If you have ever thought about starting a podcast, or if you are looking for a way to build your authority, reach hard to land clients and opportunities or grow your audience, THIS is the episode for you.
Jaclyn Mellone, is on this episode talking not just about the nuts and bolts of starting a podcast, but the strategy behind the why and the how, that you probably never considered.
While having a podcast with thousands of listeners is a wonderful way to build your audience and authority, you could have a podcast without any listeners and it could still be one of the key growth engines for your business.
How is that possible?
Jaclyn will break it down for us, and I promise you will walk away from this episode with some game changing ideas on how to use podcasting to grow your business this year, no matter what type of business you are building.
We’re going to cover the following:
And Jaclyn is gifting us her do it yourself guide on Trello to plan and start our own podcast AND a private podcast link for all the podcasts she has done on podcasting to help us along the way. You can get it all here:
Jaclyn Mellone helps experts exponentially grow their business by becoming the Go-To Authority in their space.
She is a strategist, speaker, mama, Hamilton lover, and host of the Go-To Gal podcast!
Jaclyn has leveraged podcasting to build a multi-six-figure coaching and course business, generate passive recurring revenue from affiliates, become a top 25 Convertkit affiliate, and partner with brands like Gusto, Acuity, FabFitFun, and Sony Music.
Jaclyn supports experts at all stages – from freelancers to global brands!
Visit SHEcorporated main site: https://www.shecorporated.com/
Make this the year that changes EVERYTHING.
Now offering limited spots in our full day “Done with You” Success Blueprint Days for personalized marketing and strategy to propel you to your biggest year ever!
CLICK TO: BOOK MY DAY
If you have ever thought about starting a podcast, or if you are looking for a way to build your authority, reach hard to land clients and opportunities or grow your audience, THIS is the episode for you.
Jaclyn Mellone, is on this episode talking not just about the nuts and bolts of starting a podcast, but the strategy behind the why and the how, that you probably never considered.
While having a podcast with thousands of listeners is a wonderful way to build your audience and authority, you could have a podcast without any listeners and it could still be one of the key growth engines for your business.
How is that possible?
Jaclyn will break it down for us, and I promise you will walk away from this episode with some game changing ideas on how to use podcasting to grow your business this year, no matter what type of business you are building.
We’re going to cover the following:
And Jaclyn is gifting us her do it yourself guide on Trello to plan and start our own podcast AND a private podcast link for all the podcasts she has done on podcasting to help us along the way. You can get it all here:
Jaclyn Mellone helps experts exponentially grow their business by becoming the Go-To Authority in their space.
She is a strategist, speaker, mama, Hamilton lover, and host of the Go-To Gal podcast!
Jaclyn has leveraged podcasting to build a multi-six-figure coaching and course business, generate passive recurring revenue from affiliates, become a top 25 Convertkit affiliate, and partner with brands like Gusto, Acuity, FabFitFun, and Sony Music.
Jaclyn supports experts at all stages – from freelancers to global brands!
Visit SHEcorporated main site: https://www.shecorporated.com/
Make this the year that changes EVERYTHING.
Now offering limited spots in our full day “Done with You” Success Blueprint Days for personalized marketing and strategy to propel you to your biggest year ever!
CLICK TO: BOOK MY DAY
[00:00:00] We are so fortunate to have Jaclyn Mellone with us today. And Jaclyn is a coach, strategist, podcast host, speaker and founder of go-to gal. And she focuses on helping businesses grow exponentially by becoming the go-to authority in their space. And today she's going to walk us through how to leverage the podcasting platform to become the go-to authority in your space
and you are certainly an authority in the podcast space yourself. I learned how to set up my first podcast actually from you in one of your workshops.
I'm so excited to be here.
It's great to have you here! Jaclyn's got some fantastic takeaways for us all at the end, so stay tuned for that. But first Jaclyn, can you tell us a little bit about your, journey here, how you got here a bit more about what it is that do?
Sure. So I started podcasting in 2015 with my first podcast and we got to about three years, a little over 300 episodes. And at that point decided that my co-host and I have become best friends over the [00:01:00] years, we had met online. immediately with the podcast. We were able to build something bigger than ourselves.
And after that experience of growing a podcast together, we realized our businesses were very different. We were both growing these personal brands that were growing bigger and it was hard to have this, this other thing between. And so at that point, we, we ended that podcast and I started the go-to gal podcast, which was really scary to be that established.
And we had paid sponsors. We had, you know, it was a successful podcast by, by all means of measurement, but it just had run its course in terms of how it was serving us in our businesses. So back in early 2019, I launched the go-to gal podcasts and it was clearly meant to be I'm like, I can't imagine that.
Not having one, not having that first experience of having, uh, having a podcast. Right from the beginning of my business. So I had a podcast before I had any revenue coming into my business before I had my own website done. [00:02:00] It was very early on that we started this. But then three years later where I was in business and how much of that I could attribute to the podcast too.
Right. And being able to now create my own podcast and be much more intentional about how to use that podcast as a growth engine for my business. So I've been on a few different sides of it. I've been podcasting a long time now. So it's go-to gal. We just did episode 200. So it's a yes. I'm like, okay, we're moving through Ben here.
