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This Podcast Strategy Made Him $7,700/Month in 5 Months
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In this episode, Ken Freire sits down with fundraising consultant and podcast host Randy Dirks to unpack how he went from having no podcasting experience in November 2025 to building a thriving consulting business generating over $7,700/month in recurring revenue within a few months. Randy shares how he leveraged storytelling, relationship-building, LinkedIn content, and consistent podcasting to land high-value nonprofit consulting clients and create a legacy-focused business centered on impact, faith, and family. Together, they discuss the mindset, execution, and systems required to build a successful solo business in the age of AI and content-driven authority.
Resources Mentioned
- Randy Dirks - https://randydirks.com/
- Randy's Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/randydirks/
Timestamps
- 00:00 – Randy’s journey into podcasting and consulting
Randy shares how discovering StoryBrand and Donald Miller inspired him to launch a consulting business and podcast despite having no prior podcasting experience. - 03:39 – Overcoming imposter syndrome and finding your unique value
Randy explains why he believed he could compete in a crowded consulting market by leaning into storytelling, donor relationships, and decades of experience. - 08:17 – The 21-day podcast challenge and learning through execution
Ken and Randy discuss the importance of taking action, building momentum quickly, and learning podcasting by doing instead of over-preparing. - 10:04 – Clarifying the ideal client and growing authority on LinkedIn
Randy shares how refining his niche and consistently posting LinkedIn articles helped him attract consulting opportunities organically. - 11:43 – Landing consulting clients and generating recurring revenue
Randy breaks down how he secured consulting retainers worth $4,500/month and $3,300/month, along with additional opportunities in the pipeline. - 18:01 – Using assessments and value ladders to close clients
Ken highlights Randy’s strategy of diagnosing nonprofit pain points before presenting offers, increasing trust and positioning. - 19:17 – The character traits behind successful solopreneurs
Randy and Ken discuss execution, consistency, adaptability, continuous learning, and staying focused on a specific audience. - 24:19 – Building legacy, impact, and financial freedom
Randy shares his long-term vision of serving nonprofits, supporting his grandchildren, creating generational wealth, and building a retreat space for international workers. - 30:07 – The power of consistency and knowing your “why”
Randy closes with encouragement about maintaining vision, staying faithful to the mission, and pursuing meaningful long-term goals through steady action.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Shared Experiences
00:00:00
Ken Freire
Welcome back to another episode. And today I have a dear friend and he was also a client of a my club, Randy Dirks. Randy, welcome to the show.
00:00:13
Randy Dirks
Hey, Ken, we've ah had a lot of experiences together at at another organization. Just appreciate all you do. And I've loved the journey that i've had on that I've had with you over the last several months. So glad to be here.
00:00:27
Ken Freire
Yeah, Randy, you know, you have mentioned it. you You met me before I had kids and you saw me struggle trying to try and to train and develop and mentor kids and then working. We both work in the same organization. But then I left and then you you've kind of done your own things. You're kind of back and you also started your own business at the same
Starting a Business and StoryBrand Influence
00:00:48
Ken Freire
time. Walk us through what was that business like come November 2025?
00:00:55
Randy Dirks
Okay, so I got to introduce to a gentleman about a year and a half ago, Donald Miller, and he writes about StoryBrand. It's a whole communication process. And I began to say to myself, well, this is a great um process that we can use at the nonprofit where I work, where I still work. I've been a development consultant for 28 years at three nonprofits. So always sharing a story with people.
00:01:20
Randy Dirks
And so I learned about Donald Miller's approach of sharing stories and connecting, identifying who is the hero in your story. And I really liked that framework. So then I began to think toward the end of last year, okay, you've got this 28 years of experience, expertise in the development world. Why not share that expertise with other people and and see where
Podcasting Beginnings and Ken's Mentorship
00:01:44
Randy Dirks
it goes? And maybe that can become a ah sideline opportunity for you to learn and connect more with people.
