Darrell Evans is a lifelong learner, student of personal development and someone who believes that you can achieve anything if you’re committed to CANI (Constant and Never-Ending Improvement). An entrepreneur since the age of 18, he’s a serial entrepreneur and is currently the co-founder of Yokel Local, a digital marketing agency headquartered in Las Vegas. Over the last 9 years, they’ve helped companies collectively generate multiple nine figures online.
His mission in life is to POSITIVELY IMPACT LIVES. He is the Co-founder of Yokel Local Internet Marketing, a digital marketing agency based in Las Vegas. He is also a business growth coach helping entrepreneurs build marketing and sales systems into their business so the business serves their lifestyle.
What is The Mindshift Podcast all about?
The mind shift podcast is a show for entrepreneurs, for leaders for those who are aspiring to do great things. And what it does is it uncovers the journey between inspiration and realization, or when life knocks us down that journey between breakdown to breakthrough. The goal of the show is for us to have real conversations share real strategies and real stories that have helped you find real success. You know, one thing I say in life and in business is we’re really just one shift away from breakthroughs that we’re looking for. And so we have conversations with entrepreneurs to uncover some of those hidden gems of what took people across the chasm, from those two aspects from inspiration to realization, and from breakdown to breakthrough.
Tell us a little bit about your personal background – how, and why you started your podcast?
You know, my background, and I’ve been an entrepreneur since I was 19 years old. Now, I didn’t start all the way full-time as an entrepreneur at 19 years old. But for the last 30 years, I’ve built about six businesses. A couple have gone really, really well, a couple didn’t go so well. But I have been looking back on my experience, and I am looking for a way I was looking for a way to expand my knowledge and expand my expertise, and do so in a global way. And the reality of it is if I hadn’t started this show, there’s no way I would have likely have touched all of the continents on this globe in such a short period of time.
So when I thought about podcasting, I thought, What’s a way for me to essentially share my expertise, release my expertise to anyone who would want to hear who was in this road of entrepreneurship leadership, especially young leaders, because I was very fortunate to start at a young age. And that was the why behind starting this show, I started the show literally on my cell phone, right into an app called Anchor. And then I, you know, grew up a little bit and bought a little bit more equipment.
What was the biggest problem you encountered launching your podcast and how did you overcome it?
The biggest problem I encountered launching the podcast was really getting over the fear of hearing my own voice and wondering if anyone even gave a damn if anyone even would listen. And ultimately, I procrastinated on starting this show for probably three or four years, until I was at an event with one of my coaches and mentors. And during one of the segments, he literally said something from the stage that made it seem like he was talking just to me, though, there were hundreds, and it was actually over 1000 people in the room.
So I overcame it simply by taking action that night, I went up to my hotel room, I put up a landing page, I named the show, I went ahead and put up, subscribe now get notified, opt-in box, and committed to launching this show several weeks from that point. So it really just came down to me taking action and getting over my excuses.
What are some mistakes you made as a podcaster?
Some of the mistakes I’ve made as a podcaster.
Number one being inconsistent. What I mean by that is not publishing every single week or on a steady frequency. You know, it’s easy to say we’re going to do something but then we don’t properly map it into our schedule. And, you know, shooting the show recording the show actually is the easy part, post-production is where you actually get caught up with a little bit of extra time getting the show edited, getting the blog posts written, and getting it uploaded to your RSS feed.
And so some of my early mistakes were really just not really recognizing the time commitment. But now that I’ve known the time commitment, I’ve got a buffer in my schedule, I’ve got some team support. And so that was one of the earlier mistakes.
Do you have any other projects or businesses you working on?
I’m the co-founder of Yokel Local Internet Marketing, a digital marketing agency, and HubSpot partner out of the Las Vegas, Nevada area. We’ve been in business for about 10 years. And so for the last decade, I’ve been behind the scenes helping hundreds of companies, CEOs, and founders really scale their businesses from one to 10 million and even into the upper eight figures Mark nine figures Mark even. And so that has been one of my primary projects.
