From Drug Addict to Top Podcast Host & Coach w/TJ Bell

[00:00:00] Jennifer: This is Tools of the Podcast Trade, where you can learn about the tools and resources. You can use the start and grow your podcast tune in each week, as we talk about the help you need to remove the mystery from podcasting so you can become a successful podcast that can reach your audience, where they are. [00:00:20] My guest today.[00:00:21] T J Bell host Host of Underground Reach Podcast and podcast coach. Welcome TJ. Thank you for coming and speaking with me today. [00:00:31] TJ Bell: Hey, thank you for having me on. Thanks for the warm welcome as well. [00:00:33] Jennifer: Okay. So before we start can you tell us who TJ Bell is? [00:00:38] TJ Bell: Yeah, man, I am a, you know, former alcoholic and drug addict turned, top 200 rated podcaster and now. Helping people, you know, do what we do. Cause you know, it's something that I'm extremely passionate about and you know, I just want to pass on the knowledge and introduce people to a medium that helped change my life for the better.[00:00:58] Jennifer: Right. Okay. [00:01:00] All right. So we start with that. How has podcasting changed your life? [00:01:04] TJ Bell: Oh man. There's so many different things, man, to be honest, but the main one I'd say is. The need to stay consistent. You know what I mean? Like just having to post week after week after week and not miss a day. I don't know.[00:01:15] It just really helped me kind of restructure my days, you know, cause now I have to stay within a schedule and I have to have structure in order to maintain my, my podcast and plus the coaching and stuff. And. I know it's just really helped with, well, like I just said my structure of my days, but also like my mindset.[00:01:32] And like, I just also learned like so much about myself. Like I used to tell myself like, oh, I'm not a people person. I can't talk to people. Oh, I suck at explaining. But now, you know, realizing now that, well, Hey, I actually can have a conversation and I, you know, I can do these things that I used to tell myself I couldn't.[00:01:48] And yeah, it just, it just changed my life in so many ways. It's it's kind of hard to put it into words, to be honest. [00:01:53] Jennifer: Yeah. Well, when you are putting it into words properly thank you. So podcasting got you to be [00:02:00] more, to apply more. Self-discipline. One and let me to pretty much make the liar out of you right?[00:02:08] Yeah. All right. So how do you help other podcasts or you, you buy, you said you're a podcast coach. So how do you have podcasts? [00:02:17] TJ Bell: Yeah, I actually started off with the people who taught me how to podcast my mentors, Zach Babcock. And I joined his community Alpha Podcasters. And then I just did, I just, you know, went through his courses and did what he taught and became successful with it.[00:02:30] And he's like, well, Hey man, you know, you're killing it. You're doing exactly. You know, we teach, so why don't you just take it over, you know, cause now, now we feel like you're at the point where, you know, you can now teach people, you know, what you're doing and stuff. And so yeah. Now I, I kinda run the community.[00:02:46] And I also do monthly coaching calls inside the community. It's a, it's a paid mentorship program and yeah, like it's, it's incredible, man. And I'm just blessed and, you know, really honored to even be put in that position to be able to help people. [00:02:59] Jennifer: Right. [00:03:00] Okay. All right. So you talk about your past drug abuse.[00:03:04] how can someone like yourself who has, who is in this situation, who, I have problems controlling their impulses, or, you know, whatever struggles they're having. Use, I'm going back to the same question, asked a different way, use podcasting to create a better life for themselves to, more narrowly focus their lives so that they're actually not just impacting their own life, but impacting the life of others.[00:03:34] So how, how can they do that? Like TJ did. [00:03:38] TJ Bell: I mean, for me, you know, cause I could only speak from my experiences. I just. Cause after I got sober peaked a little bit I, I wanted to do something, you know, to keep me busy every single day. You know what I mean? And and I always wanted to start a podcast.[00:03:49] I just never thought that I could do it. And so I just told myself, I was like, well, why don't you just do the thing that scares you the most and you know, cause doing the thing that scares you the most forces, the most growth, you [00:04:00] know? And so I just challenged myself and I was like, screw it. I'll I'll do the podcast.[00:04:03] And it really just forced me to, you know, stay clean because I have so many people now, you know, looking at me and like people at an interview and I didn't want to get on and say all this stuff like, oh, I'm doing better. And you know, living a better life when I'm really not, you know what I mean?[00:04:16] And so like, that's the main thing was just maintaining that you know, that level of integrity and not, you know, lying to people or misleading people, you know what I mean? Or letting people down really. [00:04:27] Jennifer: Okay, thanks. when I use the term made a liar out of you previously I just meant that the story you were telling yourself before podcasting proved you're wrong.[00:04:38] Right. Because now you're successful at it, so you could teach others. So that's what I meant by that. I just wanted to clarify that. [00:04:44] TJ Bell: Yeah. [00:04:46] Jennifer: Okay. Tell us about Underground Reach. [00:04:48] TJ Bell: Yeah, Underground Reach, man. Well originally, like before I started podcasting, I was like for the last six, seven years, I've been trying to find a way to, you know, build an audience online and because I always wanted to [00:05:00] help people.