00:01:50
Randy Dirks
So I said, okay, let's see how I could do that. Well, maybe I could learn how to be a podcaster. You know, I'm watching podcasts all the time on a variety of topics.
00:01:57
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:02:01
Randy Dirks
And I see people being interviewed. I see the number of likes and people viewing things. And I also did a little my own research. And I said, if I want to start a business, what's the best way to do that? And it just kept coming back. You need to start your own podcast.
00:02:16
Randy Dirks
Well, I am not a guru in the podcast world. As you can see, by the color of my hair, I've been around the block a really long time. So I'm not intuitive into that world. So I said, okay, I got to find some people that I can do this with. And lo and behold, your name came up and a colleague that you work with. that I also knew from the the organization we're with in the past. and And I found out that you guys are helping people start their own podcast. And I said, okay, um I got i gotta dive in. I want to dive in. And you guys had some great expertise. So that's how it started. And then you led me and I think a few others through a series of weeks of how do you start from nothing?
00:03:07
Randy Dirks
And literally, i had nothing. um I mean, I had spoken in front of people before, but I didn't know all the mechanics and the structure and how you put everything together.
00:03:18
Randy Dirks
So you really laid ah the groundwork. And those seven weeks, I i put together my own my own five podcasts. I said, wow, this is pretty cool. And the expertise you gave me, I'm jumping ahead a little bit now, and no we'll come back to it.
00:03:33
Randy Dirks
So today I finished my 51st podcast and just really love it.
00:03:37
Ken Freire
That's awesome.
00:03:39
Randy Dirks
It's opening up
Embracing Unique Skills and Consulting Focus
00:03:40
Randy Dirks
a new world. We can talk about that.
00:03:42
Ken Freire
Yeah. Well, Randy, you know, what what's really cool is I remember when you first started, you didn't really have a name for the podcast. You had ah a semblance of an idea. um and all of a sudden you're like, I'm jumping in. And i remember when you you reached out and said, hey, I'm interested in doing this. And I told Dan, who who's a business partner, like, hey, if he does this, he's going to crush it.
00:04:02
Ken Freire
Because we know a lot about your character, your your your abilities, really the things that make someone successful. And we'll talk about that here in a little bit. But I wanted to go back to something you said earlier. you had 28 years of experience in the development world.
00:04:19
Ken Freire
And you were like, hey, maybe I should become a development consultant. Was there ever anything in your mind that said, man, there's already a lot of consultants out there i I can't compete with those guys. They're probably better. What kind of gave you the the step in the right direction to say, I'm going to move forward with this business and even do podcasting? Because you might be like, there's a lot of great podcasters out there. Why me?
00:04:44
Randy Dirks
Sure. Well, actually I've been, been, like in the work where i where I'm at, I've had three people that were consultants that helped me over the 28 years. So I knew there were a plethora of people out there. ah You work in the nonprofit world, it's a challenging world to begin with. And so I knew that there was a niche out there for that kind of a person.
00:05:09
Randy Dirks
And when I began to look at myself to answer your question, I said, okay, what is it that I bring that's unique? that makes me stand out maybe a little bit above the crowd in in this whole world where someone would say, okay, I i want to connect with with Randy on this. So there's a few things that I'll bring out. Number one,
00:05:31
Randy Dirks
And maybe StoryBrand helped in this way, but i'm going way back I've always focused on story the importance of story changed lives, those kind of things so i knew, okay, i've got something that maybe other nonprofit consultants aren't focusing a lot on, and that's how
00:05:51
Randy Dirks
composed story because people give to stories of lives changed of emotion. So that was sort of a bedrock thing that I held on to. The second thing that ah I began to realize more and more is that the 28 years I've worked a lot with what we call major donors. So that's ah a smaller segment in the nonprofit world, but it's really how do you build relationships with people that And so I focused on doing that really over my whole career, not only in the nonprofit world, but prior to doing this. How do you build trust based relationships? How do you care for people? How do you enter into their world? How do you connect with them? So I knew, OK, I've got something in that area. Yeah, other people have that. But it's a it's a trait that I've honed and developed.
