, one, Man! you were having an actual conversation. 

 

Live face-to-face, or at least voice-to-voice. And there’s an energy to that, 

 

That I’ve noticed over the last six years of doing this, that you just 

 

Don’t get from Facebook, or Twitter or YouTube, or things that are 

 

One way transmissions of information. So when I do these interviews, I actually 

 

Look forward to scheduling them as early in my day as possible, 

 

As early in the week as possible, because I find even a podcast interview 

 

That I thought at the end of that I was like, “Max that wasn’t really your best show.”  

 

“You need to do better.” It’s still. The rest of my day was great, a lot of high energy.

 

Just because you had a intimate conversation with somebody who 

 

Gets what you’re after. And you spent that time exchanging ideas 

 

And having an actual conversation.

 

Richard Matthews  

I tell people all the time where a story-born people and honestly, 

 

For interviews like this, it’s the first time we’ve met. What we’re really doing is 

 

We’re sharing stories with each other, and we share, we share our stories 

 

To get to know each other better, and our audience gets to hear those stories. 

 

And it’s an interesting way to communicate and create a relationship with your listeners. 

 

And it’s, I don’t know, I found it to be a very positive thing in my business 

 

And just from like, a mental state. It puts me in a good place. When you get on 

 

And have that, you have interviews with people. And, one of the other things 

 

Be by ourselves a lot. Behind the screen. 

 

I’ve noticed as being a podcast host is that we tend to, as soloprenuers, 

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Isolating.

 

Richard Matthews  

Isolated, and it’s both ways, right? Cuz I’ve been on podcasts and building things, 

 

It’s a great way to connect with this community, right, the community of entrepreneurs, 

 

That you don’t always get to see every day in your life. So yeah, I think 

 

There’s a lot of benefits to it both from someone who’s running a business 

 

And using podcasting as part of their business either as a guest or the host. 

 

And but also for like growing your business and getting your message out there.

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Right. And don’t forget about the great opportunity it gives you after the interview, 

 

Or whether you’re the host or the guests, or you do both ways, is – 

 

I have now talked to you for a half hour or an hour, you, while I’m not going 

 

To try to sell to you, we’ve at least started the process of creating a business relationship. 

 

And that’s something that’s easy to say that you want to do. And in this, in our air 

 

Of everything down online, it’s supposed to be easy to do. But building relationships 

 

Where you can actually count on helping each other down the road 

 

It’s not as easy as it sounds. And a podcast, whether you’re the host or the guest 

 

Is a great place to start building those for future benefit to your, out of your business 

 

Or your personal life down the road.

 

Richard Matthews  

It’s one of those things that you create. You very quickly create the kind of relationships 

 

Where you know, the other person will quote unquote, take your call.

 

Maxwell Ivey  

That’s a perfect example.

 

Richard Matthews  

Because, you don’t after you’ve had a conversation like the one we’re having now 

 

You’re not going to send me to your gatekeeper.

 

Maxwell Ivey  

No.

 

Richard Matthews  

“I know him, we’ve had, we’ve shared some stories” It’s a, I liken it to 

 

The kind of person that you’re out camping. You’re sitting around the fire. 

 

It’s a fireside chat, where you and I are having a chat and our audience 

 

Is sitting around the fire with us listening. And it’s I don’t know, it creates –

 

It creates relationships that are I think, to your point there, they’re valuable 

 

Whether or not they turn into business transactions or not. But you have –

 

It grows your network really well.

 

Maxwell Ivey  

And they often lead to other opportunities. I did a podcast three years ago, 

 

As a guest. And since the time of that show, the host has invited me 

 

To speak at a conference. He’s had me on his podcast, he recently referred me 

 

A 30-minute conversation for his podcast. So those things happen. And I refer to it 

 

To another client for business. And this is a person I met originally after having 

 

As the “Do you want fries with that?” Because a lot of times, after you do an interview, 

 

You will find out that the host has another project that they’re actively looking 

 

For people to participate in, such as a book collaboration, a conference, a virtual summit,

 

I find a lot of podcasts hosts also have a blog, they’re open to guest posts, 

 

Or they have a magazine. And so it’s just a total media business 

 

That a lot of people who have podcasts are involved in. So, when you do a podcast, 

 

One of the things that I often do when I send that “Thank You” note 

 

For the show going live is to ask them if there’s anything else I can help them with, 

 

And see if there is some event that maybe they need somebody 

 

And maybe it isn’t me that they need. But maybe I know somebody, 

 

Maybe I can make the introduction.

 

Richard Matthews  

The kind of connector.  

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Yes. 

 

Richard Matthews  

We talked a little bit about superpowers. And I think part of the whole 

 

Superpower thing is just understanding the power of what it is that 

 

You’re actually are delivering? Where you’re, delivering that kind of connection

 

And networking, whatnot. But the other side of superpower is the fatal flaw. 

 

You know, Superman has his kryptonite, Batman is not actually super. 

 

I suffered for a long time from being an obsessive compulsive perfectionist 

 

When it came to all the stuff I built online and 

 

They pulled me back for a long time. What would you say 

 

Your fatal flaw was or is, and how have you dealt with it? 

 

So people who might suffer from the same thing and can learn from you?

 

Maxwell Ivey  

You know, I didn’t even know I had this. But I found out last year that I often – 

 

Especially with speaking as I’m growing the podcast and the blog, 

 

I want to do speaking and I’ve done some, is I let people know 

 

That I was willing to do just about any event. And I was willing to pay 

 

To be at the events instead of saying, “Okay, I want to speak but only

 

Under the right conditions for me, which would be either your event is local, 

 

Or you’re willing to provide my living expenses or pay me a fee.” 

 

But since I didn’t put it that way, I ended up agreeing to speak at events 

 

That left me financially short. To the point that last fall, I ended up sick, 

 

Broke and about to be homeless in New York City. But since

 

I’ve learned my lesson I’ve come around to the error of my ways. And since

 

I started making it clear that, “Yes, I want to share my story.” 

 

I want to inspire other people, but only if it’s a good thing for me. 

 

Guess what happened? I’m starting to find local organizations that want to book me. 

 

I’m finding opportunities, where people want to at least pay my expenses 

 

To have me come share my experiences and teach some life lessons. 

 

And that only happened because I realized my fatal flaw was just because 

 

You want to do something doesn’t mean you need to do everything, 

 

Or that you need to do things that are bad for you financially 

 

Or bad for your for your health or your personal well being. 

 

So that would be my fatal flaw is – I want do things even if they’re not good for me.

