Help men cultivate authentic masculinity

10 year military veteran turned serial entrepreneur and business executive for global logistics firm. Married 12 years and father to two children (boy and girl). Unordinary Men look s to discuss the topic of masculinity and neo-masculinity and challenge ideas and raise suspicions in the attempt to entertain, enlighten, and inspire. This is the show for men who want to build their best selves in order to cultivate authentic masculinity. We seek to discuss and learn about the state of masculinity, leadership, career & business, dating and relationships, and building a secure financial future.

Our listeners are (typically men - surprise surprise) 18-55 that are interested in self-development, hearing different perspectives, or confirmation of what they already believe to be true.
 

Why not podcast (we're considering YouTube as well)? We do listen to podcasts (This American Life, Freakenomics, Order of Man, My Dad Wrote A Porno) . After listening to other podcast on men's issues, while we agreed with 90% of what was being discussed we felt that the tone was too visceral and even bitter. Do we think masculinity and the concept of masculinity is being attacked (or however one chooses to call it) Yes! But is it women's fault? The Media? Politicians? We're not so sure. So we set out earlier this year to begin to put together our concept of how we want to enter the discussion. Instead of blaming and shaming we want to work from seed. Meaning, we want to show and grow young men (16-25) and, of course, men of all ages looking to redefine themselves the what, the why, and the how of cultivating authentic masculinity. We toyed with different mediums since March 2021 but ultimately decided on podcasting and released our first episode in November 2021
 

We launch a new show every Wednesday morning. We produce the outline at least 2-3 weeks in advance and record at least 7-10 days before in order to allow time for editing and correction, as required. I, Lugo, already work 50-60 hours as the COO of a global logistics firm and Dane (program coordinator) is just as busy running his business so we record on Saturday's and work on the outlines late at night after everyone has gone to bed (or jot down ideas while on the can).

Other than equipment (Zoom P4) and other items we haven't spent a lot. There are the hosting fees and now we are launching a website, but the initial investment has been self-funded and rather boot strap.
 

At this time we're not looking to monetize. We want to build great content and hone the show. Maybe in a year or two we'll consider sponsorships or other revenue streams but we want to deliver more in content value than we want to receive in cash value. Even with 500 downloads in our first month we feel good about our trajectory but we're committed to staying the course. We have a saying that "Leaders are Learners" and we take pride in mentoring and coaching those in our workplace and want to extend it to the world via podcast.
 

We are still bootstrap and use a Zoom P4 recorder with ZDM-1 microphone. Audacity for sound editing, Pinnacle for video, and Riverside.fm for video chat. Our guest have come from our network and we will be featuring our first series of guest interviews starting in January 2021. We have locked in business leaders, entrepreneurs, MMA fighters, and clinical psychologists to discuss a range of topics from the grind of starting a business, to the fighting lifestyle, to the state of depression and suicide happening with men today. We prepare our guests and ourselves with outlines of the show and a series of possible questions we may ask. We don't want the conversation too scripted rather like a conversation in a bar.
 

Most of our listeners are listening to us on Apple or some Apple source. We market heavy on IG and are steadily building out email list. We post content daily on IG, FB, and Twitter, but we know word of mouth is always going to be the best source to get listeners to subscribe to our show.
 

Consume everything you can on podcasting. There is so much great content on YouTube and on podcast channels. It's harder than it looks. It's not just getting a mic and hitting record. If you're interested in REALLY building a brand and listening audience you have to treat this like a business. Study your industry and market. Get good equipment. Respect the medium. And commit. Understand that everyone started with zero listeners and it take months and years to build a solid following. If you're doing it for the money than stop now. There's no money in podcasting for at least your first 3-5 years (at least a meaningful income you can live on). You have to do it for the love of the game.
 

Podcast/Blog/Website: www.unordinarymen.com
FB/Twitter/IG: @unordinarymen
info@unordinarymen.com