Erik Young (00:01.359)
All right, everybody. I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but I am not Brian Jewell, your regular host of the Gather and Go podcast. No, instead, I am Eric Young of Group Collect, the podcast and Group Collect, the organization. But today we are indeed celebrating Gather and Go for producing their 100th episode, which is a big deal for the group travel industry and all of the professional group travel planners that this show assists and

Of course, it's a big deal for the man who makes it all happen from the hosting chair, the incomparable Brian Jewell, who for 100 episodes today has hosted this fine podcast, which is, I would say a pillar in our industry. So Brian, how do you feel about reaching this milestone?

Brian Jewell (00:49.742)
Man, Eric, it's, I'm kind of a disbelief, honestly. In fact, when I was looking through, you know, planning out our episodes for the spring and I saw the number 100, I had to go back and check my math, you know, like there's no way it's been a hundred episodes. But when we started in 2022, I stretched to make a list of 10 interview topics, like 10 episode topics. And when I was pitching the team here on it, I, know, they, they had a lot of questions and I said, okay, well, I think I've got 10 good episodes here. Uh,

Erik Young (01:10.845)
Yeah.

Brian Jewell (01:18.954)
So those 10 turned into 10 more and 10 more and here we are four years and a hundred later. So there's still a huge part of me that's in disbelief that, that we've hit a hundred and I've, I've got more ideas of stuff to talk about today than I ever did. So, that's also a very good sign for the future.

Erik Young (01:35.961)
sure at this point, it's just baked into your DNA. You're just, you are a production beast. again, congratulations, an awesome milestone to reach. in honor of the hundredth episode, what we wanted to do today was we wanted to completely flip the script. Normally, this is the portion of the episode where you are interviewing a subject of interest in the world of travel or group travel industry.

Today, my friend, that subject will be you. Are you ready for this?

Brian Jewell (02:10.018)
my goodness. This is the other side of the table. I've got to really loosen up and make sure we're all set to go.

Erik Young (02:16.027)
Loosen up. We're just gonna have a little chit chat about you and the show because that is the focus of interest today. So first of all, you had mentioned pitching the team on the Gather and Go podcast. Talk to us, what was the impetus for starting a podcast? Whereas there may have been all of these other mediums that you might have thought initially to pursue, more advertisement in print or blogging.

What was it that made you wanna start a podcast?

Brian Jewell (02:47.5)
Well, the real answer to that story goes back 35 years, if I'm honest, which is that I have always loved radio. Like I was one of those kids as a middle schooler, I would sit around and listen to AM radio because the big personalities and the politics talk shows and the sports talk shows and stuff, I just was fascinated by what they did. And so there was a portion of my life where I really thought about going into radio.

even in through high school and some early college. And I actually, was fortunate enough to meet some people in radio and I don't know if they were doing me a favor or not, but they're like, kid, you do not want to get into this business. They're like, exactly. They're like, the pay is crappy and the people are really weird. so instead I ended up being a travel journalist, which there's some weird folks and you know, you don't make a lot of money starting out as a travel journalist either, but

Erik Young (03:27.539)
You

Run as fast as you can.

Brian Jewell (03:45.742)
Um, so, but I had always loved audio. I had always loved the format. I had always thought, you know, what if I had pursued the radio thing instead of travel journals? And which I dearly love. have no regrets about the path I took. then somewhere around, I don't know, 2015, feel like podcasting sort of started sweeping the culture as this new medium that people really enjoyed. And there was so much great creative work going on in there. So I became a fan of, podcasting.

you know, 10 years ago or so. and for a long time, I was trying to bridge the gap in my mind between there's this medium that I love and it's really cool. And I have no idea how I connect it to the work I do in group travel. The pieces had just not fallen into place, but at some point in, it was probably 2021, I was working on a big interview, a big sort of like news analysis story for the magazine, for the print magazine.

Erik Young (04:29.905)
Mmm.

Brian Jewell (04:45.28)
and spoke to, you know, probably five just super smart, creative, innovative people. And, you know, we talked for 20, 30 minutes each. And then when I was writing the article, I was so frustrated that I had to leave 90 % of what each person had to say on the cutting room floor, you know. And that's what happens with print journalism. You know, you're constrained by space and you make the best of it. And, you know, we...

Erik Young (05:04.221)
Right.

Brian Jewell (05:12.962)
we've all gotten used to that style of journalism, but it finally clicked like, you know, I just had an amazing 30 minute conversation with, you know, Carol Ann at CIDA or with Terry Dale from USDA or something. And most of it, people will never know what they said. They'll never get all that insight, that data, the, you know, the innovative ideas. And so that's when I realized, wait a minute, a podcast is the perfect venue to showcase some of these people. So it was,

Erik Young (05:29.895)
Right.

Brian Jewell (05:42.166)
It was really saying, I've got some super smart friends in tourism, like just these amazing people. And I want our audience to get to know them and really benefit from their perspective, their experience, their creativity. And so from that point, it was just a matter of, okay, how do I carve out the time? What does a production schedule look like? What kind of gear do we need to buy? You what do I need to learn to do to be not just a journalist, but a host and producer and stuff. So there was probably six months of ideation and

Erik Young (05:50.962)
Right.

