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7 things I Learned About Podcasting | S3E001 · The Inspired Speaker Network

0:01
If you're tired of hiding your brilliance behind
0:04
stage fright, scripts, or playing it safe, then
0:08
you are in the perfect place.
0:10
This is the Inspired Speaker Podcast, and I
0:13
am your host, Danielle Benzon, professional rebel, voice
0:17
coach, and your guide to speaking with confidence,
0:20
charisma, and zero BS.
0:23
Around here, we don't chase perfection.
0:25
We choose connection.
0:27
So grab a hot beverage, warm up those
0:30
vocal cords, and get ready to fall wildly
0:34
in love with the sound of your voice.
0:37
Let's get inspired.
0:40
I have to say, I am really appreciating
0:43
these six episode seasons that we've been doing
0:46
on the Inspired Speaker Network.
0:48
I know that this isn't exactly what Michelle
0:51
Abraham meant when she said you could do
0:53
whatever you want and do a season at
0:55
a time, which is what really involved me
0:57
on the idea of doing a podcast in
0:59
the first place.
1:00
But oh my goodness, I am loving it.
1:03
I love the freedom of being able to
1:05
kind of shift focus a little bit every
1:07
six weeks.
1:08
I love the idea that I could take
1:10
a break if I wanted to, although to
1:12
be honest, I don't think I ever will
1:13
again.
1:14
But it sparks my creativity and my curiosity
1:19
in a way that I think thinking about
1:23
the podcast as one long thing, even a
1:25
year season, which I know is what most
1:27
people think of when they think of a
1:29
season, even a year season would feel very
1:33
heavy for me and really, oh, how am
1:36
I going to do the same thing every
1:37
week for a year?
1:38
I'm just loving the six-week season idea.
1:42
So I'm running with it and I apologize
1:45
if it's not.
1:46
Do I apologize if it's not normal?
1:48
I don't.
1:49
I don't apologize if it's not normal.
1:51
I'm loving it and I am embracing it.
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And hey, there's nothing normal about me.
1:55
So there we go.
1:59
Today is episode one of season three.
2:03
We are doing industry insights this season.
2:07
So as you may have noticed, I launched
2:09
a podcast network recently or not recently, depending
2:12
on where you're listening, when you're listening to
2:14
this, but recently in time right now, as
2:17
of recording, we launched our network on the
2:20
4th of August, 2026.
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And the idea came to me around June,
2:26
2026.
2:28
And we did it all in about a
2:29
month, maybe five weeks.
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And it was an experience.
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And during those five weeks, I actually ended
2:36
up interviewing quite a few people who make
2:39
money doing podcasts in one way, shape or
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form.
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They work with podcasters, they do bookings.
2:44
I interviewed someone else who is also a
2:47
producer, a podcast producer.
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And so I have all these interviews and
2:51
I wanted to put them together in a
2:52
season, kind of an intensive educational season for
2:56
people who are looking to do their own
3:00
podcasts, not necessarily starting your own network.
3:03
I'm not sure if I would recommend that
3:04
to everybody.
3:05
It is a lot of work depending on
3:07
how you want to do it.
3:08
But definitely, I think having a podcast is
3:12
such an amazing machine for your business, for
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your soul, for your message.
3:18
There are so many wonderful things that come
3:22
out of it.
3:23
And yes, I know that a lot of
3:24
people have podcasts now compared to in the
3:27
old days, everybody and a dog has their
3:29
own podcast now.
3:30
And there's such a low barrier to entry,
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but that is a wonderful thing.
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Think about what Netflix did for television.
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Think about podcasts.
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Anyone can make a podcast.
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And yes, the production value is going to
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vary greatly depending on who's doing it and
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how they're doing it.
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But the level to entry, the barrier to
3:51
entry is so low that it is allowing
3:54
more diverse voices than ever before.
3:57
And also, it's allowing a kind of equalization
4:00
of the market in a way that is
4:02
wonderful because you get to be your unique
4:08
flavor of you and people get to sort
4:11
and get to decide who they're listening to.
4:14
And so, that diversity can really be in
4:16
your favor.
4:17
You don't need to be big and flashy
4:18
and fancy to get a loyal following.
4:21
You just need to be really specific and
4:23
really real and maybe, I hope, authentic and
4:27
kind of niche down.
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And I don't mean in the kind of
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traditional way of niching.
