Why Alex Sanfilippo is the Essential Mentor Every Podcaster Needs

Wendy & Rich 0:00
Hey, everyone is Rich Bennett. Can you believe it? The show is turning 10 this year. I am so grateful for each and every one of you who've tuned in, shared a episode, or even joined the conversation over the years. You're the reason that this podcast has grown into what it is today. Together, we've shared laughs, tears, and moments that truly matter. So I want to thank you for being part of this journey. Let's make the next 10 years even better. Coming to you from the Freedom Federal Credit Union Studios. Harford County Living presents Conversations with Rich Bennett. 

None of those two are untrue. 

Rich Bennett 1:00
Imagine this. A 10-year-old kid hustling golf balls out of ponds and back onto the course, building his first business before most of us even knew what the word entrepreneur meant. Fast forward through a start and error space, a real estate crash that forced a complete reset, and a leap into blogging and podcasting that eventually led to something game-changing for our entire industry. That journey belongs to Alex San Felipe. And it's exactly why so many of us, myself included, look at him as a mentor. Alex is the founder of PodMatch.com. The platform that automatically matches podcast host with the right guest, and he's a creator and host of Podcasting Made Simple, where he teaches independent podcasters how to grow their influence, sharpen their message, and build revenue in a way that actually serves their listeners. His story is not just impressive. It's one that has guided countless podcasters forward, myself included. So today we're diving into how Alex built PodMatch, why he believed the podcast in world needed a better way to connect and it did. And what we can all learn about finding the right guest, becoming better guests ourselves, which is something I need to do, don't yell at me, Alex, and turning conversations into real impact. So if you're ready to elevate your podcast, whether you're brand new or seasoned, you're about to learn from someone who's been paving the way for the rest of us. And something, when I say Alex, Alex is a godsend when it comes to finding guests, to be honest with you. You all heard me tell the story about how I rebranded and young lady, Kristy Breslin told me, I need to start going outside of Harvard County and getting other people on. And it was because of Alex that I've been able to do that. And Alex, I don't know if you remember this. First of all, welcome Alex. 

Alex Sanfilippo 3:05
Rich, thank you. Great introduction man. That was expert level. What do I know? What do I know? Let's hear. 

Rich Bennett 3:12
Okay. So, all right. What year did you start pod match? Was it 21? 

Alex Sanfilippo 3:16
20. 

Rich Bennett 3:17
2020. 

Alex Sanfilippo 3:18
Yep. 

Rich Bennett 3:18
And at the time, it was free, right? 

Alex Sanfilippo 3:22
When we first launched our early beta. Yes, totally free early beta to see if it worked. 

Rich Bennett 3:26
Okay, so at that time, I signed up for it. 

Alex Sanfilippo 3:29
Wow. 

Rich Bennett 3:30
And I never did anything with it. And then I got an email from you who said, "Hey Rich, you know, were you or going to be charging so much so we need to know if you want to stay otherwise we are cutting back?" I'm like, "Wait, what the hell is this? Pine match, what?" So it's like, "Yeah, I'm in." And it was, I think it was right about that time, is when I changed, it started looking for other guests everywhere. So, yeah, man, thanks to you, I was able to find something. I'll be honest with you, all the guests I've gotten off the pod match outstanding. 

Alex Sanfilippo 4:08
Nice. I 

Rich Bennett 4:09
I mean, 

Alex Sanfilippo 4:09
love that, man. 

Rich Bennett 4:10
y'all, and 

Alex Sanfilippo 4:11
thanks for being out from the beginning. I actually didn't realize that you were back that far. Like, 

Rich Bennett 4:15
yeah, 

Alex Sanfilippo 4:16
First, you belong there, that's incredible. Because we didn't offer that for long. Like, that was just when 

Rich Bennett 4:19
I know. 

Alex Sanfilippo 4:19
we literally we first launched, like, can some people get on here and test it? It's free, right? Then we moved, of course, we grandfathered anybody and who wanted to stay on that plan, but man, thank you a game for Pave in the Way, that's cool. 

Rich Bennett 4:30
Well, 

Alex Sanfilippo 4:30
I'm here in the guest's for good too. 

Rich Bennett 4:31
Thank you for emailing me because otherwise I would have been cut. 

Alex Sanfilippo 4:36
It's funny. There were so few people on it. It wasn't like a mass email. Like, I probably manually emailed you because I bet it was under a hundred people. 

Rich Bennett 4:46
Yeah. 

Alex Sanfilippo 4:46
So it's probably like, let me just send the emails one at a time. I'll send it. This guy, Rich, Seems cool. It's probably when I started listening to your show 

Rich Bennett 4:52
act. It actually didn't come from team at podmatch.com. It came from you. 

Alex Sanfilippo 4:57
It came from me. 

Rich Bennett 4:58
Yeah. 

Alex Sanfilippo 4:59
Look at that. Very cool, man. Thanks for being there with us. 

Rich Bennett 5:02
(laughing) 

Alex Sanfilippo 5:02
you. By the way, I gotta say this, I don't know if we'll come up during the episode but grad's on passing 750 

Rich Bennett 5:07
Oh, 

Alex Sanfilippo 5:07
episodes. I know 

Rich Bennett 5:07
thank 

Alex Sanfilippo 5:07
it was October 22nd is when you launch that episode, but man, I wanted to pull the data, to see how few podcasts just make it that far. I only track the data up to 300 episodes, and there was a 2.5% chance of making it to 300 episodes. So I don't even know what it is. Like, look at it, 750. I imagine it's 0.0 something. 

Rich Bennett 5:26
It is, I think it is less than 1%. 

Alex Sanfilippo 5:28
It's gotta be, has to 

Rich Bennett 5:29
Yeah. 

Alex Sanfilippo 5:29
be, right? Like, congratulations, man. It 

Rich Bennett 5:31
Oh, 

Alex Sanfilippo 5:31
makes-- 

Rich Bennett 5:31
thank you. 

Alex Sanfilippo 5:31
I know you've got lines of people wanting to be on the show, wanting to hear the show, like, you've done incredibly well, man. It's an honor to be here today. 

Rich Bennett 5:38
Well, I'll be honest with you, if you wouldn't have-- cause my goal was for the 750th episode was to have you on. That was my goal, and then I was asking people in the group on Facebook what they wanted. And I said, you know, I think I even mentioned, because I may have tagged you in it, that's what I wanted it to do. And then you came back to suggested that I do a live episode, which scares me at first, because I think live broadcast-- keep forgetting, with a podcast, you can record it live. 

Alex Sanfilippo 6:10
Right. 

Rich Bennett 6:10
Because of a live broadcast, I was in radio. I know how those live broadcasts can go. They're scary. 

Alex Sanfilippo 6:16
Yeah, we've all heard and seen the bloopers of those. So 

Rich Bennett 6:19
Oh, 

Alex Sanfilippo 6:20
yes, that is-- 

Rich Bennett 6:20
oh, yeah. But I tell you one thing, I had a blast doing it. I think-- I think all my-- excuse me, all my co-hosts had a blast. Don't 

Alex Sanfilippo 6:28
know-- 

Rich Bennett 6:29
want 

Alex Sanfilippo 6:29
Oh, 

Rich Bennett 6:29
to 

Alex Sanfilippo 6:29
yeah, everyone was having a lot of fun. Like 

Rich Bennett 6:31
Yeah. 

Alex Sanfilippo 6:31
I-- I checked out-- the episode's great. I mean, congratulations to you. I mean, I love that you did something stretchier a little bit. I think it was a wise decision. Again, thankful even have been considered for that. But I think you made the right choice doing that. It was sweet. 

Rich Bennett 6:41
Well, thank you. I appreciate that. 

Alex Sanfilippo 6:43
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 6:43
With podcasting. I mean, with your-- basically, let's face it, you started your career at 10 years old with the golf 

Alex Sanfilippo 6:53
everything. 

Rich Bennett 6:53
balls and But what led you to podcasting? 

