Lloyd George – Podcast Influencer

 [00:00:00] Sanjay Parekh: We've got a special guest on the show today, our very own podcast, Hype Man, Lloyd George. Better known by his name, on all social platforms, Lloyd, not George. Lloyd is a podcast producer and social media influence and is building a community of aspiring podcasters through tips, giveaways, and resourceful content for beginners. He's accumulated over 300,000 views on TikTok, and I'm confident Lloyd has something really interesting to share with us today. Lloyd, welcome to the show. I'm super excited to have you on.

[00:00:29] Lloyd George: Thanks, Sanjay. Super excited to be here.

[00:00:32] Sanjay Parekh: So, let's start out with your background and, where you come from and, tell us a little bit about you.

[00:00:38] Lloyd George: Yeah, absolutely. So, I was originally born in a country called Zimbabwe. I moved to the United States in 2006, finished high school, and went to college for about six months before dropping out. And that's when I like to say my career officially started. I got a job at an eye doctor's office as an assistant.

And from that point, I basically networked my way into project management. I'd meet a patient at the at the eye doctor office and they say, Oh, I know a friend. You should meet my friend. I meet their friend. They offered me a job. I worked there for a year and so on, and eventually it got into project management and I just fell in love.

I've been doing that now for about seven years. And that's when I felt like I found my calling. I was so happy I'm fulfilled. And so, as a project manager, I've gotten the opportunity to work on a number of different projects. And in early about 2018-ish, I worked on a, podcast project. And that's when I decided I wanted to start a podcast and the rest has been history since then.

[00:01:38] Sanjay Parekh: Okay, I'd love to dig into kind of that little snippet that you shared there of dropping out of college after six months. What motivated you to do that?

[00:01:45] Lloyd George: It was a few different things. The first was, I was never a great student, like ever. I can't think of a time where I enjoyed school or excelled at school, and even the times where it felt like I was trying really hard.

I just could not get good grades. I would be lucky if I got a C. Normally I'd get. A high 68, which is a, f in the state that I'm in, and I'd have to convince the teachers just like bump into a 70 and that's how I'd get through life. And so the first thing is just I wasn't a great student.

And the second is that I just literally couldn't afford it.

[00:02:16] Sanjay Parekh: Okay. Necessity is the mother of invention, it sounds like there. So you moved in incredible that you net network your way from eye doctor into project management. But as you're working then as a project manager what really made you get interested in podcasting?

Was it like being able to talk to people, the stories what, was it that really was the aha moment for you?

[00:02:43] Lloyd George: Yeah, I had a, realization, and the realization is that podcasting was the only medium that was audio based. So you could listen to it while you were doing something else at your job, walking, driving.

It was also the only medium that was completely free versus maybe like premium courses or YouTube. It was also. Only medium that had thousands of episodes available. So there's, my first podcast that I listened to was a show called the Dave Ramsey podcast, and they do three, four hours a day every single day.

And they've been doing that for 10 years. So there's literally hundreds of thousands of hours available for you to listen to. And so I couldn't think of another medium that would allow that level of flexibility and, the way that I wanted to engage with it. And that's the first time I realized like, Oh, this is different like this.

This is something I need to be paying attention to, and I think there's a lot of potential here.

[00:03:37] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. What's interesting in the way you describe this is a lot like what entrepreneurs feel throughout, in, in anything that they're doing is that you just start doing and there's nobody to tell you no.

There's, really nothing to stop you and, how you describe podcasting is the exact same thing.

[00:03:55] Lloyd George: You're absolutely right. And I think that's the beauty of it. The podcast industry is so early that everyone is still working to define it. And I tell people all the time, whatever you want it to be, you can create that.

[00:04:07] Sanjay Parekh:

Yeah. Let's let's take a little bit of a look back. It, was this the first time that you started something entrepreneurial or did you do anything entrepreneurial before this?

[00:04:16] Lloyd George: No, I had been entrepreneurial just as like a personality type. My journey with entrepreneurship started when I was a, sixth grader taking out trash bags in my neighborhood, and literally I'd make five to $10 a day, which felt like so much money.