What I’m working on now is the releasing, if you will or the launching of the Mindshift Business Academy in the mind shift business accelerator, I’ve got a heart for startups and helping companies grow, helping those solopreneurs go from a solopreneur business into a scale business and bringing those aspects of marketing sales, entrepreneurship and leadership into those concepts.
Do you monetize your podcast or plan on monetizing, tell us how or how you plan to do it?
Today, I do not monetize the podcast but I do have monetization goals. And the way I see it is, rather than attempting to grow such a huge audience on the show that I’ll attract advertisers, I’ll let that be a secondary benefit of growing the show. I plan to monetize the show through my own coaching, concert coaching, consulting, and advisory services through the mind shift Business Academy the mind shift business accelerator And that’s what I intend to do to monetize the show. So through coaching and consulting, how do you stay driven and motivated to keep going in your business and your podcasts.
What are the three books or courses you recommend for podcasters?
- There are actually tons of good books out there, but what I highly recommend is for them to read The Art of War, this is just such a good book to read that can be applied to your everyday life.
- There is also this How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, this book does not just teach you all the dos and don’ts of social life but it teaches you how to be a better entrepreneur which can then be applied to your podcast.
- The last book I recommend is Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.
How do you stay driven and motivated to keep going in your business and podcast?
What is the one thing you wish you knew before starting your podcast?
One thing I wish I knew before I started podcasting was to build the audience for this show before I started it. And so what I mean by that is, I didn’t think of it as marketing, what I thought about starting the podcast, I wish I would have sort of brought an audience into my world for this particular purpose. Prior to launching this show, all that would have done was would have helped boost my numbers right out of the gate. But having said that, we’re still growing the audience as we are today.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your audience?
I’m going to go back and say it’s publishing consistently. And it’s continuing to network with other like-minded leaders, such that when I have great people on the show, they’re willing to share their story with their audience. So I think part of it is making sure you have an interview, some segment in your show, that’s an interview part of the podcast, where you can then tap into the expertise of other people. And they will then share that content with their audience so it can showcase them.
What is your definition of success?
I define success as the experience of growing through the process of attaining or seeking a goal. Too often we think of success as the actual end destination, we think of success as the outcome we think of success and or failure, as the event the score, if you will, I like to think of what is it that I learned on the journey, as I sought after the attainment of a particular goal, or achievement? Or metric, if you will. And so I think of it as what I become along the way that to me is how I can define success.
If you had to start a brand new podcast today, what are the steps you would take?
I wouldn’t overthink it, I would literally open up Buzzsprout, which is what I currently use. I would also maybe consider anchor, also very, very simple. And I would probably open the mic. Any time I had a thought on my head that I wanted to share with my audience. I think so many times we want to get scripted. We want to get prepared. We want to write all these outlines, but the reality of sharing your expertise on this medium called a podcast. It’s about taking and capturing the moments as they happen. I’m actually working on this right now where I’m CIT re-engineering my setup so that I can record on the fly. Any great conversation, any great idea that I’ve had, I can just record it at the moment and let that filter his way back to the show.
What’s the best piece of advice you have for aspiring new podcasters?
Just start. Don’t overthink it. Just start. I talked myself out of starting a podcast even though I was a public speaker. I did the training, though I did live seminars. I’ve been shooting videos for over a decade. Don’t ask me why I just didn’t start the podcast. Maybe it was because I didn’t want to stare at a blank screen and talk into a microphone. I have no idea. But I would just tell you to just start. It’s not that hard. To start, turn on the microphone on your computer, turn on the microphone on your phone. Start a free hosting service with Anchor.fm or another lightweight service like Buzzsprout or Libsyn and just record your expertise. Release your expertise. That’s what the world needs.
What is your favorite quote?
The greatest project you’ll ever work on? Is YOU.
How can readers get in touch with you?
You can find and meet me at TheMindShiftPodcast.com or at Darrellevans.net or Mr. Darrell Evans on all social platforms. You can also check me out on Yokellocal.com.
Thanks for having me.
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