Kamiwaza | Convert audio-to-text with the best AI technology by Sonix.ai

Brett Johnson:
Well, before we get into the nuts and bolts of the podcast, as I do with all my guests, I wanna ask both of you nonprofits that you support. Either one of you jump in at any time.

Aaron Jannetti:
There's two main ones that come to mind for us. One that's actually in the CrossFit world, specifically, which is of the things that we do is an organization that's actually called Barbells for Boobs. They essentially raise money to get just mammograms for ladies to be able to keep up on it, and get checked; especially the ones that either can't afford it, or don't have the insurance for it, or that. They've done amazing things with breast cancer. One of our very good friends, and actually lifts, right now, with Project Lift, Sherri [inaudible] was a survivor of breast cancer. They did a lot for her.

Aaron Jannetti:
I'm a chairman of the board for the Arnold Sports Festival for the CrossFit section, or the functional-fitness section. Last year, we had them out. They did a two-hour routine, did a couple of workouts, had a couple of survivors come out, and talk. We do a lot of fundraising for them. We help support Sherri in that. That's one of them.

Aaron Jannetti:
Then, the other one that we do annually … it's not-for-profit, but Nationwide Children's. Every year, we do a really big toy drive for them around the holidays for Christmas time. We put up a tree in the front; all of our members come in, and bring in things like that. Then we drop them off before the holidays.

Aaron Jannetti:
Those are two of our constants. There's been plenty we've supported over the years; everything from homeless, to dog shelters, to everything, but those are the two that we tend to support constantly.

Drew Dillon:
Yeah, those are our big constant ones. It's really cool that you bring up the question, because it's recently just been on my mind; been on my mind about … Actually, I think it was Tony Robbins finally smacked it into me, in just finishing one of his books recently.

Drew Dillon:
I thought it was interesting how he talked about giving, even when you didn't feel like you had enough to give, and the point of helping you create the feeling of abundance. If you can give 10 percent, even now, with whatever you have … One, you're gonna feel great about it, but, two, you're gonna feel that there's more out there. I really started to look … In addition to the ones that we've done over the years, because it always seems like ones pop up. Like, "Oh, here's this one. You wanna … Yeah, okay, we'll help."

Drew Dillon:
One thing, growing up, that really affected me was Boy Scouts. Just recently, I've started giving to Boy Scouts of America, just looking … I went, and did a little bit of research, and seen what they were still up to … I just love- I love the beginning of the pledge. "On my honor, I swear I'll do my best." You know what I mean?

Drew Dillon:
Again, I think working with individuals in strength and fitness, one of the things, watching kids grow up, if they can just understand … The commitment to do your best, whatever that is, is a great foundation. I just look at growing up … I didn't make Eagle Scout. I got out of Boy Scouts probably mid-teens right, but, even the time that I was in through, loved the experience I had.

Drew Dillon:
I think it's still funny is when people go, "Well, what does it really give you?" Here's one, right out of the gate, is watch someone try to move something, where they have to tie a knot. They have to secure something. They're like, "It's just like you can tie your shoes, right? What are you doing?" They're like, "Well, I don't I don't know …" and you come over, and you tie a slipknot, or you tie just a different knot, and they're, "How'd you know how to do that?" Boy Scouts.

Brett Johnson:
One good take away, that's for sure, exactly, yeah. I got to thinking, before I hit the record button … I hadn't put this in my notes, but if I don't do this right now, I'm gonna catch a lot of hell, if I don't say a big shout out to Dr. Rich Ulm-

Drew Dillon:
Oh, yeah.

Brett Johnson:
I know he's gonna listen to this episode, once it's published, and if I- when I see him next – there's not even an if – when I see him next, the next time I have problems, he may not even see me, if I don't- of we don't say something to him. He is the one that connected us to talk about your podcast. I've been seeing him for years, through our kids, as well as my wife, and myself.

Brett Johnson:
Every time I go in, it's about a podcast of some kind. We're talking podcasting, or radio, that sorta thing. I appreciate him connecting us, and getting me to know you guys better, about your podcast, as well, too …

Brett Johnson:
Let's do a little bit of background history between the two of you – where you started, and how you got here today, let's put it that way, with your professional background, your history, and the two businesses that you own, and how you're coming together.

Aaron Jannetti:
Yeah. We technically own two different businesses, and yet, in the same regard, we help each other with those businesses, and both of the businesses thrive off each other. We're both located at one location, which is in Hilliard Ohio..

Aaron Jannetti:
I run Endeavor Defense and Fitness, along with two other business partners. Then, I'll let Drew talk about Project Lift, a little more, later, but he runs Project Lift. We're at the same facility. He's got his own area; we have our own area, but the overlap is phenomenal there..

Aaron Jannetti:
I started … I was introduced to originally Krav Maga – which is a self-defense system – in really early 2008. For me, I was a landscape architecture student at Ohio State, and I found this system at a time where I was out of money. I was paying my way through college. I had to take a quarter off. I wasn't in the best spot, let's just put it that way, mentally, psychologically, emotionally, anything there.

Aaron Jannetti:
I found this place; it was a good release. I'd done a little bit of martial arts as a kid. Pretty much just never left, to the point where I helped them open up a second location later on that year. I actually left Ohio State, and started working there full time, and that's pretty much been it from there.

Aaron Jannetti:
From that path, I was introduced to CrossFit, and then into more of the self-defense side of things, and then, eventually, weightlifting. I met Drew … The first time him and I met was actually at a [USAW] weightlifting certification. He was one of the lifters there that was helping out with the course. We talked, but not outside of, "I'm here to lift weights, and tell you when you suck," and, "I'm here to try not to suck …" out of that relationship.

Aaron Jannetti:
Eventually, through weightlifting, we ended up back in the same spot. The club he was with started lifting at our facility. Then, when he had an opportunity to open up his own club, he was like, "Hey, would you guys mind if we stayed here?" I was like, "Yes …" During that whole entire time, him and I have just naturally – from a business standpoint, life standpoint – we tend to just gravitate towards each other, challenge each other.

Aaron Jannetti:
We've learned a lot from each other. I wouldn't be where I'm at right now, with my business, if it wasn't for him, and I would like to think we've supported his relatively well. That's my background; that's how we, at least, came together. I'll let him talk about Project Lift, as he knows a lot more about that.

