Latest / Curiously Guided Podcast / Ep.20 | Lessons Learned From Starting a Podcast: Season 1 Grand Finale

Transcript

Ep.20 | Lessons Learned From Starting a Podcast: Season 1 Grand Finale · Curiously Guided Podcast

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome back to the Curiously Guided Podcast.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: We're your hosts, Mariah and Che, two intuitive business strategists exploring the intersection of entrepreneurship, spirituality, and the subconscious mind.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: If you're interested in exploring and learning how to integrate strategy with energetics to help you grow a profitable business in a way that actually feels good, then you're in the right place.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Today's episode is actually a little special.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: We are wrapping up our first season of the Curiously Guided podcast.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: And we wanted to create this episode as like the season finale, almost an opportunity for us to reflect back on lessons that we've learned, what we would do again, what we would recommend not to do again for anybody out there that's maybe considering starting their own podcast.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: We've certainly learned quite a bit.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: And just um we also just want to reflect a little bit, you know, as you guys probably know, the idea of this podcast is how can you follow intuition and really trust when you get those little nudges and um, you know, allow yourself to go down the curiosity rabbit hole.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: This is that podcast for Mariah and I.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Us creating this was an experiment in intuition and following that curiosity.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: And we are thrilled with the results, you know, long story short, but we kind of just wanted to have an opportunity to um reflect back a bit on what's gone on.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I feel like this podcast for us personally, like just being the host of it, it's just been like incredibly healing for us.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's been super fucking fun, first off.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like I love having these conversations.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just been so healing.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's like proof that when you follow the curiosity and you take the baby steps, not only do opportunities and ideas literally fall out of the sky into your lap, but like your awareness begins to expand and like you start to heal in new ways.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: And to be honest, I'm I'm not sure if that if the healing and the awareness is the fact that like this is a deeper expression for us.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: And like it's allowing us to trust our voice, trust our perspectives, but it's also allowing us to form a deeper connection to ourselves.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: And then you kind of combine that with like the expanded awareness around having these amazing conversations with people.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of like in the beginning of this podcast, we kind of played around and we were like, you know what, we want to have episodes just us two, but like we also want to have really interesting interviews with people.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I think allowing ourselves to flow within those, like, and learning about people's geniuses and about like their niches and industries and just like their journeys and how they've gotten here.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like it's just dropped so many new pieces into awareness for me.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: And it's connected so many dots, like probably in every interview, like on every episode, I'm like, oh wow.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like it just it, these dots start connecting in real life, and it's just it's just been really incredible.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: I like that you're bringing up healing.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's certainly been an opportunity to heal and grow for both of us in a lot of ways that I wasn't expecting, honestly.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not really sure what I thought would, I didn't, I tried to honestly not have a ton of expectations, but the opportunities and the ideas and the insights, and um, you know, we'll get into this a little bit more, but just the the self-trust that we've built to kind of show up a little imperfectly.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Not everything has to be scripted, not everything has to be written down.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: We can kind of let ourselves be in flow and and still provide value.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's been a really powerful learning experience for Mariah and I.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: And we're both kind of wrapping up this first season, just like over the moon, excited about the future.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's a really wonderful spot to be.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: But before we go too much to the end, I want to rewind all the way back.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, let's talk about, you know, like starting a podcast.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we I want to share a little bit about how this podcast came to be.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: If you are out there and you've kind of had that nudge to like explore this area, Mariah and I have gotten the feedback from a lot of people, like, I kind of want to start a podcast, but it feels really overwhelming.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: It feels like a big production, it feels like oversaturated.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: There's a bunch of people in the market already, you know.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: So we just kind of want to talk about like our story.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, way back at the very beginning, Mariah and I were just business friends.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we had connected on Voxer, and we were both just really connecting on the idea of like, hey, I'm getting all this advice from coaches, but it really doesn't like, I've done this, like, and I've followed all the strategy and the right quote unquote right way to do it.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't feel quite aligned.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I'm still not quite where I want to be.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then as we were having these conversations with each other, we both kind of realized, hey, we have a lot to say, and we have a lot of thoughts about this, and we don't really see this conversation happening in other places.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like I remember Mariah, when we first started talking, it was like more you either had like the woo side of business where it like swung really hard one way, where people were, you know, just way out there.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: It was really unrelatable.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then you have this other swing hard left, and it's like very formal business, net 30 corporate type talk.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: And we were looking for something in the middle where it's Mariah and I have been on this big personal development journey.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: We've been practicing with all the tools, we've been finding a lot of help and some of these like quote unquote non-traditional ways to build our business.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so we really just through conversation, I guess, found that we had this shared connection point.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: And we were really excited to explore that.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where the initial inspiration came from.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think what kind of pushed us even further was that I just remember after like every conversation that we would either have on Zoom as just like a coffee chat or like through Voxer, I'd be like, holy shit, what a good conversation! Like I feel like other people are also either having this perspective or feeling this pain point, or like feeling like there's there's something more, there's something deeper in terms of like the business aspect.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: And then the spirituality, you know, as you said, it's kind of everything felt really ungrounded.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: Everything felt either like left or right, and nothing felt in the middle, but like through the conversations, we realized that there is a middle and that the juiciness actually lies in the middle.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: And then after we were reflecting on our stories, we're just like, what is the common denominator here?
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how did we get here?
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how did we end up in this space?
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: And that's where we figured out that, like, holy shit, we really have allowed curiosity to guide the way for us.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: And then after reflecting on conversations that we've had with, to be honest, like most people in our life, like just asking, like, how did they get here?
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of the times it's like following an intuitive nudge or the curiosity, but there isn't that connection back to intuition.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like we hear so often, trust your gut, trust your gut, and that's normal.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: But then how could we connect it to intuition in a way that doesn't feel too spiritual, that doesn't feel off-putting or like too up in the clouds, and like really ground it in to like, no, there's something here.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like just through those conversations and through the community that we met in, there were so many people that thought like us that wanted community, that wanted these conversations and really found healing in having conversations that explore business growth from a more intuitive, holistic, healing perspective.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: And so we're kind of like, I don't know, should should we do this?
