How Sean Bennett of HOC Helps Enterprise Businesses Transform Their Data Systems

[00:00:00] Hector: M Y P fam, what is going on? My name is Hector SL Stavan and I am your host. And this is the show that gives you everything that you need to go out and grow a successful podcast.

[00:00:10] Hector: We're gonna give you all the tactics, the tips, the training and tools and support, and we're also gonna introduce you to the people that can help you get there. And today's episode is with Sean Tepper.

[00:00:18] Hector: He's the host of Payback Time. There are over 160 episodes in, and what we talk about is what it takes to actually get there and how efficiency and optimizing his workflow actually helped him do that.

[00:00:29] Hector: He was able to get his production workflow down to two hours a week by automating and delegating a lot of his systems. And so we talked about how he was able to do that and why that actually freed up his headspace to be a lot more creative.

[00:00:39] Hector: So don't forget to follow me on LinkedIn at Hector Sote. You can also follow Sean there as well. And you can find me on Twitter at hector underscore podcast. Without further ado, M Y p fam. Let's get into this episode with the host of Payback Time, Mr. Sean Tepper.

[00:00:56] Hector: Sean, we are here. Welcome to the M YP show. Man. Thanks for being here.

[00:01:00] Sean: Hector, good to be here. Thanks for the invite.

[00:01:03] Hector: we connected a few weeks ago. You came out to one of our virtual mixers and it was really cool to have you out because It's just a wide diverse group of people. one of those spectrums is how monetizable is your show.

[00:01:15] Hector: And you were one of the ones who actually had a really great business. , you know, and your show really fit alongside well together. I thought it would be cool to have you on just to share your story and kind of you know, how we got here, but the show is payback time.

[00:01:27] Hector: I'd love for you to take us back to inception of the show, whenever the first rumblings or ideas of the show came about. how did it come to be?

[00:01:36] Sean: Sure. Well this goes back to not 2015 is when I created it, but really started getting into listening to podcasts and, like anybody, they find this one and then they find another one and then another one they're binging it. And I'm like, if I'm going to create a business, I need to create a podcast in parallel with it.

[00:01:52] Sean: Cuz it's such a two main reasons. One, it. Networking tool to meet with new people. Especially you bring guests on, especially in your same space, but to a great marketing tool to, you know, you can put commercials on your own episode and get people to join or buy your products or your services. Or, you know, when other people promote your episode, you kind of get the exposure that way too.

[00:02:12] Sean: so I knew they had to go one hand in hand business with a podcast. It's gotta happen together.

[00:02:17] Hector: And so you actually have a SaaS product, which I'd love for you to talk to us a little bit about, and I don't think it's your first business. This can't be your first go around with but I'd love for you to talk. A little bit about the business and then I'd love for you to continue to go into why the podcast made so much sense, specifically with the kind of business that you have.

[00:02:35] Sean: Sure. just, my background real quick, I'll keep it real high level, like 30 seconds or less, but I've been in business about 16 years. I had an agency from oh six to 2010 built that went through a merger. I sold my first business. Wasn't a big payday, but it was like, hey, all debts and liabilities wiped off.

[00:02:52] Sean: So it was a fresh start. And then I knew at that point in 2010 the type of business model I wanted, which was sas. It's just a lot more scalable than a service business. I didn't have any ideas, so I just went to work for large corporations, so I worked for companies like GE and Kohler, and that was a really good experience cuz got to understand how publicly traded companies.

[00:03:11] Sean: Operate, and then it was like 2015 leading up to it, I knew I might have an idea like this SaaS product, which at first Things first, I created it in Excel, helps people manage their own investments. And it's all about confidence. So what stocks should you buy? What should you avoid? I used this for about four or five years to make returns in the stock market that were ranging between like 15 and 50%.

[00:03:34] Sean: And kind of when I proved the concept, I started talking to people in 2019 and like retail investors and institutions and asked 'em, Hey, if I turn this Excel sheet into something, would you use it? And everybody's like, when is the software going live? So I can, and it took about a year to build. We went live in 2020, but as soon as I knew in 2019, people wanted this.

[00:03:54] Sean: Tool. I started thinking about a podcast that could compliment it. Like, who are guests? I can bring on the show that I could hear their story, provide value to my audience, whether it's investing and, kind of where it's gone is. The content on the I episode isn't just stocks cuz my tools, ticker tkr.com is all about buying stocks.

