1
00:00:10,600 --> 00:00:12,310
Welcome back to On Your Terms.

2
00:00:12,310 --> 00:00:16,630
This is such a special episode for me and the team, hopefully for you, too, because it's

3
00:00:16,630 --> 00:00:17,890
my 100th episode.

4
00:00:17,890 --> 00:00:22,450
I cannot believe we have done 100 episodes of On Your Terms.

I

5
00:00:22,450 --> 00:00:25,360
was actually just talking to a friend the other day who was talking about starting a

6
00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:28,450
podcast and she's so excited about it and she's like, "I just want to get going.

7
00:00:28,450 --> 00:00:29,770
I feel so anxious.

8
00:00:29,770 --> 00:00:33,820
I just want to get it out to the world." And I was like, "That is exactly how I felt when

9
00:00:33,820 --> 00:00:38,050
I started my podcast." And it's kind of crazy now to be like, "We've done 100 episodes."

10
00:00:38,050 --> 00:00:40,570
So, thank you so much for being here.

And

11
00:00:40,570 --> 00:00:45,610
to celebrate, I'm really excited to dive into one of my favorite topics, which is hosting

12
00:00:45,610 --> 00:00:48,280
a podcast and what your podcast can do for your business.

13
00:00:48,280 --> 00:00:52,150
Whether you have one already or you're just thinking about starting one, I want to give

14
00:00:52,150 --> 00:00:57,250
you all the tips today. So, this episode gives you the scoop on how I plan my content,

15
00:00:57,250 --> 00:01:03,310
the tools that I use, software, editing, ideas, strategy, all of the things.

I

16
00:01:03,310 --> 00:01:07,180
actually got a whole bunch of questions on Instagram for one of the Q&A polls that I

17
00:01:07,180 --> 00:01:12,020
posted, and I am just really excited to do a little Q&A with you at the end.

18
00:01:12,020 --> 00:01:16,790
So, normally this is a Sam's Sidebar episode where I answer a legal question for you

19
00:01:16,790 --> 00:01:18,620
every single Thursday in ten minutes or less.

20
00:01:18,620 --> 00:01:20,870
But you know what? You're going to have to humor me this week.

21
00:01:20,870 --> 00:01:24,590
This is your fault. You submitted such good questions about podcasts, that, today, I'm

22
00:01:24,590 --> 00:01:27,210
probably going to go a little over.

23
00:01:27,210 --> 00:01:31,700
But I'm really, really excited to get into all of your questions.

Okay.

24
00:01:31,700 --> 00:01:34,430
So, I want to give you a couple of my best tips.

25
00:01:34,430 --> 00:01:39,410
I think some things that I've learned over the years of podcasting and how I've made

26
00:01:39,410 --> 00:01:44,120
these episodes. Not just episodes that are fun to make and I look forward to - hopefully,

27
00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:49,610
you find them valuable - but I can tell you as a businesswoman that they are extremely

28
00:01:49,610 --> 00:01:52,130
helpful to my business to the bottom line.

29
00:01:52,130 --> 00:01:56,870
So, I am interested in helping you create content that really works for you.

30
00:01:56,870 --> 00:02:02,360
It's a little ironworking horse in your business where it's out there churning new leads

31
00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:06,620
and making sales for you, warming up your audience all the time so that you don't have to

32
00:02:06,620 --> 00:02:11,180
be working like a crazy person, which is always my goal.

So,

33
00:02:11,180 --> 00:02:16,790
I think if I could give you a couple of tips about podcasting, I would say that you want

34
00:02:16,790 --> 00:02:21,710
to make the episodes the types of questions or topics that your clients really want to

35
00:02:21,710 --> 00:02:28,550
know about. 

The way that I like to go about this is actually creating cornerstone or almost like

36
00:02:28,790 --> 00:02:31,430
SEO-fying your podcast episodes.

37
00:02:31,430 --> 00:02:36,020
So, if you think of the questions you consistently get or you think about the questions,

38
00:02:36,020 --> 00:02:40,700
like, if you were going to make titles to a blog post on your websites, you could drive

39
00:02:40,700 --> 00:02:46,370
consistent traffic to your site about the topic that you teach about, do you have

40
00:02:46,370 --> 00:02:49,010
episodes on all of those or how do you start out with those?

So,

41
00:02:49,010 --> 00:02:54,500
for me, for example, this might mean like I have an episode on what is business insurance

42
00:02:54,500 --> 00:02:58,010
. And I'll link to these all down below because I actually have done these.

43
00:02:58,460 --> 00:03:01,040
It's like, What kind of contract do I need?

44
00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:02,690
How do I send and sign contracts?

45
00:03:02,690 --> 00:03:04,790
What do I do if somebody steals my content?

46
00:03:04,820 --> 00:03:09,860
Those are all things that are not only Google-able and very Google-worthy, people are

47
00:03:09,860 --> 00:03:14,600
searching for these things, but they're also things that people who are constantly in my

48
00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:17,120
inbox, in my DMs about.

And

49
00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:21,500
the reason that it's so helpful to have those cornerstone pieces of content on your

50
00:03:21,500 --> 00:03:27,080
podcast is, not only does it give you that searchability and you're able to SEO-fy, you

51
00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:32,000
can turn it into a blog post for your website, it's also going to give you a great

52
00:03:32,030 --> 00:03:33,400
touchpoint.

53
00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:37,370
So that when people reach out to you and they say, "Hey, Sam.

54
00:03:37,370 --> 00:03:40,730
I heard you talk about business insurance in this reel, or I heard you mention that

55
00:03:40,730 --> 00:03:45,140
business insurance is important, I don't really understand what it is or how to get it."

56
00:03:45,140 --> 00:03:48,530
And then, that's a really natural way for me to be like, "Hey, thanks so much for

57
00:03:48,530 --> 00:03:49,670
watching that reel.

