BTS of Online Business without the BS

Secrets to Successful Podcasting with Hayleigh Hayhurst

• Tara Leson • Episode 27

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Whether you're thinking about launching a podcast or already have and want tips from an expert - this is the episode for you!! I'm chatting with Hayleigh Hayhurst founder of Espresso Podcast Production about all things podcasting today. 

We're covering everything from starting right from scratch, launching, promoting, getting your podcast more visible when it's up and running, and more!! 

Reach out to Hayleigh here with any podcast questions and grab her freebies mentioned in the episode: 
Hayleigh Hayhurst is the founder of Espresso Podcast Production, a full-service podcast agency that helps business owners and brands start, grow and manage podcasts to reach the right audience to increase their revenue and community.

With a background in Journalism and a passion for storytelling, Hayleigh's life mission is to amplify the voices of those who spread knowledge and positivity by helping people turn their passions into a podcast. 

She lives by the motto, life is too short to do things you don't want to do. We all deserve a coffee break!

Hayleigh's links:
Website: https://www.espressopodcastproduction.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/espressopodcastproduction/
Employee to Boss Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/employee-to-boss/id1598027167
Want to start a podcast? Download this free podcast launch checklist for step by step instructions on what to do! https://www.espressopodcastproduction.com/checklist
Free Masterclass: How to Leverage a Podcast for Business Growth: https://www.espressopodcastproduction.com/masterclass

Connect with me here:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/iamtaraleson/
Website: https://www.taraleson.com

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Behind the Scenes of Online Business Without the BS podcast. If you're a motivated entrepreneur with a dream of building your own sustainable online business, you are in the right place. The right place. I'm Tara the systems expert, and I help online business owners put systems into your business so you can live in your life, not in your business, and still make daily sales. I also love to keep it real with what it takes to build an online business. Get ready as we go behind the scenes on this wild ride of entrepreneurship and building successful, real businesses. All right, welcome back to the podcast. I have a guest with me today. I have Haley from Espresso Podcast Production. Haley, go ahead and introduce yourself.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, thank you so much for having me. So my name is Haley Hayhurst. I'm the owner of Espresso Podcast Production, like you just said, so I help businesses and brands start their podcasts and then also help them with the ongoing marketing and management as well. So everything dealing with podcasting I can help with, from you know, getting your first episode up to making sure that you're consistent, to then scaling to the next level and actually making sales from your podcast are all things I help my clients with, and so I've been doing this full time for four years.

Speaker 2:

I'm based in Seattle Washington. I love all things PNW, but I'm originally a Vegas girl where I was loving the desert, and so it's been quite a transition. But yeah, other than that, I have a dog. I'm a dog mom. His name is Captain. He's a basset hound pit bull mix the funniest looking dog you'll ever see. But yeah, that's a little bit about me.

Speaker 1:

Nice, awesome. I find it so funny because you sound like so professional in your introduction, probably because this is your job, so you got that down pat. So how did you originally get into or initially get into, like doing the podcast stuff and doing this for people?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So I started podcasting back in 2017, 2018 when I was in school. So I went to the University of Nevada, las Vegas. I was studying journalism, and during that, my friend and I were like, hey, maybe we should start a podcast. We had similar interests and we had access to a podcasting studio and we didn't have a lot of classes together and we didn't really see each other much outside of classes, and so we were like, yeah, it'll be a great time to catch up. We actually worked together.

Speaker 2:

So I was working for the city and like the most boring intern job you could ever have, and a lot of that time I was also listening to podcasts because a long story but I was basically like a front desk person, but the door was locked and no one ever came in. I don't know what I was doing, and so I had a lot of time just to listen to podcasts and I was in journalism and all these things, and so podcasting was always in my head and I was learning so much from different podcasters. Being Boss was one of my favorite podcasts at the time. I think she recently stopped her show, but that was like one of the biggest things that helped me in my business now.

