Welcome to Nourish the Risk takers. I’m very, very excited. I’m always excited, but I’m very excited to talk to Briar. Briar and I always have such a good time when we do this and when we do anything really. But prior, we’re talking about nurse to risk takers today.

0:00:29
Give us a short little introduction. Of you and what you do in the world and gave her Gosh. It’s so unusual for me to not be the one asking the questions. You get to lay back. You get to relax. Right. I’m nourishing you in this podcast. It’s a much different feel.

0:00:51
So I am Briar Harvey, and I am the founder of the neurodiversity media network. And what we do is partner with exceptional risk takers who are doing wonderful things in the world to create what ends up being like a master class. With some people that’s longer term, but for most people, I’m doing four to eight hours of this is the thing that they do really, really well. And so we break this all down. There are master class episodes. I’m recording every day having an amazing conversation with someone. I truly think that’s my favorite part. And really getting to unpack the good work that’s being done in the world right now. Now, Briar, who who do you want to be? Oh, you bring this up because because it amuses me. Like, the smarter sexier, Joe Hogan, baby. And it’s You’re done. You’re already here. You’re already there. Except for the mass sponsoring Except for except for the paycheck. I’m totally there. Yeah. Yeah. It wasn’t a a huge leap, but now the money part has to we have to snap that part. Otherwise, you’re you’re you’ve met the goal in the first two two requirements there anyways.

0:02:30
So we talk a lot about because I’m one of those exceptional people that Briar has a conversation on the neurodiversity media network. But we talk about asking for help. Now we’re gonna talk about that too on this this side. But one of the things that is always interesting is that Brian and I share your ADHD too. Right? You’ve got ADHD. Yeah. High for life. For those programs, people are always like, oh, you’re either ADHD or you’re autistic. And there’s me in the middle. We’re like, No. The whole thing doesn’t work. I got bipolar too. So, you know Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Cool. You’ve it’s a lovely lovely mix of of goodies in the snow. It’s delightful in my brain. Absolutely. Absolutely. So we have conversations that tend to center around neurodiversity and mental health and those kind of things. So this is gonna be an interesting podcast. Let’s dive in deep because I love that kind of stuff.

0:03:35
So you have created the neurodiversity media network. Now you were the systems which when we first met And then you you started creating this neurodiversity media network over the last, like, what, month, two months, three months? You’re right. Started in January. In January. Okay. And we’re in April now. So yeah. So you’re heading into your fourth month where you are now creating your next quarters of of content I saw that you were looking for requests.

0:04:04
Why do we need a narrow diversity media network? So I think the thing about traditional media is that it’s not accessible. It’s designed well, we could talk for days and days about what traditional media is designed do, but it’s not meant to educate. And it definitely doesn’t get people who I mean, you can let’s take the New York Times. You can read the New York Times. They have a podcast now, you can listen to some important news stories on The New York Times. You cannot go and watch people on The New York Times. I’m not sure we wanna watch that particular conversation. But if I wanna watch I’m limited to CNN or Fox News or MSNBC. And truly, I don’t really think any of them are great options, not at this point in time, and not for a lot of reasons.

0:05:18
So what we’ve built is something that comes in all formats. It starts as a livestream. It turns into a podcast and a written transcript. It turns into a blog post. But I think what I love about it is the way that it’s accessible to the people that I’m working with So you are really good at marketing and networking and getting your stuff out there. You are probably one of the few of my people who is good at that. And I have an entire course that’s how to sell before, during and after, podcast, which is you are somewhat anomalous here in that for many of them, they don’t actually they don’t have a podcast. Right. They don’t regularly live stream. Yes. They don’t create SEO based content that would help them get clients long term. And so for four to eight hours, we talk about this thing that they’re really good at, and then they get to take those four to eight hours and turn it into an endless stream of content. It already was live streamed. It already is a podcast, but now they can go turn it into short form video. Mhmm. They can go and take snippets out as written content because we give them transcripts, so it’s all there. Right. Yeah. It we’re just actually talking about this in the catalyst before I hopped on to this because I’m also doing a series of podcasts.

0:07:10
Obviously, you’re on this one. As well as be in the room. And Yeah. I’m on that one too. Yeah. And we’re making all that content available. I mean, shout out to podium who basically just runs our life now. But, like and I’ll put that link in the in the comments if you wanna try out this incredible AI tool. That Brian and I are using to make our lives so much faster. So much faster. But we’re creating all this content and we’re and then we’re letting you go now if you wanna create more content, you know, go. And it’s such a great opportunity to to talk about what you do throughout the whole year. I mean, I always say there’s the whole Gary V where he’s, like, create eighty pieces of content. And people are, like, yeah. Right. I’m, like, no. Actually, it’s probably a hundred and sixty, three hundred.

0:07:53
You because you can talk about this and you can reflect back, you can show a quote, you can show an audiogram, you can show a video, you can do that over and over again and have that and in different places. Like, we were just talking, like, oh, actually, I’m gonna have to put I’m gonna put Pinterest pictures on here. I actually just started getting myself set up to add Pinterest into my my cycle. So Yeah. And and then I said, you know, we can actually turn the quotes. Thanks to podium. We can turn the quotes into idea pens. And, you know, like, those are these these little workshops that we those little mini master classes what you’re doing. So people can do that too. They can go take their master class that they did with you. And then take out a few points, create a, you know, twenty slide idea pin, and that lives forever.

0:08:41
The we talk about short form of content, but that stuff’s coming up over and over again. It’s played. And when there’s not a lot of people competing in the, like, you know, landscape like idea pins right now, you can really excel really high there. And the those things are, like, I talk about this a little time. We can repeat the content over over again. Even if you use the quote in January, Use it again in July and October. Well, because one to five percent of your total audience on whatever platform that is, saw it in the first place. And if they see it again, all that is doing is help reinforce your key message, and it’ll feel familiar, and they’re more likely to engage on it the second or third or fourth time that they see it because it now feels familiar to them. They don’t even remember that they saw it. And if they did, the greatest thing is like, I remember when you posted this last year and it it did this. Now they’ve created this content which new people see and go, oh, wow. I gotta follow this person because they’re changing lives out here. Mhmm.