But I've been helping entrepreneurs over the years step into being that go-to gal that go to authority and what I've found as well. There's a lot of components to that and to building authority. What I've found is that leveraging the podcasting platform. Is one of the fastest and most fun ways to do it.
And because that's been such a resource for me in many different ways, in terms of growing my own brand and business, people see that, and they're like, well, how did [00:03:00] you do this? But you know, how can I do that too? And so it's become a natural extension to have a podcasting course to teach on podcasting and to, and to work that into the work that I'm doing with clients.
Nice. And, and you said that you had the podcast originally before you even had business. Really. Did you have a fairly clear vision of what you were planning on doing with it or did you just kind of get started? So I had started with an Instagram. In the summer of 2015 and my vision then was to help mom business owners.
I was a mom. I had a two year old and I did not have a business yet, but a lot of my friends did and I was helping them with their businesses with as marketing strategists. And I actually have a background in. Personal branding, which is very, really well. And so I was helping them with their businesses, my wanting to start my own.
And I really wanted a community of other women who were doing the same thing. So it started as an Instagram account and a lot of people were like, you don't have a business, you just have an audience, which [00:04:00] was very true for several months. That's great though. What I will say is that, that, gave me the insight to get to know.
Uh, community and build something for them to figure out, okay, how can I help these people? I want to help. Right. Cause I was an outsider at that time, I wanted to create something for mom, business owners while also trying to become a business owner. Right. but I had skills, I was working as director of marketing.
I had all of these things I could help people with, but it was like, but how do they want that help? And I wasn't sure. So. During that summer I had met my cohost for the first podcast, Jessica, we met online and she was really tech savvy. And so she had had this decision for a podcast, asked me to be a cohost.
And by partnering with her, it was like, okay, I can get us going on Instagram. I can book us guests and get this side of things. And she's like, she could do the logo and. It started with the tech and the tech was a lot harder back then, so we can get to that later. I mean, we, everyone had said [00:05:00] to me at the time, you know, you're so early to be starting this podcast.
Let's, be sure making revenue versus, and listen. It's very logical. Right. And I actually bought into that so much that for several years, I felt like I had to. Tell my clients tell friends when I'm talking about my own story, don't do it the way that I did it. I felt like I had to qualify it and say, because here's, I will be straight up if you're like, how am I going to pay the mortgage next month?
Don't start a podcast. That problem, like, let's be honest. It is not the fastest path to revenue. And that, like, if feel like I need to make money, like not, maybe not start the podcast to expect that type of a return. Right. And so I actually would have, know, people say to me, like, if you're responsible for you to be telling people to do this, so for awhile, I bought into that.
And then it was interesting. Cause as I. Further away from it and started looking back that has like all of these opportunities that I had that opened up doors that led to [00:06:00] clients that, led to speaking opportunities or being on other podcasts or guest expert opportunities or meeting this person because they were a guest, all of these things that happened.
Well, because of the podcast And so that's when I really started changing that story and saying, no, I used to say, don't do this. Cause that's what everyone says. But now that I'm looking back and connecting all these dots, all the dots are so maybe it's not for everyone to do it like that, but it is such a growth engine as my partner for Duchenne.
I like to say for your business, if you design it the right way, Yeah. And I think the conventional wisdom around that it has shifted, you know, people tend to build it and they will come or they used to. And I think people are realizing now we find your audience, even if you don't know what you're selling yet, but you know who you want to serve, collect them, gather them up.
And then it's so much quicker and easier to start the business end of it later. but maybe not. If you're looking for making big, big bucks from the podcast in the first year, That's fine. So we're going to talk about some great stuff today. I'm really excited actually, to go through all of this, I'm [00:07:00] excited to have you here.
So just as a quick kind of glance ahead to where we're going to end up at the end of this podcast, what actionable steps and information is everyone gonna walk away with today? All right. Well, so we'll definitely talk about who should be, focused on creating a podcast, how it can help and start to think about why is this different than other platforms?
How can you really look at it as that growth engine for your business? What does it take to be that successful podcaster that can keep going and. Drive revenue from it, drive audience from it and all that. What is, what does that take? And then we'll also talk about, I think it's talking about that strategy piece is important to understand how all the puzzle pieces fit together.
And then we'll absolutely get into, tech we can talk about, how, how hard is the tech, what to do editing, getting started. Get into all of that too. So any, any questions that come up I'm here for, but absolutely my hope is at the end of this, you'll see how this is a really powerful tool to help you grow your business, your authority [00:08:00] and your audience, as well as.
The simple steps to get started with it and what that process looks like, everything we need. So let's start, let's start with a big one because it seems like, and I hear this all the time. When we talk about podcasting is like everybody is started everybody in their brother and Kim Kardashians and their cousin really started a podcast.
Right. So have we missed the boat? If somebody hasn't started a podcast? Is it even worth getting into it at this point? I, gosh, this is the big one right now that people are like, I don't know. It's so saturated and I, you know, I don't have the numbers off the top of my head, but I can tell you when you look at podcasts and then you look at other platforms like Instagram or even YouTube, it is, it is Eve little fraction of the size of the, the amount of podcasts that are on the podcast app versus the amount of.