Brian Jewell (06:10.626)
you know, experimentation, but that that's more or less the story.

Erik Young (06:14.971)
fantastic. Yeah. So it was sort of this cross section of wanting to showcase the personalities, which is what the medium of podcasting is really great for. And I think that when, when the technology finally reached that, that plateau that it did in 2015, right. Or around circa 2015, right. Where, you know, just, internet speeds and smartphone accessibility and everybody's kind of got the.

the platforms in their pocket at that point. So that's when this started to come to be. you had sort of hinted at this, but take us through the X's and O's. What is the process of making an episode of Gather and Go?

Brian Jewell (07:00.354)
Yeah. Well, first I need to come clean about something. I have a tendency to always try to make everything I do seem like really polished and like there's a team behind it and stuff. a lot of times on the show, you might hear me say, you know, we've got a great show or we're going to do everything we can or you know, we, we, well, here's the, here's the confession, the dirty secret. We is me. You know this. Yes. Yes. You know, this as a podcaster, it's,

Erik Young (07:22.331)
Yes, Yes, it oftentimes is. Yes.

Brian Jewell (07:29.57)
you know, you bring in guests, you have team members pop in from time to time, but if it's going to get done, it's because you get it done. So, it's, I totaled it up one time. It's probably about 12 hours start to finish for me to put it, put an episode together and it's no, it's not, it's not bad, but that's, you know, so I start, I kind of go in batches throughout the year. three or four times a year, I have an opening in my calendar where I can sit and think about what topics I want to address. Who do I want to bring on the show?

Erik Young (07:44.626)
Not bad.

Brian Jewell (07:59.374)
And so I start doing the research reaching out to those people, you know, it's amazing almost everybody says yes even some folks who have no business saying yes to me like Andrew Zimmern or you know, Bruce Poon tip I mean just these these legends in travel or media things like that have come on the show, which is incredible. So, you know, I make the list I reach out if it's somebody I don't know that I might get on a call with them ahead of time just to

you know, kind of explore, you know, their story and make sure it's going to be good for our audience. And then from there, I do some prep in terms of, you know, really studying their story, their material to make sure I've got good questions for them. We record an interview and then we might be recording interviews two to three months ahead of when they release. Sometimes it's much closer than that if I'm frankly running behind. But usually I try to record two or three months in advance just so I've always got something in the can. And then

Erik Young (08:47.763)
Mm-hmm.

Brian Jewell (08:56.674)
The week before the episode is when I really start compiling everything else. You know, we do a news segment in every episode, travel news you may have missed. Well, I can't put that together two months before the show, right? mean that, you know, by definition it has to be news. So the week before it comes out, I start, you know, gathering, I mean, I keep a file of, of industry news. So I go into that file, figure out what I think is most interesting or what's most timely, put that together, start thinking about the other segments.

Erik Young (09:06.17)
No, certainly not.

Brian Jewell (09:23.746)
put together my little hot minute 60 second rants for the end figure out what that's going to be. Sometimes it's inspired by something the guest had to say something from industry news or sometimes it's just totally unrelated. You know, just like, Hey, this was on my mind this week. And so I got a microphone and I'm going to talk about it. So sometimes I feel like you remember that that movie, the wedding singer with Adam Sandler. So there's this amazing scene where like he's he's kind of having a mental breakdown, but he's at this performing at this wedding and

Erik Young (09:39.303)
Mm-hmm.

Erik Young (09:44.211)
Of course.

Brian Jewell (09:51.5)
the father of the bride is not happy with how he's doing. so he stands, the father stands up and starts complaining. And then Adam Sandler says something along the lines of, have the microphone and you don't. So you will sit down and listen to every word I say.

Erik Young (09:55.187)
Mm-hmm.

Erik Young (10:03.591)
Yeah.

Podcast mantra. Yes, exactly.

Brian Jewell (10:09.122)
Sometimes it feels like that. Exactly. It's like, you're like, don't know if I'm supposed to talk about this on the show, but dang it, I got the microphone. So if somebody doesn't like it, I guess they can just turn it off. So, so I kind of compile all that, get a good outline together for the episode. And then I record the, the top and bottom of the show. And then, you know, obviously stitch the interview in later.

Erik Young (10:19.366)
Exactly.

Brian Jewell (10:33.438)
And between recording and editing and stuff, it's another couple hours. And then what I didn't realize when I started is how much time after producing and publishing the show would be required to really promote it well. I guess in my mind, if you made a good podcast and put it out there, it would just find an audience. And boy, is that not the case.

Erik Young (10:47.478)
Mm-hmm.

Erik Young (10:52.369)
Right. No, no, it's not at all, which is totally unfair, by the way. But because that's where the somewhat, some would say grueling effort comes in.

Brian Jewell (10:59.05)
Absolutely, yeah.

Brian Jewell (11:07.444)
Absolutely. Absolutely. I love doing the show. I love thinking about the show. love the interviews. I enjoy the audio production, but there's writing the show notes. There's building the web page for the show. There's putting together the email that goes to our audience, you know, saying, Hey, we got a new episode. Here's what's going to be in it. There's putting the video on YouTube. There's creating video shorts and publishing them on social. There's, my goodness. It is so much.