[00:04:15] Sean: ETFs and crypto are coming soon. But this way you know what to buy and what to avoid. And my audience, they are really into. Investing. So the podcast guests I bring on either in stock investing or real estate investing or even entrepreneurs, because there's a lot of people that they're thinking about how can I diversify my income streams and get myself closer to financial and independence, or even retirement early.

[00:04:39] Sean: So my podcast, we're all about season three now. Just making it transparent for people so you can kind of pick and choose. what do you want to do to get there as fast as possible when we break it down in simple terms? And it's a lot of fun. it's been a blast, I have to say.

[00:04:55] Hector: I am curious why you thought, and perhaps this is just you personally, but why you thought your industry and your product paired well with podcasting? Because I think that perhaps that is a blanket statement and we could match podcasts to all types of industries. but perhaps you thought that no podcast is something specific over a YouTube channel or maybe you did some of the other things like Google a, you know, there's all these different ways to market a business.

[00:05:21] Hector: You chose podcasting. Was there something about your industry or something about your niche or even about you that you saw matched Well with podcasting?

[00:05:30] Sean: Well with podcasting, it made sense for multiple reasons. One is transparency, and this is one thing I knew in order to separate myself from other screeners, were considered a screener. So other screeners out there are like seeking Alpha or simply Wall Street, and they're great platforms, but a lot of noise.

[00:05:46] Sean: It's hard to understand. You don't know where to go or how to make a decision. I'm like, well, ticker needs to solve those problems. But me as the C E O. , I've gotta be more approachable. I can't be the guy wearing a suit and tie and I don't come from a world of finance. I come from world of it in business.

[00:06:01] Sean: So it's like, I'm usually doing podcasts with a t-shirt or like this and, if I'm gonna talk about stuff, it's not gonna be $20 words. It's gonna be like my hobbies or let's talk about stocks. But in simple terms. But I knew the podcast was a great way to. People to get to know me, my background, and also I'd say I can't be the judge here.

[00:06:20] Sean: Only other people can, but if people are on my show, I will help steer the conversation in a way that makes it really easy to understand. I have to say this, I brought people on the show that try to keep it really complex and all the terminology here in finance and it's like, I'll pump the brakes and be like, all right, we gotta break this down.

[00:06:37] Sean: In simple terms, we gotta be the most approachable, so as multiple facet. was really the strategy with the podcast, and I knew that, it's just the beginning because we go on YouTube as well, so you can see the videos and whatnot. But working for large companies, they're big on omnichannel. You wanna get laser focused with one or two things right away, but then be ready to pivot and expand so your exposure is multiplied.

[00:07:00] Sean: So we started with the podcast, then went to YouTube. You know, we've got plans to go to TikTok. , you know, soon. And then we'll do the paid ad stuff with Facebook and Google in the near future. But by the time you get there, you already have SEO in place. You got all that stuff working together. But if you try to do it all at once, in the beginning, it's just a mess.

[00:07:17] Sean: You gotta pick one and be really focused. So the podcast was like, that was it. I'm like, I'm gonna focus on that. I'm trying to nail that first and then kind of branch out from there.

[00:07:27] Hector: And now I'm curious because you've reached this point where I'm looking at listen notes hidden here, and you are 162 episodes in, You know, you're in the 99th percentile there, right? I think 25 is, the vast majority of people don't make it past 25.

[00:07:42] Sean: Wow.

[00:07:43] Hector: Being a hundred, you know, let's call it 150 plus.

[00:07:45] Hector: Right. That milestone. What's been the most surprising thing about that journey? Are there things that you found yourself enjoying more? let's talk about some of the good things and some of the things that you didn't think would come from some of the pod from doing a podcast.

[00:07:59] Sean: I have to admit there were no major surprises in like a positive or negative way. I. the pain. I'd like to talk about that a little bit. I love interviewing people and I love talking to people, hearing their stories, cuz it's very much an interview focused podcast that bringing up guest, hear their story, their background, and then we try to extract the takeaways so people can take action.

[00:08:18] Sean: But, I do not like editing and I do not like promoting. Cause I've kind of look at it like a three step process. Step one is you gotta record, you got your production, then you've got your post-production editing, and then you have your promotion. So the three tiers, and I was doing everything myself. For a good majority of season one.