People publishing on YouTube. It is just a little sliver. We are still early. Believe it or not in the podcasting game. And a lot of the podcasts that you listen to are indie podcasts. Sure. [00:09:00] There are the big networks and, you know, people publishing in that farm, but you're still seeing a lot of. Indie independent podcasts like myself, having success in building audiences and ranking and ranking isn't even, I would say a goal, but you're still seeing that happen.
So absolutely there is still space podcasts, listeners like to listen to podcasts and Like. Watch Netflix. You're always looking for another show to be bingeing on. It's very similar with podcasts. They want to be listening to that content. So absolutely. There's lots of room to grow there.
And I think when you look at the total numbers of podcasts, a bit deceptive because only a fraction of those are actually active, Yeah. A lot of Emily faded out and just still showing the numbers. So who should be thinking about podcasting? Who is this a good fit? So I would say, I mean, we could probably make a case for anyone having a podcast, right?
So, but there's different reasons for different types of businesses to have [00:10:00] a podcast. if you are looking to build your authority, so if you're looking to be selling coaching or courses or consulting, if you're looking for people to know you as that go-to person, if you want a book deal, Anything like that speaking opportunities, having a platform to showcase your expertise and really anchor in your expertise on that topic is key.
Now, the interesting thing with a podcast is if you're already an expert, if you're already established. Having the podcast is just another way to really anchor that in and make it official. But the interesting thing is, even if you're not yet. So if you're someone who you're like, well, Hey, I don't know if I'm really an expert in anything yet, but I'm curious about this.
Or I want to build a community around this topic. You can leverage the podcasting platform to do that. And along the way you become known for it, you become an expert, but you don't have to be at first, you can be interviewing experts and you're still because you're the one soaking up all that knowledge and having the questions.
You're establishing [00:11:00] yourself as an expert on that topic, actually along the way. So even if you're not an expert yet, there's ways to position how you show. As an authority on the podcast without even necessarily, if you're like, but I've never done this for Oakley. That's okay. Like, this is a great place for you to explore and learn and ask the questions and get that content, get that those questions to answer for your audience.
So I'm almost like curating the content instead of creating it. Right. You find the experts, you ask the question. That's great. So even if you're not that expert yet, that's a great way for you to be, you know, being part of the conversation and contributing to the conversation and letting your curiosity, Lead the way with that too. So, you know, as far as reaching your audience, how do you see podcasting being different from other social media? Like Instagram or like YouTube? there's a couple of very big differences. So the first is the platform and this is something, this was, I didn't create this.
I'm just the messenger here. Right?[00:12:00] I could say. I a piece of advice to a friend over coffee. Right. Okay. All right. Jacqueline. Sure, sure, sure. Right. I can say that same piece of advice on Instagram. And some people might be like, okay, that's, that's a good piece of advice. Right. But by saying that same piece of advice on a podcast, the same words, the same way out of the same mouth, it holds more weight.
So there are certain platforms that are authority platforms. A podcast is one of those things. Uh, YouTube channel is also one, a blog is another one and TV is absolutely an authority platform. You go on TV, you say anything, people are like, you're an expert. so you have those authority platforms where if you say something and your blog posts on a YouTube channel on TV, on the podcast.
It's going to hold more weight than if you say it anywhere else, even if it is literally the same exact thing, So we know this, this is something that's really powerful in terms of building that relationship as an authority with the people who are following you, who are listening to your community.
Now, the way that podcasting is different, and I think has more of an [00:13:00] advantage than those other platforms is when someone's listening to a podcast, they're not just listening to a podcast. They're going for a walk. They're driving, they're folding the laundry. They're doing dishes. No one just sits on the couch and doesn't do anything else.
Right. When we do it, when we're listening to a podcast, we're multitasking. In a very intimate way. Right? Usually we're like listening in headphones, you know, it feels like that person is with us. And like the person we're listening to is doing what we're doing with us, like we're really in the room is what it feels like.
Right. There's a level of intimacy there now because of this multitasking, which anyone who listens to podcasts already knows. Right. I'm just gonna some people shower and listen to podcasts. Right. But think about this because you're multitasking when you're listing. You're willing to give it more time.
So, whereas I was listening to someone talk about Facebook views, like a couple years ago. And they were like, if you get a ten second view, that's the measurement of your a 15 second views. Like you're doing really good and I'm like [00:14:00] 15 seconds, right? what can you really convey in 15 seconds?
And that's not to say you shouldn't be using that medium or that type of content, but how much of a relationship can you create in that amount of. Not much right. Where on a podcast, 80% of podcast listeners listen to the entire episode. So people, 80% of people are willing to hang out with you for a half hour, 45 minutes an hour.
So the depth that's able to be created, how they're able to hear stories and intonation and. The us, but that type of time and intimacy of the content is really a game changer compared to the other authority platforms. So you already have this advantage of it being an authority platform, but when you layer it with we're spending time together on a podcast and the amount of that they, can really take in during that, that's where it really starts to stand out from the past.