Alex Sanfilippo 6:57
Man, I get to this point in life where I heard a podcast first off. And you know, it's funny, rich. The first time I heard a podcast, it was-- I was working on my aerospace job at that point. Now, I walked down to one of my departments. There's a whole group of guys working a project. And when I was walking down through, like it was in the warehouse, they're doing an inventory project. So I was walking down through that. And I was like, here's something really loud. I was like, these guys watching like TV. I get back there. I turn on the corner. I look at the screen. I'm like, point the screen, like the screen's off. And they're like, yeah. I'm like, what are you listening to? They're like, a podcast. I'm like, what the heck is a podcast? And they're like, oh, it's just thing you have it on your phone. I'm like, no, I don't feel like, yeah. It's a little purple icon. You have it on your iPhone. I open up. I'm like, what do you know? I listen to this thing. I'm like, this is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Are you guys really listening to this? I'm like, yeah. I'm like, yeah, and then 20 minutes later, I'm opening the app, I'm like, what was that guy saying? It's kind of kind of interesting, you know? So 

Rich Bennett 7:44
I 

Alex Sanfilippo 7:45
started listening to a podcast and I was like, this is sweet. I want to do this. At the point I really enjoyed writing. Not in my job. Just on the side, I thought writing was really fun. I was writing like a, for me like a faith-based Jesus focus blog. 

Frankly, I started a podcast and not many people listened to it, but I was very fulfilled from it. And the people that were listening, and a handful of people maybe, were really enjoying it as well. And man, I got hooked. And so I just went all in on podcasting. I'd say in 2019 was really like when I really stepped into it for real, which was towards the end of my aerospace career. 

Rich Bennett 8:22
But 

Alex Sanfilippo 8:23
it was like trying all these side hustles, just seeing what else I could do. Like if there's any way for me to not be a corporate guy anymore, not that I didn't love it, I just was looking for something else. I started a show called Creating a Brand. And the idea was like the art of creating a brand. So how to leave a nine to five job become a full-time entrepreneur. I was talking to people who had successfully done that. Just got one to learn from people who kind of paved the way. And man, that show did really well. And setting on fire with my passion for podcasting, like I fell in love with the medium. And that was like, that was my real introduction to this space. 

Rich Bennett 8:53
I love it. I mean, I like it a lot better in radio because number one, I can use my own name first of all. 

Alex Sanfilippo 8:59
And that's nice, right? 

Rich Bennett 9:00
Yeah. But you don't have the FCC regulations either. There's so much more you can do, so much more you can say. All right, I have this. You said the first podcast you did was a faith-based 

Alex Sanfilippo 9:10
podcast. Yeah, it was. Yep. 

Rich Bennett 9:12
Are you? Any plans on bringing that back? 

Alex Sanfilippo 9:15
So interestingly enough, man, like when I got into, when a pod match started, I still had that. 

Rich Bennett 9:20
Okay. 

Alex Sanfilippo 9:21
And it was kind of one of these things where I had to make some choices. And I had somebody who approached me, a company approached me wanting that podcast and blog. They wanted to like, to buy all of it because they had a bigger like faith media company. 

Rich Bennett 9:34
Mhm. 

Alex Sanfilippo 9:34
And it took me a while to finally do it. But it was when they showed me their plans for how they were going to reach more people with it. And so I was like, deal, like I'll do this. And it wasn't like a huge, profiting thing for me. It was more like a pass-off 

Rich Bennett 9:46
would. 

Alex Sanfilippo 9:47
if you 

Rich Bennett 9:47
Right. 

Alex Sanfilippo 9:47
uh, so I don't have any of that anymore, which makes me a little bit sad. I think there's some of my content lives on but uh, they've changed the names and stuff like that and everything so I wouldn't even know where to find most of it anymore sadly. 

Well, that's good and bad. I find that some radio people show up and they immediately start like, wait, can I say this word and they start using some language. I was like, I can say this? Alright, so- 

Rich Bennett 10:24
Oh yeah, 

Alex Sanfilippo 10:25
wait a minute. 

Rich Bennett 10:26
Well, and the funny thing is with that, because when I first started, if somebody came on and they were cursing, I was bleepin' it out. 

Alex Sanfilippo 10:34
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 10:35
But then, as a matter of fact, I may have found the guest on Podmatch who wrote a book called "F2Focus". It's kind of hard to bleep that out. Yeah, 

Alex Sanfilippo 10:45
so you can title the book. Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 10:47
plus, you know, he's a marine too and when you- 

Alex Sanfilippo 10:49
Okay, 

Rich Bennett 10:49
--then 

Alex Sanfilippo 10:49
yeah. 

Rich Bennett 10:50
it's together, and things happen. But then when I started talking to people that are in recovery and addiction recovery, when they start telling their stories, the language is going to come out. And I think when you bleep that, it takes away from the conversation and- 

Alex Sanfilippo 11:07
I actually agree with you. 

Rich Bennett 11:10
But I got in with the faith-based one, because I've even had some guests on a fan from Podmatch. Talking about faith, who's the one I want to see? Dr. David Chaka, I think it was one of them. 

Alex Sanfilippo 11:22
Oh, man, I have my wife uses one of his devotionals. That dude's a legend. That's-he was on the show? 

Rich Bennett 11:29
Yeah, a couple times. 

Alex Sanfilippo 11:31
Oh, sweet dude, 

Rich Bennett 11:32
But 

Alex Sanfilippo 11:32
that's so cool. 

Rich Bennett 11:33
I love those episodes. And there's one, I had a young lady on the show love, who I refer to her to the Podmatch. I don't know if she's still on it or not. But she started a podcast, and she's coming back on because there's two things- two episodes I want to do. One is- actually, I'm not going to have to get you on for this now. I'm going to think 

Alex Sanfilippo 11:56
Okay, 

Rich Bennett 11:56
of it. 

Alex Sanfilippo 11:56
all right. 

Rich Bennett 11:57
One is how to talk to God. and the other one is how to listen to God, 

Alex Sanfilippo 12:02
Hmm, 

Rich Bennett 12:03
because I don't believe a lot of people know how 

Alex Sanfilippo 12:05
I agree with that. 

Rich Bennett 12:06
And it's, it's weird. I never thought I would be talking about stuff like that on the podcast. Then again, I never thought I'd be doing a podcast. 

Alex Sanfilippo 12:14
It's 750 plus 

Rich Bennett 12:15
episodes. That's 

Alex Sanfilippo 12:16
right. 

Rich Bennett 12:17
But to talk about that stuff, I think it's just- number one, I learned, 

Alex Sanfilippo 12:23
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 12:23
which is why I started this. 

Alex Sanfilippo 12:25
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 12:25
So I could learn from it, you know. So when you started yours, compared to the- because you were just doing the podcast in part, how are you finding guests or were you having guests on at the time? 

Alex Sanfilippo 12:38
I started with my my immediate friend group. 

Rich Bennett 12:41
Okay. 

Alex Sanfilippo 12:42
And so, like creating a brand, I'll go to that one specifically. And so, I was going to ask for, ask the faith based one, which that one was a bit easier, because at that point, I didn't even had to do remote recordings. I went to 2012 with that one. And so it was, I was really, literally recording my iPhone with my friends just like in a any room where you're in. 

Rich Bennett 12:57
Right. 

Alex Sanfilippo 12:58
12 minutes. Really quick. And, but most of it was just me. Because that's more what I knew how to do. There was no editing. I didn't know how to do any of that 

Rich Bennett 13:05
Right. 

Alex Sanfilippo 13:05
stuff. It's changed. I don't know if they're not getting this podcasting thing. Not saying it's super easy, but it's a lot more simple than it once was. And people like, Richard paved the way with 750 plus episodes. Companies literally formed their products based on how this guy podcasts. We got to figure this out. And so it is changed. I can't imagine your stories, man. 700 episodes ago, compared to now. Anyway. 