Erik Young (11:34.067)
You've you've cooked the dish and now you need to plate the food and You know as as a chef, it's so much more fun cooking than plating

Brian Jewell (11:39.116)
Yes.

Brian Jewell (11:44.43)
Oh yeah. And then there's, you know, you got to deliver it to the table and then somebody's got to clean up and yeah. Yeah. So that start to finish. If I added up all the hours I put into one episode, it's, somewhere in the range of 12 to 15, but it's spread out over, you know, months. Uh, so thankfully I'm never having to sit down for 15 hours straight to do, to do an episode, but by the time it reaches your ears, that's how much of my life.

Erik Young (11:50.243)
Yes. Yeah, that's exactly what it is to continue the analogy.

Brian Jewell (12:14.36)
Cumulatively, I've invested in a single episode.

Erik Young (12:17.847)
Fair, fair. I mean, I would say impressive. think that that, mean, because it can be a lot more if workflows are not so refined. So I think, you you've definitely gotten this down to a pretty smooth process and we are all the beneficiaries of that. So let's talk about, you had mentioned you enjoy thinking about the podcast.

Brian Jewell (12:28.366)
Yeah.

Erik Young (12:46.843)
Where do you come up with the ideas for these folks that you have on the show to interview? Where does that come from?

Brian Jewell (12:53.218)
Yeah. Well, you know, actually you and I talked about this on your podcast a month or so ago. One of my best sources for guests is just going to industry events. I remember being at CIDA last summer in Savannah and I was just there as a journalist, you know, covering the event. That gives me a lot of free time. I don't have appointments and I don't have a booth to staff, know, so

Erik Young (12:57.683)
Mmm.

Erik Young (13:02.907)
Absolutely.

Erik Young (13:16.805)
Yeah. So all you're doing is people watching.

Brian Jewell (13:20.366)
Yeah, yeah, which is so fun. So, SIDA had this kind of cool area on the floor where I guess an exhibitor had brought in some furniture and there's like table tops and you know, so I just kind of like camped out at this one exhibitor's booth more or less for a couple days. You know, I'd go somewhere and talk to somebody then I'd come back and camp out there. I probably met 10 amazing people just sitting there at that table.

Erik Young (13:34.853)
yeah.

Brian Jewell (13:46.828)
So by the end of the conference, I've got this exhibitor I've made friends with. He's been on the show. That was Greg, Bottenhorn from Chaspi. I've met, you know, three or four other people and had conversations that I did not know were going to happen going into the event. They're doing things I didn't even know existed. And I come back and say, man, that would be great for the podcast. So, events like that are a big part of it. I'm at NTA. I'm at ABA.

Erik Young (13:52.999)
Mm-hmm.

Erik Young (14:03.207)
Yeah.

Brian Jewell (14:14.574)
I'm at some smaller events throughout the year. do a lot of speaking for like state travel associations and things like that. So sometimes the people that end up coming on the show are like fellow speakers at events that like, you know, we met at the speakers dinner the night before and I'm like, you're fascinating. You sometimes they're people I've known for years. Sometimes it's someone who has like been a panelist at an event and I didn't know about them, but then I hear them speak and I say, that was amazing. I got to

Erik Young (14:28.991)
Mm-hmm.

Brian Jewell (14:44.428)
got to get you in front of my audience. and then occasionally, you know, one thing I really try to do is, stay connected to people, who have a lot to add to our audience, but maybe don't come from tourism. So, you know, I've had some, some authors on who have written books about travel. Maybe they were travel agents or there was a really great travel journalist who did an in-depth book about sort of sustainability and travel. And I had her on the show to talk about that. And it was amazing.

Erik Young (14:46.417)
Mm-hmm.

Erik Young (15:11.165)
Thank you.

Brian Jewell (15:13.786)
And then I've just got, I've got a network of really smart, ambitious, creative friends that we've kind of formed a little mastermind group, and just, you know, help each other, bounce ideas off each other. And I think every one of them has been on the show at this point, talking about topics from like, you know, public speaking to running your business finance to like dealing with your Gen Z, employees in the workplace. So

Erik Young (15:38.119)
Mm-hmm.

Brian Jewell (15:38.55)
I've definitely leaned hard on my friends and also just keeping open, you know, my eyes open for who else is out there that I don't know that's got a lot of value to add to our audience.

Erik Young (15:51.129)
Awesome. Big fan of that episode, by the way, the how to utilize your Gen Z employees if you are a leader of Gen Z. That's a fantastic show. That was Dr. Andrea. Andrea Mata.

Brian Jewell (16:03.672)
Yeah.

Andrea Mata. Yeah. You know what's funny? I did heard that episode came out and then a couple of days later, she ended up getting interviewed on CNN. And she she says she's texting the friend group in our thread. And she's like, guys, I'm gonna be on CNN at you know, three o'clock today. And so I watched you know, of course, watch the clip later and went back in the thread and said, Andrea, that might be the second most impressive media hit you've ever done.

Erik Young (16:21.704)
Yeah.

Erik Young (16:34.395)
I was just going to say try to keep up CNN. All right. You they're like, you had her first. All right. So I'm very interested to hear your response to this because we both kind of just went through this a moment ago before we turned the mics on. How do you prepare for an interview?