[00:08:34] Sean: And it was a time consuming process and I, knew structure and schedule was key, so I tried to get out something every week. So trying to do a podcast every week, and as soon as ticker started the business, the revenue driver started generating enough revenue. I immediately got an editor.

[00:08:52] Sean: I went to Upwork. I found an editor as well as a promoter on Upwork and offloaded those tasks to those people. Best decision I made with the podcast. Cause now I can only do what I enjoy and at a pretty low cost. I get everything else done behind the scenes and they promote. So we get out two episodes per week.

[00:09:09] Sean: We try to, sometimes it's one a week, but you can stick to the rhythm. That's, what's key to building an audience.

[00:09:16] Hector: Yeah. What did your recording schedule look like? Did you batch them onto certain days? Was it kind of throughout the week when you could, or how did that look? You know, managing that many recordings.

[00:09:29] Sean: Yeah, so on top of ticker, , know, it's a bootstrap SaaS. It's a b2c, which can be a very slow growth compared to a b2b, which is selling businesses higher ticket prices. With b2c, it's lower ticket, you need higher volume. So myself, and then I have two partners in the business that joined. Later after I founded, I brought in the partners a CT O, and then a cmo.

[00:09:49] Sean: We've all worked full-time jobs outside of ticker, so we've never taken a penny to pay ourselves. It's all gone back into the. Items like engineering. Then of course the podcast. So I actually scheduled, even with a full-time job, a very rigorous, like it's noon, twice a week and I have Calendly set up.

[00:10:07] Sean: Calendly is a great tool, but I'd create blocks, two blocks a week and they can be filled in. By the end user and I, push out my schedule a good year, so people would schedule, whether it's a month or two in advance, but they're only noon on certain days. I'll grab a quick snack earlier in the day. I don't worry about lunch.

[00:10:25] Sean: I work remote anyway, so that's an advantage. But yeah, that allowed me to. Create those buckets of time and allow 'em to be filled. And I commit to the show, one hour production. That's it. You get done, hand it off to the, post-production guy and, that's it.

[00:10:39] Hector: Yeah. such a great tip that you gave in terms of creating, em specific time blocks that are. at a regular interval. You did it, every week, twice a week and sticking to it. I've done it myself in just booking interviews whenever the guests could, and you're doing it all over the place

[00:10:56] Hector: and I love that.

[00:10:58] Hector: And I think that's such a great tip for the listener.

[00:11:01] Hector: Are there any other things that you did to. Optimize your workflow to make things easier. even when it comes to working with, other people on the team.

[00:11:09] Sean: Yeah. So some really good tips here. Hopefully this can help, but we use Google Drive. And that's like our central hub because I gotta give a shout out. The editor, his name is Ricardo, he's based outta Brazil, and then post-production guy, and then he hands off to Jabrill. He's based in Kenya. So we have to have some kind of tool that we can share the files now within that Google Drive.

[00:11:27] Sean: We've got a folder for every guest, and that folder contains a Word doc, which is like notes on the guest. I'll take during the show all the tags. I'll kind of do some things leading up to the show a little bit of time. It doesn't take more than 15 minutes, but I'll get what is their title going to be?

[00:11:44] Sean: or like kind of a framework of what their title, their intro, the tags. Then I record the show and then I can fill in that right after the show. Like what should the title be? What is the intro going to be? That's all in this word doc. The drive is for the audio and video files. So immediately after the show, I get those files uploaded to that drive, and then we have an Excel sheet or Google sheet, which is literally for every season there's a new sheet.

[00:12:09] Sean: in order. Every line is the guest. And you should see this Excel sheet. We're very rigid with our processes. Were the files uploaded? Yes. There's conditional logic, so it turns green. Okay. Was the intro uploaded? Were the files uploaded? Is it in recording? And then it moves on to when is the target published date?

[00:12:26] Sean: And we aim for that date. And then if we hit the date that turns green. And then it's got other things in it with it and like their email address, the assistance, email address, their handles and all the social channels. So it's all there. So that allows our, promoter, he can go to that sheet or the folder, that word doc.

