Morris Dancing, Microphones, And Making It Work with Duncan Bhaskaran Brown

Ready to grow your voice without chasing vanity metrics? We sit down with Duncan Bhaskaran Brown—author, speaker, and unapologetic Morris dancer—to unpack how small, aligned audiences can move the needle more than massive but passive ones, and why guesting early and often builds skill, credibility, and genuine reach. Duncan’s journey from overindulgence to helping people rewire habits gives him a rare blend of empathy and edge. He shares how a playful hook makes you relatable, how to turn interviews into research that benefits listeners, and why your “ordinary” insights might be exactly what someone needs to hear today.

We explore hosting and guesting from both chairs: the shift from rigid question lists to guided, human conversations; how to ask questions that spark fresh thinking instead of rehearsed talking points; and a simple production mindset that favours incremental upgrades over perfection. Duncan breaks down the art of resilient outreach, the value of showing up for smaller shows, and the compounding return of being kind—you never know who someone knows or who they’ll become. You’ll also pick up smart, practical tactics: prepare out loud, make your CTA unforgettable with a short domain, and design segments that keep pace without sacrificing depth.

Along the way, Duncan shares a teaser about a future Guinness World Record and why embracing personal stories—yes, even Morris dancing—can illuminate serious topics like sobriety, community, and joy. Whether you’re levelling up your pitch, refreshing your format, or just getting started, this conversation gives you tools to grow your authority while staying human. If it resonates, follow, rate, and share with a friend who’s ready to launch or to land bigger shows—then tell us: where do you win more right now, hosting or guesting?

Chapters

• 0:00 Setting The Stage: Meet Duncan
• 1:39 Morris Dancing As An Icebreaker
• 4:10 From Overindulgence To Helping Others
• 7:17 Teasing A Guinness World Record
• 9:51 Why Podcasting Became The Path
• 13:20 Guesting For Reach And Reps
• 16:51 Small Audiences, Big Outcomes
• 19:32 Kindness, Networks, And Long Games
• 22:20 Thick Skin And No-Shows
• 27:08 Hosting Lessons: Script To Flow
• 31:45 Quickfire Formats And Structure
• 36:25 Ask Better Questions, Get Better Stories

Transcript

Carl: 0:04

Welcome to Communication Connection Community, the Podcasters Podcast. This podcast takes a deep dive into modern-day communication strategies in the podcasting space. We chat with interesting people who make the podcasting and speaking spaces exciting and vibrant. We also dive into the podcasting community with news, updates, latest trends and topics from this ever-evolving space. Let's dive into today's episode. Duncan Bhaskaran Brown will help you increase your energy, power up your productivity, improve your relationships, and enjoy the heck out of life. With 20 years of overdoing it, he cleaned up his act and trained with the world's most successful stop smoking service, but that wasn't enough. He studied at Cornell University, the Chartered Management Institute, and in a windowless room in Peterborough, but that wasn't enough. He's written a couple of books. He's a podcaster, he's a sought-after podcast guest. I'm excited for where this conversation is going to go because he has had massive success also speaking on stage. So excited to welcome Duncan Bhaskaran Brown. Welcome to the podcast.

Duncan: 1:19

Oh, thank you for having me. I am very much looking forward to getting into this. I think it's going to be very interesting.

Carl: 1:25

Now, one thing we didn't mention, and my question was, we may as well start here. What is a Morris dancer?

Duncan: 1:33

A Morris dancer is it's kind of English traditional folk dance. So if you just about picture the most English kind of thing you can picture. So like a nice village green on a nice sunny day, something like that, and stick a bunch of people in white, so white trousers, white shirts, uh bowels, ribbons, hats with flowers on it, waving hankies around dancing to traditional folk music, that is Morris dancing. Okay. And I was gonna say, you might be wondering why I stick it on my pod match profile.

Carl: 2:05

I am wondering why it's on your pod match profile. I'm curious. If you had just said traditional English dancing, that might not have piqued anything in my mind, but Morris dancing. So I'm curious. Tell me why.

