#2 Shawn Keys - Ready, Set, Podcast

Amy (00:01) Welcome to Just a Thought with Amy Keys. We are here to inspire, educate, inform, and entertain. On today's episode, I have a very special guest. This is my producer, my editor, my sound tech, my IT helpline, and problem solver guru and husband, Sean Keys. Welcome to the show.

Shawn (00:23) Well, thank you for having me. I'm used to being behind the scenes with this and not on mic, but looking forward to the discussion today.

Amy (00:29) Well, thanks for being here. I really appreciate it because this podcast could not and would not exist without you in my corner. And so since today's topic is basically all things about this podcast, I think it's time to just jump right in. Let's go. Okay, let's go. All right. So what people don't know is that actually I wanted this episode

about the podcast to be the first episode ever. And you said no because we recorded several guests already and you said nope, we gotta get those folks in and then just explain it. Why do you why?

Shawn (01:09) well, you and I sat down and and we recorded a couple of sessions. I think we didn't like the first one, we did the second one. And then when we brought the first round of guest in, you did three in one weekend, I believe. And

Amy (01:19) Three in one week?

Shawn (01:19) they were so phenomenal that I was like, I'm not I'm not going on first. You've got to have these other people on because they were some really interesting people, you know, between Kat the business owner and the Colvettes who ran the half marathon in France and the Willards with the vacation tips. I mean, it was really just some phenomenal

phenomenal guests we had. So I felt it was better to, you know, intro with some of those and and we'll talk podcasting later on.

Amy (01:43) think after the first one with Kat, I think you looked at both of us with this big smile and said, That was all

Shawn (01:49) Awesome.

Well I think I I looked at you and said you were made for this. To to both you and Kat actually.

Amy (01:54) Well, she definitely is made for this. me we'll we'll we'll find that out as we progress. But, you know, the podcast coming to be came to be with friends over the past few years saying, Hey, you know, Amy, after I've made social media posts or after I've maybe had discussions with them, you need to be a blogger or have a podcast. And I was like, No, no, no. Of course, self doubt.

self-esteem and all the questions and life being busy, you know, roll into your head and you think, no, I don't have time for anything else on my plate. But at Christmas this past year, somebody on this podcast bought me all the equipment for this podcast. And so here we are, because I couldn't very well say to my biggest encourager and my husband, who is like, here are these gifts. I believe in you.

Couldn't not do it. And then I went to a meeting at church, and it was a women's group at church that I rejoined, and I had not been there in I think eight years this past January. So right after you gave me the equipment, and the guest speaker was one of my mentors and women I look up to greatly, Dr. Mary McDonald. And she has a podcast.

with her friend Maureen. It's a wonderful podcast called Make It Make Sense. And the meeting program was about podcasts. And I thought, okay, I hear you, Lord. I hear you. This there's no such thing as coincidence. You've put me in this meeting for a reason. And do hear Mary and Maureen speak about how they do it. They were so humble about their story, but Mary I have known since I was in high school. And she is just a picture of grace, eloquence

Toys, professionalism, and class. I mean, five things that just are the epitome of amazing. And so I thought, well, if she's gonna do this podcast on hers, I wanna do one too. And that was really the conduit to getting things rolling. Then of course, life gets busy and here we are, you know, six months after that meeting and we're up and rolling. I think you were pretty impressed with my lineup so far. yeah.

Shawn (04:14) Yeah. yeah. I don't know how you've done it, but you've got what, over a dozen people I think?

Amy (04:19) Right now, including the three I have already recorded with, 23 guests.

Shawn (04:24) Yeah, that's pretty impressive. Yeah.

Amy (04:27) Yeah.

Shawn (04:32) Yeah, and I know you've been very thoughtful about who too. I mean you're you're finding people with interesting stories or interesting professions or businesses and things like that.

Amy (04:39) Well, you know, the purpose that leads me perfectly into the purpose of the podcast. Like why is it even here? And I think it's going to be amazing to actually put to use the fact that I talk a lot.

Shawn (04:54) Because it's a gift, definitely.

Amy (04:56) To invite people to a casual and comfortable setting to tell their story. And everybody has stories. I've never met someone who doesn't. Some of the stories might seem ordinary, but they could change a listener's life. They can educate. That's why the podcast is about inspiring, educating, informing, and entertaining. Because one guest might come on and

Teach you new things, like the Willards taught me a lot about travel and travel tips and the value of travel and all the things around that. But then Kat inspires people by her drive and her hard work and how she's built a business so quickly. And then we talk about fitness. So we're educating. It's all over the map. And I really want to give people voices, especially 5013 Cs and charitable groups.