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember we for the first conversation, I was like, I feel like I want to start a podcast.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: And you were like, wait, I feel like I want to start a podcast.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: And we were like, whoa, we need to sit with this.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: We are not about to jump into partnership literally right away.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: Both of us have gotten, I'm pretty sure, burned in the past from being in partnerships.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: And we were like, we want to make sure that our intentions are pure.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: We wanted to make sure that like this was that it felt fun, that it felt easy, that it felt sustainable.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: And to be honest, I think that that really pushed us to create a system for getting this podcast out in the world, a system that really fit together with both of our personalities, with both of the things that we're interested in.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: And to be honest, I don't think that I would have started a podcast on my own.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like I wouldn't start one without a co-host.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's such a great point.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we really spent a lot of time, and this may not be right for everybody, but I'm not a quick start type person.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: And Mariah may be a little bit more so than I was, but I really we spent a lot of time at the beginning.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like, let's sit with this and let's really get clear on how this works for us.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm the same as Mariah.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: I never would have started this on my own.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: I knew that I was looking for partnership.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so when this opportunity fell, you know, into place, it felt very aligned because I knew that, oh, I want to do, I work better with partnership.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: I don't love the idea of like being peer by myself, talking to myself.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's not, I don't, that doesn't, that's not where flow comes to me the most naturally.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I knew I wanted partnership.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I knew I wanted to a platform to like express myself and I knew I had views and I wanted to start being seen with those views.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I was looking for that.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: So it kind of like, I think Mariah and I gave ourselves the space to like really sit with it and like let it, how could this actually work for us?
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, a really great example of that is we're gonna do seasons.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: The idea of producing weekly content did not feel sustainable for either of us, but seasons where I can take a break a couple of times a year sounds great.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so it was all of these.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: We we had a lot of conversations around like, what could this look like in a way that moves both of us closer to our goals and feels very sustainable?
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: So it's always been how can we serve our businesses and how can we do this in a way that doesn't feel overwhelming?
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that I think that foundation, we also sat down one day, Mariah opened up a Google Doc and we got like a really clear little one-liner done of like, this is the podcast for intuitive um business owners.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: And we had we had pretty like a clear message, and I think that helped us.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: We've grown relatively quickly.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like over the moon with how we've grown in this first season.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I think having like a really just some clarity around like what we were out the gate and how this was going to be and setting some boundaries around it really helped make this actually be sustainable and be fun and easy.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: And it was because we spent that time in the beginning.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, I think that that was really helpful to just keep all of the topics really aligned and have everything making sense.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: And then I just want to backpedal just a little bit.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: I think because in in terms of visibility, in terms of marketing, we all know that there's literally a trillion ways that you can grow your business.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: There's different strategies, there's different platforms, there's all these different things.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the reason why we chose a podcast was because we wanted to, and Shay always says this, like learning out loud.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: We wanted to have conversations.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: We didn't want to educate and teach.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: I think that was the big difference there because like we were finding that we got really lit up just from talking through these things with each other.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: And we were like, we think that people would benefit from allowing other people, like us holding the space to allow other people to come in and also have a conversation.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: But like, because obviously you can do a similar thing on YouTube, like you can, you can have interview series on YouTube.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: And we thought about possibly uploading the podcast episodes onto YouTube, and maybe that's something that we'll do in the future.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: But to be honest, like with this podcast, it's kind of like how can we do this in the most effective yet easy way possible?
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: And being on YouTube, it's just like it's it's a new layer that like we just didn't want to uncover.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: We didn't want to have a video editor, we didn't want to, I don't know, like teach and do all of those like animations that people do and like intro videos and like being on video and having to get ready for conversations and like yeah, the video component was just like a maybe in a little bit, not right now.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that was the biggest thing that we wanted.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: We wanted to be able to have conversations, we wanted to be able to do it on a platform that was searchable.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: So, as a lot of you guys know, like my background is in search engine optimization and Shay's is in like brand strategy and things like that.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: And we both really believe in like being searchable and having a longer shelf life content.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: So that's why we didn't decide to like just do Instagram lives and like IGTVs and things like that.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like we really wanted to be able to collaborate with each other and with other people in a way that was searchable and had a long shelf life.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I think just explaining the reasoning on why we chose a podcast, I think that that's important.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're like, if this conversation is piquing your curiosity, go check out our episode on marketing.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we really dive into the pros and cons, honestly, and how you should choose a marketing strategy.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: But I think, Mariah, I'm glad you brought this up.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: This was it's I mentioned goals earlier.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: Mariah and I both had this desire to be, I hate the word creating content, but just to be, you know, creating marketing material for our business in a way that felt purposeful and valuable, and not like we're on a hamster reel just making content for content's sake.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: So if you are considering, you know, amping up your marketing strategy, check out that episode because we really do dive deep into like what the options are.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: But for us, a podcast made total sense for both of our businesses and it helped us kind of achieve those goals of just feeling like my marketing is actually more evergreen.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's I'm gonna be able to record it once and it can like nurture people and let people get to know me forever, right?
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: And and then the cool part about podcasts is it's searchable just like Google is.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: So Mariah has actually found an old business coach.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: Shout out to Natasha's episode, that she found through searching on podcasts.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: So the power of podcasts is huge.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I think there's a lot of talk these days of like, oh, well, everyone's doing a podcast and it's saturated.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: But fortunately, that is exactly like saying, um, you know, there's already been a lot of TV shows made.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: So we would we shouldn't make more TV shows, you know.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: We know that podcasting as a platform is only growing in popularity.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, more and more people are listening to podcasts, and there's no reason, just as in anything in life, that excuse of, oh, it's already been done, well, it's never been done through your lens, you know, with your voice, you know, on this platform in this time.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: So I really, if you are considering podcasting, if a lot of the stuff we've been talking about, like the evergreen nature of marketing, is like really resonating with you, I just want to encourage you, don't write off podcasting because you think it's too hard.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: To Mariah's point, there's a lot of opportunities to like strip things back and make it be very simple and just do one season of as simple as possible.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what we've done.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: And then um, the other piece is uh you can really make it be whatever you want it to be and like spend some time.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: But are you a single solo person?