0:09:45
It’s really important, I think, that we let go of that idea of repeating ourselves And the faster we do that, the faster we’re going to make momentum happen. Yeah. I always say that you think you’ve said it ten thousand times, but somebody’s just hearing it for the first time. For the first time. And even if they’ve heard it for the seventh time, they’re just understanding it or just noticing it. And then they’re understanding it, and then they’re engaging with it, and then they’re actioning on it.

0:10:18
It takes time, when we look at change management processes, this isn’t like I put out one post on Thursday, and we expect this to move everybody. Change management happens over six, twelve, you know, twenty four, forty eight, seventy two months. We’re looking at long term and even more when it comes to public policy. That’s just within a corporation we might be looking at. When it comes to public policy and creating community engagement. These things will take decades to change the way we do things. So why is that any different in your marketing? You’re not special. It’s the same thing.

0:10:55
So when we look at that, I think this is a really great opportunity. You’re helping them create the content, helping pull the ideas out, helping them to go and and basically talk about what they love to talk about for for a good chunk of time. Now, I want us to talk specifically about the way you set this up. This is on Substack. Mhmm. And I’m gonna put the link up here if you’re watching this, please do check it out. Now when I say it’s become a founding member, this is this is a really interesting point because if you haven’t been to SubSack, they’re basically aid newsletter style websites. And what I mean by that is that they’ve really taken that model when we used to watch blogs or listen to blogs, that we used to have the RSS feed and Nick told us when our favorite blog would post a new thing. And then we immediately went and read that blog post. We’ve lost that a little bit when they retired RSS.

0:11:49
So it’s sub stack and ghosts and some of these paid newsletter sites are doing is that they know that we’ve got so much stuff to do. So when Briar posts a a a podcast or any kind of article on, the sub stack, it then emails everybody who follows. Okay? So you really get out of your own way of being like, I’m not gonna this. I’m not gonna tell anybody. I’m not gonna I make this content and no one’s gonna ever know about it because sometimes like I wanna tell everybody for you and it goes and does that. So Briar is basically creating this pipeline where you create you create the the content. You don’t really realize what your your you’re basically ideating in your genius and putting it out into the world, and then Briars distributing it for you to the people. Now, It only works if people I need to be pointing this way. It only works if people become founding members. And this is what I think is a really interesting aspect of nourishing the risk takers because what you’re doing is basically saying that becoming a founding member, not only are you supporting the neuro diverse folks that are creating content on here, but you’re employing me and one other person to do this.

0:13:03
Let’s talk about that. What does that mean to you? You know, I struggled with this for a long long time. There’s something about producing contents paid that can be very similar in feel to influencing, which I think people are probably rightly skeptical about a lot of the time. What’s an influencer who are these people? And do they actually have the credentials to speak about the thing that they’re speaking about? And I have so, obviously, multiple diagnoses My oldest child is twenty one and was diagnosed as autistic when she was six. I have Now a good chunk of my lifetime spent advocating and doing this work. And also, In the back of my brain, there’s always that, but you don’t have a college degree. So when it came to selling my stuff, there was a lot of reluctance there.

0:14:28
And what I decided I wanted to do was figure out a way to vet the information. It is about finding the people who know the things and learning those things from people who are smarter than me. That’s basically what you go to college for. Right? I’m just compressing all of that. Okay. Into four to eight hours. Okay. So how are you vetting people? So At this point in time, no one has approached me and said, hey, I’d like to have a show on the neurodiversity media network.

0:15:18
Will happen eventually. You’re you’re out here pedaling, hey, hello. You’re here. Podcast with me on Tuesday. I’ve seen it in action. It says hello. Are you are you currently voicing your opinions in the world? Excellent. I would like to book you for a podcast. How’s Tuesday at three o’clock. Here’s your link. Here it’s in your calendar. And then next, you know, we all have podcasts. But the thing is, is that there is absolutely a process. How are you doing the work? Are you truly showing up as who you say you are in the world.

0:16:00
Most of the people that I started with were people like known several years, whose work I’d potentially paid for, people who had potentially paid me, there is a lot of true resourcing going on here as to these people’s actual credentials. So when I say, Marissa knows everything there is to know about building community, I would say, you know, but I am, like, a very active researcher and steadier and in in pursuit of mastery. And have been building communities for how long? I mean, a long time. Right. Long time. Yeah. And that’s true of everyone that I have on. They are people that I have approached because I see the work that they’re doing in the world. It’s not about their ads It’s not about their social media. It’s about the actual things that they have done. And that that’s who I wanna learn from.

0:17:18
I think that old nag about those who can’t do teach is not accurate, but Those who have done — Yeah. — can teach better. I think your content though is not just teaching. It’s really it is co creating. It’s ideating. Like, they’re even though you’re interviewing them, you’re bringing out new concepts and ideas with them even in the process of recording it. So it’s it’s not just teaching, you know, here I’m gonna teach this class, and at the end, you’re gonna have, you know, walk away. I think what you’re doing is creating commentary and inviting more ideas to happen.

0:18:11
So I will say this about Geraldine. The man does know how to ask a good question. And he says of himself fairly frequently that he used to, you know, get people to eat bugs for a living. So maybe you shouldn’t take him so seriously. What’s key is that being able to ask the right questions from a skeptical point of view allows you to flush out your thought process in a way that perhaps you might not have done so before. Because you have to be able to validate the idea and the teaching to me. Mhmm. Yeah, and I think a lot of times too with neurodiverse folks as we tend to be a little insular. We we tend to be in our thoughts a lot, not not necessarily because we wanna keep them close to us, but because there just isn’t anyone else necessarily around that wants to hear us go on for eight hours about You don’t wanna hear about my special interest? Yeah. Right. And so there you know, was it was it called input I was funny.

0:19:36
Somebody you were talking to Karina this morning and I said, I wanted to say, there is no such thing as like, info dumping in the catalyst because we’re all doing it all the time. And nobody will ever ever like, do you wanna see this like, how many times we’re like, do you wanna see this cool thing I made? Yeah. Everybody that But we’re literally five year olds in that room. Like, do you wanna see this cool thing? I did? Yes. Of course, we do. Like, we’re you know, like, there’s never an end to it. But, you know, same thing what you’re doing there too is you’re basically saying, here’s an opportunity where we can allow people to be in their element. Now I wanna get back to this founding member funding model. I’m not gonna let you — Oh, you’re not — I will increment very much here.