Speaker 2:

But so back to the story of. We were just. You know, we were like, let's start a podcast, we have access to this. So every single week we met up, we recorded and then we were editing and marketing the show all by ourselves. Never did I ever think that would take me anywhere. I thought that that was just for fun and I was going to go and work in like a newspaper or TV or some sort, I don't know what I was going to do.

Speaker 1:

I was in college.

Speaker 2:

And so I graduated right into the pandemic. I graduated in December of 2020. And then we all know what happened, or 2019. And so we all know what happened March 2020. And I had been laid off of a different internship that I had and I wasn't hired anywhere. I mean, nowhere was really hiring.

Speaker 2:

And so, long story short, a friend, my cousin's cousin, reached out to me and she was like hey, I have a podcast in the business space. I know that you used to have a podcast. I know that you know how to run podcasts. Can I hire you to edit? And I was like yeah, sure, I mean, I'm making zero dollars right now, so I would love to help you. And so I was helping her with her podcast for about four months, and then she introduced me to all these other business people and so at that four-month mark she was giving me referrals. I worked with her for probably two years and it was just like it was great, because it was such amazing to have a person who was willing to hire me for a skill that I already had and then connect me with other people. And so since then I have just adapted and grown in the podcasting space, started my own podcast Employee to Boss and really mentor other podcasters now, along with my Done For you services.

Speaker 1:

That is. It's so interesting because so often that's kind of not the story. That's kind of not the story, like people don't have the story of. I was actually like doing this and then it became something that I actually did for a living. It's more like I saw this cool thing online that I thought I would just make into a business. You, it's not actually like this worked out for me and, you know, became this business because I knew all of this about it and it was a thing that I was really good at and I just like I love that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

I love how that like came together and it's just like that's so cool that you know it just developed in that way. So when you started working with her, how long did it take you to kind of build up your business? Like did you have any kind of social media presence or anything like that at that time? Or like, what did you do kind of besides the referrals?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, I had zero social media presence and if you scroll back on my social media of what I was posting four years ago, like you can see, I have no idea what I was doing, because I never intended to actually start a podcast production agency, like that was never in my plan for my life and so I'm so happy it happened. But once she started giving me referrals and I was like, okay, I like this. I actually started doing half podcast production, half virtual assistant, and for a while there I was leaning into getting a lot more virtual assistant clients because people needed help with their businesses online, and I was doing that for about a year and a half and I was like, okay, I hate virtual assistant. Really, this is not for me. It was just so redundant.

Speaker 2:

I love it because I have clients in all different industries now, so I'm never editing episodes that sound alike or about the same topic and that keeps it so interesting for me. So when I actually decided, okay, I have like a business potential here, let me take the next step, what I did was I hired a mindset coach and this was the first investment I had ever made in my business, which I don't like. She just reached out to me at the right time.

Speaker 2:

She said the right things and she helped me so much in the beginning phases of starting espresso podcast production because first of all she helped me with my pricing. I had no idea. I think the most I'd ever made before this was like eight8.25 an hour, which was minimum wage in Las Vegas. And then she helped me actually come up with my offer. She helped me how to think of myself as a business owner, all these mindset things that I don't think I'd have my business the way it is without doing that as the first step.

Speaker 2:

So, she was helping me actually reach out to new people. It's really easy to stay safe and like the referrals referrals are great. Referrals are some of my favorite clients I've ever gotten. But to get more clients, of course you have to put yourself out there. So she made me post like my first nine posts, so I had an actual like. If someone's looking up Instagram, my whole page would be full, like just things like that. That was the first thing. It was all a bunch of messy action and just kind of pushing myself to do it in the beginning. And yeah, I mean, if I had hired a business coach it would have been different. I probably would have had a strategy behind what I was posting, but what I needed then was actually like the mindset help.

Speaker 1:

Interesting. Yeah, because that's so. It's so much different than what people usually do. They usually go for the business coach instead of the mindset coach. I'm surprised. I was actually surprised when you said that, because I wouldn't have guessed that most people go for the business coach instead of the mindset coach. I'm surprised. I was actually surprised when you said that, because I wouldn't have guessed that most people go for the business coach.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, and I mean she did help me a lot with business, but I didn't really know anything about coaches back then, to be completely honest. And so when she reached out to me and I think she gave me like a free 30 minute call.