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: Are you looking for a partnership?
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: What do you want?
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: Why are you doing this?
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know, what kind of value out of it and get really clear on the why, the what it is, and then dive into it.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and allow your outside experiences to give you clues.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: So I feel like what I was realizing as well, because you know, this whole thing kind of, yeah, it came in in a really aligned way, but like what I was realizing before was that like I was taking programs and courses and blah de blah de blah, and everybody had video content.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I like video content when I want to sit and watch and educate and like learn something and see something, I think that it's helpful.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: But the ease of usability for the audience with a podcast, I think that that's why there can be so many different podcasts and so many of them be successful, is because there's so many different ways for people to engage with a podcast.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'll listen to a podcast episode when I'm at the gym, I'll listen to it when I'm driving in a car, I'll listen to one when I'm doing the dishes, when I'm cleaning the house.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like, there's so many opportunities because, like, to be honest, I run out of music to listen to sometimes.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'll just listen to the same shit over and over.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I love Missy Elliott, but I do not want to hear her voice for at least another week.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like, what the fuck else can I listen to?
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: And then it was also, yeah, like I already have a YouTube channel, but I haven't created a YouTube video in over a year.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: And it's kind of because showing up on video and getting like doing my makeup and making sure that I like looked good in order to like, I don't know, record, which also isn't completely necessary.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I understand that that is a limitation in my own mindset.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: But that was just like more reasons that a podcast just made sense.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm so happy you brought this up.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: I hadn't like kind of pulled these pieces together before, but I've noticed a trend in like the online course world where people are offering an audio component now with their online course because not everybody can watch video, not everybody can really sit still and watch video and consume info like that.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of us are more on the move and we're listening in the car or with kids around, or we need to be washing dishes, you know, whatever.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I it's actually not even accessible for a lot of different types of people with abilities, different abilities.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: Video can be kind of limiting.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I have noticed like hello audio people are referencing now, where they're they have a course with videos, but now they're offering that course with audio only options because people are looking for exactly what Mariah just described, that like flexibility to take it with you on the go.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I had never even thought about that, but I definitely think like if we're looking at trends, there's something to this, not that we may not do YouTube videos in the future, but there's something to this audio only that I think is only growing in popularity.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: So if you guys have had the nudge, but you just think that like, well, it's too saturated.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: There's so many podcasts out there about mindfulness or about intuition or about finance or about the the topic babysitting came to mind.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: If you guys want to create a podcast about babysitting, by all means, here's your intuitive nudge.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: But whatever you want to talk about, there's a there's a piece of trust here.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: Trust that when you show up in your power and when you're really fucking excited to have these conversations, trust that that desire is enough.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: That is enough.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: You don't need to like make sure that you have a big audience beforehand.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: You could literally like we started these episodes assuming that the only people that were gonna listen were our significant others, literally.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't even think Andrew's ever listened to one.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: He was just like, cool, you want me to leave like a five-star review?
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what's up?
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: How can I support you without listening?
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like, and that's totally fine.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: But it's like we kind of we started this without having specific goals.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like we had an idea of what we wanted to talk about.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: We knew what really lit us up, what kind of conversations, what kind of guests, what kind of topics.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: We didn't have specific goals.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: We had a big picture goal.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: We had a big picture goal of having conversations, of creating community, of yeah, like just having meaningful conversations and has having a way to express ourselves.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: We didn't have specific goals, like I'm gonna use this to 10 times grow my next launch for my program or my course.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we didn't put ourselves in a box in any way.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: We didn't put any pressure on ourselves.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: We kind of just decided that we were gonna do this.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I think we have a goal, just so you guys know, of hitting at least a hundred episodes.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I do want to say that even though this is the wrap up of season one, we ain't fucking going nowhere.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_01: But it's Like we allowed ourselves to release the expectation because so often, especially in business, it's like we see this plan and we want to know how is this gonna end up?
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: How is this going to grow my business?
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: How is this going to give me an ROI?
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm not saying that those questions are bad.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: I think that they're helpful.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: But in terms of creative expression, in terms of creating a marketing strategy that feels fun, easy, and aligned, you have to release the expectation.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: There's this deep part of trust.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: Like I trust that even if this isn't the end all be all, even if this doesn't make me six million dollars, that I'm going to learn something, that I'm going to gather opportunities and I'm going to gather insight and data points, and I'm going to learn and collaborate and grow.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: That is enough.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: You do not need like a clear ROI end goal.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to start a podcast, if you want to do anything with marketing besides ads, you need to have that shit planned out before you do ads.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: But for visibility purposes, you're allowed to play with it and just see what comes out of it.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: I think that that's been key for us of just um for us, this for me at least, it's allowing myself to be in thought leadership and be visible in thought leadership.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: And all of this kind of stuff takes time.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then they do maybe one season and they're mad that they're not millionaires with an island already.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think you and I have both always been realistic around like, let's just do this for the creative fun of it and trust that like what needs to happen will happen.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I can tell you that that's 100% been the case.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: You know, uh, we almost immediately, as we got started, started to get messages of like, from I think like the day we got a message from a stranger that said, like, I love this, this is what I was looking for.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: It was like so validating for me because you and I, the reason we did this was because we were hungry for a community or that wants to talk about the things we want to talk about.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so having strangers reach out and say that was like the best proof of concept for me of like, oh, we're on to something here.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so um I do think that it's interesting when you let yourself release that expectation of outcome.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you just see what happens and you're doing something for the joy of it, for the ease of it, because it allows you to step into this next level version of yourself.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's really interesting how all that other stuff magically falls into place, right?