Community leaders. I mean, I've got some pretty important folks. Everybody's important coming on the show. But we have, you know, gosh, so many great stories coming. And I want it to be unpredictable and I want it to be swinging wildly from one week to the next. So you doing all that you can on your end for me is making it easier for me to put the thought and creativity into the planning and the questions.

You know, there there's a lot more production work than I thought. I think a lot of people think you just buy a microphone and plug it into the wall and that could not be more incorrect.

Shawn (06:35) Yeah you yeah, you wouldn't plug it into the wall, but

Amy (06:37) You wouldn't plug it in wall. And I think people think it's a simple thing, but like on my end, I have to communicate and invite guests and communicate with them, send them questions, talk to them about the tone of the show and the way it is, and then, you know, work with them on when they're gonna come and when we're gonna talk and all the things. So there's a lot of pre production and then the actual recording and then it goes to you and you polish it up.

Shawn (07:06) post production. You probably spend more time in post production than you do in production. So

Amy (07:09) You have listened to me in post production more than you probably have our whole marriage.

Shawn (07:14) I've listened to each of the recordings we've done, I've listened to at least four times dur you know, from start to finish with with during editing and things like that.

Amy (07:21) But

I can tell when you're listening to Edit when you're walking around with your earbuds in because you're smiling.

Shawn (07:27) Yeah, it's entertaining.

Amy (07:28) It's entertaining.

Shawn (07:31) Well, and I pick up new little tidbits every time too, you know, new things that I probably missed the first time through and things like that. So it's pretty interesting.

Amy (07:37) But I I am genuinely humbled and pretty shocked that twenty-three people, or actually it's probably about forty people because some are duos coming in at the same time, are like, sure, I'll do it. Without even hearing how I can do a podcast, without even knowing where this is going, if I'm gonna have five listeners or five hundred. I love that my people believe in me, no matter how well I know them or don't know them. That has been really

Good for me. I mean, I've only had one person say, Let me, let me kind of see how it all goes first. And I respect that. So the fact that I'm pretty much almost booked for 2026 is insane because it's not even on the platforms yet. Wow. So I'm happy. That makes me very happy. And so where do you think the podcast is going? What do you think is going to happen with this?

Shawn (08:32) Yeah, it's hard to say. I think you've got a a pretty big following with your existing business and you're pretty well known in the community. So I think those people will you know, want to jump in and hear what you have to say. Where it goes from there is anybody's guess. I d I think it's gonna be popular though, mainly due to the people that you have lined up. And I don't know if you're gonna go into any details on or give us any clues about you know who may be coming, but maybe. But I think with the lineup I think it'll get more more popular, word of mouth, things like that. So and and maybe you'll be nationwide one day.

Amy (08:59) goodness. Well, we'll we'll see on that. No pressure. I think we realized how well, I guess we both did. I will speak for myself. When you loaded loaded the podcast up to Spotify, we were sitting in the backyard when you did it on a Friday evening and it was sort of like that whoa moment.

Shawn (09:20) Yeah, it was freaky, and that was just evidence that anybody can do this. And if you just get the right equipment, get the right software and and have some interesting stuff, you can go out and sign up, build a podcast, and hit publish on your phone. And I think we were in the backyard when I when I did that. And to see your podcast in the lineup of because I listen to a lot of podcasts, but to and to see your podcast in the lineup of all the popular shows I listened to was pretty amazing.

Amy (09:44) Yeah, you you had me lined up with some big dogs. yeah.

Shawn (09:47) Yeah.

Yep.

Amy (09:47) I just want it to make a difference. And you mentioned my business. And I do think it's important on here to emphasize that I am not using this podcast for personal gain or monetization. Several of my friends who know about it are like, ooh, you can make a lot of money doing that. And I said, you know

Shawn (10:07) Not as much as you think.

Amy (10:08) Well, tell them that story. Tell the hundred and what, nineteen dollars story? Yeah.

Shawn (10:12) I've

I've done way too much research on Reddit, learning how to do all this stuff. And I ran across a pretty interesting thread with someone who was had been podcasting for twelve months and posted his entire story on Reddit, you know, just for feedback or to share, you know, learnings. And he went through all the you know, what what goes into pre production with lining guest up and all the recording. He talked about his hardware, his software, how much he's spending each month on it, just went through in in a lot of detail, talked about post production.