Speaker 2:

I was like, okay, this is what I need and it was what I needed. A hundred percent it was what I needed. And now, like four years in the business, I've hired multiple coaches. She was the only mindset coach I hired. I hired business coaches since then, but really I think mindset coaching is one of the best ways to start.

Speaker 1:

Interesting. That's such an interesting perspective because I've never I've never heard that before, because so many people go to business coaches. I am, however, the same. I have like the same experience kind of coming into this as you. I didn't know that business coaches existed. I knew nothing about any of that. It was all like a new thing to me when I came online, so it was very. That part of this has been very interesting, but I want to hear so with your clients now. Now you talked about like you edit podcasts and stuff. What are all the other things that you do like? What all do you do with people and their podcasts?

Speaker 2:

yeah, so the ways that I love helping people is obviously starting their podcast, so there's a lot of trends that go around with podcasting and right.

Speaker 2:

Right now, video podcasts are like the way to go right, if you're going to start a podcast, you probably are going to start a video podcast. So in that, it's a podcast launch service that I have where I can help you start your podcast in four weeks. Basically, all my clients have to do is actually press record and send me the content. Have to do is actually press record and send me the content and then I do all of the posting behind the scenes type of editing, scheduling, making it all you know, a way that it's going to be a successful podcast, with writing show notes, descriptions, blah, blah, blah all the things right. There's a lot that goes into starting a podcast.

Speaker 2:

So they hire me just because there is so much. Usually they're busy business owners and they just need some help with kind of like the technical side and then ongoing. I help them with weekly management. So when you start a podcast, like I said, there's a lot that goes into it. So if you are not the most consistent person, having a podcast manager like me will help you definitely stay consistent and come up with a plan.

Speaker 2:

But with all of this, my favorite way that I've been helping a lot of clients over the past year, year and a half has been strategy, because people are starting to realize like, oh, I cannot just post and millions of people will come my way. I should actually have a strategy behind my podcast. So I help people with this through like my strategy sessions, which are VIP days, or I have a podcast accelerator program which just signed a client so exciting. I love signing clients in the service because this is where I really help you show up more online, become omnipresent, which is like the word of the year, and there's a reason why people want to become omnipresent it's because so many people are on different platforms. You can reach different people in different places. You know, I one of my clients. She's like I want people to be like how is, how? Am I everywhere? How?

Speaker 2:

do I keep seeing this person everywhere Because in business there's so much competitiveness or so much you know you're, you're not alone in your niche.

Speaker 1:

No, that would be a very rare thing If you found a niche where there was no one else.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and if you find one, start something in that Be the first Right it won't be like that for long, and so those are really the ways that I help my clients. So, everything from editing to strategy, I love it all.

Speaker 1:

Interesting and I know so. Right before this, we were talking about the difference between you kind of were saying the difference between, when you're starting a podcast, people being like over prepared versus under prepared. I want you to talk about that because I want to hear your take on it. I know what I did when I started this um, and I'll tell you what I did after, okay, and then I'll tell you what I did.

Speaker 2:

Perfect, yeah. So really I see this happen a lot. I feel like a lot of people come to me and they're like I've been thinking about this for the past three years, I finally want to start. And okay, before I get into this, I do want to say there is a time that everyone should start their podcast. I'm not going to be someone that's like start now even if you're not ready. Start when you're ready, of course, but readiness is like there's a time frame for readiness. So if you've been thinking about it for three years and maybe have bought your microphone, come up with the plan, have the podcast name Okay, then that's the time to start. The time to start is not when you have everything and you've overthought it for another year and a half, right. But also I see a lot of people you know business coaches or even other podcast producers say start tomorrow. You can totally just press record and post it and that's easy.