That's amazing. I hadn't looked at it that way before, but you're absolutely right. There's times that I'll listen to a podcast that I'm not even particularly interested in just because I'm in the car and I'm not going to be there for another 10 minutes. So I'll just let it [00:15:00] roll.
Let it roll. Yeah. I'll add one more thing. I'll add to that too. Is people's favorite podcasts that they listen to the day it comes out. It's it's a habit. And so people start to do their, weekly run when their podcast comes out or they always listen when they're driving to, school drop off on whatever day of the week.
And you become not just someone that they're listening to when they're multitasking, but you become a habit in their week. And so if your episode doesn't publish, people are like, what happened? You, you know? And so It being tied to a habit of listening is just another way to, to anchor in and build back tonight.
And that speaks to which we'll probably touch on later. The importance of consistency when you're putting your podcast out. absolutely, consistency is key for sure.
we'll talk about some best practices in a second, but talked about how there's a lot of podcasts out there. Not all of them are active necessarily anymore. So what is the difference between the podcasts that are successful and the ones that they call it? [00:16:00] pod fade. They got, I stayed.
Yes. Or Laura Belgray had pointed it had crashed during one of our workshops and I'm like, okay, that's brilliant, Laura, I'm going for that. So, yes, you've had crash and, and it happens a lot, right around the seven episode. Mark is statistically. When we see a lot of podcasts, pied crash, and that's when they stop publishing new episodes.
Now we could spend a whole hour talking about all the reasons why this happens, and I think it comes down to not having a clear plan for. I have to make it benefit your business. So when you're not clear on when you're not realistic, And how it's going to help be that growth engine for your business, if you just think it's a fun idea, or if you're just trying to get to the top of the chart, or do you think it's going to be, taking off right away and making, you know, millions of dollars in ad revenue or even thousands of dollars in ad revenue on.
Then you're going to be disappointed really fast. But I think from the expectation and the planning strategic side is part of that, you know, some of these tools that have come [00:17:00] out now, like anchor, which make it really easy to publish have also made it where someone's like, oh my God, I have the best idea for a book.
I know people that literally have had an idea and started a podcast the same day. And listen, I am the Colby. If you're familiar with it, I am a. I am all for the high-end high innovation. And like, you know, here's an idea let's run with it, but when you go that quick, you're missing out on the, how does this fit into what I'm doing?
How is this going to help me hit my goals that time to, to really be strategic and intentional with it also, how are you, what are you creating that people want to listen to? And I want to make you that pattern, that habit that they're listening to. So the strategy is one side of it. The other side of it is the systems and, you know, making it harder than it needs to be or not planning ahead.
And so that weekly race to get the episode published just leads to burnout. and sometimes when you have a lot of things on your plate.[00:18:00] You need to say, is this a time that I should be doing a podcast or can I get additional help to support me? you know, in my business right now, if I had to do it all myself, I couldn't do it.
I want to be really clear with that. I don't do the editing myself. Now I have a team that supports with that. And so that's something that helps me be able to publish consistently along with getting ahead. So putting those things into like, okay, how am I actually going to keep up with those and be consistent and the systems around that, but also the strategy.
And I think, especially just starting out, important to plan on batch producing. your podcasts one, because you want to commit to a certain number of episodes.
You don't want to just see how it goes, right? Because you're not going to see much for the first few episodes, most likely, and two, then you get that consistency. You can batch, produce your, episodes and then have them scheduled to drop on a certain schedule. And, doesn't matter how crazy your life gets and how backed up your schedule.
Exactly exactly. And, one of the things that I do that really helps with that is we have certain days, and even now [00:19:00] even do weeks that are focused on podcasting. And so that way, one, I'm not getting that bloat of Omada feel like I'm recording an episode every day. Right. But she can feel like it's taking over my whole calendar, but we could say, okay, Two Thursdays a month, I'm going to record the podcast interviews.
And now we've gotten to a point where we're ahead enough, where we can block off a whole week. and that allows us to have four different day options for people that we're pitching to right. and we're able to record an entire quarter's worth of content in that one.
So that allows us to really get ahead. But I think even just being a few weeks ahead is going to help take some of that pressure off. Let's talk about best practices to getting your, new podcast in front of people. Because a lot of people, again, it's that build it and they'll come, right? I'll put the podcast out and everyone will listen, but not really.
How do we find them? How do we find them? So it starts with being intentional about who you're creating for. Right? So the more specific you can and it needs to be this hyper niche podcast, although [00:20:00] that can do really well. But when you're really broad, right? Less specific about who you're creating for.
It's going to be harder for people to one know that your podcast is for them. And two, it's going to be harder to stand out amongst the podcasts that they're already listening to. So let's say someone is a graphic designer and they already listen to podcasts on, building a business or building a freelance business.
If there's a podcast that's for graphic designers, you're going to be able to get into the more nitty-gritty topics and share more. Success stories and things that are going to be more relevant, specific to that audience. So the more intentional and specific that you're creating for a specific type of listener.