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, especially like I was just looking at the data this past weekend, and I just like started laughing at the fact that like we're already on page one of Google for some pretty cool keywords, like literally empaths for business.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if we're on page one, but I think we're on page two.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: And like just from an SEO and a searchability perspective, a brand new website with a brand new domain name that doesn't have a lot of backlinks, that doesn't, hasn't even been on the block for a year to get on the first three pages within a couple months is pretty fucking cool.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: And then we check our data of like download their subscribers, and we literally like we were mind blown.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: We were like, holy shit, like we I don't know, we were hoping that people were listening.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: And then it's like we kind of allowed ourselves to release the expectation and then we checked back in and we were like, oh my god, hello, people are listening, and like getting this feedback from you guys on Instagram and like these messages and the comments on our posts.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we just what we do is like we literally geek out about it and we send screenshots to each other or like voice notes if we are having a conversation and somebody who's like, Yeah, I listened to the podcast episode, just like in passing.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_01: I've had friends do that.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, I listened to the podcast episode and I learned blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I'd be like, Oh my God, shey, people are listening and they have takeaways.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like, this is insane, this is incredible.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: And it continues to blow our minds, but I think that's because we don't have this big expectation that we're trying to reach or match up to.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we allow the surprises and the mini miracles to blow us away.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: I think we've been doing a good job of like celebrating all the baby steps and the wins.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's like advice I would give to my clients.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm like, oh yeah, we are doing that.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's nice to see that we're walking the walk too.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think that's really beautiful.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: You know, let's dive into.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: We know we've been at it now since Mariah and I first had the idea last March, right?
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: March 2021.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then we launched the podcast at the end of October, which was October 2021.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: And now here we are at the end of February 2022.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: So we have almost been thinking about and working on the podcast for a year, maybe a little active for uh the past few months.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um we we have some lessons learned that we thought we could share with y'all if you're um considering podcasting.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's certainly some things that we thought we did well, which we just shared with you, but then there's also some things where, you know, um there were learning experiences.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe we can help you avoid some uh pain points.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_00: So my uh my big takeaway, I think, as I'm looking back on all of it, I do want to encourage you, don't overcomplicate things, don't feel like you need to get it up on YouTube and repurpose quotes out into little reels onto Instagram and like do all the things when you're first getting started.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm happy that we took a simple approach.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: That being said, Mariah and I were a bit cavalier, like we hopped into our first episode.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: I had never even looked at what mics were hooked up.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: I had never thought a thing about sound.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I really didn't think about like the audio piece of podcasting too much.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: I was kind of like, oh, we can get in there and we'll figure it out.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so um and that we did.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: We did, but what that looked like was I spent a lot of hours teaching myself audio editing.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I wish that, and truthfully, the secret don't feel like you need a special podcasting studio with padded walls or you've got to get in your closet, or really, if you can get a mic, a nicer mic, and they don't have to be that expensive.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: There's good ones on Amazon that are well reviewed and set it up correctly.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: If you can kind of just get a really good mic setup going, that's about all you need.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: So don't feel like you have to go crazy with it, but do spend a little bit more time than we did researching audio and in being aware, like we didn't even know, for example, with Zoom, um your computer sometimes will hook up a different audio input than what you thought.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: So even when I did buy a new mic, we still were recording with my computer's audio because I didn't know how to hook it up.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: So that's one of my lessons learned is I wish I would have maybe spent like 30 minutes beforehand being like, what do I need to know about audio to shoot a podcast?
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but if it's any takeaway for you guys, you don't have to know everything to just jump in and figure it out.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, kind of like the trial by fire way that we did it.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: And now I'm like a pro and I can edit these episodes really quick, turn them around really quick.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: So it was annoying at the time, but I am grateful that I had to get in there and learn it.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think the the thing that helped us a lot was having two of us and your strengths are my weakness, and my strengths are yours.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_01: And so, right from the beginning, we kind of outlined how we want this to look.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like, do we want bi-weekly episodes?
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_01: Do we want weekly episodes?
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_01: We decided on weekly because we kind of thought about our own podcast, like podcasts that we enjoy listening to.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_01: And like it's nice to be like, oh, there's a new episode on Mondays or Tuesdays.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_01: And speaking of, we chose Tuesday because we didn't want to choose Monday, because that's the beginning of the work week.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_01: That's when Shay usually has a lot of calls.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_01: I usually spend my entire day in my email, really like planning out the week moving forward.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then like her doing the audio was so helpful for me because the thought of doing that like it just it already like gives me the heebie jeebies.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like I just I could not do that.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_01: So I decided, you know what, if you're going to take that on, I will create the show notes on the website and I will post it to Instagram, make sure that there's a caption, make sure that there's graphics, tag the people that are in there, make sure to post it.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like we kind of each created our own process within the bigger process.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: And to be honest, our show notes aren't wild.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like I remember as me being a fact finder, I was like, what do other show notes look like?