0:20:18
Now, when we first started talking about paid having paid sponsorship for this, I said, one of the reasons why they should pay it is because, like, you should actually put on there that you and one other member will be paid a salary. And I remember you were like, Like, you just, like, I’m gonna turn my microphone off for a bit. I hear you, but I’m also going to not respond right away. And I was like, oh, interesting. I’m like, I thought this was the plan all along, and you were like, microphone off going to going gonna go sit in the maybe muted spot. We didn’t have the maybe muted spot yet, but it was it was metaphorically there And then you were like, okay. Okay. Yes.

0:21:07
Why was it so hard for you to be paid? So there’s the the paid media model. Why is it so hard for you to be paid? Well, what is media? Who defines it? What does it mean for people to be the experts? And I think in a lot of our media, there is an uncomfortable antisocial relationship with the people who are giving us that information. Why do I like to have news? Right? It’s our right and told the truth. Mhmm. Okay? And cultivating that is an obligation and a responsibility, which I as an ADHD, sometimes struggle with. Please don’t ask me to post something every Tuesday at ten o’clock. Or it will never happen. Mhmm. So having paid subscribers, felt scary because it was a commitment. So are you committed to the neurodiversity media network? I am. Okay.

0:22:34
The other side of it too is, like, when we think about media, a lot of people are like, oh, okay. Eight walls. Horrible. I should get access to the media. She’ll be able to read this for free and there’s a whole side of that. But it’s like, Okay. But the person who uploads the story to the website deserves to get paid.

0:22:51
The so the same folks that complain about media gate gate walls also complain that we should be paying people more. And it’s like, where does the money come from? And they’re like, well, ads obviously. And it’s like, you also don’t like ads. Mhmm. On the screen. So where would you like this magical money to come from to pay people more? And I think this is a really interesting discussion for nurse, the risk takers, because where do we start to create what’s possible versus I’m just gonna tear down the gatewalls and how much people are getting paid to do these jobs. What’s possible with the neurodiversity media network? So that’s a really interesting question. We all of the live streams are obviously free. So if you come live, you get to consume it live. After it’s been uploaded, it gets pay walled after three months or so. And then paid subscribers get access to once the master class series is complete, there’s a page with all of the links and things and transcripts so you can go and, like, binge it if you want to.

0:24:17
But I do think there is a real truth to the idea that media in this my country, probably in yours too, is the province of mostly upper class mostly white folk. Because to make it to a level where you’re actually getting paid well, you have to do a lot of years of unpaid internships — Right. — of getting paid five cents a word to write something, which means that your living has to be subsidized. And I’m gonna be in one hundred percent clear disclosure here, when I decided to launch the network, there was a sit down conversation in my family with our budget and the two people who pull in, you know, we biweekly paychecks. This could be rough for a few months until I have things up and rolling because this is an entirely new model that I’m creating here. Nobody’s Comstock exists.

0:25:35
But what I’m building on sub stack is different. Yeah. Yeah. It’s a lot of writing mostly, maybe a little bit of art, but you’re basically creating the the podcast network. Uh-huh. And so while I am building this out, I am me too being subsidized to create media that is more accessible. For people. Right.

0:26:03
So by investing in you, we’re not just investing in you then. We’re investing also in your family. And we’re investing in the people who are creating the content for the network. Mhmm. And my long long, suffering operations manager who mostly gets paid in my love and adoration. Heather. Yes. Yeah. Shout out to Heather. We we hear about you all the time. You glorious human being. Mhmm. Yeah. I mean, this is like when we talk about ripple effect too of nourishing the risk taker. So you are taking on a huge risk.

0:26:43
So first of all, you’re creating a new model. You’re also creating a model on a platform that it was not meant necessarily for that. I mean, some people do have it. Definitely, there’s like some musicians who’re kind of creating podcasts slash music and so they’re using that sound in there. But you’re also asking people to invest in an idea for change? I think that we can’t The complaint right now, mainstream media, is that we’re not actually getting the information that we need.

0:27:25
And there is truth to that. And also, that’s the model. Yep. Yep. So if you want something different, you have to build something different. I understand that one hundred percent. And I don’t think that I ever, like, would have said, I’m gonna build a new medium model because if that is what I would have said, I’d have thrown it away. What I said was I still think there’s actual value in long form in-depth content and that people are starving for depth in a world of shorts and short form content. I agree with you. I think the more the shorter we get with our content the shorter our spans are getting to. And so we’re a product of that. And the more we play along with these you know, these short form video content or these little blurbs or little bite sized pieces. We’re actually eroding our ability to focus on longer content.

0:28:49
I can I can listen to things for four hours, six hours, eight hours, I love radio show murder mystery? I am so excited about how podcasts have started really getting into, like, the novels. Radio plays, were — Yeah. — something beautiful and amazing. And I was sure they were gone. But in fact, I just have to go to Spotify and I can find dozens of them. And they’re story based and beautiful. Yeah. Yeah.

0:29:26
And I I saw the other day somebody was recommending that, like, oh, your podcast shouldn’t be longer than twenty minutes. I’m like, who has time to go through an idea in twenty minutes? I mean, I I sometimes can, but like when you and I are doing this, twenty minutes would never be enough. While we’ve been on the air for twenty nine — Yeah. — and we haven’t got back the intro yet. Right. I feel like we’re still just scraping the surface. Yep. So you know, sometimes I worry that it can be a little jarring to jump into the middle because we’re only doing an hour and a time. But I also feel like that’s part of how we get curious — Mhmm. — when I say, we talked about this on a previous episode. You go, oh, well, let me go here that one.

0:30:20
It’s not about backtracking you through my content. Okay. It’s partially about backtracking you through my content. But mostly, it’s about the way in which we learn, and it’s not linear. And I think as lifelong unschooler. I have real advantages in seeing the ways in which my children have cotton onto things at times when my oldest didn’t read and she was nine. We just read to her. It’s not like there was an information being absorbed, she just didn’t have any motivation to read until she decided she needed it. My middle kid did not learn how to spell until he needed it to talk to people in Roblox.