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I work with moms between 40 and 42
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who have 7.5 kids.
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A bit of ridiculous niche there.
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But it doesn't need to be a niche
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like that.
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But niche through your values, through your interests,
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through who you are, through how you show
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up.
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And that uniqueness calls to certain people.
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And that is how we get to decide
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who we listen to.
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So, I think it's a fantastic thing.
5:00
And I am loving running the network.
5:03
I am enjoying meeting new people.
5:05
I'm enjoying interviewing folks.
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I'm loving watching all of the podcasts.
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I personally watch every single podcast that goes
5:14
live on my network.
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And so, I'm loving watching all the other
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podcast hosts and what they're doing and who
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they're interviewing.
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It is so rewarding.
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And before I share with you all of
5:24
the interviews that I've done, this won't be
5:26
all of the interviews.
5:27
You're going to get five because it's a
5:29
six-episode season and this first episode is
5:32
just me.
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So, you're going to get five of the
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industry insight interviews that I've done.
5:37
And then I'll do another one when I
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have another six.
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And I'm really excited to share this with
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you because there are some amazing insights in
5:45
these interviews that I'm not applying all of
5:48
them yet to my podcast and to my
5:50
network.
5:51
But I have a long to-do list
5:52
based on these interviews that I am going
5:55
to be implementing over the next few months.
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There's so much value in these interviews around
6:02
what to do as a guest, how to
6:03
monetize the experience if you're a guest, how
6:06
to monetize the experience if you're a host,
6:08
how to build relationships, how to approach people
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who maybe you're not sure if they would
6:14
listen to you because they're so experienced and
6:16
they've got so many followers.
6:18
There's so much information here.
6:20
We talk about some tech stuff with Chen
6:22
There is so much valuable information in this
6:26
season that I really, really want you to
6:30
absorb like a sponge.
6:32
You may have to watch a couple of
6:33
these episodes over and over and take some
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extra notes.
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I know I did.
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But before we get to that, I just
6:40
wanted to share a few things that I've
6:41
learned in launching a podcast network because I
6:45
have coached now six people launch their podcast,
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not six people.
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Well, yeah, Tammy and Shannon are two, so
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six.
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Five podcasts, six people.
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I coached them from zero to running their
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podcast, knowing what to say.
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And I was there in the room helping
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them out in their first episodes.
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And there are some things that I have
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learned that are non-negotiable.
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And I would like to share them with
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you.
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If you are thinking of starting a podcast
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or if you are thinking of expanding your
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reach and starting to speak as a guest
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on podcasts or summits, these apply.
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These rules that I have learned, these lessons
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that I've learned, apply on any kind of
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online speaking situation.
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They even apply sometimes to offline speaking situations,
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but that is a different genre.
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So we're going to keep this to podcasting,
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podcast guesting, podcast hosting, podcast guesting, summits, interviews,
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online content creation.
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I'm not a huge kind of TikTok short
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person, but it might apply to some of
7:48
those as well.
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So I've written them down and I have
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seven.
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So here we go.
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The first one is you take as long
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as you have.
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We did this whole thing in five weeks
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and we got it done and I had
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no idea how we were going to do
8:03
it.
8:03
But my theory was if we set ourselves
8:06
an impossible goal and we didn't hit it,
8:09
then we just extend it.
8:10
But I wanted to see if we could
8:11
do it in five weeks.
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And I did my best to set us
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up.
8:14
We set deadlines.
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Sometimes we hit them, sometimes we didn't, but
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we had enough give to hit the final
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deadline of the launch date, even though we
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didn't always hit our internal deadlines.
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Because also when you have six podcasters submitting
8:30
information, some people are a little bit early
8:32
and some people are a little bit late,
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kind of evens out.
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So what I found was everyone waited until
8:38
the deadline to submit artwork, music decisions, name
8:44
decisions, oh my goodness, even afterwards.
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So I also had to set a time
8:48
for this is the deadline for making the
8:51
decision.
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And then after that, you can change your
8:54
mind, but only after this time.
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I had to create deadlines around boundaries around
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each of those things.
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Because the thing is, if we are procrastinating,
9:02
if we are scared, if we are trying
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to get it perfect, we will take as
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long as we are given.
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If I had given those podcasters six months
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to come up with the name of their
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podcast and their target audience, it would have
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taken them six months.
