Celebrating One Year of Podcasting on The Mompreneur Mindset: Reflecting on 10 Spectacular Lessons & the Exciting Future of the Show

*Transcript is unedited (for the most part)

Gianna Diggs  0:05  

You are listening to the mompreneur mindset podcast, a show that empowers you to create a business that’s authentically yours. Say goodbye to stressful days, juggling multiple priorities and feeling like you’re never enough. I’m your host, Gianna Diggs, a certified mindset coach and business guide for women and mom entrepreneurs. I’m here to empower guide and align you with the tools and the mindset needed to build a thriving business. That’s true to your purpose. In each episode, we’ll explore strategies, tips and success stories designed to help you rise above your obstacles and level up your mompreneur game. So whether you’re a first time entrepreneur or a seasoned professional, grab a cup of tea, some quiet time away from the kids. And let’s dive into the mompreneur mindset together. Are you ready? Let’s get into today’s episode.

Welcome back to season three of the mompreneur mindset podcast. And I am so excited to be back to recording episodes. So many things have happened since the last episode of season two aired, and I am making some adjustments in my business, which you’re going to hear about a little bit later. And overall, I’m just excited to get the season rolling. So in today’s episode, I want to talk about some lessons that I’ve learned since launching season one on November 17 2021. Now, this is not my first rodeo with podcasting. Some of you may or may not know this, but I had a podcast with two of my cousins back in 2020. And life happened and we ultimately decided to not continue with the recording episodes. And with that show, being honest, I was the one doing most of the planning and asking the questions and kind of keeping the show on track when we would go off on a tangent because we’d like to talk about a lot of things. And let me tell you that that was really hard to do at times. But doing that podcast definitely helped me with planning of the show. So the lessons I’m going to share are more around the lessons I have learned running up pockets all on my own and not having co hosts to bounce off of my intention with this episode is to inspire you if you are thinking about starting your own podcast and do a little bit of self reflection. So let’s go ahead and get started.

 All right, lesson number one, have a plan. Now I already knew that I had to have a plan in place before I hit the record button. But over the course of the past year, I discovered how this is a crucial part of having a successful podcast. So I’m going to go over some basic aspects of planning a podcast as well as some other unexpected things that I had to plan for. So some things that you want to think about are what topics will you cover? Who is your ideal audience? Or listener? Do you want to have a solo show? Or do you want to have co hosts where you have guests? And if so, what’s the criteria to be on your show? How frequently will you publish episodes? Are you going to do daily episodes weekly episodes bi weekly? Or will you publish seasons like this show. So what about the day of the week, you want to be consistent with the day that you publish so that those who subscribe to your show will be anticipating new episode drops every week. You’ll also want to think about the technical aspects like your audio equipment and your software. And so when I had my podcast with my cousins, we went to a podcasting studio each week, which was an option, right? We just showed up, we didn’t have to have any equipment, Marvin was the guy that we worked with, he would just set up the equipment for us, we would record we do two episodes, and then that’d be it. Right. But if that’s not feasible for you, right, I now record in my bedroom with a $97 mic that I got from Amazon.

And I also use riverside.fm to record my solo and guess episodes. But if you can easily just use Zoom, if that works better for you. And I also used GarageBand to edit which comes free if you have a Mac, I actually just started using the script. And I only made that upgrade because I was kind of tired of using GarageBand being honest. And I want to mention that having a plan in place will help you when the unexpected happens. 

So if you listen to the last episode of the show, I talked a lot about planning season two of this podcast at the same time that I was planning my wedding and I was planning my baby shower. And I was preparing the show for the arrival of my son. And this obviously took a lot of planning on my part, and I had to set a deadline for having all the episodes recorded both solo and guest episodes. And I also had to know what date I was launching all while keeping my due date in mind. And since I do everything myself right, I have to keep in mind the edits the promotional schedule, emailing everyone their guests materials, uploading show notes, though works right and so I’m proud of myself that I only took four weeks off of publishing episodes. And I only took that break because mica actually came two weeks earlier than I was anticipating and I hadn’t finished editing all the episodes yet. But I was only able to do all of that because I had a plan in place. 

