Ashton Ertz, a sophomore sports management major, has always been told he has a voice for sports. Long before he launched his podcast, “Talkin Ball with AE8,” people around him recognized something in the way he talked about games, players, and strategy. He recalls hearing it as early as elementary school. Years later, while attending Harper Community College, one of his coaches echoed the same message and encouraged him to pursue it more seriously. “My coach told me how good a speaker I was in the sports world,” Ertz explained. “So I started it up, and it’s going well so far.”

The idea of creating sports content has been something he’s pursued since he was young. He used to record what he calls “cringy YouTube videos” as a kid about hitting baseballs. Although he still plays baseball today, he has begun to feel that podcasting might be his true calling. Ertz’s podcast now features a range of guests from across the sports world. He regularly invites professionals from broadcasting and athletics, including figures such as Ryan Fitzgerald from the Minnesota Twins.

Behind each episode, however, is a demanding production routine. Ertz spends most days reaching out to potential guests, scheduling interviews, and managing an ever-changing calendar. “The planning process is you have to reach out and talk to everybody,” he said. “I’m busy every single day, throughout the entire week, asking people to come on the show.” He also credits much of the technical work to his producer, Remington Yates. “He helps me a lot with the editing process.”

Balancing the podcast with school and athletics is one of his biggest challenges. He has weeks packed with back-to-back episodes, long commutes, classes, and baseball practices. “For example, I filmed three podcasts in a week in the middle of baseball practice and everything,” he said. “Go to sleep, wake back up, commute an hour back to C- SC around eight in the morning, film a podcast, go to class, go to another podcast, go to baseball practice, then the next morning edit all the videos to have a couple weeks ahead.” He explains, “It is hard. Time management is a real thing.”

The early stages of the podcast were a challenge for him. Like many new creators, he struggled with low engagement and wondered whether his work was worth the effort. “I would ask myself why I was doing this if I wasn’t getting enough likes,” he said. Everything changed when one of his TikTok videos unexpectedly went viral, receiving around 150,000 likes. After that, each video seemed to bring in more views than the last. “You’ve just got to keep pushing,” he said. “But there were moments I was like ‘why am I doing this?’”

As his platform grows, Ertz is learning the business side of entrepreneurship. “The one thing I wish I knew before this is the money process and the sponsorship process,” he said. He has realized how much communication and outreach matter. “You just got to know how to speak and talk to people. You might find that there are a lot of no’s instead of yes’s, but there’s a lot of yes’s if you get your name out there.”

Ertz has already begun to see those opportunities. He has received job offers from KHQA-TV and has shadowed sports reporters Matt Schuckman and Chris Duerr at Muddy River Sports. He also recently released his own merch line connected to the podcast. “The goals I have set for myself are to continue to get up the subscriber count on my podcasts, continue to get views rolling in,” he said. Looking ahead, he hopes to reach around 5,000 subscribers and secure additional sponsorships.

For students who want to start their own creative or entrepreneurial projects, Ertz’s advice is this: “You have to have a voice,” he said. “You have to get out of your comfort zone.” He stresses that meaningful work requires sacrifice. “It’s going to take effort, it’s going to take time. You’re going to have to take time away from your friends, take time away from your everyday life to do something like this.” And if there is one lesson that stands out above everything else, it is the importance of organization. “The one thing that not a lot of people understand is the time management,” he said.