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What Three Years of Podcast Producing Taught Me About Betting on Yourself · Abbey the Podcast Lady

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  Do you want to say hello? Hello and welcome to
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  another episode of Abby the Podcast Lady. Today
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  we have a special guest if you're watching the
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  video version. My sweet normie boy is with me,
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  my dog Norman. He is sitting on my lap as I record
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  this at the lake. We are doing another lake cast
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  today and I just wanted to do a little musing
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  about what's going on with Abby Graves Productions
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  lately because we are coming up on a pretty big
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  milestone by the time this airs we will have
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  passed it it's the week of but in August of in
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  August of 2023 is when I really started taking
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  on my first quote -unquote real clients in my
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  podcasting business and this time of year is
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  such a special one for me because it's that yearly
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  milestone of like a huge thing happening in my
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  life. And I just kind of wanted to give you a
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  little background on what that looked like and
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  just kind of have a living journal experience
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  of that to look back on and reminisce and a year
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  from now, look back and realize how different
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  things are. So let's rewind here to January of
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  2023. That's when I started my first podcast.
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  That's when I started The Small Town Tourist
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  and I was having so much fun. It was basically
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  just a way for me to keep my audio and speaking
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  skills up after I had left being a radio DJ.
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  And I was having a great time with it. It was
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  basically just interviewing people in their small
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  towns, doing things that I thought were cool
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  and interesting and worthy of sharing with an
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  audience. And I just had a great time making
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  that show and it introduced me to so many cool
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  people. But because I did that, I then met, well,
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  I didn't meet, I already knew her, my friend
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  Liz, who was my doctor at the time, but also
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  running a really cool and unique cut flower farm
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  in St. Joseph. And I had her on the show and
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  she had been thinking about doing a podcast,
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  didn't know how, but I knew how. So we just kind
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  of sat there and I used her as my guinea pig,
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  really, to figure out how can I help other people
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  make podcasts? I never, when I was doing that,
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  I never, ever, ever anticipated it turning into
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  a full blown. business that would be my primary
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  source of income like never in a million years
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  was that the plan it was just literally me knowing
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  how to do something and wanting to help other
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  people do that thing as well because I was having
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  such a great time with it I'm like I can help
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  other people have a great time with it as well
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  so that was super fun and then what happened
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  was we had been working together I wasn't charging
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  her anything I was doing it all for free just
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  because I believed in it she believed in it we
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  believed in each other it was a fun thing to
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  do on the side and she then had her friend Amanda
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  on her show to talk about what Amanda was doing
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  when it came to being a public speaker and being
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  an advocate for ranchers, rural America and agriculture
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  and that sort of thing. And Amanda was on Liz's
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  show and Amanda's like, well, how are you? how
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  are you making this podcast? How are you doing
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  what you're doing? Cause I want to do it too.
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  And that introduced me to Amanda and I had posted
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  something about like helping other people with
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  their podcasts. Cause by that point, after eight
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  months of working with Liz, I had kind of figured
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  out like, okay, here's what it takes to get your
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  podcast off the ground, keep it going, keep consistent
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  with it. What kind of promotional materials are
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  needed for this sort of thing? And so I had posted
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  that I was willing to help people with it. And
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  I was charging such a minuscule amount to do
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  this. And my cousin Megan reached out. A podcast
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  had been on her heart for a very, very long time.
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  And she took a leap of bravery, took a bet on
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  herself. And she reached out to me and she's
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  like, I want to do this. Can you help me? And
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  so I started helping her. So those were my first
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  like real. paying clients and that's what gave
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  me this taste of oh like I can actually I can
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  do this and I thought it was just going to be
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  a part -time thing for a very long time actually
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  at that time I was fully anticipating working
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  my government job for a very long time I'm like
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  I'm just going to do this on the side it'll help
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  me flex that creative muscle but before I knew
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  it I had taken on yet another client in addition
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  to Amanda and Megan. And then that snowballed
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  into yet another client. And before you knew
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  it, I was working not only my 40 hour job a week,
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  but I was also coming home and editing until
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  like the wee hours of the morning trying to get
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  all this extra work done in addition to what
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  I was doing. And it just turned into this beautiful
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  business that I have today. And I was able to
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  go full time with it within nine months of going
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  from that August to the following June. Yeah,
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  that would have been about nine months. And I
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  took it full time with a roster of clients and
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  it was just so amazing. And this time of year
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  really has me nostalgic and in my feels about
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  that process because little Abby, and I say little
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  Abby, it was only a handful of years ago and
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  I'm a 31 year old lady, but I mean, that girl
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  didn't know what she didn't know. And I think
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  we're all on this beautiful journey of like.