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: And like was looking for examples on examples on examples.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, it's literally talking about the episode.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I think bullet points are helpful.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_01: I like bullet points as a listener to just like a quick overview, and that's why I wanted to use them on hours.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: So that's kind of that was my thought process behind that.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: And in terms of like having an Instagram for the podcast on its own, to be honest, having one Instagram can be a lot.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_01: I run four Instagrams, so like it can be quite overwhelming if I don't have boundaries, if I don't keep myself in check.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_01: So with the podcast Instagram, it's kind of we're allowing this to just flow.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_01: We're allowing us to build on our system as we go.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I know some people that are like out of the gate doing these crazy Instagrams, posting every other day on Instagram for the podcast, and then they have their business podcast, and then I also have a personal Instagram.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like the idea of like going hard in the paint for Instagram for the podcast didn't make sense while trying to get in the schedule of recording episodes, of uh reaching out to people to interview, getting the questions, getting a form up and ready, getting the podcast show notes.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_01: It just didn't make sense.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that's the same thing.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, you don't, I don't even think that you have to start an Instagram for your podcast.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_01: If it's just you or if it's not, like me and Shay easily, now looking back, could just do it on our own.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_01: But I kind of like since our whole goal is to build community, I personally think that having our own Instagram for the podcast, since it's two of us bringing our brands together, the the podcast Instagram is like an umbrella that holds both of us.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, the moving on, another thing that just popped into my mind about um what the podcast in terms of like new opportunities that have come in, you know, you brought up guests.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_00: And that's one thing that has surprised me was I did expect it would be a lot of us having to go hunt down guests and find guests.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: And we certainly like made when we started, we made like a wish list or a vision board of who we wanted.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: And it's funny because Mariah and I have now gone back and revisited that vision board, and it's almost so different than what we thought it would be, but in the best way possible.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so what has surprised me was we have been drowning in requests.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_00: That sounds like a uh we just have been blown away at the interest in being on the podcast.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like we've gotten to talk to some really, really cool women in this past season that I never would have met or known, or even if I did know them, I wouldn't know the details of their story.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: And it has been, it's not what I expected, you know, but it has been exactly what it should have been.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's awesome.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I am so grateful for how easy that piece has felt.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we have just been able to find some really cool women with awesome stories, and I hope that that, and it doesn't have to just be when women, but that does seem to be our like focus.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: I think, you know, we already have season two almost planned and scheduled, you know.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: So we have so much.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_00: I've never felt this way when it comes to making content before, of like, I see how I could keep going with this.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: I see how we can get better at this.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_00: I want to keep having these conversations and holding these spaces.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_00: It does not feel heavy, it does not feel like a you know, slug or slodge or whatever the word is there.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm looking for.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's it doesn't feel like we're creating content.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it doesn't.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_00: It feels like I get to have really interesting conversations with interesting women, you know.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: And and Mariah brings up a good point I wanted to hit on.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_00: If you are going to partner with someone, think about someone who has complimentary skills for you.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: Because, like she said, everything she said, I could have told you, but flipped.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_00: The things that she just described, like, oh, I threw up a form for our guests that they fill out and I did this and I made the steps and I created the new post, like all that stuff feels like horrible to me, like lol of awful kind of.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: I just can't, I struggle with that.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: And but when it comes to like, oh, I can learn Adobe Audition and like get really good at like audio editing, oh, what a joy.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: And even Raya, I was laughing because when you talked about a YouTube video and like the obstacles to getting a YouTube video up, all the things you said you didn't like, you know, like learning how to video edit, making a little intro, those would be the things that I would I I want to do, you know.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_00: So that has been wonderful.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's where my past partnerships have not gone so smoothly is we were two alike.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_00: And the fact that Mariah and I have really, like obviously we have overlap, but our skills are really complementary and they work together really well.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_00: And she's really helped me work through my like typical pain points that I would go through if I was producing this on my own.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it helps because both of us prioritized it.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't like, oh, like, oh, I forgot we have a podcast episode.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like both of us kind of prioritized it and would check in on each other.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I'd be like, hey, do you have that podcast episode?
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not like Shay would get weird about it or anything.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_01: She'd be like, oh shit, yeah, like I'm literally uploading it to the folder right now.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_01: Or she'd be like, hey, like, do you have those show notes up?
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I'd be like, oh shit, I'm doing it right now.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_01: And like we just took radical personal responsibility for what our tasks were, and we prioritized it because that is the commitment that we made.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_01: And to be honest, in partnership, I think that's the hardest thing to find.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_01: Somebody that gives a shit as much as you do about an idea or like a joint idea.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that may be the thing.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's like in order to be in partnership, it's like creating the idea of what it is together instead of going to somebody with an idea and then making them kind of false false suit under like your idea.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_01: I think that might be wise.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_00: That is really, really wise.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you know, another thing that popped up for me as you were talking was for you, Mariah, and I am not the best at deadlines.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_00: Mariah is usually hassling me about things.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody ever waits on Mariah.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's our joke.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so Mariah is hassling me about things, but I appreciate it because I need that.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_00: And if I were here on my own trying to do this, I'm not as good at staying accountable to myself.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_00: And that is like a muscle I'm trying to build.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_00: But if it was just me, I would not have showed up in the way that I did.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_00: But since I knew another live human being who I like deep really care about was waiting on this to happen, it makes it so much easier for me.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm I'm of course going to prioritize it because Mariah needs it.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: But where if it was just me, I would like very easily fall to the bottom, to the wayside, you know, I'd get swept up in other things.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that element has really worked well for me.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks so much for that reflection.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_01: That means a lot.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I I like like I know that we kind of talked a lot about like how cool we think our conversations are.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't think you guys think they're cool too.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_01: But I mean, I feel like it's really allowed us to strengthen the muscle.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_01: Well, me personally, you're really good at this straight off the bat, but like strengthening the muscle of relationships because having guests on the podcast, it made me sit and think, hey, who do I know in my network that I really respect, that I really think is interesting, that I would really enjoy having a conversation with?