Particularly because like we needed the money to survive. So like every dollar helped my family. So that's where my entrepreneurial journey started. In 2015, after getting married, I also took a stab at full-time entrepreneurship doing web design and offering digital services. Did that for about two years and fail miserably at that.

And so I decided to get back into the workforce and so when this podcasting opportunity came about, I knew it was something I wanted to partake in. I just didn't know how.

[00:05:01] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. Did you have any entrepreneurs in the family that you looked up to that you saw their, hustle and their drive?

[00:05:08] Lloyd George: No successful entrepreneurs, but my dad and some of my uncles had always just been very entrepreneurial in spirit. They'd always try different things. Like my dad's never had an actual job working for someone else. And so that was like the first time I learned like, Oh if you hustle you can figure things out.

And I think as an immigrant it's a bit difficult starting a business in a different country. But my dad was really the first person I learned that oh, okay. If you decide to do your own thing, whatever you put in is, what you'll get out.

[00:05:39] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. So thinking, back to the web design company that you started, what was it an actual company?

Did you incorporate and do all that? Was it just like a side thing?

[00:05:49] Lloyd George: I did. I incorporated, I got all of the business stuff off the ground and I enjoyed that aspect of it, like learning from scratch, how to start a business, how to be legit and, formal. And I enjoyed that.

I think that the part that I had difficulty with is, I wish someone would've said the best way to succeed at your business is to go get a job so that you can grow your business. It's unrealistic to think that this business that you're starting, that you're gonna know how to do the sales. You're gonna know how to manage clients while your livelihood is dependent on it.

And so that's the area where I felt like I, I could have done better as an entrepreneur starting this web design business.

[00:06:29] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. So, Is that the main lesson that you take away from that failure? Although, I don't really like to call it a failure. It was a learning experience. Is that the main lesson or were there other lessons that you then took forward into what you're doing now?

[00:06:44] Lloyd George: That was for sure like the biggest lesson that I took from it and, I'm grateful that I learned just that. And I definitely view it to, to your point, just as a, big learning experience. And the biggest takeaway from it has just been. I will never start something while my livelihood is 100% dependent on that thing, that is just like a recipe for disaster , in my opinion.

And so now even with the podcasting thing, my first thought was just, I'm going to go get a job that will allow me to start this side hustle and set it up in a way where I can do this for this next six years if I have to. Knowing that it's gonna take time to build.

[00:07:21] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. So, let's talk about that because that, that for a lot of people is, the difficult part.

How do you figure that out? How do you figure out what kind of job to get and how do you piece together the side hustle and have enough time to make that happen? Because, Especially with podcasting it's a time intensive thing, right? You've gotta be there, you've gotta be your mindset's gotta be right.

You've gotta be ready to go to be recording. So how did you figure these pieces out?

[00:07:47] Lloyd George: Yeah, absolutely. That's a, great point, and I should say, Even more like my business, my side hustle was not necessarily creating podcasting, but encouraging other people to start their first podcast. And so a lot of the ways that I monetize that business is working with brands in the podcast space and microphone companies and aspiring influencers.

And you can imagine that I'm having to. So many meetings that even more so time is of the essence. And so before I dove into this full-time, starting my side hustle. The job, my full-time day job was very time intensive. I was really busy. I worked for a digital agency, and so it was literally meeting.

There's days where I'd work from 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM if we were like late on a project. And so I knew that I couldn't start my side hustle and run it effectively under those working conditions. And so I wrote down a list of things that would need to happen in my mind that would create like an ideal working environment.

Some of the things on that list were. I want to be able to start my day at, 10:00 AM I want to know that I can wait till 10:00 AM before I have to do my first meeting. I also want to be able to shift meetings around or feel if I need to do a podcast interview during the day that I can do that, and so I write down my list and that it was very clear that there is absolutely no way I could stay at this company. And so I started applying for jobs. And one thing that was different this time than before is I was a lot more intentional in asking the company questions like, What do you expect of me? Like, how many hours specifically do you want me to work? What would happen if I did this? And so I ended up finding an amazing job, which is where I am now, and it affords me the availability to create content during the day, to have all of my meetings and calls while still doing a great job in my day job.