 

Richard Matthews  

One, it should be all a win-win. That’s the way capitalism works best 

 

Is when it’s a win for everyone involved. And it’s interesting, I actually find 

 

That’s a common fatal flaw. It’s something that I still struggle with a little bit is 

 

This idea that you do have to actually think about yourself in all of your transactions, 

 

Whether those are free or paid, or whatever the transaction may be. 

 

You have to consider your needs and your health and your wellness 

 

And that kind of stuff. And everything from how available 

 

You make yourself to your clients. Are you taking calls at midnight, and – 

 

You know, I noticed a lot of entrepreneurs tend to be that way. 

 

We tend to be over available. We tend to care so much about our clients 

 

That we’ll forget about ourselves or sort of care so much about our story. 

 

And the thing that we’re doing that will – like I said, let our own needs 

 

And only the things that we need to put together, put them on the side. 

 

And you realize that that’s not a winning game. 

 

It’s not a game that you can sustain and it’s not a … that’s gonna grow. 

 

Maxwell Ivey  

No, it’s definitely not sustainable. If you do that for too long, 

 

You will burn out or have a health crisis or somebody else will come along, 

 

Who does things similar to what you do, but he has more respect 

 

For his or herself, and is able to be more effective at what they’re doing. 

 

It’s a hard lesson to learn that being selfish is not actually selfish. 

 

It’s selfless because it allows you to continue providing service to the people who need it.

 

Richard Matthews  

It allows you to – when you actually are creating a profit in your business. 

 

It allows you to grow and continue to spread your message and provide 

 

A good experience and help people solve their problems. 

 

If you are not creating a profit, your business dies.

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Yeah. 

 

Richard Matthews  

So you have to focus on that. Because it’s how you help other people. 

 

That’s a really cool – it’s a cool thing to talk about, I think because 

 

I think a lot of people miss that. And we think about more common things, 

 

Like I mentioned, perfectionism, or communication things, but I think 

 

Being able to have like self-interest and learning how to actually 

 

Have self-interest, in a good way, is an important discussion.

 

Maxwell Ivey  

And one of the things I like about what you’re doing with your show is 

 

This fatal flaw segment, there are way too many hosts who 

 

Don’t go out of their way to find out the things that haven’t worked for their guests

 

There’s too much, there can be too much positive. There can be too much good news 

 

To the point that people watching the interviews, think, “Well, I can’t do what 

 

That person is doing because they’ve always been great at it.” You know, 

 

“Things have always gone their way.” And it certainly matters. 

 

Most people that are successful are successful, because they failed a lot first.

 

Richard Matthews  

And it’s actually, it’s part and partial to the reason I’m doing this show.  

 

The history for this show for me was a couple of things. One of them is Ayn Rand’s 

 

Book of about Atlas Shrugged. And it’s about entrepreneurs, being the ones 

 

That hold up the world, essentially. And I’ve always sort of thought of Atlas as a –

 

Sort of like the comic book style hero and his job, like his superhero thing 

 

Is holding up the world, right? So entrepreneurs are our heroes. 

 

And secondly, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a multi-billion dollar 

 

Storytelling engine. And they have a very, very common like a structure 

 

That they use for all their heroes. And the hero essentially has six parts 

 

That they put together for their story. They have their origin story, 

 

Their superpower, their fatal flaw, their distinct personality, their common enemy, 

 

Their driving force. And so I use that as a framework to tell the stories of entrepreneurs.

 

And I think it’s been really fascinating to really get to hear their stories 

 

Because you have to see both sides, you have to see where they came from,

 

You have to see what they’re good at what they’re known for now, 

 

And where they came from, what it took to get there, and the flaws 

 

And the mistakes that they made to get there, to really get a picture of 

 

The hero’s journey for someone and make it real for your listeners, I think.

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Yeah, I agree with you.

 

Richard Matthews  

So anyway, super fun. So speaking of common enemies, the way I like to think 

 

Of common enemy is for entrepreneurs anyways, is if you could go to your clients

 

When they hire you, and remove one thing from their life, from their mindset,

 

From the things that they’re thinking that you know, would just catapult them 

 

To the next level. If you could just immediately remove that as soon as they started. 

 

They hired you so you can get them results. What would that be?

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Well, it really doesn’t have a lot to do with what I’m doing now. 

 

But it’s the one thing I teach most often that I think would help more, 

 

Help most entrepreneurs and help most of your listeners, it’s something that

 

A lot of people struggle with and that is this whole idea that

 

They have to do everything themselves. That if they have to ask for help 

 

Or accept help from other people, that they’re weak, inept. 

 

That there’s something wrong with them. And to me, when you refuse 

 

To ask for help you rob the other person have of the joy 

 

That they would have received from helping you. And there are a lot of people out there

 

Who could use a bright spot in their day by helping somebody who really,

 

 All they can do for him is say, “Thank you.” You know, that’s one of those things 

 

I learned growing up as a guy who  knew he was eventually going to lose his vision,

 

I was told it’s okay to ask for help. People will be will be happy to help you.

 

All that’ll ever happen. If you don’t ask because you’ll get in trouble. Things will be harder. 

 

That’s not the way most people are raised or taught and from their parents or, 

 

You know, from their regular schooling. So it’s the one thing I try to help people with 

 

As far as a fatal flaw because you know, if you think about it, 

 

Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit, Bilbo is the hero of the story. Sam is the hero or, 

 

You know, they’re the heroes of the story. But there’s this whole cast of characters 

 

Who without them, there wouldn’t have been a successful journey.

 

Richard Matthews  

Absolutely. They have their support network, so to speak. And, so I just want to be clear, 

 

You’re speaking specifically not of hiring help, but asking for help 

 

When you need it from the people in your network and in your life.

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Well, that’s what I was speaking about, specifically. But in general, 

 

It applies to both because I have found that by being open about the problems 

 

I’m trying to solve in my business, that there have been people who have 

 

Either offered their services for free, or for significantly less 

 

Than what they would usually charge, or in exchange for services I do offer,

 

Just so that they could help me solve the problem and be be part of my journey. 

 

So it happens both personally in general, but also happens in our business lives if we let it.

 

Richard Matthews  

Absolutely. And I know, like, on the side, where you’re hiring people, 

 

One of the things that I noticed in my business was 

 

I was really holding myself back by not asking for help and what I mean, 

 

There’s like actually asking someone to come in and 

 

Be that position in my business. And I was my own bottleneck.

 

And you realize that, you know, like you said, the journey can’t be made by yourself. 