Brian Jewell (16:37.048)
Right.

Yeah.

Brian Jewell (16:54.353)
man...

Erik Young (16:55.367)
And now I'm taking this from an angle of personally, because you had talked about how you research your subjects and whatnot. So talk about you personally, what kind of head space do you get yourself into to calibrate yourself to have these insightful interviews that you have on the show?

Brian Jewell (17:01.006)
Mm-hmm.

Brian Jewell (17:15.66)
Well, I want to be as curious as possible. I think in life curiosity is just a key to growing and thriving. And, I feel like people, especially, you know, I guess I can only speak for myself, but for me as someone sort of middle age, mid career, many things that I encounter on a daily basis are things I've encountered before.

It's easy to become complacent, rest on your laurels, maybe even think you've got all the answers, you know, which is never a good place to be as a person. So, I really want to, I want to tap that curiosity and I really want to put myself in the shoes of our audience, which are travel planners. Many of them are solopreneurs or, maybe they run a team of two or three people. And you know, I've worked in a small business for long enough and I've had some, you know, remember five years ago when everybody had a side hustle.

Erik Young (17:49.928)
there.

Brian Jewell (18:11.178)
and so I, I had my share of side hustles and man, is that exhausting. And I'm glad I don't do that anymore, but I've, I've, I've struggled enough in small business and especially as a, you know, somebody trying to get a side hustle going, but I feel like I can ask a lot of questions based on that personal experience. Like where, where is my audience likely on this issue? are they late on their taxes? Do they not know how to do their taxes because they've got a thousand other things going? Well, I can relate to that. So what questions would I ask a tax expert?

Erik Young (18:11.377)
Yes.

Erik Young (18:17.683)
you

Erik Young (18:31.816)
Mm.

Brian Jewell (18:40.61)
You know, I haven't had that episode, but if I did, you know what, what, what is, I think of people's faces, like we know people in the industry, you know, tour operators, you know, travel planners, like what would, you know, what would Janie Sue want to ask if she had an hour with this person? So it's really, it's, it's, if you're not serving your audience, then you're just serving yourself and no one wants to hear that. So I'm very, very deeply trying to channel where my audience is and what kind of questions they would ask if they could.

Erik Young (18:56.935)
Mm-hmm.

Erik Young (19:10.631)
Yeah, I totally agree. I think that that's the key to good content and it's the key to good performances is serving the audience. You know, what they would ask themselves and what they would want to listen to. So if you're constantly putting yourself in the head space of who is going to receive this end product, then it's just not about you anymore. That's the way that I like to think of it. It's like, we're just a vehicle for the audience, right?

Brian Jewell (19:39.01)
Yeah, yeah.

Erik Young (19:39.333)
Our job is to extract the info from the subject for the benefit of them. We are nothing but a tool in that transaction, right? And so I think when there is a diminishment of self, that helps me to calibrate for an interview. But I appreciate that. So, all right, well, now, I said this about the last question. I think I'm even more excited to ask this one.

Brian Jewell (19:47.423)
Absolutely.

Erik Young (20:07.557)
your favorite guest. I know they're all your favorites. It's like picking between your children. Let's forgo the PC response. want to hear what's the knee jerk reaction. Maybe it's not that they're your favorite person in the world, but something that really stood out in all of these interviews after a hundred episodes. Who would you say?

Brian Jewell (20:09.944)
Tell my goodness.

Brian Jewell (20:29.074)
man, I was more excited than anybody to interview Andrew Zimmern. I've watched him on TV for years. He's the Bizarre Foods guy. know, he's been, my wife and I watched a lot of food TV because we're boring like that. But so I've seen him on TV forever and it was one of those pinch yourself moments to be, you know, on a call with him and get to interview him for, you know, I booked half an hour with him and he just kept going and going. So I'm like, well, I'm not going to stop him. So

Erik Young (20:34.556)
Okay.

Erik Young (20:38.035)
Mm-hmm.

Brian Jewell (20:58.426)
I think

Erik Young (20:58.535)
Turns out these media type like to talk, do they, huh? Who would thought?

Brian Jewell (21:01.902)
They sure do. So I was so excited about that one and I think it turned out really fun. You know who else was just fascinating was Bruce Poon Tip. I mentioned him. He was one of the early guests in our first year. He founded G Adventures. In some ways he's the godfather of the adventure travel slash like meaningful travel movement. They've been doing it for you know 30 years or longer. He was one of those people I couldn't believe he said yes.

Erik Young (21:25.808)
Mmmmm

Brian Jewell (21:30.99)
And he just had so much insight and was telling stories about, you know, trips he took early that were not good and what he learned from them. um, you know, so I love talking to him. Brent Dalrymple, I don't know if you know Brent, he's a tour operator. He and I met probably in like 2005 or something. Um, Gen X tour operator who took over his family's tour business. And I got to interview him on site at NTA a couple of years ago and he went deep about

Erik Young (21:51.772)
Okay.

Brian Jewell (22:00.812)
like the X's and O's of succession planning in group travel, which is such a huge issue for our industry. Cause a lot of operators are at the tail end of their careers and don't have a great plan for succession. So, I mean, he walked through like how he and his parents figured it out and you know, how long the process needs to be and what were the pain points. And I mean, he just got super honest and I thought that was really, really helpful, helpful information. So those are the few off off the top of my head.