And at the end he was like, and one year later I've made one hundred and nineteen dollars. So yeah, the yeah, there there's not there's not big money unless you're, you know, a well established, you know, big, big player.

Amy (10:50) Right. And and I I have talked to you about the fact that if it ever gets to the point where I am a big player and, you know, I'm some have swanky home office situation, all that. I Not

Shawn (11:01) This isn't swanky what we have here?

Amy (11:03) yet. Not yet. It's all about the content right now. No bells and whistles, no frills. but I don't find a need for f bells and whistles and frills because honestly I don't watch podcasts. I listen to them in the car or when I'm usually when I'm driving.

Or when I'm cleaning the house or, you know, working. But I I don't want people to think that I'm inviting them to come here or when I invite them to invite others to come here, I don't want people to think that I am sitting across the table from them with dollar signs in my mind. Yeah. I think that's really important. And I I I do think if it ever gets to that point where money is made, I think it I think it should go to the various charities that come on this.

Podcast.

Shawn (11:50) Yeah, that's a good idea. 'Cause you're I mean you're definitely not doing it to to earn income. No, there's a there's a lot better ways to earn income than having a podcast.

Amy (11:57) And

and I have a job and it is important for me to know that I'm not trying to blend my job with the podcast. I'm not here to funnel business to my own business. I'm not trying to do anything like that. It truly is coming from a place in my heart and it's all your fault because you bought me all this stuff.

Shawn (12:15) Well, you know, you expressed an interest and I have a hard time finding Christmas gifts for you sometimes. So if you say it, I'm gonna put it on the list and a lot of research later here we are.

Amy (12:24) Okay. All right. Well, that's fair. You know, when you sign yourself up to do something like this, you you literally with a podcast are publicly putting yourself out there to fail or succeed. Like for the world to see. Yeah, definitely. And you know, I'm not gonna have the world listening to me, but I realize there are people who don't like me and there are always people who do not want you to win.

I'm a cheerleader for my people, so I don't understand that concept in life, but I do know that there is always a risk of people commenting on it in a negative way. There are all kinds of things that, you know, I'm setting myself up to have people hear me, but this podcast is not about me. It's about who's coming on the show. Yeah. And I am going to obviously speak to them. It's not going to be a QA where I ask you 10 questions and you sign off and leave. It's going to be a discussion.

As you've heard on the past three podcasts.

Shawn (13:22) yeah. Yeah. Well I've been having to flag you down and say, Hey, we're forty minutes in, fifty fifty minutes in. So yeah.

Amy (13:27) Honestly,

the podcast I had planned on them being about thirty to forty five minutes. And what all three of them have gone over about sixty sixty. Yeah.

Shawn (13:35) Right at an hour.

Amy (13:37) But that is amazing because that's how much there is to talk about with people. And they have I tried to let them do the majority of the talking and I haven't it's it's coming with

Shawn (13:47) It's worked. Yeah. Yeah. It's worked really well.

Amy (13:48) Yeah.

So, you know, I'm out there, it's out there and I you know, also one thing about when you're trying a new adventure, new venture, adventure, two different things. This is kind of an adventure and adventure rolled into one. You learn about yourself. You always are going to learn about yourself when you try something new. It's like when you're trying to feed a baby a new food and they decide they don't like the spinach because they've been having the berries all this time. Well

I learned something about myself and I think I already knew this, but I am not to be scripted.

Shawn (14:25) Yes, I I believe it. I b yeah, you're gonna tell us the story? Had the pilot episode.

Amy (14:30) So in order if I'm if I speak out of technical term, just correct me, but you're supposed to have a pilot episode, right? Yeah.

Shawn (14:38) It helps to get the show set up and make sure you've got all the connectivity in place and things like that. It's more of a test to do it. So yeah, like a sixty second pilot that just introduces what the show is. It was my idea to have you do it, so you can blame me.

Amy (14:51) Well, no, it's okay. But it was a minute and thirty eight seconds long. Yep. And it took me about two hours and thirty five takes to read a small one minute and thirty eight second script just basically describing the podcast.

Shawn (15:09) Would it be good to have some outtakes in here from that?

Amy (15:13) I don't know, would it? I guess. I don't know.

Loki dokie, always up for a laugh, I think.

Amy Keys (15:29) through genuine conversations with interesting people. Okay.

Nope.