Rich Bennett 13:30
No 

Alex Sanfilippo 13:31
one wants to hear that. I'm sure. 

So, but with creating a brand, yeah, I wanted to have guests on because the idea was I wanted to talk to people who had successfully left the nine to five job. I knew three people that did that. So I brought all three of them on. And then I asked all three of them to come back. And then I asked all three of them to come back again. Third time said dude, do you not know anybody else? how do I. What do you want me to do with like here? Here's somebody I know. And it was like. 

Rich Bennett 13:58
Where 

Alex Sanfilippo 13:58
Ten knows to Yes, type the thing I'm like, so it was like. What I felt like my full time job in podcasting. I still had a full time career, 

Rich Bennett 14:06
but. 

Alex Sanfilippo 14:07
all of my time in podcasting was reaching out to anyone I could. Just to just try to convince anybody to come on the show. It was difficult. And granted, there were some that were immediately, like, oh, yes, I'd loved to be on the show. And then I look at them and I'm like, oh, well, but you don't really fit the criteria. Like, oh, but I can kind of share some stories that'll help. I'm like, no, but like, I'm looking for like a very specific thing. You left a nine five job, full time entrepreneur. Like, I'm not saying it discredits you in your, your own like journey for not doing that, but that's the person I need. And so like, I struggle a lot. Eventually, I was able to grow my network. I did some solo stuff when I needed to to to fill out, right. But it was a grind that the only way I can describe it is it was an ongoing grind. And that was in my mind again, that was the job part of it, because listeners don't care how long it took you to find a guest. They just 

Rich Bennett 14:51
right. 

Alex Sanfilippo 14:52
The 

Rich Bennett 14:52
Right. 

Alex Sanfilippo 14:52
conversation. And so I would never be like, this guy took me six months to land, right? Like, that doesn't matter to anyone who's listening. You just, you have it now. So yeah, a grind. That's how it was described. 

Rich Bennett 15:02
Well, and you didn't start pod match right away. And correct me if I'm wrong. I think the first thing was what pod style 

Alex Sanfilippo 15:08
So no, I don't know 

Rich Bennett 15:10
was. 

Alex Sanfilippo 15:10
what's in first, man. The dates all get, it all gets blurry. I think the first thing I had was the first thing I had was probably the, I think I had the community first. 

Rich Bennett 15:18
Okay. 

Alex Sanfilippo 15:19
It's literally just a community where people and they're kind of helping each other out. We weren't doing any full rematching. It was just more like 

Rich Bennett 15:24
networking. 

Alex Sanfilippo 15:25
Microphone you're using and people would share pictures or microphone and say that what it was, this is where I bought this, how much it was, right? So it was more like that. I'd say that was the very first thing which panned into like a bunch of different things. Podmatch didn't come on the scene until it was summer 2020. Sorry, summer 2020 June 15th is when we launched it. And so it was a almost two full years before that with where we didn't have it. And it really wasn't even on the radar till March 10th 2020. It's like when the idea came in. So it was like three short months of development to get it out there for 

Rich Bennett 15:54
people. Wow. Wow. All right. So you decided to build that but what gave you the idea, because all right, I know you said to yourself, I need to find different guests. But what made you realize that other podcasters need to find different guests? 

Alex Sanfilippo 16:10
Yeah, so I'm glad you asked this right because it really wasn't, I didn't build it for me. I was speaking at podcasting conferences at this point. So like I started traveling around, speaking at them, there was one in Orlando, Florida, at the beginning of 2020, not exaggerating a week before the world shut down. Like someone's like, aren't you worried about the coronavirus? So there's like the coronavirus to me meant you drank too many coronas. Like that's my only basis. 

Rich Bennett 16:33
like, 

Alex Sanfilippo 16:33
I was like we laugh now. But at first, you were like, dude, how offensive. I was like, what is a coronavirus? 

Rich Bennett 16:39
It's 

Alex Sanfilippo 16:39
like hungover. So the the world hasn't shut down yet. So about 2000 people in this room. And when I got off, as I was getting off stage, I just asked. I'm like, Hey, if anyone will give me just two minutes of time, I'd love to meet you and just ask a quick question. And so I had pen and paper hand. I got off stage and people were so kind. Like 

Rich Bennett 16:56
Yeah. 

Alex Sanfilippo 16:56
some people were talking to me. I just was like, Hey, well, so what are you struggling with in podcasting? And right down their name, their email address, and what they said they were struggling with. And I heard a lot of things that day, but 100 people is when I cut it off. 100 people said the same thing. I'm having trouble finding the right guest for my podcast. And someone said I'm having trouble finding the right guest in streamlining the whole booking process. Like it's a lot of work to get all that administration done. And so like me, I'm listening. Like, yeah, I feel he on that, right? Like so 

Rich Bennett 17:21
Yeah, 

Alex Sanfilippo 17:21
much on that one, but I went home knowing that like, that was the commonality. I'm like, so I'm not alone. And so it turned into just a giant whiteboard session. And being a corporate guy, that went. I had a whole wall of whiteboards. And I covered, I mean, every inch of these things trying to figure it out in the very 

Rich Bennett 17:35
wow. 

Alex Sanfilippo 17:35
bottom of my and corner of the last one. I wrote these words like a dating app, but instead of connecting you for dates connecting you for podcast interviews. And I was like, that's the idea. That's what we got a role with here. And so that was March 10, 2020. And kind of like went from there, man, but like it wasn't because of me needing it. It was validated because other people said it needed as well. 

Rich Bennett 17:55
It was just in time too. Because it 

Alex Sanfilippo 17:57
really was. Like timing is everything. Dude, I had no clue what I was building in that time. Like you can't plan that stuff. 

Rich Bennett 18:05
Right. 

Alex Sanfilippo 18:07
I can send myself very blessed to have been able to create during that time. 

Rich Bennett 18:10
Well, I mean, you think that when when COVID hit look at how many podcasts came in. I think we jumped from what was I would say 700,000 

Alex Sanfilippo 18:20
yep, 

Rich Bennett 18:20
podcasts up to 7 million. 

Alex Sanfilippo 18:22
It was like overnight, man. You're 

Rich Bennett 18:23
right. Yeah, 

Alex Sanfilippo 18:24
it was under it was under a million at the start of 2020. Yeah, you're right. About 700,000 is what we were sitting at. 

Rich Bennett 18:29
And then here comes pot. And it's funny because I was getting all local guests on, which unfortunately, you can only have so many local people on. 

Alex Sanfilippo 18:38
I learned that the hard way. 

Rich Bennett 18:42
But and I never did virtually. It was always in person. 

Alex Sanfilippo 18:46
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 18:47
COVID hit. I was supposed to have a local author on and we couldn't do it. I just bought my Zoom Live track Ellie and I said, well, look, I said we could do it over the phone. I can plug it, which I'm not crazy about, I don't believe in you know, remember that from radio just here in the, the voice coming through to phones like ehm, eh she says well can we do it like Zoom or something? I was like, actually no she doesn't say Zoom, she said 3-D internet. 

I found you know this platform's cross case and that thank God for this because most of the guests I get on now again and through pie match and to record virtually. I never thought and I'm sure you were the same way that I would be talking to somebody in another country and it'd be like the right next to you. 

Alex Sanfilippo 19:51
Right. Dude, my first guest that was like, um, beyond just my, my influence and my network, right, was a guy, it was during, um, I don't know when it was actually, but years ago, but he was in Singapore and I was like you're in Singapore right now like what time is it? And he's like 8 a. m. because it was like with me at 8 a. m. my time 8 p. m. his time. 

Rich Bennett 20:09
Right. 