58
00:03:49,670 --> 00:03:52,280
I actually talked about it in episode blah, blah blah.

59
00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:59,210
Here's the link to listen."

And then, when they listen to that episode, not only is the episode full of a lot of value

60
00:03:59,210 --> 00:04:04,130
and it's helpful - and I obviously teach them what business insurance is - but it also

61
00:04:04,130 --> 00:04:08,350
has a call to action to the next step, the next natural step.

62
00:04:08,350 --> 00:04:11,960
Which, for me, would probably be going and watching or listening to my free legal

63
00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:14,540
workshop, Five Steps to Legally Protect Your Online Business.

64
00:04:14,540 --> 00:04:19,040
Or maybe it's to get my legal checklist or something like that.

So,

65
00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:25,460
you kind of start to build out this cornerstone pieces of content that's going to be the

66
00:04:25,460 --> 00:04:26,600
most helpful to you.

67
00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:30,140
It's going to be your workhorse that you're going to be able to go back to.

68
00:04:30,470 --> 00:04:31,600
Don't get me wrong there.

69
00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:35,870
And Chelsea actually submitted a really great question about strategy and how I go about

70
00:04:35,870 --> 00:04:38,300
picking topics. And I'm going to talk about this.

71
00:04:38,300 --> 00:04:39,950
Not all episodes need to be this way.

72
00:04:39,950 --> 00:04:41,660
Not all episodes have to be strategic.

73
00:04:41,660 --> 00:04:45,810
I definitely don't do this 100 percent of the time.

74
00:04:45,810 --> 00:04:50,210
But it should be the bulk of your content, just like the bulk of your content on Instagram

75
00:04:50,210 --> 00:04:54,010
should be educational kind of authority building content.

76
00:04:54,010 --> 00:04:56,840
So, that's how I like to go about it.

77
00:04:56,840 --> 00:05:02,270
In general, I like to build out this evergreen library of sorts of episodes.

78
00:05:02,270 --> 00:05:06,960
I try to phrase the titles in a way that makes it super easy.

79
00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:12,900
Like, if someone was scrolling through their podcast listening platform of choice, they

80
00:05:12,900 --> 00:05:15,810
would easily be able to tell what the episode is about, what they're going to get out of

81
00:05:15,810 --> 00:05:18,450
it, what they learn from it, if it's right for them.

82
00:05:18,450 --> 00:05:20,220
And so, I try to phrase it that way.

83
00:05:20,220 --> 00:05:25,140
I also try to phrase the topics in a way that you would talk about them and not

84
00:05:25,140 --> 00:05:30,000
necessarily in the way that I would phrase a question.

So,

85
00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:36,030
for example, I just had an episode that went live on February 16th that talked about -

86
00:05:36,030 --> 00:05:38,700
actually, I can tell you what episode it is.

87
00:05:39,030 --> 00:05:40,940
It's Episode 94.

88
00:05:40,950 --> 00:05:45,790
I actually talked to you about if you learn something in a program, can you teach it.

89
00:05:45,790 --> 00:05:49,170
And that's not something that I would phrase that way.

90
00:05:49,170 --> 00:05:55,620
I would teach you the legal thing of is it legal or is it breaking confidentiality if I

91
00:05:55,620 --> 00:05:57,310
share content from a program.

92
00:05:57,310 --> 00:06:03,120
But I know in my DMs or my inbox, the question usually is like, "I took such and such a

93
00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:09,240
course. Am I now allowed to teach on X topic?" And so, I literally phrased it that way

94
00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:11,130
when I made the episode go live.

So,

95
00:06:11,130 --> 00:06:14,760
I try to phrase titles the way that I think my customers would or the way that they would

96
00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:17,280
ask a question or something like that.

97
00:06:17,280 --> 00:06:21,150
Of course, I use the standard copywriting strategy of making sure that my titles are

98
00:06:21,180 --> 00:06:22,440
geared towards you.

99
00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:25,570
It's really kind of a what's in it for you type of strategy.

100
00:06:25,570 --> 00:06:29,820
You can apply that across the board, it will change your business overnight.

I

101
00:06:29,820 --> 00:06:33,470
really try to make the episodes as much about you as possible.

102
00:06:33,470 --> 00:06:38,180
And I never ever think about am I giving away too much.

103
00:06:38,180 --> 00:06:40,620
That's not something that ever enters my mind.

104
00:06:41,010 --> 00:06:42,810
I've never found that to be a problem.

105
00:06:42,810 --> 00:06:47,250
I mean, I guess I don't really know if my business would be more or less successful if I

106
00:06:47,250 --> 00:06:49,110
didn't have so much free content.

107
00:06:49,230 --> 00:06:53,940
But I guess I'm an example of somebody who gives out a lot of free content, has a very,

108
00:06:53,940 --> 00:06:59,610
very successful business by my standard, and so it can be done.

109
00:06:59,610 --> 00:07:03,780
It's just not something that I ever fuss in my brain about because I just want to get you

110
00:07:03,780 --> 00:07:06,210
the information. There's always going to be more to learn.

111
00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:09,720
There's always going to be more needed in terms of support and all that good stuff.

112
00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:15,240
So, I, personally, just rely on making the episodes as helpful as possible.

And

113
00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:20,880
then, I think it's just helpful to put your spin on your personality, your background.

114
00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:25,620
Having a little bit something that's kind of unique to you and the way that you talk about

115
00:07:25,620 --> 00:07:26,940
things.

116
00:07:26,940 --> 00:07:31,840
Even if you have a podcast that gives legal tips, for example, there's no reason why you

117
00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:36,760
can't tell little stories or have a little intro that's more behind the scenes and more

118
00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:39,940
personal, if that's what your brand is about.