Erik Young (22:04.243)
you

Erik Young (22:28.573)
I can see.

I can see why that particular interview stuck out because that does, I'm sure that there are elements of this in many other industries, but that succession element does seem like that is such a niche in the group travel industry. Maybe it's just because I'm immersed in this industry, but I definitely do see it frequently. And I think that that is some insight that tour operators are probably not

Brian Jewell (22:45.091)
Yeah.

Erik Young (23:00.741)
It's not as easy as, you know, searching in Google or asking chat GPT to get some good feedback on that and some personal experience. so I could see why that stood out. Thank you. all right. So we talked about how in the last 10 years, podcasting has not only risen in relevance, but I mean, dare I say certain industries, certain companies might be to a point where they feel like.

Brian Jewell (23:08.472)
Yeah. Yeah.

Erik Young (23:30.387)
They are at a disadvantage if they're not podcasting. They might really feel a pull and a desire in the way that you did when you started this show. If somebody is interested in starting a podcast like Gather and Go, what should they do? What should they do? What is your advice?

Brian Jewell (23:49.306)
man, that's a great question. I would say more than anything, you have to really identify an audience. You got to really know who your target is. It helped for us, for my show and your show that we work in a pretty niche down industry. We meet the people that we're serving almost on a daily basis. So that was really helpful for us. If somebody wants to start a podcast about

Erik Young (24:11.418)
Mm-hmm.

Brian Jewell (24:18.958)
90s R and B. Awesome. Sounds like an amazing show. I'd love to listen, but you got to know like who loves R and B from the 90s. Probably guys our age and you know, people, people our age that grew up were in high school in the 90s and had heard that music all around and loved it. you know, if, so you, got to know that's who it is and you got to tailor, your delivery and your style to who that person is.

Erik Young (24:23.559)
Sign me up.

Erik Young (24:28.965)
Mm. Right.

Brian Jewell (24:49.856)
If it's a business style podcast, it drives me crazy when companies start podcasts just because they think they're supposed to have one and they, they don't have anything to say and they're not trying to serve the customer. They're just hoping it's going to be a lead magnet, you know, a lead generator. Well, if we put out a podcast, people will listen to it then we'll get customers. No, that's kind of backwards. Like go out, figure out who your audience is and just serve them really well. Some of them are going to be your

Erik Young (25:05.212)
Mm-hmm.

Erik Young (25:09.139)
Mmm.

Brian Jewell (25:16.758)
existing customers and they're going to be so grateful that they have another way to learn from you. Some of them might never be customers, but you're making a positive impact in their life and in your industry. And maybe you'll get some business down the road from it, but it's, it's never going to be like something I can track where I put out a podcast episode and know, 10 people downloaded and two of them end up buying from me. Like if you're just trying to sell something you're going to wash out.

because as we talked about, there's a lot of work that goes into this. It's really hard and many, many people start and after three or four episodes like, that's so much harder than I thought. You know.

Erik Young (25:55.387)
Right. It's probably if you're looking to sell, it's probably more efficient to go out into the field and sell your thing. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Brian Jewell (26:02.554)
Absolutely. Pick up the phone and make cold calls. I promise it's easier than podcasting. Yeah, it's, you know, and we're living in this age where, you know, so in the last 20 years, the internet has democratized media, right? Like anybody can record video and put it on YouTube, and some people become stars. Anybody can record songs and upload it to Spotify, anybody can make a podcast. And so what it has done, I'm afraid, is created this idea because the technological barriers to entry are so low.

Erik Young (26:30.386)
Mm-hmm.

Brian Jewell (26:30.446)
is created this idea that, anybody can do it, so it must be easy. You know, or I see that, I see that YouTuber, you know, it just was like so much fun. I mean, my kids watch some stuff on YouTube that I'm in awe of the production value of it. You know, it's a 12 minute YouTube video, but having just a little bit of production experience, I'm hearing the sound, I'm seeing the edits, I'm seeing the graphics, I'm seeing the lighting, I'm seeing the backgrounds, and I'm thinking like, how many people are on that team?

Erik Young (26:34.522)
right

Erik Young (26:44.801)
yeah.

Erik Young (26:59.121)
Yeah, now that's a team. That's a, that's a we situation.

Brian Jewell (27:02.102)
Yeah, that is a we, but the YouTuber, do they admit that they're a we? Does Mr. Beast ever admit that he's a we? No, he's just Mr. Beast. So it creates this idea that, it's easy to do and I've got a smartphone so I just, I record and then I post it. And yeah, you can get content out there easily, but will it be good? Not without a lot of work. Will people listen to it? Not without a ton of work. Will it make the difference you wanna make in the world?

Erik Young (27:10.215)
Right.

Erik Young (27:21.779)
Mm-hmm. All right.

Brian Jewell (27:29.546)
not without a ton of work. So know who your audience is, count the cost, put in the work.

Erik Young (27:35.473)
Yeah, couldn't agree more. And I guess there is a slight differentiation to make there. You know, I guess it was implied that these may be businesses that are thinking of starting a podcast, but I think you're dead on with that. You have to you have to really be inside the headspace of that demographic and that audience that you're looking to serve at first and and serve them and serve them well.