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_01: And then it made me reconnect with them, which has been really fucking cool because I remember in business, you know, I've been a guest on people's podcasts a whole bunch of times, been on a bunch of them.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_01: But it's like I never had a way to kind of do that for somebody else.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_01: I never had a way to kind of scratch their back as they were scratching mine.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just, it's, it's reignited the power of collaboration for me, of just like how cool is it to have these different minds, these different brains come in and collaborate on one single thing.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_01: And for us, it being a podcast episode.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I just think that it's so cool.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_01: And like, just gonna say it again.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to start a podcast, if you want to start a YouTube series, an IGTV series, think about collaborations.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_01: Do not do this on your own.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, I just think about like me going live on Instagram and talking to myself does not feel supportive for me.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_01: Being in conversations, that's what I like, that's what lights me up, giving me something to respond to.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_01: So if you think similarly and you're like, I don't want to go live on Instagram, I ain't going live on Facebook, but like I like having conversations, then think about where you can do that.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe that's testing it out on Instagram to see if you like it, maybe bi weekly, monthly, have somebody on your Instagram collaborate, have a conversation.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_01: And then if you realize that you really like it, then consider a podcast.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_01: I think that like collaborations are the most valuable and successful way to grow your business that can feel the easiest because this shit gets to be fun.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_00: I and I agree.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_00: What in you know, whether it's like a joint venture webinar or you know, hosting Mariah and I hosted a workshop together from that came as a result of this.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_00: We wanted to kind of test that out, and we did, you know, but there's um power in collaborating.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_00: And no matter what it looks like, even if you're like, I want to, I have a lot to say, and I'm a solo person and I want to make my own podcast.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_00: Don't there's so much to be, I hate to say gained, but there's just so much juice in being in community, being with other people who are speaking your language, being able to have conversations that, you know, social media, it's also surface level.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's not diving into the weeds, it's not getting into the nitty-gritty.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of times it's bypassing the emotional feeling part of all of this, which is like where Mariah and I want to hang out anyway.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, I think there's just a lot of if you're scared about partners or community or that kind of stuff, know that Mariah and I have both been there.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_00: We have both been burned before, but also know that like the other side of it, if you can kind of heal your relationship with all that stuff, is super powerful because you can grow your business dramatically in a way that feels very fun, easy, and fast, which is very hard to find.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_00: So um, but it comes back to being very clear about who you are.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_00: And it's so funny I'm laughing because as Mario was talking, I was like, wow, this is like our advice about everything, but get really clear about who you are.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_00: How do you like to work?
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_00: What kind of skills would supplement or complement the skills that you have?
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_00: What would feel really energetically exciting for you to like stand up and deliver?
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like what kind of content do you want to share with the world?
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's funny that all stuff all sounds so obvious, but I think a lot of times people don't really take the time to like think about them as a human.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then how can the podcast work for me?
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how could I skin this to where it works really well for me or where it works really well for my partner?
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_00: Because this gets to look any way you want it to look.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like, don't take a podcast course and try to follow, you know, that's our lesson for everything.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_00: Try to get really clear on who you are and what you want out of this and then reverse engineer the process and make it work for you.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's like it's it does sound easy, but like in everything in life, it's it's just is how society is created.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_01: They make us think that there's only one right way to do things.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_01: But really, when we allow ourselves to explore ourselves.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: We we realize that we are allowed to take the path of least resistance.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_01: And to me, honestly, this is something that like I'm having to work through on a whole new fucking level in the past few weeks.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like I was having a conversation with my boyfriend Andrew, and I literally started crying.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, everything feels too easy.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_01: It feels so easy.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just like, babe, our relationship, it feels fucking easy.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_01: It feels natural.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_01: My business feels so easy.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_01: This podcast that's supposed to be like this, oh, it's got to be this big thing.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_01: I got to crank out an episode.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_01: Feels so fucking easy.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_01: My marketing, easy.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_01: Showing up on Instagram when I want to, easy.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_01: Everything feels easy.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I notice that when I sit in that, fear comes up because I am stepping from a place of being that just doesn't suit me anymore.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like in childhood, it felt chaotic.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_01: Everything was chaotic.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's like sitting in joy, in ease feels weird.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_01: It feels weird.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like if things are going too good, oh shit, where's that other shoe gonna drop?
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_01: It can't be good.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's not gonna be good for a long time.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_01: So that's kind of the season that I'm in right now of like, how can I expand my capacity to sit in the path of least resistance on a deeper level?
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_01: Because I just keep getting the message like this is it, this is what you've worked for.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_01: Taking the path of least resistance, like this gets to be it moving forward.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_01: And life is gonna give you curveballs, it always does, but like, how can we expand our capacity to sit in a space that isn't chaotic?
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_00: I think that that is something that I certainly can relate to, and it's popping up for me.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of us have a story and a belief that like it has to be hard and it has to look like hustle, and it has to look like what's the next course, what's the next strategy?
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_00: And and something that is kind of cool.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_00: Mariah said she didn't want this to be our like Grammy speech where we like brag about ourselves the whole time.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_00: But I do, and I didn't realize this until right now.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_00: I had a point in about January or February where I realized, wow, I'm making more money than I've ever made.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_00: It feels really sustainable, and my schedule feels spacious.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, wow, this is what I've been working for, and it's here.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I still I I found myself immediately going to, oh, but it's not gonna last forever.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_00: And when's the shoe gonna drop?
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_00: And like, what's what am I missing?
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_00: And and I even signed up for a bunch of fucking courses that I know I don't need to take.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_00: But it's like, it's interesting that we spend all this time like creating space, and then it's hard to sit in the space.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_00: It really is.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's really easy to fill it back up really quick.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's what I've really been trying to focus on on like, how do I sit with this space?
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's what I want.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_00: Why does it feel so uncomfortable?
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so that has certainly been my truth.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I like it's just interesting that you and I, I don't know.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_00: I want to like pat ourselves on the back a little bit because we have worked hard and it's cool to like be in a spot where we're like, we're doing the damn thing.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_00: And look at this, it's even feeling easy.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I think it's just gonna take like our minds a minute to kind of catch up to the reality, but what a nice place to be in.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm feeling really grateful for that.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_01: Me too.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's wild because when you release the expectation, you don't realize how quick it is, like how like how soon you hit that space.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's very interesting.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like just to bring it back to podcasts, it's like if you want to do a podcast, if you want to do an Instagram live, like a YouTube channel, like you get to make that look any way you want to.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why I brought up the path of least resistance.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like, does a solo episode make sense?
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_01: Does an interview make sense?
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_01: You can do a 15-minute snippet, you can do a full podcast just on meditations, like release the idea that whatever you create has to look like somebody else's because it doesn't and it shouldn't.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_01: And that's where the magic is is that we get to create the shit that feels good for us, but just know that it might take, I feel like your nervous system, your mindset.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's it might take a little bit for those things to catch up.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_01: But the path of least resistance now, it's like all of this space to deepen into your desires, deepen into your relationships, deepen into your connections, and then there's space to play and marketing gets easy, and then you just start having fun and you're like, like I said, I it doesn't even feel like we're creating content.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_00: I know it's amazing, it's really amazing.