Speaker 2:

Podcasting is so easy and yeah, podcasting can be easy, but if you don't have that plan in place, you're really going to be disappointed and yeah, it's not some. I think that it's a lot of people think, like I said before, once you post, people are going to come to you. It's hard work. There's a lot of podcasts out there that get like two views an episode. That's because they're not marketing, they're just thinking people are going to come to them. The podcasts that are successful are ones that are showing up on social media, are talking about their podcasts in different places. Maybe they already have a brand in place and this is just here to help them grow.

Speaker 2:

So, really, where you are in business is important to think about when you are starting a podcast. But yes, there's a time and a place and it's definitely like when I started my podcast Employee to Boss I hate to admit this I was in the group of people who overthought it, which is so embarrassing because I help people start their podcast every single day. When it was for me, I was like okay, let me see, I have to manage all of my client work. I need to do all of this. I think I recorded like 20 episodes before I actually posted one which is insane. Yeah, so I know, but it's like it, just it happens, you know, but I went through it and so now I can help other people not go through that, because you should have a backlog of recorded episodes, but maybe 20 is a little excessive.

Speaker 1:

You know what I mean. Yeah, yeah, for sure I know. Like I definitely was considering it for a while and you know I ended up. I was like yep bought my mic, I decided I was going to release it on my 40th birthday. Like this was something that I wanted to do, had my business and, I guess, my brand for like three and a half years, and it was just I really wanted to do this as an extra way to, like you know, get my message out. I also it's kind of funny, I don't know I talk way too long on stories and stuff. So I was like, well, maybe I'll have a podcast so I can talk as long as I want.

Speaker 2:

And then you're like in the middle of a sentence. I hate that. I do the same thing.

Speaker 1:

I know Right now I can just go on forever and you know I don't actually, but I thought this would be a good way to have actually longer form content. So I had like sort of a plan, but I didn't have a huge plan, like I kind of knew what I wanted to do and, um, you know, things were a bit thought out, but it wasn't a heat Like I didn't. It wasn't over planned. I definitely had episodes recorded. Um, I don't know, but for sure, there is no way. I don't think that you can just like hit record and start tomorrow, because there was still things that I was like, holy shit, I didn't know, like getting your RSS feed out to all these different places, and I didn't realize that they didn't update until the next day, and so the night before I was like, well, this sucks, because some of these like platforms aren't going to get my episodes on the day that I wanted it to, and so it's like things like that. But you know, you really have to take those things into consideration.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, I know that's one of the things that in my podcast launching I talk to my clients about, because if you have a certain date that you want to launch on, the way I work is we're going to post your trailer episode two weeks before that, because Apple podcasts can literally take two weeks for your podcast to show up. Most of my clients that'll show up like the day after the day after that. I did have one client that it took the full two weeks, and so that's what I tell them.

Speaker 1:

I'm like, yeah, post your trailer episode two weeks before, because then the beauty of that is you can also start getting reviews and sending it to friends and family and promoting it and that's like the most fun part where you get to just be like hey, I'm a podcaster now exactly, exactly, because that's like kind of sucks with your you know launch day and you go to post and you're like oh shit, shit, not actually launch day because this isn't going to update and especially for Apple, like that's the huge one, that's the main one, where everyone gets there. So if it's not going to be there, that sucks.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, totally yeah.

Speaker 1:

I was going to ask you something just as you were talking about that, and then I lost it. Oh, that's what I was gonna ask you about. Okay, so when people launch their podcasts, what do you, what do you suggest in terms of actually launching, like, what's the best way to go about launching and promoting it initially?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's a great question. So, like I said, you're going to want to post that trailer two weeks before, and what I always think is really fun is, you know, like you launched yours on your 40th birthday, having some sort of like giveaway is always a great way to build some excitement around it, get reviews, and so you could.

Speaker 2:

if you're a coach, you can maybe offer like a free coaching call, or maybe you could offer like a pair of AirPods or something like that. That will be helpful for business owners, something that will keep you like. It will make them want to leave your review and like, be excited and so okay. So launching that's what I recommend two weeks before, with some promotion and when it comes to like what to actually post, like I said, video is definitely the way to go, because you can then cut your long form video up into clips, and so this is my favorite way to grow podcasts.

