PP 048: Pushing Through Fear and Being Resilient with Frédéric Byé

Quick Show Notes – Frédéric Byé

Frédéric Byé and Kim Sutton discuss facing fears head-on, how life’s hiccups happen for a reason, and the benefits of building our platform to reach a larger audience.

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Episode Transcription

Kim: Welcome back to another episode of Positive Productivity! This is your host, Kim Sutton. And today, I am thrilled to have Frederic Byé from The Creative Magic Network here with us. Frederic is a radio host, writer, and creative entrepreneur who hosts the podcast “The Frederic Byé Show”, and is also the founder of Creative Magic Network. Welcome, Frederic. I am so happy to have you here!

Frédéric Byé: I’m happy to be here. I love it. I loved our conversation, by the way, last time. I think you’re a really, really nice person, and I think we have a productive conversation on – you know.

Kim: Oh, definitely. And listeners, it will be in my show notes, but I was on Frederic’s podcast.

Frédéric Byé: Yeah, you were on Max’s podcast that – his podcast is on the network. Yeah, it’s a little confusing! You’re on the “What’s Your Excuse?” show. “What Your Excuse?” with Max Ivey.

Kim: Yes. Listeners – hey, this is the Positive Productivity Podcast, where it’s not all about perfection. And I was on Frederic and Max Ivey’s – well, more specifically, Max Ivey’s podcast, The “What-” Help me out here, Frederic.

Frédéric Byé: “What’s Your Excuse?” show. “What’s Your Excuse?” with Max Ivey, known around the world as The Blind Blogger. He’s blind, but he’s an entrepreneur, and he’s blogging, and he’s doing the podcast. And I’m helping him out, actually, on his show. I’m the one who records the interviews, and I kind of chime in here and there, so – and you were on his show.

Kim: And this morning, I have no excuse. I’m just having temporary brain lapses, which I warned you in our Pre-Chat, happens from time to time.

Frédéric Byé: Ah, it happens to everybody, happens to everybody.

Kim: Oh, definitely. So Frederic, could you please tell us a little bit about your journey? And you don’t have to be so “little” – but I’d love to hear about the journey that you have been on, how you started your career, how you wound up here, and maybe a little bit of personal background just to enlighten us?

Frédéric Byé: Yeah, sure. So I was born and raised in a small town outside of Quebec City, in Canada (freezing Quebec, Canada – it’s freezing right now, geez). Anyway – and I always kind of knew that I wanted to do my own thing, and I always had this inherent need to express my self. Expression. That’s my thing.

Took me awhile to figure it out, though, and the way it came about was by accident. And my first passion and pursuit of passion was to be a wrestler, to be a sports entertainer! And I got to the developmental territory with WWE, sort of the minor leagues of wrestling. And after a back injury during practice, I became a personal trainer, and for a short while, I was a financial adviser. (But don’t say it to anybody.)

But finally I rechanneled my need for expression, and I wrote my first novels to be published soon. And in the meantime, I discovered podcasting. And you know, for me, podcasting was a way for me to – the end-all be-all is I want my own radio station, my own platform, I also want to be a novelist. That’s my real – that’s my heart and soul, the expression of my heart and soul, and I really want to do that. And so I had to build a platform.

So I started podcasting. And my unique experience in WWE’s developmental territory gave me a foundation in the art of storytelling and public speaking. And once I started my podcast, I was addicted. You know, the podcast had different – it changed.

I started the “Book Geek Unchained” Podcast, then it became the “Creative Magic Unchained” Podcast, and now it’s just “The Frederic Byé” Show. So it’s like, screw it, it’s my name, The Frederic Byé Show, and talk whatever – I think I can talk about whatever the heck I want. And in the meantime, I created The Creative Magic Network, which is now – we are a bunch of podcasters on the same network. Basically, that’s what it is.

And yeah, and I know it’s cool, because I interview best-selling authors, TED Talk speakers, business people, like – you know, Cory Huff, and Donna McDonald, Debbie Silver, Dawn G. Dahling – I just interviewed her from the Omega Institute. That’s one of the big, big things that was – also William Arntz, I interviewed recently. So those some of my most downloaded and listened-to episodes, actually.

And I used my particular journey as a wrestler, personal trainer, financial advisor, to motivate my audience to a “bigger, richer life”, basically. The purpose of my work is to bring joy to people around the world, and at the same time, help them tap into their inner potential.

And so far, it is a fantastic experience. I’m learning every single day, and it’s definitely a platform that I will use until I die, really, until I’m in my grave. I love writing, I love expressing myself, I love speaking. And no matter what the day is what the day is like, speaking to all these different people always puts me in a positive frame of mind – even if I’m tired, or pissed off, or whatever.

And my motto is really to live with purpose, passion, and love. That’s usually how I end my shows.

Kim: Oh, my gosh – I absolutely love that! “Purpose, passion, and love.” Because actually, I’ve got – I’m just looking at my words right now – purpose is one of my words. Mine are purpose, positivity, and productiveness, but passion is on a longer list that I have. So I definitely understand that.

I was jotting some quick questions down – because as you know, this is not scripted at all – but you just loaded me up with so many ideas for questions to ask you. The first of which is, with names like that coming on your podcast… I mean, these are well-known people. Can you give any advice – maybe you learned it yourself – let me back up a second.

How did you go about reaching out to these people? Did they reach out to you? Did you have to sort of swallow – or maybe “swallow” is not the right word – where did the courage come from to ask them to be on your show? Or did you have a lot of connections before you even tried?

Frédéric Byé: Well see, that’s the thing. After you start doing podcasting after a while, publicists start to contact you. And to be honest, I don’t remember how I got in touch with the publicist – but she got in touch with me, or I got in touch with her. And she’s like, “Look, here are my clients” – and one of her clients, by the way, is Bill Neal Walsh! So about that, I’m really excited, but he’s not available for interviews right now.