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If I had given them six weeks, it
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would have taken them six weeks.
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It's amazing how we do.
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We just fill that time.
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I know there's a name for this.
9:25
I have forgotten what the name for that
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is, but I know there's a name for
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this phenomenon.
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And that was just really reinforced.
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So what I would suggest, if you are
9:34
starting, instead of saying, well, I'll do it
9:37
when I'm ready, or I'll just do this
9:39
much, set yourself a deadline.
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You know what's realistic for you.
9:44
If you have help, it can be done
9:45
in a month.
9:47
But I did a lot of the work.
9:48
I did a lot of the organizing and
9:50
reminding and that kind of thing.
9:51
So you may not be able to do
9:53
it in a month.
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But whatever you do, set yourself a deadline
9:56
and do your darndest to hit it.
10:00
And then also set yourself a deadline, a
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point of no return deadline.
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So maybe you set yourself a deadline of
10:07
I want to have all my material recorded
10:09
by this date, and it doesn't get there.
10:12
And you say, okay, well, this is the
10:15
launch date.
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So I have to have everything recorded by
10:18
that date.
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And if I don't like it, I can
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redo it.
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But I can only redo it after all
10:24
these other things have been done.
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So maybe once everything's up and running, and
10:28
I've got the next season scheduled, then I
10:31
can go back and fix and edit or
10:34
I'm going to redo the intro or I'm
10:38
going to redo the podcast, the episode image,
10:43
whatever it is that you're not happy with.
10:46
Don't only give yourself a deadline to complete
10:48
it, but give yourself a point of no
10:50
return.
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I have to submit it no matter how
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unhappy I am with it.
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And I can change it later.
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Everything can be changed later.
10:59
Everything can be updated later.
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It's a bit more work sometimes, but usually
11:04
you can change anything retroactively.
11:07
So give yourself that done is better than
11:12
good deadline, because otherwise it will just take
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forever.
11:15
And it will just go on and on
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and on.
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Number two, I'm looking at my notes.
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And this is hilarious, because this is number
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two.
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We can always tell when you are reading.
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Always.
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I don't care how sneaky you think you
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are.
11:31
I don't care if your notes are right
11:34
up there next to your camera.
11:36
I don't care if you've got one of
11:38
those fancy teleprompters.
11:39
We can tell.
11:41
We can always tell.
11:43
Even if you're a good reader, sometimes we
11:46
won't mind.
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If you're a really good reader, we may
11:49
not mind that you're reading.
11:51
If you're really good and you manage to
11:53
stay connected with us at the same time,
11:56
we may decide that your connection is so
12:01
strong that we don't mind that you're reading,
12:03
but your audience can always tell when you're
12:06
reading.
12:06
And I'm talking about audio-only podcasts, too.
12:09
It's not just about your eyes going left
12:12
to right.
12:14
Your vocal tone actually changes.
12:17
You have a different voice when you are
12:20
reading compared to when you are speaking.
12:22
And even if you are reading really well,
12:25
your voice is different from candid speech.
12:28
Not necessarily worse.
12:30
If you're a really good reader, it may
12:31
not be worse.
12:32
It may just be different.
12:33
But it is different and we can hear
12:35
it.
12:36
And the more AI tries to take over
12:43
our jobs and our world, it tries to.
12:46
It's trying to.
12:48
It's not trying to.
12:49
It just is.
12:50
But the more it is replacing humans, the
12:54
more that predictable, good reading isn't going to
12:59
matter anymore because AI could do it.
13:02
The only thing that makes you different, that
13:04
makes you separate, that makes you special, that
13:06
makes you exciting is your candid speech.
13:08
And the human ear does react differently to
13:13
that kind of chaos of, I don't know
13:16
what I'm going to say next.
13:17
That unscripted, unrehearsed, candid speech sounds different.
13:23
When you are real and you are raw
13:25
and you are alive, there is an unpredictability
13:27
to your speech that cannot be replicated.
13:31
And that is going to become more and
13:32
more important as the years go on.
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So, learn to speak without a script now.
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And if you're curious about being scriptless, talk
13:40
to me because that's my speciality.
13:42
What's number three?
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Oh, I'm getting old.
13:45
I can't read that here.
13:48
Oh, my goodness.
13:52
In my naivete, just like everybody else, I
13:55
thought that the best type of mic was
14:00
a kind of fancy podcaster table mic.
