Flipping the Script for National Podcast Day with Steven Pivnik

In this special bonus episode for National Podcast Day episode, our very own, Steven Pivnik, gets interviewed about his experiences so far hosting the Built to Finish podcast. Steven describes his show as informational, motivational, and entertaining, aimed at audacious goal setters, including founders looking to grow, scale, and exit their businesses. He discusses how the podcast extends his brand and allows him to share motivational stories from others. Steven shares that his biggest initial challenge was simply starting, followed by overcoming a "robotic" interview style. He reveals that preparing fewer questions and encouraging a conversational back-and-forth has led to his best episodes. Offering advice to new B2B podcasters, Steven stresses the importance of starting without waiting for perfection and making the listener feel like a "fly on the wall" to a great conversation.

Takeaways:

• Just Start: The most significant challenge is often getting started. Don't wait until you feel 100% prepared or polished; you will improve as you go.
• Aim for Conversation, Not Interrogation: Move away from a rigid, robotic question-and-answer format. Focus on creating a natural conversation to make the episode more engaging for both the guest and the listener.
• Prepare Less to Achieve More: To foster a more natural conversation, try preparing only two or three core questions and allow the discussion to flow organically from the guest's answers. This forces you to practice active listening.
• Empower Your Guests: Encourage your guests to make the interview as conversational as possible, even inviting them to ask you questions in return. Giving them permission to do so can lead to the best episodes.
• Find Your Unique Angle: Identify a gap in your niche. Steven found that while many advisors discuss business exits, the founder's personal perspective was missing, so he positioned his podcast to "speak founder".
• Create a "Fly on the Wall" Experience: Your goal should be to make the listener feel like they are quietly observing a genuine and valuable conversation between you and your guest.
• Don't Fear the Interrupt: If a guest becomes overly scripted or starts rambling, you can use a pattern-interrupt question (e.g., "What is your favorite ice cream?") to break their script and guide them back to a more authentic, conversational state.

Quote of the Show:

• "The hardest part is always to start, you know, people, they wanna have all the answers. They want to be super polished. They need to be a hundred percent prepared. And that's definitely not the case with, it shouldn't be the case with most goals. And definitely for podcasting."

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenpivnik/ 
• Personal Website: https://stevenpivnik.com/ 
• Company Website: https://aipadvisory.com/ 
• Podcast: https://podcast.stevenpivnik.com/ 
• Book Link: https://podcast.stevenpivnik.com/