But yeah, yeah. So we got in touch, and she’s like, “Here’s my list of clients. Tell me who you want to interview.” And they were in there. They actually were in there. And another – actually, two publicists. I got in touch with two publicists. (And it’s really fun to do business with publicists because they send you a bunch of books. I receive books now, quite often, and it’s pretty cool.) But through publicists, basically, I got in touch with those people.

And actually, William Arntz – I was supposed to interview his wife. (William Artnz, for those of you out there, he’s the producer of “What the Bleep Do We Know?” documentary. He’s the one who created it, produced it.) And I was supposed to interview his wife, because he wrote a book with his wife, “The Not So Little Book of Surprises”, and his wife was not available that day, so I interviewed him instead. So that’s how it happened.

You know, it’s weird because I know people would like to have a specific way to get in touch with these people. To be honest, it kind of happens organically as you go along in podcasting, as you grow and you understand more about the business, and you get more and more professional in your work. For some reason, people reach out to you, you reach out to people.

And I get rejected, too. I just got rejected last – yesterday, actually – which is fine. I’m not complaining about it. But I wanted to interview this big-time – one of my favorite authors of all time – and through her assistant, they just said, “No.” Right? And that’s okay, I’m not complaining. But it’s just – it happens. Sometimes you just got to reach out, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t work.

Kim: You bring up a really interesting point, though, because – well, a couple points. I have realized that I am not being more professional – I am just tweeting people, and even asking them questions, and establishing relationships through Twitter because I’m finding it so much easier to get a response through Twitter than even through Facebook or e-mail. Because often the assistant does intersect somewhere in the middle. And even when I have gotten responses back from assistants, often it’s – not a “no”, but it’s a “their calendar is too full right now”. Can you write back in three months?

I actually haven’t gotten a “no” yet, and I’m don’t say that to be boastful, but I would rather receive a “no” or a “their calendar is too full right now, check back in another three months” then not having tried at all. Right?

Frédéric Byé: Yeah. That’s the thing, to me. When I say – they didn’t say “no”. Nobody told me “no”. You know what I mean? It’s just exactly what you just said: “Calendar’s too full”, “They’re doing this project right now, so they’re out-” It’s always… it’s never a “no”, you know what I mean? But I take it as a “no”. I take it like, “Okay, well, basically what you’re saying is ‘no’, because I’m not interviewing that person.” You know what I mean?

Kim: Well, you’re on the Positive Productivity Podcast, so we’re going to work on that. (I’m just kidding!)

Frédéric Byé: Yeah!

Kim: So how do you manage all these books that you get – and I don’t know what all these books, like what the quantity is of that – and how many books do you read at any given time? I know you’re also writing your own. (See how I like to compound multiple questions into one?)

I am currently reading three or four books, and I am trying so hard to get it down into one or only two books. So I can’t imagine if I was getting them sent to me regularly by publicists. How do you handle that?

Frédéric Byé: Well, you know – to be honest, Kim. It’s impossible to read all of this. It is, like you said – writing, I read all – you know, I write my books. And I can’t say that I read every single book. That’s not true. But I do read – it’s like, you can get an idea of a book. You can get the idea of the book. And usually, I read the parts that I’m going to ask questions, right?

So let’s say I read a part, and I read a chapter, and it’s like “Oh.” It’s fun because, if I tell my mind or my spirit or whatever, “Okay, give me the right material for this interview. Give the right-” You know, I’ll find it. I’ll find material to talk about. That’s not a problem. So it’s very hard to read a book from cover to cover, because we receive so many books. So that’s what I do.

And I read basically what I want to read, what fascinates me. I might go to the table of contents – and because nonfiction books, what’s fun with nonfiction books is you don’t have to read it – it’s not like a novel. It’s not like a story. So what I do is, yeah. I go through a table of contents, then I might pick a title that appeals to me, and then I’ll read it, and then I’ll go from there. I’ll just ask questions from there.

But like you said, I mean, I have books now I’m going to start – like I don’t know where to put some of the books right now. Like I’m going to have to do something, get a bigger office or something, because I’m starting to receive a lot of books. But yeah, that’s kind of how I do it. It’s just, you’re just one individual, you’re one human being, and when you have a 400-page book written in really small letters, it’s pretty darn hard.

Usually, these authors – I trust them, I trust what their knowledge, especially if it’s – like Richard Barrett. I received a book from Richard Barrett, I interviewed him two weeks ago. His book is amazing but look, I can’t read from cover to cover. I trust the author, I know – because it’s easy to find out about the authors, because you can look at their videos, YouTube, their material, and they’re well-known people. And their books are real professionally written and presented.

So yeah, that’s the truth. I mean, it’s impossible – you’re just one individual, you can’t. And you don’t want to burn yourself out, you don’t want to focus – you know, my job is to choose to interview people, but it’s not my job to read everybody else’s book. Because then I’m not focused on what I do.

Kim: Oh, absolutely. And you said “A”, but I’m going to put “B” in there for you. You have a one-month-old baby, which throws another mix into the picture. I mean, you have to be taking care of your baby, plus you have your podcast, and you are also in the process of building your radio network.

How do you work that all out? And I’d love to hear more about your network. But how do you work that all out with your newborn, and your wife, and just finding time for everything?

Frédéric Byé: Well, I got a lot of help. I got – my wife is not working at the moment, and the baby’s grandmother is here – so my wife’s mother is here. We have a lot of help. And they take care a lot, they take care of the baby, and to be honest I’m lucky, because they let me do my thing. A, I work from home. You know, I still train people here and there, but mostly I work from home. And they give me the space to work.

I mean, I love to work. I don’t mind – like yesterday, a Sunday, right? I was in a cafe, was on my computer until like – in the evening. If I could’ve stayed longer, I would have. But I work all the time, and I don’t mind working all the time.

Kim: It’s a lot easier when you love what you do, isn’t it.