Amy Keys (15:34) Hello everyone and welcome to Just a Thought with Amy Keys. I can't tell you how excite dang it, Ripper.

Amy Keys (15:40) Suddenly all my excuses disappeared and the idea was no longer just a thought. It was I can't do it.

Amy Keys (15:47) Everyone has something valuable to share and I can't wait to introduce you. No Delete it Delete it

Amy Keys (15:55) But I hope every episode leaves you feeling

Nope.

Amy Keys (16:01) Then one Christmas, my husband gave me podcast equipment.

Dang it.

Amy Keys (16:06) sit in front of this microphone. For dang it.

Amy Keys (16:11) Some will be of the guests, my gosh, I cannot do this.

Amy Keys (16:14) Friends would encourage me after reading something that I had written or actually I suck. So

Amy Keys (16:22) they liked how I had conversation with them. Okay, I can't do it.

Amy Keys (16:27) after reading things that I had on the internet. my gosh.

Amy Keys (16:30) My goal for this podcast, I can't do it.

Amy Keys (16:33) after reading things that they wrote. my gosh, I can't do it, Andrew.

Amy Keys (16:37) through great conversations with interesting You you made noise.

Amy Keys (16:42) You know how that goes. Chisel stuff.

Amy Keys (16:44) Turn it off. Why? Okay, okay, turn it off. Just turn it off. I'm working on it.

Amy Keys (16:49) which is not hold on.

You wanna like start over from scratch or do you just or you wanna just pick 'cause we can just pick back up and start over from scratch. 'Cause I didn't like how I said show. I sound like a circus.

I don't need to silence my phone.

Amy Keys (17:01) Okay,

Yelena.

Amy (17:03) Okay, well that was well done. The little beeps, they sounded very professionally part in all the content and frustration, but now that is I guess yeah, there you go.

Amy (17:24) I could go on a stage and talk to hundreds of people and not be phased, not even need a a cue card or a note card. But when you'd have me scripted, I don't feel authentic. So there will not be anything like that on this show.

Shawn (17:37) Yeah, please, no more scripts.

Amy (17:39) It was stressful. I would say a few things and I'd just get mad at myself and be like, it's it's like the funny blooper video show that they used to have, which I think they need to bring that show back because it was one of my favorites. But anyway, I digress. So you do learn about yourself. And in the process of learning about other people and their lives, I'm learning things there, but they're also learning about me. The Willards learned a lot about me in the travel episode.

Shawn (18:07) yeah, you think so?

Amy (18:08) And talk about setting yourself up for for success or failure. People are gonna learn all about Amy in some respects.

Shawn (18:15) Hotel phobia and things like that.

Amy (18:17) Phobia,

it is a they are precautionary measures. So but I also am having fun working with you on this. Yeah. Likewise. I like seeing how your mind works in a technical realm, I guess, because

Shawn (18:32) Yeah, I I definitely do better with the with the tech behind the scenes than you know, than at the mic. The mic is your deal. So I d I I enjoy the stuff. I enjoy the tech stuff.

Amy (18:41) I'm here to tell the world that opposites attract.

Shawn (18:43) Definitely.

Amy (18:45) Extrovert married an introvert, but introvert is the backbone of the extroverts podcast. So it's kind of cool how that works.

Shawn (18:52) All these

Amy (18:54) But Sean has definitely you have definitely been a the backbone of this. Like it would not exist. And I probably would have kept putting it off if you didn't push me a little in a good way. And you know, the power of a podcast.

I think about this a lot because social media is so wow. I mean, you know, there are pros and cons. Galore. We could go down the list and take another half an hour of podcast time, which I'm not gonna do, but we all know there's pros and cons. And thankfully I have experienced a lot of pros from social media. I don't think this podcast would exist.

If it weren't for a few people recognizing things I say or post, particularly not when I post a picture of our dog or our family or something fun. It's usually a post and I rarely make them, but I actually usually start them with just a thought, dot dot dot. Uhhuh. And so that's sort of where the some of the originating of the name came from of the podcast. But I do think, you know, it's a chance to connect with other people.

That is what the World Wide Web does. It connects. I know it does a whole lot of other things, but I'm gonna go with the connect part. And so I'm excited to be able to use social media to get this up to platforms to connect with others. That's what this purpose is with the inspiring and the educating and and all these things that I have goals for. I have really big goals for it. There will be a social media page for it.