 

You have to have other people come along, 

 

Especially if the journey is big and worthwhile. So the more people 

 

You can come in and help make it happen, the better it works out.

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Right. But we have so many experts, leaders gurus online, who are giving people 

 

The impression that they’re doing it all by themselves.

 

Richard Matthews  

Yeah. And it’s interesting. I actually, I’ve discussed that a couple of times, 

 

Like, I’ve got clients gonna be like, “Hey, you know, Guru so and so is doing

 

Hundred million dollars a year in sales? And like, how come I can’t do that?”

 

What is the difference between what they’re doing, and I’m doing. 

 

What you’re not seeing behind the scenes is that guy’s got 90 employees, right? 

 

He’s got a young staff, they’re doing a big thing. He’s not running like he’s, 

 

He’s running an expert brand business, like you are, but he’s running it 

 

At a massive team scale level, right? There’s a difference between where we’re at 

 

And where he’s at. And you can get there but the results are going to 

 

Hinge on the amount of team that you have, right? 

 

At this point. It’s just you and me, right? Or, you and your one year, one VA or 

 

One employee, we don’t have an office of 100 people pushing things. 

 

If you look at Digital Marketer, for instance, Digital Marketer has a massive staff. 

 

I mean, I’m sure they do $20 million $30 million a year, but they’re gigantic, right? 

 

They’re not a one man shop. 

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Right. 

 

Richard Matthews  

So let’s talk a little bit about your driving force. So you know, 

 

Spider Man fights to save New York, Batman fights to save Gotham or 

 

Google fights to index all the world’s information. What is it you fight for? 

 

What’s your mission? That you go out every day and and are striving to work on? 

 

Maxwell Ivey  

You know, this is my least favorite question. When people ask me, 

 

Where I’m going, what my reason behind doing it is, because for the most part, 

 

A lot of the time, it’s been curiosity. It’s been satisfying a need at the time

 

Based on my short term goal. It’s been challenges from friends who 

 

I often tell people, the best thing that can happen to you 

 

Is to have somebody double dog dare you to do something. 

 

But I would say my overriding goal is to create a business that I enjoy 

 

Showing up for on a regular basis that I use to help support my family. 

 

When I originally started, I would tell people, “I’m nobody, I’m just a guy 

 

Who shows up every day and works his butt off to build a business.” 

 

And I’ve since found out that there are a lot of – because of the number 

 

Of people who could do that, and who don’t, that what I do 

 

Is inspiring to a lot of people, but I would say that’s my- that’s probably 

 

The closest thing I can get to an overarching goal.

 

Richard Matthews  

So I actually, I think that is spot on, right? Because a lot of people, 

 

And this is the problem I have in my business and life too, is people like, 

 

“Well, what are you fighting? Right? If you don’t have a big goal 

 

Or big something that you’re going for, like Apple’s working to be 

 

The intersection of lacking, or what they say, a Liberal Arts in Technology 

 

And, like, change the world with computers, right? 

 

I don’t have a goal to change the world, I have the goal to support my family, 

 

And, really enjoy my kids while they’re growing up. And I get to – 

 

The medium I get to to do that through is helping other entrepreneurs

 

Get their message out and do the things that I do for clients. 

 

And it’s a lifestyle business for me. I have the time and stuff that I’m put into it.

 

It’s really cool. But you said something that I want to pull out a little bit you said, 

 

“I do this because of the curiosity.” And talk little bit more about that, 

 

Because I don’t think people think of that as a legitimate reason to build a business. 

 

And I think that is a incredibly wonderful reason to build a business. 

 

But what was your thinking on that?

 

Maxwell Ivey  

All right, well, like for example, when I started The Midway Marketplace, 

 

The first thing I did was file for domain name but after that, 

 

I’ve got no idea what I do next. But I was fascinated by learning the different things, 

 

How to hand code HTML, the part about picking colors, creating links, 

 

Embedding photos, trying to figure out a way so that I could upload media 

 

“Max, I think you could write a book.” You know, looking into it, finding out, 

 

And share it with people. Later, when somebody said, 

 

“Well, how do you – what’s the best way to start writing a book? 

 

A nonfiction book? A lead magnet book?” One of the things I do now is 

 

I read other people’s self help books. I read other people’s business books. 

 

Because I enjoy seeing how they’re doing it. I’m always interested to learn more,

 

Or to learn something different. Recently, I had a conversation 

 

With a friend of mine who, I said, “Well, I’m trying to think of what else I can do

 

That I’m not already doing.” She’s like, “Max, think of something you’re doing 

 

That you could quit doing.” And so, you know, people, I enjoy having conversations,

 

I enjoy reading, I enjoy finding out how things are being done by other people

 

And then saying, “Well, is that really the best way to do it? Is that the way I should do it?” 

 

There’s a lot of facets of what we do. And a lot of what we do is drudgery. 

 

Stuff we don’t enjoy doing. But even stuff you hate doing can be fun 

 

When you’re first starting it and you’re having to find out why do I go about this? 

 

So yeah, curiosity is a big part of it.

 

Richard Matthews  

I tell people, for me anyways, it’s a game. Where it’s a game I’m playing. 

 

And it’s the game of life and game of business. And it’s, like exercising 

 

That learning muscle. And it’s fascinating to me, like, I mentioned earlier, 

 

I got I have a nine year old son who’s who’s really into video games. 

 

And like most nine year olds, like over his head and into video games, 

 

And he constantly wants me to play with them. And I do I do play video games 

 

With them when I can. But I find myself bored by most video games, 

 

Because the game that I’m playing in the real world is so much more fun, right? 

 

It’s more fun to do the things and figure out the things like, 

 

“How can I take my business to the next level?” “How can I scale without -” 

 

Like, you ask yourself interesting questions like, “Can I double my revenue 

 

In half the amount of time?” Like the amount of time the investment that it takes? 

 

And that’s a reality, you can do that. Right? And figuring out 

 

How to make that happen is a fun experience. Or, you know, can I double my audience? 

 

Can I help more people in this way? Right? When you’re asked yourself cool questions, 

 

You start to get yourself onto cool, fun adventures. And you feel like, you’re leveling 

 

Your life as you, sort of, add skills to your tool belt.

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Right. And recently, I read a book called Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. 

 

And in there, she makes the case that curiosity will carry you through 

 

When your passion desert you.

 

Richard Matthews  

That is a really good point. And I think a lot of – I think we do a disservice 

 

To a lot of entrepreneurs by telling them to chase their passion. 

 

Because the reality is, most people don’t know what their passion is. 

 

And passion is not something that is born. It is something that I think it is – 

 

It comes from mastery. Right? As you master things, you become passionate about them. 