Drew Dillon:
Project Lift, like Aaron said, a separate entity. It's funny to hear Aaron started back in Krav Maga, around 2008. Around 2008 is when I got into Olympic lifting – weightlifting with the snatch, clean, and jerk competitions around that nature.

Drew Dillon:
At the time, I had graduated from Ohio State, and was getting off the ground, figuring it out. There was a natural draw to weightlifting for me. I found it fun; I found it exciting; I started to have some success in it. It was a really nice … In a way, maybe I could think of it as an escape, at times, from trying to cut my teeth, out in the world of figuring out, "Oh, what do I wanna do?" Whereas, at least I have this something over here, having some success with it.

Drew Dillon:
Like Aaron said, we met each other in a certification, first, but I first remember going, "Oh, man …" Our relationship growing a bit more was … It's funny that you'd brought up nonprofits … He was doing these once-a-month Friday cookout/workouts to raise money for a nonprofit of that month. It was whatever causes was going on. We were talking, and I'm a huge griller. I was one of the founding members of the Buckeye Barbecue Club at Ohio State, back in the day. Aaron's not much of a cooker …

Aaron Jannetti:
I can make a mean rib eye [cross talk] that's about the extent of it.

Drew Dillon:
We were talking about grilling, and he's like, "Man, I always wish I had somebody help me out with this cookout for these events." I was like, "Oh, man, I can cook." I came in to help grill, and watch this event, experience this event. I was like, "Man, this is really cool." I remember that being a moment, where I was like, "Yeah, this guy's somebody I'd like to get to know more," you know what I mean? Our relationship grew out of that. We just started to work more with each other, and it just continued to grow, and grow. Project Lift would definitely not be where it is today, without Aaron, and the support of Endeavor.

Brett Johnson:
Excellent. How did the conversation about a podcast begin? I love the set-up that you two are very complementary to each other, in regards to the businesses, as well as maybe even the outlook on life. You help support each other, and such. The podcast … Let's talk about how that conversation started.

Aaron Jannetti:
I think it works really well, because not only are we complementary, but we also will absolutely just tear each other apart [cross talk]

Brett Johnson:
That's okay … Exactly.

Aaron Jannetti:
Was it two years ago [cross talk]

Drew Dillon:
We tried a little one. Yeah.

Aaron Jannetti:
We kinda tinkered around with it a while ago. Just through the concept of just content creation, in general … We've always done a lot of instructional videos, highlight videos, make sure there's images … We were just talking about this before we actually started recording, but it's the age of the internet. If you're going to be successful with a business, you have to have a presence. You have to accept social media, whether you like it or not, and then, you have to play that. We were making videos … It was just another opportunity to get some content out.

Aaron Jannetti:
The first go round we did with it, to be completely honest, I ordered a small little two-track Behringer off of Amazon, and we had essentially three mics. We used a blue, just the basic blue USB mic. Then we had two headsets.

Aaron Jannetti:
The original premise of it was we were interviewing people that were very, very knowledgeable, and had a lot of wisdom in certain areas, based in central Ohio. That was the shtick was everybody goes off to California, Texas, and all these other places to find powerlifting instruction, or nutrition, stuff like that. It was an opportunity to highlight, like there's a lot of this information locally. You don't have to go out of it, and so, to highlight some of those opportunities …

Aaron Jannetti:
We interviewed Sherri, who we were talking about earlier, with Barbells for Boobs. We interviewed Sean Clifton. He's a Purple Heart recipient. He was shot multiple times, during war, and his bounce back, and recovery into CrossFit. We interviewed a couple on nutrition. We had Joe Lasko, from Westside Barbell.

Aaron Jannetti:
It really was just … We had one or two questions set up for 'em, but it was more just a conversation: who are you? What's your background? Then, we'd ask a couple questions around it. We tinkered around with that for maybe eight episodes, or something like that. It was very loose, and it was … That kinda died off, more or less because I'm a little bit ADD. I'm all over the place. I don't know, it was probably September …?

Drew Dillon:
Something like that. I feel like, with the interviews, and even, I think, at times, we were so focused around stuff that related to the business, still, that … I don't know. I don't know whether it just got exhausting, or the interview part definitely made it more difficult [cross talk] right outta the gate.

Aaron Jannetti:
That kinda fell off. Again, we have multiple irons in multiple fires, at any point in time, so that fell by the wayside. Then, it was actually how this podcast came about is … It's kinda twofold.

Aaron Jannetti:
Drew and I, we usually get together, I don't know, once every four weeks, six weeks, where we would just get a cup of coffee, and just talk. What's going on with Project Lift? What issues are you running into? He would … What's going on with Endeavor? What do you got going on? Just talk about family, and everything that goes with that.

Aaron Jannetti:
One of our friends, his name's Rob Pincus, reached out to me, because he was thinking about starting an internet- essentially a radio station, or network, and he wanted us to host a show. He was actually the one that replanted that seed.

Aaron Jannetti:
We sat down, and the first couple questions were, okay, we tried this once. Is this feasible? If we are going to do it, what kind of a time commitment do we actually have? Then, if we are going to do, what that looked like.

Aaron Jannetti:
It started just morphing into to, idea-wise, what it is now, which is just let's just talk about all the stuff we normally talk about, which is how are we improving the business? How are we improving in life? What are the issues we're running into? It can pertain to entrepreneurship. It can pertain to weightlifting. It can pertain to self-defense. It might just pertain to bourbon … Whatever gets there.

Aaron Jannetti:
That's what jumped off, where we went with it. Eventually, the idea of the radio network died off, but, we were gung-ho, and we were pretty excited about it. I'm one of those dudes that when we're … If you wanna do something, I just do it [cross talk]

Aaron Jannetti:
I went down to the local music shop, bought a couple of Shure microphones; ordered a better version of the Behringer that holds on more tracks, so we can bring on other people, if we wanted to. Then we just-.

Drew Dillon:
Started.

Aaron Jannetti:
Yeah. We just hashed out, and rolled.

Drew Dillon:
I think one thing, in reflection, between the podcast that we originally started with the interviews, and getting going … One, there wasn't much of that commitment. We were definitely dabbling. With the dabbling, we also, with the interviews, I think, set up a situation that is a bit more challenging, if you're just dabbling. There's gotta be stronger commitment there, if you're gonna be reaching out to people – more of a laid plan.