[00:05:00] I just, I never knew how, you know, I just didn't know. What I was going to do to do it also, you know, I mean, obviously I want it to, you know, make some money and, you know, pay my bills and stuff. You know, but that changed a little bit. That's not the main goal anymore, which is why I feel like I've been able to be successful now.[00:05:14] But yeah, before I got into podcasting, I was, I was actually doing Tik TOK, try to build an audience on there cause I'm like, well, Hey, it's a new app everybody's on there. So maybe that's where I can build my audience and find my tribe. I guess you'd call it. And. Yeah. And I was trying to think of like a brand name for the Tik TOK account of like how I could help people.[00:05:32] And for some reason, just the name Underground Reach it. It just came to my mind. I don't know why. I didn't know what it meant. It was just there. And I ended up not naming the Tik TOK account that though I just ended up scrapping a name and kind of kept it in the back of my mind. Anyways, fast forward, I started doing podcasts.[00:05:48] And I had no idea what I was going to talk about. No idea what it was going to be about. I mean, when I, when I first wanted to start a podcast back in 2020, it was going to be in the music category. Cause I make, I've been making hip hop music [00:06:00] my whole life. But I didn't want it to be about music cause I've been doing that my whole life and you know, I kind of want to do something different and because music is just not my thing, I feel like now.[00:06:07] So yeah, when it came time to getting into the, my mentors coaching, like his courses and his community and stuff I just dove right in man. And like, yeah, like I said, I didn't know what I was going to call it, name it or anything, but just within the course he has these things called the four W's, which is your, your marketing message or what you're going to speak about, which is the, who, the, what, the why and the, where of your podcast.[00:06:28] And just during that, like doing that, it just really helped me clarify what I really wanted to do, what I want to talk about, who I wanted to help and how I could help them and stuff. And so the main thing I wanted to do with my podcast is the thing that I wish I had back when I was in my darkest days, which you know, would be 2020 is to just have a person who's been through those hard times, you know, and just share his story of how he, he overcame everything and.[00:06:56] and just manage to like break through and, you know, still reaches goals, even [00:07:00] though, you know, you felt buried by self doubt, limiting beliefs, you know what I mean? Cause that's where I was. I felt like I was so low that I just couldn't do anything with my life, but I managed to break out of that.[00:07:10] And now with my podcast, that's, you know what I'm sharing, that's the definition of it now, underground reaches to break through and win. Even if you feel buried by self-doubt and limiting. [00:07:19] Jennifer: Yes. Awesome. I love that. It's funny when a name comes to you, it actually, it means something when you're reaching for something it comes right.[00:07:31] Definitely. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. So what does TJ grateful for today. [00:07:36] TJ Bell: Man, I'm grateful for everything grateful for another beautiful day. Grateful that I actually get to sit here and talk with you. Man, I'm breathing, you know, my kids are good, they have food, you know, there's so much to be grateful for. [00:07:48] My podcast is growing. Yeah man, I got my first coaching call coming up on the 24th. I'm really excited about that. And yeah, man, so much really. That'd be. I could sit here all day and name things [00:08:00] to be honest. [00:08:01] Jennifer: Awesome. Awesome. Thank you for sharing. And how can we get in touch with you in all aspects? [00:08:08] Like if we want to be a part of your mentor group, do you have a Facebook group and do if we want to be a coaching client? [00:08:16] TJ Bell: Yeah, it's all on my website, man. undergroundreach.com. You can find my podcast. That'll be the first thing you see. The coaching it'll be on the menu at the top. It'll say start here. You could go to the about me.[00:08:26] If you want to learn a little bit more about me and send me an email on the contact page, you can follow me on Facebook or whatever. It's all on my website. undergroundreach.com. [00:08:33] Jennifer: Okay, thank you very much. And give me one piece of advice for a listener who who's in a situation, no matter what it is they're struggling with, who wants to start a podcast, but something's holding them back. [00:08:48] TJ Bell: Yeah, starting a podcast, man. I can talk about this all day. You know, it's going to be scary at first. But I promise you, if you just dive in, just start, even if you don't know what you're doing or [00:09:00] what you want to talk about, just do it. Cause it's, it's totally worth it, man. Since I've started mine, I've been able to talk to some incredible people and now I can call a lot of them, my friends, you know, people that I never otherwise would meet in real life and, you know, just be patient with it.