14:06
This is not true.
14:07
Well, it's kind of true, but it comes
14:10
with a caveat.
14:11
A headset microphone is the best option if
14:15
you are doing podcasts on a budget.
14:18
They're cheaper and they don't require a full
14:21
sound studio in order for them to work.
14:24
The mic is right next to your mouth,
14:26
which, okay, can be dangerous.
14:27
And I do, I'm just going to move
14:29
mine away from my mouth.
14:30
Just noticed it's quite close to my mouth
14:31
now.
14:31
If it's right in front of your mouth,
14:33
that can be a real problem because then
14:34
you catch all the P's and T's and
14:35
things.
14:36
So, you do want the microphone to be
14:37
a bit further away.
14:38
I actually really love, I've got, ah, where
14:41
is it?
14:42
I have one of these little hooky over
14:44
the ear ones that I really love too.
14:47
And then the microphone ends up being about
14:49
halfway down your cheek, which is even better.
14:51
I love those little wireless ones.
14:54
They don't always play well with my tech.
14:56
So, sometimes I just do the wired mic,
14:58
but a headset mic is your best bet
15:02
unless you are able to deal with all
15:07
of the traps that come with a fancy
15:10
tabletop microphone.
15:11
So, first off, the fact that it's on
15:12
your table is a problem because your hands
15:15
are close to the table and your shirt
15:17
and your jewelry and all sorts of other
15:19
things.
15:20
Your computer fan is closer to the microphone
15:24
than your mouth.
15:26
This is a problem because all of that
15:30
ambient sound gets prioritized over your voice.
15:34
So, that's the first problem with a tabletop
15:36
mic.
15:36
The second problem is, of course, you're probably
15:38
touching your desk without noticing.
15:41
You're rustling your notes.
15:42
Well, hopefully not.
15:42
Hopefully, you don't have notes.
15:43
But you're touching things.
15:45
You're fiddling with things.
15:45
You hit the microphone occasionally.
15:48
So many dangers.
15:50
It's perilous, that desk microphone.
15:54
Now, if you put it up on a
15:55
stand above you and you have it coming
15:57
from above you and towards your mouth, that
16:00
is, of course, much better.
16:01
You're much less likely to hit it and
16:03
you can actually position it in exactly the
16:06
right place.
16:07
The danger is still that you are not
16:10
in a sound booth.
16:12
You are not necessarily wearing headphones because a
16:15
lot of people think that they can get
16:16
away with having a microphone and not headphones.
16:18
You cannot do this because this microphone is
16:21
going to pick up anything, any echoes in
16:25
the room.
16:26
So, as soon as you have a guest
16:27
and your sound is coming out of your
16:30
computer speakers hitting the wall around you, hitting
16:33
your microphone, all sorts of horrible echoes are
16:36
going to happen.
16:37
Zoom does an amazing job of lessening those
16:39
echoes, but it can only do so much.
16:42
It's not magic.
16:43
And I think Riverside actually also has an
16:45
echo cancellation, but still, it's not magic.
16:48
And chances are, it's going to ruin your
16:50
sound.
16:51
So, even if you have a desk mic
16:56
or a mic that's hanging over you, if
16:58
you have a traditional microphone, you still need
17:03
to wear earphones because the sound of your
17:06
interviewer, interviewee, the sound of your interviewee, your
17:10
guest, that needs to come in through your
17:12
ears and not bounce around the room.
17:14
So, I know they look cool.
17:16
And hey, if you want to have one
17:17
as a prop, go ahead, be my guest.
17:19
But it's going to look a bit funny
17:20
if you're wearing headphones and you have one
17:22
as a prop.
17:22
That's going to look a bit weird.
17:25
But please, before you go out and invest
17:28
a fortune in one of these fancy microphones,
17:31
please be aware the room that you are
17:34
in is much more important to your sound
17:37
quality than your microphone.
17:39
If you have just one of these cheap
17:41
headsets that you just put over your head,
17:42
like a gaming headset or anything, or I
17:44
think they're like the telemarketing headset, if that's
17:47
still a thing, so much better.
17:51
And then we don't have to worry about
17:53
all this stuff.
17:54
Now, I'm not saying that it's not possible.
17:55
It's just, it's a trap and it's dangerous
17:57
and you'll end up spending a lot more
17:59
money to get that professional value sound than
18:03
you would if you just took the shortcut
18:06
and wore a headset.