Alex Sanfilippo 20:09
And I was like, oh thank you for getting on so light and he's like yeah I'm doing this whole podcast thing right now. And I was just like whoa we're like, we're really far from each other but you're. Is like you, it felt like you're in the same room in many, 

Rich Bennett 20:20
yes 

Alex Sanfilippo 20:21
very, very cool like I mean in think about it eight years ago this like. really wasn't a thing like it just 

Rich Bennett 20:28
Now 

Alex Sanfilippo 20:28
maybe some big corporations had ways of doing it. You could see it movie sometimes but as far as like you and me being able to do it it's just like. I don't know and I'm sure what you were military so you probably have seen things like it before like I had never seen anything like it 

Rich Bennett 20:40
Yeah 

Alex Sanfilippo 20:40
ever. 

Rich Bennett 20:41
it's wild it's wild but back back to the that author I've had on and every time I get an author on if they're local I tell them right away you have to get I like to say the podcast circuit. I said you have to get on other podcast throughout the world and talk about your book I said don't focus on the local part and I'll always send them you know the affiliate link to join pod match. And a couple of them have an fact I want to say I'll drop his name Damien Bloss who signed up and I think now he started his own podcast so he's getting a guest on through pod match. And I tell authors all the time you have to do it explain to everybody because I mean I'm sure you never thought you would see pod match this big but explain to everybody because you're seeing the testimonials from the guests from the host and everything. How important what a big difference it has made for people coming on being a guest on other shares. 

Alex Sanfilippo 21:45
Yeah first off thanks for being your one of the pod matches top affiliates, I think maybe when I talk about this just a couple weeks ago maybe I don't remember if I I meant to email you I'm not sure if I did or not but I meant to email you about that but 

Rich Bennett 21:56
I'm 

Alex Sanfilippo 21:56
you're 

Rich Bennett 21:56
still 

Alex Sanfilippo 21:57
in 

Rich Bennett 21:57
going 

Alex Sanfilippo 21:57
that 

Rich Bennett 21:57
through emails for a couple of weeks 

Alex Sanfilippo 21:58
Okay 

Rich Bennett 21:58
ago. 

Alex Sanfilippo 21:59
well you'll get there. But this wasn't supposed to be a public call out but you want to 

Rich Bennett 22:04
you. 

Alex Sanfilippo 22:05
know thank No I had I when I look at pod matches reach I am man I in my wildest dreams I couldn't imagine, 

Rich Bennett 22:15
yeah 

Alex Sanfilippo 22:15
could not imagine and I had to believe in thinking past the hundred people I met in that conference so like I have two business partners one's my wife and the other guy his name is Jesse and he he's the developer developer side so he doesn't know anything about podcasting I kind of pitched the idea to him. We all three of us and paperwork and we want to work building it. And he's like what's your expectation for this like from a mass perspective that point there were 700,000 shows 

Rich Bennett 22:38
right 

Alex Sanfilippo 22:38
and if you remember that time there wasn't many of those active. Like 

Rich Bennett 22:41
no 

Alex Sanfilippo 22:41
you could do this or active it was I told them like me and it'd be really cool if we got like a hundred podcasts maybe a hundred guests on here and like I don't know charged $20 bucks or something like that someday, like so we could keep the lights on and all I just didn't know. I can do the first night we launched again timing is everything so like I can so much less like there's nothing I could have done to have known this. I had no business for this happened but we launched and he's like maybe we'll do you expect to have joined the first like let's just say month I was like those hundred people I can get them all on board them on the email each of them. Taking a couple days like we'll do it that way, but the day we launch I post about it on on LinkedIn specifically 

Rich Bennett 23:18
But 

Alex Sanfilippo 23:18
I'm an aerospace guy at that point everyone on LinkedIn is like all airplane people right. And so when I just had like built this here it is I hope it helps somebody like I love podcasting and man like I went to bed that night because I posted in the evening I believe woke up the next morning to a text from Jesse and he goes dude a thousand people joined my words 

Rich Bennett 23:37
wow. 

Alex Sanfilippo 23:38
I was like what and he's like I thought you said a hundred in the first month I was like I did and then next day he's like a thousand more people joined he was dude what are you doing you have to stop you're going to break it 

Rich Bennett 23:49
like. 

Alex Sanfilippo 23:49
and I was 

Rich Bennett 23:50
(laughs) 

Alex Sanfilippo 23:50
He's like, he's like, he's like, I didn't build it for this. He's like, it's only can withstand a couple hundred people. He's like, you have two thousand people on him two days. He's like, what is happening? I was like, I don't know. I was like, I don't have any influence. I don't know any of these people. I'm like, I don't know what's happening. I have no idea. And 

Rich Bennett 24:06
Wow. 

Alex Sanfilippo 24:06
my mind was blown by day two, man. And like, again, I don't take credit for that. The Alex did something incredible. Yet, like, yes, we filled a gap in the market. So I'm not going to sell short what we did. We executed it really well. But by the grace of God, damn, like we launched on the day when people were looking for it. And I look at it today, man, like, I only track active members. I'm not 

Rich Bennett 24:26
from 

Alex Sanfilippo 24:26
looking at people Active members, we're about to hit 150,000 podcast episodes released from people that are just actively using pot, like literally, like using it in the last 45 days. There's there's about 150,000 episodes been released. When I think about the episodes, the impact they have, I'm not taking credit for that. But we're helping enable those connections. And knowing what the world is changing from every single one of those episodes dude, I can't even I can't fathom it, man, but I am. I am so grateful to be here doing what I'm doing. I cannot express that enough like that makes me excited to keep on going every day. And I'm not like addicted to big numbers. I'm not like. I'm like counter culture. Most ways when it comes to software. Like I'm really just I care about people, 

Rich Bennett 25:05
Right. 

Alex Sanfilippo 25:05
but knowing that somebody is getting influence impact by every day. Hopefully one person every day, dude, it fires me out, man. And I know this is a long-winded answer. I'm just kind of in shock still about what's going on with this thing. And here we are, like we started in 2020. It's been a while and I still feel that same way. 

Rich Bennett 25:20
It's amazing. I mean, I look at these other platforms. And it's like, why would anybody use any other thing is to with pod match. If you say you cannot find a guest for your podcast and you're on pod match. You're not using it right. There's either. Yeah, something's wrong there. And the other thing is, and I have to commend you for this. Because I don't know of any other platforms that do this. And those of you listening if you're getting into podcast or, or you know, you're you want to start one, you're doing it now. You have to look at pod match.com because one of the things that Alex does. You're listening to the conversations with Rich Bennett. We'll be right back. 

I want to give a huge shout out to a key player behind the scenes of the show Freedom Federal Credit Union. You know, running a podcast involves more than just microphones and stories. It requires solid financial management. And that's where Freedom Federal Credit Union comes in. They're not just a credit. There are community partner that I trust deeply. Their support helps us keep bringing you the stories you love episode after episode. And what really sets Freedom Federal Credit Union apart is their dedication to local businesses. They offer everything from business loans to incredible resources, ensuring companies like mine thrive. And it's all wrapped in top notch customer service. So if you're a business owner looking for a financial institution that supports your goals and invest in our community. I can't recommend Freedom Federal Credit Union enough, swing by their site at freedom fcu. org or give them a call at 1-800-440-4120. He gives back. And I don't see other platforms doing that. I can't tell you I think it's every month. I'm getting a commitment. I want to say, well, I guess I can say a commission check from you. 

Alex Sanfilippo 27:36
Yeah, for sure. Yeah. That's right. 

Rich Bennett 27:38
We say it. What made you decide to do the affiliate thing? Because again, anybody that's not doing it. Hello, wake up. 

Alex Sanfilippo 27:47
Yeah. Yeah. So we call it commission. Like there's the affiliate stuff, right? So like you're a affiliate. 

Rich Bennett 27:53
Right. 

Alex Sanfilippo 27:54
But beyond that, we just pay host every time they're releasing an interview that they got through PodMatch. So you're like, booking guests to the platform. We give you a cut. Basically, the simplest way to describe it is we take our profit. We cut it half 50% goes to keeping the lights on, and the other 50% goes split up among our podcast host. And we decided to do that years ago. This point, we call our pod value initiative. And that's something you can ask AI about it. If you want to know more about it because people regularly like, Hey, what is that? And the whole idea was just birth from this place of looking at podcasting as at large. And this is kind of like when we built this was kind of like the rise of podcasting tools. So like, we're using squadcast record. I use bus straps my hosting provider. 