[00:09:33] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. And was this something, I'm assuming that you were open with them as you were applying for these jobs that, hey, this is why I'm asking these questions.

I've got this side thing that I wanna do as well.

[00:09:44] Lloyd George: No I, wasn't. And I think that was intentional and I, I generally find more times than not sharing with your coworkers what your side hustle is or what it is you're doing. Doesn't, is it doesn't always work your favor, quite frankly. And, I think it's sometimes it may be difficult, for instance, if you have X number of deliverables in your day job, but you're making a LinkedIn post that may be scheduled, they may assume that you're generally posting that piece of content during your working hours, which could be an issue. And to avoid some of that, I just don't share any of that. I've even heard. People take further extremes that I won't go into. I didn't share any of that information up front, but it was just important for me to know more than anything, I'm not gonna be stressed in this work environment.

[00:10:28] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah That's, great advice. So let's, dive into stress as, a thing. How are you managing that stress, cuz right now, so you've got a full-time job, you've got a side hustle, married. Have a family, I'm assuming. Like you've got all of these friends, you know, are probably somewhere in there as well.

Like how, do you juggle all of this stuff? How do you manage all of these demands that you've got going.

[00:10:54] Lloyd George: Yeah, it's incredible. It's incredibly tough. And I'm a project manager by background as we just discussed. And so I, I do take pleasure a bit in planning and organizing my life and setting up systems that make things a little bit easier.

And so some of the tangible things that I've been able to do that help me manage stress is have a schedule. So I know that. Every single day between 7:15 AM and 8:15 AM I'm gonna be creating content. 15 minutes of that hour is gonna be spent writing out like the actual scripts. 15 minutes will be spent recording, 15 minutes editing and 15 minutes publishing.

And so I know by the time 9:00 AM comes, I've already created two or three videos. I can go out that day and that's more content than the average person. I also spend time Saturday mornings doing the same thing where I'll batch record about 10 videos, and so that'll give me two videos per day, during the week. And having some of those structures and, systems, having a schedule of some kind definitely helps me create boundaries in my life. So I know that if I oversleep and it's 8:15, there just won't be any content today. But, I'm not gonna let that impound in quality time with my wife, or some of my friends, or self care, or my day job. And so at least defining what those lines are for you and what that schedule is for you is a great first step.

[00:12:10] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. You were talking about having a place where you can make sure that you don't have any meetings until 10. So what is your morning? You talked a little bit about 8:15 to 9:15, I think is what you said.

What, else do you do in that morning time to, to get you going and set you up for the day? Is it exercise? What else is there in there?

[00:12:29] Lloyd George: Yeah, absolutely. And that is something I'm still trying to figure out. There's definitely things I would love to have in my daily routine that don't currently exist. And part of what I've been doing is taken on like the approach from Atomic Habits where it's this is where I am now and this is where I wanna be eventually. What is, what are the small, tiny tanties I can start making today that hopefully a year from now will make a, big difference?

And so to that point, there's a few things like working out that I'd love to include in my schedule. I'd love to read more. I'd love to meditate, and those things currently aren't in my schedule. Right now I wake up at about seven, sometimes 6:45. I have 30 minutes before I have to start creating content.

I create content from about 7:15 to 8:15 AM. Once I'm done, as soon as 8:15 comes around, I currently live in Midtown and there's a coffee shop downstairs. It opens at 8:00 AM so right as I'm finishing. Going downstairs to get a cup of coffee, and then I spend a bit of time with my wife until 9:00 AM and that's formally when I start my day doing my day job.

My first business meeting for my day job is at 11:00 AM.