Speaker 2:

Now, I'm sure if you're on TikTok or if you're on Instagram and you're scrolling, you see clips from podcasts almost every other reel At least I do. I see so many. Some are comedy podcasts, some are business podcasts, some are health podcasts, but they business podcasts. Some are health podcasts, but they all kind of have the same vibe to them. It's just some hook to make you want to go listen to the episode. I'm posting a post tomorrow actually, where it's like all clips are not created equal, because a lot of people do use AI to make their clips. Ai is great. Ai can definitely help you cut your podcast up into clips. But I don't use that for my clients because they they're weird. Some of them are just don't not make sense. I tried it once never, it's awful.

Speaker 2:

It's like the AI does not know what's actually going to perform well and it'll cut work. I could get all into that in a whole nother episode about my. It is weird, exactly. And so cutting up clips and then putting them on social media is the best way to do it, and so this does take a little bit of time to plan out what clips are going to work, how long the clips should be.

Speaker 2:

But it is time well spent, because if you're a business owner and you are putting out consistent content, a podcast can save you so much time, because with your one hour video, or however long it is for my clients, I can get 10, 15 clips from that podcast, and so then I could post those 10 clips on TikTok, instagram, youtube shorts and Facebook. Now those 10 clips have turned into 40. And that is omnipresence for your business. That's showing everywhere 40 times that each episode. Okay, so if you're putting out four episodes a month, what is that? 160 touch points for people to listen to you, and that is powerful. That's really the power of podcasting that a lot of people do not tap into.

Speaker 2:

And I think they will soon. I think that right now, the biggest podcasts are really monopolizing on this, but the more people that see how well these clips are performed, they can go viral. Yeah, they can get you so many followers, they can get you so many listeners and clients. And that is where I really see the next step of podcasting going.

Speaker 2:

You know, a couple years ago I would say maybe two, two and a half years ago, maybe three someone came to me and she was like oh, my favorite podcast is called blah blah blah. I've never actually listened to an episode, but I saw a clip. I like the clips that they post Now. This was three years ago. I thought that this woman was crazy. I was like how have you never listened to the podcast? But now it's so normal. Now it's so normal. You can nurture people. They'll feel nurtured by you, just by these clips, because they're either funny, entertaining or they're educating you and that is enough to build trust for people to buy from you.

Speaker 1:

Then yeah, it's something actually that I need to do more of.

Speaker 1:

I always do one from each episode, but I need to do a lot more and I know that I do but it's so true, like that is the easiest way to get a whole ton of content and people are always complaining about how hard it is to make content. This makes it so much easier, like a million times easier. And yes, you have to go in and you have to cut up. You know your video and stuff. I always do mine at the same time. I don't know how you do yours, but I, I edit mine myself. I actually I enjoy doing it. It's probably because I just enjoy a lot of tech stuff, but I do it in CapCut. It's super easy. I just like whatever, edit it all at the same time, cut out my reel, and it doesn't actually take that much time.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it doesn't it adds the captions in there. It does all of the things. It's not that big of a deal. And if you can do that and really cut down on that time and get that many content pieces, that's so huge.

Speaker 2:

Yes, it really is. Entrepreneurs use podcasts for the content Hands down. That's the number one reason so many business coaches, so many entrepreneurs, so many you know service providers are starting podcasts is for the content.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely, I know, and I I need to take more out of mine Just reminds me to do it, but anyways, I will do that. So, in terms of other than posting the content from each episode, do you have any other suggestions of like promoting it, like what's, what have you found is like some of the best ways that your clients have been able to grow their podcasts, or grow their podcast or anything like that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So the way I see podcasting is as a marketing tool. So I'm going to answer your question, but a little bit loosely, because tying into business like that's usually the main outcome of what my clients want. They come to me and they're like hey, I have this podcast, I want leads, and I'm like okay, we need to set up lead funnels, we need to set up lead magnets.