The more likely they are to be like, okay, this podcast is like reading my mind. This is everything I'm going through. Everything I want to learn about or hear about it. It's easier to do that. and the other thing I want to say to that is what people tend to, I don't know if they just forget about it or don't value it enough.
sure. You can be [00:21:00] posting and you should be posting on Instagram and sharing on other platforms. And, can you do some SEO in your titles and will that help a little bit, maybe, but the power of someone listening to your podcast, being obsessed with your content and sharing.
With one to 10 of their friends, that's what you want. And so that word of mouth is going to help you grow at an exponential rate that none of the other marketing gimmicky things are going to be. So creating content that is shareable asking your audience to share and really just focusing on what does your audience want more of and how can you keep creating that and doing it in a way that gets them to be sharing with their friends, because that's, what's going to help you grow the fastest.
so with the growth engine piece, though, I think that when people start a podcast, it's easy to think of oh, it's just like an Instagram account, or just gonna, you know, it's, it's another piece of the marketing puzzle. And even with that, you want to be really intentional of how can this help support my goals.
And [00:22:00] that's where you're able to create that growth engine for your business. So it's not just a piece of content, but that. Really building something that's going to help you in all different areas of your business. So if you are looking to fill a group coaching program, if all of your content on the podcast or interview.
And nobody hears from you, that's listening. And then you go to sell a group coaching program and you're like, and nobody wants to buy, right. They haven't got to see you in your area of expertise. You haven't let yourself shine as the expert on your own topic. Right. So getting clear on, okay, I'm creating this podcast and I want to sell a group coaching program.
It's not just about doing interviews. So what kind of content can you be sharing on the podcast? That's going to prepare people and get people excited about the free content you're going to share, or, you know, ultimately want to join that program. How can you lead people up to it? And even your interviews that you're doing, how can they support.[00:23:00]
So when there was a coaching program or even one-on-one, that is something that's now they're able to see a little bit behind the scenes, which you know, is not normally something people have access to and see. So when they get the benefit of, oh, this is the topic I'm struggling with now, I feel like I'm getting coaching on it, but Takes a little bit more of that. intimidation factor. What would that be like? it makes it feel more familiar and it gives them more confidence and what it would be like to work with me to by appealing that curtain back, so other ideas for how you can be intentional. Thinking about your podcast guests now. Sure. You should think about the content, the topics that they're going to discuss and what would be an interest, but taking it a little further.
Okay. Who in your industry do you want to collaborate? So the podcast is a door opener. if you were just to reach out to someone in your industry and say, oh, let's do this Instagram live together. Let's collaborate on this. They may or may not answer. They may or may not be interested, but when you reach out and invite someone on your podcast, Moves to the time they're going to say yes, even if you're in newer [00:24:00] podcast, you know, people can see how many reviews you have, but there's no statistics out there that say how many downloads you're getting.
It's not like looking at someone's Instagram and immediately seeing how many followers. Right. And even if you have a small audience, people know the power of a podcast. So if it's a small audience, that is their ideal audience. It's worth their time. Even if you have 50 listeners or a hundred listeners, cause that's like speaking to a room of 50 or a hundred of their ideal clients.
So most of the time you will get a guest and that really gives you a way to open up any door you want to in your industry. And that is something that people don't talk about enough of. Like, this is like the ultimate networking tool. Who do you want to connect with? Like ask them to be a guest on your podcast.
Make sure you're building your relationship with them during that conversation and before and after the conversation as well. if you're looking for affiliates for your program, who are those people you want as affiliates, invite them to be guests on your podcast is a great way to just start building that relationship.
So looking at who you're interviewing from that [00:25:00] perspective, Also if you're a service provider. So if you do, let's say you're a social media manager or a copywriter, someone who does a done for you, service, who do you want as clients? Could you ask clients, ask them on as a guest. And this is something that people don't think about or talk about at all, but this isn't for you to just like pitch a bunch of people, but people that maybe you wouldn't normally be able to connect with, if you're a social media manager and your podcast is about something a little bit broader, right?
So it gives you room to bring up. On now you're starting to build a relationship with this person. They get to know you through being an authority and having your own platform. They get to know your area of expertise and maybe they refer you to someone or maybe they want to hire you or whatever happens.
Right. So again, it's a really powerful networking tool. So I like to think of it in terms of not just the content we're creating, but the relationships we're able to build to. Very strategic. And we actually did something similar to that, with another podcast. And it was exactly the same thing. we were reaching out to marketing managers with another company of [00:26:00] mine and, there's certain people, you, You can't get, five minutes of their time, nevermind an hour of their time. But as soon as that asks, suddenly becomes, not, Hey, let's talk about what I want to sell you. And it becomes, you know what, I want to talk about your expertise and get you in front of an audience. It completely changes that conversation in that relationship and suddenly you have an hour of your time.
Totally. And then when you go to share, there's another opportunity to reach out, you know, so many ways to keep that relationship going. That's great, great perspective. But just to, to kind of round that out. So you want to really think about what are your goals in your business. If you're looking to speak at events, Where some people that put on events to speak at right, or other speakers that are speaking at those events that you might want to connect with and even maybe you're airing an episode of use.