[00:09:13] You know, you just got to understand that it takes some time and it's not going to be an overnight thing. You know, the reward is so much greater than you could ever imagine. So just start you, man. That's all I could really say. [00:09:23] Jennifer: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Absolutely. Thank you. Anything [00:09:28] else? [00:09:28] TJ Bell: Man, I don't know. I just want to, you know, just leave people with great advice, you know, just start, you know, even don't be scared. [00:09:35] I don't know, like it's, I don't want to sound too cliche or anything, but it's life changing. To be honest, it really is life changing, doing a podcast. Even if you think your topic is stupid, I guarantee you there's an audience for you out there, man. In the podcast that we're like guarantee you. [00:09:50] Jennifer: Yeah. Yeah. [00:09:51] Thank you. [00:09:52] TJ Bell: Yeah. Now like see, like the thing with my podcast to man is, like I said, I had no idea what I was going to say or what it was going to be about. And [00:10:00] Anik went into. [00:10:01] You know, now it's about helping people smash, those limiting beliefs and all of that. But now, you know what I mean, doing it for a few months now you know, it just kinda, it changes as you do it grows with you. Like it doesn't have to be like, if you want to have a comedy podcast or whatever, it can change over time as you do.[00:10:19] You know what I mean? Like now my podcast. I like to interview, successful entrepreneurs in various different industries, because I'm not a successful business person. But what I do is I go out and find those successful people, bring them on my show to interview him. And then my listeners and myself can learn all together.[00:10:37] You know what I mean? And yeah, like it's just been an incredible journey, man. Another thing too, man. Like, cause for me first getting into it, I thought I had to spend all of this crazy money. You know, like this microphone, I got lucky actually won, this mic I started with is, It's actually right here.[00:10:51] That's a cost me $65. And that's a great mic. It sounds almost as good as this, to be honest. And that's the Samsung Q2U for, people listen [00:11:00] on the audio. And I'm like, you don't need all this crazy equipment. Like you really just need, I actually created a free ebook that I'm and I'm going to plug really quick for anybody that's, you know, wanting to get started. [00:11:11] If you don't even know what kind of equipment I have a free ebook called the podcast startup guide at undergroundreach.com/guide. And it just goes over, the three pieces of hardware, which is the microphone, your computer and headphones, that's really all you need. And then the software, which is your podcast, hosting a schedule software and a software like this to record the interviews. [00:11:30] That's really all you need to start. And, you know, like for me, I wanted it to be like, well, I want to be professional. I want to have a website and all this cool stuff. And like, you don't even really need that. The only reason that I needed a web, well wanted a website. I didn't need it. I wanted, it was too. [00:11:47] You know, to do like what I just did to underground reach.com/guide is to take links and make them brandable and easier to stay on the podcast instead of, Hey, go check out. I dunno Amazon dot C o.ca/five six. [00:12:00] You know, like if you're trying to monetize with affiliate marketing. But yeah. Is just get that link cloaker, I guess, would be called. [00:12:05] But what I use, actually, I, I did buy into WordPress to make my own website, but I am not a website developer and it did not turn out very well. And I don't, I don't have the money to pay a professional to build it for. So actually found a company, man, and I'm nowhere I'm not affiliated with this company at all. [00:12:22] I just really love what they do is called podpage.com. Man they'll yeah. So like they'll take your podcast and they'll build a website for you. Like it's, it's really incredible. That's what I use for my website right now. And like, okay. You can't even tell it looks, it looks super professional and I love it, man. [00:12:37] So yeah, I guess that would be the thing I would say, man, is you don't need all kinds of crazy equipment. You know what I mean? Like. Cause like before I started mine, I'm on YouTube. And I was looking at all these videos that all these people are recommending all kinds of crazy things, but, you know, let's just be real. [00:12:52] Most of them, you know, I hate to say it, but are just trying to get those big affiliate commissions. You know what I mean? By recommending a mic like this and [00:13:00] the Rodecaster pro and all that crazy stuff. Like you don't, you don't need that. Just a simple microphone. Some headphones, computer recording software. [00:13:08] And if you're going to interview people, schedule software, which is free by the way, you know what I mean? But yeah, man. Yeah. [00:13:14] Jennifer: Right. I do appreciate it.[00:13:17] TJ Bell: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No problem. Thank you for having me on. [00:13:21] Jennifer: Yeah, cause this is really for, new pod-casters and when someone, like yourself, I was one of those people too. One, two, I have an idea. We want to do a podcast.[00:13:31] Not because everybody else is doing it, but because we have this feeling that it will help, not just us, but other people. So I want, I want to hear a different perspective, from people like yourself, so that someone out there you resonate. so [00:13:47] TJ Bell: yeah, most definitely man. And like the thing too, man, like, you know, people like when are thinking of starting a podcast, I feel like people try to do it for the wrong reasons sometimes. [00:13:57] You know what I mean? Like, like for me to be [00:14:00] totally a hundred percent honest, I got into it hoping to make money and stuff right away. You know what I mean? Which is why I wanted that link shortner thing. You know what I mean? But that changed over time, obviously. Yeah. Like you just, I feel like you just need to get into it for the right reasons.