So now lesson number two, you need to be passionate about your topic. So podcasting, that’s a lot of work being honest. And there are many moving parts from recording and editing episodes to promoting your show. And if you’re not passionate about your topic, it will be very difficult to stick with it for the long haul. But if you’re passionate about what you’re talking about, it will shine through in your episodes and keep people coming back for more. So to me, this lesson is key because being honest, if I didn’t have a passion for helping mom entrepreneurs and aspiring mom, entrepreneurs create and maintain an underlying business, while also mastering their mindset. I may have given up a long time ago. And like I said, with all the moving parts, managing it all can be stressful. And you want to add in having a husband having two kids with one being an infant and trying to grow a business, right? It’s really a lot. And we want to throw in a little bit of statistics, right? According to the podcast Industry Insights, there are 2.5 million podcasts listed with only 450,000 being active. So that’s a lot of people who started and you know, stop podcasts. And so being passionate about what you’re talking about can really go a long way. 

Alright, lesson number three, you’ll learn a lot about yourself and be able to execute what you learn. Right. And so I’ve learned a lot about myself as a podcaster. And a mompreneur. I’ve learned to trust myself, and know how I want the show to operate both on the back end and the front end. And I’ve learned how to be organized and create systems that will help me function as a solopreneur. And I learned that I am a good listener, and also a good interviewer. And I learned how to ask the right questions to get the perspectives of my guests. And so I’ve also learned how to know when to continue the conversation with the guests and when to move on. And that’s really for those guests who are kind of straight to the point with their answers and kind of don’t want to talk more about what they were talking about. Right. And so speaking of guests, the the next few lessons are all about guest on the show. 

So lesson number four, when you’re just getting started, reach out to your network to find your guest. So once you know who your ideal guest is, it’s time to find those guests, right. And something that helped me get guests for season one and season two is that I utilized my network, I went into a few very strategic Facebook groups where I knew that I could be able to find my ideal guest, which is a mom, right, and she has a business. So I just did a post letting them know that I was looking for guests for my show. And if they were interested to just let me know. And once they stated they were interested, I reached out to them via messenger. And in some cases, they actually reached out to me first, and I gave them my booking link so that we could discuss the show for them. And so by doing this, I had over 30 women reach out to me and scheduled their initial call. Now, the only pitfall with this, and this was all my fault was that I waited too long between the time I spoke to them and actually interviewing them. So I spent all of March 2021, doing what I call the Get to know your calls, I actually didn’t start recording until October of 2021. And so so many people like they didn’t respond to my follow up email. And I think season one, I only had about four guests because of that. So then when season two rolled around, I did much better with the follow up. And a lot of the women that I reached out to for season one actually ended up being on season two. 

And this system has really worked for me because now I have people who want to be guests, I have them reaching out to me instead, which leads to lesson number five guest will start reaching out for out to you. So at the beginning of season two, I started to receive messages from guests, either personally or via podcasting agencies, asking to be a guest on the show. And I’m not gonna lie, I was very surprised by the amount of reach outs that I received because it showed me that podcasting is really the long game. And that even though I feel like I have a small show, right, that I was still able to attract valuable guests. And you may wonder if I have so many women reaching out to be guest How do I vet who will be good or not. 

So that actually leads me to lesson number six. build rapport with the guests before interviewing them. So like I stated before, I like to schedule an introductory or get to know you call before the actual interview. And doing it this way, I am giving myself a little bit of extra work, but it allows me to build rapport with the guests prior to the actual recording. So have you ever listened to a podcast episode where the interview sounds really awkward until about halfway through the show? So I think my personal opinion, but I think that this is because they might have met 30 minutes before they recorded the episode. And they didn’t really have time to get to know each other and you can kind of tell that in audio. And I knew that I wanted it to sound like I was talking to an old friend. So that’s why I decided to to do it this way, and why I created this system. And so it also gives me the opportunity to really plan what we will talk about during our interview, because I don’t always choose a topic that they’ve included on their speaker sheet. And oftentimes, because I’m very intuitive, I get an intuitive hit about what the audience needs to hear. So now I want to mention that even with having intro calls, that I still have guests who aren’t that bubbly, like they’re not like me, or they are kind of very much straight to the point, and they don’t continue the conversation, like when I try to probe them a little bit. And so I do think that intro calls have helped me to know which guests will be this way so that I can adjust myself accordingly. 