0:31:15
Learning isn’t linear. Being aware of the ways in which things connect is not at all linear. And if you wanna have an idea You gotta get curious. Yeah. So when we talk about nourishing the risk takers, is being curious, nourishing. Absolutely. Curiosity killed the cat. And everybody leaves out the second part of that saying. Yeah. Satisfaction brought it back. Yeah.

0:31:58
Curiosity is what sparks my desire to learn and build things bigger than me. Well, why is that the way that it is is what makes me go to figure out a system only to discover that, oh, well, that’s broken. But I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t have that initial spark of curiosity. So when people come to the neurodiversity meeting network, and I’m gonna put up the link again here just in case people are listening. So I’m wondering how do I get more of this? How do they satisfy their curiosity? That’s a good question. At the moment, it’s very much around sub stacks layout. So it’s chronological, which I am not sure is the best way to spark curiosity. But I am playing with, like, thematic tags. I think that is a good way to explore things in-depth. I personally have started playing a lot with chat GPT and asking it questions. Mhmm. On On our website though, it’s just see a title and dive in. Mhmm.

0:33:42
I think that When it comes to learning, so much of it is spoon fed to us — Mhmm. — part of unschooling is not teaching my children. The biggest part is teaching my children how to teach themselves. Right? Through discovery. Right? Like, through discovery. Like, it really is, like you said, I’m gonna learn how to spell because I gotta communicate to to on roadblocks. Uh-huh. Yeah. What does it look like to self educate.

0:34:21
And truly, I think most of us don’t have any idea we Yep. We don’t know how to be open to learning. No. Yeah. And it’s because we hate learning because of the way that it was dispensed to us oftentimes through force — Yeah. — as opposed to — Mhmm. — yeah. As opposed to being so curious in the world, that we go and, you know, take things apart just to see how they’re put together and then put it back together and see if we can put it back together in a better way. We’re not allowed to do that. No. And I think that we are often reprimanded when we try and learn for ourselves out in the world. Well, who gave you that idea? Or where did you learn that?

0:35:21
I’m always questioning the validity of information, especially now in the information age. When the entirety of the world’s knowledge is right here in my hand — Mhmm. What’s accurate, what’s not, what’s truth, what’s conspiracy. We don’t know. And we’re not taught the critical thinking required to parse that information ourselves. Yeah. I sometimes ask you the question.

0:35:55
When did that become true for you? And if they can’t actually tell me when they read an article or when they saw it on the website or when they were talking to somebody or they went to a seminar. Usually, if it starts with I’ll give you a link to a YouTube video. I’ll be like, okay. That gets that tells me a lot. But it’s like, When did that actually become true for you? Is not when you heard it the first time? It’s when it became true for you. In your mind. Mhmm. And people don’t know when that happened because they’re they’re always taking in this content And then if they get an inkling, they go and research along those biases. And then they’re not actually sure when they stopped thinking critically here. And let’s be fair. The way the technology is currently designed reinforces those biases. So the content you consume leads the algorithm to give you more of that type of content. And that’s true social media, but that’s true of Google too.

0:37:12
When you search and you click on the New York Times versus Fox, The next time it’s going to push New York Times up instead of Fox. And again, I’m not saying Either of these are particularly valid or unvalid sources of information. Yeah. You have to actually parse that out every single time. Well, the New York Times could have a foreign against — Mhmm. — just published days apart. Right? But if you search one keyword, you’re only gonna see that one story and you’re not seeing the the opposition to it. Yeah.

0:37:48
And I think we are so willing to allow our opinions to be informed by other people rather than what we feel is true. So there’s comments on each of the podcasts, like in subsec. You can go in and comment. What I might what I will find interesting is a year after you’re doing this if we come back to it and see if people actually do engage and say, I hear what you’re saying. However, in my opinion here, this is different because that’s when I think then you’ll get the media going. Because really, even though we might be an expert, and I say this too, I’ve only I’ve only been a part of the communities that I’ve been a part of. They’re thousands of different types of communities around the world. If I stop listening to those other communities and their experiences, I think I stop learning. Right? So I wanna hear different different things. Like, you you’ve heard that, you know, great, Marissa, you you have that experience. Here’s our experience. Oh, wow. That’s that’s amazing. That’s where I see the potential.

0:38:59
Whereas mainstream media, you can’t have those conversations. Because he I think, waiting into the comments, is truly one of my favorite pastimes. Go and read something and whether assess your own personal confirmation bias around it. And then go read the comments because Truly, people will say horrific things in the comments. And when you set aside the language. What do they say it? What is the actual conversation about. And we don’t get to have a conversation with our media. No. We don’t.

0:39:55
That’s my whole goal here is for people to be able to participate. Not just in creating the media, but in shaping it long term. What works now, won’t work two years from now. Mhmm. So how are we constantly building something that is accessible to people. That doesn’t happen in a vacuum. We have to fucking ask. So when it comes to nourishing in your in your own life.

0:40:37
How comfortable are you in your relationship to asking for help? I’ve gotten pretty good at asking for help. Mhmm. What does it look like for you? It’s about being very specific about what I need. Not asking for things that are tangentially related to what I need. Not being unwilling to ask multiple times. And definitely not compromising what that need is. So not everyone is right for everything. And one of the things that I have had to learn is that I need a large support network so that when I ask for help, I can ask the right person for help. So when it comes to the neuro to ever see me hand over and I keep coming back to this, how have you asked for help out of your network? To help you get founding members in. Well, we ask in most episodes Marissa smacked me down for this fairly hard, fairly early on. So now we’re much better about asking. Okay. Yeah. That was brutal when I did that. I was like, terrible when you get smacked down in the best and most loving of ways.

0:42:29
Truly asking for money is a hard ask for most people. How much is it per year? Oh, gosh. Three hundred, I think, per year — Yeah. — which is significantly less than I used to sell my time for when I was consulting and coaching. Yeah. By magnitudes. K. So, again, for me, there’s some obligation around how I feel about me, being the one putting the information out, and asking directly for my own personal support is hard, can be difficult. I will talk to that. Yeah.