[00:13:32] Sanjay Parekh: Okay. Okay. So that, that really gives you a lot of the morning time to deal with that. And then of course the weekends as well. So, as you're thinking about this and, as you're scaling this it's started out with just you.

But then you've added people onto it. So how did you figure that out? How did you get people to help you with the side hustle and, how did you make it all work?

[00:13:57] Lloyd George: So part of what I'm realizing is the content I create lives online primarily on TikTok, and there's been a bunch of people that would comment on my videos or that would see some of my content, and we just kept in touch.

But what I started to realize is a lot of them had their own skills. They just didn't like creating content in the same way that I did. And so I was able to reach out to some of them and say, "Hey, is there any interest that we could maybe work together?", And so one of the guys helps me with copywriting.

He, writes a lot of like my TikTok videos. Some of the other people helped me like edit some of my videos. And so my big idea is I think we all know that content create the creator economy, whether it be TikTok or podcasting. It's gonna be very big, and I think that you may not be someone that's comfortable being in front of camera, but definitely don't let that limit your ability to participate in the growth of the creator economy.

And so if you're not, like myself and don't love talking on a camera. You could probably reach out to a bunch of creators and say, Hey, this is what I love to do. Do you need help? And they would probably say yes and probably pay you. And so that's the other reason having a day job has been so beneficial for me.

All of these people that help me, I'm able to actually pay them for their time. And so we all get to participate. It's not a burden or straining on anyone. And I really enjoy that.

[00:15:16] Sanjay Parekh: So, let's talk about revenue a little bit then. So you've been doing this side hustle for a while. Are you at the point where you're making money on it? Is it profitable? Or are you still supporting it through the day job?

[00:15:28] Lloyd George: It's a little bit of both, and that's something I'm still trying to manage. For example, there's some months where I don't make any money from like sponsors, brands, any of my content creator side hustles, and I have to fund it out of my personal money.

And that is, is not always fun, but I, look at it as an investment, and then there are times where I'll make money through sponsorships. And just to give a more tangible example, an average month, like class month for example, I made roughly about $4,000 of like brand deals. And that is enough money for me to Pay myself a little bit of money, pay some of the people that are helping me create the content.

And when that does happen, it's fantastic. I think part of what I'm trying to work on now is making that a lot more consistent. And because I'm doing this for the first time, there's things that I'm learning in real time that will help me do that, but it just is gonna take a little bit of time.

For instance, one of the things I've decided now is. A brand will pay me about $2,500 to create seven 30 second videos for them. Instead of saying, Hey, let's do this for one month. One of the things I'm saying now is, would you be open to a three month contract or would you be open to doing this for six months?

Which will help regulate some of that incoming cash flow for the month.

[00:16:40] Sanjay Parekh: So thinking about that, is there a level of revenue. For this, that then makes you think, Hey, now it's time to quit the full-time job and go all in. And, if there is a level, what is that level that you're like, Okay, this is when the time is right?

[00:16:55] Lloyd George:

That is, that's a very tough question. And I was just chatting with my wife about it. And I don't know that there is a number just yet because what I'm weighing is even if I was somehow able to make the exact same amount of money as I make from my day job. The, level of work that it would require me to input to make that level of money is a significant amount of time versus with the current day job that I have looking for something that's low effort, not that many meetings, for the most part, I can do it a lot faster than maybe they pay me to do.

And so I end up actually having more time. From my day to do things outside of my day job because I'm able to do it faster. I don't know that it would be the same thing if I was making that level of money from my business, but I do think about that quite a lot and what it would take, what amount of money would it take for me to become a full-time entrepreneur?

And, that's tough.

[00:17:55] Sanjay Parekh: And, so I guess there's a second part to that same question. Is that something you actually aspire to do is. Aside from the money, is that what you wanna do or do you want to keep this as a side hustle?

[00:18:08] Lloyd George: I, think that is what I wanna do and I do wanna become a full-time entrepreneur at some point, but I would say that would be priority to one thing that I would do. Let's just say I made $10,000 this month for my side hustle. Better alternative for me is what would the world look like if I reinvested all of that into my business. And just continue to do that as it gets bigger and bigger versus making this now my sole income and not having that additional discretionary revenue.