18:07
I'm going to stop ranting about that now.
18:09
Okay, what's next?
18:11
Oh, have a buddy.
18:12
Buddies help.
18:13
Buddies help with accountability.
18:15
Buddies help with, you watch your podcast back
18:18
and you go, oh my goodness, that was
18:19
terrible.
18:20
I cannot show that to anybody ever.
18:23
They watch it and they go, what are
18:24
you talking about?
18:24
That was great.
18:26
You are not your own, well, you are
18:29
your own best critic, your own worst critic.
18:31
You know what I mean?
18:32
You are not an objective person to watch
18:36
your videos or to listen to your sound
18:39
and make a decision about whether or not
18:41
that is good to go out to the
18:42
public.
18:42
You are not the person to make that
18:43
decision.
18:44
If you have a coach or a buddy
18:46
or a group of buddies who can help
18:49
you out with that, please, they have to
18:51
be honest because they do have to tell
18:52
you if it is not okay.
18:55
You do need to have people you can
18:56
trust, but launching the network with six other
19:01
people who could listen to each other and
19:04
could calm the insecurities and the nerves and
19:10
keep each other excited, do it with a
19:12
buddy.
19:13
It is so much more fun.
19:16
It keeps you accountable.
19:17
It keeps the energy up.
19:19
It helps you overcome your insecurities.
19:21
It gives you an objective eye on something
19:24
that you are never going to be objective
19:26
about.
19:27
So if you can, do it with a
19:29
buddy.
19:29
What's next?
19:33
This is a very simple one.
19:35
No wobbly chairs.
19:36
You see I'm on one of these.
19:37
Then I hit my desk as well.
19:39
You see these chairs, these swivel chairs?
19:42
Make your life easy.
19:44
And if you have a swivel chair in
19:45
your studio, have a stool or just a
19:49
normal chair that doesn't swivel nearby so that
19:54
when you record your podcast, if you are
19:57
sitting down, if you record your podcast, sit
20:00
on a chair that doesn't move.
20:02
It is just so much easier than training
20:05
yourself out of moving.
20:07
If you're one of those people who moves
20:09
on your swivel chair, it is almost impossible
20:12
to train yourself out of doing that.
20:14
It's easier just to use a different chair.
20:17
Similarly, if you're the type of person who
20:19
shifts from foot to foot, this is going
20:21
to be a thing to deal with.
20:23
Maybe something that I do, which is a
20:26
bit weird.
20:27
I either don't wear any shoes and I
20:29
bend my knees quite a lot to sit
20:32
into my pelvis so that I'm not as
20:36
tall as I normally am.
20:37
I'm kind of almost doing a half squat,
20:38
but it helps me stay grounded.
20:40
Or I'll wear heels so that I can
20:42
very consciously bend my knees.
20:44
Otherwise, I also do this and it's going
20:47
from side to side, bobbing from side to
20:49
side or bobbing up and down.
20:51
It's extremely distracting.
20:52
So don't do that.
20:54
Obviously, that's only important on video.
20:55
No one can tell if you're swiveling from
20:57
side to side on sound unless you're not
21:01
wearing a headset because then your voice is
21:03
going to go away and then come back
21:04
and then go away and then come back.
21:06
And that's going to be very noticeable.
21:07
All right, what's next?
21:09
Oh, I love this one.
21:13
Keep going if you mess up.
21:16
There's a couple of reasons for this.
21:19
Firstly, you actually don't know how bad your
21:22
mess up is until you watch it back
21:24
afterwards.
21:25
You might flub a word and think it's
21:29
the end of the world.
21:30
And then you listen to it later and
21:31
you're like, that's just totally normal.
21:33
That is how we speak in normal speech.
21:37
So keep going.
21:38
There's a couple of reasons for this.
21:40
A, you need to remind your nervous system
21:45
that a mistake is not a big deal
21:47
and that you can keep going.
21:49
Your nervous system, if you stop every time
21:52
you make a mistake, you are training yourself
21:55
into getting flustered and making a big deal
21:59
out of things.
22:00
Even if you don't use that take, you
22:02
don't need to use it, but do finish
22:05
it.
22:06
Even if you don't use it, it really
22:10
trains if the act of speaking is so
22:12
important and training yourself into being able to
22:15
keep going, even when you do make a
22:17
mistake, training yourself to recover.