0:43:30
And there’s a lot of ways that people can be helping you with this. I mean, part of it is, you you did that today. You asked what, you know, what do you wanna learn? Next, so you’re getting people to help feed you ideas, and that’s great. I I think I mean, while we were sitting here, of course, you know, my brain goes off in a resilient times. I’m like, oh, I wanna I wanna badge for my website. Especially like a a scene on. I would love Oh, we gotta make you one of those. Yeah. Yeah. A batch.

0:44:00
And then that directly goes to the, you know, in join, and I can have, like, a little blurb. That’s, like, you know, not only am I contributing member to the neurodiversey media network, but you too can become a founding member. How does that help me? Right? And then I have now share the ask. It’s not just you. Right? Now I’m asking other people, my my network to invest in me by investing in you. Right? Because you’ve given me a platform.

0:44:30
I’ll be honest, I have had several people say to me What are you charging for this when I go and be like, hey, I got a podcast in the back of my van for you. Yeah. I’m not actually charging anyone to be my cohost. I’m and that’s an interesting topic because I’ve seen Very sure people, very certain people of their opinion will be like, well, paying for a podcast. I’m giving them my ex expertise. There’s there’s these up and down things and it’s like, well, you know, yes, you’re giving them your expertise, but you’re also getting their audience. You’re also getting the work that they do. I’m of I’m of two minds. There is always paid advertising. A lot of people get really upset about avatarsals, but I’m only mad when they’re not declared. But avatars are also great.

0:45:27
It’s it’s like a it’s a It’s a spot for me to see in a longer form content of how the company sees themselves. Same with you. We’re we’re still getting it’s not like you’re doing hard hitting journalism. You’re not Barbara Walters. Like, you’re letting us say what we wanna say. You’re letting us create the key messages, the content, the SEO opportunity for that to come back to us. We’re we’re we’re all we’re doing is, you know, leveraging our network to get our voices out there. That to me deserves to be paid. So even if you did put a fee on there, it’s it again is part of investing in the thing that you’re creating.

0:46:08
It’s basically coming together and saying, can we pool our resources in order to create this thing outside of ourselves that benefits us back? You know, I think this is the part of nourishment that is difficult. Right? How are we growing our communities and also providing for ourselves? What are we doing to lift people up while also making sure there is food on the table? And I don’t think there’s ever a right answer. I don’t think there’s any one true way. I think we get to choose how we want to charge people. And I think we get to choose the ways in which that feels good in our souls because you’re right, I I could and have will maybe consider it.

0:47:10
What I am leaning into now currently is paid advertorials from me read live on the air because I’m not going to I’m not going to allow sponsors whose whatever, product services, whatever, I don’t believe in. And for those sponsors, the benefit is not just benefiting me, but the work. Right. I mean, there’s there’s some interesting opportunities there where you create these really aligned sponsorships. I mean, we were talking about you know, I said people can sponsor the host. Right? People can sponsor.

0:47:53
There’s a lot of power in that if that a company comes forward and says, I actually want to sponsor Marissa. We’re a community based platform, and we would like to sponsor Marissa. I have to then go, okay, what’s that relationship? Because it’s not just you. It’s it’s they’ve now put their name on me. Right? Which people might think that I endorse what they do. But in some cases, that might be amazing. Like a company comes where I absolutely would want to endorse them, and I’m excited that they’re giving you money. And it’s an opportunity for me also to be aligned with a brand that I might not have the opportunity in anything else I’m creating.

0:48:34
Well, and when we are building communally, right, if someone came to me and said, I want to sponsor Marissa’s show, I would absolutely be coming to you and saying, this is the person who wants to sponsor this show. Now do you feel about that? If you are not the right person, maybe I can shift them to another show, Maybe I can just do bulk ads. There are options if I feel good about them as a sponsor, but we get to build communally when we’re intentional about it. Yeah. I mean, it means free media. You don’t get a choice.

0:49:11
I’m always threatening when I’m reading some sort of, like, horrific news about some sort of violence, and then I see a friend’s ad, like, right in the middle of the article, I’m like, Oh, no. Like, oh, no. Right? And it’s like you don’t get that choice. Your ad just you’re on that the Google network and it delivered it. And those that that terrifies me. But the opportunity where even me as a sponsor could align myself with one of your hosts and being able to, like, again, it’s it becomes this association. It becomes this community where I’m now investing in both of you. And that to me is is really powerful. It’s really powerful to lend our dollars to a voice.

0:49:57
Whether we’re sponsoring political campaigns or a network like this, our dollars are speaking for us. So what are they saying? That’s the question. That’s right. And when it comes to media in particular and you’re right about paper click, ads. Right? Even as the host provider of them, I don’t get to choose what goes there. So someone has paid me money, but it’s all randomized. It’s all very much will you click on this?

0:50:36
I think that collaborative advertising, which I’ll be honest, I don’t know that I’ve quite seen anybody do it this way, either what I’m attempting to do here. We’ll see if it works. But I think that we get to decide where the money comes from. We get to decide who we wanna support and we get to decide how it’s built. And I don’t think that that means that we all have to be the same or that we all have to agree or that there won’t ever be conflict. But we have to have a conversation about it. Yeah. I mean, part of it too is you know, letting yourself be sponsored.

0:51:29
I I went through many years where I was organizing events and the idea of having other sponsors. You know, it’s just like, no, I can do it myself. And I did. And then I got to the point where I was like, I need more people. I need to, like, pay them. And so it was like being able to drop that. The other side of it is is I love the idea of, you know, any events that I do is that we could have a sponsor that pays for free tickets so that people can go the the the bumps and seats allowing because then those seats are still paid and filled, and it serves a purpose because We have speakers speaking to an empty room is horrible. You know? And so it’s one of those things where it it answers a twofold. But it also means that we have money to do the next event. You know, it’s not just pay your bills this time. It’s money to do the next event.

0:52:24
For us when we have in person events, you have to put on huge deposits on locations — Yeah. — that are nonrefundable. Yeah. Even when there’s a massive pandemic going on, these are nonrefundable huge deposits, and it’s it’s scary. Right? And so this is where I toggle these nourish the risk takers, is that you’re taking on this huge risk. You’re creating this this media network. You’re basically saying no to other things. You’re you’re recording a podcast every day with people. Sometimes multiple times multiple. And that’s time. Plus the, you know, inputting it into podium, creating the the sub stack, all the and and then all of the marketing stuff that happens. That’s a full time more than a full time position. It’s obviously two full time positions, shout out to Heather. And this to me deserves to be paid for.