I'm really not I'm not on TikTok, sorry, but I am on Facebook and Instagram and I will be posting each week when the po podcast will you know, laun the next one will launch and tell you what guest is coming on and what episode and such. So I'm really excited to be able to use social media. Social media is it gets a bad rap and it should sometimes, but in this case, let's let's use it for the good. Let's you know,

Shawn (21:03) I love it.

Amy (21:04) let's use it for the good. So

Folks, this is just a a quick podcast about the podcast. And I hope it explains a few things and where we're coming from on it. I am very pleased to be here and I'm gonna roll Sean right into my little rapid fire segment of podcasts. And

Shawn (21:23) Let's roll. Pressure's on. Let's roll.

Amy (21:25) no, no pressure. I think my people have liked Rapid Fire, and Rapid Fire actually ends up kind of engaging in different

Little tidbits of conversation as we start to close out. So are you ready to roll?

Shawn (21:36) Yep, let's go. Let's do it.

Amy (21:38) Coffee or energy drink?

Shawn (21:40) coffee is the original energy drink, so yes coffee.

Amy (21:43) Some coffee company needs to hire you and take on that logo and you should be advertising. How do you like your coffee? Black. You don't like it all bougie like I do.

Shawn (21:53) Nope, nope, no cream, no sugar.

Amy (21:55) I am not a coffee drinker, but when I do need a little caffeine, it's totally a skinny caramel macchiato, sugar free with all the chemicals and all that yummy foam on top. Book or movie.

Shawn (22:06) A little bit of both. I think it depends on the mood, depends on the time. Books, you know, take a little more time, a little more investment in it, but nothing like a good movie on a Friday night.

Amy (22:15) What's your favorite book?

Shawn (22:18) I would say if okay, it's probably different between fiction and nonfiction. Okay, well, what's both? Give us both. The best nonfiction book was Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell. he was a Navy SEAL in Afghanistan. Fascinating story. Movie was made from it as well. Fiction, probably The Shining by Stephen King.

Amy (22:36) Yeah. Yep. We've only watched that a dozen times.

Shawn (22:39) And the book's better than the movie. It always is.

Amy (22:41) yes. Okay. Okay. If you could have a superpower, what would it be?

Shawn (22:47) Probably lightning speed. Like the ability to move really fast. I don't know why. This would be kinda cool.

Amy (22:52) I already feel like I Yeah. Yeah.

Because I never slow down. favorite musician.

Shawn (22:59) my gosh, I'm not a huge music person. So let me think here.

Amy (23:03) You like George Strait. You

Shawn (23:05) Okay, yeah, yeah, there you go.

Amy (23:07) like Led Zeppelin. Yeah, there there you go.

Shawn (23:09) So

you you you answered it for me. There you go. Yeah, you answered it for me. Yeah.

Amy (23:13) I really shouldn't do that to my guests, but I know you and you're like, I don't know, but I know you know those are favorites. Yep.

what's your best way to start the day?

Shawn (23:22) Early morning run before sunrise.

Amy (23:23) Okay. And boy are you up before sunrise. Gotta do it. Get the big started. Definitely the early bird of the family. So and lastly, since we're talking about apps and things on this, what's your most used app?

Shawn (23:36) In terms of total minutes used, I would say Spotify. And not just because we're on Spotify, we're not getting paid by them, but but it's because listen to a lot of podcasts, a lot of running, just you know, so it's always on playing something in the background.

Amy (23:49) Awesome. And if you're not hearing something in the background, you're probably hearing me run my mouth in the background.

Shawn (23:54) That's true.

Amy (23:56) Well, everybody, that's a wrap for today. Sean, I really appreciate you taking the time to come on the mic because I know you don't love that part of this. And I don't like the part that you do. That's why we balance out each other so well. Folks, if you want to be on the podcast, if you have a wonderful organization you are part of, if you have a story in your life that you want to tell, no story or no group is too small, too big.

You are all extraordinary. And I can be reached for the podcast at Amy Keyspodcast at gmail.com. That's A Y K-E-Y-S podcast at gmail.com. Platforms we're on are Spotify, Apple, Amazon, and iHeartRadio. And you can send me an email or send my email to whoever you think would be a great story to come on here. I would love to hear from you.

It may be a few months before we can record because we have so many guests already lined up, but it also might be something where I want you to come on in a few weeks because I'm trying to, as I said earlier, mix that content up. I don't want three of the same type of groups coming on right in a row. So really appreciate y'all being here and listening. Appreciate you, Sean. Until next time.