At Switched On, we want to champion everyone’s interests outside of work. It’s fascinating to find out what some of our colleagues get up to in their spare time! And apparently we’re not the only ones who think so; for the past year, Luis Padron (Metering Manager) and Maria Cervera (Major Business Account Manager) have been recording a podcast all about people who have found time to dedicate themselves to pursuing their interests and making a success of them, whatever that means to the individual.
You can learn more about the ‘@EverybodylikesLuis’ project at their website. You can also listen to the episodes here, or on Spotify and SoundCloud. Being originally from Venezuela, many of the episodes are recorded in Spanish - however, there are currently three English language installments, including one with Total's very own Sean Williamson, about his passion for illustration. And we are promised more to come!
In the meantime, check out the links below for all content:
Watch this space for future collaboration between Switched On and @EverybodylikesLuis, and opportunities to be featured on the podcast!
Switched On’s Mike Fenn sat down with the charming entrepreneurs to find out what makes them tick…
Why did you decide to start the podcast?
(Before I can even ask the second part of my question – “…and whose idea was it?” – Luis points at Maria.)
Luis: You’ll have to ask her – she’s in charge, I just do the talking!
Maria: We were making silly videos with a friend of ours, just messing around, and he said we should start a comedy account on YouTube that was just Luis telling Spanish jokes. That’s originally what we wanted to create, a comedy show. Our friend even suggested the name ‘Everybody Likes Luis’, and when we started to make our social media accounts, the name was available on all the platforms.
Maria: Last year I finished a Diploma in Digital Marketing and I have been looking to put all this knowledge in practice, so the initial idea was a comedy account on YouTube that was just Luis telling Spanish jokes. With my knowledge and Luis talking we have the perfect team!
Luis: Before, we were working all day, going home, eating, and sitting on the couch watching TV until we went to sleep. We decided we wanted to do something more meaningful, something that makes a positive impact on others. There are so many incredible people doing exciting things with their lives. We wanted to make connections between those people and create something that encouraged entrepreneurship – that mind-set of creating, of saying yes to any challenge.
Once you’d had the initial idea, how did you go about finding people to interview? Were they all people you know personally?
Maria: We started with people we knew, who trusted us, and were crazy enough to say yes! Then once we started, we were getting recommendations for other people to contact from our guests and listeners, which was really nice.
Luis: What’s so weird is that when we approach people to ask if they’re interested, they usually don’t think that what they’re doing is special. One of the first people we asked was my sister; she has been involved with gymnastics since she was young, and then she became an instructor which has allowed her to travel the world. Now she’s living in the USA, training high-level competitors. And she said “Who wants to hear about that?” That’s insane! It’s so important to show honest appreciation for other people and their interests.
Maria: And people obviously want to hear about it, otherwise we wouldn’t have any listeners!
Did you do any research on podcasting before you started?
Maria: Mainly just listening to other podcasts.
Luis: She’s an addict.
Maria: Only for the last year! Before that I didn’t even know what the word meant, now I listen to so many. One of my favourites and a big inspiration for our own podcast is ‘School of Greatness’; they’ve had some amazing guests, Oprah, Michael Jordan, Ellen DeGeneres. But we just jumped straight into it and we’ve been learning as we go!
How has @EverybodylikesLuis evolved since you started?
Maria: We’ve had a lot of trial and error; trying different platforms, like SoundCloud and Spotify. We’ve learned so much about branding and PR. Everything has been self-taught – we even designed our own website, completely ourselves.
Luis: We never expected it to be so challenging, for there to be so much involved in making a podcast. We’ve been learning about promotion through social media platforms, and how to analyse what kind of posts drive engagement the most.
Maria: The results are amazing – our podcast has been listened to about 1,500 times in the last six months, by people in over thirty-five countries!
What are your hopes for the future of the podcast?
Luis: Right now we’re researching how to start our own company, and start doing personal meetings and events where we can get listeners and interviewers together.
Maria: doing more episodes and connect with more and more people who can inspire us to keep going and do what we love. Maybe in the future we’ll even be famous. It could happen, because it seems like everybody really does like Luis!
Luis: We just want to keep growing, keep meeting these wonderful people. Today we’re driving to London after work to meet a motivational speaker. It’s madness, but the podcast has become daily work, and we want to keep that consistency going.
What advice would you give to anyone looking at starting their own podcast?
Luis: Just do it. There’s never going to be a perfect moment, so just get going and learn as you go. If you have a purpose, if you commit to it and enjoy it, you will do it.
Maria: There is so much information online, you will find all you need to get started and there are so many podcasters – you will find one that connects to you and adds to your life. It might even change your life completely!
Any last comments for the readers?
Luis: I would just say that you have the same twenty-four hours as everyone else. You have to find what makes you happy and push yourself to realise it.
Maria: If anyone has something they want to share, please get in touch with us. If you’re a dancer, an actor, you have a charity, you work with animals, whatever it is, we want to hear about it and we want to let everyone else hear about it too!
You can contact @EverybodylikesLuis through their website, any of their social media channels, or using the details below:
Tel: +547510058484