0:53:17
So when we talk about, you know, asking people to fund the to be a funder with this, whether it be by sponsorship or becoming a member. This is about saying to someone else, I believe in what you’re doing, and I’m excited to see where you go with this. The other side of it is that if people can do this without an expectation of what you deliver, that’s the best thing ever. Because the thing is with the crowd funding and the Indigo goes and the Kickstart people want their thing. And sometimes you just it doesn’t happen because it and it doesn’t make your money any less value because you didn’t get the thing back. You said I believed in your idea. And it it might not be this idea of briars. This is what I look at too is is bringing both my skills and my content, bringing the dollars in, whatever I can do. It might not be actually the neurodiversity media network I’m investing in. I’m investing in this idea and Briar’s next idea and prior’s next idea by saying right now, this is important to me.

0:54:28
I feel like part of what we do when it comes to taking risks is putting ourselves out there for the humiliating falls. Right? And I do rely on my support network to cash me. I do rely on people believing in me and maybe the work. But definitely, believing in me. What’s that like? Sometimes it’s scary, but truly most of the time it’s very filling. Very fulfilling. I think that The more we build our communities of care, the easier it comes to do big scary things. Mhmm.

0:55:39
It it’s not just about info dump. It’s about that I trust especially in the catalyst that when I come in here and say I build something Everyone truly is excited to see it. Not just because they too have or will dump their own thing, but because they care about me as a person and they care about my work. Yeah. Yeah. And I think this is this believing in ideas believing in people, not for what you immediately get out of it because that’s a thing when you’re building any kind of content network or even as an influencer. Like, honestly, we’ve got not like, even though you’re doing a podcast every day, when somebody looks at it, they’re just gonna be like, okay, that’s one pay. Like, you know, and it and it The thing is is that you’re gonna have people who are becoming founders who never listen to one podcast and that’s okay. I have members of the catalyst who never come into the work room. And I’m like, are you sure you wanna keep? And they’re like, yep. And again, I know that they’re not just investing in this one idea they’re investing in all my future ideas, and I’m gonna let them do that. Yeah. I think that one of the most important lessons I’ve ever learned is to stay out of other people’s wallets. I don’t get to choose how they spend their money. And if you choose to spend twenty five dollars a month or three hundred dollars a year or a thousand dollars for a set of ads, then bless you, first of all. And thank you. For allowing the work to proceed.

0:57:22
At this point, I often feel like it’s less about me and more about channeling this thing into being. I don’t know how much of this actually came from me because, again, I would not have set out to reinvent media if I had been given a whole lot of say in the matter. Instead, I was like, oh, I’ve got this idea. And then everything just started happening. Yeah. I mean, that’s that’s how the catalyst came about. Right? It was just like, hey, guys. Do you wanna get a place where we can just go to chat and not have to worry about people going. That’s not business related. And and and, like, you just, you know, go and you know, hey, guys wanna see the cool thing on the you know, in that Truly. We have so many great Star Trek conversations. That’s worth every cent. Yeah. I actually have a whole meme for you about or sorry, a a TikTok that I have to show you where the guy basically says you’re if you’re ADHD like Star Wars, I think it is. And if you’re a testiculate Star Trek, or it can be the opposite. But, anyways, I see need it for you. Thank you. Briar will also appreciate this because, of course, I like Star Wars: Answer Track, which is not a big That trend homework. A fast trend homework. Yeah. I mean, that’s that’s this is the the beautiful part about being nurse.

0:58:46
So the other side of it and we’ve kinda touched on this is How are you about receiving help? That one was also a hard hard thing to learn. Actually, I think probably harder than asking. My general and I don’t know if this is just my personal upbringing or being coded as female or what. But it took me a lot of years to break the return offer that when somebody helped me, I was obligated to reciprocate. Yeah. That’s that’s gross. And think we have to come to a place where we realize what we actually have the capacity to offer. So what I will offer is almost never in kind.

0:59:52
The things that I need help with are not things that I can help people with. So how can I accepts help without feeling obligated? And that truly is a lot of internal work, especially if you have a dysfunctional family of origin. Yeah. I mean, there’s and there’s a lot of things where we can talk about being neuro and depressed too and asking for help. You know, and you you know this because you have kids in school systems and, you know, asking for what they called the IEP or whatever the individual education plans and and having that and the work that goes into that and the ongoing work that goes into that, both from your side and the teacher’s side and your child’s side and all that stuff to be honest. If we had public school, my children probably wouldn’t have IEPs because of the amount of work that that would have required from me. Right. The paperwork in particular is something I really struggle with.

1:01:13
Once again, shout out to Heather because I gotta have somebody in my life who was like, no. No. You actually do need to save your receipts for your accountant prior. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. I also have to do that. But yeah, I know. My my mom’s like, well, my mom asked me once, she’s like, what’s if you could have any help in the world, what would it be? I’m like, someone who went into my bags, pulled out my receipts, and then did whatever needs to happen for them to go into QuickBooks. And she was like, That’s that is actually amazing. Who does that? Who does that? Man, if if it existed, take my money. Right? Just some of that comes over your house once a day, and then, like, rummages through all of your stuff, goes in your car, looks under the seat, and it’s, like, I got that receipt, or, like, I checked your mileage. I’m gonna enter your mileage for you. It’s like, you know, those kind of things that just help you be great. You know, one day that’s my dream. But until then Is that a personal accountant? That’s that’s like a personal it it’s it’s past personal assistant. It’s personal accounting. Yeah. Yeah. It’s it’s great.

1:02:28
There’s a business I you. Who wants it? We’re we’re offering it up to you for free. Please let me pay you a monthly stipends to that you can come over to my house and rummage through my purse. We create an entire network that is across North America of people who are willing to do this in various cities, and we will help you promote it. Oh, yes, we will. Because you would you will be a bazillionaire.

1:02:55
Just some person coming over. Like, what a great retire like, people who are kind of in the retirement fit, you know, and they just wanna come. You know, and just make sure you’re all your receipts are put into QuickBooks like Genius. We’ve just created a multibillion dollar industry. Somebody needs to take this from us. Please, somebody. Take it.