Rich Bennett 28:34
Me too. 

Alex Sanfilippo 28:34
Yeah, okay, so there's so many different like tools and things out there right so they're like all over the place and Every one of them and this is nothing against them, but it's like $12 this $18 this $12 15 for that right and it's like kind of a lot and I was looking out like well If there's no podcasters because I can't afford it because that's one of the main reasons people quit It's just like their family can't get on board with the $80 month hobby or $50 

Rich Bennett 28:55
Right. 

Alex Sanfilippo 28:55
month hobby whatever it is right like and some people can do it for Like this little is $20 10 like whatever my fee, but still people like it's it's a hit to my bank every month I just don't have the luxury right now and so I'm looking I'm like well if there was no podcasters was really None of these tools like the industry doesn't exist without people that are making it up and like any economy It's Podcasting is is no different. It's not built on the backs of the the hundred big names that are celebrities We all know it's built on the at this point millions of people that are the individuals that are in the space So their own production their handling all right like that's what the whole industry is built on But so many people want to just praise that top 100 isn't this person incredible They're a celebrity and they're the podcaster right and like that's always bothering me sweet cater to them But the industry really works for everyone else and so I told Jesse and Alicia I was kind of nervous to tell the man if I can be real, but I was like hey I think we should give half our money back to broadcasters and they'll like explain that 

Rich Bennett 29:50
like 

Alex Sanfilippo 29:50
you know What does that mean? It's like I drew up a plan and They were both like like literally the words that Jesse used he goes, dude This is really good. He's like this is very well thought out and make sure we don't go banker up in the 

Rich Bennett 30:06
right 

Alex Sanfilippo 30:06
process and it gives back to people that are trusting us with their time with their like using using pod match And so we just we flipped on the switch man And like I'll say is no one's gonna get rich using pod match like it's just not going to happen with the very least our hope is it Offset's a host Full production cost and even made it gives them a little bit extra thing a higher a virtual assistant or 

Rich Bennett 30:26
Right 

Alex Sanfilippo 30:27
get someone pulled out right in a little bit like again No one will get rich But if you can be at zero and be have the luxury of being able to create a show that people love like you're already doing better than most And so the whole idea was just can we do this to serve people and I the pod value initiative as we call it is my favorite thing at a time recording this actually We just passed giving a million dollars back to podcasters and for 

Rich Bennett 30:49
what 

Alex Sanfilippo 30:50
yes, man like that when we'll hunch it my dream I can remember saying this to Alicia. I was like wouldn't it be cool if one day we could give a million dollars back like reach that at that point and Dude pinch myself again November 2025 we reached that mark of like it is 

Rich Bennett 31:05
in 

Alex Sanfilippo 31:05
officially 

Rich Bennett 31:05
five years time 

Alex Sanfilippo 31:07
We we launch that in 2022 

Rich Bennett 31:09
oh 

Alex Sanfilippo 31:09
actually so 

Rich Bennett 31:09
Three years time 

Alex Sanfilippo 31:11
Yeah, some three under three I don't know what it was two and a half. I think is what I can't remember the exact date It's it's on their summer, but yeah the idea was just like let's let's get there and and that wasn't like the goal We stop we're gonna keep on going 

Rich Bennett 31:21
wow 

Alex Sanfilippo 31:21
but man like It makes me excited like I love that I love helping just equip people to continue and move on 

Rich Bennett 31:28
Okay, are you in the podcasters all the same yet because if not you should be? No 

Alex Sanfilippo 31:32
I 

Yeah, dude can I be fully transparent here? I think 

Rich Bennett 31:37
sure of course 

Alex Sanfilippo 31:38
a lot of industry people don't like that and I even had some of them reach out to me when we launched that plan saying This is a bad notion for the rest of Like you shouldn't do this the job your job is to make money not give money away and like it's to some extent I agree the lights need to stay on like 

Rich Bennett 31:54
us right 

Alex Sanfilippo 31:54
I am not serving anyone if pod match has to shut down right like that doesn't help anybody exactly But at the same time like but I've at least not like dude we live in a two-bedroom condo we drive one car We went down to one car in 2020. We don't we don't have any debt We're not like stuff people like we're just we're fairly simple and we love our lives this way and I don't have any I don't have any desire to try to Ferrari or something like that right like it just this is not me and so like I don't have this desire to like become rich or anything like that like I don't mean like rich benefit I mean like funnily rich, right? Like I'd be cool to be you man My point is like so when people are reaching out like like a lot of backlash man and some people like I've had to be like Hey, this will never make a difference it'll never actually help you like you should stop and so like we hit that million mark Like I posted about it and I sent to all the the outlets that do like news 

Rich Bennett 32:42
on 

Alex Sanfilippo 32:42
or 

Rich Bennett 32:42
Not 

Alex Sanfilippo 32:42
we're a single one of them responded and I get it they think it makes everyone else look bad and that is not my goal But I do think this type of thing should be celebrated so 

Man I don't even know why I went on that little 

Rich Bennett 32:55
there 

Alex Sanfilippo 32:55
riff 

Rich Bennett 32:56
you know what they're jealous. 

Alex Sanfilippo 32:59
I don't know like And I don't want to make people jealous like I that's not the goal I mean the goal literally is to serve and 

Rich Bennett 33:05
people 

Alex Sanfilippo 33:05
to help 

Rich Bennett 33:06
right 

Alex Sanfilippo 33:06
at the core That's what it is and this is probably the only place I'll ever share this. Thank you for being a safe space for a man but like I don't know like I don't know like I think that doing the right thing has a cost sometimes and Sometimes the cost goes beyond the financial cost right in this case. It's some people don't care for that For what we're doing 

Rich Bennett 33:25
right you know, but here's the thing Alex you gotta look at this way too you are 

Because if you weren't doing that a lot of other protesters would have, uh, and you see it all the time, protesters will quit. 

Alex Sanfilippo 33:42
Yeah. We call podfein. Yeah. Not exaggerating, every day I get at least one email saying I'm continuing my podcast because of what you guys are doing. Cause what Alex does is because what pod matches a whole 

Rich Bennett 33:51
Yeah, 

Alex Sanfilippo 33:51
is done. So 

Rich Bennett 33:51
yeah. 

Alex Sanfilippo 33:52
I don't want to take too much credit there for myself. I, hollow fame is how we got here. Like I don't know is that I have done anything necessary. Like, why are you talking about a more expensive Like, I guess a whole fame would be cool. It makes sense. But like, at the end of the day, like it's beyond me. And yeah, you're right, every day though, man. So I'm, so at least one person said something like, Hey, I would have stopped my mouth. It wasn't for you. 

Rich Bennett 34:09
Well, you know what? Here's my take on it. You are in the hall of fame to everybody that is involved with pod match, whether as a host or a guest 

Alex Sanfilippo 34:20
that 

Rich Bennett 34:20
because 

Alex Sanfilippo 34:20
means a lot. 

Rich Bennett 34:21
Seriously, mean, this is what you started. Here's a blessing. 

Alex Sanfilippo 34:25
Thank you. 

Rich Bennett 34:25
I mean, in all honesty, if I would not have gotten that email from you, I, my podcast may have shut down at the time because I would have had a hard time trying to find guest 

Alex Sanfilippo 34:39
and 

Rich Bennett 34:40
the people and here's the other thing that I love about pop. Yeah, so those of you listening, it may sound like an infomercial, but you've heard me talk about pod match all the time. It's, it's a giant network. And the one thing that I love about it is it's it's not just guests that I'm getting on, it's friendships. We're creating friendships. We are, and I can't tell you how many times I've had people back on again. You know, like the three times three that you had it the first one, but it's, and, and send in others to him. And it's like, well, okay, you want to send somebody to me to come in through pod match, first of all. But it's just amazing. Terry Brown, I think she's, I had her on. She's an author. 