Drew Dillon:
One thing going into it, too, and I remember talking with Aaron, if we were just gonna talk about weightlifting, I don't know how long I could go. I think I would get a bit bored.

Drew Dillon:
It's funny, within the walls of Project Lift, although these athletes …. You typically find ones that are wanting to compete in the sport, that are in a sport, but wanna become better at their sport, utilizing the Olympic lifts to become more explosive, or they find the Olympic lifts intriguing, and just want to learn. They might stick their toe into a competition, and see what it's like …

Drew Dillon:
For anyone who hasn't done a snatch, or a clean and jerk, but has golfed, I think that's a really good connection. Think of the complexities of a golf swing. That is the same complexities put into two different movements. You see athletes spend their whole career competing in this sport …

Drew Dillon:
One thing within those walls, the conversations often come down to just improving at life. What's our foundation that's allowing us to train – consistently, healthy … All of these life conversations that Aaron and I will sit down, and have coffee with, or multiple times, are sitting down with clients, and having conversations with, and then, even other key individuals in our businesses.

Drew Dillon:
I think that's one thing that we've done pretty well is whether it's a partner, or a coach on my side, or a partner, or a coach on his side, we both are watching. I think it's really funny, when I catch one, and something comes up in a conversation, and I just throw a piece of advice at 'em, or challenge 'em on something. They're like, "Oh, that's kinda what Aaron said, but a different way to say it." It's like, "Yeah …"

Drew Dillon:
Then, also, texting each other, going, "Hey, man, what's up with so-and-so? They okay?" Just giving support, and going, "Aww, man, I think they're going through a hard time." That's the thing. I think a lot of people don't give credit to the foundation to allow yourself to be consistent at whatever you want to do. That's one thing that's been really fun about this podcast to talk about.

Aaron Jannetti:
The commitment thing was real big, because we actually sat down, and said if we are going to do this, we have to have a time slot. There's gotta be … It's on the calendar; we don't stir from it. That's just the way it is. That actually spurred …

Aaron Jannetti:
You talk about putting the studio together, and have a designated space. We did that. We had an area upstairs that we had originally intended to be a child watch for people that were coming in to take classes, and wanted to drop their kids off. For staffing reasons, insurance, and everything else, it just fell through.

Aaron Jannetti:
Then, we had this open spot that we had dropped five grand into, to have the walls built out, and all that. It actually ended up being great, because, like I said, we do a lot of media content, anyway, so, we turned it into a studio/pretty much our media room. All of our cameras are up there. We have a green screen. We have a wall that's all whiteboards. That allowed us to have that designated space, and people know, once I walk upstairs, and the door's shut … For us, we do it on Sundays, which the gym's closed anyway, but it works out really well.

Aaron Jannetti:
I think what's interesting is Drew and I are both at a spot right now, in the business, where we're both … Like he would say, we're working on the business, instead of working in the business as much. Whereas, when I started, I love teaching. I tell people all the time, if it was up to me, I would just teach, but to make a business successful, you've gotta step back, and you have to see all the pieces. Plus, I have a phenomenal, phenomenal team of instructors. If I'm taking up, and hogging all the classes, I'm not allowing them the opportunity to grow..

Aaron Jannetti:
A lot of the conversations we have, I've realized my role, if I'm gonna make the business more successful, is to make sure that the staff is more successful. All the conversations we're generally having are the same things that I dealt with, trying to figure out how to become a better instructor; how to become a better husband. Now, I have I have two children, so, how to become a better father; how to become a better business owner.

Aaron Jannetti:
It's allowing us an opportunity, where I'm going, "Well, instead of making you guys figure this out the way I figured it out, let's have a couple of conversations." That's been really fun, because the way that we do it, to be completely honest, we just … 15 minutes before we go upstairs, it's like, "What are we talking about today?" It just becomes a conversation, which is really nice, and allows us to go …

Aaron Jannetti:
I think the commitment of the time, and the space is what really brought it all together, but, really, just our background together, and the way that we can just have conversations, I think, is what really allowed us to bring it full swing. If it was if it was two people that didn't know each other, and we were forcing the conversation, I think it'd be a lot harder.

Brett Johnson:
Yeah, I see a lot of the shout-outs in Facebook groups, "I need a co-host to do this, that, or the other," and it's like, "No … That's gonna be a failure." [cross talk] about five episodes … Isn't gonna work. Isn't gonna work at all.

Brett Johnson:
Really, it's probably very lucky that you had a failed initial attempt with podcasts, because I think a lot of podcasters go into this, like, "Interviews … Oh, interviews. That's a perfect … There are tons of people I can talk to [cross talk]" and such, but it does become a hassle, because you're also working with someone else's schedule to interview them. Granted, yes, there are a lot of people … I think your idea for interview makes a lot of sense, and still could implement that in what you're doing right now, but not as a total, I think, podcast-

Aaron Jannetti:
Right. That's all we had. That was … That was the premise of the podcast [cross talk] but you live, and you learn.

Brett Johnson:
Right, exactly. You live and learn. It would work, but at the same time, it wasn't enough energy for you to keep it going, as well, where now you're seeing you can walk in 15 minutes before a podcast, and you crank out a half hour [cross talk]

Aaron Jannetti:
We started trying to keep it at 20 or 30, and lately, man, we've been going an hour, just because the conversation's very natural.

Brett Johnson:
Why stop it? Exactly. If you feel that, and you're getting the feedback from your listeners, you never stop. Do not hit stop … You can always edit later on, but don't stop it. Exactly. As co-hosts, how do you handle duties, I guess you could say? What's your part; what's your part, in regards to putting the podcast together? Is it equal, or …? [cross talk]

Aaron Jannetti:
-you're looking at me. Right now, for the most part, we're doing a lot, but it's … We're still very minimal. We already have- Drew already has his outlets, and mailing lists, and content followers to Project Lift. We have the same through Endeavor, and what I do..

Aaron Jannetti:
Right now, designated time slots – we both are there; we both record; the equipment's already up there. Then, really, I've already got the templates. Right now, we're using just GarageBand. We keep it very simple. I've got the templates already put together, and it's pretty much drop …

Aaron Jannetti:
Again, I think it just- the way that we are, and the way that we talk, and even the way we talk with our clients, and things like that, it's just one take. We allow the screw-ups, and the blurbs that go in here, and let it be a more natural conversation, front to back. The entire editing process, once the soundcheck goes through, and it sounds good through the mics, is pretty much clip, clip, stick it [cross talk]

Brett Johnson:
Makes it a whole lot of your session, doesn't it? It really does … Just allow it to happen; maybe occasional flub here, or there. Everybody has a brain fart, occasionally. You're just going to, but do you let it in or not? It's one personality. It happens in real life. Okay, we'll just let it happen.

