The other day, I was speaking with a friend about his resume and his search for a job. It was during that conversation that it occurred to me — I have not gotten a paycheck since 1999. I was 21 years old at the time, and had just celebrated my third year of working at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The paycheck was from a pit trader whose trades I had been checking. But when I say that was my last paycheck, I don’t mean to suggest that I’ve made some massive error in my career or my personal accounting — I just mean that after that day, I wasn’t working for the checks.
After that conversation, I asked myself, “What is a job anyway?” I have never looked at what I do — from trading to podcasting to video production — as a job. I do what I love to do, and I’ve always figured that if I have a passion to do it and do it well, money would come. If not, then I’d get a “job.”
Over the years, I’ve learned a lot about myself and what it takes to be an entrepreneur in trading, podcasting and video production. For the past four years, as many of you know, I have been hosting Futures Radio Show, posting weekly podcasts and videos covering the futures industry.
When I first started Futures Radio Show, I knew absolutely nothing about podcasting, marketing, social media — skills that I had to master to get this podcast off the ground. My domain expertise was in capital markets, which has helped me articulate the right questions to ask other market participants to inspire lively discussions.
When I first started, my goal was to get 100 listens, and we achieved that on the first show. Over the next year, we raised our goal to 1,000 listens on a show, and we also achieved that. Now, three years into the show, we consistently receive tens of thousands of listens on a show. At each of these milestones, I’ve been so proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish. Just like with trading, it took me awhile to learn the business of podcasting and video production, but because I love doing it, I became very determined to figure it out.
I have met so many great people through Futures Radio Show that I may not have had the chance to meet otherwise. Many of our guests have thanked me for helping them amplify their message, both to our listeners and to their customers. Meeting all of these great people in our industry and other industries sparked a new idea for me.
That brings me to Crudele Productions. In addition to Futures Radio, I am embarking on a new mission: To help companies digitally transform their message to their audience through podcasts and or videos.
I will handle every aspect of this endeavor, including production, posting, branding, graphic design, hosting live events, moderating panel discussions, conducting interviews for their podcasts and videos, social media, SEO and more.
If you are a company interested in any of the above digital messaging solutions, please reach out to me at Anthony@crudeleproductions.com for a free consultation.