In Episode 1114 of the Outlier's Edge Podcast, Niiamah Ashong coaches Jeff Large live on air. Jeff owns Come Alive, a strategic audio agency that helps mid-size and enterprise businesses get more booked calls through podcasts, audiobooks and live event coverage. The coaching moves the next 10x from Jeff himself to the potential of the team around him.
Episode at a glance
- Guest: Jeff Large, owner of the strategic audio agency Come Alive
- Background: former middle school language arts teacher, in audio since high school, podcast production since 2016, host of the field recording podcast Outdoor Sounds
- Host: Niiamah Ashong, coach to outlier leaders
- Show: Outlier’s Edge Podcast, Episode 1114, released November 13, 2026
- Format: live coaching conversation, 41 minutes
- Topics: strategic audio, selling the result, not the tool, answering rhetorical questions, 10x thinking, everyday conversations as assets, who, not how
What Jeff brought to the conversation
Jeff Large has been in audio since high school, taught middle school language arts, and pivoted his company to podcast production in 2016. At Come Alive he sells the result rather than the tool, because nobody buys a podcast for the sake of a podcast, so his team builds audio around what a client wants to get done: one client's 25-episode limited series, each episode mapped to a chapter, became a published book by the time the series ended. He wants the hard problems that take effort and creativity to solve, and he hosts Outdoor Sounds, his own field recording podcast. Now he's testing a program that captures the conversations leaders have every day and turns them into marketing assets.
What shifted
Niiamah offered two ways to play: break the business by asking what it would take to be 10 times faster, more or easier, or talk out the new language Jeff is using. Jeff had already played the 10x game, so the conversation turned to how more people could come to know him in ways that are fun for him, and to the program his team is testing with him. Hearing how his marketing support brings him ideas he gets to tweak, Niiamah named a different place for the next 10x: who, not how, the team rather than Jeff alone. Jeff's takeaway was that spotlight on the potential of his team and on distilling his experience so he can keep leveling them up.
If you’re a leader ready for this kind of conversation about your own work, here’s where to start: 1:1 with Niiamah | World of Difference, our coaching membership.
Questions this episode answers
What is strategic audio?
As Jeff Large describes it, strategic audio means building media around a business goal rather than making a podcast for its own sake. Come Alive uses podcasts, audiobooks and live event coverage to serve goals like relationship building, authority, sales and more booked calls.
Why don't companies buy a podcast for the sake of a podcast?
Jeff Large's point is that clients buy what a vehicle can get done, not the vehicle itself. Niiamah Ashong added that outliers can get attached to their tool, craft or methodology when what people really care about is the end result.
What does "no rhetorical question goes unanswered" mean?
Niiamah Ashong calls it part of the culture he holds: when a rhetorical question like "what's the worst thing that can happen?" comes up, it gets an answer. He asked listeners which question keeps coming up for them and keeps them from stepping into all the difference they're here to make.
How can a leader turn everyday conversations into marketing assets?
Jeff's team is testing a program built on that idea: leaders have conversations all day, with their team, in small groups, on stage and in interviews, and most of them disappear. The leader goes about the day and hits record, and the team captures those moments and shapes them into assets that build authority and trust.
What does "who, not how" mean for growing a business?
Niiamah Ashong used the idea to move the question of growth from Jeff individually to his team: what the team is able to do, and how much more they could get from it. Jeff named it as his biggest takeaway, a spotlight on the potential of his team.
In their words
“People aren't buying a podcast for the sake of a podcast.”
Jeff Large
“No rhetorical question goes unanswered.”
Niiamah Ashong, on answering rhetorical questions
“I think a lot of the most beautiful things happen in the ordinary.”
Jeff Large
Key moments
00:00 – Welcome to the Outlier's Edge Podcast
00:46 – Meet the Owner of Come Alive
02:18 – Nobody Buys a Podcast for Its Own Sake
03:50 – The 25-Episode Series That Became a Book
05:36 – Sell the Result, Not the Tool
07:43 – From the Classroom to Audio
09:15 – The Podcast Pitch a Client Couldn't Shake
10:47 – No Rhetorical Question Goes Unanswered
14:05 – Give Me the Hard Problems
17:41 – Courage Over Comfort
23:07 – You Come Alive With Challenges
24:59 – Break the Business: 10x Faster, More, Easier
28:29 – How Would Jeff Coach Jeff?
31:42 – Outdoor Sounds, His Field Recording Podcast
32:53 – Turning Everyday Conversations Into Assets
35:52 – Who, Not How: 10x the Team
39:09 – Beauty in the Ordinary
40:01 – A Spotlight on the Team's Potential
Enter Jeff Large’s world
Jeff asked for the hard problems that take effort and creativity to solve. He named two ways to reach him, the Come Alive website and LinkedIn, where he's most active, and invited listeners to look up Outdoor Sounds, his field recording podcast.
Instagram | LinkedIn | Website
More conversations like this
- Coaching a CEO of Five Pro Baseball Teams to Publish a Novel Bold Enough to Get Banned | Skip Weisman | Ep 1085
- Coaching the Leader of the Priceless Leadership Movement to Fix a $200 Billion Problem | Scott Doggett | Ep 1086
- Coaching a Three-Time Founder to Lift Sales Above the Bro Culture | Nicholas Loise | Ep 1098
About Niiamah Ashong
Niiamah Ashong is a coach to outlier leaders, host of the Outlier’s Edge Podcast, and founder of the Trailblazer Collective. He coaches leaders who are creating something only they can make: a company, a body of work or a movement. The Outlier’s Edge Podcast is a live coaching show. Make a difference with your difference.
Work with Niiamah: 1:1 with Niiamah | World of Difference, our coaching membership
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