Stephen Fitzgerald: Don't Doubt Yourself New Normal - DIGITAL.DONE.RIGHT.

Colorado Tour 3/3(sorry, first bit of audio is not my best)

Introducing Stephen

This interview took some time and some prep. I was pointed to Stephen at Rodeo Adventure Labs by a previous interview guest back in April. This is part of my ‚thing‘. I ask my guests to suggest another person I might ask for an interview. It is never a guarantee but I am batting 1000 so far. Dave who suggested this interview knew my interest in bikes and all and felt I should branch out of my comfort zone; ergo Rodeo Labs.

Dave told me to check out their Instagram account to catch up on what they are up to and i did. Oh boy, that shook me. Yeah, right I am a biker who rides to my guest for interviews and that might be somewhat unique but when I saw these guys and gals on the Rodeo IG I felt really small. Ok, maybe some of you might think „come on Andrew what intimidates you?“ and you’d be right. I saw Rodeo ‚donkeys‘ being ridden up crazy mountains in far flung places, riding up glaciers (well that was my memory of it) and just riding like crazy their Rodeo Labs bikes. I felt a bit ‚uncomfortable‘ like what do I ask these folks? What do I an eBike riding podcaster have to ask and be relevant? Then I began my research.

Research for me is the most important phase of my podcast process. It is the point where all makes it or breaks it. If I am not prepped for the person I am interviewing I will be asking flat questions with little chance of followup or interest from the guest. This is the same most important phase in „user experience design“. Learning about the person in question, the user attempting to make a booking through an app or someone looking for reviews on a particular site. If you don’t really understand what motivates your ‚user‘ you will miss the point, miss the objective or in my case blow an interview.

What I found when looking into Rodeo and Stephen was a company and a movement active since 2014 and much of this was happening on Instagram. The posts there were numerous (over 4000) and many were reposts from their ‚users‘ or better bike owners. I began to see there was a thing going on here. I dove into many of the posts to see ‚how deep‘ the conversation went and soon saw that there was genuine interest in the Rodeo movement and the reason many of us throw a leg over the saddle and ride into the distance.

So in July I took the chance and wrote a very impersonal email using their ‚contact us‘ form. Gosh I felt this is so not the way to connect and ask for someone’s time but what else did I have? Two hours later Stephen responded with „love the idea“ and even commented on my second patent I had earned. So he went to my LinkedIn and saw my recent post on exactly that! OK, we are now on 2nd base for sure. A few main exchanges later we had a date, the 13th of September at Rodeo Adventure Labs HQ in Denver Colorado.

I won‘t detail the interview as that is available on all usual podcast sites but I wanted to share this point: don’t doubt yourself. Stephen mentioned that he had recently challenged a few others to come on to his podcast to discuss an important point and he was a bit unnerved. To that Stephen, do the due diligence and find out a few things on your guests as you already know the main subject at hand. Read some of their writings and the comments which might follow. There are great insights to be found. Just like in my prep for today. Three months it took but it was worth it.

Don’t doubt yourself. Do the work. Payoff will then follow.

But then he knows that as he climbs the uncharted mountain roads in Armenia. Yeah, that is where is he, right now!

Ride on and ride safe.