00:06:38
Randy Dirks
So that was something. The third thing that really helped me and you were you pointed this out in our training is your own network people that you already know. So I knew two people that were presidents of nonprofits. These are people that I've known for one for 12 years, another one for 30 years.
00:06:59
Randy Dirks
And I found out that they both had their own nonprofits. And I just had a conversation with them. I just said, hey, this is what I do. I'd love to be involved with you. I love the cause that you're doing.
00:07:12
Randy Dirks
And they both said, yeah. So those are the three things that sort of stood out to me.
00:07:19
Ken Freire
Well, and Randy, what what's amazing about that is that you you talked about, like, here's my expertise. Here's what I know I could bring to the table. And that's what I loved about you, Randy, is that there's so many people who struggle to like, oh, I want to go out there. I want to go do the thing.
00:07:33
Ken Freire
And you have to almost be reminded of like, no, no, this is the God-given abilities that that I have and the experience that I've acquired, i know I can help people. And there is this belief in yourself and what God has done in your life that you were like, okay, I can go do this. And then we came in and we really just kind of
Podcast Bootcamp and Financial Success
00:07:53
Ken Freire
guided. Like the way I like to think about it is like, that's what I told again, Dan, I was like, he's going to crush it because you have all the right materials and, and the the character for it. So walk us through, how did you feel about the process? So the first 21 days was the bootcamp, the solo podcast challenge.
00:08:11
Ken Freire
How did you feel about that? And then I'll talk about my club, how, when you started going through that process.
00:08:17
Randy Dirks
Sure. Well, I really liked how the 21 days was set out to begin with. It was ah sequential. It was smaller steps, even though some of those smaller steps, it's like, oh, you mean tomorrow I have to do a three minute podcast? Yeah.
00:08:34
Randy Dirks
But because you you walk people through in a very orderly way, ah you gave them the technical skills, you gave them the context of how you do things.
00:08:46
Randy Dirks
But it was it was the kind of thing where day one, you're doing something day two, you're adding on it, you're building on it. So when we got to the, doing the first podcast, I, I think that was day seven.
00:09:00
Randy Dirks
Um, if I'm not mistaken, I was sort of like a little, um, no, I'm not caught off guard, but, Oh,
00:09:01
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:09:07
Randy Dirks
I thought I was going to wait later. you're They're going to give me some more insights as to how I'm supposed to do this. But really, the insight is doing it yourself. OK. so I felt the framework was there. It was relatively easy to follow. You stayed connected with us. You followed up and ah good assignments that we were able to track on. So the process I found that by the time I got to the end,
00:09:34
Randy Dirks
Yeah, I still obviously have a lot to learn in the podcasting world, but I had a foundation that wasn't leaky, that wasn't falling apart. I could build on it. and And that's really what I did going into the MyClub program is it wasn't now more the technical side. There's still things to learn on the technical side, but now it's more the coaching side where you are coming alongside over these last,
00:10:04
Randy Dirks
many weeks, and we're really now talking about my ideal client, the people that I am working with. Who are they? Where are they at? What am I what am i thinking of doing as a way of reaching out to this ideal client?
00:10:19
Randy Dirks
Maybe some already that I have. I've mentioned a few of them to you. There's a few others that I would say, well, this is what I'm thinking of doing. And you would say, okay, how about this area? Because obviously you bring in expertise from a wide range of situations you've been in, things you've done.
00:10:36
Randy Dirks
So then I would say, oh, Ken, that's a great way of, you know, I i use LinkedIn more and more. And you help me the beginning looking at my LinkedIn page. You say, what about doing this?