Frédéric Byé: Oh, yeah. Oh, hell yeah. Oh, no – if you don’t love what you do, forget about it. Don’t be a podcaster. Don’t do this “Internet thing”. If you don’t love it, don’t do this “Internet thing”. You’re going to go crazy, you’re going to be bored, you’re going to be frustrated.

I think what’s great about working for – what we’re doing is it comes from a place of passion. Because it’s not a “get rich quick scheme”, it’s not just – you know. Yeah, it’s fun to make a little bit of money. Of course, you want to make the money, and you have to, right? Because we all have bills to pay. But at the end of the day, if you don’t, have a real passion for what you do, a message, something share out there that is so strong that you have to do it… You have to express it, then it makes it a lot easier.

To be honest, sometimes, I have to be pulled out of my office. You know what I mean? She has to pull me out of my office to – because yesterday, I was talking with my wife. And I was telling her, “You know, in the next few weeks I’m going to be really busy. I have a lot of interviews…” and she’s like, “Just tell me when you’re not busy, because you always say…” I’m always busy, that’s basically what she’s saying.

But you know, I’m lucky, because I think I got a good balance. If we didn’t have a good balance in a relationship…

Kim: You wouldn’t have a baby.

Frédéric Byé: Yeah, I wouldn’t have a baby! That’s for sure.

No, but it’s important, because to me – you don’t want to just be working and then have no intimate life, no personal life. Because then there’s a lack there, there’s a – I don’t know. It’s not good, it’s not healthy. And then, at the same time, you can’t just – you want to be in a relationship, but you’ve got to work, too. It kind of goes hand-in-hand. And they’re important to be balanced. And like I said, we’ve got to help. His grandmother is here, so she’s helping us a lot. For example, if the baby doesn’t sleep, there are some nights the baby doesn’t sleep, he goes into his grandmother’s room for the entire night. So she can sleep, I can sleep, so now we’re in the morning, and we are ready to go. You know what I mean?

Kim: Yeah. Grandmothers can sleep all day.

Frédéric Byé: She’s a lot more used to it, too. His grandmother has a lot of experience. She knows how to make him sleep – you know, she sleeps. She doesn’t have any problem. But we – it’s our first baby. We don’t know how this stuff works, you know? So anyway.

Kim: It gets easier. It really does!

Frédéric Byé: Hopefully.

Kim: And by number five (Sorry, listeners, don’t mean to offend you.) – by number five, if you’re planning on going that high, you start ignoring the five-second rule. Or you just sort of forget about it, just so you know. I don’t have time to walk to the sink every single time something drops on the floor. And chances are, it’s in their mouth before I even get out of my chair anyway, so.

Frédéric Byé: You know what? That’s what everybody tells me, right? That’s what everybody tells me. At first you’re, “Everything has to be sterilized and everything!” Which is – I think it’s fair. But like you said, like, “Hey, man. If the thing drops on the floor, look. I ain’t run into the sink every every two minutes.”

Kim: Nope. Not at all. And as an interesting side note, I just saw a post on Facebook – either last week or the week before – about how the FDA has banned or is changing the regulation on antibacterial soap. Which I find very interesting, because they claim that it’s taking too many of the “good germs”. (I don’t know what it’s called, I’m not a biologist or a scientist or anything like that.) But it’s taking too many of the good things off of our body, so that we can’t combat the bad – which I just find it very fascinating.

So we’re talking little bit pre-show – and I just want to congratulate you for actually taking your first date with the baby this weekend. We have found that, because my husband is also an entrepreneur, we have found that even taking mid-day dates, maybe even a late breakfast or early lunch, has worked really well into our schedule.

If we can’t take an official date to an expensive restaurant, even just getting out to go for Bob Evans or something during the day works really well. Because it gets us both away from our computers, gets us away from the phone – not saying that the smartphone’s not there. But he seems to be really fascinated with watching these Skyped clients. I don’t get it, but oh well.

So tell us about the Creative Magic Network.

Frédéric Byé: Yeah. Well the Creative Magic Network was basically created because I wanted to combine to unite positively-oriented entrepreneurs and podcasters who have a message out there they want to share. And it’s very important for – we want to win them on their positive. It’s not a scandalous thing, it’s not a scandal thing, it’s not a gossip thing, it’s not – it’s really all about personal growth, creativity.

I truly believe in living an inspired life. I think that’s a life that most of us want to aspire to. And the goal – so right now, we have five different hosts. And the goal at first was to have one show every single day. We’re not right now, we’re at five shows. And the end goal to all of this is to build a platform so that – we want to become a radio station: Creative Magic Radio. That’s going to be – that’s the thing.

And we already have our plans, how to get there, how much it’s going to cost, et cetera, et cetera. And the podcast, when I started last year – well over a year ago – I mean, it grew very well. And it’s not like I paid for advertising or anything. It just grew organically. So the goal right now are – our fees are really low compared to other networks, obviously, because the network is still in its infancy – so for the podcasters, the fees are very low right now.

So what we’re doing, I think it’s all about: We want to turn into a talk show radio station. Maybe 70 percent talking, 30 percent music, and we’re having a great time.

It’s fun to hear people like Max who say, “Hey, man. I sold for – the first time I got royalties for my book, since I started this show.” You know what I mean? And it’s all about providing people with… If you want to live an inspired life, listen to this show, Max Ivey – “What’s Your Excuse?” with Max Ivey is all about personal growth.

My show is all about living a creative life. We have Frankie Picasso’s show: She has a socially-conscious podcast, and she talks to companies and businesspeople who are charity-oriented. They are links to charities and stuff like that. And we have Vanessa Mbamarah, she’s my co-host here and there, and she’s an orphan. She has a great story, she’s from a Benin, Nigeria. And she also have a lot of charities as a digital marketing specialist.

And you know, we also have Maura Sweeney on. And I’m very happy to have Maura Sweeny on, because she speaks all around the world – she’s going to be in India soon, she’s going to the Netherlands. I actually sent her an e-mail yesterday. I said, “Hey, I want to get into the doing speeches,” because that’s really one of the things I want to do, and I really want to pick her brain a little bit because she’s really doing it.