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  trying things out and not necessarily knowing
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  what's going to come from it. Like I could have
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  never anticipated being where I'm at today, getting
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  to speak on stage at Podfest about doing what
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  I do, about sharing my ideas, sharing what I've
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  created for people and how I help people and
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  the systems that I use to do that work. Like
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  I could have never imagined sharing that with
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  an audience in Orlando, Florida. I could have
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  never imagined meeting the people that I do.
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  I could have never imagined a roster of clients
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  who I work with, not only across the country,
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  but also the world. I worked with cattle ranchers
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  in Australia on their show. Like I became a worldwide
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  podcast producer. Like I never anticipated that
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  when I just took the simple bet of starting my
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  own podcast. Like I just truly wanted a creative
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  outlet and to share a message that I believed
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  in. And it turned into so many beautiful amazing
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  things so I guess kind of the overall message
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  I have for you on this podcast today is take
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  that bet on yourself because you never know what's
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  gonna happen like truly and I could go on and
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  on about this but I'm not gonna lie to you I
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  didn't charge this camera that I'm recording
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  on and it is flashing yellow at me and it's going
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  hey we're out of battery that's just real life
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  sometimes inspiration strikes and you just got
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  to record when you can with what you have but
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  i just wanted to take some time to reflect on
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  the podcast this week about how far abby graves
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  productions has come in such a short amount of
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  time i'm genuinely excited about where the future
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  is heading mentioning betting on yourself, taking
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  a bet on yourself, starting your show. I do have
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  the bet on your podcast course that is now available
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  through my school platform. If you want to take
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  it there, I am building a separate online community
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  and platform to take it there later. That'll
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  be available for launch later, but I wanted to
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  put it on school, S -K -O -O -L. Link in the
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  show notes below if you wanted to just get right
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  into it right away and didn't want to wait for
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  all the extra community to be built around it.
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  If you're just ready to if you're sitting here
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  going, I need to take the plunge. I need to take
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  the bet on my podcast and just go for it because
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  nothing is nothing's going to come from waiting
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  any longer. If you want to go through that course,
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  it is available. You can get it on school. I'm
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  actually offering a little bit of a discount
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  on it now as it's just kind of hanging out there.
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  The price will be increasing. So now is honestly
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  a great time. time to take advantage of that
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  so go forth if that is something you're interested
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  in but truly if you take nothing else from this
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  show ever take the bet on yourself take a bet
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  on making a podcast because it can turn into
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  some truly amazing opportunities. It can help
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  you meet some truly amazing people in this world
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  and build those connections that you just never
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  know what's going to come from them. If anything
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  comes from it, it could just be a really great
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  friendship or someone in your corner cheering
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  you on, or it could turn into speaking opportunities.
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  You just never know unless you take that bet
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  and start making that podcast. So if you're ready
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  to bet on your podcast, be sure you check out
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  the bet on your podcast course. It is down in.
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  the show notes below or if you want to wait and
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  you're like I don't know about this I'm not quite
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  ready there will be an additional community built
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  for it coming later this year but that's where
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  I'm at going into kind of officially year three
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  of being a podcast producer for other people
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  I know it's like year two of self -employment
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  for me I have very weird timelines and multiple
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  anniversaries, but I'm okay with that because
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  I think life is for the living and worth celebrating.
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  So celebrate those milestones, reflect, look
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  back, think about where you've been and how it's
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  going to shape where you're going because...
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  What gets measured gets managed, as my friend
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  Liz says. And I think it's important to reflect,
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  but also use those reflections to look ahead
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  and plan for big things in the future with big
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  dreams and big goals. And I am working on some
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  of that right now, doing a little journaling
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  work as I'm sitting here podcasting. But yeah,
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  I'm really excited to see where it goes, what
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  new clients come, what new friendships are made.
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  I genuinely love. helping people make their podcasts.
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  Like I was just texting a client today. She's
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  like, ah, it's all in the folder. I don't know.
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  I don't want to do anything with it. I'm like,
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  that's okay. That's what I'm here for. I love
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  making podcasts. So just let me handle this.
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  And it's just so great to work with clients who
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  put their trust in me to make some really amazing
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  content and share some really big ideas. So that's
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  it. That's all I got to say. My camera's literally
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  about to DIE on me. So I'll catch you next week
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  on the next episode of Abby the Podcast Lady.
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  say bye normie bye he's a sweaty boy it is hot
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  out at the lake