Meet A Master of Ministry Who Left His Job & Started A Podcasting Business
Podcast Episode 001 w/ Special Guest Michael Yoder
The Ascent is all about documenting the journeys of others. Not just in written form, either; because let’s face it, we all learn and absorb information in very different ways. (I tend to be much more of a visual learner, myself.)
With that said, I’m excited to announce the (re)launch of our new podcast!
Each week, I’ll be interviewing an interesting person from my network (or The Ascent community) on their personal journey through life. The hope is that through building a collective of such stories and experiences, it will serve as inspiration for many others to start telling and sharing their own.
The Difference Between Saying and Doing
First up, we have a man by the name of Michael Yoder. I first met Michael via email back in September, thanks to an introduction from Mental Performance Coach & podcaster Brian Levenson (who I was also introduced to via email).
All I knew about him leading up to our initial conversation was that he was really into podcasting, and had started his own company in that arena.
Consequently, it was he who got me to take my first real leap into the podcast space (I had talked about it, but he made me realize it was time for action), and so it seemed more than appropriate to ask him to be my very first guest.
Michael’s story starts off with him working towards and attaining a Master’s Degree in Ministry and Theological Studies.
It was a phenomenal part of his journey, as he put it, and really shaped who he is today. But there’s one problem: he wasn’t challenged enough in that role.
Michael headed into his supervisor’s office for his first year review and was asked directly whether or not he felt he was being challenged too much or too little. Upon delivering his answer, they said: “Well, you’re going to need to find a way to challenge yourself then.”
It wasn’t necessarily the best response, but it’s the one he got, so Michael went ahead and said, “I’m gonna start a podcast.”
I said “Well, I’m gonna try something. And it’s crazy and probably a little bit stupid, and it’s a whole bunch of scary, but… I’m gonna do it. So I jumped, I launched, and now I’m producing podcasts and helping coach people, I continue to speak different places and, yeah, I launched my business.”
Lessons Learned… Wait, Who Moved My Cheese?!
At the time I chatted with Michael, he was already a good 5 or 6 months into his podcast venture. When I asked him what it took for him to make that leap, he cited a short book he had read that really impacted his life.
That book was called Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life by Dr. Spencer Johnson, and the reason it came to mind was because it taught him to ask himself this very question:
What would you do if you weren’t afraid?
He learned a valuable lesson: that what you’re afraid of is never as bad as you imagine it to be.
And so, even though he was very much questioning his decision to leave his career for the sake of starting a business, he went ahead and made the jump anyway, growing as a result.
“It’s never about the money goal. It’s about who you become as a result of trying to pursue that, right? The steps you’re taking. Who you become as a person. I believe in that stuff.”
Goal-setting in the New Year
Now that he’s officially in the business of podcasting, Michael’s goal for 2018 is to hire at least one person and start building out his team. He wants to constantly be surrounded by people that make him better, so hopefully he can start impacting their lives as well.
When asked about being the first to share his story, Michael left me with a few gems of wisdom that I wanted to share:
The most important thing each one of us possesses is our story and I think it’s the most important thing we can bring to the world.
I truly believe that inside of us, our stories are what’s going to propel us to become better humans.
Share your story because it’s literally the most important thing you can do.
As you can no doubt tell by now, I very much agree.