00:10:46
Randy Dirks
I would make those changes, different ways of doing articles. I post a of articles on LinkedIn. I remember when I had, what was it, 325 subscribers to my articles.
00:10:59
Randy Dirks
And now I've got 440.
00:10:59
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:11:01
Randy Dirks
So, you know, it's like the things that I'm doing are beginning to work. And so the my the work that you've done personally with me has been building, but really on the standpoint of now putting it down to a specific client that I'm working with and helping to make that even more productive and effective.
00:11:24
Ken Freire
And and what what we provided, i want to make sure everybody's aware of, like, we provided a system, a framework. But you, Randy, provided the the character and the thing that needed it to work.
00:11:36
Ken Freire
Right. So let's let's talk about that. But now that you're done with Mike Club,
00:11:40
Randy Dirks
you
00:11:43
Ken Freire
Right. Can you tell people if you're OK with it, the results like what happened? How many clients did you get? What kind of revenue did you make so that people could be like, OK, what actually occurred at the end of going through this process?
00:11:55
Randy Dirks
Sure. Yeah. So the the ah two two the two paying customers I have now, I'll talk about some other situations that are really on the wings to develop. But the first one is a ah person that I've known for 12 years. And so my consultancy work with them,
Consulting Strategies and Execution Importance
00:12:14
Randy Dirks
they're raising funds for two building projects.
00:12:17
Randy Dirks
One is $325,000. The other one is a little over a million. And these are going to morph into larger, this is like stage one, and over the next six to nine months.
00:12:25
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:12:27
Randy Dirks
And so what I did is knowing my my background, ah fundraising, knowing their context of who they're working with, I just meshed those together and did a lot of research on where are the most critical points that I can add value to what they're doing.
00:12:45
Randy Dirks
And then based upon that, I developed a a consulting program framework that I could use. And then I just did a lot of research. I'm new to this field.
00:12:55
Randy Dirks
So I said, what should I charge? It's not like I could call somebody up and say, hey, by the way, what are you charging for your consulting work? Unless I knew the person individually.
00:13:04
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:13:05
Randy Dirks
So I just use my AI platforms, Perplexity, Clot are the two primary ones that I go to, Gemini also a little bit once in a while. And I just said, okay, this is who I am. This is my experience. This is what I'm going to offer.
00:13:18
Randy Dirks
And often another thing, it's a little trick that I've figured out. I decided to find out who are the top seven fundraising consultants in the United States. You know, people have got LinkedIn articles, blogs, podcasts, podcasts. So I found out who those people were. And anytime I have a question,
00:13:36
Randy Dirks
i e I need to know what to charge for a certain service. I'm always asking these people. So I ask it on AI, I give the context, they give the feedback and that gave me a real framework as to what I could charge. And so then i remember talking specifically to you about that, about that contract. And I was saying, ah, think I'm going to aim it at this particular figure. And you said, well,
00:14:03
Randy Dirks
what do you think about a little higher figure than that? And I gave a little rationale where I was the way it was.
00:14:06
Ken Freire
Thank you.
00:14:09
Randy Dirks
And then over the weekend I said, I think there's some value in what Kim was saying. And so that first contract is for $4,500 a month. It's going to be, it's month by month, but this is going to be a long range because they've got significant building projects. The second contract I have is for $3,300 a month. And that's with a person that found me on LinkedIn.
00:14:33
Randy Dirks
And again, you've got to start getting yourself out there. So I post articles twice a week. There are articles that I post are based upon my podcasts.
00:14:39
Ken Freire
Thank you.
00:14:42
Randy Dirks
So I did a podcast this morning with a guy that's a fractional CFO. That's a whole other story how I designed the questions. But now I took that podcast script and I put it into a LinkedIn article.
00:14:55
Randy Dirks
that is has an attractive heading and sub lines and whatever else. So that's how this person found me. It was the articles that i that you helped me, Ken, write.