Brian Jewell (28:02.924)
Yeah. Yeah.

Erik Young (28:04.043)
it is easy to do. It's, harder to do well. And, and that's, that's a great point to take from that. all right. So let's say somebody just a moment ago was interested in, producing their own podcast. They kind of heard what you just responded there and they're like, you know, what actually sounds a little bit better. How about being a guest on your podcast? I'm gonna, I'm going to chat with you for a little while. Let you produce the episode. If somebody is interested in being on gather and go.

Brian Jewell (28:26.617)
Yeah.

Erik Young (28:33.297)
What should they do?

Brian Jewell (28:35.212)
Well, I we've had guests that have pitched me. So it's definitely something I'm open to. It's it's not a closed door at all. Best thing to do is just to email me. So, you know, the email that we put out every episode is podcast at group travel leader dot com. And that comes straight to my inbox. And or you can reach out to me on LinkedIn, which is fine, too. But what really works is bring me an idea that's going to benefit my audience. So somebody reached out saying, hey, I like your show. Can I be on it?

I'm going to respond to you, but I'm going to ask a lot of questions like, well, what do you do? How can you benefit my audience? You know, what, what value do you have to bring? Uh, I've, I've received some pitches that were well-crafted by some PR company, but they obviously weren't targeting group travel. And so I go back to the person like, Hey, you know, this, you know, little, um, B and B in the mountains of Tibet or whatever that you think is so awesome that you want to do an episode on. sure it's great, but if you can't take a group of 25 people, you know, it doesn't serve my audience.

Erik Young (29:19.186)
Yes.

Erik Young (29:32.645)
Yeah, this isn't your audience.

Brian Jewell (29:34.926)
Yeah. Uh, but then the other day I, somebody pitched me saying, Hey, you know, I love the show. Uh, I'd love to, uh, I've got a lot of, uh, experience basically selling group tours, like filling, filling tours before departure. I'd love to talk about techniques tour operators can use to, you know, sell that last 10 seats on the bus or whatever. And I'm like, absolutely. When are you free? You know, cause this is the, this is the kind of value I want to bring people. So yeah, exactly. So, you know, if you have a way to,

Erik Young (29:54.152)
Yeah.

Right. That's a juice.

Brian Jewell (30:04.063)
genuinely benefit my audience. Reach out and I'd love to make it happen.

Erik Young (30:08.753)
Yeah, makes your life a little bit easier because as you noted, a part of producing this show is reaching out to the guests. if, if, if the, the role is reversed there, then that's a, that's a nice little section of the battle. so I want to wrap up this segment of the interview with something that is, is comprehensive and, reflective cathartic maybe even in a hundred episodes.

Brian Jewell (30:11.393)
It does.

Erik Young (30:38.715)
What do you think is the most valuable thing that you have learned along the way? Now there is a variety of ways you can answer this question, so I'm interested to hear how you take it.

Brian Jewell (30:49.708)
most valuable thing I have learned.

Brian Jewell (30:58.004)
Everybody is the hero in their own story.

And every hero story needs a guide, a mentor, a helper, a sidekick, somebody that shows up in the nick of time and turns defeat into victory or gives gives the hero a way to turn defeat into victory. I wouldn't have got the show off the ground if I didn't have a few friends who really understood audio engineering and knew how to do it.

Erik Young (31:30.131)
Mmm.

Brian Jewell (31:32.436)
I wouldn't, you know, we wouldn't be successful. We wouldn't be here a hundred episodes later if I didn't have a great sales team selling ads on the podcast. I mean, you know, I love podcasting, but I'm not going to do it on my work time if it's not profitable for our organization. I can't sell ads. That's not what I do, you know? So it wouldn't work if we didn't have those people. and every, every person in tourism, there's so many of us like, you know, like I was saying earlier, trying to kind of

Erik Young (31:47.567)
Mm-hmm.

Brian Jewell (32:01.696)
make a me thing look like a we, and you can't really do it alone. Like you don't have to hire staff, but you gotta find either that mastermind group that's just gonna commiserate with you, come alongside you, help you out, give you advice, look at your new ideas, say this is awesome, or you need to talk, know, go back to the woodshed with this and improve it. And you gotta have those.

people you're meeting in the industry that don't want anything from you, but want a lot of things for you and are willing to step into your story, not be the hero in your story, but just give you that motivational boost or make that connection for you so that you can go be the hero and, you know, solve the problem, win the day.

Erik Young (32:47.986)
rain.

And it's the timeliness of that, right? Like you said, you you kind of feel like a solo operation, but even you, you had those timely interjections from friends or colleagues that really pushed you to be able to continue. And here you are in celebration of 100 episodes. That's awesome.

Brian Jewell (33:14.818)
Yeah. Yeah, that's it. Yeah.

Erik Young (33:19.441)
That's a beautiful thing, man. It has been quite a journey. And like I said, the benefit of all of us here listening is that this has transpired in the first place. We love the show. So congratulations to you once again, Mr. Brian, Joel and Gather and Go, the podcast and everybody that has made those timely contributions to it. think we're all better off for it, man. And I hope to...