Aaron Jannetti:
Yeah, and again, I think that comes … The demographic, and what you're talking about is gonna matter, but the whole entire thing is about being able to make mistakes, getting better, and all that kinda stuff, so, I think it just fits.

Aaron Jannetti:
The editing process, if we're being completely honest, for me, is five minutes. That's me actually looking at it. Once I hit export to an MP3, it's pretty simple there. I do the edit; I drop it onto the page; do the show notes, which I like listening back to 'em anyway, so, I do the show notes. Then, I'm doing Instagram stuff. We're not doing a lot.

Aaron Jannetti:
When we start … I know we wanna start doing some mailing lists, and some other things that'll grow off on it. That's his territory. That's where he … He's better at the trickle campaigns, and understanding sales funnels, and leads, and things like that. I'm content-straightforward guy [cross talk] that goes-

Drew Dillon:
Great at content, though.

Aaron Jannetti:
I'm handling the Instagram, and Facebook stuff right now. He's gonna start doing the more … You talk about how it's gonna maybe benefit the business. That's gonna be more … I'm creating the presence. He's gonna take care of that.

Brett Johnson:
Let's dive into that a little bit … You're at the beginning stages of email, and newsletter, and Yelp marketing, and such. Talk about what's in your head; what you're thinking about doing to … As this is a piece of it.

Drew Dillon:
Right now, right outta the gate with Instagram, and the Facebook that Aaron's been doing, and even with our mailing list around members … Thinking of that, not even in the whole big span of the community around us, or the world – the benefit to the business – I found extremely interesting how many conversations it's brought up.

Drew Dillon:
Again, these conversations are typical conversations we're having with athletes and coaches about getting better. Now, it's this other outlet that's on their time frame. I don't have to sit down with them, at the desk, and schedule a meeting with them, or a call with them, and have this conversation. They can listen to it when they want and.

Drew Dillon:
Then, all the sudden, they're coming in, and bringing it up. From a business standpoint of helping the business, with the members that we have currently, it's continuing to help them solidify their foundation to be successful at training towards whatever their goal is. That's been instrumental.

Aaron Jannetti:
That's on both sides. That's …

Brett Johnson:
Wow.

Drew Dillon:
Yeah, that's been … It's interesting, because going into it, that wasn't necessarily my thought. My thought was a new audience; finding new people, and that. Right outta the gate, in these first … What are we? 11-12 episode live?

Aaron Jannetti:
Yeah … Today we just released 11.

Drew Dillon:
That's out there, just the feedback from the members, and the audience we already have … Yu can feel it strengthening it. It was like, okay, that … I didn't expect that. That's really neat.

Drew Dillon:
Looking forward, or continuing, We played with the idea of a book club. Looking at what we're talking about, I'm an avid reader. Aaron's an avid reader. The more we just continued digging into that, that was our first … "Hey, okay, well, let's see if we can't create a group – an audience – around 'Hey, I'd like the habit of reading more,'" and giving them something that could cause- could put a little skin in the game on holding to that habit. We'll curate the books; we'll curate the conversation, and put something together. We're still with that.

Drew Dillon:
Even looking at our list, outside of what we currently have, like members currently in our facilities … Starting to get them more opportunities; get that out there. What I've been playing with, at the very beginning, is I'll write a bit; if you're familiar with Seth Godin, and his short style … It's almost like a thought.

Drew Dillon:
What I've been really playing with, recently, in the last few months, with the podcast, is one member asked me the other day, he goes, "When you write those little blurbs, who are you writing to?" The secret is I'm writing to myself … I'm not thinking of somebody else, actually; I'm typically thinking of me. When you have this problem, or when you have this challenge, or you've been struggling with this thought … I'm calling myself out.

Drew Dillon:
I think it's really interesting how many people have related to the language towards myself, but it's not towards anybody else. Continuing to do that around that the subject matter of the podcast, and then letting that be the tie in of, "You wanna take that deeper? Here's something you can listen to." That's been the seeds I've been playing with right now, looking at how we're gonna continue to trickle, and pull and maybe some other mediums, as well, that could work.

Brett Johnson:
Right. To me, it looks as though, and sounds as though the podcast, itself, is just an extension – as podcasts are – an extension of yourselves. You're already doing this in your facilities. You're talking to these folks; they're giving you feedback. They're willing to even download an episode, while they're working out, possibly, to get pumped up. At least, they're the weaknesses, that day, you helped fill a hole for them. It's like, "Wow, he hit the spot that day. That's what I needed."

Aaron Jannetti:
We've had a lot of those conversations. The one that cracks me up all the time is we'll have people that'll come in, and they'll be, "Yeah, I listen to your podcast. It's actually good." You look at 'em, and go, "Wow, thanks. I appreciate that your original thought was that this is gonna be terrible."

Brett Johnson:
Right. Exactly.

Aaron Jannetti:
"I'm glad you took the leap …" I think one of the things that's really important to us … Yes, we talk about this all the time, but, yes, we're a business. We have to make money. That's the way it is, but, we wanna do that through bringing you value. We want to [inaudible] actual trade off. I think one of the things that's super-important for us to understand, and I've looked at this a lot more over the last maybe four or five years, is that long game.

Aaron Jannetti:
We talked about this on one of the most recent episodes, but the concept of a reputation. What's the reputation of the business? You don't build that reputation in one year, or two years, or, honestly, even three, like a true-true-true reputation. What we've started figuring out is the last two years that we've been open, especially at Endeavor, and I know it's happening with Project Lift, because I even hear the conversations, but, we're getting a lot of, "Hey, I've heard about you," or, "Hey, I heard this about you," or, "Hey, I'm not happy with what's going on with the situation I have now, and for years, I've heard that this is the way you guys do things."

Aaron Jannetti:
To me, with having the podcast out there, and having it related [inaudible] is now, when they're listening to that, they're going, "Oh, wow. These guys …" First off, I know exactly what I'm getting into. If I walk into this place, this is not just the technical aspects of it, and things like that, but I know the mentorship, the leadership, the community that's coming out of this isn't superficial, and I think that's important, in and of itself.