Speaker 2:

So if you think of like a lead funnel, like a triangle let's just think of it like that and a podcast is at the bottom, people will come to your podcast, listen and then eventually go to your Instagram and then they'll eventually like happen to maybe like a free offer you have, and then they might hire you one-on-one. Or if you think, at the bottom of the triangle, they're currently following you on Instagram but they're like a stale lead. They're just kind of like their eyes are just on you. Then you start a podcast, they'll go and listen to the podcast, they'll get into a freebie, they can work with you one-on-one, and so it's really just that's the main way that my clients are growing their businesses through podcasting. So just posting more is number one, but also setting up. If someone comes and listens to your podcast, what's the next step?

Speaker 2:

People will do what you want them to do, especially if they're spending an hour a week with you. You're on the go with them. You might be on the runs with them or in their car, like whatever it is. You're in their ear and they're getting to know you. They're going to want to know more about you. So two easy tips for entrepreneurs of how you can like put this funnel into action is one we're so quick to want advertisers on our podcast and be like I'll run commercials for that company and that company. Well, you're probably a company and you can run your own commercials. Put your own commercials in there, because that is, you are a business. So talk about a service you provide, talk about a freebie you want.

Speaker 2:

Right now I have a masterclass that I'm promoting. That's at the beginning of all of my episodes, because that is kind of where I want them to go next. So number one put your own commercials in. Number two is you know if you're inviting people onto your podcast like my podcast is all, all interviews for the most part really asking like strategic people onto your podcast where both people will have some sort of connection to each other and can kind of like help each other grow. You know what I mean. So making everything makes sense and guesting. I know some people are very resistant to having people on their podcast. Some people love it I currently love it or I've always loved it but I think it's the fastest way to actually grow your podcast and your business, because they will then be promoting their episode and so they'll come and listen, they'll come and stay and then you know it all.

Speaker 1:

It all starts from there. Yes, I both of those things I absolutely love, obviously with like the systems and automation, so like the lead magnet thing, that's like huge. What I'm all about and I absolutely agree it's got to be like looked at as part of you know your funnel, like that, and that's exactly what it is is like how do you get people closer to you?

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

I just like I love that so much. I actually I was talking about this today and like I was talking about this today and like it also is part of, I think you know, giving more free value and just like, how much can you actually provide? Like, how much can you give, give more freaking free value and actually teach people things? Because when you do this and you have things like a podcast where you are teaching things, you're giving real tips, you're having people on that are sharing actual things that they can use for their business, that is when people are going to want to listen more, they're going to want to check you out more and they're going to want to become clients.

Speaker 2:

Like it's just that's the way that it's going to work, exactly, yeah exactly Just that whole building trust, because if you're always asking for stuff from your audience, if you're always asking for them to become your clients, if you're asking for their input, if you're asking for referrals and you're not giving anything, they're going to get tired of you asking yeah, so with having a podcast, just like you said, you're giving free value, you're giving free content, you're giving a place for them to come and learn for free. People are always afraid of giving everything away for free, and I never have been, because they can go listen to someone else who's giving it all away for free too. I mean, just because you're giving it all away for free is not going to mean that they're not going to work with you, with you right.

Speaker 2:

They're probably going to be like for you systems, okay, systems are not easy. You could tell me, step-by-step, exactly how to set something up and I'll be like. I'll be like Tara, what are you talking about? Please, please, just do this for me. And so that's what I always think. Do not be afraid of giving things away for free. It only helps.

Speaker 1:

It literally only helps giving things away for free. It only helps. It literally only helps. Yeah, Like it's so, so huge. And I think there was this whole thing for especially a while I don't know if it's still a thing where it was like don't, don't give away everything for free. Your boundaries, what about your paying clients? And it's like no, like you. Actually there's also this level of you need to actually build up the trust for people to pay you and especially if people you're expecting people to pay you a lot of money, yeah, like, let them know why they should.