Duncan: 2:18

See, the thing is, a lot of my friends are speakers and facilitators and coaches and all of this kind of stuff. And what I noticed they've all got these lists of log list of grand titles on their LinkedIn profile. So to kind of take the mick out of them, I changed mine to Speaker Author Morris Dancer because I thought it was funny. And then people started talking to me about it. It became like a big talking point. And I realized it made me look a lot more human, it made me look like slightly less serious, and I'm not that serious. So uh it kind of gives people the right impression about me. But actually, you know, it helped me in a lot of other ways. I mean, it comes up all the time when I'm doing podcasts, and I love talking about it because actually I can relate it back to what I do. So I help people to stop drinking, and there's a lot of drinking that goes on in uh, you know, traditional folk arenas, particularly around Morris dancing. So it's now become one of several kind of quite interesting talking points that I can then digress from, where it looks like we're just having this nice kind of conversation, and then I can elbow in something serious as well. So that is one of the things I would really encourage people to do. You know, don't just hide behind your title. If you do something interesting in your spare time, shout about it. You know, podcast hosts actually genuinely love talking about it.

Carl: 3:42

Apparently, because that's why I had to ask you, what is that? To see if it was something that we should talk about. And obviously, it's something that, and I'm glad we have have chatted about it. Is it something that you've talked about also on stage when you've been giving presentations when you've been speaking?

Duncan: 4:00

So currently doesn't feature heavily in either of my keynotes. It features in both of my books, so Get Over Indulgence and Real Men Quit have both got uh little Morris Dancing references in them, but not so much in the current keynotes. However, what I currently speak about is how to get rid of bad habits, and what I'm moving towards speaking about more is how to build good habits. And unfortunately, I haven't got everything nailed down yet, but next year I'm going to uh break a world record, and that's gonna be the center of my keynote. Now, I'll let the listeners draw their own conclusions as to whether that world record is related to Morris dancing or not, because as I say, I haven't really nailed it all down yet. I'm just talking to Guinness at the moment, and you know, once I do, I will announce it. But uh maybe that was like a little sneak peek for your listeners.

Carl: 4:55

A little bit of a preview, a teaser, as they call it. And the fact that you had said you're talking to Guinness tells me that you're the only person I've had on my podcast, I believe, that has said they're talking to Guinness or have spoken to Guinness or have won anything related to Guinness. So that tells me that there's a stay tuned, but then also there's a we have to follow up with, we have to follow up with Duncan at some point to find out where this led to. So thank you so much for sharing that. Let's talk about podcasting because that's why we're here. What was it that led you to podcasting to begin with? What was the journey into the podcasting space?

Duncan: 5:35

Way, way, way, way back when, in the dark, misty depths of time, before Zoom was fashionable, I ran a virtual summit because I realized nobody was really doing it in the space that I was in. And I thought it was actually fairly easy to put together. So I hacked together a virtual summit, and it was kind of quite good. It generated a bit of interest, certainly was garnered more interest than I was normally getting on social media, so it seemed to amplify stuff a little bit. And then after I finished, I had a load of interviews, and I was like, Well, what am I going to do with these interviews? And it's like, oh, you know what you could do with interviews, Duncan? You could uh do a podcast. So I almost started my first podcast accidentally. But again, one of the things that I noticed about it was in terms of listeners and in terms of interest, it certainly surpassed anything else that I did on social media. So that was why when I pivoted a few years after that and started talking more about removing bad habits and alcohol and junk food and that sort of stuff, it seemed sensible to me to try and get the message out using other people's podcasts because I am a little bit lazy. So I thought it would be easier to get them to do all the editing. But then once I'd found an area that I was really, really obsessed with and I just wanted to learn a whole lot more about it, it just seemed very natural that I should interview some experts to learn more about it. And why would you interview experts and not record your interviews and stick it out as a podcast? So uh yeah, yeah, yeah. I got into it, I suppose, accidentally, but I noticed the benefits pretty quickly. And now I think it's such a valuable research tool for me, as well as being, you know, great for generating the interest.

Carl: 7:23

And elevates your expertise, your credibility, your passion project, all of those things that are who you are and variations of that. One of the things I find interesting is I don't know about now, but certainly in those earlier days, there were a number of individuals who leveraged the podcast to take that content that was created at events, those talks, those workshops, and put them into podcast format. So every year you'd have the from this event, this podcast with 26 episodes or whatever it was, featuring every talk that was given. I think we've seen a bit of a shift, but I think people are still leveraging it for that purpose because why wouldn't you with that much content, right? Which do you find has leveraged or given you the most leverage? Would you say it's being a guest, being a host? Are they pretty much 50-50?

