Ryan Sullivan On A Creative Career In Hip Hop And Podcasting

Ryan Aka Sully Bop is a business owner, audio engineer, producer, rapper, DJ and podcast expert. While he is really multi-passionate, his monetized activities all revolve around sound, audio and voice. We get to hear all about the journey and thought process behind getting into things like rap and podcasting. Both mediums were new to him, but he connected with them immediately. From there he found a way to have both podcasting, and hip hop be things that he does for fun, as a passion, but also as a professional.So we talked about making hip hop music, and podcast production. Listening to Ryan share his stance on podcasting fundamentals was really valuable. Anyone wanting to start, or re-brand a podcast would benefit from these ideas. One of the sneaky tips that can help a lot was to outsource things you don’t enjoy as soon as possible.Ryan shared a bit about improving your audio and how to succeed as a hip hop artist. It was fun hearing about how he got into that medium a little later in life. It was also really helpful to learn about his workflow in that area because people struggle with the question, how do I get started? 
We talked a fair bit about the philosophy of life in general. Particularly around the notion that you can’t get time back. Ryan also brought up a good point that our mindset around time, money and environment is very much related to how we were raised. Overcoming barriers to be able to build wealth of time, and wealth financially is well worth it. Ryan shared some of his insight into the world of business as well. We learned about the business model he created to help other people start podcasts. It was quite the shift he made, which really came down to shifting his personality at the same time. He shares some insight into role models he looks up to, how he learns and the goals he has for the future.16 Things That Will Help You As A HipHop Artist, Podcaster, Or BothAlways, always, always start with a solid “why”. If you know why you are doing this, you will be less likely to give up.Creative success is a lot of work, and a long term commitment. Even if you outsource most elements, there will be times when it feels like too much.Build systems and habits that help you enjoy the process and stick to producing and publishing, even in difficult, or busy times.Don’t expect pro results with amateur execution. Of course it won’t be perfect at the beginning. But it’s a medium that takes so much time and energy, you might as well be as professional as possible from the beginning and just keep improving.Outsource things as soon as possible. Decide the main thing you don’t like doing and hire someone to do that for you as soon as you can. And then outsource the next things asap.Focus on your mindset. You must believe your work is having an impact. If you only look at early data you might think it’s not succeeding. But it’s a chicken and egg problem because you have to believe it’s being impactful first.Have a positive perspective. Create because you love it. So long as it is having an impact on one person, it is worth it. If one person tunes in and has their life changed, then your show is a success.The tools don’t matter. Your workflow will evolve. There are so many great tools from free, all the way to very expensive. But there is no one best recording platform, digital audio workspace, or microphone. Figure out the package that works from you and if something no longer works, try another one.Set micro and macro goals to work toward, but don’t worry about the results. It’s quite easy to get into top 10% of creators in the world. Anything beyond that will take a lot of patience, work and falling in love with the actual journey.There are many ways to build an audience and all of them can work. For marketing, you can look at what worked for others and copy that. But