Aaron Jannetti:
They can also look at it, and go, like, "Wow, I'm gonna go to this facility, and I'm not just getting physical fitness." The reality of it is we've talked about this before, but, to be physically fit, you really just have to be consistent. Yes, there's better and worse, but anybody can coach relatively well from a technical aspect.

Aaron Jannetti:
The difference is how are you building relationships with the athletes? How are you adjusting to not just their physical issues? We were talking about chiropractors, and tweaks … What's your mood today? You should adjust your program, and the way you approach a class, and the way you approach recovery, and rest not just based off of the physical aspects, and the physiological, but the psychological. Where's your emotional state?

Aaron Jannetti:
You might need two … CrossFit's real big on times. You're looking to hit faster lifts, and hit more weight, and do things faster. People get bogged down by that. It's a really, really good way to motivate people, and to push people, but they forget that, realistically, sometimes, it doesn't matter.

Aaron Jannetti:
Some people need psychological … You might be perfectly fine, physically, but you're breaking down because of these things … You need to lay off for a week or two, and take half the weight off the bar, or do half the reps; just do it for fun. Remember, this is a fun-type thing. I think they start realizing that that's the difference between …

Aaron Jannetti:
In our opinion, that's a difference between a good gym, and a great gym, or a good community, and a great community is that it's not … Anybody can show you how to do a clean and jerk relatively well. I say anybody with air quotes. The difference is what's the longevity – physically, emotionally, psychologically? How do I feel about the tribe that I'm surrounded with?

Aaron Jannetti:
I think the podcast is allowing that more and more. People are stunned to realize it's … This is a completely different experience that I'm about to walk into than what I perceived from watching 10 YouTube videos of people killing themselves, doing a snatch, or something along those lines.

Aaron Jannetti:
I've I found that interesting, over the last 11 weeks, where I'm getting conversations through my other templates; people that are coming in for outside seminars. I travel a lot, and I do security consultations, and community events around the concept of surviving an active-killer situation, which is … It's a terrible, and depressing thing to have to run around, and talk about, but I'm getting contacts through that, that are going, "Oh, man, I caught two or three episodes of your podcast, and it's amazing to hear you talk about these things, and the way you looked at it." It just changes. It helps build, again, that that reputation.

Aaron Jannetti:
I think, because we don't put a huge weight of planning, and a huge weight of following a certain structure, and we allow things to just go whatever's said, I think it allows that to … People start realizing it is actually genuine; we're not reading off of a list of stuff. These are just legitimate conversations.

Aaron Jannetti:
If you're looking at Endeavor, or you're looking at Project Lift – between all of the video content, we have the instructional material, we have the newsletters we put out, the articles that we write, and the podcast – you pretty much know exactly what you're getting before you ever had to walk through the door, if you wanted to take the time to actually research it. That's been a secondary benefit, which I think has been a really important one, because the conversations have been great inside the gym, but we've also- I've also gotten a lot of conversations from outside the gym.

Brett Johnson:
Yeah, I can see where your podcast is that soft touch, and it allows them to be- you to be in their head, with their earbuds, at the time that they need your information, and such … I think a lot of businesses, and I've had consultations with businesses taking a look at what a podcast can, or can't do. They're looking at it as a quick fix, very quickly, and it's not.

Aaron Jannetti:
No.

Brett Johnson:
This is not a strong call-to-action type of medium, but over time, you'll win your listener over, because they need to learn you, as you go along. With exactly the tactic you're looking at … Let's just go in, and brainstorm 15 minutes, before we come on, but we know where we're going with it. Really, it just comes down to what's the topic this time, and do what we do outside of these four walls, anyway, and just bring it into the mic, and have fun.

Brett Johnson:
I think both of you coming together, listening to the episodes I have of yours, you're well-matched. You play off each other great. I think that's key to it, as well, too. Having a co-host is great, because I've done solo. I'm not great at solo; I'd rather do co-host, but you've got to find the right person to sit with you to do that. Match up schedule, as well as you don't want them to be necessarily a nodder, and say, "Yeah, I agree. I agree." No, you gotta add a little bit – a different life perspective, and such, too. Exactly..

Brett Johnson:
I wanna go back to that- the book club idea, which I love. I love the idea, and I think it's probably a little bit of why you went with Podbean, which is your platform you're using to support the podcast, or to disseminate, and such. How did that come about, initially? Was that right outta the shoot, "We're gonna do a book club. This makes sense. Let's go with the platform," or did it evolve into it?

Aaron Jannetti:
That was pretty much his idea.

Drew Dillon:
Yeah-.

Brett Johnson:
I love it.

Drew Dillon:
I think it was at the beginning of … What's something that relates that could add value, and let's try an idea – is there interest out there? With that goal … I think it's funny, too, at the time, a friend of ours, James Clear, had just released a book called Atomic Habits. I had just read that book; I know Aaron had just read that book, and just looking at-.

Aaron Jannetti:
Just to clarify, I listened-

Drew Dillon:
He listened to that [cross talk] That's true. The thing that was really just on our minds in the moment was looking at who we're helping. How can we provide some value around helping them start that habit? If you'd like to read more, if that's a goal of yours, then become part of this, and we can take you down that. Then, it was just a test; let's toss it out there, see if there's interest, and continue morphing off that.

Brett Johnson:
I think you're dealing with the same type of audience that, if you're willing to invest 30, 40, 50, an hour of their time with you, they probably are willing to spend that time with a book, too.

Yeah, and the one thing is, books … I know for a fact that books have completely changed the way I've approached business, life, relationships, and everything. Again, not every book is great, but we've … Between the two of us, we have a stable of books that I know that I can always go back to. I want to read through them again, and again, and again.

Aaron Jannetti:
One of the ones that always pops up for me is just Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People." I usually listen to that at least once a year. It was such an impact on my life, and I know for a fact, it's been …

Aaron Jannetti:
Books, and reading have been an impact on his life, so, I think it was a natural progression, anyway, because honestly, half of our episodes, we're always going, "We picked this up from this area, and this is who we got this from, and this is the book that we read.".