[00:18:37] Sanjay Parekh: I like it. I like it. So let's, dive into some of the things that you've discovered along the way. I mean it, running this by yourself essentially as a side hustle is a hard thing. So what kind of systems or apps or technology are you using or have you implemented or have you thought about?

That have helped you along this path?

[00:18:57] Lloyd George: Yeah, that's such a great question, and I think everything comes down to systems. I'm, convinced that for what I do in the way that I enjoy doing it, I've figured out this system that works, and I'm sure that'll change in three months, but just a few tangible systems I've been able to put in place is reaching out to sponsors. I used to feel like reaching out with sponsors and working with brands was this big mystery, but I now am finding that there's actually a very clear process that has worked. If you email three to five people per week at the end of the month, that'll be about 20 new relationships that you've started.

If you do this for the whole year you can double that number. And so for me, those are just some, I've created templates. I know that every Monday I'm gonna send out three to five emails. And so I've lowered the barrier for what it takes for me to reach out to a brand. I have the templates. I already have a list of all the people I want to email for the next few months, and so I'm able to do it a lot faster.

There's not a lot that I have to think about. I just need to send it and it now takes me about 30 minutes a week to send it. And so that is a system to me that I think has been worth it. And there is an ROI there a revenue based ROI. The second system I've been able to put into place is creating content.

And so I use a tool called Air Table to manage all of my content. And so I've just created a bunch of columns. One column is labeled title, the other column is labeled Hook. The other column is labeled body, and the last column is labeled call to action. And so as I'm talking to you, I might get a quick idea and say, Oh my, It would be so amazing if I created a TikTok video about microphones, great. I can put that under the title section as an idea. And then in the shower I may think, oh great, this would be a great hook for that video. And as soon as I get out, I can jot that in the hook section. And so by the time I actually sit down to record, I may have 30 or 40 different TikTok videos that are already written out, and all I have to do is read them and that then will take five minutes.

So that to me is like lowering the barrier to create content versus doing all of that at one time, which you know, can be a little difficult.

[00:20:53] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. That, that's a great kinda system that you've got there. And I recommend to all people to have some place where they can jot down ideas. I've never thought about doing that for content like that as well.

Because, right now I use like little random notes when I have ideas about content that I wanna write about, but I probably need to make that cohesive in, in a place like Airtable. So great suggestion.

[00:21:16] Lloyd George: Yeah and, I think just to that point, it's been really interesting to see how well you can repurpose content when you track it.

And so you may realize that hey, I wrote 30 ideas down a year ago. I can actually repurpose all 30 of those ideas and create them in a fresh way. But if you're not keeping track it, it could be hard to do that.

[00:21:34] Sanjay Parekh: Oh, that's a good point. So you've thought about, or have you done this before where you've done a video and then a year later, 18 months later, that you've done basically an update to that or, retake on that?

[00:21:44] Lloyd George: Oh, absolutely. And I've even seen there's a lady that did a study about this on Tech Talk where she took all of her videos, she posted a year ago, reposted those exact same videos, no change to them. Maybe just like the copy and the, like the title and some of the videos that didn't do well before went viral this time.

And so I'm convinced that there's so much you can do if you hold onto that content and you document it just in terms of repurposing.

[00:22:10] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah, it's a good point is that audience changes over time. A year later, your audience has gotten a year older. There's new people that have come along, but also if you're doing stories about microphones or whatnot in a year, there's new microphones.

There's, new things to talk about. It continues to stay fresh.

[00:22:26] Lloyd George: Yeah. And I'll add to that just one idea too is if we're looking at this from a different approach generally speaking with social media, each time you post the value of posting on social media is discoverability. And so each time you post, they're showing it to a new audience.

So even if you said more aggressively, I'm gonna repurpose my content every two to three months, they're gonna show it to different people. And so then the likelihood and chance of virality increases because you're almost starting the scale over again. Wow.