She’s really, really doing it, and she’s doing online courses. She’s sent me her online course recently to review, and it was a great course, and I can’t wait to share it with the people – with the world, really. Because I think it’s a great course on how to take control of your thought life, take control of your – find purpose and meaning in your life.

And yeah, so she’s on the network, too. Her podcast is really good – it’s a very short podcast, she has. It’s like 13 minutes usually. It’s all about inspiration, it’s all about intuition, and just living a purposeful, happy life. Her motto, her podcast is titled “Living Happy Inside and Out”. And she’s really – she’s been named the “Ambassador of Happiness,” and that’s not the name she’s given to herself. That’s the name that other people have given her. So, well – I’m very happy to have her. It’s really incredible.

Kim: I love that. The “Ambassador of Happiness” – that’s fantastic. Can I ask you a favor, please: Can you send that link over so we can include that in the show notes? (Plus, I’m really curious, I have to admit.)

Frédéric Byé: Which link?

Kim: To her course, if it’s available for listeners to purchase?

Frédéric Byé: It’s not available yet, see that’s the thing – oh actually! No, no, actually it is. Yeah, yeah. I’ll send you a link, I’ll send you a link.

Kim: Fabulous. And all the links that we’re talking about, listeners, can be found in the show notes – which you can find at TheKimSutton.com/PP048. And those will be available as soon as you are finished listening.

So it’s a radio network, and I didn’t even think to ask when I was on with you and Max last week-

Frédéric Byé: Well, it’s going to be a radio network, right now, it’s a podcast network for now.

Kim: All right. Because it just occurred to me, “Oh, my gosh – was this live?”

Frédéric Byé: No, no, no. Wasn’t live – see that’s the thing. We’re going to be live, though. See, that’s the thing. We won’t have to – what’s great with having a radio station, and you have the freedom to do live shows or not. You can do live shows whenever you want, you know? But yeah, in the near future, I would say: If things go well, within the next three to six months, we would like to have our radio station up and running. So, we’ll see how it goes.

Kim: Okay.

I share the same sentiment as you, actually. I would love to be a speaker, but I do have that fear of getting onstage and stumbling over my words.

Listeners, if you haven’t listened to it yet, somewhere in the first 20-ish episodes, there is actually a blooper reel. (Honestly, as of the time of this recording, I am still compiling that.) But seeing as it is the Positive Productivity Podcast, I don’t want you to think that everything is always perfect. So I have compiled a show full of bloopers for you to enjoy and laugh at!

And that is my fear about getting on stage, because I do get tongue-tied – Yeah, I just did it, see? I do get tongue-tied from time to time!

Frédéric Byé: Well, I think after doing it for a while, you’re going to get used to it. And sometimes, you have to understand – when you get tongue-tied, it’s just when your live, is supposed to happen. You know what I mean? Like you should see it as “It’s supposed to happen,” kind of just move on. I think, sometimes we think we get tongue-tied, and the audience doesn’t hear it. You know what I mean?

Kim: And then we overanalyze, and it just happen even more? I have to share a quick story with you, especially since you’re a dad. Last night, my son came into my office, and he saw me editing an episode and he asked me, “Mom, can I try?” And I figured I could undo anything that he did.

Well, he got the headphones on, and he was even a rougher critic than me, and he was editing one of the very first episodes that I ever recorded. Because I started recording about four months before the podcast launched, so I still have early episodes that I’m still putting out. And he says, “Mom, I’ve heard some of your episodes. You do not say “um,” and “like,” and “you know”, and all those things like I hear right here.”

And he was being so critical, but it was so awesome watching him – my soon-to-be 11-year-old actually working the editing tool, and he was doing a fantastic job. But it took him half an hour to get through a minute of editing, because that’s how critical he was being.

He was trying to take people’s breaths out, and I had to tell him, “Robert, people need to breathe. You can’t take their breath out, because that is going to sound unnatural.” So that’s just one of those things – not that you do your editing – but I love how kids try to get involved in any way that I can.

Frédéric Byé: Well, you’ve got yourself an editing specialist, maybe! Who knows?

Kim: Oh, yeah. He said, “How much are you going to pay that new editor?” He’s like, “I’ll take it instead of chores.”

Frédéric Byé: Oh, that’s pretty cool.

Kim: Oh, yeah.

Frédéric Byé: And you know, for the “um” thing, and – I understand what he’s saying, but I think that in the beginning, for me, I used to do that, too. I’d take every breath out, and I’ll take the “mm” out, – but I think in the end… Look, in my opinion, it has to be natural.

If you listen to other podcasts, and especially successful podcasts, I think a lot of them, they have those “mm” – and they’re not overdone, but I think I think that’s what podcasting is. It’s not radio, really, in that it’s more natural. I think the podcast audience, they want good stuff, but they also want it to be more like we’re having a conversation.

Kim: Personable?

Frédéric Byé: Yeah, there you go. Personable.

Kim: Yeah. So he left my computer, and he went and played video games or whatever and came back – maybe only 10 minutes later, when it was no longer his turn – and he saw that I had gotten through another 10 minutes of editing. And he said, “How did you do that?” And I said, “Well, because I’m not too critical.” And I meant it in the best way. He’s like, “Good for you. Now, can I try again?” And I said, “No, go have fun.” Yeah.

Frédéric Byé: Yeah.

Kim: So who were your inspirations – or who inspired you, maybe I should say – in this journey? Because there are a lot of great people out there to learn from if you’re not quite in that headspace that you are. So I’d just love to know who you may have looked at.

Frédéric Byé: Well – okay, so it’s very funny because I’ve been listening to podcasts for a long time. And I’m still a wrestling fan, and there’s this podcast, “The Art of Wrestling”, Colt Cabana. I listen to that podcast all the time. And the guy is not a famous wrestler, he’s not on the big stage, he’s never been on any interviews. People are not famous, oftentimes – or are famous, sometimes.