22:20
That is a skill all in its own
22:21
right, and it only comes through practice.
22:23
So if you stop every time you mess
22:25
up, you are sabotaging yourself and you are
22:27
training yourself into a really bad habit that
22:30
is difficult to get out of.
22:31
So that's the first reason.
22:32
The other reason is you don't know how
22:35
big a deal it is.
22:36
So maybe you think, okay, well, I'm going
22:38
to throw this takeaway, but you finish it
22:40
because you're doing well.
22:42
You're doing best practices and you finish it.
22:43
You watch it back.
22:45
You're like, oh, actually I'm not going to
22:46
do it again.
22:47
That was perfect.
22:48
Good enough.
22:49
Because that flub wasn't nearly as big a
22:52
deal as you thought it was.
22:53
And sometimes those flubs can be magic.
22:55
They can be what breaks the tension or
22:58
it makes you relatable or what lights you
23:00
up because you, oh my goodness, I'm so
23:01
silly.
23:02
And then you have a laugh and then
23:03
everyone laughs with you.
23:05
Everyone who isn't with you because you're all
23:06
alone, but everyone who's listening will have a
23:09
little giggle with you later in the comfort
23:12
of their own homes or cars or walks
23:16
or wherever they're listening to you.
23:17
And it can really be a relatable moment.
23:21
It can be a connection moment.
23:23
So there's that.
23:25
And then there's the third reason.
23:26
Oh, the third reason is if you are
23:28
creating video content, if you have 10 takes
23:34
of up to the first half and only
23:37
one good take of the second half, if
23:40
you need to be edited for any reason,
23:42
if you are creating content that, you know,
23:45
you're editing in and out and maybe you're
23:46
splicing it around.
23:47
If you only have one piece of the
23:50
final piece of content and 10 pieces of
23:52
the first piece of content, that makes you
23:54
a nightmare to edit.
23:55
You need to have multiple takes of the
23:58
beginning, the middle and the end for your
24:00
poor editor to stitch things together.
24:02
You may have said it perfectly the second
24:04
time at the end, but the first time
24:06
at the beginning, and then we can stitch
24:07
those together.
24:08
And that might be depending on the type
24:10
of video you're doing.
24:11
If it's a podcast, I try to edit
24:13
as little as possible.
24:14
But if you're doing content creation, if you're
24:16
doing some sort of educational content, we're going
24:18
to be cutting in and out with slides
24:20
anyway.
24:20
So you may as well choose the favorite
24:21
piece.
24:22
You know, it doesn't really matter at that
24:24
point.
24:24
So depending on what type of content you're
24:26
making, it's a really good habit.
24:28
It's best practice to have more than one
24:30
version of all of the pieces of your
24:34
talk, not just the beginning.
24:36
Because that's we tend to get very beginning
24:38
heavy.
24:39
Oh my goodness, I need a different pair
24:44
of glasses for reading.
24:46
Also, my handwriting is terrible.
24:49
Number seven.
24:51
I think that was seven.
24:53
Number seven is imperfect is perfect.
24:57
That kind of ties into what I just
24:58
said.
24:59
No one wants robots.
25:01
We can listen to AI.
25:03
And oh my goodness, am I listening to
25:04
a lot of AI these days because I'm
25:06
really interested in the content and a real
25:09
human being couldn't be bothered to read it.
25:10
So I have to suffer through this AI
25:12
garbage.
25:14
Please.
25:16
Imperfect is so much better.
25:17
Your personality shines through.
25:19
Yes, you make mistakes.
25:20
Yes, you have aborted sentences.
25:22
Yes.
25:22
Occasionally you say I'm in awe.
25:24
It is all so much better.
25:27
It is a relief compared to these kind
25:32
of fake perfect voices.
25:34
But really, they're not very interesting.
25:37
And it's just, it just frustrates me so
25:41
much.
25:41
Human is better.
25:44
Imperfect is perfect.
25:46
This is what we need.
25:47
This is what we want.
25:48
We want to connect to you.
25:49
We have to have some imperfection in order
25:52
for us to listen to that beautiful chaos
25:55
in order for our ears to pick up
25:57
that sound.
25:59
So if you're feeling like, oh, but it's
26:01
not perfect.
26:02
It is.