00:15:06
Randy Dirks
And so that's a 3,300 contract. So those two are $7,700 a month, um which is actually exceeds what my income is from my regular job, which is pretty cool. And now I have a third client. This person I've known for a long period of time. I met with him and his communications person, went through what I would do. I really want to look at, and this is another point, what are the problems this organization is facing? So this is a development company, nonprofit. He he started it 18 years ago. They're at $1.4 million in revenue. He wanted to move it to $1.8 million. another $400,000.
00:15:44
Randy Dirks
add another four hundred thousand dollars That's another in nine months
00:15:50
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:15:50
Randy Dirks
I said, that's pretty aggressive, but I developed a plan based upon my expertise. I presented it to him. Yesterday, we had a meeting with the the board chair. I went through the whole plan. um with them. But I also said, I want you, and I have a, this is another, this maybe a little later on in the conversation, I have a value add that I give back to people. In in this case, it's what are the indicators of financial health in your nonprofit?
00:16:19
Randy Dirks
I developed 10 of those. So when we came to the conclusion of the call yesterday, they said, well, why don't you get back to us and give us your your ranges? You know, if you offer package A, what it would be, package B. And I said, well, I can certainly do that, but I would like you to take this assessment first because it tells me where you really are at in a nonprofit.
00:16:40
Randy Dirks
What are your problems? What are your pain points? So that's just a critical thing. And then I can take their information and say, in order for me to meet this problem that you have,
00:16:52
Randy Dirks
it's going to cost you X. So if I'm planning on saying it's, that's going to be a $5,500 monthly engagement with them. If they take what I would recommend they do. And then on the side, I'll end with this one.
00:17:07
Randy Dirks
I have, I have others in the wings that I'm developing, but I'm doing a pro bono for one month with a person that I met on LinkedIn ah Fabulous nonprofit that she has, but she is really struggling. And so when I was interviewing her for a podcast, I told her who i was and what I did. And she said to me, oh, I would really like to hire you as my as my as my consultant if I could afford it. Well, I realized she couldn't. So I said, how about if I give you a month free?
00:17:35
Randy Dirks
Normally my fee for the work I would do for you, which is just communication, it's not the full blown deal, is $1,500 a month. But I'll give you a month free. Um, it's not a lot of time off my back and helping with some Facebook posts and social media, a few events.
00:17:50
Randy Dirks
And I want to get dollars in her bank account because I believe in her. And if it all works out well, then that's another client. So that was a little longer, but that's the story.
00:18:01
Ken Freire
Well, you know, Randy, what I love is i don't want people to miss this, how you had a value ladder and the way you were indicating. I know a lot of beginner consultants, they just jump on like, oh, give me your offer. And you were they start sharing like, oh, here's often A, B and C. And you're like, no, no, no.
00:18:18
Ken Freire
Time out. Do this assessment real quick. Let me see where you're really at. Let's diagnose.
00:18:23
Randy Dirks
Yeah. Yeah.
00:18:25
Ken Freire
And that that's actually giving you more power and more leverage. um and And I want you guys to all hear this. We have a framework that that, Randy, you used to get these clients. And every single time you're like, wow, it worked. And and what I love about it is that, and I tell people,
00:18:42
Ken Freire
The process is simple once you get through all the tech stuff, right, of podcasting. But the process is simple that people might be like, oh, that's it. Right. And I'm like, yeah, we don't want you to be with us for the next 10 years. It's like you learn it. You're going to go do it. You're growing your business.
00:18:58
Randy Dirks
Yeah.
00:18:58
Ken Freire
Praise God.
00:18:59
Ken Freire
You know, let's let's move on. um But what I love is that you you're starting to take it to the next level, different things that you're learning, different things that you're growing. But we've been teasing this out, Randy. I want you to to talk to people who are like, hey, I was able to do all these things, but there are certain...