And I’ve really found myself listening to him all the time, and I was like, “Why do I like him? Why do I like this person? Why do I listen to this podcast?” Right? And that was long before I thought about having my own podcast. And I was like, “Oh, I know why.” Because he – it’s all about the story of the individual. Everybody has a fascinating story, right? Everybody has a story, basically, and I found myself getting interested in people’s stories even though I didn’t like them – well, not “like” him, but “know” him.

So, when I started my podcast, I basically modeled my podcast after his. You talk a little bit in the beginning, you say what you’ve got to say, advertise what you’ve got to advertise, and then you get on with the interview. So this is what I was doing, and I was interviewing people in my entourage, people that I knew. And before interviews – I starting interviewing authors and stuff like that, so – and people liked that. So he’s definitely one of them.

Another one that I like, another one of the podcasts that I like, is “Rich Dad Radio”, Robert Kiyosaki. I like his expressions. Sometimes he goes into rants. His expressions are really, really funny – and I use them, can’t lie.

And yeah, I think those two are my main influences on how to build up a podcast, how to model a podcast. Yeah, I would say these two.

I like to use wrestling catchphrases, too. I love wrestling, I love explicitly “old-school wrestling”, and back then, you had like great catchphrases – and I think that are forgotten. And I’m like, “Hey, I’m not in the wrestling business. I can I can say whatever the heck I want. I can do-” You know what I mean? Like, my audience is not necessarily a wrestling audience, so they don’t know that I’m getting inspiration from wrestling.

Kim: And if you are, good for you. Actually, I grew up in a family with two sisters until my parents had an awesome “ooops” when we were a little bit older and finally brought a brother in – who was very much into wrestling. But I never watched any wrestling until after I got married to my husband. And I can’t even say it’s wrestling – you’ll have to correct me – but he’s a UFC fan.

Frédéric Byé: Yeah, that’s not wrestling; it’s not the same thing.

Kim: Mixed martial arts or something like that?

Frédéric Byé: Yeah, yeah.

Kim: So that whole industry is out of my knowledge base. However, I would like to touch on your injury, only because my husband went through a back injury as well when he was in the Air Force. He really loved what he was doing, he was Air Force Structural Maintenance Man – I might be getting the title wrong – but he ended up rupturing a couple vertebrae, and it changed his life, probably forever.

I know it’s not what you were planning on doing, but how did you get past your injury in a positive light?

Frédéric Byé: Yeah. Well, okay – so happens that I was in wrestling, and I was doing pretty good. But it’s funny, because I was not really happy. I was just – I don’t know, I was lonely, the business was not what I thought it would be.

So to make a long story short, at practice, injured my back. I had back issues for a long time, even at that time, when I knew this injury was serious. I came back here in Montreal – I was in Louisville, Kentucky, is where I would be wrestling – and came back here in Montreal. And I – how did I get back…

First of all, it was like a relief having this injury – because for the first time in my life, I had to stop and look at myself in the mirror. And. “Okay, what do you really want to do? Like what do you really, really, really want to do? Like, what’s your purpose in life?” I didn’t have the excuse of, “Oh, I’m feeling bad, so I’m just going to wrestle.” You can’t do that anymore, so you’ve got to look at yourself right in the mirror.

And I was kind of happy that I got my injury for that reason. And what happened with me is, my disk – you know, this “jello” in our desk, and it kind of popped out.

Kim: Right.

Frédéric Byé: And it was really – I could barely walk – and stupidly, I went to the gym, and it was not a good idea I worsened the injury by going to the gym. I should have just rested it. I got sciatic nerve damage, and it was really, really, really not good. And physio twice a week – and it’s really funny, because what happens with these types of injuries is the hip then becomes – you start to have hip problems, too.

Kim: Yes. And did you get shooting pains down your legs?

Frédéric Byé: Yeah, of course, of course. That’s the sciatic nerve.

Kim: Yup.

Frédéric Byé: And I was like – I couldn’t walk for like 10 minutes. I love to walk, I love to go in the forest and walk, but I couldn’t do that for like 10 minutes – not even 10 minutes. And it’s funny, because – and I kind of shout out to the universe, “Okay, what can I do?” Because I did the physio thing, I did all these therapies, all this stuff.

And I remember coming back from a short walk, five or ten minutes, and I opened television – and there was Dr. Oz on. And they were talking about back problems, and they were like, “What you can do to kind of relieve the pressure of the vertebrae on the disc – because you got to relieve the pressure, right – you just sit upside down on your couch. You have your head upside down, basically.”

And I did that, and I’m telling you, two days later – it was, “Oh, wow.” It’s like the hip goes back into place. And two days later, I was able to walk right for more than 10 minutes. It was like – I don’t want say it was a miracle, but it was pretty darn close to it.

And another thing that really helped me was yoga. I got more flexible, I did yoga three times a week, I bought a DVD – and like 20 minutes apiece. Sometimes I would do it more than three times, because when I started to see the results, it was – you just do more of it. And that really, really, really helped me. That really, really helped me. Yoga and just sitting upside down really helped me.

Kim: I’m going to have to make sure my husband listens to this episode. (And sweetie, I’d love to see you do yoga.) So, sign us up for a course.

Frédéric Byé: Oh, I’m telling you, yoga is really good.

Kim: No, I mean it in a good way. We actually have a new studio here in our town that I’ve been wanting to go to, so maybe this is what we need to do for both of us. And looking back at my life, when I lost my job as an interior architect – it’s the best thing that could have happened to my life.

Because the same here: I was not happy in my job, it’s not where my passion was. It was my high school dream, but I’m sure you can relate. Things change, and I was doing it because I thought that was the course that I had to take. So all things happen for a reason. Sometimes there are unfortunately injuries, but they do happen for a reason.