So people can see that putting in your bio, that you're a speaker, and talking about that. So there's different ways that you can weave that in, but it starts with being intentional about what are your goals, [00:27:00] and then getting really creative and strategic about how the podcasts can help support them.
This is gold. I hope everybody's making notes unless you're driving. for everyone watching who doesn't have a podcast yet, I would just probably most people. Right. It's you can see though, where if someone starts a podcast and they haven't thought about these things or gone through these steps and.
Episode seven comes and there's 50 people listening and they're like, but I'm not, I'm not ranking anywhere. You know, I have a thousand people on my email is only 50 people are listening or maybe they have no one on their email is that they're like probably, you know, friends from high school or something.
And it's easy to talk yourself out of it. But if you're looking at this big picture, you might even be able to say, you know what, even if no one's listening, The relationships I'm creating and the doors that it's opened. Are enough to warrant keeping this going while I build the audience who are those 50 people, how can I get to know them better and what they want better in which episodes are the most [00:28:00] downloaded and really, start digging into how you can be creating that ripple effect of them sharing and creating for that specific person.
But when you take that pressure off, it of the measure of success is. The amount of downloads or ranking in different categories. And you really start to look at the bigger picture and how it can feed those goals and being intentional with your process for creating too. That's what's going to help you be in it for the long haul.
because listen, it may be slow growth, maybe fast growth, then it might look like. It might go up and down. You know, it's not always growth is not always linear. So knowing these things ahead of time and being able to measure success in many different ways and be creating with that intention from the get-go is going to help.
Not only get over that pod crash hum, but really keep it going for the long haul and maximize what you're getting out of it as well. Exactly. You're more likely to see the results if you're being intentional about the results that you want. And. Vanity metrics essentially. Right. Agreed.
So now everybody listening is ready to start a podcast.[00:29:00] We've convinced them that it's the way forward. So is it difficult? How do you get started? it can seem overwhelming. I know the barrier to entry is much lower now than it was even five years ago. There's so many amazing platforms and programs and the cost of equipment is less, but, where do they get.
So keep it easy, keep it easy. mean, right now, hopefully I found, okay, my Mike, for some reason, wasn't working well today. So I'm doing this interview on my headset, which I normally wouldn't do. So hopefully the audio is okay, but I have a $65 mic that you know, it's a newer one this year and usually it works great.
But here, I guess this isn't the best sales pitch for it since. we're having issues today, but it's the ATR 2100. And, and I got that mic when I first started off and I'm on my third version of it now. and I tend to throw it in a suitcase and, you know, something will happen over the years, but it's not the pretty Mike that you see pictured all over Instagram. that Mike is something I don't recommend [00:30:00] people get. And so the ATR 2100 is a dynamic mic and I have to get too techie here, but essentially it's designed to, you have to speak really close to it. So for those watching the video, I will talk like this.
I have an arm that helps bring the mic closer to me. And so that talking intimate like that. Quality is really crystal clear and because you have to be so close to it, it doesn't pick up all the other noise. When you get a Mike that's designed for a. recording environment. And then like, I'm in what I say, if we were grownups, this would be our dining room, but I made it my office, you know, I there's be windows.
There's a window behind me like this, this is not in the sound for there's two open doorways. Like this is not a soundproof environment by any means, but I'm able to get good audio quality typically who knows about today. In that environment by having a mic like that. And so a lot of people will record in their closets, which can be a great hat.
But if you don't want to record it in your closet and you get this, you know, [00:31:00] ATR 2100, you should have really no problem recording anywhere. one time I interviewed someone who had a blanket over her head, but the Yeti mic that's so beautiful is not designed. For being in open spaces like the, so you have to be like in your closet or under a comforter in order to get decent.
And even then it doesn't even, I don't even think have had the greatest audio quality because it's really designed for that kind of pillow sort before.
it didn't crash down on the computer, in the middle of the recording. Oh yes. You know, you know all about it, so you don't need to go spend, you know, hundreds or thousands of dollars on Mike and, uh, you know, or any of that. So I just say under a hundred bucks, you're good to go and then. The technology for editing has come a long way to, well, I guess, okay.
To wrap that up though, for the recording piece, this is a USB mic. So dynamic USB mic is what I recommend, whether it's the one I have or [00:32:00] not, and use headphones, and that will eliminate some of the echo. I use AirPods, but you can, before then I would use the, just the free ones that came with my phone.
I stopped because I am Italian. I talked to my hands and I just kept like whipping the phone out. And my husband was watching one of my lives and was like, And that's when I got my first AirPods. He's like, you need wireless headphones because you keep knocking your, your wires everywhere. But yes, the headphones are just free to be able to listen in.
It does not matter at all, but they are. And, and that's really it in terms of recording, you know, you can, if you're going to be on video, you know, paying attention to what your, background is like, but a lot of times you don't even have to be on video with the podcast, so you can be in your closet.