00:19:17
Ken Freire
you know, character qualities and abilities that you have that I want people to know that it takes to actually make a successful business. So I know this is hard for some people to toot their own horn, but I need you to toot your own horn for a second and say like, what are those things that make a successful consultant slash business owner?
00:19:38
Randy Dirks
Well, you articulated one in the beginning and that's regardless of who is out there and there's a lot of big players out there. I was coached by consultants that are big players. You know, they they run at higher dollar amounts, ah but it is the fact that I have something of value to offer to somebody else or a group ah of people that And yeah, you may be younger in in your career experience. And so that's where the challenges come. But be a reader, be a learner, learn as much as you can about your craft, about your field, about your category, narrow it down.
00:20:14
Randy Dirks
Okay. our problem is that we become really broad. I want to serve everybody. I want everybody as a customer. That's probably not going to work very well. But if you can narrow it down to a certain ah ideal client, somebody that you want to serve.
00:20:27
Randy Dirks
And so that's what I did. i said, I've got some expertise in this area. I want to develop it more and I want to connect with those kind of people.
00:20:36
Ken Freire
Thank you.
00:20:36
Randy Dirks
So now I go on LinkedIn. and I've got a fairly robust group of people I work with, but through LinkedIn, I'm mean being introduced to who they know. And so i now I know i used to go a little bit broader in who I wanted to reach out to.
00:20:51
Randy Dirks
Now I'm really narrowing it down. And and can you help me in that to say, OK, who are the decision makers? Who are the owners of oregon and nonprofits? Who are the presidents?
00:21:01
Randy Dirks
Those are the people I need to be talking to. And so I do that. I just had an interview with the head of a school, a Christian school, before I got on with you. And we're going to do a podcast together.
00:21:11
Randy Dirks
I'm building a relationship with him. At the end of the podcast, I'm going to offer him that value add assessment that he can do. And actually his database database person will do it. And then that'll give him what Jim Collins in good degree calls the brutal facts. If I was to come in and say to him, um hey, John, I can do X for $5,000 a month, or if you want to do just ah um W rather than X, it's $3,500.
00:21:43
Randy Dirks
But I don't know his context or her context. And so that would be the next step is find something of value add that will then address a legitimate problem or challenge that that person has. And when, when you can do that in a way that they say, oh yeah, that's my problem.
00:22:03
Randy Dirks
Um, could you help me with it? Okay. Now you've changed the table. It's not like you're coming in, but they're approaching you.
00:22:14
Randy Dirks
Okay. So that would be another area that I would say would be really valuable. And then, um, be Be willing to try new things. When I first started the podcast, I was working with one particular, i was working with the business community, thinking that what I could do could help them get customers, paying customers for the services they provided. I tried that and Well, it wasn't quite as effective as i what I thought it would or what I hoped it would be. So then I switched to a different field that was really more aligned with who I was and that and enables me to to speak more professionally into the lives of these people. So those would be a few areas.
00:22:56
Ken Freire
Yeah, Randy, those those are all great. i also want to toot your horn for a second. Things that I think made you successful. You know, you you had this, everything you talked about, you had the strategy, and but there's two things.
00:23:09
Ken Freire
One, your ability to take action and execute. right There are a lot of people who many times they have great ideas, but they don't execute. And you're like, all right, I remember I'd give you ideas. You're like, you text me back the next day. You're like, I did one, two, three. I'm going do five next week. You know, like you were just executing constantly.
00:23:27
Ken Freire
And then the second one is consistency.
00:23:28
Randy Dirks
Sure. Yeah.
00:23:29
Ken Freire
you You were just saying, hey, I'm being consistent. I'm working through this and and I'm helping it, which made your progress go so much faster. So my encouragement to those who are listening to this is that if you're out there and you're wondering, how do I be successful?
Consulting Goals and Legacy Creation
00:23:44
Ken Freire
Be like Randy, just execute. Even if it's messy, even if you don't know, like you, Randy, just mentioned, you've had to pivot several times, but that's okay, right?