Speaker 2:

Yes, exactly, yeah. Give a little insight to what you do. Probably people don't really know.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, I just like yeah, absolutely think that that's so, so useful.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and I'm so glad you brought that up Cause that's so important. I had a business coach and you know, not all business coaches are also created equal. Like I said, not all clips are created. Okay, it maybe wasn't the best investment I've ever made in my life, but I did learn a couple of things from her, and one of the things was offering webinars, because, you know, masterclasses those are great ways to teach people.

Speaker 2:

And the other one is offering free 30 minute calls, and I had before that I had always been under the impression of 30 minute calls are only for people who want to work with me. 30 minute calls are only consult calls, to sell to them. And she was like no, no, no, no, 30 minute calls can be you advising people. 30 minute calls can be you helping someone you know with their podcast. And so what we did was we come up. We came up with like this three-step call that I would offer to podcasters to talk about. You know, how is their content, how's their promotion, and then how is the overall like sales and how, like, what is going on with your podcast? Are you marketing it? Well, and this was one of the first things that I like actually start Cause remember I was doing VA work plus like virtual assistant work plus podcasting. I wanted to be done with virtual assistant and this was the easiest way for me to talk to podcasters and literally have them tell me what their biggest pain points are.

Speaker 2:

So I get all these calls and, I kid you not, I probably did over 100 free 30 minute calls with podcasters in all different industries. So I work with businesses and business podcasts. But I would take calls with people in like sports, comedy, politics, like literally them reviewing movies, like all these different things, and I would ask them okay, what's your biggest problem in your podcast right now? They would tell me I would say, okay, well, let's look at your social media. How are you promoting your podcast? I would see issues there. I'd be like, okay, well, here's an idea. If you didn't do this and you did this instead, see what happens. They would come back to me and be like, okay, that was so helpful. Thank you so much.

Speaker 1:

And so I can use those as testimonials.

Speaker 2:

But also that time that I spent for free, I learned so much because now I offer a premium for my calls, because I know what I'm talking about. You know, because I did all these free calls, because I had all this experience talking with podcasters and all different industries and it that was like that was one of the most mind blowing things that I learned in business that I really recommend people to do, because you know, like I said, referrals were how I grew my business. This is how I took it to the next level, because I'd post in Facebook groups and have people comment and be like I want a free call, I want a free audit.

Speaker 2:

That's what I call them audits, and they would. I would say yes to everyone and be like hey, here's my calendar, pick a time, yeah, yeah. So I met tons and tons of people that way.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love that. I actually do that as well. I do a free 30 minute strategy, strategy and automation sessions.

Speaker 2:

And I do them usually the first week of every month.

Speaker 1:

I do them usually the first week of every month. I'll open up my calendar for people and anyone can book in and it's literally like we work on your business. We figure out, like what's going on, there's any automation gaps, what's going on with strategy in your business, like what can we actually improve here to get things moving? And I love doing them. I absolutely love doing them and, it's true, you learn a lot. I love that I can actually help people with their business. A lot of the times they do convert because I'm truly helping them. It's not something where it's like, get on this call, but really I'm going to pitch you. Like it's not that it's like we on this call, but really I'm going to pitch you. Like it's not that, it's like we are at, we're getting to work here, we're going to figure out what's going on and what I can help you with, and I think that that it's so valuable for both, like you being the person doing it and the person that's signing up for it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, exactly, it literally is the thing that you know now. My calls that I offer the strategy sessions, are three hours long and I have a whole structure with them. So it's much, much deeper dive and there's a lot of research that I do going into it to actually ensure that my client sees growth from that part. But, yeah, I mean messy starts in the beginning with like 30 minute what's your problem? Type of calls to now be able to really like solve the problems going into it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely yeah. I think that that's so huge and just being able to actually like, do some of those things and find out what is actually going to work.

Speaker 2:

Yes, exactly.

Speaker 1:

Yes. So, as we wrap up, I guess, what are your like, what would be like your top tips, your top three tips for podcasting, if you have three, or what are your like top things?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, okay, I love this, so I will take the stance from like if you're just starting a podcast where you know you haven't really recorded, but it's in your mind that you want to be a podcaster.

