Tom Schwab
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Summary
Today I talk to veteran and entrepreneur Tom Schwab, founder and CEO of Interview Valet. In this noisy digital world, if you can’t break through the noise, you just add to it. Instead, you need to get in on the conversation where your ideal customers are already listening. As a Navy veteran who ran nuclear power plants, and an inbound marketing engineer, Tom Schwab has a refreshingly unique approach.
He focuses on time-proven strategies, then supercharges them with today’s technology and podcast interview marketing. As an author, speaker, and teacher, Tom helps you get more traffic, leads, and raving customer fans by being interviewed on targeted podcasts.
Tom founded Interview Valet after seeing a need for a workable system for entrepreneurs, authors, and thought leaders to market themselves through podcast interviews.
Tom references his time in the Navy as good training for the pandemic as well as building a business, instilling in him a mindset that looks at the journey instead of the end. Instead of approaching every day as the same as the last, he chooses to embrace each day’s challenge and to learn something new, one of the hallmarks of being an entrepreneur.
Another lesson Tom has applied from his military career is the value of having an efficient process and always assessing it. He believes in hiring good people, building a good system, and then trusting in his team to make good decisions. This is why he calls himself a Chief Evangelist Officer. he’s an evangelist for the company, his clients, and his employees, who all work remotely. Remote teams are one of the only ways to respond to clients that are all over the world.
As an entrepreneur, Tom strives for “work-life integration” rather than “work-life balance.” This enables him to schedule his time to focus on his business when he needs to, and to schedule time for his family or other pursuits. While he feels like he only works ten hours a week, that’s because the rest of the time he’s “working,” he’s having fun and that’s what being an entrepreneur is all about.
Now let’s get better together.
Actions to Try or Advice to Take
- Don’t be a manager. Be a leader. Hire good people, implement a process, and if something breaks down, assess where the process needs tweaking. Trust that people are trying to do their best work, and they will.
- For anyone wanting to go on a podcast, Tom recommends establishing a connection with the show host and coming to it with your heart. listeners will hear you as authentic and trustworthy.
- Conversion rates for podcast interviews are 25 times higher than blogs, therefore providing an invaluable platform.
- Go to the podcast interview with heart and authenticity. Do something good and arrive in the spirit of serving others, rather than simply selling yourself.
- Strive for work-life integration. Work-life balance is a myth.
Links to Explore Further
- Tom has made a free download of his book available for listeners of the podcast at www.interviewvalet.com/ethos
- LinkedIn: Thomas M Schwab - Chief Evangelist Officer - Interview Valet
- Twitter: @TMSchwab
- The Story Grid
- The Solopreneur Hour Podcast w/ Michael O'Neal