Frédéric Byé: Yeah, me too. It was definitely – I was obsessed with wrestling. I was a wrestling guy, all I knew was wrestling. So I don’t think that’s healthy, sometimes. Because when you just become this one thing, then what is that one thing – what happens when you’re no longer that thing? You know what I mean? When you no longer do that thing, who are you then? And I wanted to find out who I was.

Kim: Oh, absolutely. Are you familiar with Bo Eason?

Frédéric Byé: No, I don’t know. Is he an author?

Kim: He may be an author. He is a former football player who played for – I can’t remember what team. However, his dream was to be the best starting back? (See I haven’t watched football in about forever.) But when his football career, his professional football career was ended due to injury, he really didn’t know what to do. Because he was afraid that if he pulled the same moves that he had been pulling on the field off the field – that he would be arrested for injuring people.

So he ended up deciding he wanted to go into acting, and now he is a speaking coach – which I found to be a very coincidental parallel to what we are talking about. So I will definitely send you a link through Skype when we are done chatting. (And for you listeners, you’ll be able to find that in the show notes.) But yeah it’s a very fascinating story. He has a very fascinating story, and I recommend even looking up one of his speeches on YouTube, just so you can hear the whole story.

Frédéric Byé: Yeah I’d like to – I’d love to.

Kim: Frederic, tell us about your novels that you are writing. Because they’re novels – unless I’m wrong – those are fiction, correct?

Frédéric Byé: Yeah, yeah.

Kim: I just – there are no non-fiction novels, right? Novels are always for fiction? (I’m not trying to be a dummy here, but…)

Frédéric Byé: Yeah, I think so!

Kim: Okay, so when somebody – me – brings you back on to discuss your books, then I will have to read the whole novel. Because as we were talking earlier, you can’t just skim as easily through. But tell us about your novels and when you hope to publish them.

Frédéric Byé: Well, I’ll have to publish them next year, maximum. I really hope so. My novels are basically – it’s a mix between… It’s all about finding love and finding one’s life’s purpose. They’re a mix between Paulo Coelho and Henry Miller.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, Paulo Coelho was very “spiritual-type” fiction, like The Alchemist. And Henry Miller, he’s more raw. Henry Miller, he’s another one of my favorite authors. Henry Miller is an old author from the 30s, and he speaks like – he tells it like it is, talks about his sexual endeavors – and also with just interaction with life.

And so it’s a mix of that – it’s a mix of spirituality, a little bit of eroticism, and action – and it’s really something that I wish… I want people when they close the book to say, “Hmm. I can do more with my life. Yes, I was entertained, yes I was – Ah, but I can do more with my life!” You know what I mean? If the character can do it, then I can do it. Hopefully, that’s what will happen.

Kim: I love it. Are you going to be self-publishing?

Frédéric Byé: Yeah. I explored traditional publishing, I’m not satisfied with it. I’m not happy with it, it’s very slow, it’s very – you know, it takes a year-and-a-half to two years. I don’t feel I have enough control, traditional route. Self-publishing route, I have 100 percent control. Maybe I’d like a hybrid between both.

But right now, all that’s left to do is – I have three books written: two novellas and one novel. And all that’s left is the final editing, and they’re good to go. And I’m going to go from there.

You know what my dream is, Kim, is really – I want to sit down and write. I want to put out… It’s like, you go to these libraries or these places sometimes, and you see like – maybe not “Nora Roberts Level”, but you see these authors. They have a bunch – they have so many books there. Like Paulo Coelho, he has so many – he has a row for himself, with all these novels he’s written.

And I really want to do that. I think I want to be a novelist, and I want to do this radio thing. And even maybe what – maybe we’ll have Creative Magic TV. Who knows? I was thinking about this yesterday. But yeah, this is what my novel’s all about, and hopefully by next year, they’ll be published.

Kim: That’s awesome. And Creative Magic TV would be pretty awesome, as well.

Frédéric Byé: I love that.

Kim: Yeah! What were the last non-fiction and fiction books that you read, in their entirety?

Frédéric Byé: Well, nonfiction – actually, I have it in front of me. It’s an investment book. I don’t know if that’s going to be of interest for anybody, but it’s “The Demographic Cliff” by Harry Dent. I’m subscribed to his newsletter. That’s the last one I read.

Other than that, what was the second one you said?

Kim: A fiction book.

Frédéric Byé: Fiction was – this lady I interviewed – was by Adriana Gervasoni… Geez, I forgot the name… Ah, “Behind the Door.” It’s kind of an erotic mixed with murder mystery novel.

Kim: Ooh, did your wife read it when you were done?

Frédéric Byé: I’m sorry?

Kim: I was joking, I said, “Did your wife read it when you were done?”

Frédéric Byé: No, haha! Yeah, what was the last one – I’m looking in my library right now… What was the last fiction I read? Fiction, fiction, before that? What was the last fiction I read? Hmm.

Kim: If you haven’t read it, I definitely have to recommend “Life’s Golden Ticket” by Brendon Burchard for a fiction book. Yup.

Frédéric Byé: Really. What is it about?

Kim: Taking a look at your past, so you can make the most of your future. I can’t really say any more than that, but it is fiction – which coming from Brendon Burchard, you may be a little bit surprised. I mean he’s written “The Charge”, and “The Motivation Manifesto”, and others.

But this book is so much more than just a fiction book – and considering I’m a mom of five, I think it will mean a lot when I say I read it in a day. I read it in six hours one Friday afternoon – and I told my husband, “You have to read this.” And my husband is not a reader – if he’s not on social media, he does not read. Well, he took it to work with him the next day, and I guess it was a slow day at work. (He works retail during the day.) So he texted me by early afternoon and said, “I read it. Five hours.” Who can I give it to next?

Frédéric Byé: Really? Wow, okay. I’ll take that: “Life’s Golden Ticket.” Okay. You why I write the style that I write? It’s because – and I don’t know if you feel that way – maybe men and women feel different about that. But it’s like I read Paulo Coelho, and I don’t know if you’ve read “Eleven Minutes.” It’s a book, it’s about a prostitute, right? And I just feel like sometimes, they don’t go far enough.

