We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Andy Elliott a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Andy, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
A creative risk that I’m proud of started in November of 2019, which was the inception of Man to Man Podcast.
Like myself, there are so many people out there that love having a hobby or finding a passion project outside of their primary job to work on. I believe it challenges us to stay motivated and to also be more creative as people.
Outside of the marketing job I had my first year out of college in Chicago, I decided it would be fun to create a podcast with a friend of mine and see where it went. The podcast consisted of weekly pop culture topics and basketball. Long story short, we were about 4 months in, then the world shut down.
Similar to much of the country, we found ourselves without employment. On the other hand, we realized something about everyone being stuck at home. More people had a lot more time on their hands, more people were looking at their phones, and more people were on social media. Meaning, there was a chance we could pull in more people to what we were doing. We had an opportunity to turn a side hobby into a main source of focus.
The ultimate risk was to continue to build something that could end up being nothing. And let’s be honest, it wasn’t as saturated back then, but then again everyone has a podcast. So, how were we going to separate ourselves from the rest of the crowd?
The podcast received fairly decent feedback shortly after we launched the show, so I ran with that momentum and challenged myself to learn new skills, like how to use Adobe products for social media purposes, understand social media tactics that would result in more drive and engagement to our channels, create merchandise to make money, hire a group of interns for extra assistance and brand awareness, and most importantly, stay consistent. Slowly but surely, 6 months later someone saw us, and that was a radio station on Hollywood Boulevard called DASH Radio.
With an average monthly audience of 15 million listeners, DASH Radio allowed the podcast to have real credibility, as we were able to secure multiple athletes, artists, content creators, and social media influencers. A few include Mitchell Tenpenny, Marc E Bassy, Friday Beers, Garrison Mathews, and Jed Wyatt.
Fast forward two years later, we’ve built over a combined following of 20,000 followers on Instagram and TikTok, over 260,000 likes on both platforms, and over 50,000 total downloads. In addition, we still have a relationship with DASH radio, along with adding BLEAV podcast network to our name and joining multi-media company Six Pack Coverage in Nashville, Tennessee.
Andy, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My story is simple up to this point. I’m 26 years old, from Nashville, Tennessee, raised by a single mother who’s an entrepreneur and business owner, who likes to creatively challenge myself to many different things. I’d say outside of my friend group, what I’m most known for is the podcast that I’ve built over the past three years.
It wasn’t something I thought I’d take so seriously until 2020 came about and the world decided to put everything on hold. At that point, I was given the time to learn and focus more on that craft. People supported us, bought our merch, listened to our episodes, and we were fortunate enough to sign a radio deal in LA just months later.
However, we realize that with just about anything else in life, there is still so much more room to grow, and that’s the exciting part. It never stops. We’re still very small which is okay.
Outside of weekly episodes, selling merch, and the other behind-the-scenes tasks most listeners never hear about, we love to give back to our community of Nashville, Tennessee. We both grew up in Nashville and have seen the journey that this city continues to be on. Housing prices are going up, things are becoming more expensive, and the homeless population is increasing each year.
At the end of every year, we announce our Man to Man Clothing Drive, where we rent out a minivan, drive around Downtown Nashville, and hand out tote bags filled with clothes, hats, gloves, food, and drinks to the homeless. We set a goal of $500 to raise from friends, family, and listeners so we’re able to help cover those expenses. Over the past two years, we’ve raised over $1,500 and 2,500 articles of clothing, and we can’t thank everyone enough who helped contribute.
With the world now opening up again, my primary line of work is in branding, social media, and content creation. I work for a digital marketing company known as Get Engaged and help clients with each of the verticals above.
On the side, I do the podcast and script writing and voice-over work for a sports media company on Snapchat called Playmaker. I love helping my mother’s skincare business, Wax Pot Skin Studio, on social media or wherever they need assistance, as well as managing social media personalities to help them get brand deals and more notoriety.
My mission is to continue to work, make connections, and surround myself with people that have a like-minded mindset. If I were given the chance to say one thing to the world, it would be to stop being so cruel to each other and to love one another. Oh, and to GETCHA DAMN MERCH.
In your view, what can society do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
I’d say to be more open-minded to what people have to offer and to be willing to consider new ideas. Luckily, the city of Nashville does a fairly good job of being so receptive to new people, but could also do a better job of supporting those who have been here while the city continues to grow at the speed that it is.
I have a close heart to this city being from here and truly care about the small businesses, ma and pa shops, and the things that made Nashville, Nashville to begin with. With that being said, I’d ask my city to continue to support new people and new ideas, but to also support the smaller people that have called this place home over the past 20 years.
What do you find most rewarding about being creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being a creator is by far seeing the support from others. That will never go unnoticed; honestly, it keeps people going with whatever they’re doing. We’ve had an amazing support system from so many people, and again, we can’t thank you enough.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.andyelliottportfolio.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/twasington/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliott-andy/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMO_CRnvPYPqEta0mF5NJoQ
- Other: Podcast Website: https://mantomanpodcasts.com/home
Podcast TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mantomanpodcast