 

And so it’s a reaction to something else that you’re doing. 

 

it’s not something that you start with. So anyways, I think she’s spot on with it. 

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Yeah. 

 

Richard Matthews  

So let’s talk a little bit about your tool belt. And I think you might have 

 

Some interesting tools, because you have to deal with also not having 

 

The same visual capabilities as other other heroes might have. Right? 

 

So you know, maybe you have a big magical hammer, like Thor or bulletproof vest, 

 

Like in a police officer, or maybe you really just love how 

 

Evernote helps you organize your thoughts? What are some of the tools 

 

That you use on a regular basis that really help you do what you do for your clients, 

 

Or do what you do in your business?

 

Maxwell Ivey  

I would say, the one that I use the most is a third party app called MarsEdit 

 

That allows me to create blog posts, even though I don’t have internet access. 

 

It allows me to do them with a screen reader. It’s very friendly to using speech 

 

To input and edit the text and also to add the links and the media 

 

And all that stuff and just upload it to my website whenever 

 

I’ve actually got internet access, or when I have time to then go to the website

 

And make sure that it came out online the way I intended it to on my computer. 

 

Recently, I’m really starting to love Google Sheets. It’s allowing me to keep much better

 

Track of who I’ve contacted for whom, and when, and what the result was. 

 

So I’m finding a lot more organization. And I’m one of these people 

 

Who needs more organization and structure and systems in his life. 

 

I know it, I don’t do it well, but I’m getting better all the time with systems.

 

Haven’t had a whole lot of luck with Trello. But I love Zoom.

 

It’s one of the few things I use on a regular basis, where every mouse click

 

For that product is also reflected in a keyboard command. And then of course, 

 

On their iOS versions in a voice command. And when you’re doing things with speech, 

 

You don’t always have the luxury of what’s called a virtual mouse clic. 

 

Sometimes that you can do it. But a lot of times you do it and it doesn’t 

 

Actually create the action it was intended to by the designer of the website. 

 

So being able to actually have keyboard commands in an app or a website  

 

Is great as Zoom is is one of the best if not the best there. And just in general, 

 

I’ve really loving the versions of apps and websites on my iPad and iPhone. 

 

There are a lot of websites that are very frustrating when I use them on my laptop, 

 

But become much, much friendlier to deal with when I view them for iOS, 

 

Which is, it’s not a big surprise to most people because nowadays, 

 

People designed for Android and iOS before they designed for laptops and desktops. 

 

But it’s and of course, you know, VoiceOver, which is the name of the screen reader 

 

That I use. It’s the number one thing, and thanks to Apple, 

 

We have the same screen reader available for all three platforms 

 

And available on any device. Because back in the battle days, 

 

If a blind person wanted a computer to talk, he had to physically install hardware 

 

And software on that computer. But now you can walk into any store that sells apples. 

 

And you can type a couple of keyboard commands. And you can use 

 

The one in the display section if you had to. So those would be some of the things I use. And –

 

Richard Matthews  

That’s really interesting. I hear Apple talk a lot about VoiceOver. 

 

And they mentioned that like every keynote, and how they’re making stuff more accessible. 

 

But it’s not a thing that I ever use, right? Because it’s not something I need. 

 

So it’s interesting to see like how some stuff actually gets used 

 

By business people in the real world. And so one of the things I’ve always been curious about, 

 

Because I do this all the time I use their dictation to write things. And then, 

 

After you’ve written it, my workflow would be to read it and 

 

See all the things that it messed up, and then go back and fix them. 

 

So obviously, that can’t be your workflow, because you can’t go back through and read it. 

 

So how do you how do you deal with the the disparity between what you say 

 

And what the computers are capable of picking up today? 

 

Maxwell Ivey  

That’s a great question. What I do is I do use the dictate button just like you do.

 

And I dictate it. When I stopped talking, then I place my finger 

 

At the top of the Edit field and scan through word, a word at a time or

 

A line at a time to find where it is that I’ve messed up. And then, I have to slide 

 

My finger down to the delete button and delete those characters, 

 

And then slide my fingers around so I find the letters that I really wanted the first time 

 

And put them in and then I have to swipe to the section. 

 

So that I hear it speak that again to make sure that what I thought I changed 

 

Is what actually changed because as you know, most people, 

 

You’re moving around the screen. Sometimes you don’t pick the letter 

 

You thought you pick and sometimes SIRI, will try to help you 

 

By completing your word for you. Well, you and SIRI had two different ideas 

 

What word you were typing? 

 

Richard Matthews  

Yeah. That happens a lot. 

 

Maxwell Ivey  

But it’s a similar process, its just longer and a little more tedious 

 

Because I have to depend on it enunciating everything. 

 

And I have to listen to it say everything twice. First, when I’m checking to see it. 

 

And then again after I’ve fixed it. So it takes me quite a bit longer. 

 

And there’s a little more patience involved in getting a text message sent correctly.

 

Now I have a question for you that I think is interesting. 

 

Have you ever noticed on your iPhone or your iPad, that if you click 

 

The dictate button and take text, you get one result? But if you say, 

 

“Hey Siri, send a message to – whoever.” And you tell it what to say

 

The result is a lot less accurate?

 

Richard Matthews  

Yes, I have noticed that. 

 

Maxwell Ivey  

It makes no sense to me. They’re on the same device. 

 

They’re from the same manufacturer. The results should be the same, 

 

Shouldn’t they?

 

Richard Matthews  

You’d think so. But I think they’re actually using two different technologies.

 

So I think the dictation is using a different kind of language processor. 

 

Anyways, I’m not sure I’m not sure what their technical reason is, 

 

But it is definitely different. And I frequently use dictate instead of the 

 

“Hey, Siri” because the dictate is far more accurate.

 

Maxwell Ivey  

I’m glad I’m not the only one who does that I was starting to worry about myself.

 

Richard Matthews  

Nope, it is totally a thing. And I get it. And so something that’s interesting to me

 

Is I will use dictate because speech is faster than text. 

 

I’m a I’m a pretty quick touch typist, I can touch-type, like 70-80 

 

Words a minute pretty accurately. But it doesn’t really matter how fast I type. 

 

I can talk 150 you know, words a minute plus, right, and most people can. 

 

So I would have to be like a world renowned typist to type as quickly as you can talk. 