Alex Sanfilippo 35:30
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 35:30
And now 

Alex Sanfilippo 35:31
I 

Rich Bennett 35:31
she's 

Alex Sanfilippo 35:31
know 

Rich Bennett 35:31
on. 

Alex Sanfilippo 35:31
what work 

Rich Bennett 35:32
cast host. 

Alex Sanfilippo 35:33
Yeah, she's she's phenomenal. 

Rich Bennett 35:34
Oh, she is. 

Alex Sanfilippo 35:35
Yeah, she 

Rich Bennett 35:36
sent people my way, she goes, this one's on pie match. Gotta get them all. You gotta get them all. It's like, oh, wow, thanks because sometimes it's hard. Hard to look through everybody. That's 

Alex Sanfilippo 35:46
Oh, sure. 

Rich Bennett 35:47
But yeah, to me, it's like it's a giant network, which is something else. You started with pod match. You 

Alex Sanfilippo 35:54
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 35:54
want to hit on that for a little bit because I 

Alex Sanfilippo 35:56
sure. 

Rich Bennett 35:56
think that's very 

Alex Sanfilippo 35:58
Yeah, and I think for everyone listening, like the idea of a network is that it's in your niche and your vertical is so important, because I remember when I first started looking for guests, I went to a Facebook group that was like, it was bloggers, YouTubers, podcasters, and other content creators, I think that was the name of the group. So I went in their post it's just giving you a bunch of people, but the idea of something more narrow, more niche is just so important. Like it gives you a tribe. And so like if you're here to say you're not like really into podcasting that's fine, but like whatever your tribe is, find it, find the network, get into that network of that tribe, you will go so much further, so much faster. If you just get yourself around the right people, 

Rich Bennett 36:33
important. Mm-hmm, 

Alex Sanfilippo 36:34
and be that connector in that space, like Rich, I know your name because we met years ago at this point, but even 

Rich Bennett 36:41
but 

Alex Sanfilippo 36:41
if we hadn't met, I would know who you are because of the connections you make that lead people to pod match. Like, I would know who you were. And so I think that that goes a long way, no matter what kind of network you're in. And so we want to get even more narrow, we like built an actual podcast network inside a pod match, because it's one of those things where we just saw that like, hey, there's there's more room to serve podcasters. And we recently have found that like this gets super techy, but pod match has a very high domain authority, which just means in like search results AI, it shows up very fast, 

Rich Bennett 37:11
yes. 

Alex Sanfilippo 37:11
because the website's credible enough now to say, yeah, this is legit, we don't need to check any sources. Just share it because it's done really well 

Rich Bennett 37:18
and Jesse's not worried about you crashing the servers. 

Alex Sanfilippo 37:21
Yeah, right, he made sure of that. At this point, he's not worried. Wow, that's funny, but uh, so we want to leverage our high high domain authority not for ourselves, but it's like, hey, is there a way that we can do something that benefits members? So we worked with an SEO expert who understood like the, he understood profiles 

Rich Bennett 37:41
well. 

Alex Sanfilippo 37:41
really profiles from like just think any profile like Facebook, Instagram, X. We wanted podmatch to be at that level where it's one that helps build the credibility of your name and the idea was to try to get to the level of IMDB. IMDB has very high domain authorities done really well and so I can't say that we've reached that point yet. We are well in the way and what how we did that we built out a network landing page. It has shows on it. And the way that search engines and AIs will, the models will actually index that page. It looks at everything on that page saying these things are associated with podmatch at a very high level. Therefore, whatever profile this links to, rank that really high. And so the whole goal of that is just can we bring more exposure to these podcasters? Like, can we somehow put this show in front of more people? 

Rich Bennett 38:24
Yeah. 

Alex Sanfilippo 38:25
And so far it's working really well. 

Rich Bennett 38:26
Oh, yeah. 

Alex Sanfilippo 38:27
It's exceeded my expectations, especially for a start. Like it's not where I'm an overly ambitious So it's not like where I want it to be, but when I looked at like kind of milestones, it's far surpass that. And so the whole goal is just again, these people all have the same vision. They're in podcasting for the long haul. Let's help them. Like, there's people that want to listen to the show, they don't know exists. Let's find those people and bring them to the show for them. 

Rich Bennett 38:49
Well, and the other thing that I love about it, and granted I know I've missed some because I've been recording with guests that I found on podmatch. But the once, once a month, and actually even with the legacy team as well. You're bringing people on and they're teaching these other podcasters. I mean, you've had some top name when it comes to podcast and top 

Alex Sanfilippo 39:13
Oh, 

Rich Bennett 39:13
names 

Alex Sanfilippo 39:13
yeah. 

Rich Bennett 39:13
and podcasting on there. And you mentioned IMDB, and I'm thinking of is Kevin, right? Kevin Pomary. 

Alex Sanfilippo 39:21
I don't have saved last name, but yes. 

Rich Bennett 39:23
Something like that. Kevin, if I put your name, I'm sorry. 

Alex Sanfilippo 39:28
Kevin. Yes. 

Rich Bennett 39:29
But I mean, 

Alex Sanfilippo 39:29
I don't care. 

Rich Bennett 39:31
But I listen to that. Even though I had him on before through podmatch. So I started doing that with IMDB. I put my podcast on there. And I get, especially actors because not everybody shows up on IMDB, but it makes a big difference. Another thing that you've done with podmatch. And those of you listening again, this is another reason you have to join. Now when I love the fact where people can listen to my episodes, and explain how I love the way you did this, because you did a study. You were asking people to send links. So explain that because and I hope I did send the right link come to think of it. 

I know. When people ask me for a link to my podcast, I never send them the Apple link to Spotify link. It's either a link directly to my website or to Buzzsprout. 

Alex Sanfilippo 40:29
The one. 

Rich Bennett 40:30
Okay. 

Alex Sanfilippo 40:30
Yeah. That's the winner. The website is the winner. Yeah. So this is actually really interesting because I realized somebody was sending me a link to a podcast. I met and they were sending to my phone. It was somebody I met in person and they were using some app I'd never heard of. Well, I couldn't even click it to download it turns out it was a Google play only app and I have an iPhone. So like I couldn't click. I didn't know what it was. And so I was asking like, Hey, I, I can't do anything with this. Like, Oh, you sure? And then like they started explaining like, this is a lot of friction for me to listen to a show like I didn't tell them that my channel. I was like, what are the podcasts? So some people do bad links. And so I I've asked at this point, we still do this. And now it's more a little bit more automated, but about every month it's over 200 people on average that we asked to send links to their podcast. The number one by far is Spotify, which isn't bad, but it's not accessible for everybody. As a matter of fact, only 8% of the world, which is a lot. I should say only that's a lot. 8% of the world uses Spotify. But the other 92%. They can't quickly click that link without some form of sign up without doing something. 

Rich Bennett 41:32
Yeah. 

Alex Sanfilippo 41:32
So I pull that in accessible link if you're using that your website work for everybody. If they have a web browser, they can listen to podcasts. Your website is the best place to send them. But that's like usually not even top five of where people send it. The number two most common one every month that we've been doing this is a broken link. So whether they're trying Spotify, whether they're trying 

Rich Bennett 41:52
Wow. 

Alex Sanfilippo 41:52
YouTube, they're on website. It's a link that goes to a 404. Like they didn't check it. And I'm like, man, like podcasts. How do I grow my podcast? Well 101 is sent people the right link to it, right? Like, 

Rich Bennett 42:02
yeah, 

Alex Sanfilippo 42:03
You're doing good. But it's an interesting study to go in and try to figure out. We decided to add as you mentioned, like an embedded player on pod match profiles, just for accessibility Like, we want anyone to go to your profile, be able to listen. They don't have to go to an external app they can. But they don't have to they can go right there that can hear your latest three episodes. The whole idea I'm really focused on accessibility thing like we want to send people stuff they can immediately friction and frictionless lay access to do something with it. I think the future of online content is that way because people just don't have the attention span. If you send something done work most of morning, say anything. They'll just move 

Rich Bennett 42:35
yeah. 