Speaker 2:

So if it's in your mind, there's a reason for that and I'm sure, like if you have the desire, you should definitely take action on it. So the first thing I would do is order a microphone. This is the easiest way to feel professional and I know a lot of people are like oh, you could start without a microphone. Audio quality is so important. Okay, number one reason people will turn off a podcast is audio quality. There's a million podcasts out there. I do have to say that there's a ton of maybe not a million, but there's a lot of podcasts out there, and then, like, if your audio is not good, they'll go and listen to someone who's is, and audio quality is number one, so make sure you have a microphone.

Speaker 2:

The second step that I would take is actually do some research in the topic that you want to be in. So, as you're planning your own podcast, look at other podcasts in that niche, see what maybe the top 10 are. Don't copy them, of course. Be your own person and your own idea, but it is good to see what else is out there, how long their episodes are maybe what they're titling their episodes, things like that. It's always good to do that market research, but do not get hung up on this part, keep moving.

Speaker 2:

The third thing I would say is I have a free podcast checklist for anyone who wants to launch, and it has resources. I've been in business for a long time, so I have a ton of resources that I've since created or created in the past, and this is a great place to start because it literally breaks down every step you need to take to starting your podcast. Everything from like microphone recommendations to actually setting up your RSS feed is on this checklist. So if you would like that, if you just go to my website espressopodcastproductioncom checklist, you can go and download that there amazing.

Speaker 1:

That is like so, so helpful. I think that that checklist would be like, if you are looking to start a podcast, like you need to go pick that up because that's like you need that. Okay, the thing I do remember what I was going to ask you episode length is Is there, like, what are your thoughts on that? Is there something just quick here? Is there an ideal episode length, like, what do you think about that, cause there's podcasts that are all over the place. Is there like a general thing that you would stick with or does it really depend?

Speaker 2:

So I will say it does depend, because thinking about your ideal audience and then creating content for them is important. So, you know, for busy moms who are having podcasts for other busy moms, maybe keep your episodes like 15, 20 minutes where they can listen to it on the drive, you know, from and to like school pickup or something like that. Or if you're creating a podcast like what is it?

Speaker 2:

The Huberman podcast, I think it's called where his are like three hours long and that's because he deep dives into the topic like literally deep dive. Nothing is unturned in his episodes. It's a lot of research that goes into that. I will say don't make your episodes three hours if they don't need to be. So I would say between like 20 minutes and an hour is the sweet spot. But I go into this in my masterclass. I don't want to keep promoting services, but go ahead.

Speaker 1:

I think that it would be amazing. It's fine.

Speaker 2:

I have a free masterclass. If you go to my website, espresso podcast productioncom slash masterclass. You can watch it there, and I actually go really deep into this of like the structure of your episodes and then also statistics on how long podcast episodes are. So the majority of them are between 30 and 45 minutes, and I think that's because you can really get into the topic. If you have a guest, you can really like get to know them and you can really educate your audience a little bit more than you can in a quick 20 minute episode. And so, of course, think of everything from the lens of your ideal listener, create content based on that, but always keep it like, keep it entertaining, keep it nice and easy to understand. So it really depends on your niche, but it could be anywhere.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, that totally makes sense, and I will link your masterclass in the show notes so that everyone can get that. If you want to drop the link for your freebie as well for the checklist, you can give me that. I will link that too. Perfect, we will give everything and then everyone will have it. So, yes, thank you so much for coming on.

Speaker 2:

I feel like this was like such a good, valuable episode with like so many good tips, feel empowered enough to start a podcast. Podcasting is so fun, I mean. I really, really love it and I hope that people really take a lot of value from this.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely Well. Thank you so much, and if you are watching on YouTube, make sure that you like and subscribe and I will catch you in the next one. Thank you so much for listening, friend. I appreciate you being here and sharing in our experiences as we go behind the scenes in online business. I would love for you to hit that five stars, share with a friend that might enjoy it too, and leave a review telling me your favorite part of the show for this episode. Until next time, go, be successful, do the hard things and stay away from the BS.