Brian Jewell (33:45.816)
Yeah, I think.

Erik Young (33:46.995)
Hope to do this again for the 200th episode.

Brian Jewell (33:50.154)
Yeah, let's do it. That's awesome. I so appreciate the congratulations and the kind words. And as long as people are listening, I'll show up with something to say. Yeah.

Erik Young (34:00.667)
Right? So listen, you have a fun tradition at the end of each interview and this is really like my honor now to finally be able to flip the script once again on your end of the episode questions. These are just for fun. You had admitted that you don't even know the answer to these questions. We are getting raw responses in the moment.

Brian Jewell (34:26.87)
super raw. Listen, I've known for weeks we were doing this and you know, I'll be like, walking around the block thinking how am going to answer that question and I still don't know. it'll be news to both of us.

Erik Young (34:36.371)
Good. Right, right. Whether you stopped yourself in that moment from figuring out the answer or not, this is going to be wonderful for that reason. All right, so these are your end of the episode questions. You have asked these of every guest. And now we are looking to hear your answers to these questions. When you book travel, do you choose the window seat or the aisle seat?

Brian Jewell (35:02.102)
Okay, I do have an answer for that one. I am a I'm an aisle seat person. When I was first starting out, it's because I wanted to be able to kind of stretch my leg out into the aisle. As I've gotten older, there are other benefits, ie being able to quickly get up and go to the bathroom if you if you need to because I got this habit like especially if I'm connecting at an airport somewhere, I usually have a meal at the connecting airport. And I drink a lot of like Coke Zero, Diet Coke or whatever I kind of have a I've got a problem.

Erik Young (35:10.387)
Mm.

Erik Young (35:17.962)
yeah.

Erik Young (35:28.583)
Okay.

Brian Jewell (35:31.488)
And so I drink so much at that meal and then it's like time to go get on the plane and you can do the math. So.

Erik Young (35:38.457)
Absolutely, biological necessities. You're an aisle seat guy. let's see the additional leg room doesn't hurt from time to time,

Brian Jewell (35:44.078)
That's right.

It doesn't hurt. Yeah. You know what I figured out actually recently, I really want to be on an aisle on the left side of the plane. Like as you, as you're looking, as you're seated and looking ahead. And the reason I figured that out is I was on a flight where I was on the right side of the plane and I'm right-handed and I was trying to work on my laptop and moving my hand like on the track pad, my elbow, my right elbow kept bumping into the person in the middle seat.

Erik Young (35:57.468)
You're right.

Erik Young (36:05.683)
Die.

Brian Jewell (36:14.338)
So it made it much harder to work. So now I'm like, okay, I really need to be on the aisle on the left-hand side so that elbow has space to move and I'm not bumping anybody. Yeah.

Erik Young (36:14.353)
Okay.

Erik Young (36:24.115)
Gotcha, okay, okay. So I'll seat with a preferred side as well. we've got that answer very, very well situated. All right, so that was probably your easiest one. Moving right along. What's one thing in your carry-on that you wouldn't travel without?

Brian Jewell (36:32.3)
Yep.

Brian Jewell (36:36.918)
Yep, there you go.

Yes.

Brian Jewell (36:46.63)
man, there's so much in that carry on. Like honestly, once a year or so I have to go through and weed out. Like what is this? This is a cable to nothing. Why is it in here? Or medicine that I bought three years ago when I had a, you know, cold or something on a trip, it's still in there. think I got, yes. The thing, you know, the thing recently that I've been taking in my carry on on trips that I really love is a Bluetooth speaker. I am a

Erik Young (36:55.539)
Yeah.

Erik Young (37:03.325)
Totally expired, yeah.

Erik Young (37:14.003)
do tell.

Brian Jewell (37:16.174)
So I'm a big fan of music in the morning. Um, so like in a hotel, my morning routines, I get up, I go, go to the hotel fitness center, come back. This is all before, know, whatever we have to do to start the day, come back, obviously have to get cleaned up and take a shower. And I've, kind of amped up from, you know, the workout or whatever. Uh, not that you can tell from this body, but I'm kind of amped up from the workout.

Erik Young (37:20.029)
Okay.

Erik Young (37:36.06)
Right.

Well hey, listen, it could be worse, right? You're not working out? Yeah? That's the show of effort right there.

Brian Jewell (37:43.246)
It would be worse, believe me. Yeah, and so I'm kind of amped up and I've probably been listening to music or a podcast or something while I've been working out. And so it was kind of a bummer to take out the headphones and then get in the shower and it just be quiet. So I've recently started taking this Bluetooth speaker that is usually just at home and I can set it in the bathroom on the counter.

Erik Young (38:00.348)
Right.

Brian Jewell (38:12.002)
while I'm in the shower or something and play some music and still have that kind of, you know, high excitement, high energy thing going so that I don't bottom out like during the getting ready process and like right when I need to go start the day, be at a low point. So having that, having that music kind of helps bridge me from the energy of the workout to the energy of like, okay, let's go to the meeting. Let's go to the event. Let's hit the road. So Bluetooth speaker. That's it. Yeah.

Erik Young (38:28.818)
Right.