Okay, lesson number seven also helps with awkwardness. And that is that I learned how crucial sending questions ahead of time is. So this is a little bit of a storytime. So almost three years ago, I did a live with a woman who she came into a Facebook group that we’re in together, and asked if some people wanted to go live with her. And I was like, sure, like, um, wasn’t very comfortable with going live and kind of still not, but that turned her there. And I was like, Okay, let’s, let’s do it. So I scheduled a call with her thinking that we would kind of just go over what we were going to talk about, and then schedule the actual live on a later date. Well, my surprise, when I asked her, when we were going to do the live, she said, Oh, we’re gonna do it right now. And I can’t tell you how my heart literally sank into my chest because I just, I didn’t feel like I was prepared. And I also have a tendency to ramble. If I don’t structure, what I’m going to say, or at least know what is going to be asked so that I can like, it kind of helps with my nervousness. And so needless to say, I felt nervous as hell. And you know, it didn’t end up being that bad. But that experience is really one of the reasons why I schedule, get to know you calls before the actual interview. And why always send my questions out ahead of time. And I like to keep myself structured. And also, I want you as the guests to have an idea of where I would like the conversation to go. So now I do have guests who have done many interviews and feel like they don’t need the questions, but honestly, I’d send them anyway. And also I do download questions like as they come to me during the interview. But overall, I want to make sure that I don’t ramble or go off on a tangent and make sure that the guest is prepared.

Alright, lesson number eight, create systems for yourself. So I’ve said this multiple times, but I am a solopreneur. And pretty much I do everything on my own. So if I don’t do it, it’s not going to get done. And this includes everything from my podcast. So in order to make things happen, I have to create systems for myself so that I can actually keep things going. So some systems I have in place is that I have a specific folder per episode on my Google Drive. And I can upload the raw audio the finished episodes, graphic teasers for social media, if I’m using them, show notes and transcripts all saved in their episode folders. And another thing is templates, template templates, let me tell you, templates. If you don’t have templates, you need them. I have templates for my show notes that is saved. So I can just go into WordPress and basically make the necessary changes also have templates for graphics saved in Canva. So I can just change the picture of the guest name and the episode. And I keep two different color backgrounds, one that’s pink and one that white. And so I’ll also have email templates for my guests that are saved in my business email address. And so for example, when I’m ready to send an email to someone who reached out to me about being a guest, I just select the right template, and I make changes that are needed. And so this saves me a lot of time and a lot of effort. And I also batch create if I’m working on editing, so I edit multiple episodes at a time. And when I’m creating graphics, I do multiple graphics at the time. And when I’m creating show notes, I do multiple show notes at a time. And so the point is to work smarter, not harder, and creating systems was going to definitely help you do that. 

Alright, lesson number nine, it’s okay to experiment and make mistakes. So when you are first getting started, it’s good to experiment with the type of content you put out, and even the kinds of guests that you interview. And the point of the experimentation is to really just find out what works for you. So in season one, before I really sat down with myself and figured out you know, my strategy for working with clients, I experimented with doing two episodes on Human Design Basics. And you can obviously go listen to those if you are interested in human design. Now, if you’ve listened from day one, you know that I really tried to weave in the information about the modalities that I love to use on myself and with my clients often. But these were strictly Human Design episodes and being honest, what I found is that these episodes honestly, they didn’t really do that well. And I think that it’s not necessarily what my audience wants to hear or at least that’s my assumption based off of the stats, but I really wouldn’t have known it if I didn’t go ahead and make an episode about it. Now, this is not to say that I’m not going to experiment again, you know, trying to do a human design or astrology episode in the future. But for now, it’ll just be something that I mentioned in passing. And mistakes are okay to just FYI. Right. It’s basically it’s how we learn, right? We learn from our mistakes. 

Okay, and my last lesson, lesson number 10, is to just have fun, right? Podcasting should be enjoyable, both for you and your listeners. If you’re not enjoying it, chances are your audience isn’t either. So find ways to have fun with your podcast, and make it something you look forward to doing each week. Okay, and so these are the lessons that I learned over the past year and change of podcasting.