And none of that matters. Now on the editing side and the publishing side you're right. Things have come such a long way. So anchor is one of those platforms that make it ridiculously easy to just publish from anchor and it's free and you can do [00:33:00] everything in the app. for some people that's a really good option.
It's not my first choice because I like to have a little bit more control. I'm not so weary. Whenever, whenever something is. This is the Facebook effect, right? Whenever something is free, you're not the customer. You're the product. and that is something I'm wearing yet. Right. So if we're not paying for it, your, the product, which means no, you're just going to have less just like on Facebook, you know, you're, it lets us control over things.
versus if you're paying for hosting and you're in more control. So that's my little piece, or I'm not the biggest fan of it, but it does eliminate that barrier of entry for a lot of people. And if that's what it. Whether it's the tech or the fact that it's free. Go for it. It's not the end of the world, but just, you know, I think it's important getting into it that, you know, but even the ones that aren't free or there's some fairly low cost options out there, like I use Buzzsprout too, and I love it.
It's low cost. It makes it so easy. When we first launched in 2015, we had to manually. [00:34:00] Published on all these different platforms. And it was really like techie and there was code involved and RSS feeds and other stuff. And now with. Okay. You're everywhere now. And it's like of a button it's so simple. and then one of my favorite tools for editing is called descript.
Have you used a script yet? No. I actually heard about it a few weeks ago. And I'm going to, I'm going to use this sounds amazing. Total game changer. So with descript, it allows you to edit the audio with the ease of editing a word doc. but it's literally it's so it does a whole transcript and you can literally just highlight and delete or highlight and copy these And you're just like you would edit a written document and that edits the audio. It's so cool. And so that's super simple. So literally someone with, very little tech skills would be able to edit. And even if you have textiles, it makes it so much easier to go find that place and what you're trying to do.
So our team has started using it, because you can also then take, take that and turn it [00:35:00] into. Graphics with, with words where the color kind of jumps with the words and everything. Yeah. I'm so tired of looking at the sound and then trying to find all the pieces and cut them in the right spots. And that's, I think descriptive is maybe $15 a month. And so yes, it's a recurring fee versus, you know, if you were to get something like audacity, it's just a one-time or, or potentially even free, but.
if that's going to be the barrier for you, then it does that. I also will say. In the beginning my first podcast episodes were so bad. we had people that commented with negative reviews and we called them giggle haters, because we laughed so much and people hated it.
Some people hated it. And so we had our giggle haters that would complain about how much you were laughing on the pad. we had total nervous. Laughter and Jessica edited out a lot of it and we still got some bad reviews because of it. but I think, we, we used to say, if you're, if you're taking the time to leave a review because of the laughing, like you don't think we're funny, like you're not laughing with us.
Right. And so you probably just shouldn't listen anyway. But once we kind of got those like early Jenners out and it wasn't so much nervous. [00:36:00] Laughter. We just still edit the episodes that very minimal and in my show now, same thing. Like if my dog is going to go crazy because the ups guy is here or if someone's coughing or something.
Yeah. We'll edit that out. Of course. But if I just lose my train of thought a little bit, or if it's just natural, you know, a little bit of a tangent or, um, We keep it in and it feels natural. It feels more real because it is real. And you know, it's not perfect. People want that. There's people that edit out their breaths.
I used to be like, oh, like I make this gulping noise. I'm like, is that, should we edit that out? Do it like we're going to spend our whole lives editing. And I think part of simplifying the process is not being such a perfect. About the content. And I think on the platform, it's a little more expected it's not a polished marketing video.
It's not a 32nd clip. It's a conversation with a human, right? Exactly, exactly. People really. they're taking the time to lift that. It doesn't need to be that where on other platforms with like get to the point, no fluff, like [00:37:00] just give them exactly the thing podcasts. It is. It's a little bit more relaxed.
People are giving you more time, so you have more time. And. Yeah, you have a space to actually have a conversation and give some context and elaborate a little bit. And if you're going to lose your train of thought a little bit or say a word wrong, I think that just adds to the character and.
You can breathe, you can breathe. yeah, I think that's, you know, when it comes to the editing process, there are people that are like, oh, I spent hours editing my podcast episodes every week. And I'm like, the team that I hired does not spend hours mending the podcast episode every week. And so really it's like, how can you either prepare on the front end?
So you don't have to do as much editing on the back end or how can you do. Take the reigns off just a little bit and let some of that go. So you don't have and keep it sustainable. Okay. So we've got the mic, we've got the editing, we've got the platform. I, you know, I'll say, but the editing too, that a lot of times it does make sense [00:38:00] to hire, even from the start, if you're doing one episode a week, you can probably find someone to edit your podcasts and help with other pieces of it for a hundred dollars an episode.
or maybe you have a virtual assistant that can just take some of it off your hand for even less. That's okay. Can you fit that into the budget? If you're not bringing in any revenue right now, maybe you can't, but if you are, I like as a bit like business coach hat on here, like, listen, if that is what it's going to take for you to be creating that content, then you spend the time, right?