00:23:54
Ken Freire
Execute and just be consistent. Like just show up and do the work. Randy, before we wrap up, I want i don't want people to miss this. You right now have $7,700 revenue coming in.
00:24:06
Randy Dirks
Yeah. Right. sure.
00:24:08
Ken Freire
And then you might have another one, which might be 13, but you also have several things in the pipeline because of this process. So it's not like it's over tomorrow, right? Like you still have a lot going on.
00:24:19
Randy Dirks
for sure
00:24:19
Ken Freire
um What's the goal for you? Like what's the impact that you're trying to make?
00:24:26
Randy Dirks
Okay, well, I'll talk on that on two frames. I'll say my goal for the people I serve, i'm I'm serving the nonprofit world. So these are people that believe in their cause, they're passionate for their cause. And it's making life changing transformations the lives of whether it's a medical, one guy I'm talking to as a medical um health related nonprofit serving people in in West Africa.
00:24:53
Randy Dirks
um powerful transformation that he's making there. So the thing that i look at, i look at at the frame of That nonprofit is changing people's lives really for not only here in this world, but when you think of the legacy of what happens to people's lives, the influence they have on so many other people. So the one thing that I always say, i want to keep working in areas where I know I'm making a significant difference for other people. And so when I look at nonprofit world and I'm focusing more on the smaller nonprofits, let's say under 3 million Avenue annual revenue. So these are not the big universities. That's a whole different league.
00:25:36
Randy Dirks
But I know that they're under-resourced. And so I feel as though there's something because of my expertise, I can really meet something that's going to be helpful for them. That's number one. Number two is I have ah i have ah a daughter and a son-in-law and five grandchildren. And I want to leave them a legacy.
00:25:54
Randy Dirks
And um by that, I mean something more than just pictures of myself.
00:26:02
Ken Freire
Thank you.
00:26:03
Randy Dirks
Although that would be nice that they would hang a picture of old grandpa on the wall. um You know, it comes down to, okay, maybe some land that I would be able to purchase, maybe a ah home that could actually go to them. Maybe something I could do, we we're actually doing this right now, where some of the profitability of what I'm earning is going to go and help my two oldest grandsons go to a private Christian school that their parents cannot afford.
00:26:33
Randy Dirks
OK, so by gaining this extra income over and above my regular job would not have allowed me to do that for my grandchildren.
00:26:33
Ken Freire
Love it.
00:26:43
Randy Dirks
I'm also thinking about how I can and and put some ah insurance plans together for them. So when they get twenty five, thirty thirty five, if they want to cash it in and have a I'd love to be involved with them, whatever they do with that.
00:26:56
Randy Dirks
I'm planning to live at least to one hundred. So I'm going to see them get married and have children.
00:27:01
Ken Freire
of it
00:27:02
Randy Dirks
um the investing in them as a family. Okay. So that I think of, you know, there, there's there's ah a verse in the Bible that's the talks about leaving an inheritance to your children's children.
00:27:14
Randy Dirks
So I want to be able to do that. And then I have some dreams for my, my wife, Rebecca and myself as financially what, what we're, where we could be. We have a ah a big dream of some things that we want to do. We worked overseas for many years. We know what it's like for international workers.
00:27:29
Randy Dirks
to be stressed out and challenged and they come back and they need just a place to rest and maybe get some professional counseling. My my wife is, that's her background. So we want to buy a piece of property on some water and some woods and those don't come cheap. And so the goal is to create enough revenue. My, my goal through my regular job and then my consultant work in the next year to be able to be at $250,000 annually a year, which is, you know, probably going to have to step me up at a couple more contracts, clients that I have.
00:28:08
Randy Dirks
um So those are the goals that I've set for myself. And they're worthy goals because I see that it's building into my family's life, my life, the lives of other people.