119
00:07:40,690 --> 00:07:44,590
Okay. Let's get into all of your questions because everyone submitted such great

120
00:07:44,590 --> 00:07:48,700
questions. Desiree asks, "Do you record on your computer or have a setup?

121
00:07:48,700 --> 00:07:52,860
What app do you use to turn your video clips into IG posts?" Okay.

122
00:07:52,860 --> 00:07:54,400
So, that's a great question, Desiree.

So,

123
00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:59,230
I actually just record on QuickTime when I'm just recording audio.

124
00:07:59,260 --> 00:08:00,350
That's all I do.

125
00:08:00,350 --> 00:08:05,860
So, usually, for my Monday episodes, those are just more full length, full form podcast

126
00:08:05,860 --> 00:08:09,280
episodes. I just record those on QuickTime on my computer.

127
00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:13,690
I just open QuickTime, I hit new audio file recording, and then that's it.

128
00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:17,050
So, that's what I do for those.

For

129
00:08:17,080 --> 00:08:20,920
anything that I need to do on video - well, we're actually just having a meeting about

130
00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:23,740
this - I'll tell you how I currently do this, but I'm not going to do this very long.

131
00:08:23,740 --> 00:08:27,970
So, I started out just to keep things simple because I'm a really big fan of just keeping

132
00:08:27,970 --> 00:08:33,160
things simple so you can actually get them done and get started on a process and remain

133
00:08:33,160 --> 00:08:34,300
consistent with it.

134
00:08:34,300 --> 00:08:39,430
So, whenever I do video podcasts, I actually just go on Zoom just by myself.

135
00:08:39,430 --> 00:08:41,670
I record on my Zoom.

136
00:08:41,670 --> 00:08:45,550
And then, I hit upload to the Cloud so that it uploads automatically.

137
00:08:46,600 --> 00:08:51,460
Now, I'm fortunate that I have a team, and so somebody on my team can go into that file,

138
00:08:51,460 --> 00:08:53,020
they can upload it to the podcast.

139
00:08:53,020 --> 00:08:56,200
They then edit it and produce it and all that good stuff.

140
00:08:56,710 --> 00:08:59,230
If it was just me, I probably still would do it that way.

141
00:08:59,230 --> 00:09:02,320
There's probably like a Zap, you can set up for that on Zapier.

142
00:09:02,350 --> 00:09:05,310
But, yeah, that's the way that I do it.

143
00:09:05,320 --> 00:09:08,530
The reason I'm not going to continue with Zoom, doing it that way, is because the video

144
00:09:08,530 --> 00:09:10,030
quality is really bad.

145
00:09:10,030 --> 00:09:16,330
So, I'm thinking about either using my phone or I have a nicer camera, and then attaching

146
00:09:16,330 --> 00:09:18,820
my mic to it. So, I'm going to kind of start playing around with that.

147
00:09:18,820 --> 00:09:21,670
I know some people use other apps called, like, Riverside.

148
00:09:21,670 --> 00:09:26,680
I just did a podcast interview the other day with Joe Casabona where we did the interview

149
00:09:26,680 --> 00:09:30,220
over Riverside. So, that's something you could explore as well.

150
00:09:30,700 --> 00:09:33,970
Okay.

So, Desiree asked also, "I'm starting a podcast.

151
00:09:33,970 --> 00:09:41,440
What's your favorite way to plan and outline?" So, my favorite way to plan is to have a

152
00:09:41,440 --> 00:09:44,170
once monthly brainstorming session.

153
00:09:44,350 --> 00:09:50,290
So, you kind of have to reverse engineer because I stay about a month ahead of time for

154
00:09:50,290 --> 00:09:54,460
my podcast episodes. So, when I'm recording an episode, it's typically about a month

155
00:09:54,460 --> 00:09:55,750
until you're hearing that.

156
00:09:55,750 --> 00:09:57,580
And so, I'm always like a month ahead.

157
00:09:57,610 --> 00:10:01,900
This was something I definitely learned and became committed to when my dad was sick and

158
00:10:01,900 --> 00:10:05,710
then when my dad passed away, it was like, "Thank goodness I did this," because I took

159
00:10:05,710 --> 00:10:09,910
off a little over a month and we were pretty much okay on podcast episodes.

160
00:10:10,330 --> 00:10:14,260
So, I like to plan in advance.

I've

161
00:10:14,260 --> 00:10:19,600
talked about this many times, but I keep a running list in Asana of all of my ideas in

162
00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:24,100
general. Some of these ideas are always on the cutting floor.

163
00:10:24,100 --> 00:10:26,070
Some of them become posts.

164
00:10:26,070 --> 00:10:28,270
Some of them become Instagram stories.

165
00:10:28,270 --> 00:10:30,550
Some of them become full-fledged podcast episodes.

166
00:10:30,550 --> 00:10:32,740
Some of them just become stories and emails.

167
00:10:32,740 --> 00:10:35,380
I don't judge it or try to put too much into it.

168
00:10:35,380 --> 00:10:41,200
I just, literally, jot it down free form, like completely brain dump in this list that I

169
00:10:41,230 --> 00:10:43,630
call ideas in Asana.

170
00:10:43,960 --> 00:10:49,540
So, I do that every single day or whenever I come up with it, but just because you'll run

171
00:10:49,540 --> 00:10:51,610
out of them or you'll forget them.

But

172
00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:57,770
at least on a more formal note, once a month we have a meeting and we plan out.

173
00:10:57,770 --> 00:11:01,430
So, I'll pitch all of these ideas of I want to talk about this, I want to talk about that

174
00:11:01,430 --> 00:11:05,030
. Or my marketing manager, Rachel, will say like, "Well, we have a promo coming up, so

175
00:11:05,030 --> 00:11:09,230
we're going to talk about X, Y and Z." And we kind of plot it all out and move it around

176
00:11:09,230 --> 00:11:12,920
on the map and make sure everything falls into place.