1:03:18
You just hear this rustling downstairs, you go down, and there’s there’s the accountant. Just be like, I’m just grabbing these. Also, you forgot to put the chicken back in the fridge, so I just put that in. Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow. And how they go? Like, how great would that be? Right? Because with all, like, those paper and just, like, you know, just scurry out of the house before you, you know, you tell them about the soft drawer or the or the bathroom covered that has receipts in it. It’s best they don’t know. You know? So bad. Yeah. Well, now we’ve just created a bazillion dollar idea for people. Okay. Somebody, but neither one of us are gonna be the ones to execute on it.

1:04:03
So So prior, over the next year, over the next twelve months, I’m just curious. I haven’t asked anyone this yet, but I I know you’ll answer honestly. How are you gonna nourish yourself? So one of the things that I’m actually looking to do this year with the money given to me by supporters and advertisers is hiring a personal assistant who probably won’t Perce Remage. Although, I may now put that on the list.

1:04:42
But I definitely need I need a butler. I need someone to manage certain aspects of my life. That I am incapable of like, I bought this pair of I bought a new pair of compression gloves for my hands. I cut the tag off and accidentally ripped the seam I’ve had that pair of compression gloves in my closet for well over a year now. Because I am clearly incapable of pulling out the needle and thread, and it’s five stitches. It’s probably not even that. But they’re compression gloves, so they have to be fixed. I can’t just have this whole I’m I’m incapable. I need somebody to actually manage the personal details of my life. Yeah. Yeah.

1:05:44
And I think that’s a valid like, that’s a valid ask, you know, and I think I I look at, like, old academia — Right. — when it was largely white men who were professors. Mhmm. And these guys had a whole staff. They generally had a wife. Mhmm. But they also had adjuncts and assistant professors and b a’s, all of those things. Like, their job was to do the big thing things. Yeah. And people supported that goal. I do not think it is an unreasonable request for the people who are doing the big, thinky things in the world right now. To figure out ways to find staff, to find support. Howard Bauchner: Yeah. And that means if we find somebody with some big thinky ideas that’s really cool. We might be buying them coffee, multiple coffees, a subscription of coffees. In order for them to keep doing that.

1:06:59
One thing I really love about the sub stack model is that I I truly do feel like those few dollars are contributing to greater things in the world. I’m reading things and watching things and listening to things that are measurably improving my life. And because the format of it is largely long form, there are no Gary V’s. And there’s nothing inherently wrong with Gary V’s. But there is no there’s no lack of substance here. Everything that I consume and that I contribute to as a reader has substance. Even if it’s my one of my favorite substacks is a solid newsletter. I I just get solid recipes. Two, three times a week. Just like, here’s the new salad. Like — Yeah. — amazing. It is. Yeah. Yeah. I need a cast rule so sick. That’s lovely. A cast rule. I’ll I’ll I’ll I’ll keep an eye out. For one. I just love warm cast rolls. You know? And and then that and that’s it too. It’s like it doesn’t have to be complicated.

1:08:34
I was doing research even last night. Channel makers was talking about earning income off YouTube and the numbers of subscribers were not ginormous, but the numbers of income were and, you know, a lot of it was through sponsorship, a lot of it was through affiliate links, and a lot of it was just, you know, there was a a bit of YouTube ads, but a lot of it was just the subscribers loving the content and create and tipping. And I think this is again, I think we’re just missing such an important way that we can nourish others in a in a in an amount that might not we might not even know is cut you know, we might not even notice. I think part of embracing the creator economy — Yeah. — is not that you have to go out and be a Yeah. But that you get to consciously consume other people’s creations. Mhmm.

1:09:30
And I get to be discerning, and that’s the difference. I choose which patrons, which sub stacks, which buy me a coffees I’m giving money to. And it really ranges the gamut for me, but I’m never and ever feeling like I’m not getting what that ten or thirty dollars is worth. Yeah. And I mean, I the worst thing is, like, when you’re, like, an incredible, amazing creator, and then you’re like, I’m a full time accountant and I also do this on the side. And it’s just like, oh, man, imagine what you could do when you just get to be this. Right? And that’s where people say, oh, get a real job or all this kind of stuff. And it’s just like, you know, it it’s a lot to create content. It’s a lot to build a system it’s a lot to figure out ways to make it sustainable for yourself. It absolutely is a fair time job. Oh, yeah.

1:10:49
And the other part of it is, why the fuck not? Like, When did we decide that work had to be drudgery and painful. When did we decide that I couldn’t actually truly make money off of art? And I feel like this is a recent historical development. Mhmm. We act like this is that that a creator economy is new, but I’m pretty sure Leonardo da Vinci made his entire living off of a creator economy. Me? Yeah. I mean, it’s only a couple hundred years old where the propaganda moving to North America and working hard and earning your big freedom and all that stuff that they put over there. But in yeah. Shakespeare, toured around, got paid. Breakers a con economy. Creator’s economy. Like, this stuff was has been going on. Michelangelo got you know, he he got commissioned to do things.

1:11:53
But it wasn’t just, like, he didn’t have a, you know, his tip jar out on the side of the sistine. You know, people were like, actually, I need you to paint this this ceiling. And it’s grudge it’s work it’s actually work that, like, impacted their bodies. Right? These large scale murals, these paintings that they poured into these things these were I mean, van Go lessons here to his heart and his madness. You know, like, these are things that, like, These are sacrifices, and it’s the same thing.

1:12:24
It’s like, you you think you deserve to get these reels or you think you deserve to get these TikToks or these short form content. You think you deserve to get YouTube content you think you deserve. Well, those folks deserve also to be compensated and not have to struggle to do both in order to pay their bills. Yeah, I don’t think it has to be either or. I think that it can be both and and I do think that part of the hostility is partially envy. As people are doing jobs and drudgery that they hate. Mhmm. And that’s information.