 

And so I use dictate to speed up my workflow. Right? And you’re saying you use dictate 

 

Because, one, you have to. But you it doesn’t actually enhance or like, 

 

Speed up the workflow. It’s a –

 

Maxwell Ivey  

No, I would say it speeds up my workflow, just not as much 

 

As it speeds up your workflow. Because I do talk faster than I type 

 

Especially, much faster than I type using one finger at a time on the iPhone or iPad screen. 

 

So it’s just that my process is a little slower than yours. So the efficiency 

 

Isn’t as good, but it is better than typing it.

 

Richard Matthews  

So can you do the touch type on a physical keyboard?

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Oh, yeah. I’ve been in my lifetime of have gone from a manual typewriter 

 

To an electric typewriter, to a keyboard, to word processors. 

 

So using touch typing is like muscle memory. Second nature to me.

 

Richard Matthews  

Nice. So I how does it work on a soft keyboards? Because you can’t actually feel them? 

 

Like you can’t put your hands on the on the home rail?

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Well, with a soft keyboard, you have to depend on the speech echo 

 

To know where you’re putting your fingers.

 

Richard Matthews  

And like to tell you what key your fingers on? 

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Yeah. 

 

Richard Matthews  

That’s cool. I didn’t know that. 

 

Maxwell Ivey  

And then after a while, you get to where you have some spatial memory and 

 

You start to be pretty accurate as far as putting your fingers where they should be. 

 

And then just like with any other type of keyboard once you get your hands

 

In the right position and keep them there, it makes the other keys 

 

That you want are all in spatial relation to where you’re starting out at.

 

Richard Matthews  

Makes a lot of sense.

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Just like when you go to a new city, you start out with your hotel, and 

 

You are in the way to the conference center, then maybe to the zoo or

 

The acquir – the longer you’re somewhere The more you learn about it. 

 

It’s the same way with a keyboard like that.

 

Richard Matthews  

So important question I have to ask you, a lot of us entrepreneurs 

 

That are listening to this show or watching you on regular basis, 

 

We create things, right? We create apps. We create websites with great podcasts. 

 

How important would you say, making those things accessible to people with, 

 

Visual or hearing impairments? How important would you say 

 

That is to actually take those into account when you’re building things.

 

Maxwell Ivey  

I must say it’s even more important than people think it is. And here’s the reason why. 

 

You know, earlier we talked about loyalty, about how the people listening 

 

To the podcasts were more likely to listen to the whole show and to take action. 

 

As a group. People with disabilities are very loyal customers. 

 

We’re very brand loyal, or name loyal to people, we feel like they’ve gone

 

Out of their way to include us, which is one of the reasons why, even though,

 

Now Android is starting to add speech and Microsoft is starting to add speech, 

 

That we still stay with Apple because Apple said, “Hey, y’all were important to us 

 

10 years ago, or 12 years” whenever the iPod four came out, because that was 

 

When they started the whole accessibility movement of all their products. 

 

So we still overpay. So we overpaid because we feel like we belong, 

 

Like they care about us. And so if, while as a group, we’re not a huge group, 

 

As percentage of the marketplace, and we’re even smaller as percentage

 

Of products and services purchased. But we’re very loyal. We will not only 

 

Buy from people that have gone out of their way to get our business, 

 

But we will ask other people to buy from them. We will share their content 

 

And push their website product services to our friends and family. 

 

If we feel like they care about us.

 

Richard Matthews  

Absolutely. And I think there’s also a bit of a halo effect. 

 

So one of the things we mentioned, we we’re talking about Apple alot. 

 

Because they’re a big recognizable company that does this, but they

 

On their Keynote, they mentioned their accessibility features all the time, right. 

 

And very few of the people in the audience actually use those accessibility features. 

 

But they still give it stage time, like major stage time. And I think 

 

Part of the reason for that is that people like to work with companies 

 

That act bigger than themselves, right? That they act for larger causes. 

 

And to support companies that do that, like one of the things that 

 

I have a supplement company and our supplement company donates. 

 

Donates to Vitamin Angels with every purchase, right? And people like that .

 

They will buy more from us, because we support causes that they believe in. 

 

And I think it’s got a – So when you actually take the time to make your products

 

And your services accessible. It’s it provides that kind of a halo effect 

 

On your marketing as well. So even people that aren’t going to use them 

 

Are going to find that to be an important thing in their –

 

The people they do business with.

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Right. Another thing that I’m I try to remember to tell online people, 

 

People that create online is some of these things you do for accessibility, 

 

Have SEO benefits as well. And the most obvious one, are the alternative text tags 

 

Most people did do not know that while they don’t matter as much as they used to,

 

You know, the title description keyword tags don’t matter as much as they used to. 

 

But that alt text tag for images on your blog or your website. 

 

That’s an additional opportunity for Google and the other search engines

 

To find your website and index you for people that are searching for things 

 

That are mentioned in your photo descriptions 

 

That may not have been mentioned in your blog text.

 

Richard Matthews  

And it’s a it’s one of those things that I think people are missing an opportunity there. 

 

And the opportunity is not to speak to the machines. 

 

It’s to speak specifically to other human beings, because that’s what 

 

Google is trying to do. And if you actually will think of your images on your pages, 

 

Like how would I describe this? I actually tell people this 

 

When they’re putting their website images up, is how would you describe that image 

 

To a blind person? Right? Because as you put that into the alt text, 

 

Because Google is going to use that for SEO. And so you’re going to get that benefit.

 

But it’s actually beneficial to any blind person who comes to your website goes through it. 

 

So you get like two benefits from it.

 

Maxwell Ivey  

And if you forget the alt tag all together, it’s as if your image doesn’t exist. 

 

And if your images tied to a link, it’s as if your link doesn’t exist.

 

Richard Matthews  

So for those people who don’t know how the screen readers work,

 

Like, as you know, for someone who uses it, they actually- It’ll go through 

 

Onto the page and it’ll read the text. And when it comes to an image, 

 

The screen reader doesn’t know what’s in the image, it can’t look at the image 

 

And then just out of nowhere describe it to you, our computers aren’t that good yet. 

 

So what they do is they look at that alt text, and they actually

 

Read whatever is in that for you, right? So if we don’t put anything in there,

 

It just says, image or just skips it entirely. Right? Would you even know it was there?

 

Maxwell Ivey  

No, I would not know it was there. And like I said, if it’s if your image is tied to a link, 

 

I would not know the link is there either.

 

Richard Matthews  

So it just skips over it. So the alt text adds a little –  But if it’s there,

 

It’ll actually say image and then describe what’s in the alt text.