Duncan: 8:12

So, in terms of exposure, it's absolutely being a guest, but that is not simply being a guest once, but that is being a guest a lot, and doing my apprenticeship, as it were. You know, when I started off, it was literally like I will do absolutely anything, you know. If it is only your mum and your cat that listen to your podcast, I will still come on. So I did a lot of stuff like that, and I think that helped me improve, that helped me learn, that gave me a decent back catalogue, that gave me uh a lot of testimonials, and that meant that when I wanted to approach some bigger podcasts, they didn't just laugh in my face. So, yeah, I you know, I was on one the other day and incredibly nice guy, and he just sort of like tagged me into the Instagram, and uh I just like looked up and it's like, oh, he has 250,000 followers. It's like ah, that's why he is such a nice guy. Or maybe he has 250,000 followers because he is such a nice guy.

Carl: 9:15

It it certainly is. I do find it fascinating, the leverage that people get as guests. And I do find that I like the example that you gave that you would get on pretty much any show within reason, even if it's just someone's mother and their cat listening. Because I think those shows, and you hit the nail on the head, they help you practice, shall we say, or get some of the nervous jitters or whatever it is out. But it also I think establishes that you can have those conversations. And there are some phenomenal podcasts that don't have 50,000 or 100,000 viewers or listeners. That why wouldn't you be on them? And I know that there are several people who have leveraged their passion projects and their businesses by being on various sizes of shows, including the small ones that sometimes get forgotten.

Duncan: 10:06

Yeah, yeah. Interestingly, you've reminded me of something that I think is so important that I wish somebody told me this a long, long time ago. Whenever you meet somebody, you should be nice to them for three reasons. One, because you don't know who they are, you don't really know who they are the first time you meet them. You don't know who they know. So they might just say, Oh, I met this amazing guy the other day called Duncan, and they happen to say that to a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, and it changes your life. But the real kicker is you do not know what they will become. You do not know maybe 10 years down the line, you'll be pitching work to them, and they'll be the CEO of the Fortune 500 company. And because you were nice to them when they were a lowly junior executive or something like that, you know, they're gonna be like, oh hi Duncan, how's it going? Happy days. And that is obviously completely true with podcasts. You know, all podcasts started out with no listeners. True. Yeah, some of them get bigger quicker, but they all started out with no listeners. So sometimes you go on a podcast and you don't think very much of it, and then actually years down the line, uh you start getting referrals from it because now it has hundreds of thousands of listeners, or as you kind of point out, you know, just a few thousand of exactly the right kind of listeners.

Carl: 11:23

I think that's the key right there because it's not how big is your audience, it's the same with your email list. If I can parallel to that, you can have a hundred thousand people on your email list, but if only 200 are reading your email or or opening and following through, your open and click ratio is going to be really off kilter. It's gonna be a skew, right? So it's better to have that active number of people. So it's better to have 200 active listeners versus 200,000 who occasionally might listen or have only, you know, because they like you or they saw your picture somewhere, clicked on your Apple Podcast thing and liked it and never listened to it. So I think there's some value in that.

Duncan: 12:04

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, at the end of the day, when you want to sell something or you want to convince somebody of an idea, it is always a one-to-one thing, isn't it? And um, there is often a lot of value in just changing the mind of one person.

Carl: 12:20

Let's talk about things you've learned along the way because this podcast is for individuals who are existing podcasters, maybe they're looking to level up, or for people who are looking at this space for the first time and maybe a little bit trepidatious to either get in as a guest or host. So let's start with guesting. Tales from the guesting chair, good or bad. What are some of the things that uh you've encountered or that you've learned?

Duncan: 12:44

With so many things in life, you do have to have a relatively thick skin. I think I send out a lot of emails and messages saying, hi, I really love your podcast. Because I do actually genuinely research. I don't just say that every time. I do look at what they do. I look whether I'll be like whether I think I'll be a right fit, whether I've got an angle on it. So I send them an individual message, you know, saying I think I could provide some value to your listeners. And mostly I just get crickets. Mostly nobody responds, but some people do respond. So if you send enough of them, you end up getting booked. And the sad thing is, not everybody turns up and people uh just don't show. It happens a lot less to me now because I go on much more reputable podcasts like this one. But back in the early days, sometimes I used to swear it was like one in three or something, the host just wouldn't show up. And sometimes they muck you around and they cancel it last minute. The other day, somebody just cancelled the appointment 15 minutes before it was due to start. Oh, you know, I stood in my studio ready to go and they cancelled the appointment. No message, no nothing. So if you're gonna be easily disappointed by stuff like that, then maybe it's not the right thing for you. But if you're persistent and you can keep at it, you will get some amazing opportunities. And more than that, you'll meet some fantastic people. I mean, honestly, I love podcast hosts. I was gonna say I've never met a bad one, but I have met a few who I think, well, actually, you know, I probably wouldn't have gone for a coffee with you given the choice, but hey-ho. But in general, you know, they're amazing people and they're outgoing people and they're interesting. And uh yeah, I've had some really fantastic conversations and it elevates my thinking. So, yeah, absolutely. Being a guest, it's not the easiest thing in the world, but is anything that is rewarding ever easy?

Carl: 14:39

Nothing good or nothing worthwhile in life, as I've had probably parents or professors or whatever along the way say, or business coaches, say that hey, keep this in mind as you're in the trenches, especially. To your point about the hosts not showing up, I've had that happen a couple of times. And as a host, and I know you sit in the host chair too, so you get it. As a host, if I have to make a change to a booking, it would be the same as if I was making a change to an appointment in person, whether it's a coffee date or whether it's to service or sales meeting or whatever it is, I wouldn't just not show up or I wouldn't just cancel it. We're in this cancel culture that just I don't know about you, but it drives me around the bend to just to think that we're it's okay to just cancel without warning, without anything. And whether it's the nature of the beast now, I still don't like it. But as a host, what I would do is I would always say, Hey, something's come up. Is it okay if we move this around? Actually, I some probably should change my verbiage. I shouldn't say, is it okay if I move this around? Is it can we reschedule or when can we reschedule? Because that shows that I care about the fact that number one, yeah, it's my show, but I do want you on as a guest because you are adding value to my show. And hopefully I'm adding value to what it is that you're doing as well.

Duncan: 16:00

Yeah, yeah. I mean, the thing is, I don't expect anything back from podcasts. I don't do them to really promote anything or to promote my business. You know, if you want to buy my books, I've written some, they're quite good, they're on Amazon. Real Men Quit. But that's not why I do it. I do it because I have a passion for the subject that I talk about. I want to help people to understand alcohol differently. You know, I want them to change their habits, I want them to start living their best life because I did all of that stuff and it made a huge difference to my life. And that's what I want to share. That is the main thing. You know, anything else is just, you know, it's a it's a bit of a bonus, but it's tiny in comparison to the opportunity to get into people's ears and try and help them see things in a different way. That's what's important to me. And I don't mind doing that for free. I don't mind inconveniencing myself quite a lot. I've done podcasts because I'm in the UK. I've done podcasts at four in the morning. You know, I've got up in the middle of the night to do them. Again, I'm not doing that for everybody, but if you've got a big audience and that's when you want to record it, then that's when we record it. It's fine. It doesn't, you know, it that's fair. That's okay. I don't mind that. That's a good deal. But it's when you inconvenience me and I don't get anything out of it in return, and I don't even get the opportunity to sort of help people to see things differently. That I do find slightly disappointing. But I don't know. I think I've just become too compassionate in life. You know, I my initial reaction is always, oh, well, you've obviously cancelled that because you hate me, or you haven't turned up because you didn't really want me as a guest. That, you know, that's the chatter that we all have in our head. But you know, once I've calmed down and thought about it for a little while, I have no doubt something else came up, something, you know, got in the way, could have been a family emergency, you know, it could have been anything. Um, so I don't generally think that much less of people. In fact, quite often I will message them and say, Look, hope you're okay. Um, sorry we weren't able to connect. Would you like to reschedule? I'll do that once. I won't do that twice.

Carl: 18:07

Once is enough because if you don't get a response, even in this world of spam, if you don't get a response from that, if you know if there's a message there in that for sure. All right. As a host, experiences that you'd like to share that maybe when you first stepped into the hosting chair versus where you are today. I mean, you were guesting on a number of shows before you sat in the hosting chair, but were there any aha moments when you did sit in the hosting chair that maybe you didn't realize when you were guesting?

Duncan: 18:36

So when I first first started, that was before I sort of more traditional media interviews, uh, print and radio. Uh, but I hadn't actually done any podcasting when I first started podcasting, interviewing people. And the thing that I realized was it's kind of easy. All you have to do is ask a question and shut up. And then they talk. It's like, this is amazing. I was like, wow, I thought I was expecting it to be really, really difficult. But what I did was I'd write a list of questions based on that person, what I thought would be interesting about them. And then I'd sort of like make my way through. And sometimes we get near to the end, we'd never really get to the end. Uh, you know, the time we'd hit the pan of time allocation and I'd say thank you very much. Where can people find out more about that? So that's how I started off very much with with having a script and asking the questions. That did, I mean, I look back on those and I'm I'm quite proud of them. There's a lot of value in them because I just let the other person sort of shine. And it is quite good. But what I did with my second podcast was I was very much more conversational about it. So I had like a list of standard questions that I might ask people, but often we would just, you know, take it where it went, and it ended up being very much more conversational. And again, I think some of those work really, really well. Some of them didn't work so well because I probably should have had a bit more of a forceful hand on the interview. I just sort of like let them run a little bit and sometimes let them run a bit too much. But you know, they did have that kind of authentic, it's just like two people sitting down drinking a cup of coffee. Then the third iteration, the second season of Flat Pack Sober, which is my current podcast, um, it starts off with the quickfire questions, which like no matter how much I explain it to people, it's like they are quickfire questions. You're supposed to answer them quickly, like in one sentence. And if you don't, I will just cut them. You know, I will just edit you out because these quickfire questions go over a piece of music that lasts for two minutes and 36 seconds. So that's what you've got. No matter how much I explain that, I always end up with long answers, but generally, uh, yeah, we do the quickfire questions and then I talk a little bit about how uh people's experience with alcohol or their drug of choice. Mostly I interview people who had a problem with alcohol, but I do make exceptions if you're exciting. And we talk about how you got into it, we talk about how you got out of it. And then in the second half, we talk about their experience. So that first bit, how did you get into it, how did you get out of it, that is literally the questions that I have. And then that ends up being quite kind of free form and yeah, a little bit free-flowing, and it it works the way it's supposed to be. And then I do write questions for the second half, and sometimes I use them. Sometimes they just say something interesting in their first answer, and we just kick that topic around until you know we run out of time. So now it's much more of a kind of combination of having a plan, but not necessarily having firm questions that I'm just gonna crack through. So I don't know. I think I've got the best of both worlds, but if you interview me again uh next year after after I've done that world record thing, um, it will probably be totally different. I will probably have come up with a new theory for season three.

Carl: 22:12

And just a hint there, by the way, that uh there is a world record, and that's the teaser again. It's almost like when you're watching television and they keep dropping the teaser or variations of it. Uh, there's a world record in place, folks. And we'll get that in part two. I would tend to agree with you that I think you do have the best of both worlds. I don't come in with questions. I used to. I used to also, when I was a brand new broadcaster 20 some odd years ago, I would write everything out word for word that I had to say until I was comfortable with it, and I could then free flow and still remember everything I had to say. So this thing between our ears, the brain, it's a muscle. It's like any other muscle. So you have to be able to strengthen it and hone that skill. And there is a skill to speaking and to podcasting and being able to ask questions without having it seem like you're asking questions, number one. But then also to be able to not just be rigid and stick to those questions. I think that's the key, is there are, especially for new podcasters, that they'll stick to their questions. And then, as you said, you were experiencing that you get to the end and say, okay, that's it. Thanks. What's your contact info? And at some point, yeah, in those first 10 or 15 episodes, if that's your comfort zone, great, but at some point you have to break away from that and allow yourself to grow.

Duncan: 23:34

I mean, I get why people do it, I absolutely do. And I know you know enough about speaking to uh to know that it is true as well, that most people think that five minutes is a long time and they have absolutely no idea how they would ever fill five minutes of airtime. And it's like what they then end up doing is try and squeeze a 45-minute presentation into five minutes. You're nodding away because you've seen that as well. In fact, I kind of saw it last night, but it was at least a 10-minute presentation he was trying to get it into. Anywho's uh, so like we worry that we've got to fill the time, and how that's that ever gonna work. So, yes, I understand why people do it, and I think getting away from that is you know one of the steps that you need to take in your maturity as a podcaster. You just have to be quite careful that your questions are actually questions, because I've been interviewed by enough people who sort of their idea of a podcast is kind of like a statement fight where they might ask me an initial opening question and I will reply with a statement because that is how one answers a question, and then they will make a statement that is loosely related, and then I will go okay, where do we go from this? So I make another statement, uh, to which they make a statement, and it ends up just being this kind of like vague trade of ideas, and some of the time I might get a bit interesting, but I worry about how that would come across with a less experienced guest. Because if you don't actually ask them a question, they're not necessarily going to be able to um just all of a sudden find some filler kind of thing. But then again, don't go to the other extreme, don't just ask the standard questions because we mentioned PodMatch, uh, which is a great piece of software. Absolutely, absolutely love it. On there are the standard questions, and you can ask me the standard questions. If you ask me the standard questions, though, you will get the standard replies, like word for word, because I have done them so many times. And you know, I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with that because the chances are that most of your listeners have never heard of me, so they've never heard me answer those questions word for word before. But uh so we will end up with a good product. That's what I'm saying. It will be interesting and it will be exciting and it will sound nice, but it's not going to sound genuine, it's not going to sound authentic, and it's definitely not going to be as good as it could be. Because sometimes when people ask you a question that you've never been asked before, and you answer it, it's like, do you know what? I never thought of it like that. Like I had never thought of the way I just said it. In fact, um, I was listening to a good friend of mine, the Professional Speaking Association last night, named Gethin Jones, and he's an amazing, amazing speaker. And he was in uh foster care. So he was in a care home when he was younger. So his corporate parent, the authority that was looking after him, he ended up working for them after he came out of prison and turned his life around. And he said, Yeah, so I ended up working for my corporate parent. I went into the family business. Actually, you know what? I've never said that before, it's quite good. And I was like, Yes, getting it is quite good. Like I wrote it down and messaged him later saying, You've got I use that, it's a great line. So uh keep with it. So, yeah, the risk of getting new and original material that sometimes is absolutely priceless. You know, that's why you want to ask difficult, challenging questions that people have never answered before.

Carl: 27:09

And I think when you're strangled by or or when you're limited to those standard questions, number one, it becomes formalaic as a host, but then also as a guest. Because to your point, I have the same questions on PodMatch, and they're also on my podcast one sheet that will be sent other places.

Duncan: 27:28

How many pages is your one sheet, by the way?

Carl: 27:31

It's a one pager.

Duncan: 27:33

Oh, okay.

Carl: 27:33

It's a podcast guesting one sheet.

Duncan: 27:37

Yeah, no, but you see that that with I have this argument with people, and they say, Yeah, well, it's one sheet of paper, therefore it's two sides. Oh, it's a front and a back, it's still one sheet.

Carl: 27:49

One digital sheet, I don't know how many pages is that. How long is a digital sheet? Is it still like it's it's a one sheet, it's just a really big sheet, yeah. So I and again, the reason why I do it on one sheet is short bio, so the host can introduce me. Number one topics, usually three or four, and they're usually all related. So if you pick one topic, or if the first topic doesn't suit you, guess what? The second one probably will, but they're all related. And then the questions, some sample questions. And the sample questions are exactly that sample questions. As the host, just like I do, I'd like you to think a little bit. I'd like you to allow yourself the opportunity to engage me in conversation and not have me strangled to, so what book are you reading? So, or what's your favorite this? Because those are very, I call them Toastmasters table topics, right? They're very not necessarily interesting. It makes us think, but they're not necessarily related to the show. My favorite color, my favorite vacation destination. If I could be an animal, what animal would I be in why? Even what book I'm reading right now, it might not be business related, it might not be related to the show, it might not be have any value other than it's a book I'm reading.

Duncan: 29:02

Anyways, that said, are you interested in the fact that I like Neil Gaiman? Probably not. I'm interested in Morris dancing, though, now that you've one of my standard questions is uh what the heck is Morris dancing and why does Duncan do it? And I get asked that one an awful lot, and I'm always happy to ask that. But there are different ways of asking it, and there are different ways of bringing it in. So it doesn't take much, does it? Just like to have a slightly different take on it. Um I mean, when I interview somebody, I do always research them quite a lot. Generally, research them before I ask them to be on, because now I'm at the point where people, you know, I get agents approaching me and things like that, and I will always research them before I say yes. That wasn't necessarily true when I first started the podcast. And yeah, if you've written a book, I will read your book. And then occasionally I will say, You said this really interesting thing in your book, and they will give me a blank look like they have totally forgotten what. It was that they wrote in that book. But um, yeah, I mean, I I like to look at what somebody does and think about how their experience can add value to my listeners. Then sometimes it is just, well, you know what I want to know.

Carl: 30:15

I love it. I love it. Okay. For anyone who's looking at podcasting for the first time, let's say as a guest, because hosting is a whole different gamut of. But let's say as a guest, they're looking at podcast guesting for the first time. What are three quick key things that you would suggest they consider before they even get on a show?

Duncan: 30:35

So you do need a decent microphone that's kind of like table stakes. I have been building the studio that I'm stood in since you know, before it was fashionable, uh like genuinely since before lockdown. Um, and it's an ongoing process. But the thing about ongoing process is you can't be ongoing until you start. So yeah, do a little bit to improve your tech and then just keep doing a little bit to improve it. That's always, you know, a good place to start. In terms of what you're gonna talk about, genuinely sit down and think about it. You know, think about the potential questions that you could be asked and how you might go about answering them. I don't really subscribe to, I don't have like a cheat sheet with talking points and stuff that I really want to get across on there. But that's not a bad place to be to think what is it that I really want to talk about? What is it that I really want to get across to people? And then, you know, make some notes on that and and practice it. Like I'm sure you've come across this. The reason why there aren't relatively few great speakers in the world is because most speakers hate practicing and they just don't do it. So I know you hate it, but it is worth it. Actually say it out loud. Uh, you know, if you have to go for a run or sit in the sauna or the bath or whatever to do it, find somewhere where it's kind of enjoyable and practice it. And then in terms of getting onto the podcast, the last thing I would say is I don't know whether it's just the company that I keep. When I first started trying to get on podcasts, I approached people that I already knew or I already had some connection to. Being in the world that I am in, I happen to know quite a lot of people who have podcasts, and I was a little bit sort of tactical about it, I suppose. There are a few people who have quite big podcasts that I didn't approach until quite late on, once I'd got a bit better at it. So yeah, and then the bonus one, because you asked for three, and this is number four. Like when you're first starting out, go on anything. Do anything, it will help you improve your ability to answer questions, which is a skill and a skill very many people never ever practice.

Carl: 32:54

And have fun doing it too.

Duncan: 32:56

Yeah, yeah. Well, I know I mean that's so that's so deep in my life that uh that's right. That would be like saying, Yes, and you must also breathe whilst you're doing podcasts.

Carl: 33:07

I find there's so many people though that they get so anxious and it's like, is it perfect? It's gotta be perfect, it's gotta be. And I understand that, especially if it's for business and your credibility is on the line. I understand that. But if you're having fun with it, and you know, and I think this goes back to practice. If you're practicing properly and you're having fun with the guest and you're engaging in conversation, you can't help but have fun with it. But so many people I find come into the space, it's an interview. It's time to put on my interview voice now.

Duncan: 33:37

But have fun with that. This is why you should talk about Morris dancing. Because seriously, not just because it's fun, but because it makes you look like a human being. And actually, that is what people are generally much more interested in human beings than they are in titles and just professional veneers, you know. So you've got to actually come at it and talk about yourself and talk about your life and let people into who you are. And if you do that through the medium of Morris dancing, you know, it's a great thing, but like look, everybody does something outside of work, you know, talk about that. It might not be the world's most interesting thing, so find an angle on it, find a really nice way of saying, like, as I said, you know, there's a lot of alcohol involved in Morris dancing. So the story that I always tell is about when I started Morris dancing again after I'd stopped drinking and whether I'd enjoy doing it, whether I'd even be able to do it, all of that kind of stuff. And there was a lot of tension there. I'd gone to a few events, it suddenly dawned on me that it was never actually about the alcohol. It was about the people, it was about the community, it was about the tradition. And actually, do you know what? I actually like dancing. So it was about the dancing, you know, it was about all of these things. It was never about the alcohol. And actually, I think that's quite a powerful story. And I think it really illustrates an important point about sobriety that actually you can have fun without drinking. You can continue to do the kind of things you want to do, even if they're Morris dancing. So that kind of personal story now has become quite a powerful message and something that I absolutely love sharing with people. And it all happened because I was taking the mick out of my friends and snowballed from there. But definitely, you know, find that thing that you do in your life, find a way of talking about it.

Carl: 35:27

Oh my goodness, Duncan, an amazing conversation. We definitely need a follow-up one after, you know, the follow-up from Guinness. There's another teaser.

Duncan: 35:37

I'm gonna do a new one sheet after that. Maybe even it'll only be one page, who knows?

Carl: 35:45

No, yeah, not one sheet, one page, one side of the anyways.

Duncan: 35:49

To be fair, I call it a media pack.

Carl: 35:51

That probably has a better ring to it than just calling it a one sheet, because then if it's two sheets, people will say it's two sheets, not one. Duncan, how can people get a hold of you and get the resources, find your books, things like that?

Duncan: 36:06

So if you want to check out uh Real Man Quit, which is my latest book, which is my effort to uh help men who drink too much. I don't know, you might know a man who drinks too much. Uh yeah, that's called Real Men Quit. Just stick Real Men Quit into Amazon. Very easy there. Uh, but if you wanted to look at my earlier book, Get Over Indulgence, I'd love to offer your listeners a free copy of that. It's a digital download, but if you go to getover.uk, that's getover.uk, then you know you can download it, PDF or Kindle there and uh have a look at that. That also goes to my website and you can find out more about what I do there. And actually, that's quite a good point, isn't it? My website is bhaskaranbrown.com, right? Most people can't spell Bhaskaran. I mean, heck, unless you're a podcast host, most people can't say it. So I used to go on podcasts and I'll be like bhaskaranbrown.com with an H, right? Yeah, it's like nobody's going there, are they? So then I bought this short domain, getover.uk. And now whenever I go on podcasts, I always say getover.uk. That's getover.uk, and I just keep repeating it for hours and hours and hours until everybody remembers it. But like it's very easy to find, and that as a result, I do genuinely get traffic to my website, and I do genuinely get interest out of doing podcasts because I make it really, really easy. Uh, so many people, the call to action, it's just it's too hard, it's too complicated, and nobody does it. So there's another look. That's a bonus freebie, freebie tip.

Carl: 37:34

Duncan, it's been an amazing conversation, as I said. Before I turn you loose to record another podcast episode or get on one or help people with their addictions and overcoming them, I'll give you the final thought.

Duncan: 37:48

So, way, way back long, long time ago, uh, when I was in Toastmasters, actually, uh had a very new member doing an evaluation for me, and she said, I don't know what I could ever tell you about speaking, Duncan. Uh, genuinely, you know, you're so good at it, I don't know what I could ever tell you. That was how she started her evaluation. And then she went on to say something which absolutely blew my mind and I'd not even thought about ever. Um, and I think that kind of speaks to the point about podcasting. Why do you why should you start a podcast or why should you go on a podcast? Because trust me, you know an awful lot of stuff that I don't. And much of it would totally and utterly blow my mind. So go out there and share that stuff that you think is mundane and boring and everybody knows. The truth is, nobody knows that. To the vast majority of the population, what you have in your head is startling and original and totally uncharted territory. So get out there and share it with people because you are more than enough to do a decent interview or start an amazing podcast. And if you do start an amazing podcast, you may get in touch. I'd love to be a guest.

Carl: 38:57

Anything but boring, that's certainly a good place to leave it. Duncan Bhaskaran Brown, thank you so much for taking time out of your day and for being my guest today.

Duncan: 39:06

It's an absolute pleasure. Thank you.

Carl: 39:08

And hey, thank you for being a part of the show today. So glad you could join us. Believe it or not, I can't work this magic by myself. So thanks to my amazing team, our audio engineer Dom Carillo, our sonic writing genius Kenton Dolborowski, and the person who works the ARMS, all of our arms actually, our project manager and my trusty assistant Julovell Tiongco, known to us here simply as July. If you like what you heard today, let us know. You can leave us a comment or review or even send us a voice note. And if you really liked it, we hope you'll share it with your friends and your colleagues. If you don't like what you heard today, well, please feel free to share with your enemies. And if you know someone who would make a great guest on the show, let us know about it. You can get in touch with us by going to our show notes where all of our connection points are there, including the links to our website, LinkedIn, and Facebook as well. And if you're ready to be a guest on podcasting or even start your own show, let's have a conversation. We'll show you the simplest way to get into the podcasting space and rock it. Because after all, we're Podcast Solutions Made Simple. Catch a game next time.