1:13:09
How long are we going to let this system that’s been created for us? Take over our entire lives. I’m hoping only another eight months because I’ve got some things to do, and it’s starting to get really annoying. Like, it was annoying, but now it’s like, really annoying, and I’m just I’m done with this type of economy. I’m I’m I’m clocking you on that eight months. What’s I’m doing what I can. Well, I mean, I’m hustling. If anybody would like to sponsor, Chris, who wants? Anybody wants this not to My tip jar is always open and there is no limit. So if anybody wants to drop a mill, I’ll see what I can do about changing the entire economy of the world. I’m ready. I might need about a bill, maybe a maybe a 1b, but not much. So feel free.

1:14:05
I do think that what we have to do is look at our communities and look at our collaborations and figure out the ways in which those things work and lean into that. There there’s no arguably reinvention without some trauma, or we can just ignore those things. We can just ignore those things. We’re ignoring this as ones that don’t work. Mhmm. And we’re leaning into the ones that do. Yeah. I think I’m also getting I I’ve I’ve been saying this to my friends since I’ve they suddenly rolled their eyes, but been getting tired of just like the naysayers, like the people who are like, this doesn’t work anymore and like nobody cares. Now we have to figure out what does work, and we have to start creating that and just operating in that system, like, as if it was normal. Like, we just start like, you’re doing that. Right? You’re just, like, actually, now I have a no neurodiversity media network, and here’s the spam here’s the ways that you can join. You just do it. Like, you’re just like, and this is normal. And then when you look at people who are like, oh my gosh, I can’t believe you’re doing this as a job or get a real job. You’re like, you just look at them like, Oh, you didn’t know that this was normal? Oh, well now you do.

1:15:22
Curiosity is also about running experiments. And sometimes those experiments fail, but sometimes they succeed. And you have to actually Experiment to know. Yeah. It’s time to start to gaslight the capitalists. Just seeing. Interesting. Alright. I’m with you. Let’s do it. I’ll make the t shirts. Okay. Okay, Briar. We could talk for a Brazilian years. I want you back. We’ll we’ll do this again. Let’s keep talking about how we nourish the risk takers.

1:16:02
I think you’re doing a phenomenal job tell people how they can find you, how they become of either a sponsor or a participant or a funder. Thank you. So you can find us at neurodiversity media network dot com. You can become a founding member there. It is twenty five dollars a month, three hundred dollars a year. If you would like to sponsor, if you’d like to advertise, you can join us at briar harvey dot com slash partners. And currently, we are looking for people to support either shows or host workshops. One of the things I like about this collaborative advertising model is that I get to try new things. So I’m really excited to figure out if there are ways to advertise that have never been done before. If you have ideas, I’d love to hear them. Cool. Alright.

1:17:13
And then I like to just take a moment and say what I appreciate about you and what I like about you and what, you know, what I like about you being in the catalyst. So, Briar, I I think if nobody knows this, I always like telling the story. I actually met I found Briar on YouTube. I was researching a video, and Briar had this, like, this podcast, this little cap, I guess, about a movie. And I was like, well, I like Bart. And then oddly enough, like, a couple days later, you know, in the creepy Internet world. So Facebook was like, Do you know prior? Like, maybe you know prior? And I was like, no. But I just watched a video on YouTube And then I think I I either I did it or you did. We became friends on Facebook. And then we started seeing each other in various circles on the Facebook world.

1:18:06
What are the clubhouse? Remember when there was clubhouse? Clubhouse. Let’s not get crazy there. But here’s the thing. Here’s what I like about you.

1:18:16
One, you do you take up space. You will take the time you need to tell the story, you will take the time you need to make sure there’s understanding, you will take the time you need to create the bridge or the relationship, and I find that incredible. Because in a time where we are always rushing, we just talked about short form content. We talked about the short attention spans. You will demand and then show up for the time it takes to do that, which is interesting given that you’ve ADHD. And there’s so many squirrels in the park.

1:18:56
But when it comes to this, when it comes to an idea, when it comes to a person, when it comes to building that relationship, you show up for that space. And I love watching you do that. I love when you I love when you’re like, I’m just gonna mute right now, and I’m just gonna I’m just gonna think about this for a bit, and then you come back. And the ability to take that space to not know all the answers, to go and think about it, and to let it sit and and to see and to I’m I’m guessing it’s just like a little internal conversation you have with yourself about how you’re gonna respond. It’s so important and it’s so magical and it’s so important in our community because people are starting to mirror that.

1:19:35
I am seeing that people are giving themselves permission to not answer a question right away. They’re giving themselves permission to change their mind. They’re giving themselves permission to ask, you know, what would make this even better. And they’re giving themselves that permission to mute themselves and go into another room and then come back in. And there’s no, like, shame. There’s no, like, embarrassment. There’s just being you. And I really love that. Gonna make me cry over here. That is an incredible compliment. Thank you. And you’re a valuable part of the catalyst. So, I mean, we have a whole room that was at school. Well, we have several rooms. We have several rooms like that. We have a whole room that I’m like, But, you know, you can often find Briar in the cat a list room, which is involves a cat serving for twenty five minutes.

1:20:34
Listen. That’s worth the whole membership right there, the cat a list. How can you not love the pun? I know we’re we’ve had it in our request for, you know, some some dog themes. So not have to think of, like, how we’re gonna fit that into it. The dog a list doesn’t quite have the same ring. Doesn’t have the same ring, and we’ll make it work. Absolutely. Part anatomy or something. Who knows? Something something in there.

1:21:04
But thank you very much for being a part of my community. Thank you for being a member that people look forward to being in a room with. Thank you for being that support system for for so many in that room, whether it’s about accessibility or systems or, you know, creating podcasts with them. And encouraging them to be the experts in their area because I think for a lot of people too that come into the catalyst is no one’s ever asked them to do what you’re doing. You really are seeing people and then you’re helping others see them too. And that’s priceless. Right? So thank you for doing that. I really appreciate you, and Yeah. Thanks. Thank you for being here.

1:21:52
Alright. So we have just talked for ninety almost ninety minutes since and we know that this is a pod past of the ages. So I want to thank everybody for listening. If you are watching this on the replay, do do a right replay. If you’re listening to this on the podcast, you can hear this wherever you listen to podcasts casts. And you can also see this on YouTube. You can watch our faces and see all of us interact and how we respond to each other. But this is nourish the risk takers. I’m your host, Marissa Bowen, and we will see you again soon. Thank you for being here. Thank you. Bye.