In

177
00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:20,210
terms of outlining - I talked about this before on the podcast - Lindsey, my operations

178
00:11:20,210 --> 00:11:24,290
manager, came up with a really good idea awhile back, probably been almost a year.

179
00:11:24,290 --> 00:11:29,990
But she said that it's really helpful to have different weeks where we kind of focus on

180
00:11:29,990 --> 00:11:32,630
different elements of the podcast.

The

181
00:11:32,630 --> 00:11:33,950
podcast takes a lot of effort.

182
00:11:33,950 --> 00:11:37,280
I put a lot of effort. We, obviously, spend a lot of money to put this together.

183
00:11:37,310 --> 00:11:41,150
There are a lot of people working on this behind the scenes, so this is a lot.

184
00:11:41,180 --> 00:11:45,260
It doesn't have to be that much to start out, but at this point it's a lot.

185
00:11:45,590 --> 00:11:52,200
So, we have a week where we plan or IDA or whatever, then an outlining week, then a

186
00:11:52,200 --> 00:11:57,990
recording week. And then, there's kind of the production and all the deliverables that

187
00:11:57,990 --> 00:12:00,930
come from it, like I'm supposed to write emails and things like that.

188
00:12:00,930 --> 00:12:02,730
So, I write, like, some intro copy.

It's

189
00:12:02,730 --> 00:12:06,600
a little bit different now that I hired a full time marketing manager recently, so I

190
00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:09,990
don't have to do as much of that backend marketing stuff.

191
00:12:09,990 --> 00:12:16,530
But I think that's a great way if I was by myself, that's how I would do it.

192
00:12:16,530 --> 00:12:18,180
I would kind of have that flow.

193
00:12:18,180 --> 00:12:23,370
So, you'll have to let me know if that's helpful.

Okay

194
00:12:23,610 --> 00:12:24,870
. Let's see here.

195
00:12:24,870 --> 00:12:31,700
I got so many good questions on Instagram yesterday, so I want to get to those.

196
00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:37,620
Okay. Teresa asked, "Does it cost any money to start one and are there continuing

197
00:12:37,620 --> 00:12:43,870
charges?" So, here's the the deal - I'll be honest with you, Teresa, and everyone else -

198
00:12:43,870 --> 00:12:48,000
I hired a production team right away because at the stage of business when I started a

199
00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:53,040
podcast, there was no way that I was able to do that.

200
00:12:54,690 --> 00:13:00,150
You could record on QuickTime for free, for example, and then you can hire an audio editor

201
00:13:00,150 --> 00:13:06,390
. Or some VAs, for example, have experience with this, doing some audio editing, creating

202
00:13:06,390 --> 00:13:08,250
some audio grams for you to share.

203
00:13:08,250 --> 00:13:11,520
So, there are more affordable ways for you to go about that.

204
00:13:11,520 --> 00:13:17,520
I don't know whether or not it costs money to then go post - I don't think so - your

205
00:13:17,520 --> 00:13:19,270
podcast on Apple or Spotify.

206
00:13:19,270 --> 00:13:20,700
I don't think so. I think that's free.

207
00:13:20,910 --> 00:13:26,370
So, that would be, I would say, the cost of whatever equipment you get up and running

208
00:13:27,060 --> 00:13:30,960
.

And then, maybe if you needed to use any software, like if you wanted to use something

209
00:13:30,960 --> 00:13:33,730
like Riverside to record or something else like that.

210
00:13:33,730 --> 00:13:37,840
But otherwise, if you already have a computer and it has something like QuickTime or some

211
00:13:37,840 --> 00:13:41,380
other kind of audio recording, then, no, in that sense.

212
00:13:41,380 --> 00:13:46,840
But it would be probably difficult to edit on your own, although I know a lot of people

213
00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:49,300
do. Okay.

Our

214
00:13:49,300 --> 00:13:52,300
Radiant Life said, "How do you keep inspired with topics?

215
00:13:52,300 --> 00:13:56,300
I struggle a lot with what to talk about." So, that's a really good question.

216
00:13:56,300 --> 00:14:02,290
And I find that the best way to stay inspired with topics is actually to make sure in your

217
00:14:02,290 --> 00:14:05,980
business you're doing a lot of things that don't relate to what you do.

So,

218
00:14:05,980 --> 00:14:11,020
it's really easy in online business or with having a small business at this stage that

219
00:14:11,020 --> 00:14:15,820
our whole life kind of becomes the business and we we think about the business a lot or

220
00:14:15,820 --> 00:14:19,750
you have a lot of things going on but maybe it's always in the back of your brain.

221
00:14:19,930 --> 00:14:24,610
So, when that happens, we can sometimes run a little short on creativity.

I

222
00:14:24,610 --> 00:14:31,750
find that the best thing I can do is go take a tech free walk, practice some mindfulness

223
00:14:31,750 --> 00:14:36,310
where I'm looking at the leaves and seeing the color and the texture, and trying to bring

224
00:14:36,310 --> 00:14:39,190
myself down. Like, for me, grounding myself really works.

225
00:14:39,220 --> 00:14:44,590
It also really works for me to get into any sort of pop culture situation.

226
00:14:44,590 --> 00:14:48,800
So, I don't know why, but my brain converts a lot of stuff from T.V.

227
00:14:48,800 --> 00:14:52,340
shows and movies or if I go see a play or something like this.

228
00:14:52,340 --> 00:14:55,540
I always walk away with whatever lessons are in that T.V.

229
00:14:55,540 --> 00:14:58,780
show or in the movie that I see.

230
00:14:58,780 --> 00:15:00,430
I always walk away with like, "Oh.

231
00:15:00,430 --> 00:15:06,250
That's how this happens in business." And then, I make that into a story of some kind.