It’s like: Okay, well they just start kissing, and boom – they go the next scene. But I just – I don’t know. Just give it, like give more give. Give more to me. Give it to me. You know what I mean? So that’s the reason why I write the type of books I write. I like to go a little – to make them a little edgier.

And this is what I found in Henry Miller’s books. Henry Miller is not for everybody. It’s not like a regular – it’s fiction, but it’s not like a novel. It’s just, the guy is just writing what pops out of his head, basically. And that’s what makes him great, I think.

But I think you and I like the same kind of books with with purpose and little bit of spirituality in it. Did you read “The Alchemist”?

Kim: I have not, but it is on my list. And I’m actually disappointed that I forgot to add it to my cart, because I have a shipment of books coming today. (You know, I have a shipment of books coming today after I just said that I’m already reading four or five, and I’m trying to get it down to two. I just couldn’t pass up.) I have to say, everybody and their mother has been telling me to read “Think and Grow Rich” – which I have not read yet.

Frédéric Byé: Oh, you didn’t read it? Every successful person that I know that you read about has read that book.

Kim: I know! So maybe once it comes today, maybe that will be my ticket to – first, podcast sponsors (hint hint, just kidding) and speaking engagements. But it will be here via the mail today, and I am thrilled to actually get started.

Frédéric Byé: Oh, it’ll change your life.

Kim: So reading one or two books a month – or reading one or two books at a time can wait until 2017.

Frédéric Byé: Yeah, I like to focus on one book – and sometimes, what I found out for me? Books find me. Like, I don’t find them. The books that I usually read in their entirety is because they found me. And once I start reading, I gotta keep going.

Sometimes I buy books, and I read like the first chapter or whatever, and I’m like, “Okay, not now. It’s not the time.” And then I might go back to them six months or a year later and read them in their entirety.

Kim: Oh, absolutely. Can you think of a book that fits into that?

Frédéric Byé: Stephen King, I think – which one – “Cujo”. Where’s the other one? The other one that everybody – ah, “Pet Sematary”. That’s one of them. Even “The Intelligent Investor” – well, that’s an investment book by Benjamin Graham. There are so many, there are so many. “Interview with a Vampire”, I have this one in front of me. I got to read that one. This one has been popping up in front of me for the last few months here.

Kim: I’m looking at my shelf trying to chime in, but nothing is popping out.

Frédéric Byé: I still have “Grey.” You know, the last “50 Shades of Grey” book.

Kim: Okay, I was going to bring that up when you were talking. Because I think that is a commonly misconceived – am I making up words here? – series of books where people who haven’t read them think that they are pure porn. And as you were saying before, there’s more than just the sexual relations that go on in those books. Because there is a backstory.

Frédéric Byé: Well, there is a backstory. And I read – I didn’t read the three books, I just read the first one… Which is the first? The first one, there’s like a sex scene every like you know every chapter-

Kim: Two pages?

Frédéric Byé: Yeah, every two pages, so. Okay, after a while, it’s like “Okay.” And it’s very – I think it’s very “for women”. Personally, I read it because I wanted to know why it was so popular. And then, when the last one came out in June of last year, which was great – like from the male perspective – I didn’t finish it yet. But I might finish it someday. But again, it’s good, it’s all right, I understand why it’s popular – especially with women.

Kim: I’ve only read the first two, because I was sort of the same, and then I moved on. And maybe I’ll go back – I’ll go back when the other movies come out. Because I won’t see the movie without reading the book first. And I am interested in how they convert it. The same with the Harry Potter movies – I wouldn’t watch the movie until I had read the book.

Frédéric Byé: Oh, right. Harry Potter – I read the first only. Because again, I wanted to know why it was so popular, what was the bug. But I can’t – I’m not a Harry Potter fan. I’ve got to have realism in my in my novels. So I like – you know?

Kim: Oh, and I have “The Fountainhead” sitting on my shelf that has yet to be read as well. So “The Fountainhead” and “The Alchemist.” Both of those, I need to read.

Frédéric Byé: “Fountainhead”, um – never heard of that one.

Kim: Oh, wait. No, I’ve read “The Fountainhead.” Sorry, “Atlas Shrugged”. I’ve read “The Fountainhead” – it’s about an architect, but I only read it because I was an interior architect in my past life. I’m going to have to reread it, because that was a long time ago that I read it. But, yeah.

So I wanted to circle back around to podcasting.

Frédéric Byé: Yeah, sure!

Kim: People approach you, I’m assuming, who are considering starting a podcast – and they really don’t know where to start, or if they’re going to start. What are some of the most common hang-ups that really don’t have to be hang-ups, but they’re allowing them to be?

Frédéric Byé: Hang-ups, you mean that people are afraid of?

Kim: Yes, that they are afraid of – and are just causing them to delay their launch.

Frédéric Byé: I think one of them is finding guests. You know, “Why would people want to be on my show?” Yeah, I think that’s one of them. I don’t think they should be afraid of that. I think most – not most authors – all authors, or musicians, and all that: They want to be interviewed. Because it’s promoting their stuff, it’s promoting their work. And one more podcast, one more place to promote – you know, we need podcasts.

We need these platforms so that we can reach more people – so that you can help reach more people. I think they’re afraid that – yeah, I think it seems to me that they’re afraid that they won’t be able to commit. And, “Why would people want to be on my show?” You know what I mean?

Kim: Absolutely, yeah. I was in that same boat. But then I just started putting myself out there and saying, “Hey, do you want to come on? And I would just get a huge smile on my face and sort of jump in my chair when I got yes’s back, and then I stopped being afraid to ask.

Frédéric Byé: Yeah, of course. And of course if you ask a hugely famous person, you’re going to run into their assistant, and they’re going to say, “I am not available.” That’s okay, that’s normal. You know, it’s Okay. It’s normal, and it’s okay.