[00:12:43] Sean: He knows exactly what needs to be said and we stay in that schedule. I tell you what, using Google Drive, in some kind of Excel sheet to create a rigorous system has been critical for this podcast.

[00:12:54] Hector: Do you think that's only necessary because you have a team? I have a few solo podcasters that I've asked them the same question and they don't have A system like that. You know, it's all in their head. And the argument they have for me is that there's no one else working.

[00:13:07] Hector: And so there's no one else who needs to know, or like they don't have a team. does it help you outside of having the ability to relay and give it to other, people on the team?

[00:13:16] Sean: it's critical and, for context, my first job I worked one year in the TV industry

[00:13:21] Sean: and it was shooting a lot of commercials and there were a lot of spots, and it was a very similar processes, like when are things shot, when are they edited, when are they slated to go? And it's super rigorous.

[00:13:32] Sean: And unfortunately with our editor, Ricardo, he comes from the TV industry as well. He's an audio engineer, but he also can edit video. So it's very much the same system. So him and I are immediately on the same page with that structure, those systems. Cuz if you can run your, podcast, think like a production house, not like Marvel, like that scale or Disney. Right. But think like n b NBC or some kind of news station, they have systems in place and I tell you what, you can cut minutes and sometimes hours out of your day and over the long term, that minimizes burnout and it just increases efficiency. Cuz I've talked to a lot of podcasters like you, they'll hit to 25 and I'll, hear their processes and what they're doing.

[00:14:09] Sean: It's so much wasted time and effort. It's like they're push. 10,000 pump boulder uphill when they could be rolling it downhill and running with the momentum. I tell you what, get systems in place early. It just makes your life easier and you can sustain longer. Cuz that's another thing too, is this is an endurance game.

[00:14:26] Sean: I knew like my first three years, I wanna get my stride here, . I'm not gonna have like a million downloads year one. get the systems in place. So super easy, you know, I know I've got two podcasts I gotta record a week and it's nothing.

[00:14:39] Hector: Yeah, such a great point about it freeing up creativity, right? Because when you have that in your head, it's still using up that mental ram and you're holding onto it somewhere. Whereas we use Airtable and that's because we're doing multiple shows and similar to you. we've got it in and the automations are set up so when things get clicked, people get notified and we have it set up to where everybody's tasks are, kind of dependent upon when things get set up.

[00:15:04] Hector: And so it helps because, we have a, similarly, a, small team and, and it helps to, keep that function. but to your point, it helps us also to plan out, and now we can be creative and now we can think through who's gonna be the next guest and what are the topics we're gonna cover and what are the titles and all the things that kind of come along.

[00:15:20] Hector: There's a lot of moving pieces that can be easily forgotten. Right. Are there any other checklists or, you know, you talk about rigorous things. Are there any other things that you guys are rigorous about in your processes?

[00:15:31] Sean: Really, it's just the drive, the Excel sheet Word doc. We are trying to get better with social media, like posting, so understanding the best strategies. For tagging, writing content, images, what the images should look like, and creating documentation like you could call 'em. So p standard operating procedures on what is best in class for YouTube and for.

[00:15:54] Sean: Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook. So we have all that in place. And I'm ba based in my corporate background. I know it's not glamorous, but it, teaches you little things like that. Like get your SOPs in place so everybody knows you're on the same page and following this structure, so that helps.

[00:16:08] Hector: Yeah. when it comes to, you're a SaaS product and we kind of glazed over it, that's a software as a service, right. they're the tools, they're the apps. So the websites that you log into lot of 'em pay monthly or whatever it kind of is.

[00:16:19] Hector: What are you excited about when it comes to. The podcasting space, right. Coming, being in the SaaS world and seeing how the podcast industry is evolving, there are lots of tools, there are lots of, ai, there's so many things that are happening. Is there anything that you're particularly excited about or looking forward to?

[00:16:37] Sean: Not so much on a tech side, but I really love talking to guests and now after, gosh, it's probably. Two and a half, three years, we're getting to the point where some bigger names are finding out about the show and their assistants are reaching out and placing them on the show, and it's finally get to that stride.

[00:16:57] Sean: So I guess my excitement is where can we go next and who can I talk to next? And this is something I treated from the beginning, is this is not about. First off I wanna use this as a platform to share with others. I know that will reciprocate. It's not gonna happen overnight, but it's gonna come back to me in some way, shape, or form.