I

232
00:15:06,250 --> 00:15:10,210
think the other way to make sure that you never run out of topics is to dedicate yourself

233
00:15:10,210 --> 00:15:14,410
. Like, give me 90 days with this ideas list and keep it wherever you want.

234
00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:16,300
It could be a note in your phone.

235
00:15:16,300 --> 00:15:17,450
It could be a journal.

236
00:15:17,450 --> 00:15:20,320
It can be an Asana task, white board, whatever.

237
00:15:20,620 --> 00:15:25,300
But give yourself 90 days to commit to writing any little story.

238
00:15:25,300 --> 00:15:27,430
So, here's why I think people make the mistake.

239
00:15:27,430 --> 00:15:31,000
People make the mistake of only writing stuff down once they have the idea.

240
00:15:31,300 --> 00:15:35,920
What I do is I write stuff down that I think is like a funny thing that happened to

241
00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:41,550
me.

Like, you went to the coffee shop and you were waiting for your coffee.

242
00:15:41,550 --> 00:15:48,460
And the girl who had walked in way after you, when they hear the guy call up cappuccino

243
00:15:48,490 --> 00:15:51,790
with almond milk, she knows that cappuccino is not hers.

244
00:15:51,790 --> 00:15:54,470
But she goes up and she snags it because she's in a rush.

245
00:15:54,470 --> 00:16:00,970
And like me, because I'm literally the embodiment of Larry David would be standing there

246
00:16:00,970 --> 00:16:02,020
being like, "What?

247
00:16:02,020 --> 00:16:04,910
You just took my latte." And then, complaining about it.

248
00:16:04,910 --> 00:16:06,910
And everybody being like, "Why are you complaining about it?

249
00:16:06,910 --> 00:16:12,340
You should just be cool with it."

So, I feel like that's an example where that's literally something that happened to me.

250
00:16:12,370 --> 00:16:13,510
It means nothing.

251
00:16:13,510 --> 00:16:16,120
It could be a nothing. It could be a total nothing burger.

252
00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:20,980
I wrote it down. I wrote, "I was at my favorite coffee shop.

253
00:16:21,010 --> 00:16:22,750
Girl stole my cappuccino.

254
00:16:22,750 --> 00:16:27,040
I felt like I couldn't say anything for fear of being labeled Larry David, having Larry

255
00:16:27,070 --> 00:16:29,770
David's situation happen to me," something like that.

256
00:16:29,770 --> 00:16:36,130
And then, I think later on, I actually use that as a story that converted to not speaking

257
00:16:36,130 --> 00:16:38,830
up for yourself, not taking what's yours, not taking up space.

258
00:16:39,220 --> 00:16:43,840
So, that's an example where I didn't have a brilliant idea or a thought or a lesson when I

259
00:16:43,840 --> 00:16:48,700
saw that. I just wrote down like, "That's interesting." It's my understanding - I know

260
00:16:48,700 --> 00:16:54,220
nothing about comedy - that this is actually what comics do, that they write down funny

261
00:16:54,220 --> 00:16:56,780
stories or things that they see when they're out and about.

262
00:16:56,780 --> 00:17:00,310
Like the lady yelling at everybody at Starbucks that her cappuccino doesn't have enough

263
00:17:00,310 --> 00:17:01,420
foam or whatever.

264
00:17:01,420 --> 00:17:03,440
I'm giving a lot of cappuccino examples.

265
00:17:03,440 --> 00:17:09,550
But I think that that is actually something that comics actually use as a strategy to come

266
00:17:09,550 --> 00:17:12,970
up with topics, especially because you're poking fun at life.

267
00:17:12,970 --> 00:17:18,730
And I find in our businesses that the best content that we probably can create comes out

268
00:17:18,730 --> 00:17:20,590
of our own experiences.

269
00:17:20,590 --> 00:17:24,510
And we live such busy lives and we have so many experiences.

270
00:17:24,510 --> 00:17:29,800
And we're so overstimulated and inundated with all these experiences that if you wait

271
00:17:29,800 --> 00:17:33,940
until later, what happens is, you're sitting down, you're like, "Okay.

272
00:17:33,940 --> 00:17:35,640
I have to plan a podcast episode.

273
00:17:35,730 --> 00:17:39,240
What should this podcast be about?" And then, there's just like a blinking cursor and

274
00:17:39,240 --> 00:17:43,470
you're like, "I can't think of anything." But instead, we're going back to this idea

275
00:17:43,500 --> 00:17:47,400
bank. We're going back to the cornerstone content, that I talked about earlier, like have

276
00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:48,840
you knocked all those topics out?

277
00:17:48,840 --> 00:17:54,770
I also think the last thing I want to say to you about this topic is that, if and when you

278
00:17:54,770 --> 00:17:59,990
see stuff, either out and about or on social media or in an email or whatever, that gives

279
00:17:59,990 --> 00:18:05,240
you a strong reaction of any kind, you either are angry, you're upset, you love it,

280
00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:06,350
you're like, "Yes, yes, yes.

281
00:18:06,350 --> 00:18:09,770
I agree with this," that's a topic you should be speaking about.

282
00:18:09,770 --> 00:18:14,570
So, maybe you do some reflection about what you want to think about or say about it.

283
00:18:14,990 --> 00:18:18,740
I highly recommend processing things first before you go and try to put a podcast episode

284
00:18:18,740 --> 00:18:22,100
together. But, yeah, that's what you would do.

285
00:18:22,130 --> 00:18:24,410
That would be my recommendation.

286
00:18:25,410 --> 00:18:28,080
All right.

Chelsea asked, "How far ahead do you plan your episodes?

287
00:18:28,080 --> 00:18:31,530
Do you use a system based on your launches?" So, this is such a great question,

288
00:18:31,530 --> 00:18:37,830
Chelsea.

So, I plan ahead, usually a few months, but we kind of keep it flexible like when it's

289
00:18:37,830 --> 00:18:39,330
past a month or two.