• 49:22
  SPEAKER_00: Just because I have such a long history of struggling to do this type of marketing.
• 49:27
  SPEAKER_00: I've always been relationships-based, referrals-based.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so to have something that feels like this is a very wonderful place to be.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then I just want to share one more piece of gratitude that I have.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_00: You know, Mariah and I, before this conversation, we're talking about the three layers of problems, right?
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_00: You have a problem that's like your external problem, then that problem is like an internal problem and a philosophical problem.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so let me explain that.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_00: For me, the podcast solved like I had this external problem of I need to create, I need a way for people to get to know me.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_00: I need to share in my story, I need marketing, right?
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_00: So that's like the problem that I solved.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_00: But then, like for me, also, I had this problem of like, I have things to say.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_00: I have, I want to be a thought leader.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I want to like contribute and add value and really support people on a next level.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_00: And how do I do that?
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_00: How do I really like satisfy that internal need that I have to like really step into this next version of Shay?
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, even deeper than that, my mission in life is I want cool women doing like making money, doing cool work.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like that is it.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_00: And one of our first guests who was a total stranger and found us through hashtags on Instagram, uh, Miss Rana, go check out her episode.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_00: She actually concluded by saying something about, this is so cool.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_00: You guys are holding space for women to have provocative conversations.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_00: And that just like made me, it just struck this chord with me because to me, it was so in alignment.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like if you were to ask me, like, Shay, why are you doing all this?
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_00: that would be it.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so for a stranger to come in here and reflect that back to me was just so powerful.
• 51:08
  SPEAKER_00: And it for me, the reason this has felt easy, I think, is because it has aligned like my external issues, what I'm trying to do right now, and then like my mission in life, even on like a higher level.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that is why, along with Mariah's incredible partnership, this has worked well with me.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it could be helpful for you, you know, as you're thinking about what's my pain point, like kind of break it down a little bit.
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_00: What are the layers of that pain are that you're the problem you're trying to solve?
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_00: And and can you find a solution that aligns all of them?
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_00: And that's when it like everything clicks into place, and all of a sudden we're at ease.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I spent years, years looking for ease.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_00: So know that it's there.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just taken a lot of like self-awareness and growth to like find it and find something that clicks into place.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I love that reflection of that.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I have, as always, I haven't thought about it like you.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_01: You always break it down into what was it, the inner, the outer, and the and the something I don't, I don't remember what you said.
• 52:09
  SPEAKER_01: But I didn't think about it like that in terms of like breaking it down that way.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_01: But I feel like this whole experiment was like a reflection that I can trust my voice, I can trust my perspectives, and I can go with the flow.
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_01: And to be honest, that was a huge thing for me.
• 52:29
  SPEAKER_01: That was like a huge wound that I had.
• 52:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like growing up from my family and childhood, like we ain't gonna get into all of that.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_01: But like these memories from being a teenager kind of came back before we recorded some episodes where I wasn't speaking from a place of wholeness or like um, I wasn't speaking from my heart.
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_01: I was speaking from my ego.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I've hurt people's feelings, I've said things that I've regretted.
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_01: I haven't been very nice to people in the past.
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_01: And it was like that fear of like, damn, if I let myself riff, if I let myself go, I just assumed that I was going to say something bad, that I was going to offend somebody, that I was going to back myself into a corner, and that the only way for me to grow a profitable business was to water down my message because of the fear of like cancel culture, essentially, the fear of being canceled, the fear of me saying something that I will later regret.
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_01: And so that was like this deep-seated fear that I had.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_01: And even starting the podcast, like I have created like bullet points and things like that, and like almost a script for like different pieces of it.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_01: But then after the podcast episode, I didn't even like look back at the bullet points that I've created.
• 54:05
  SPEAKER_01: And like just being able to move away from the place of like needing a script and moving into the place of like really trusting that I am coming from a place of love and that like my words and the things that channel through me, whether it's from my heart, whether it's from my higher self, I don't fucking know.
• 54:24
  SPEAKER_01: But like half the stuff that I say, I don't even realize that I'm saying it.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't hit a filter.
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_01: And that used to scare me.
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_01: And now it's like through this podcast, I've been able to realize that that's it's actually my superpower.
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_01: And like I can go back and I listen to these episodes.
• 54:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like before I would have been like, I don't, I remember I was like, I don't want to listen back to our episodes.
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_01: Let's just push them out.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_01: I don't ever want to hear them ever again.
• 54:54
  SPEAKER_01: But since I'm the person that creates the show notes, I got to go back and listen intently.
• 55:00
  SPEAKER_01: And by doing that, by stepping into the place that felt so fearful, that felt so sticky, that of course I was disgusted by because that is just my initial reaction to things that like I know that I have to do.
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_01: It made me listen to my voice and my perspective and everything.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I ended up gaining this new level of confidence in my voice and in my vulnerability to let things come through.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_01: And half the time when I listen back, I'm just like, I don't know who that person is talking.
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_01: I sound like a genius.
• 55:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like, holy shit, I'm a genius.
• 55:40
  SPEAKER_01: Who said these things?
• 55:41
  SPEAKER_01: That wasn't me.
• 55:42
  SPEAKER_01: And it just continues to blow my mind.
• 55:46
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I feel like the lesson here is just like you have so much fucking wisdom inside of you.
• 55:55
  SPEAKER_01: And Shay kind of put it together before she said, can you be vulnerable enough to let things come through?
• 56:04
  SPEAKER_01: And that, like, I'm about to write that on 17 sticky notes and put it all over because, like, that's it.
• 56:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's marketing, that's story, that's business, that's visibility, that's when the magic comes, that's when your message hits your people in the right way at the right time, when you allow yourself to be vulnerable enough to be seen in your genius, because we all have our own level of genius.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_00: And then can you trust that people can get value even if it's imperfect?