Aaron Jannetti:
What essentially we ended up doing was if we're going to one book a month, what do we think are the 12 most important books to get people along the way. Then, it's that journey, and track. The beautiful part of it, is it's really just turnkey for the listener, because it's … They pay 30 bucks a month, we ship the book directly to their house, and then, they have access to the episode, where we essentially put out an exclusive episode that only they get access to. It just breaks down what we took away from the book; not saying it's right, or wrong. It was just like what are the lessons that we picked up? How did it help us?

Aaron Jannetti:
It's also like a, for lack of a better term, a guide to navigate in the book: what are the things you should be looking for, and paying attention to? The one thing we tell them is, "You listen to this podcast, read the book, and then come back, and be like, "What did we miss?" because there's probably stuff that we missed; call us out on it.

Aaron Jannetti:
It allows not just the opportunity for them to get value, and not just an opportunity for them to learn, but we really want engagement. We don't want to just get on there, and be talking out, and everybody'd be like, "Oh, yeah, you guys are doing a great job." We want- what are your stories? You've challenged something we said. It's the only way that any of us learn.

Aaron Jannetti:
It's another opportunity for us to engage with them, as opposed to it just being a one-sided conversation, where they're just a fly on the wall, listening to Drew and I talk about our issues. We'd rather them be like, "Hey, have you guys ever thought about this?" or, "Hey, this is my story that related to that." Again, it just allows us a little more personal opportunity to do that.

Brett Johnson:
You have one of the more unusual names for podcasts. I do wanna … Obviously you can pick it up on the intro episode [cross talk] … We can go back to the intro episode, and you can understand exactly where he came from, but I wanna introduce that here, as well, too, in this podcast of talking about the title of your podcast. I'm not just gonna skirt by it. I think it's important because … I didn't bring it up initially, because I wanted the listener to hear where you're going with this podcast, and now bring it back home, going, "This is why we named it this way." Talk about that.

Aaron Jannetti:
I'll let you start that one off.

Drew Dillon:
When we first thought of names, it was a conversation at Stauf's. We were sitting there having a coffee. My goodness, I think I had just finished Seth Godin's marketing seminar; fantastic marketing seminar. Looking at a name that is unique, that, one, doesn't really have a bucket in the mind.

Brett Johnson:
It's almost code.

Drew Dillon:
Yeah, it's-.

Brett Johnson:
If you know it, you know us sorta thing, almost … Yeah.

Aaron Jannetti:
Pretty much.

Drew Dillon:
It's something that we can relate to; something we can own. Then, looking at, okay, what's this about? Our definition, our boiled-down, is "A little better each day." When you look at Kamiwaza as a name, and you look at the Japanese translation of godlike technique … Okay, the godlike technique, to us, is improvements every day. It's not perfection, but it's the pursuit of getting better each day.

Aaron Jannetti:
Don't get me wrong … Just like anybody else, we went through [cross talk]

Drew Dillon:
We had a few.

Aaron Jannetti:
-a stage of names.

Brett Johnson:
I bet. Sure.

Aaron Jannetti:
We were holding it, too, like he's talking about, out of that marketing seminar with Seth Godin … The little pieces of it, like does it pique interest? Is it something that, when you Google it, where does it stand. Is it gonna get flooded with 50 other things that you're gonna be battling against? Then, also, does it essentially, in the end of the world, embrace whatever it was?

Aaron Jannetti:
We came up with a couple that we were playing with, and just like everybody else … I'm pretty sure anytime, anybody names anything, they at least go back to Greek history, or Latin, in some form. We went through the Gordian Knot, and plays off of that, and some other things. It was interesting, because Seth Godin is a guy that that him and I both follow very well, and anybody smart that I follow, I have to admit, Drew has turned me onto them, in some form.

Aaron Jannetti:
He talks about Kamiwaza in several of his conversations, and videos, and several of his books. I remember that sticking out, and I think that we went down there, and then we did our history, or background check on it. It doesn't pop up. There's a video game from Sony from regular PlayStation, whatever. It wasn't successful but … It fit.

Aaron Jannetti:
Then, the more, and more, and more you look at it, it really does … The way that we look at everything is this in-depth "I wanna learn more, I wanna learn more; I wanna get better, I wanna get better." If I'm gonna do anything, I wanna be really good at it.

Brett Johnson:
Perfect. Well, again, that's why I left it til last, because I think what you said before lines up. It's like, "Oh, now I get it. Now I understand why it's called that …"

Aaron Jannetti:
It's also fun to have to say … The very first thing out of your mouth. I'm pretty sure I screwed it up on half the episodes.

Drew Dillon:
You actually self-corrected yourself in this last recording [cross talk] I think you said it right.

Aaron Jannetti:
-wait a minute. Is that right? Yeah, it's Kamiwaza [cross talk]

Brett Johnson:
Let's talk about future plans for the podcast. As you mentioned, you're a dozen or so in, but that shouldn't stop you from thinking of what you're gonna do with number 100, that sorta thing. What are you thinking about?

Aaron Jannetti:
We're staying two ahead, at the moment. We released 11 this morning, but we recorded 13 last night. We're two ahead, and I would love to … I think we can both agree, we'd love to stay at least two ahead, if not more. Him and I do travel sometimes, and we get out, so there's one or two bumps in the road that are gonna come up, and we wanna make sure we stay ahead of that.

Aaron Jannetti:
I think the deeper we get into this … I think every time you get into a new project, you have to envision number 100, but the further, and further we get into it, I can see number 100 … We never run out of topics. Every week that we come in, and we say we want to talk about this one thing, but we have four others we wanted to talk to …

Aaron Jannetti:
I already have- I have a list of topics that I think is almost 23 long, and that's just starting. Then, the more conversations we have with instructors, and everything like that, they're asking questions. I'll go, "Well, that's an episode in itself." We've, in the middle of episodes, been like, "We could go down this road, but that's an episode in itself." We've got … I don't see the end of it coming any time soon.

Aaron Jannetti:
It plays off of what the podcast is, because it's continually improving. Heck, number 100 could be a review of episode number one, where we've changed our mind on five of the things we've done, or we've done something differently …

Aaron Jannetti:
In the long run, I don't think we've talked about completely long-term, like exactly what that looks like, but I would imagine it … Us just keep chipping away, and chiming, long as there aren't … We stay ahead, and we're both in the same location, it's relatively easy there. Maybe there's a five-week break here, and then a review of some other ones; maybe it changes down the road, and we're doing reviews of books, and other things that go …

Aaron Jannetti:
As far as that goes, I see 100. I see 200. I love Andy [Frisella], but, if he can make it to whatever, like 210, I feel like we can. .