290
00:18:39,330 --> 00:18:43,620
It's a little bit of we kind of think this is where we're going, but it's always subject

291
00:18:43,620 --> 00:18:45,120
to change because things change.

292
00:18:45,120 --> 00:18:47,360
But I record a month in advance.

293
00:18:47,370 --> 00:18:52,020
I highly, highly recommend to any of you who are thinking of starting a podcast, do not

294
00:18:52,020 --> 00:18:54,420
release a podcast when you only have one episode.

295
00:18:54,420 --> 00:19:03,030
I think I recorded maybe six or eight before we went live the launch day.

296
00:19:03,030 --> 00:19:06,010
So, they released two maybe on the first day.

297
00:19:06,010 --> 00:19:08,280
And then, back then I only posted once a week.

298
00:19:08,280 --> 00:19:13,350
So, we had about a month of slack to be able to get back up and running.

299
00:19:13,350 --> 00:19:18,480
You don't want to get into a habit, like if it's me, I would really rather you just do it

300
00:19:18,480 --> 00:19:24,810
right and have enough of a runway with your podcast because stuff comes up, and you can't

301
00:19:24,810 --> 00:19:32,140
be in the cycle of ideating, outlining, planning, recording, editing, and then writing

302
00:19:32,140 --> 00:19:35,830
all the deliverables that go along with the podcast, like an email and social post.

303
00:19:35,860 --> 00:19:38,620
That is a lot to do every single week.

So,

304
00:19:38,620 --> 00:19:42,880
I think Lindsey's method of kind of giving yourself themed weeks and doing this in

305
00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:46,860
batches where you're recording maybe a handful of episodes every week.

306
00:19:46,860 --> 00:19:51,940
I have a rule that I never record just one podcast to sit down because it's a lot of

307
00:19:51,940 --> 00:19:53,560
inertia and planning.

308
00:19:53,680 --> 00:19:58,210
By the time I sit down, I better be recording more than one.

So,

309
00:19:58,210 --> 00:20:03,790
I would say that you would get this kind of planning batching method down, and then that

310
00:20:03,790 --> 00:20:06,940
way you can work ahead and have a lot of consistency.

311
00:20:06,940 --> 00:20:10,660
I think with podcasting, just like any other channel, if you're posting on YouTube or

312
00:20:10,660 --> 00:20:12,520
Instagram, consistency is key.

313
00:20:12,550 --> 00:20:15,160
People want to see you keep showing up.

In

314
00:20:15,160 --> 00:20:19,870
terms of whether or not I use a system based on my launches, in general, yes.

315
00:20:19,870 --> 00:20:23,590
So, what we do is, essentially, look at the content calendar.

316
00:20:23,590 --> 00:20:29,080
If you listen to my planning episode back in December - which I can link to below - I

317
00:20:29,080 --> 00:20:33,640
plan out just a handful of promotions or live webinars throughout the year.

318
00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:40,390
So, if we know we have one of those, that's kind of a big red dot on the calendar in

319
00:20:40,390 --> 00:20:44,590
terms of the podcast of like, "Hey, this webinar goes live this day or this product goes

320
00:20:44,590 --> 00:20:48,100
on sale that day."

And so, we back out a couple of weeks.

321
00:20:48,100 --> 00:20:52,570
We reverse engineer a few weeks and say, "What do we want to talk about to warm people up

322
00:20:52,570 --> 00:20:58,840
for a few weeks before this thing goes live or the thing goes on sale?" And then, the

323
00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:05,080
week of the podcast, when it actually goes live, that's pretty targeted, usually, to the

324
00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:06,460
product or the sale.

325
00:21:06,700 --> 00:21:11,770
And then, afterwards, I usually try to keep a really light episode or a guest interview,

326
00:21:11,770 --> 00:21:15,460
like something that's really not about me pitching anything or talking about a product or

327
00:21:15,460 --> 00:21:18,250
anything like that. So, that's kind of my flow.

In

328
00:21:18,250 --> 00:21:22,060
between those periods, if you listen to my planning episode - which I highly recommend

329
00:21:22,060 --> 00:21:26,260
listening to any time of the year - you'll know that in between those periods I'm

330
00:21:26,260 --> 00:21:31,020
nurturing. So, from there, I'm going back to working on my evergreen strategy and like,

331
00:21:31,050 --> 00:21:33,240
"Am I hitting my cornerstone stuff?

332
00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:35,910
People keep asking this question, we got to address it.

333
00:21:35,910 --> 00:21:42,630
Or somebody brought up a really great question, I want to talk about it."

And then, I sprinkle in more personal stuff to keep it fun.

334
00:21:42,630 --> 00:21:45,670
And just for me to have something to look forward to.

335
00:21:45,670 --> 00:21:49,860
I don't want to talk about legal all the time, so it's fun for me to talk about something

336
00:21:49,860 --> 00:21:51,150
that's a little bit different.

337
00:21:51,150 --> 00:21:56,370
And I find by kind of releasing those parts of myself, it makes me able to show up and do

338
00:21:56,400 --> 00:22:00,840
my job much better, like when I am doing legal episodes.

339
00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:02,760
So, hopefully, that was helpful.

340
00:22:03,450 --> 00:22:07,950
Okay. Deanna asked, "What if your topic has been talked about so many times in different

341
00:22:07,950 --> 00:22:12,990
podcasts?" I'm so glad that you asked that, Deanna, because I think that you should talk

342
00:22:12,990 --> 00:22:14,740
about whatever you want to talk about.

343
00:22:14,760 --> 00:22:19,200
I think as long as you're getting your ideas from yourself and not getting them because

344
00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:21,060
you're seeing other people talk about it.

345
00:22:21,060 --> 00:22:24,950
What I don't want to see people do in the online space is go, "Okay.

