Meet Joe Mignone of MMA Uncensored & A Guy Thing Podcast
It all started with just a microphone in my kitchen. I knew from the first day I did a podcast episode that I wanted to see where I could take it. I started with interviewing local business owners to learn their success story. That’s one thing that has always intrigued me, getting into the mind of successful people, hearing their story and how they found success through their hard work and determination. Everyone has a different story but ironically they have so many similarities. Successful people are the hardest workers in the room, they have a vision and a dream and never stop working to be the best in their field. I took notes and continue to do so and apply everything I learn from these amazing people and use it on my own road to success. I will never take all the credit, these people have truly inspired me. Now I am proud to say my show has evolved into interviewing athletes and celebrities but I never forget about the small business owners. Recently I was hired to host one of the largest MMA podcasts in the country and it has been an amazing experience so far.
If anybody tells you they cruised down the road on their journey to success, then they are the biggest liars you’ll ever meet. For me, I went through quite a bit during the building process of my show. In a matter of a year I went through a divorce, lost my job, went through legal battles, my grandmother passed away and people I once called friend just disappeared. Although I went through my own struggles I knew that my podcast was my creation and everything I put into it is what I will get from it. So I just used my podcast as an outlet from the rest of the world and kept forging forward. I also was attending college full time during all of this madness, somehow, someway I managed to work through it all. All it did was make me stronger. The most important thing for me is to always treat people like family and always test myself to see what I’m really made of.
My life is always busy but it’s everything that I choose to do with my life so I’ll never complain about my responsibilities. I work full time as an IT Manager for my company and I also go to college full time in pursuit of my master’s degree in IT Management. I just completed my certification for Cyber Security after a year and a half in the program. I host A Guy Thing Podcast which is available on all major podcast platforms, Facebook and Youtube. I am the host of MMA Uncensored Podcast, which is also available on Facebook and Youtube, currently in the process of becoming an audio show as well. It’s hard to say what I’m most proud of because I feel like I haven’t gotten to where I want to be yet, but I do celebrate the small successes for a few minutes. I don’t like to celebrate too much because I want to save it for when I reach the peak. The only thing I can say that separates me from everyone else is who I am. I can’t say I’m the best, I can’t say I’m the hardest worker, all I can say is I focus on staying humble and being myself while doing the best that I can in everything I do, while always trying to learn and become better.
Success starts with you. If you don’t have a dream or a passion then you’re limiting yourself to what the world tells you to do. For me, I create the world that I want to live in and I define my success based on filling my life with the things that I enjoy and love to do. I wake up 5AM everyday and I start working on my podcast, then I work my regular job and then I study and do homework. Some nights I have a show to do so I can to prepare, do pre-production, post production and conduct the interview. There are so many moving parts when it comes to being successful. If you love what you do then you’ll always be thinking about it and how to be the best at it. So my best advice for anyone is make the sacrifices you need to make so you can focus your life on what you’re meant to do with it and everything will fall into place, just as long as you work your ass off.
