Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tyler and Josh. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Tyler and Josh, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
Tyler’s resilience comes from a combination of pride and Madi, his now wife. With each hardship that comes up in this podcast journey, three amazing opportunities arise. Plus his wife is so supportive and stands right by his side through the entire thing.
Josh’s resilience comes from being proud of what we have accomplished so far, in the few years we have had the podcast, and what we have continued to grow and be involved with. New opportunities that continue to happen increase their resilience to when hardships do arrive.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
The 30&Nerdy Podcast has been going since 2019. In those 4 short years, we have grown far more than we ever thought we would. We are two small town boys, at the time, living in Morristown, Tennessee. All we did was start recording conversations that we already had on the regular. We posted them. What started out as a YouTube audio podcast, moved on to other podcast platforms, and eventually; here we are. To say that each year has seen something big and new, is an understatement. What started out small has become something full of fun and opportunity. We have sponsors, we have connections, interviews with amazing people, and now a partnership with the amazing people at Fanboy Expo; where we run the cosplay competition. All those things are great, but to this day, what is important to us is what the brand is. At its core, 30&Nerdy Podcast will always bee to educate, enlighten, and entertain. The older we get the more becomes available out there in the world of pop and nerd culture. We started this podcast to entertain and educate. However, now it has become a show for us too. There is so much to digest in this world that even at 34, it’s tough to keep up. So now we don’t only enlighten and educate others…we do it for ourselves too. So that’s one thing we find ourselves doing these days is just trying to keep up with the ever growing world of Nerd Culture. One thing I think that makes us stand out is our excitement to be a part of the people. Many podcasts, in this age of Podcast Media, release on such a hardened schedule without room to change or deviate from the established plan. We just are. Some would say we should be more scheduled, but life doesn’t allow that all the time. Instead of giving in and giving up, we switch around and evolve. We want to meet people we want to try new things and change things up. After all, if we don’t evolve, we die.
Another thing that I think we want to highlight is the fact that we rely and love partnerships and lifting others up and bringing attention to those that have helped us along the way. It’s one reason that we have commercials and take breaks to plug promos for other podcasts and businesses in and around our area. These people have done different things to help us. So we insist on constantly plugging them. We don’t get ahead or grow alone, in this world, it takes friendships and partnerships. Podcasting is no different than any other media outlet. Because of our mentality on just being involved with others, in any capacity, we now have so many partnerships with others like OEB Law, Fanboy Expo, Tennessee Legend Distillery, and other amazing podcast like The ODPH Podcast and The Nerd Initiative. That’s what we want you to know most about us and our brand; fun, friendships, entertainment, willingness to try things, and above all else, a safe place that has no time for toxic nerdom or toxic fanbases. We like to call that The Fandom Menace. We want you to keep coming back because you have either enjoyed it, learned something new, or to simply escape the cruelty and stress of the outside world. That’s what 30&Nerdy Podcast want to be.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Our first thing would have to be the fact that we already had a strong bond well before creating 30&Nerdy Podcast and work well together in many aspects, especially the world of creativity. Some individual skills would have to be netowrking marketing for myself (Tyler). The knowledge of how to grow followers, what to post, and how to network has been a huge positive for what 30& Nerdy Podcast has become. Without the previous years of classes and marketing positions, We would not be where we are now. Managing a structure would be the quality that Josh brought. We’d never get an outline completed or an episode finished in an acceptable time if it wasn’t for Josh. Tyler can take a topic into an infinite amount of tangents, and if Josh wasn’t there to rein him in, episodes would easily be 4-6 hours. Plus we have a respect for the craft of creating and independent work. We aren’t carried by some massive network or paid thousands of dollars to have this podcast. We aren’t ‘already established celebrities’ that just felt like doing a podcast and use our fame for downloads. We are two regular guys. We are used to that. We come from the world of community theatre. Actors aren’t paid. It’s really a life of transient theatre. Many community theaters don’t have their own lavish theaters like Broadway or big named companies. So we already had that small business / non-profit independent theatre mindset. It helps having those qualities because we know what it takes to get the independent things off the ground and infant of people. It takes work, patience, and passion.
If we could give any advice, it would be to not give up. If you have an idea and a want to see this thing realized, do it. There are a million reasons NOT to do something, but only one reason to do something; because YOU want to. It doesn’t have to be a podcast. Do you think these viral TikTok and YouTube stars didn’t go through doubt and nay sayers. Of course they did. We live in a world where someone can literally have millions of followers, and all they do is put on makeup while talking about true crime. We live in a world where people watch other people play video games, play sports, do a talk show, or review movies; instead of doing the act themselves. The person watching doesn’t make the amounts of money. The person doing the act does. The person watching isn’t playing out their dream or passion. The person DOING IT is. It makes me think of the movie Lilo and Stitch. Do you know what Lilo was made fun of by the jerk kids? Her passion. Loving what she’s doing. Enjoying, even when someone is watching or isn’t watching. Is that so bad? Don’t focus on the voices that say don’t. Focus on the inner voice that says do. Because, from experience, the ones who say don’t; will want to be right by your side when you do and do good at it.
All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?
Today’s biggest challenge is everyday’s biggest challenge. Well really it’s more like a gauntlet match with our podcast being in a WWE ring during a gauntlet match with the likes of Brock Lesnar, The Undertaker, and Stone Cold Steve Austin. Instead of those three legends; it’s time, schedules, and age. But you might as well call that trio the Faction of Life! Life gets in the way. Jobs, families, schedules, sleep, sickness. It all gets in the way, and it always will. But it goes back to the last thing we said. Those are just some of the millions of reasons not to do something, and we will be the first to say that those voices win a lot. For instance, many times we have said, “Here’s the notes and the outline. I will see you at 8:30.” Only to be texting, “Hey man, I am beat and just got home.” or “Hey man the kid has got a fever and throwing up.” It’s part of life. Yeah things happen. The only thing you can do is choose how you evolve and adapt on the fly with those things. We’ve been pretty good at it. If we had a schedule that we religiously didn’t stray away from, the podcast wouldn’t have lasted.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.30andnerdypodcast.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/30andnerdypodcast/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/30AndNerdyPodcast
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/30AndNerdyPod
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHsk8HcIMmq_iB_IKeGSljA
- Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@30andnerdypod
Image Credits
These images are courtesy of Fanboy Expo and Ash from Ashley Lodge Photography