Check Out Johnny Rodriguez’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Johnny Rodriguez

Johnny, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My name is Johnny Rodriguez, but people call me JROD. When I was 20 years old, I would be listening to comedy podcasts like, Joe Rogan, This Past Weekend, MSSP, The Fighter and the Kid; these podcasts are the funniest podcasts and are hosted by standup comedians. Really wanting to do a comedy podcast of my own, I bought a microphone to record and would bring it with me to my friends’ houses and would just have it recording while we talked.

From there I began having episodes where I was actually asking questions to the person/people that were there.

Eventually I moved to my own apartment and created a small podcast recording studio out of a closet where it would go from an audio only podcast to video as well. I had to teach myself how to edit using different programs like Adobe Premier Pro, Canva, etc.

As I progressed as a podcast host, I also progressed as an editor/producer for podcasts, which ended up getting me a paid internship for a company which later hired me after the internship had ended, because I had created a high-quality podcast for them, and it had been doing great!

After I graduated from college at Eastern Michigan University, I began to lose my mind, like literally lose my mind. I had a psychosis that was drug induced, and as you could imagine, my work declined as well.

I had moved back in with my parents, and slowly but surely, I became sane again lol. But that experience really opened my eyes to how special life is, and that no matter who you are, you’re going to die. My passion had always been comedy, but I had been too scared to get up on stage, but then one night, a week before I turned 26 years old, I decided that I would rather die knowing that I tried (even if I failed) than die never knowing what could have been. So, the day before my birthday I did my first open mic, and I ate shit.

It has been about 8 months since that day. I now am doing comedy on a regular basis at Tony Roney’s Comedy Vibe, in Detroit and have improved significantly. Doing standup inspired me to start my podcast JROD POD, back up. After starting it up again, I now had guests that are Detroit comedians as well as interesting people from everyday life.

I now have an office space that I turned into a professional, high-quality podcast studio. I use it for my own podcast, but I also produce other people’s podcasts (full editing, recording equipment already setup, I create as many clips as the podcaster would like, I don’t put my name on any of it because I know if someone put their business watermark on my podcast I would be irritated) for a fixed price of $85 dollars with unlimited recording time. I do it this way because I have seen many “producers” who charge on average $145 per hour, and that’s not including clips.

I am trying to help anyone who has an idea for a podcast but doesn’t know how exactly to start yet, or podcasters who have been getting ripped off by “producers” and want to be able to create their podcasts/content without having to worry if they can still buy groceries after 1 hour of recording.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The way I choose to think about obstacles while pursuing my goals are very simple.
No matter what path you choose in life you’re going to have obstacles, some harder than others. Either way, you have two choices, you can give up and be defeated, or you face the obstacles and overcome them, one after another, but each one is making you stronger and smarter, which is what needs to happen in order to become the ideal version of yourself you envision in your head.

I could say that losing my mind was a big obstacle and that it was really hard to overcome and blah blah blah. But the truth is after I lost my mind and then gained it back, I was better off. Also, it was kind of funny…

I could say that being the only white comedian in a predominantly black comedy club makes it harder for me to get the audience to laugh, but that would be bullshit, because it doesn’t matter who you are or who you’re talking to, funny is funny.

I am still always looking for clients that want to use my podcast studio and the services I provide, while at the same time hosting my own. It isn’t easy, but I’m passionate about it which is why the obstacles/challenges are the fun part, I know that each one I overcome I am that much closer to success… or not, either way I’m enjoying the journey!

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am the host/producer of a comedy podcast called JROD POD, it is on YouTube and all other listening platforms as well for audio listeners. I started JROD POD when I was 20 years old and slowly taught myself how to produce a podcast and edit it as well using Garage Band.

After that I ended up getting a paid job as a podcast producer for a company I interned for during college. During that time, I set them up a podcast that is still alive and well, it is called “Culture Eats Everything”. I set up a podcast studio for JROD POD in the closet of my apartment with two microphones and my iPhone as a video camera. At the same time, I was doing a podcast virtually with a friend of mine based around the topic of stocks and cryptocurrency, this was called “ROIS Podcast”.

Unfortunately, I ended up losing my mind and had a psychosis, which impacted my job as well as my hobby/passion. I had really gained a passion for comedy podcasts from watching Joe Rogan, This Past Weekend, MSSP, The Fighter and The Kid, Your Mom’s House, and many more comedy podcasts. The hosts of all these podcasts are standup comedians, and I had always wanted to do standup comedy but didn’t have the balls to get on stage. After losing my mind, I realized how precious life is, and I ended up doing standup comedy the day before I turned 26 years old, and have been doing it since, with consistency and intention and am now very funny on stage.

After getting into standup comedy, I started JROD POD back up, but this time I rented out an office space and turned it into a full podcast production studio. I host my own podcast there, and I charge a fixed price of $85 for anyone who wants/needs a podcast but needs someone to edit and produce it for them. The thing that inspired me to do this was I had noticed that a lot of podcast producers charge extreme prices ($135) per hour with editing and clips included). I don’t charge by the hour, being a podcaster, I know exactly what I would want from a producer, so I charge a fixed price of $85 for everything (no time limit).

Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
In terms of finding a mentor for podcasting, the best mentor are the people who you watch the most. Look at what kind of equipment they have, how they host their podcast, and all of those things. The best mentor is going to be yourself learning through trial and error. Just never give up, because eventually if you work at something long enough with quality and intention, you will attain what you’re aiming for, or close to it.

Pricing:

• $85 Unlimited recording time (editing, clips, production) included
• $50 per hour (No editing or clips included)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/jrodpod?utm_source=linktree_profile_share&ltsid=f04edce5-0a7d-46f6-850e-6660a65c84a5
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jrod_pod/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61560148676681
• Twitter: https://x.com/lumpycatnft
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jrodpod
• Other: https://www.peerspace.com/pages/listings/670aa9e827cb0054e0b17b36?utm_medium=ios&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaZc4d-XB9VqgT4EBrDa-Z3Ibr0xKG8FO7mpAzOVx7a106EDk2bV9RixP_U_aem_ZQk0EjJZdXrZ5nOIjxeT9w&_branch_match_id=1222280025303304206&utm_source=app&utm_campaign=listing_share&_branch_referrer=H4sIAAAAAAAAAwXBSQ6CMBQA0Nu4A6rigAkxINU4ggaRdENa%2BIyC5WMCuvDsvpe%2F37JbaZoEwE7yGFQupfosmkr7OKV7anlwuoh1KuJnkZiexcKciOySswfZnH1qWZzFeqKEthG0ma9TGx2usOleIBmOu%2BXWXdTS%2BrrBsOBjMqdONRGBcSsGL7pHHOqIXStCywNLQmSzxt2XA%2FhGP%2FohpIBYNFkk8NV3gCZNMvgDc%2Ff6D64AAAA%3D