Sean helps busy business owners repurpose their content without the overwhelm through his Daily Content Machine service, turning long-form videos into short clips for social media.
Today you’re in for a treat with our guest Sean McCabe, who, among many things, is an entrepreneur, author and podcaster who’s been creating online content for well over a decade.
Sean is also very passionate about sabbaticals. He’s been paying his team to take off every seventh week, and he says it’s been transformational.
His journey is vast and his intention in life and business is fascinating, so tune in. You’re not going to want to miss this episode!
Here are three reasons why you should listen to the full episode:
- Find out how Sean became an early adopter in the podcasting world.
- Discover why margin is so essential as intentionally created space.
- Learn how Sean’s company helps you be everywhere, every day, by recording just once a week.
Episode Highlights
Who is Sean McCabe
- Sean is a serial entrepreneur, author, podcaster and course creator.
- His mission is to help business owners repurpose content, turning long-form videos into short clips for social media.
- Sean is also passionate about sabbaticals. His big mission is that by 2047, every company worldwide will pay their employees to take off every seventh week as a sabbatical.
His journey as an entrepreneur
- Sean’s been running his own business for around 17 years.
- He was initially in a band to supplement his income, and he embarked on the entrepreneurial journey.
- His business has evolved over the years from repairing computers, web design, running an agency, custom lettering to teaching.
An early adopter of podcasting
- Sean started his podcast eight years ago in 2013, which makes him a grandfather in the podcasting world.
- He has almost 800 reviews on his podcast at a 4.9 rating which is no easy feat.
- He has consistently shown up for his audience for eight years, and they love it.
What piqued his interest in podcasting
- Sean started listening to podcasts in 2007, back when you had to sync it to an iPod via cable.
- He attended a meet up which was a 100-mile round trip.
- As an introvert, he decided to step outside of his comfort zone and mingle.
- He ended up meeting someone who edits podcasts for people, and the next thing he knew, they started a podcast together.
The first business model
- Sean’s first business was in high school, and he repaired computers.
- He learned how to find clients, price himself, invoicing and taxes.
- When he entered the art world, he knew the business side of things, and he didn’t have a starving artist mentality.
- Following his success in the art world, he went on to teach and help artists make money.
The trigger points
- Sean is an all-on or all-off kind of guy.
- He found himself in a dark place where he worked up to 120 hours per week.
- Any friend Sean had was on the payroll, wasn’t exercising, and often forgot to eat.
The concept of sabbaticals
- He started researching what it would look like to take a break and came across sabbaticals.
- Sean didn’t want to take off a year. He had a business to run and considered something in between, opting for every seventh week.
- He decided to be a guinea pig, documenting the journey publicly on his podcast.
What’s good for him is good for his people
- Sean worried about his team doing their work while on a sabbatical.
- He realized that if he believed in this, the team should also take off.
- It ended up being transformational for the team and business.
Making it sustainable
- When he started doing this with his team in 2014, Sean’s business had around eight people.
- As the company grew, he had to make sure things were sustainable.
- The team now has tracks where people have different sabbatical weeks.
Why margin is so important
- There’s a difference between margin and free time.
- Margin is space, and it’s intentionally created space.
- Over time he has realized that it’s essential to keep your sabbatical free from obligations, allowing you the possibility to say yes to anything at the moment.
The ego
- Margin is a mind shift where you make yourself unavailable.
- Sean says we delude ourselves into thinking that the business will fall apart if you’re not available.
- We want to be needed because we don’t know who we are outside of the business.
Adding margin can start small
- Most people are in a place where they feel they cannot take off every seventh week.
- Sean recommends starting small and making it simple by blocking off one weekend a month.
The Daily Content Machine
- Sean acknowledges that it can be complicated and overwhelming for busy business owners to show up consistently on social media and grow.
- The Daily Content Machine service takes content you’re already making and repurposes it for you.
- By recording once per week and sending them the video footage, you can show up seven days a week, helping you build your brand, increase your influence, and grow your audience.
The Sean Wes Community
- The podcast has had millions of downloads, and he’s been intentional about never including ads or sponsors.
- He has thought about how he likes to consume and wants to play the long game.
- He believes it should feel like hanging out with someone with no interruptions when listening to a podcast.
- Sean focuses on relationship building and the lifetime value with every collaboration, recommendation, or referral. It’s all ROI positive.
Guidance from Sean
- Sean’s advice is to do less, better.
- You may be hearing all these messages about podcasting, SEO, email marketing, newsletters, and blogs, but you do not need to do all of this at once.
- Whatever you choose to do, make sure to do it consistently.
How does Sean want to be remembered?
- Don’t settle; life’s too short. Do something you’re passionate about and find a way to align it with making money. But don’t start with money as the main goal.
3 Powerful Quotes from this Episode
“I’m not trying to get this sale so much as I’m trying to build a relationship because I just see the value of that relationship over the rest of our lives and every collaboration and recommendation and referral. It’s all ROI positive. Like I don’t overthink it. Instead of pushing people, be much more like a magnet.”
“The other part that you may want to think about, you know, the listener is, we often want to be needed. And we don’t know who we are outside of the business because our identity is so tied up in the business. We’ve externalized it.”
“You don’t have to do all of them at once. Just what you do, do it consistently. Whatever you can do, if you can do it daily, great! If you can do it weekly, great! Be consistent and scale it down until you can be consistently good at it, right?”
About Sean McCabe
Daily Content Machine helps you be everywhere, every day, all while you can focus on what you do best.
By repurposing the content you’re already making, Sean and his team help you stay top of mind with daily videos, seven days a week, on all the leading social media platforms.
Feel free to reach out to Sean and his team to find out more about repurposing the content you’re already making.
Connect with Sean
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Thanks for listening,
Darrell