Alex Sanfilippo 42:35
on to the next thing. So we want to make sure we get that right from from step one, right? 

Rich Bennett 42:39
and it's working because I look at was it OP three, I think it is 

Alex Sanfilippo 42:43
yeah yeah that's it yeah the stats looks I yep 

Rich Bennett 42:45
so I look at my podcast on that and I see how many people are listening on pod match 

Alex Sanfilippo 42:52
that's the goal we're sending we send listeners to it now they spam pod match absolutely not 

Rich Bennett 42:57
now great 

Alex Sanfilippo 42:57
but if we can get them to start there that's what it's all about let them go to their own app where they want but they can start them there and they can they can click to listen boom that's a win right there 

Rich Bennett 43:05
so all right so with pod match because when it started it was just, you know find a guest find a host whatever now you have the podcast network you have the training you have the embedded players where people can listen to their podcast or different episodes on that the testimonials which I think are very key I want to say also the CRM for podcast host where they can 

basically keep track of all the guests that they have coming on which is that helps a lot although I'm still doing it old school using the spreadsheet then I converted over to it but what's the next big thing for pod match 

Alex Sanfilippo 43:55
yeah man I'm I'm really excited to share that that real quick the CRM that you're talking like the prior bookings page is that what you're referring to 

Rich Bennett 44:00
yeah 

Alex Sanfilippo 44:02
okay 

Rich Bennett 44:02
after if the guest comes on I say CRM if 

Alex Sanfilippo 44:04
okay 

Rich Bennett 44:04
the 

Alex Sanfilippo 44:05
where 

Rich Bennett 44:05
guest comes on you could put in there the episode the name and all that 

Alex Sanfilippo 44:08
right okay um yeah I'm gonna get back to that because that's kind of a next thing here but 

Rich Bennett 44:14
oh 

Alex Sanfilippo 44:15
and I'm really I'm really excited what's next so when I look at podcasting online learning online connectivity I'm realizing more and more like community even on a one-on-one level communication ongoing way is really the future this whole thing man like people are looking for more human interaction in a world where you go to most things and like most websites you can talk to a human anymore you're talking 

Rich Bennett 44:38
right 

Alex Sanfilippo 44:38
to a lot and other the body isn't helpful but it does lack that human connection and people are looking for that feeling like we got online originally we joined one of these social media apps because we wanted to connect with another person right not because it's like oh I want spam I want ads right like no no you connect it because you wanted some sort of feeling and so man we're diving heavy into that so the first thing we're doing that prior bookings page which shows everything you've done we actually are turning into more of a full-blown CRM 

Rich Bennett 45:03
oh 

Alex Sanfilippo 45:03
and 

Rich Bennett 45:04
oh 

Alex Sanfilippo 45:04
yeah 

Rich Bennett 45:04
wow 

Alex Sanfilippo 45:04
like 

Rich Bennett 45:04
okay 

Alex Sanfilippo 45:05
you'll have like a way to follow up we'll have all their details you can log your conversations it'll have like quick links it's gonna be run very effectively but it's not like I don't know how to say this man but we live in a world now where like the easiest tool to spin up with AI is like people who build their own AI tools it's CRM's but they're very cumbersome they're very like it's a lot we built this by is hand coded so hand coded extremely simple the idea is just if you've been talked to this person in a while we're gonna remind you you haven't talked to them in a while and if you're like you know why I don't remember one taught as person again or remind me later you can do that right that's fine but if you're like no I want to talk to this person now like I need to you're right it's been six months like we want to be able to remind that help facilitate that happening like you'll go reach out however you reach out but the system will kind of log in and man I'm so excited about that beyond that the next thing right along with that is this idea of us being able to do swaps now swaps in podcasting usually means like I come in my show you go on yours by me 

Rich Bennett 45:58
yeah 

Alex Sanfilippo 45:58
well beyond that here's an example if you're an author and I'm a podcaster I don't have a book you don't have a podcast right we basically took 16 different things that are comparable so an example is I'll go leave your book on Amazon a five star rating you'll go review my podcast on Apple podcast and we'll kind of do that we'll facilitate that swap happening 

Rich Bennett 46:16
oh 

Alex Sanfilippo 46:17
and the idea is like we'll kind of position this way like even if you haven't read the book or have listened to podcast if you've done something together like recorded you 

Rich Bennett 46:24
right 

Alex Sanfilippo 46:24
can speak of that person's integrity so when you leave it hey I've met this author they're incredible I know this book is going to be really good hey I was on this podcast I know that it's really good right that type of thing again we just want to facilitate more meaningful interaction so those are the two things I'm those are two next things coming out I'm super excited about them they're gonna be built right into a pod match we're not like upcharging for any of them they're just they're just gonna show up for everybody one day and but man I am I am so excited about those things because I think it's getting us getting ahead of where I'm seeing this whole connectivity thing going 

Rich Bennett 46:53
wow holy cow are you that means you're going to be going on everybody's podcast for the next several the way you guys keep building this 

Alex Sanfilippo 47:03
that man we just listen dude like I like we that's that's the key to me like in all this it's just listen like what do people need what do they want like and and don't just listen to the words they're saying like what is what is it that they're actually trying to achieve 

Rich Bennett 47:15
yeah 

Alex Sanfilippo 47:15
like like like it's not it's it's not always people saying like you got to kind of think a layer deeper than that and so for me man like I'm all about loving and serving the people that have been placed in my path and we're just gonna keep on doing we think make for them. 

Rich Bennett 47:28
Alright, so with- with- anybody wants to get into podcasting, or that's even doing it now, they just want to improve, um, that when- when I started mine ten years ago, again, I really didn't know what podcast was. So I started doing my research, and I mentioned that you are one of my mentors, the way things have come around now, but there are two people I listened to before I started, which helped me a lot. And that was Dave Jackson, and Daniel D. Lewis. Don- not Daniel D. Lewis. He's the actor. Daniel J. 

Alex Sanfilippo 48:04
J. 

Rich Bennett 48:04
Lewis. 

Alex Sanfilippo 48:04
Lewis. 

Rich Bennett 48:04
He's got to change his name. I do that all the 

Alex Sanfilippo 48:08
time. Daniel J. Lewis, yeah. 

Rich Bennett 48:10
Uh, God. So, he probably likes it. He probably gets it all the time. 

Alex Sanfilippo 48:16
I'm sure he does. He's a great guy. 

Rich Bennett 48:18
I- 

Alex Sanfilippo 48:18
I hope those guys are 

Rich Bennett 48:19
impressive. 

Alex Sanfilippo 48:20
absolutely 

Rich Bennett 48:20
Oh, they are. Um, 

Alex Sanfilippo 48:22
so I'm- I'm really 

Rich Bennett 48:24
thankful for that. So with people that want to get into it, how important it is for them. I would say even to go back to listen to those old episodes, but also now podcasting made simple, because you get a lot of the experts on there. 

Alex Sanfilippo 48:39
Yeah, I mean, the whole idea of our show was built out of a place of, again, just like listening to our audience and listening to people on podmatch, and what I realized we were missing was an educational element of it. There were so many questions coming through it. And in all honesty, man, like I'm good at what I'm good at, but I'm not good at the rest of it. And so like, exactly, we were like, hey, how do I say no to, 

Rich Bennett 48:58
Ha-ha. 

Alex Sanfilippo 48:59
I mean, come on as a guest or like the wrong guest. And I was like, I'm the worst person in the world at that. You know, like I'm a people pleaser. So I brought on an expert who literally, like her title is the note coach. 