 

Maxwell Ivey  

And you know, something I didn’t know about alt text, alt text for images 

 

That I recently found out is that if you use an image in your email newsletter, 

 

And you don’t add all text in that image. It’s as if it doesn’t exist in my email program, 

 

And I wasn’t aware, apparently there have been lots of people 

 

Who’ve been sending images along with emails. I just didn’t realize I wasn’t seeing 

 

Until I recently found out about how even images and emails have to have alt tags. 

 

Richard Matthews  

See, I didn’t know that either. So it’s good to know that you should fill out

 

That all text field whenever you’re whenever it pops up for your website or emails, 

 

Use it because and –

 

Maxwell Ivey  

And most people are running a SEO plugin that prompts them

 

For that information anyway, so it’s you almost have to not want to do it to not do it.

 

Richard Matthews  

So there’s benefits for it. So definitely take the time and get it done. 

 

So I’ll move on a little bit and talk a little bit about your own personal heroes, right. 

 

So Frodo had Gandalf. Luke had Obi Wan, Robert Kiyosaki and his Rich Dad. 

 

Who were some of your heroes. Were they real life mentors? 

 

Were they speakers or authors? Were they peers who we’re just few years ahead of you?

 

 And how important were they to what you’ve accomplished so far? 

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Well, I will openly tell anybody who listens that I would not be where I’m at at this point. 

 

If it wasn’t for a lot of other people who, who either offered to help 

 

Or responded to questions, many times dumb questions with smart answers. 

 

But to start with most important one would be Adrienne Smith. 

 

I referred to her as my blogging Mama, who taught me everything

 

I know about relationship building online. She loves that. So she really likes that tag. 

 

Now, she looks forward to hearing me say it in podcast interviews. But it’s so true. 

 

It’s you know, she, back when I really didn’t know what I was doing. 

 

She taught me so much about how sharing people’s content 

 

With your memorable blog comments. After a while sending out an email

 

Just to get to know people without asking for stuff and building relationship online

 

And how that eventually leads to two opportunities, which in my case, 

 

Was heard led to a roundup post and it went to a guest post. 

 

And then it led to quite a few podcast interviews from people 

 

Who saw the work I did on her website. And she’s no longer online, 

 

She doesn’t do interviews. But you know, she’s one of those people 

 

Who I have to mention. Another one is Loraine Reguly at https://wordingwell.com/

 

She’s been the editor on my three books. She first found me when 

 

She noticed that my blog, the images on my first blog at the Midway marketplace, 

 

Were ending up in the middle of my text and people couldn’t read my posts. 

 

And, she got on the Skype with me and helped me fix that to where now 

 

People can see the images and read my posts. And that way 

 

To be hiring her when I needed an editor. So that’s that’s another person.

 

She’s a rape survivor and somebody who’s experienced drug use and prostitution. 

 

So she’s a really strong woman, as well. I mentioned let’s see, Ashley Faulkes, 

 

He has https://madlemmings.com  He got ahold of me, 

 

What about seven years ago now he said, you know, Max, your website is good.

 

He said that it could be so much better. And he offered to help me move from HTML 

 

To WordPress and go from a a visually gaudy, if not stroke inducing color palette 

 

To a what’s more traditional white black with with occasional colors 

 

And move it over to WordPress. And so I really appreciate, a guy like like Ashley. 

 

As far as other people, there’s been Joe Pardo I have mentioned earlier,

 

He had me on his podcast, he gave me my first opportunity to speak 

 

In front of an audience. He’s been helping me gain more speaking opportunities 

 

And grow as a podcaster. And he’s a guy who walked away from 

 

A six figure business to start his own thing. So, he’s another person and 

 

I joked about this with your assistant that I could do an Academy Award style speech

 

That would go on until they kicked me off the stage. But I’m going to quit, 

 

I’m going to quit at four. But there have been just so many people 

 

Who have come along at the right time with the right information or 

 

Skills or abilities, when I was stuck, and I was putting it out into the world and,  

 

“Okay, here’s what I want to do. I don’t yet know how I’m going to do that, 

 

I would really appreciate some help.” And these people came forward. 

 

And to me, this heroes section is one of my favorite things to do. 

 

Because anytime you can perform a gratitude exercise, you can say 

 

Thank you to the people who helped you get here. And so, 

 

People who are listening that you’re willing to help some other people 

 

Move forward on their journeys as well. This is this is one of the best things I can do an interview.

 

Richard Matthews  

Absolutely. And I think it’s really interesting to to realize that, 

 

The kind of people that you’re mentioning as heroes are people like you and me, right?

 

And you realize that, at some point, your clients, the people that you work with 

 

Are going to look back and think this person’s a hero in my life, 

 

Because they really helped me get my business or my life or my career, 

 

Whatever it is that you help people with to the next level. 

 

And that’s exactly why I refer to this show as HERO show because the work you do 

 

Is a hero to someone. You’re a hero to someone. You just listed a number of people 

 

Who are heroes to you, because they’ve helped you move your life, 

 

Your business forward and in unique and powerful ways. So yeah, I love it. 

 

So, last question that I do on the show is, it’s pretty simple. 

 

It’s your guiding principles. So what are the top one or two principles or actions 

 

That you take on a daily basis that really you think contribute to the success 

 

And influence that you enjoy today. Maybe ones that you wish you had known

 

When you started out on your hero’s journey, you know, earlier in your career?

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Well, there are three things that I try to do all the time. 

 

One is to start my day looking for at least one positive person, event or experience 

 

Because I found that if I get up in the morning looking for those things to happen, 

 

Or those people can come into my life that is actually going to happen. 

 

So I’m always looking for that next person or event and it takes practice 

 

When you first aren’t doing it. But after a while it becomes second nature. 

 

And as I said earlier, people who have failed a lot, have had a lot of setbacks 

 

Are much better at finding the positive in their lives,

 

Because they’ve had a lot of practice at it. The second thing is, 

 

I totally believe that if you don’t ask, they can’t say “Yes.” 

 

So whether it’s asking for help, for skills, for employees and contractors, 

 

Or it’s just asking for positive energy for somebody to send you some good thoughts

 

Or a prayer anytime, just never be afraid to ask because as my dad always told me, 

 

If you don’t ask, they can’t say “yes.” And we, back when I was cold calling

 

For a small Carnival in Texas, I got a lot of no’s. So that’s the second thing. 

 

And the third thing is get up every day and find at least one small action 

 

That you can take to get you closer to your goal. Those small steps, as they say, 

 

Add up to big leaps. That’s not my line is somebody else’s. But it’s true. 