[00:22:53] Sanjay Parekh: Wow. Yeah, that's that's a great piece of advice there.

So thinking about now where you are and looking back at what you've been through is there something that you would tell your pre entrepreneurial you? This is I guess after the trash bags hauling those around it in Zimbabwe like after that, but before you actually started here on, some of the things that you're doing.

What would you go back and tell yourself? What kind of advice would you give yourself before you started all of this?

[00:23:25] Lloyd George: That's such a, great question and I, think about this quite a bit. I think the thing that I would tell myself is that you're capable and you can do it. And I'm convinced that the hardest part of this journey is just believing that you're capable and you have what it takes to run a successful business.

And sometimes I, find that other people believe in me more than myself. And Increasing how much I believe in myself and taking chances on myself and betting on myself has been something, an area that I'm still growing in. And as I continue to grow, I find that the opportunities that are available to me become bigger and bigger.

And so it's almost as big as you can imagine and as big as you can dream, that is what's possible. That's also just as an immigrant, one of my favorite things about being in the United States, there's just like this spirit that, you know, the American dream, right? You can be whatever you wanna be.

If just put your mind to it, it can happen. And and I, admire that sort of like spirit that we have in, this country. And it's still something that I'm adopting to and believing and owning.

[00:24:30] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah. There's a line in the musical Hamilton that I absolutely love. It's "Immigrants settle, we get the job done." It's a great line and, really does embody what America is because all of us other than Native Americans are, immigrants at, some level or, some part of our history. So last question for you, somebody that's thinking about taking that leap and, it's starting a side hustle or, going full time, what piece of advice would you give to them?

[00:25:01] Lloyd George: I would tell them that. You should take a risk and, step out for two reasons. The first is you have no idea who you could impact and who you could potentially help. And that may not have as much weight or substance just coming from me as words. But sometimes when people reach out to me and they say, Hey, I was not gonna do this, and I heard you say I should take a risk and, start a podcast, and I did, and it's been amazing.

Just hearing what those words do for me and my spirit is just it's so encouraging and, there's no feeling quite like it. And so I'd almost say starting a business to help other people does a lot for you in the same way that it does for your customers. The second reason I'd say just start it is because you have no idea what could happen.

I consider myself to be a optimistic, probably a little too optimistic at times, but the, benefit of that is I walk around genuinely believing that you're one conversation away from something incredible happening in your life, or you're one day away from something amazing happening. And if you start a side hustle and you take that perspective, The things that'll happen in your life you, won't even be able to dream about them.

And that's how I feel. About two weeks ago, my dream company reached out to me and asked if I'd be open to lead a podcast course on their behalf. And if you asked me two years ago when I started my side hustle." Hey, what would you want to happen?", That wouldn't have even been something that I'll put on the list.

I didn't even know that was like an option or possible . And so those are some of the experiences that will happen if you just take a risk and step out and start your side hustle.

[00:26:35] Sanjay Parekh: Yeah, I love that. I love that. Yeah. You never know what's gonna happen and worst thing is you're gonna fail and you're just gonna go back to what you were doing anyways.

So it's, there's really no downside. So, take the lead. So before we go Lloyd where can people find you?

[00:26:50] Lloyd George: Absolutely people can find me on all social platforms. My platform of choice is TikTok and Instagram at Lloyd, not George. That's l o y d, not George.

[00:27:03] Sanjay Parekh: Lloyd, listen, it was great having you on.

I really appreciate you coming on and you had tons of great advice, so thank you so much.

[00:27:10] Lloyd George: Thank you so much for having me.

Thank you for listening to this week's episode of the Side Hustle to Small Business Podcast, powered by Hiscox. To learn more about how Hiscox can help protect your small business through intelligent insurance solutions, visit hiscox.com. And if you have a story you want to hear on this podcast, please visit hiscox.com/shareyourstory. I'm your host Sanjay Parekh. You can find me on Twitter @sanjay or on my website at sanjayparekh.com.