Drew Dillon:
I just see continuing to grow an audience. Where our first thought was a new audience, and how the first 12 has really helped galvanize the audience that we currently have … Continuing to just get better at finding the new audience; getting in front of the new audience.

Drew Dillon:
I mentioned my buddy, James Clear before. One thing that I keep in mind – I think it'll help everybody listening – is James' book, "Atomic Habits," hit the New York bestsellers list. It's his first book. You think like, "Man, all right. Knocked it out of the park on his first one," [cross talk] Right?

Drew Dillon:
The thing is, he's been writing to an audience since 2011, I believe; 2011/2012. Now, when he started, before that, he's told me, "Oh, you know, I was actually writing a journal. I just got up the nerve to actually put it out there." He's writing, and he's writing, and all he did was make a goal of consistency. He goes, "I'll publish on Monday, and Thursday, every week, and I won't miss."

Drew Dillon:
He's doing that, and he's doing that, and he's doing that, and nothing's happening, nothing's happening, nothing's happening. It got to the point where he was kinda like, "Man, am I just wasting my time?" He said about eight months in, he goes boom … First one just went viral.

Drew Dillon:
At that point, and then on, I know he's really built up a good network of internet entrepreneurs, so he gets to see some of the behind-the-scenes of how are people's audiences growing, and whatnot. Within his networks. he realized he had one of the fastest-growing lists, in the sense of he grew to a quarter-million people following him within 14 months … Unheard of.

Drew Dillon:
In our discussion over coffee, as he's telling me, he goes, "Within the first eight months of nothing happening, what it taught me was, one, I'm the worst … We're the worst judges of our own work. What I thought was great biffed, and what I thought wasn't very good, took off … The other thing, too, looking at the eight months of me just shipping, I got better. When I first started, I wasn't that great of a writer. You might not … You're not a horrible writer. I was decent, I guess, but eight months in, I was a lot better than day one."

Drew Dillon:
His message, and we talk about consistency a lot, and looking at this podcast, is letting ourselves keep doing that. Holding on to the consistency, because by episode 50, episode 100, we're gonna be a lot better than we were at episode one.

Aaron Jannetti:
We already are … Even just in the basics of it, like understanding how to adjust the freakin' sound levels; what mics [cross talk] edited?

Brett Johnson:
Sure. Even having a conversation with yourselves, on mic, it totally changes it, once you have a mic in front of you, rather than a cup of coffee, because you you're recording.

Aaron Jannetti:
Oh, yeah.

Brett Johnson:
Without stepping on each other, without allowing the other person to finish their thought, but still hold your thought in your head, it's practice.

Aaron Jannetti:
Oh yeah [cross talk] You can tell that. I think we were two episodes in … I can't remember; it was two or three that we had released, and I literally sent him a text; I was like, "Dude, I talked for 20 straight minutes, and you didn't get a word in …" You build that awareness, and you understand that give and take. It's just- it's reps. It's reps and practice on everything. 50 in, we'll be that much better, and 100 in, we'll be that much better.

Drew Dillon:
I'm extremely confident in the subject matter. It can help that foundation … I find it really fun, because a lot of our conversations, I walk away thinking of something that we were talking about in a different way.

Drew Dillon:
That's, I think, the other interesting thing is we're talking about helping people build their foundation. When you're on a podcast, or when you're writing, at what point does someone give you that expert status, where it's like, "Oh, well, they're the subject-matter expert, because they're talking into a mic about it"?

Drew Dillon:
How often that stops us from getting in front of a mic, but then, also realizing that through this process, there's been a-has, and growth between us, of just going, like, "That went a route that I don't think I'd thought about before." It's growing ourselves, as well as hoping that the audience can take those lessons, and run with them, too, and just continuing to grow that community.

Aaron Jannetti:
Last night was a prime example of it. We went in … Last night's topic for episode 13 was sum cost. In my mind, again, the 15 minutes before we went up there, I had a completely different idea of how this episode was gonna go. We went five different ways, and where I'm going, that's not how I looked at sum cost. Holy crap, it's a completely different view. It now allows me to open up a pathway to see other things in a different light. It literally just was us hashing things out. He sees it different, I see it different, and we're able to actually talk back and forth about that.

Aaron Jannetti:
I know for a fact, I've learned over these 13 episodes, so it's … Yeah.

Brett Johnson:
You've gotten very lucky that you had your listening audience, your clients now, initially, give you feedback immediately.

Aaron Jannetti:
Oh, yeah.

Brett Johnson:
You're connecting with them. That's huge. Everyone that podcasts wants that, "Is somebody listening to this?" You can look at the download numbers; you can see that, yeah, I do see people are "listening," but the feedback is never usually there for a while. You got it pretty quickly, which is great.

Aaron Jannetti:
That's the thing that I that I think is interesting, too, because we see them face to face. Most of these conversations are taken face to face … They're not leaving a comment, or writing a message. It's when we see you face to face, we're gonna have this conversation. That makes me think, too, how many people have thought the same exact thoughts, but they just aren't gonna take the time to write it down; but they're not gonna see us face to face; they're not gonna have that conversation. If we didn't have that immediate feedback, face to face, I'm pretty sure half of the conversations we had, nobody would have ever written it on the board, would've never sent it through a message.

Aaron Jannetti:
That's an interesting point that I hadn't even really thought about, until you brought it up, where we are in that position, where people can go, "Hey, I listened to your podcast last night." If they don't say anything, I can call 'em out, and be like, "What'd you think?" [cross talk] look 'em in the eyes. "Really? Because you've been here for two years, and I know for a fact you needed that episode."

Brett Johnson:
Without calling you out in the podcast …

Aaron Jannetti:
"I was literally thinking about you while talking about this …"

Brett Johnson:
If you play it backwards, we'll say your name five times, right? Advice for a business owner walking into this idea of a podcast, especially in your industry. What's some advice you would give them?

Aaron Jannetti:
First thing I would say is just do it.

Drew Dillon:
Start.

Aaron Jannetti:
Really, that's the big thing. Again, to pull one from Seth Godin; in one of his books, he talks about set a deadline, and no matter what happens at the deadline, you send it; no matter how good it is, because we're pretty much our own worst enemies. That's a big one.