 

But again, to me if people get caught up in the big goal or dream 

 

Or the larger steps to that goal. And they fail to take those small steps 

 

That are available on a daily basis. And if we take those small steps every day, 

 

And and it doesn’t matter how little it may seem to you at the time, 

 

Those things are going to add up over time.

 

Richard Matthews  

And I know like one of the things I like to tell people is – 

 

That is you will overestimate what you can accomplish in a year, 

 

But you’ll underestimate drastically what you can accomplish in 10. 

 

Because if you take small steps every day, and you look back at your journey 

 

Over the course of a year, you might be a little disappointed. You’re like, 

 

“I didn’t make it very far, I took a bunch of small steps.”  But if you look back at that,

 

That starts to snowball, right? All the small steps. And by the time you get 10 years

 

Into a journey, you’ll be world class, right? You’ll be the top of your game. 

 

The top of your industry. because very few people see their stuff through past 

 

That first couple of years. And you can definitely make a huge impact in your life 

 

Your goal every day, and doing it over the long haul. Right?

 

And other people’s lives by doing exactly that. By taking a small step towards 

 

Maxwell Ivey  

You know, you just reminded me two things. One is I never tried to estimate 

 

I always just do the work. And two, I will work really hard 

 

Not to compare myself to other people or to my past self. 

 

Richard Matthews  

So that’s an important thing to keep in mind. And then the other thing 

 

You mentioned about I’m going to lose my train of thought there. 

 

Maxwell Ivey  

It was my fault. I do that all the time. I’m sorry.

 

Richard Matthews  

No, it’s no problem. So what was it you said? Doing something every day? 

 

What was the one you mentioned just before that, because I want to get

 

My train of thought back on that.

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Let’s see. I said taking small steps, asking for help.

 

Richard Matthews  

That was the one, train’s back. The asking for help on things that you want to do? 

 

Is the thing. Right? Is you can’t give people opportunity to say yes. 

 

And I think that’s such an important thing. Because my my wife laughs at me all the time, 

 

Because I asked everyone for things all the time. Like, we go to the store, 

 

We are like, and I remember I needed to buy something for my headphones, 

 

And I went into BestBuy. And like I’m standing at the counter. And I was like, 

 

What are the chances you’ll offer me a discount on these headphones? 

 

And the lady was like, “Oh, you know, we actually have a price matching program. 

 

Let me see if the one of the local stores has a good deal on it.” She was like,

 

“Hey, look, this store down the street is running a coupon where you get $5 off 

 

We’ll match their price” I get $5 off of a $20 product, right? So and my wife 

 

Just like that’s crazy. Why would you, I would never even think to ask and I just, 

 

I make it a daily habit to ask all the time. Because if you don’t ask people won’t help you.

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Two years ago, I was in the Apple Store getting my laptop checked out 

 

And I go back to pick it up and I showed them my charger and you know 

 

How Apple chargers are they do not hold up well. The insulation on them thin strips 

 

And I had mine held together with black tape, okay.

 

Richard Matthews  

I know you can’t see this. But I guests can, here’s my apple charger for my computer. 

 

There’s no sheeting on the whole last two inches.

 

Maxwell Ivey  

That’s a classic Apple charger for you. Okay, so I’m walking,

 

I’m getting ready to walk out of the store. I’ve got my bag. I go, 

 

“Hey, man, any chance you could give me a discount on the charger?” 

 

He looks at it he goes, “Yes Mr. Ivey, for something like this will just replace it.” 

 

He just hands me one out of the bag. And they’re listed at like 140 something dollars. 

 

And I’m like, Patrick, let’s just get the heck out of the store before 

 

Somebody catches this guy. That happens all the time. But you have 

 

To be willing to ask for stuff and I’ve been called shameless. But hey, 

 

I spent 15 years promoting a small Carnival in a state where where everybody else

 

Had two or three times as many rides we do. You get to the point where it’s like, 

 

“Oh, Hector, I’m asking for stuff.” I know that most people won’t give me any way. 

 

But what if they do? What if they say yes?  

 

Richard Matthews  

It says it’s such an important thing to use in your business. So every time you – 

 

When you’re talking to clients, like you come down to things like pricing, 

 

A lot of people struggle with their pricing, and they think no one will pay me that. 

 

And they struggle with – if you don’t ask for the rate you want to get

 

People can’t say yes to it. Same kind of thing. And so and I know, 

 

I went through that experience, when I first raised my rates to the point where 

 

They actually needed to be. I remember the story a couple of times, 

 

I had a client that I you know, he paid me 500 bucks, and I made him

 

A quarter million dollars, in six weeks. And then I realized I needed to raise my prices 

 

To commensurate with the value that I was providing. And, the next time 

 

That I had a client, and I charged like, $5,000, for what I was doing, scared me to death. 

 

Because, I can’t believe I’m going to do that. But I asked for it. And then they said yes. 

 

And then I delivered, I was able to deliver at a higher level because 

 

Of what I was able to do. So, it’s a lesson that applies, everything from –

 

Asking for carnival rides to getting a discount on your things that you buy at Best Buy

 

To learning how to actually ask your clients for your rates that you want to pay or, 

 

Or the other way around asking people that you’re working with for the rate

 

That you want to give them for the services that you’re asking for. Right? 

 

So it’s an important skill, is to learn to ask.

 

Maxwell Ivey  

It is an important skill. And it’s like a lot of the important things. It takes practice, 

 

You have to start small and work up, you have to build those muscles, 

 

You have to build your asking muscles up. And it’s also one of the things that 

 

If you go awhile without doing it, then you can gotta kind of start over.

 

Richard Matthews  

Absolutely. Well, so last thing I do on the show, it’s not really a question. 

 

It’s just something I call the Hero Challenge. And if you listen to the show,

 

Well, you probably heard this before, but it’s – Do you have someone in your network

 

That you think has a cool entrepreneurial journey? That would be cool –

 

Will be good to come on the show and share their story. Who are they? 

 

First names are fine, if you want to do that we can connect for full contact information later.

 

And why do you think they should come on the show?

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Man that is just so hard, because they’re, I really don’t deal with anybody 

 

Who doesn’t have a good entrepreneurial story. That’s like my first criteria. 

 

Before I go to work for him, because if they don’t have a good, 

 

They don’t at least have the germ of a good story. I mean, Staci Greenberg is 

 

A single mother with two special needs kids, it’s growing an interior design business, 

 

Specializing in hotels and motels. Amy Bovaird is a former traveler, school teachers. 