26:03
It is perfect.
26:04
Unless you are saying something that is factually
26:07
incorrect.
26:08
If you have said something that you don't
26:11
believe or is factually wrong.
26:14
If it's just a little bit messy, put
26:17
it out there anyway, because people are going
26:19
to love it.
26:20
We secretly love mess.
26:22
We do.
26:23
It's part of how we connect.
26:25
It's who we are.
26:26
And we love to see that people are
26:29
succeeding and out there and doing things without
26:33
having to be perfect.
26:34
Because one of the biggest lies that we
26:36
have been sold as humans is that we
26:38
have to be perfect all the time.
26:40
It's garbage.
26:41
There's no such thing as a perfect human
26:43
anyway.
26:44
There's no such thing as a perfect anything
26:45
really when it comes to humans.
26:46
So why we're striving for it, I don't
26:49
know.
26:51
But let that go right now.
26:54
Let that idea of perfection go.
26:57
High standards?
26:58
Yes.
26:59
Absolutely.
27:00
I have very high standards.
27:02
I hardly ever meet them.
27:03
But they're there.
27:04
I grow into them slowly.
27:07
Have high standards.
27:09
But even if you don't meet your standards,
27:12
submit it anyway.
27:13
Put it out there in the world anyway,
27:14
because the only way that you are going
27:16
to improve, the only way that you are
27:18
going to grow is if you do the
27:20
thing.
27:22
And I know that that's hard to hear.
27:24
But you can do it.
27:25
And I know that you can do it
27:27
because I have just watched six other podcasters
27:30
on five other podcasts do it with me
27:33
over the last two months.
27:35
And oh, my goodness, it has been an
27:40
honor.
27:41
I was very chaotic.
27:43
And I was very honest.
27:44
But I didn't really know what I was
27:47
doing.
27:47
But we were going to do it anyway.
27:49
And they were so generous and understanding and
27:56
patient with me as I worked things out.
27:58
And they are still, we are still working
28:00
out a few kinks in the network.
28:01
And they're still being very patient and generous
28:03
and lovely.
28:05
But oh, my goodness, have they grown.
28:08
And just watching the self-esteem that comes
28:12
with having a platform and knowing that you
28:18
have a space to express yourself and the
28:20
people who want to listen to you will
28:22
come and listen.
28:23
This isn't like, oh, you must listen to
28:25
me.
28:26
Podcast is a beautiful thing because you're just
28:28
inviting people in.
28:29
And the wrong people aren't going to come
28:31
to you.
28:31
So you don't have to worry about it.
28:33
It has been such an honor to watch
28:35
them grow.
28:36
The amount of self-esteem and their speaking
28:39
skills have all improved.
28:41
If you haven't been listening to the people
28:43
on the Inspired Speaker Network, go check out
28:45
some of them now because they are powerful,
28:48
powerful people.
28:50
And they have really beautiful messages to share.
28:54
It has been such an honor and such
28:59
a joy to go through this process with
29:01
them.
29:02
And we're only at the beginning.
29:03
We're only at the beginning.
29:04
I am only in episode one of season
29:06
three.
29:07
I'm so excited.
29:08
So if you have any doubts about who
29:15
you are and what you have to say
29:16
and whether or not someone wants to listen
29:17
to it, please listen to the rest of
29:20
these interviews.
29:22
Listen to me.
29:25
Listen to the other people in the podcast.
29:27
Get inspired by them and let that inspiration
29:31
carry you into the courage of sharing your
29:34
message.
29:35
If you're still scared, call me.
29:38
We'll have a conversation.
29:39
I am never scared to chat to someone
29:42
who is maybe not sure about who they
29:46
are or what their message is.
29:48
Maybe I can help.
29:49
Maybe I can help boost your self-esteem.
29:51
Maybe I can give you some tools or
29:52
some recommendations.
29:54
Maybe I can just give you a little
29:55
bit of encouragement.
29:57
The world needs more human voices right now.
30:01
The world needs your voice.
30:03
So I hope you enjoy these industry insights.
30:06
I'd love to hear what you have to
30:08
say about them, actually.
30:09
If you have any comments or questions or
30:10
suggestions, please reach out, let me know.
30:14
And if you have any curiosity about the
30:16
Inspired Speaker Network, I'll make sure that there
30:18
is a link in the show notes for
30:20
you to go and check it out.