[00:14:13] Like if you're looking to help people perfect. You know, there's definitely somebody like people out there that will want to hear what you have to say. And yeah. That's another thing too, you know, like I'm just all this stuff that's coming to me now is thinking that you're not good enough or.[00:14:29] Nobody wants to hear what I have to say, or I'm not a professional or, you know what I mean? Like all of those limiting beliefs, which is what I talk a lot about on my show and what I've learned, man, is it doesn't matter. Like if you're, if you're not a professional or whatever, like people, there's definitely people out there that will want to hear what you have to say, because it's, it's your perspective and your you're different from everybody else, you know?[00:14:52] Yeah. Like. Yeah. Cause like with podcasting, people are always thinking, you know, saying like, oh, you got to set yourself apart from [00:15:00] everybody else. But I mean, you already did that just by being you, you know what I mean? You don't need to do anything crazy or anything wild. Like for me, I do what, you know, most entrepreneurship podcasts, do I just interview successful entrepreneurs, pick their brains and learn from them, you know? [00:15:15] And I'm still building myself an audience. I mean, it's not overnight, but I mean, it's happening, you know what I mean? And[00:15:21] Jennifer: Yeah. So what are the traits that build a successful entrepreneur? And we're, we're coming to this level now because we see the Elan Musk, Bill Gates and all these people, but in our world that is much smaller than that world. We just think it's, it's unattainable. How can I be that person?[00:15:45] So tell us how. I could be that person. How can I build these skills that allows me to be a successful entrepreneur? [00:15:56] TJ Bell: Well, the first thing I would say is go listen to the Underground Reach podcast. [00:16:00] And I'm just kidding. I mean, really, it just comes down to just, not to sound too cliche or anything like that, but just to believe in yourself, you know what I mean?[00:16:08] Cause. I mean, I don't want to get too, you know, down a rabbit hole or anything, but like growing up, you know, we're conditioned to, to think that the only way to be successful is to go to school and get a good job. And then, you know what I mean? Which is fine. Like, if you want to be a doctor or lawyer or, you know, something like that, that's perfectly fine.[00:16:25] Go ahead and do that. You know, there's nothing wrong with that, but like, if you want to own your own business or work for yourself or, you know, stuff like that, I don't believe school is the way at all. I mean, really all you need to like, well, I mean, from what I know now, you know, obviously I'm not, you know, a hundred percent there yet, but what I've learned in the past, you know, six, seven years is that you just have to be willing to do whatever it takes, no matter how long it'll take, no matter how difficult it's is.[00:16:55] You just have to be willing to do it every single day. You know what I mean? Like [00:17:00] for like, for people wanting to like start a business or a podcast or YouTube channel or whatever, try to talk about something that you could see yourself talking about or doing for the next 10 years, every single day, day in and day out.[00:17:12] You know what I mean? And. And just know that you can do it. That's why that's a big reason why I started my podcast is because that's what I struggled with my entire life is not believing in myself and, and really just not knowing what to do with my life, you know? And, and yeah, so what I do on there is I get really, you know, very successful people.[00:17:33] You know, share their story, how they came, you know, like same similar to me, like drug addiction, alcohol addiction. And now they're like multimillionaires and have these like big businesses that are changing lives and, you know, giving jobs to people and all that kind of stuff. And like really what, all of those, what all of these entrepreneurs that I've interviewed so far have in common is they just, they have that drive in that past.[00:17:56] To every single day work towards what it is they're trying to build.[00:18:00] Whether it's like just a goal or like a YouTube channel, a blog, or like, it really applies to anything in life, you know? And like, like my mentor, Zach, like what he always says is just jump off the cliff and grow wings on the way down, you know, which is exactly what I, which is exactly what I did with my podcast. [00:18:16] I just went into it blind, didn't know what was going to happen. And it worked out. [00:18:23] Jennifer: Always thank you, TJ. I really appreciate you coming and talking to us and for talking so freely to [00:18:30] TJ Bell: no problem. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it, . [00:18:34] Jennifer: Got questions about podcasting. Do you find yourself struggling with the tools and strategies that you know will help you launch and grow your show? Why not join us podcast, us club, where you can get your questions answered by me or one of our guests expert the link to. The meeting is below sign up today and [00:19:00] don't let confusion about podcasting. [00:19:02] Stop you from owning your genius, whether you're an individual or a nonprofit, the newest podcast club is where podcast is. Come for answers. LinkedIn law for next meeting.