 

Is building a business as a speaker and an author. And she makes my travels 

 

And adventures with Penny, she also happens to be blind. There’s so many people 

 

I could recommend because you mentioned this earlier in the show, 

 

You said, we’re a storytelling people, that a lot of what we do goes back to 

 

Sitting around a campfire, sharing stories, usually to educate people 

 

About things they would need to know to survive in those times. 

 

But I just know so many people with great stories, 

 

I’m going to have to send you an email if that’s okay.

 

Richard Matthews  

That is fine. And we’ll totally take that. Because one of my my goals with this show, 

 

And it probably will continue to be is to highlight as many of the entrepreneurs 

 

That don’t get seen as possible, right. Of course, it’ll be fun to highlight 

 

Some of the entrepreneurs that do get seen on a regular basis that have some 

 

Of the fame. But really, the world is made to go around by people like you and me

 

And the people that you’re mentioning who are doing things and growing businesses

 

That you may never even notice. Right. And one of my favorite little stories 

 

About that I had a – one of my clients is, I cant remember if it was his dad 

 

Or his uncle or something like that, was, the guy who does tile for 

 

Underwater features for hotels. Right? So when you look in a fountain, 

 

Like the tile that’s under there, he’s that guy. The guy who does that. 

 

And you never even think about that. But like, there’s the guy 

 

Who does tile for underwater features. And no one will ever know his name. 

 

But he built a multimillion dollar business that he grew. And that just fascinates me 

 

There’s the guy who does that, right? There’s the guy who does or the gal or whatever, 

 

Who does all the little things that you never noticed in your life, but makeup,

 

The world that we live in, they’re all entrepreneurs, somewhere 

 

Behind everything that you touch and see and interact with on a regular basis, 

 

Some entrepreneur touched it to make it happen. 

 

Maxwell Ivey  

I’ve got one more, that’s a great one I’m going to send you. Her name is Bianca. 

 

And they’ve developed a electrical outlet device that allows you to plug in 

 

Thanks to electrical outlets, even if you can’t reach them. 

 

It’s a really cool device that they’re in the process of pitching like

 

Shark Tank and those types of venues is because they’ve got a great story, 

 

Her and her husband, but it’s a really cool product because many times 

 

You’ve been in a hotel and you charge something and you can’t get to the plug. 

 

So you’re right. There’s somebody behind all these things that we use. 

 

That’s what made me think about it.

 

Richard Matthews  

That’s awesome. So last thing, thank you so much for being on the show. 

 

Where can people find you. If they want to hire you for any of your podcasts, 

 

Storytelling, pitching, booking, that kind of stuff. And secondly, 

 

Who would be the best kind of person to reach out to you if they want your help?

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Okay, they can find me at http://theblindblogger.net/  

 

http://theblindblogger.net/ 

 

And I would say anyone who has a business or a creative project,

 

Who also has a good story to share, because like I mentioned, 

 

If they don’t have a good story, then it makes it kind of hard for my job. 

 

But just one thing I want to tell people is this, don’t wait until you think 

 

Your story is good enough to start sharing it. If you’re not sure, reach out to me, 

 

We’ll have a conversation about your story. The odds are, 

 

You’re doing something amazing, you just don’t realize it yet. 

 

I know that that was the case with myself for for two years, I thought,

 

Nobody would find what I’m doing inspiring, because there are quite a few people 

 

In general and visually impaired people specifically doing more things than what I was doing. 

 

But there were people who explained it to me, they’re like, 

 

“Max, there are people who could do great stuff that have no disabilities, 

 

No things really standing in their way. And they still do nothing with their lives. 

 

So that’s why you’re inspirational.” There are a lot of people listening just right now 

 

Who have great stories, they’re doing amazing work. But because they don’t have 

 

Somebody from the outside looking in, I have to tell them that they made me think 

 

What I’m doing isn’t all that special. So I encourage people to reach out to me, 

 

Even if they don’t hire me, your story is very important to your success 

 

In your business and your online personality. So even if you don’t hire me, 

 

When we talk, and I’ll show you some things that in your personal story 

 

That will help you at least in the short term as far as what you’re trying to do, 

 

what goal or dream you’re trying to achieve.

 

Richard Matthews  

Absolutely. And I think one of the key things there is doing, right? 

 

If you’re doing anything, chances are, you have a good story, 

 

Because very few people do. And to be the kind of person who does things and

 

Creates things and moves things forward. If you’ve ever thought to yourself that, 

 

“Man, I don’t know why someone would pay me for this, it’s so easy.”

 

 I always say that’s a key phrase that lets you know that you’re doing something cool.

 

And that you should definitely work on growing that and getting your story 

 

In your business, put the other around it. So thank you. Definitely take time 

 

To reach out to Max obviously, he knows a thing or two about getting getting this stuff, 

 

Up and going and getting people on to podcasts and stuff like that. 

 

So it’s http://theblindblogger.net/ where they can find you. 

 

Maxwell Ivey  

They can find my social media stuff on the website. And I’ve also got a store there 

 

For my books and my What’s Your Excuse merchandise that people can now purchase. 

 

So doing my best to grow what I do into an empire as a host. Recently referred to it.

 

And I was like, I took 30 seconds, make sure she was still talking to me, 

 

But she was and I am. You know that’s one of the great things about being a guest

 

On a podcast is a lot of times you find out stuff about yourself that you didn’t realize, 

 

Even after years of doing the work, there can still be an occasion where somebody 

 

Points out something that I wasn’t personally seeing. Like, the fact that 

 

People consider me an influencer or that I’m now have a growing Empire. 

 

You know, those are not words I would have used about myself. 

 

But after I thought about it, these are things I learned from being a guest. 

 

After… it was like one of those, “Those are true!” You know, you have those 

 

“Aha” epiphany type moments when you do these conversations with hosts on shows. 

 

And of course, we also get the opportunity to share about our businesses as well. 

 

So I just want to make sure I don’t forget to thank you for all the hard work you 

 

And your staff put into creating this show and giving people like me

 

 The opportunity to tell our stories.

 

Richard Matthews  

Absolutely. It’s a pleasure. It’s one of the highlights of my week is doing these interviews 

 

With people like you. So thank you so much for coming on the show. 

 

Really appreciate it and look forward to having you back someday.

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Well, I look forward to that too. And I don’t know when it will be but I’m always 

 

Waiting to see what my next adventure or my next big challenge will be. 

 

Once I know what that is off. I’ll keep you informed and when we when we get to  

 

An “Aha” moment or a champagne moment, I’ll be sure to get back to you.

 

Richard Matthews  

Awesome. Thank you very much for coming on the show, Max.

 

Maxwell Ivey  

Thank you too. I really appreciate it.