Erik Young (38:37.937)
You got to keep the tunes going. Yeah. Bluetooth speaker for the win. all right. I'm going to have to get your recommendation on, on brand of Bluetooth speaker there. because, know, I mean, like quality depending too. mean, you could really be like jamming there in the morning, you know,

Brian Jewell (38:48.182)
Okay. Yeah.

Brian Jewell (38:55.694)
So if you're ever in a hotel at a tourism event and you hear somebody's music a little too loud and it's like 745, there's a chance it's me.

Erik Young (39:02.957)
Yeah, it's because I convinced Brian to upgrade to a Bose Bluetooth speaker. Literally vibrating the floor. All right, so free airline pass and a week with nothing else to do. Where are you heading, Brian?

Brian Jewell (39:07.918)
That's right. Yeah.

Brian Jewell (39:24.618)
I'm dying to go to Japan. Never been there. I'm dying to go to Spain. I've never been there. right now in this season of life, flying out to like the Rocky mountains or Montana or something and hitting a little cabin with nobody around also sounds really, really good. So if it's like a, if I'm taking my family, let's go to Spain or Japan and like really, really do it out.

Erik Young (39:27.558)
Mmm.

Erik Young (39:43.535)
yeah.

Erik Young (39:49.699)
wow.

Brian Jewell (39:51.446)
If it's just me and my wife, let's do a cabin in the mountains. And if it's just me, the further away from everybody, the better. Give me a week. Yes. Yes, exactly. But the mountains, the mountains are my, my happy place. Like, you know, reconnect with myself, immersion in nature, you know, that's, I just love it.

Erik Young (39:58.707)
An even more isolated cabin.

Erik Young (40:14.021)
that's a beautiful thing. And as a dude from Florida, like I am so like intrigued and floored and frankly confused a little bit by mountains when I see them. At first, I'm startled. I have no idea what this rise in elevation is. But no, totally agree with you on that. And I have heard personally, I've never been to Japan or Spain myself, but my friends who have been speak highly of both destinations. So

Brian Jewell (40:24.727)
Ha ha ha.

Brian Jewell (40:31.011)
Right.

Erik Young (40:42.503)
I do hope that that is in your future expeditions. Final question here. What's one thing that you have seen or done on the road that you wish that you could go back and experience again with someone that you love?

Brian Jewell (40:55.778)
Yeah. man.

Brian Jewell (41:03.358)
So the first 10 years or so of my career in travel, I wasn't, I was just single. I wasn't married. And so I went all kinds of places and thought, it would be wonderful to be here with somebody special. And I didn't necessarily have that somebody. The one that sticks out is Yellowstone in winter. did this tour, this winter tour in Yellowstone and we were going through like on snow coaches. call them. It's like these, these vans that have a sort of snow,

Erik Young (41:23.698)
Mm.

Brian Jewell (41:32.558)
They almost look like excavator tires or like tank tires. Imagine riding in a tank except there's no weapons. just, and, it, was just the stunning landscape, of course covered in snow, but you're seeing the geysers and the mountains and the Buffalo and the, it just blew my mind. And I remember standing there looking at it saying, man, it, it would be amazing to share this with somebody special. so, but then,

Erik Young (41:36.551)
Wow. Okay. Right.

Erik Young (41:57.586)
Yeah.

Brian Jewell (42:00.034)
you know, you get married, you have kids and it kind of changes, changes the math of everything. So my son who is nine, he's going to be 10 this summer. He told me a couple of years ago, he wants to go on a safari. He's like, dad, can we go on a safari? And you know, the thing about working and travel is your, your family's just so used you traveling and, the side benefits of getting to travel too, that it doesn't occur to them that like a safari in Africa might be a big ask.

Erik Young (42:14.924)
Mmm, okay.

Brian Jewell (42:29.932)
You know, it's like, you know, we've been to Mardi Gras, we've been to Florida, why not go to Africa? So yes, and I have been able to do that a couple of times. It is mind blowing. And so today I'm going to say if, if I could just snap my fingers and make it happen, I would take all of them, but especially my son Liam on that safari in Africa.

Erik Young (42:30.23)
yeah.

Yeah, just throw the African safari

Erik Young (42:55.903)
beautiful thing, Beautiful thing. I want to say, hey, thank you again for, you know, talking to us about all this. think that, you know, you do fantastic work here in producing the Gather and Go podcast.

Everybody, you got to give it up for Mr. Brian Jules and 100 episodes of this wonderful show. Thank you very, very much for including me and giving me the honor of being able to interview you today. And like I said, man, here's to 100 more.

Brian Jewell (43:27.128)
Thank you so much, Eric. It's really been my pleasure to talk to you. And hey, before we get off, where can people find you in your show in case they like what they hear and want to learn more?

Erik Young (43:37.183)
It's pretty simple. can go to group collect.com. you click on the media tab on the top of the screen there, then you can check out group collect the podcast and follow, listen on any of your favorite podcasting platforms. And if you are interested in the show or would like to be a guest yourselves, you can email me directly at eric at group collect.com. That is E R I K at group collect.com. Simple as that.

Brian Jewell (44:04.974)
Yeah, that's amazing. Thanks for being with me today, Eric. This has been a real treat.

Erik Young (44:08.871)
Thank you very much, Brian.