Daily Inspiration: Meet Jim Belisle

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jim Belisle.

Hi Jim, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
Well, this story is a little unconventional here at the Boots & Whiskey Podcast. I have always wanted to start a podcast and I started and abandoned probably two or three different ones in the last 5 or 6 years. I tried everything from politics to sports to just random ranting.

Then I started to find independent country artists on Spotify that I really enjoyed. I would talk to my wife about it, and she’s very supportive, but was sick of hearing about it all the time. We joke about it all the time now, but she was the one who encouraged me to start a show about local New England Country artists. I thought it was a great idea! We have such wonderful talent around here that to me, it was a no-brainer. Over the course of a few weeks, I started to realize that the local scene wasn’t big enough to get the reach I was looking for.

I posted on our Instagram if anyone was interested in coming on the show and our inbox got bombarded with inquiries. We set up an email address and before I knew it our schedule was full of interviews for the rest of 2021. The inquiries and emails haven’t stopped and I am pleased to say we are fully booked for the rest of 2022 and now into mid-January of 2023.

It amazes me still where we are and where we plan to go!

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The road from start to now has been anything but smooth. I have had moments where I was going to just stop altogether because the inquiries and the scheduling were so much. My wife and kids started to be second thoughts and it really started to mess with me mentally. Once those things started, I knew I had gotten in over my head and I revamped our whole process.

We were doing 3-4 interviews a week and it was just too much. Starting in 2022 we went to a once-a-week format for the interviews and it really helped a lot of things from my own mental health to the time I spend with my family.

The road at times still remains rocky trying to push the envelope and do more and more, but without a rocky road, you don’t grow as a person or a business so in a way I am very glad it hasn’t been smooth, because we wouldn’t be who or where we are today.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
For our show, we really pride ourselves on a conversational format. We don’t pre-plan any questions in advance. To me, it sounds so unnatural when we hear shows or interviews and it’s very cookie cutter. I never wanted to be that and from the feedback we get, our guests love that we aren’t that. We also pride ourselves in not holding back.

We started a blog with our thoughts and opinions on the genre and that too has really taken off.

Coming very soon we will be working with distilleries to bring our audience even more whiskey reviews and tastings as well! Not to mention all of the concerts and reviews we have been able to do this year and hope to continue the partnerships we have with venues in the future!

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Personality and tenacity. One hundred percent personality. I treat every guest and every interaction as if they are someone I have known forever! People know when you’re phony, it oozes out of us so clearly that, I for one would never want to work with someone like that and I don’t expect overs to want to either.

Tenacity is also huge for us because when we want something, we simply ask and just go and get it and we do it like we deserve to be there or get it. Attitude is everything. If you act as if you belong then you will.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bootsandwhiskeyentertainment.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/bootsandwhiskeypodcast
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bootsandwhiskeypodcast
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/bootswhiskey
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXyJRyBTl096CBHpS59om_g
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/show/7iTusWxgRUWHM8ytwm0ORF?si=347a126a96294298