If that's going to help you with other things. If you have the revenue coming in and what is the expense? I mean, you taking that time to do those things that if someone else was doing, you could be spending in a way that is really helping to grow the business more. So looking at that strategically and not being afraid to invest, if you do have that, revenue coming in will help.
be sustainable too. I also know some people who batch a bunch and then they can hire someone to do it while at one time, like once a quarter. And so if you don't want that monthly expense or something, that may be an option.[00:39:00] That's clever. Yeah. Your time has value too. and they can do it a lot faster than you have a weekend.
Know I was doing it. They could spend one. honestly, you're a fountain of incredible information and we can go on for hours and hours and hours, but you have a tool, that you are. Very graciously going to share with everyone. that's going to make this easy and walk everybody through it. Step-by-step so how about you tell us a little bit about how that works.
Yes. So we have a Trello board that our students, so I have a podcasting course called pays to podcast, with my partner, furnish Turabi, she's hosted the so many podcasts and one of the tools that have been really helpful for our students and actually getting them to launch and to launch. Yeah.
Week is a Trello board and it breaks down everything you need to do to launch your podcast. Step-by-step. And in to eight weeks of sprints and having that board, and there's the ability to move things around with it. So you can say, okay, well, I didn't get to that this week, I'm behind, or this week I have a lot of time, so I can move more tasks there.
[00:40:00] So it is flexible in that way, but being able to look at the eight weeks and say, okay, this is how to pace myself and what to focus on. When, uh, for instance, we noticed before we set this up, a lot of our students would come in and the first thing they were worried about was their cover art and the word.
And we're like, okay, first of all, you don't even have anything to host yet. So we don't need to worry about that. Oh, you don't even have anything to put up. Like, what are you going to do? You're going to start, you know, signing up for something before you even have fun. And with the cover art. Yes. It's fun to design the cover art, and maybe you have an idea for what your title is going to be, but have you taken the time to go through and figure out.
Your goals, how this can be a growth engine for your business and getting intentional and revisiting that title or creating that title, and also thinking visually how you're going to represent that, to attract those people. So doing that foundational strategy work before you get to the design stage is essential to make sure that that design in that title is going to reflect.
The [00:41:00] goals that you have and what you're really going to do with this show. So the having these eight weeks broken out like this also sees, okay, you know what? We're not going to even talk about hosting until we, you know, you don't have to worry about that yet and break it down. So we go week by week now in this, now we took this Trello board and we did remove the, the links, obviously the course content, but we left all of the cards there.
So this is a board that you can use to really project manage your launch, move things around. At a high level, see all of the tasks that have to get done and we start to get into action and I'd put our tools list on there as well. So you can go grab that if you wanted to see all of the tools that we use in front issues as some different tools too.
So that is on there too, but we are giving away that Trello board for free. You can go ahead. If you go to Jacqueline malone.com forward slash Trello, you can get that board. And on the board, we also included a private [00:42:00] podcast link to, I took all of our go-to. Talked about podcasting and we put them in a private podcast.
So if you just wanted to go binge a bunch of podcasts, episodes about podcasts saying a little bit met up, but
then the access to that is on there as well. That's amazing. And thank you for that. So I'll, I'll put all of those links in the show notes as well. And if you're listening on a platform where you can't see our show notes, you can just go over to, one step empire.com and we've got all the episodes there and we've got all of the show notes there.
So all the direct links, if you're driving and you can't write anything down, we don't want you to crash. It's all in the show notes and If it's not on the platform, you're listening to it's all over on one step empire.com. So you can, you can head over there and have a look at it. Now, before we, before we sign off your jacket, because you are a woman entrepreneur yourself, obviously you're a woman founder as well.
With all of your experience, what is your best bit of advice for newer women entrepreneurs, newer women [00:43:00] founders. My own journey has been equal parts of growing my business, as well.
Alongside the business growth has been personal growth and personal development. And the more I've learned about myself, the better I've been able to show up in my business and design my business in a way that actually works with my strengths instead of against them. And in this industry.
Certain messages and certain strategies that are really loud and really shiny and really exciting. And we see people doing things certain ways, but oftentimes those are not the best strategies for us to use. So I think while it's important to learn from others and to find those shortcuts, if you will of, okay, this person has done this before, how can they shorten that path for me?
Looking at it through that lens of how do I apply this to me and really going on that personal development journey yourself too, of how do you work best? What [00:44:00] really motivates you? What really makes you feel fulfilled? One of my biggest, my biggest motivator is fun and it took me awhile to realize that.
But now that I know that I'm able to. Intentionally make things fun and, and that's, what's going to motivate me. It's not going to be the money or it's not even going to be sometimes the impact, which I felt motivated me that sometimes it feels like. If you feel disconnected from it. And so for awhile, I was like, how I'm not as motivated by money.
I'm more motivated by impact, which felt true. But the more I got into it, it was the day-to-day motivation for me was having fun. And so it's going to look different for everyone, but giving yourself that space to explore and figure out what makes you tick and figure out how you can. Do that in your business and kind of create your own business plan, if you will, and not just try to follow someone else's cookie cutter.
Incredible information and, and, um, [00:45:00] and I really appreciate you being here. Thank you so much for having me.