00:28:21
Ken Freire
Randy, and you're an inspiration. I will tell you that. like Even just talking hearing you about your goals and the legacy you want to leave behind, a lot of people want to just sit back and be like, I just want to be in the beach all day, which granted, you might have some of those days, right? That you're going to be doing that, but...
00:28:37
Ken Freire
Long term, your vision is I want to do this for God's glory. I want to impact people like who truly need it. And you're seeing an impact in society.
00:28:44
Randy Dirks
Yeah. Okay.
00:28:47
Ken Freire
And that that's a beautiful thing. And that's why I want to share your story to people, because it's like you're doing it, you're crushing it. And you're using a simple framework and you have the the abilities as well to do it.
00:28:58
Ken Freire
And. Anybody can do this. And I want to encourage anybody who's listening to this, like you can do this. Just put yourself in the right um group of people. Put yourself in the right conditions and get to work. Don't feel like, oh, man, I can't do it. Randy said it before. He's not the greatest tech person, right? um He was just like, i he didn't know anything about podcasting, but you learned it.
Consistency and Vision for Success
00:29:23
Ken Freire
And this was what, back in November?
00:29:23
Randy Dirks
Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Yeah.
00:29:25
Ken Freire
So, and when we were recording this, it's April. You have 51 episodes. I mean, that's incredible. There's most people, Randy, that like, they quit after seven episodes.
00:29:37
Ken Freire
They're done. And they don't record any anymore. You've passed that. Everybody, like, you are now in the top, like, 100 podcasters because you're a podcast because... you're showing up, you're recording, you're posting, and you're growing your business, which is at the end of the day, that's the game, right? If you just grew a podcast and there wasn't revenue coming behind it, you probably would have stopped earlier, ah but you're seeing the results. And that's the beautiful part about that. Randy, before we like let you go, any last words?
00:30:07
Randy Dirks
Yeah, you know, you you mentioned the word consistency a little earlier and so much hinges on that. Life happens. We get off track maybe one day, one week. But you have to have so clear in your mind your vision. What is it what is your why? i know Simon Sinek talks about knowing your why. But you've got to bring it down from what these other people are saying and say, what what does that mean to me?
00:30:35
Randy Dirks
Where do I want to be in five years from now? And if I don't change anything, I will still be where I am five years from now. But if I have a goal that is realistic, it's challenging. But I say to myself, I can do this.
00:30:49
Randy Dirks
And, you know, i'mm I'm a follower of Jesus Christ. I know you are, too. And so I say, i can do this with his power. And so sometimes I have to say, yeah, it's a little bit beyond me.
00:31:02
Randy Dirks
I'm not just trying to pull myself up my bootstraps. But I'm saying, ah Lord, you made me, you created me, you give me abilities. Now I want to i want to be faithful and use these to the max. Whatever you created me for, I want that. I don't want to settle for anything less. And so that that takes a visionary perspective. Somehow keep that in front of you.
00:31:24
Randy Dirks
Keep talking about it. If you're married, talk about that with your spouse. If you have a great friend, talk about that with your friend. Keep that in front of you so you don't get eclipsed by you know all the things that can happen in life, the the clouds that roll in and out. And sometimes there's some unexpected things that happen. We know that.
00:31:45
Randy Dirks
But you got to be able to say to yourself, I still have my why. Nobody's going to take that from me because I am doing it for these reasons. And once that's clear in your mind, you have a lot to stand on.
00:31:58
Ken Freire
Randy, that is a great word. And I'll end it with that.
Conclusion and Promotion
00:32:01
Ken Freire
Thank you so much for being on the show. And for those of you who are still listening, I encourage you, find Randy Dirks on LinkedIn. If you know a nonprofit who can use a consultant, go check him out, right? Because he's doing great work and he's actually helping people really, truly reach their goals. So Randy, thank you again so much for being on the show.
00:32:22
Randy Dirks
And thanks, Ken, for getting me to this place.