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of us are recovering perfectionists in one way or another, and we definitely have that.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I gotta write out the script, you know, and it it is surely when I'm riffing, nothing valuable will come.
• 56:52
  SPEAKER_00: And it's funny, that was, I do want to be honest, and I'm glad Mariah brought this up.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_00: We have certainly walked through some scary things.
• 57:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like this putting this podcast out in the world has forced Mariah and I to grow in a lot of ways.
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_00: And for me, when we started, I was terrified to even ask anyone to be a guest.
• 57:13
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, why would they want to spend their time with us?
• 57:16
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so I have every single episode like know that we showed up nervous and like we we do a grounding ritual right before every call because we want, you know, just to like create some space for that and you kind of take a couple breaths, come together and um and also know that like the very best things have come out of us, just like, okay, let's just press record and get this out, even if we don't have it all planned out, you know.
• 57:42
  SPEAKER_00: So that it's funny.
• 57:43
  SPEAKER_00: I keep learning the lesson over and over.
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_00: And the same thing, we'll re-listen to episodes, and I'm like, I said that win.
• 57:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's so smart, you know.
• 57:51
  SPEAKER_00: And we're constantly texting each other, like, this episode is fire.
• 57:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I never, I also didn't want to listen to the sound of my own voice.
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I know a lot of people feel like that, but know that all of these things they get easier.
• 58:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like once you do it once, it's a little easier.
• 58:06
  SPEAKER_00: And once you do it again, it's a little easier.
• 58:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so now that we're at the end of the season, I'm enjoying looking back and thinking about all the things that felt so scary and now feeling proud of us for like being on the other side of it.
• 58:17
  SPEAKER_00: And it makes me excited for like the growth that's gonna come with the next seasons.
• 58:22
  SPEAKER_01: Even the pauses.
• 58:24
  SPEAKER_01: I remember like during episodes with guests and just us, there would be a pause where in the moment it feels like it's 300 years long.
• 58:34
  SPEAKER_01: Listening back, you don't even notice.
• 58:38
  SPEAKER_01: And like just these little reminders that like it's perfect.
• 58:45
  SPEAKER_01: It really is like the imperfection.
• 58:47
  SPEAKER_01: I think that that's really like what brings a new level of connection and community to these conversations, is like we're just showing up, having a conversation, riffing through things.
• 58:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I didn't think that I could ever be this confident in doing that.
• 59:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_00: And that kind of goes back to, I think what's given us a little bit of freedom to riff is we had some kind of we drew some boundaries at the beginning.
• 59:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know, this is what this podcast is about.
• 59:14
  SPEAKER_00: This is kind of the central theme that's gonna run through everything.
• 59:18
  SPEAKER_00: Mariah and I do get together beforehand and we plot out like this is kind of the story we think the episode's gonna go in.
• 59:24
  SPEAKER_00: And then with that foundation, it gives us we can, it just gives us the confidence to show up and be live and be in the moment and riff and be flexible.
• 59:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so, like Mariah said, we hardly ever go back and look at those notes, but just like having that structure there allows me a bit more creative freedom.
• 59:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so I would encourage you again, like just to hit that point home, like spend some time in the beginning.
• 59:48
  SPEAKER_00: What is the real spine of what you're creating?
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_00: And that has helped me at least feel brave enough to show up and be vulnerable because it kind of gave me that solid foundation.
• 59:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, I think that's really important.
• 1:00:02
  SPEAKER_01: I just to be honest, I just feel so grateful to have this space, to have this platform, to have these conversations, to have our guests, to have each other like, and you guys listening, like, thank you so much for being here, for listening to season one.
• 1:00:20
  SPEAKER_01: Know that like some really amazing conversations are coming through in season two.
• 1:00:25
  SPEAKER_01: We're not going anywhere.
• 1:00:26
  SPEAKER_01: I think that we're like even more excited than we've ever been.
• 1:00:30
  SPEAKER_01: There's gonna be more workshops coming up.
• 1:00:32
  SPEAKER_01: So definitely sign up for that workshop wait list that we have.
• 1:00:36
  SPEAKER_01: And even during this space, so like just for you, just so you guys know, I think we're planning on starting season two, maybe at the end of April, beginning of May, sometime around then.
• 1:00:49
  SPEAKER_01: Also, this is very intuitive for us.
• 1:00:51
  SPEAKER_01: We do like to go with the flow, so give or take a few weeks.
• 1:00:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, I'm just I'm in such a grateful place to just be here and to be able to reflect on all of this.
• 1:01:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I I really do hope that like our reflections and kind of us pulling back the curtain on the process, the experience, and like our thought process behind everything.
• 1:01:15
  SPEAKER_01: I hope that it was helpful for you guys.
• 1:01:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 1:01:19
  SPEAKER_00: And to that point, we would love, absolutely love to hear from you.
• 1:01:26
  SPEAKER_00: If you have any like ideas or you know, stories that you want to share, please reach out to us.
• 1:01:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, we are planning for season two right now.
• 1:01:35
  SPEAKER_00: We would love, we just appreciate your feedback and your input so much.
• 1:01:39
  SPEAKER_00: As we've mentioned, you know, we're hungry for the community piece of this.
• 1:01:43
  SPEAKER_00: So please continue to reach out.
• 1:01:44
  SPEAKER_00: We really, really love that and it helps us.
• 1:01:47
  SPEAKER_00: All right, Mariah and I are gonna go practice what we preach now and spend some time filling our own cups up and um taking a moment's rest.
• 1:01:55
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll be back to you guys in April.
• 1:01:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
• 1:01:58
  SPEAKER_01: And if you haven't already, please go ahead and leave us that five-star review because it really does, it really does help us grow and help us get recommended on the platform apps.
• 1:02:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and yeah, until next time, remember that you have the power to create whatever the fuck you want.
• 1:02:19
  SPEAKER_01: Follow the nudge, ask the questions, and let curiosity guide the way.
• 1:02:25
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see you in season two.