Rich Bennett 49:10
Yes, I remember her 

Alex Sanfilippo 49:11
saying no, and so I was like, can you please come on the show? And that's what it's about is filling those educational gaps and me not trying to sound like a guru that knows everything. I'm like, no, I don't, but I'll tell you what Susanne does. She knows how to say no really well in a beautiful way and help me a ton come on the show. And so the whole idea was just filling that communication, or start that education gap for our community. 

Rich Bennett 49:30
I want to say you you are when it comes to podcast, and you're like the Henry Ford of podcasting, 

Alex Sanfilippo 49:35
too. I will take 

Rich Bennett 49:36
Yeah, 

Alex Sanfilippo 49:36
that. 

Rich Bennett 49:37
Henry Ford aligned himself with all of these people that knew what they were doing because he didn't know how to build a car. 

Alex Sanfilippo 49:42
Right. Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 49:43
Yeah. You know, and 

Alex Sanfilippo 49:44
yes, I 

Rich Bennett 49:46
just got a comment on that because the podcast I made simple and I listened to it all the time. There's so you have so many great people in there, which is how I've also found some of the guests I've gotten on 

Alex Sanfilippo 49:59
sweet. That's 

Rich Bennett 50:00
Through that, 

Alex Sanfilippo 50:01
great. 

Rich Bennett 50:02
you know, but no, it's great. I love it. So those of you that are listening, you want to get into that, you definitely got to watch podcasting or listen to it, you can watch it too. Or listen to podcast and me simple or better yet because you can also catch it once about that. That's not the legacy group. That's the podcast networking group, right? 

Alex Sanfilippo 50:24
Yeah, and you got to be in the network to access that. So I wouldn't tell that to everyone. 

Rich Bennett 50:30
Well, this is why they need to become a member of podcast. So whether you're podcast guest or host or an aspiring guest or host, you just go to pod pod match dot com for slash free, right? 

Alex Sanfilippo 50:44
That's it, man, that's right. Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 50:45
okay, 

Alex Sanfilippo 50:46
knew or thinking about it or experience like that. I got nine ideas there that I think will help out. Doesn't ask for email, dresser anything like that, but pod match dot com slash free. Thank you, man. That is, that's the place where I like everyone to start. 

Rich Bennett 50:57
That's the that's the quiz, isn't it? 

Alex Sanfilippo 50:59
It'll take you to a quiz, ultimately. Yep. If you want to give you nine, eight other ideas there. Just just as good or is so, but the quiz is sweet. So 

Rich Bennett 51:06
I love it. 

Alex Sanfilippo 51:06
Maybe 

Rich Bennett 51:07
I love it because that's another thing I did, even after I forget how many years doing this and I'll go back to take it every once in a while because this way, I know what I need to work on. So Alex, because I'm looking at the time. Is there anything you would like to add before I get to my last question. 

Alex Sanfilippo 51:25
You know, no, I mean, first off, Rich, thank you for your service, man, like, 

Rich Bennett 51:30
oh, my. 

Alex Sanfilippo 51:30
Your service, like, first off, military, thank you for that, man, like as a US citizen born raised in Florida seriously means so much to me. You've paved the way in podcasting for many of us. And again, I thank you for that as well. Dude, you're awesome. Like you gave me a platform today. I shared stuff. I'll probably never share anywhere else. So just thank you. Seriously, that's all I got. 

Rich Bennett 51:47
Well, next I got good Alicia on 

Alex Sanfilippo 51:49
good luck. 

Rich Bennett 51:50
I was gonna say, has she ever gotten on any podcast 

Alex Sanfilippo 51:53
or two? And she's like, never again. I was like, she just doesn't like it. She loves me behind the scenes. 

Rich Bennett 51:56
I'll 

Alex Sanfilippo 51:57
tell you what, she is so good when she and her lane. Let her say where she wants to be. 

Rich Bennett 52:02
All right. So here's. I do something different now. Pick a number between one and a hundred, one in 100. 

Alex Sanfilippo 52:10
Seven. 

Is my wife's number when she played college sports, that was always your number. So I just kind of gone with that. 

Rich Bennett 52:17
All right. Okay. That's a good question. 

What's a small act of kindness you witnessed or experienced that profoundly impacted you? 

Alex Sanfilippo 52:28
"Oh, dude, there's so many of these, man, "I don't know why I see these things." But recently, I just, I saw somebody that was maybe, they're in a restaurant. I don't know if they were really struggling, I just looked at that kind of, and I was like in line, I could kind of see them over there, and I didn't even think to do anything, 'cause they didn't look like it was a big struggle, it's somebody else got up and went and like, talked to them and like, help them up, and like, help them do what they're trying to do, and then just walked away. And it was like a small thing, they didn't look for a pound of that. They just did it 'cause I saw Unneeding fulfilled and 

Rich Bennett 52:57
I 

Alex Sanfilippo 52:58
didn't even notice that it was a need, but like the fact that they had the empathy to see that there was something going on there, dude, it really, it really like, it struck a chord with me, man, like it made me feel emotional, like watching it happen, and I'm like, "Man, like, what a great thing, "watching on the person just helped somebody with something, "like, seemingly small," and they may not have even really needed help, but they really appreciated it, and the person walked away with no expectation, and I was like, "People are great, right?" Like, people really do care, do love each other, and it was really just encouraging for a man. So like, it was a motivational thing for me, even though it was seemingly very small. I left there feeling like very encouraged by that, and it's probably something I'll never forget, even though it seems small and nature. 

Rich Bennett 53:34
It could have saved that person's life. 

Alex Sanfilippo 53:36
Yeah, who knows, man? 

Rich Bennett 53:37
Never know, never know. Alex, I wanna thank you so much, man. It's been an honor, and God, those of you again, I can't stress enough how, if you're a podcast host, it's important to join bridges with guests, and if you want to guest, wait, man, I'm the one that's right. As a host story guest, it's important to join pod match. 

Alex Sanfilippo 54:00
There it is. 

Rich Bennett 54:01
God, plain and simple. And Alex, I promised, 2026, I'm going to start guesting on podcast. 

Alex Sanfilippo 54:08
come on, man, 

Rich Bennett 54:09
I 

Alex Sanfilippo 54:09
come on. 

Rich Bennett 54:09
know 

Alex Sanfilippo 54:09
Instead 

Rich Bennett 54:09
I, 

Alex Sanfilippo 54:09
of beginning, I heard it, I heard it, I'm writing, 

Rich Bennett 54:11
Look, 

Alex Sanfilippo 54:11
I'm all--

Rich Bennett 54:12
and I feel bad because it's like, you're always asking for podcasters, for podcast, I made simple, and it's like, man, every time I keep saying I would do it, I would do it, I would do it. And then something comes up, I'm just gonna go ahead and record the video and then send it to you so you can use it whenever. 

Alex Sanfilippo 54:29
Just do it. 

Rich Bennett 54:30
(laughing)

Thanks a lot, Alex. 

Alex Sanfilippo 54:32
I appreciate it, man, thank you for having me. 

Rich Bennett 54:34
Thank you for listening to the conversations with Rich Bennett. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and learned something from it as I did. If you'd like to hear more conversations like this, be sure to subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode. And if you have a moment, I'd love it if you could leave a review. It helps us reach more listeners and share more incredible stories. Don't forget to connect with us on social media or visit our website at conversationswithrich Bennett.com for updates, giveaways, and more. Until next time, take care, be kind, and keep the conversations going. You know, it takes a lot to put a podcast together. And my sponsors help add a lot, but I also have some supporters that actually help me when it comes to the editing software, the hosting, and so forth. There's a lot that goes into putting this together. So I want to thank them, and if you can please, please visit their websites, visit their businesses, support them however you can. So please visit the following, Full circle boards, nobody does Charcudery like full circle boards, visit them at fullcircleboards.com, Sincerely, Sincerely sincerely so your photography, live in the moment, they'll capture it, visit them at sincerelysoyer.com. The Joppatowne Lions Club, serve in the community since 1965. Visit them at Joppatowne Lions Club. org, and don't forget the E at the end of Joppatowne because they're extraordinary.