Kim: Oh, absolutely. And I’m hoping to have an assistant who does that soon for myself. Because even I – and you may very well be in the same boat – have a tendency to overcommit sometimes, on my calendar. And then I try to figure out where I’m going to fit in everything else I need to do. So there needs to be a balance somewhere.

Frédéric Byé: Yeah, yeah. And you know, like recently – it’s funny you asked me that, because somebody asked me to give them some podcast training. I just went, “Hey. I’m going to give you some podcast training. I don’t mind.” It’s not hard to start a podcast. It’s really not hard.

And what’s great about it is, it’s not very expensive also. You just need a good mic, and to be in a closed room, and a computer – and that’s it. You’re set. So you pay your hosts 10 bucks a month, or whatever, and that’s it. You got to.

Kim: You know, what scared me the most was getting onto iTunes. And I was so surprised at how easy it was.

Frédéric Byé: Oh, yeah – i t is easy. Of course it is. Yeah. It is super easy.

Kim: The most difficult part was, really, recording the episode – which wasn’t difficult after I took out the fear of actually getting in front of the microphone – and editing it. But as far as getting it up on hosting and then submitting across the networks, that was a half-hour process – tops – and bang. There it goes. “Hello, world! Welcome to the Positive Productivity Podcast! I’d love your feedback, and so would Frederic!”

Frédéric Byé: Yeah. And all you got to do is upload your RSS feed to different platforms, too. And it doesn’t – the technology is great. It just automatically shares your content. Like we just got on Spreaker recently, for Creative Magic Network.

And I love Spreaker – and I’m giving them a free plug, I don’t care. I love it. I really love it, because it’s so easy to share on SoundCloud. And now YouTube – I started a YouTube channel at the beginning of the year. It took me, no kidding – one-hour episode was maybe – it took four hours, because you got to download it and then upload it… But with Spreaker, it literally takes three minutes to share.

Kim: Okay, can you explain Spreaker some more for people – like me. Well, actually I have a free account, because I don’t really understand what it is, and I only signed up because somebody said to. (I have to admit, that’s why.) But I do my hosting through Libsyn – and I don’t know if that’s even what Spreaker does, and I don’t know what the benefits are.

Frédéric Byé: So Spreaker – for me, the benefit is normally you can get on iHeartRadio after you get 100 followers. That’s another platform, great platform: iHeartRadio. And that’s one of the main reasons why I am on Spreaker, is because we got on Spreaker a week ago – yeah, a little over a week ago officially on Spreaker – with a plan, because we want to get on on iHeartRadio. And you can only do it through Spreaker.

Spreaker’s basically a platform like BlogTalkRadio, or you can do live shows, you have your own recorder, and then you have a bunch of – again, sharing. You can share it on YouTube, and you can create your own radio station on Spreaker also. And you can broadcast live. It’s a lot more flexible – they have a lot of opportunities and options to broadcast, basically.

And it’s just one more big platform to be on. It really pays off to be on multiple platforms. Sometimes, if you have two or three hours to kill, just go in a cafe and check out – Google, “Where to upload my podcast?” And upload them. All they require is a RSS feed, a lot of them are free, but Spreaker – I’m going to open it up, actually right now.

Kim: And I have done that Google search. Every person who is considering a podcast definitely needs to do that search. “Where should I upload my podcast?”

Frédéric Byé: Absolutely, absolutely. And a lot of big guys are on Spreaker, and Speaker has its own app, too. Basically, we got on it because we wanted A) to be on another platform, B) to get on iHeartRadio. And I mean, the first plan starts at five bucks, $5, and you have 100 hours worth of content that you can have on it. So it is more than enough, it’s really more than enough hours.

Kim: It’s $5? I didn’t even realize that! I feel like I was being a bit stingy now, because I stuck with the free one. No wonder they’re telling me my memory is full. I know what I’m doing this afternoon now!

Frédéric Byé: Yeah! It’s $5 a month. And after you get 100 followers, you can get on iHeartRadio. And right now, just this morning, we were – we got on last week on Spreaker, and we’re at thirty six followers, right now. So we’re almost – we’re almost one-third there. We want to get on iHeartRadio as quickly as we can!

Kim: All right, well ping me that link, and I’ll make sure that it’s in the show notes. But you’ll reach 100 before this episode goes out, but I will make sure to give you 37 as soon as we are done recording here.

Frédéric Byé: Okay, yeah, thank you!

Kim: Well, Frederic. This has been entirely – I don’t even know what to say – full of so much valuable information, and golden nuggets, and all that good stuff. Where can listeners find you? I know you have to the podcast, you have a website. But where can they find to you to connect, and learn more, and collaborate in the future?

Frédéric Byé: FredericBye.com. Frederic with a “c”. Bye like “bye-bye” – dot com. Everything is there – all the podcasts are there, social media is there, just everything about me is there. It’s really that simple.

Kim: It really is that simple. That’s awesome. That’s why you stopped changing the name of your network and stuck with your name.

Frédéric Byé: Yeah, yeah. That’s one thing I really want to do because – I’ve learned this through learning about the business of being an author. Because they say, “Do you brand your business, or do you brand your name?” And I know this is Hay House representative said, “You better brand your name – because in the future, if you want to change, then your name is your name. But you can change, you can morph into something else. You have the freedom to morph into something else.” This is why my show is “The Frederic Byé Show”. So, yeah.

Kim: I absolutely agree. However, it’s not going to become “The Kim Sutton Show” as far as I know. I love “Positive Productivity” and what I’m doing. So who knows? Maybe there will be a “Kim Sutton Show” in the future – I can’t even imagine what I’d talk about there. (Because you listeners already hear more than you probably should on this show. Just go back through some of the odd-numbered episodes to find stories of what goes on in the Sutton house in real life.)

Well, thank you again, Frederic. And it’s been awesome.

Frédéric Byé: Well, thank you very much.

Kim: And listeners, you can find the show notes, again, at TheKimSutton.com/PP048.