 And before we wrap up this episode, I want to talk really quick about where I see the show going. So I’m actually thinking about moving away from seasonal content. So I don’t really use a theme. I know some podcasts that are seasonal, right? There’s a theme behind it. That’s not the reason why I did while my podcast is seasonal, it’s seasonal, because I like to monitor my energy, right. And so I’m actually playing with the idea of posting weekly, you know, when I’m, when I have the energy, my energy is good. And then if it’s a low energy, right, I can post a mini episode. And so a mini episode could be something that’s like, less than 10 minutes, for example. And so I’m still processing this information. Please be clear, right, this information is still being processed. So I can’t say that this is something that I’m actually going to do. But I am sitting on this idea. And so now that I have an established podcast, I want to work on growing the show consistently. And so my goal, putting this out there in the universe is to have the go to show for mom entrepreneurs. 

And so I am consulting with some podcasts experts, and I’m listening to different shows. So I will definitely keep you updated on my growth progress. And so another thing that I want to do is that I want to have more solo episodes where I’m actually talking about the offers and programs that I have, you know, so last season, I had more guests, the first season was more solo episodes, I want to kind of mix them in. But I what I noticed in reflecting is that with Season One, even though I had more solo episodes, I didn’t talk a lot about the things that I offer, like the programs that are coming, you know, there’s a couple of things that are going to be in the works in the next couple of months.

 And I really want to make sure that I’m allowing my listeners to, to hear me talk about these things that I’m currently doing in my business. And I feel like I’m mostly allowed my guest to promote whatever they had going on. And I didn’t do a good job of giving more information about what I have going on. And so I feel that that it’s time to change that. And another thing that I really am wanting to do is to build a community for my podcast, right? And so I have a Facebook group. But being honest, I never actually did anything with it. So it was like I did say it in the outro from last season. I did set up the group. Did I actually invite people in? No. Did I actually post anything in it? No. It’s just there. Me and another one of my guests, she joined. But that’s it right? I didn’t actually do anything with the group. Being honest, it’s because I didn’t have the energy to set it up and invite people in it. And maybe it’s because I was pregnant last season. But I still am playing with the idea of setting it up. But we’ll see. Again, you’ll be the first to know once it’s actually up and running. But there are some other ways that I am thinking about growing my community. 

So something that I’ve been contemplating is uploading video content to YouTube as a video podcast. As I film, I pretty much film every episode, whether it’s guest or solo, I always film The episode anyway. And so YouTube has just introduced podcasts playlist. And you know, they have a specific page dedicated to podcasts. And since I’m working on growing my show, I feel like it’s a no brainer to just upload the content that I already have anyway. And I do already have a channel, I just have no videos on it. But I’m working on changing that this year as well. So yeah, once I have the energy to get all of season one and season two’s episodes uploaded, I’ll let you know. And if you prefer video content, then you can do the show there. 

And the last thing that I’ve been contemplating is as a way to grow, my community is creating a mini membership for the podcast where you’ll get additional content from me like bonus episodes, and implement trainings from both myself and my guests, potentially and also special access to anything that I create in my business. And again, it’s just an idea, but I think it would be great to add value while also supporting my content creation efforts. Because like I said earlier, podcasting is hard. And you know, it’s not something you know, that you can do for free all the time, right and so, having a mini membership would help all Some cars allow me to give you more value. And it’s a mini membership. So it’ll be about $7 a month. So what I’m going to do is I’m going to actually just link a survey in the show notes where you can give me your thoughts about any topics that you’d love me to talk about, as well as, let me know if a mini membership is something that you’d actually support. And I can see if I have some interest, and if I do, then I’ll move forward with the idea. If I don’t, then I’ll just sit on it a little bit longer. But I’ll obviously let you know if it actually is going to happen. All right. 

So I think that’s all I have for you today. I hope you feel inspired by the 10 lessons that I’ve learned from one year plus of podcasting. And if you’re interested in creating your own podcast and would like to chat more about it, I invite you to book a free boxer call with me and I’ll link that in the show notes. Alright, loves I’m going to see you in the next episode.

Thank you for tuning into today’s episode of The mompreneur mindset podcast. I truly hope that our conversation has inspired and motivated you to take charge of your entrepreneurial journey. If you found today’s episode valuable. Please take a moment and SUBSCRIBE And leave us a review on your preferred podcast platform. Your support means the world to me, and it’s vital for helping me to reach more entrepreneurs like you and empower our growing community to thrive. Until next time, keep pushing boundaries never settle and remember, the world is waiting for your unique gifts that only you can offer. See you in the next episode.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai