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Beyond The Uniform is hosted by Navy veteran Justin Nassiri. Justin got into podcasting like many, by being a listener of podcasts first. Here’s Justin’s story.
PJB: How did you get into podcasting? Justin: I listen to a lot of podcasts, and appreciate the ability to use NET (no extra time) to learn a new skill set. I particularly like podcasts that interview world-class performers – it’s a way to get inside their head and see how they approach problems, what tactics they use to increase their performance, and learn how they overcome obstacles. I do my podcast on the side, and knew I didn’t have an unlimited amount of time to create content to publish. But I realized that by using an interview-style podcast format, I could utilize the knowledge of my guests to create a constant stream of new content for my audience. It was also a way for me to be continually learning and meeting with incredible people. So I liked the podcast as a way to serve an audience, while still respecting the time constraints that I have in my life.
PBJ: Why did you start this podcast? Justin: I served in the Navy for five years, and then went to business school at Stanford. I didn’t know it at the time, but I had little-to-no visibility into what civilian career options were out there. During my first quarter of business school, I had coffee with a classmate who was an investment banker prior to business school. I honestly thought he was a teller at a bank – I had no clue that this was a massive industry. Over those two years at business school, I learned about all the possible career options available to me, and had the time to figure out what was the best one uniquely suited to me. However, five years later, I realized this is not the case for everyone. I was at a friend’s birthday party, where there were many people who were still serving on active duty in the military. They were all complaining about not knowing what they wanted to do when they get out of the military. Many were afraid to get out of the military, because they did not know what they would do. I realized that business school had helped me with this, but it came at a price of $120k+ and two years of my life. I thought, “There has to be a way to help people in the military gain this knowledge, without such a steep price point and time commitment.” That led me to start Beyond the Uniform – with so many people in the military deployed constantly, I wanted an on-demand option that they could listen to any time and anywhere in the world.
PBJ: How did you come up with the name? Justin: A friend of mine was in grad school when I had the idea for Beyond the Uniform. He presented the idea to his class, and they brainstormed around possible names. They came up with many options, but Beyond the Uniform was the one that resonated most with the group. When he shared it with me, it instantly clicked as the right name for our mission.
PBJ: Tell us what the show is about and how you track down the guests? Justin: Our goal at Beyond the Uniform is to help members of the Armed Forces and military veterans identify, obtain, and succeed in their post-service career. We select guests based on one of two criteria. Either the guest spotlights a unique career path available to a veteran – in this case, the guest shares more about what they do for a living, how they made the transition from the military to this career path, and any advice they’d give to other veterans seeking to do the same. The second format is a guest who has specific knowledge that will help our audience: how to negotiate a salary, interview advice, how to figure out what one wants to do for a living, personal branding, etc.
PBJ: Audio quality is great. What are you using? Justin: I started out with the Blue Snowball and eCamm call recorder, mainly because of price. Now I use the Heil PR 40, and I LOVE the quality of the audio. I now record on either Zoom or Skype so that I can have the video feed with my guest. We record the video portion and create a 60-second video commercial for each episode.
PBJ: Are you doing all the editing yourself? What software? Justin: Yes, I still do this myself, but I’ve gotten this down to a system that takes about 15 minutes per episode to edit. I use Hindenburg to edit – it’s a tool used by journalists and I find it very intuitive and easy to use.
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Justin Nassiri[/caption]
PBJ: Looks like, in terms of each show, you just go with the flow? Justin: My team does a great job of compiling research about each guest, and putting together some initial questions. I like to go in to a conversation with some knowledge of the guest, and idea of topics to cover. However, I’ve found that I most enjoy the interview process when I am open to the conversation taking on a life of its own. If the guest says something intriguing, I want to learn more and dig deeper. I’m willing to abandon the script to see what knowledge this guest has that would benefit our audience. One of my favorite interviews came when my guest confided, prior to starting the recording, that several of his friends had died days earlier. We talked about whether or not to proceed, and both agreed that we wanted to go forward. We threw out the script, and had an incredibly deep and rich conversation on a whole host of topics I would have never thought to ask about. That proved to me the power of being in the moment and being willing to abandon my plan to go where the conversation organically took us.
PBJ: You are approaching 300 shows. What keeps you motivated to keep going? Justin: It’s tough. I have a great team. Steve Bane has become my right-hand man, and I honestly don’t think I would still be going (and certainly not at two episodes per week) without his support. We also get powerful feedback from our audience, which shows the impact we’re having. These notes of encouragement are relatively few and far between, but I know they represent the silent majority that we are serving day-in and day-out.
PBJ: You are a non-profit. How do you find the time to do all of this and are you working a full-time job as well? Justin: We’re actually not yet a certified 501-3C. We are considering this transition, but it requires time and resources to make this transition that we are not yet able to do. We do this on our lunch breaks, nights, and weekends. It is incredibly creatively energizing, and serves a greater purpose in my life. That helps me carve out the time and be as efficient as possible to ensure I can continue to do this.
PBJ: What are the downloads/listens like per show? Justin: We’re growing steadily, with about 500 listens per episode. Given the small size of our niche audience, this is fantastic.
PBJ: Tell us about the feedback you get. Justin: We’ve gotten over 110 5-star reviews on iTunes. In these comments people talk about how this is impacting their career – it’s giving them confidence to approach their transition from the military to a civilian career; it’s making them aware of career options they would have never known about or considered; it’s giving them a role model on how to reach out to other veterans and ask them about their career path; it’s helping them not feel so alone in what can be an incredibly daunting life change.
PBJ: How are you getting the word out? Justin: We publish all of our episodes on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, in addition to the normal podcast channels. We ask our guests to promote the episode, which really helps us expand our audience. We also ask our listeners to leave reviews on iTunes and help us spread the word. It’s slow and steady, but consistency on all of these helps.
Listen to the show HERE. Reach out to Justin at Justin@beyondtheuniform.org
Comments:
By adopting Justin’s NET (No Extra Time) mindset and actively listening to the Beyond the Uniform podcast, I have completely changed my career trajectory. This podcast is GOLD for anyone in a career pivot! Do yourself a favor and check it out today.