346
00:22:24,950 --> 00:22:29,490
Let me look up another person in my industry who kind of does what I do and let me see

347
00:22:30,120 --> 00:22:34,020
what they're talking about."

And then, you almost use that as a rubric.

348
00:22:34,020 --> 00:22:38,850
Like, I'm not saying you're copying them, but I don't want you to treat what other people

349
00:22:38,850 --> 00:22:40,620
are talking about as the standard.

350
00:22:40,620 --> 00:22:42,210
You get to set the standard.

351
00:22:42,210 --> 00:22:43,500
What should you be talking about?

352
00:22:43,500 --> 00:22:45,540
What do you wish people were talking about more?

353
00:22:45,540 --> 00:22:49,530
I also don't care if people have talked about something, if it needs to be talked about,

354
00:22:49,530 --> 00:22:51,630
you should be talking about it, too.

And

355
00:22:51,630 --> 00:22:55,800
I would also love for you to start putting yourself in the position of being the person

356
00:22:55,800 --> 00:23:00,000
who starts conversations and doesn't just participate in conversations.

357
00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:01,350
You don't comment on conversations.

358
00:23:01,350 --> 00:23:03,430
You start conversations.

359
00:23:03,430 --> 00:23:08,470
And having a podcast is a great way to do that because you actually get to start really

360
00:23:08,470 --> 00:23:09,710
interesting conversations.

361
00:23:09,710 --> 00:23:15,850
And because it's a long form piece of content, you have the time to be able to flush out

362
00:23:15,850 --> 00:23:19,270
your argument or, really, walk people through something.

363
00:23:19,270 --> 00:23:22,210
And that really sets you as an authority in your space.

364
00:23:22,930 --> 00:23:25,480
Hopefully, that was helpful, Deanna, let me know.

Okay.

365
00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:30,070
So, Megan asked, "Let's say I've recorded my first podcast episode.

366
00:23:30,070 --> 00:23:34,540
Now, what do I do?" So, Megan, that's such a good question because it probably feels a

367
00:23:34,540 --> 00:23:35,590
little overwhelming.

368
00:23:35,590 --> 00:23:39,250
But, hopefully, I've given you some information about the fact that, first, I would not

369
00:23:39,250 --> 00:23:41,950
post it yet. I would bank more episodes.

370
00:23:41,950 --> 00:23:47,200
I would come up with a little bit of a strategy about what episodes you're really going

371
00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:52,630
to roll out.

I think it's usually a good idea if you roll out a couple of episodes at once when you

372
00:23:52,630 --> 00:23:54,390
first release your podcast.

373
00:23:54,390 --> 00:23:56,340
You give people a little bit of a flavor.

374
00:23:56,350 --> 00:23:59,440
I tried to give people a few episodes that were a little different.

375
00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:04,730
I had a hot take, like Community Over Competition was actually my first episode.

376
00:24:04,730 --> 00:24:06,580
And then, I did a legal one.

377
00:24:06,580 --> 00:24:08,340
It's the second one for scope of practice.

378
00:24:08,340 --> 00:24:11,830
So, I was like, "Okay. I want to show people like what this podcast is going to be about.

379
00:24:11,830 --> 00:24:15,130
It's not just going to be about any one type of those episodes.

380
00:24:15,130 --> 00:24:19,180
It's going to be a little bit of everything." So, I tried to give people that flavor

381
00:24:19,210 --> 00:24:20,950
right off the jump.

So,

382
00:24:20,950 --> 00:24:25,900
you could record more, come up with a plan, get in your groove, make sure you have enough

383
00:24:25,900 --> 00:24:30,430
material to post for a while and start batching and getting ahead.

384
00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:34,510
And then, I would also start thinking about your distribution strategy of how are we

385
00:24:34,540 --> 00:24:38,170
getting this podcast in people's hands or in their ears, how are we getting people to

386
00:24:38,170 --> 00:24:42,080
listen, how are we spreading the word, what's your podcast all about, who's it for.

387
00:24:42,130 --> 00:24:45,390
So, that's what I would think about, Megan.

All

388
00:24:45,390 --> 00:24:49,320
right. We got another question on Instagram that said, "What is all of the equipment and

389
00:24:49,320 --> 00:24:52,140
software that I really need to start?" Okay.

390
00:24:52,140 --> 00:24:58,500
So, I'm a big fan of not going crazy on tech or equipment or software to get started.

391
00:24:58,500 --> 00:25:04,890
So, in terms of equipment, I think that your best bet, the thing that I would spend the

392
00:25:04,890 --> 00:25:07,500
"most money" on is a mic.

393
00:25:07,530 --> 00:25:11,220
If you don't have a good mic, then that's going to be really important because audio

394
00:25:11,220 --> 00:25:15,240
quality is very, very important, obviously, for podcasting.

I

395
00:25:15,240 --> 00:25:17,970
have an Audio-Technica mic, which we're going to link to below.

396
00:25:17,970 --> 00:25:19,380
It's also the one that I'm giving away.

397
00:25:19,380 --> 00:25:23,580
So, if you haven't participated in the giveaway, just go down below, you can fill out the

398
00:25:23,580 --> 00:25:28,260
form to submit a question for a Sam's Sidebar episode, and then you're entered to win my

399
00:25:28,260 --> 00:25:30,600
tech package. But that's one thing.

I

400
00:25:30,600 --> 00:25:34,110
would say the second thing I got, which is the cheapest thing I got, was a little

401
00:25:34,110 --> 00:25:36,210
windscreen for the mic itself.

402
00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:42,320
With that windscreen, I'm able to block any of the super popping noises.

403
00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:46,760
I also talk with my hands a lot, so sometimes if I touch the table or I hit something by

404
00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:49,670
accident, it can help to blunt that a little bit.

405
00:25:49,670 --> 00:25:51,830
So, that's that.