[00:17:13] Sean: So now two and a half years plus, it's finally doing that. But it's like, let's just be a, platform to make these people look like rock stars. They can get great exposure on our site through our email, through our social channels, and that's it. They don't have to do anything in return, but if they do share.

[00:17:28] Sean: That's a win. We love that . That's kind of the process. So I guess answer your question, short stories, talking to some really fascinating people.

[00:17:35] Hector: You mentioned though, that the three year point is you're hitting your stride,

[00:17:39] Hector: I've heard that number come up quite a bit, that three years, and especially, maybe it's a few things, but people have referenced that specifically to the podcast. that's when. Whatever breakthrough happened, right? Whatever that is, that third year we used to talk about, , when you start a podcast, put your head down for a year, look up, then kind of look up, right? and assess. I talked to Chris Podcasting recently and he talks about, getting 50 episodes done in three months all these different kinda, maybe timelines or milestones or, things I think are helpful in keeping people going.

[00:18:10] Hector: You know, you're at one 50 now. Were there any milestones that were important to you in getting things done? And do you have any milestones that you're excited about looking forward?

[00:18:21] Sean: Good question. I know starting, I really wanted to. , commit to 50 and just take it from there. And what I've learned in business, and this is whether it's a business or a podcast, is just move forward. It does not need to be perfect. Not gonna polish this thing to be the perfect thing and then launch it never is.

[00:18:40] Sean: So you wanna, move forward. It's gonna be a little sloppy, a little clunky. It's not gonna be perfect branding, but as long as you have momentum forward, you can pivot along the way and make those iterations. And that's the way I looked at the podcast too, like I, I knew I wanted to interview people.

[00:18:53] Sean: I wanted to talk about business, financial independence, and then just go from there and see what the demand is, you know? So now my mile, I don't have any benchmarks as far as. Episodes or downloads. I actually don't, care about downloads at all cuz that's not our business model. We are all about building exposure for other people.

[00:19:10] Sean: In return, we'll get exposure for the SAS business ticker. But I guess it's just, I'm so excited. I don't even have any big goals, but I kind of feel like I've got the upper hand. I can reach out to some bigger names now and say, Hey, I have this person on. Would you be interested in jumping on? so I, I can finally have those conversations.

[00:19:27] Hector: Yeah, I think the relational equity that comes from a podcast is something that's so undervalued and especially somehow podcasting got thrown into this like money making thing. And I don't know if it was like Joe Rogan signing this. Big deal. Or somehow people thought that if I start a podcast I could make a lot of money.

[00:19:46] Hector: And it's like, perhaps, but that is like I don't know.

[00:19:49] Sean: Winning the lottery.

[00:19:51] Hector: yeah, if like if you go fishing, you're gonna catch a shark. I mean, it's like you could like, I guess if, you know, it's unlikely. And it's almost to the detriment of a lot of people who are, getting in because they don't have the right expectations.

[00:20:04] Hector: so I'm glad that you said that,

[00:20:05] Sean: sorry to interrupt you there. I was just gonna say the key thing is, it is straight up the wrong expectations. Like you've gotta come up with a legitimate business model that generates revenue, whether it's a product or a service. Could be an agency where a really easy business to create like what I had over 10 years ago.

[00:20:21] Sean: Or you create a SaaS business or you sell a product on like Shopify or something, but that is your revenue generator. The podcast is not, it's a marketing engine behind it.

[00:20:30] Hector: Sean. The show is payback time. The SaaS product is ticker. We connected on LinkedIn. Is there anywhere else that people should go to get connected with you?

[00:20:38] Sean: I think that's perfect. T Y K r ticker.com was great or otherwise, LinkedIn. I use LinkedIn a lot, so that's a great place to reach out.

[00:20:45] Hector: Fantastic. And if you guys are interested in investing stuff and, finding out I didn't, I learned something new today. A screener that sounds. Totally something. It's not. But it's good to know that they have a name and so if you guys are looking for a good screener Sean and ticker is, is a great place to follow and I've enjoyed connecting with them as well.

[00:21:01] Hector: And for the rest of you guys, I encourage you guys to go and connect with me on LinkedIn, Follow me at Hector underscore podcast and we will see you guys on the next episode of the N Y P show later y'all.