Aaron Jannetti:
Not to, again, just throw books out there, but, "The War of Art" is a fantastic book by Steven Pressfield. It's that. If you've thought for two seconds that you might enjoy the platform, or the medium of going over the mic, then just do it.

Aaron Jannetti:
Don't try to make it perfect. You don't need to spend five grand to set up a studio. Just sit down, and start talking. Then, you'll get good at that. You'll start getting good at the talking part … You might. You might find out it's not a good mix. You can always upgrade your mic. You can always upgrade your facility, and you can always get better at it. It doesn't need to be perfect. Just do it, and see what happens.

Aaron Jannetti:
I think that's a big lesson that … That applies to everything, but as far as talking to people directly about possibly doing podcasting, just do it. If it does awesome after six months, great. If you find yourself more tired by the idea, and you're not fueled by it, then, hey, at least you gave it a shot, but you have to give it a shot, and get it out there before you can ever make that decision.

Drew Dillon:
Yeah, and I think a lot of times, even when you do start, and create, it's six months down the line, if you're like, "Okay, this isn't the thing," I think what you've created will still add value, if you keep it on the website … A new client come in, and you look, and go, "Oh, man, okay, over the course of six months, I did 30 episodes, and honestly, I feel these five really could be valuable for someone new," when they sign up, send those five to 'em, like, "Hey, other members have found these valuable. You're welcome to listen." The only thing that could be happening there is you're galvanizing that relationship of media that you've already created.

Brett Johnson:
All right. What's the best place to find Kamiwaza?

Aaron Jannetti:
The web page, which is going to direct you pretty much directly to our Podbean site, but is Kamiwaza.co … KMI … KA … See, I'm screwing it up again. K-A-M-I-W-A-Z-A dot co. {kamiwaza.co). The podcast is on all your major outlets. It's on Spotify; it's on iTunes; it's on Google; it's on Podbean; it's on Stitcher. You can find it all there.

Brett Johnson:
If they're not going to either of your places, how can they reach you to give you a comment about, "Hey, this really touched me. Could you cover this?" What's a good way of getting a hold of you?

Aaron Jannetti:
Yeah, for sure. On the Podbean site … I'm pretty sure it pushes off to everything else, but we do have all of our contact information. Stuff for Endeavor's on there; stuff for Project Lift is on there. You can always find me at … Well, pretty much online, JannettiAaron, pretty much on everything – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. It's the same exact ID there. Aaron@EndeavorDCF.com is the email, if they wanna reach out to us directly, or reach out to me directly. They can also get a hold of the podcast directly at Kamiwazapodcast@gmail. That's a really easy way. Then Project Lift, as far as that goes?

Drew Dillon:
Yeah, we've got Project Lift. You can find … Unfortunately, on Instagram, and whatnot, it's a weird spelling; I think we had to leave out [cross talk] something, we had to leave out a letter-

Aaron Jannetti:
It's the E. It's like, P-R-O-J-C-T, or something like that-

Drew Dillon:
It's sad that I'm literally going, "I'm not sure which letter it is," because when I write it down, I pull out my phone, and look. I'm like, "Okay which one is it?" [cross talk]

Brett Johnson:
It's like your phone number – why do you have your phone number in your phone? You don't call yourself.

Drew Dillon:
Me, personally, drewdillon, all one word, on all the major outlets. I've been able to grab … Dillon is spelt with only one "I." D-I-L-L-O-N. A lot of people like to add an extra I, and then, like, "I can't find. What's wrong?" I'm like, "It's one "I"."

Aaron Jannetti:
They add letters to yours; they take letters off of mine. Yours, just to let you know-

Drew Dillon:
Thank you.

Aaron Jannetti:
-is missing the E, and has an underscore. It's P-R-O-J-C-T underscore Lift. (Projct_Lift). You're welcome.

Drew Dillon:
Thank you. That works.

Brett Johnson:
I'll have all those connections in the podcast show notes, too. I always like to give a verbal shout out, for the sake of … So it gets in your head twice, when you look around. Good.

Brett Johnson:
I appreciate you guys coming in to talk about this podcast. I, again, thank Dr. Richard Ulm, at Columbus Chiropractic, for putting us together, too-

Aaron Jannetti:
We have all of his acronyms right after his name …

Drew Dillon:
Who? The Alphabet?

Brett Johnson:
The Alphabet … He's Doctor Google [cross talk] No, I appreciate him connecting us, and I'll tell him a big thank you, next time I see him, which I'm sure will be soon. I might get injured doing something stupid. Anyway, good luck with the podcast. I know we'll connect up, again-

Aaron Jannetti:
Appreciate it. Thank you.

Brett Johnson:
-but, great interview, and I appreciate your insights on what you guys are doing with this … Actually a lot more in-depth than I was expecting. Again, you never know until you go through the interview. Like wow, yeah …

Brett Johnson:
Not that I don't expect people to put thought into the podcast. It's always interesting to see what thought was put into the podcast, because it's sometimes not that evident, listening. You don't know until you see a rhythm, until you see years [cross talk] what's going on with it. It's interesting that you have that deep of thought about this podcast, so early in, which I think will get you to episode 100, 150, 200 [cross talk]

Aaron Jannetti:
We'll have to come back at episode 100.

Brett Johnson:
That's gonna be on my calendar. I'm gonna keep a look at it [cross talk] That's another conversation I'm getting there.

Aaron Jannetti:
Yeah, all truth.

Brett Johnson:
It is, honestly. really is. It really is. Well, again, thanks. I appreciate it.

Aaron Jannetti:
Thanks for having us [

Transcribe audio to text with Sonix, the best online audio transcription software

Sonix quickly and accurately transcribed the audio file, “Kamiwaza”, using cutting-edge AI. Get a near-perfect transcript in minutes, not hours or days when you use Sonix, the industry’s fastest audio-to-text converter. Signing up for a free trial is easy.

Convert mp3 to text with Sonix

For audio files (such as “Kamiwaza”), thousands of researchers and podcasters use Sonix as a simple software solution to transcribe, edit, and publish their audio files. Easily convert your mp3 file to text or docx to make your media content more accessible to listeners.

Best audio transcription software: Sonix

Researching what is “the best transcription software” can be a little overwhelming. There are a lot of different solutions. If you are looking for a great way to convert mp3 to text , we think that you should try Sonix. They use the latest AI technology to transcribe your audio and are one my