You're

406
00:25:51,830 --> 00:25:54,920
supposed to have these big fancy headphones.

407
00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:57,740
I feel like that's what podcasters say.

408
00:25:57,740 --> 00:26:03,170
But I hope that my podcast production team is loving this part of the episode where I'm

409
00:26:03,170 --> 00:26:06,200
like, "Why do you have to wear these?" I'm not really sure.

410
00:26:06,530 --> 00:26:10,850
It helps me at least to block out the noise, but I'm not having any audio come back out,

411
00:26:10,850 --> 00:26:13,850
so I'm not sure why I'm supposed to wear headphones, but I do.

412
00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:17,120
You're also going to get those, and you can use them for anything else in your business

413
00:26:17,120 --> 00:26:19,190
that you want to, but that's part of the giveaway.

414
00:26:19,460 --> 00:26:22,970
So, I don't know, they told me that a nice pair of headphones was pretty necessary.

415
00:26:22,970 --> 00:26:24,320
But, honestly, I don't know why.

416
00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:27,350
I just popped them on and started recording.

I

417
00:26:27,350 --> 00:26:30,590
guess other than that, it would just be if you had to invest in any sort of software to

418
00:26:30,590 --> 00:26:37,520
record. So, something like Riverside or something similar would be really important, or

419
00:26:37,520 --> 00:26:39,830
getting QuickTime set up and running, or whatever.

420
00:26:39,830 --> 00:26:44,720
And then, from there it would be whatever it costs to edit or produce that podcast.

421
00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:48,500
There are plenty of people who are available who do this on a smaller scale.

My

422
00:26:48,500 --> 00:26:50,570
production team, Nova, is amazing.

423
00:26:50,570 --> 00:26:51,740
I would highly recommend them.

424
00:26:51,740 --> 00:26:54,860
I think they're always linked, but we'll make sure that they're linked.

425
00:26:55,130 --> 00:26:59,840
It's not probably for somebody who's just starting out, unless you have a bigger budget

426
00:26:59,840 --> 00:27:00,890
when you're starting out.

427
00:27:00,890 --> 00:27:05,120
But I think it's great to hire this out if and when you can.

428
00:27:05,120 --> 00:27:06,470
It's been huge for me.

429
00:27:06,470 --> 00:27:09,000
I would not be able to do it without them.

430
00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:12,320
And I wouldn't be able to do it, obviously, without the team who works on this behind the

431
00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:14,200
scenes.

All right.

432
00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:17,680
So, I hope that this Q&A episode was helpful all about podcasting.

433
00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:19,350
And have you entered the giveaway yet?

434
00:27:19,360 --> 00:27:23,290
You got to go and enter a Sam's Sidebar question below.

435
00:27:23,290 --> 00:27:28,270
That will automatically enter you for the chance to win my exact podcast setup in terms of

436
00:27:28,270 --> 00:27:29,800
my tech tools.

437
00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:36,220
You'll get my USB mic, my Audio-Technica mic, you'll get my headphones - which, as we

438
00:27:36,220 --> 00:27:38,740
discussed, I'm not sure why I need them, but you're going to get them and they're

439
00:27:38,740 --> 00:27:44,710
expensive. And you'll also get the pop filter windscreen, which is a must if you want to

440
00:27:44,710 --> 00:27:47,920
record outside or if you use your hands like me.

So,

441
00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:52,660
to enter, submit your questions at samvanderwielen.com/legalquestion.

442
00:27:52,660 --> 00:27:54,670
You got to do that before March 16th.

443
00:27:54,670 --> 00:27:56,140
You get one entry per person.

444
00:27:56,140 --> 00:27:59,130
It's limited to those of you who are in the U.S.

445
00:27:59,130 --> 00:28:00,370
18 or older.

446
00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:03,790
You don't have to purchase anything in order to win or anything like that.

447
00:28:04,180 --> 00:28:06,910
So, you want to go ahead and do that as soon as you can.

448
00:28:06,910 --> 00:28:09,490
We'll make sure that the link is down below in the show notes so that you can

449
00:28:09,490 --> 00:28:13,540
enter.

Thank you so much for joining me on Sam's Sidebar.

450
00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:16,070
I hope that this episode was helpful for you.

451
00:28:16,070 --> 00:28:19,220
Please send me a DM and let me know if you got something out of it.

452
00:28:19,220 --> 00:28:22,770
I love seeing when you share on social media, just tag me on Instagram,

453
00:28:22,770 --> 00:28:25,460
@samvanderwielen, so that I can give you a shoutout.

454
00:28:25,460 --> 00:28:29,720
And you know what I always ask, go ahead and text this episode to a friend.

455
00:28:29,720 --> 00:28:33,350
If you have a friend who's been wanting to start a podcast, this is a great thing to go

456
00:28:33,350 --> 00:28:35,960
and send them. So, thank you so much for listening.

457
00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:41,270
I can't wait to chat with you next week.

Thanks

458
00:28:41,270 --> 00:28:43,730
so much for listening to the On Your Terms podcast.

459
00:28:43,730 --> 00:28:47,630
Make sure to follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen to

460
00:28:47,630 --> 00:28:52,580
podcasts. You can also check out all of our podcast episodes, show notes, links, and more

461
00:28:52,580 --> 00:28:55,400
at samvanderwielen.com/podcast.

462
00:28:55,430 --> 00:28:58,970
You can learn more about legally protecting your business and take my free legal

463
00:28:58,970 --> 00:29:02,450
workshop, Five Steps to Legally Protect and Grow Your Online Business, at

464
00:29:02,450 --> 00:29:04,300
samvanderwielen.com.

465
00:29:04,300 --> 00:29:08,840
And to stay connected and follow along, follow me on Instagram, @samvanderwielen, and send

466
00:29:08,840 --> 00:29:10,070
me a DM to say hi.