the bossbabe podcast - 55. Launching a Successful Podcast on a $100 Budget, Energy Management for Batch Recording Days, and Podcast Marketing with Natalie Ellis, CEO of BossBabe

Episode Date: November 11, 2019

It’s all things podcast on this week’s mini-episode with Kay Snels and Natalie Ellis, Founder and CEO of BossBabe. From starting a podcast to producing episodes, Natalie is spilling all the secrets that will help you in launching your own successful podcast. So if you’ve ever dreamed of having your own podcast, but are overwhelmed with where to start, you’re in good hands. In typical BossBabe fashion, Natalie breaks it down into super actionable steps and provides tips on the do’s and don'ts of starting a podcast.  Tune in as Natalie and Kay dives deep into the world of podcasting and what to prioritize when you’re first starting out. We’re covering actionable tips, budgeting, knowing your audience, mistakes to avoid when launching a podcast, energy management and batch recording. For all you podcast dreamers, this is the episode for you!  Our favorite headphones: bit.ly/bossbabeheadphones Our FocusRite Scarlett 2i2: https://focusrite.com/usb-audio-interface/scarlett/scarlett-2i2 Grab the BossBabe's FREE guide for making a business plan that works for you: bossbabe.com/bizplan Discover how to grow your audience on Instagram by 10,000 ideal clients in 30 days: bossbabe.com/growthatinsta

Good is better than perfect in a lot of situations and so really being willing to put something out there that might not be perfect or you might feel like you're going to pivot and change but just get that feedback and know whether it's actually worth doing. What kind of concept are you following and why is that different and why will anyone care? I think that's a really good question to ask. Welcome to the Boss Babe podcast, a place where we share with you the real behind the scenes of building successful businesses, achieving peak performance, and learning how to balance it all.

I'm Kaye Snells, head of marketing at Boss Babe, and your host for this week's mini episode. These mini episodes are designed with you in mind. Each episode, a member of Team Boss Babe will dive into one topic, whether that's product, sales, marketing, community, leadership, you name it, and we'll feature it. So consider this your weekly mini training that's super actionable so you can implement it right away. On today's mini episode, we've got our very own Natalie Ellis. While Natalie likely needs no introductions, she's the CEO of Boss Babe and I'm so excited to have her on because I heard that you loved the previous episode and I feel like we always have a great time together. So as always, screenshot yourself listening to this podcast and share it on your stories along with your biggest takeaway,

tagging at bossbabe.inc and hashtag thebossbabepodcast. A boss babe is unapologetically ambitious and paves the way for herself and other women to rise, keep going and fighting on. She is on a mission to be her best self in all areas. It's just believing in yourself. Confidently stepping outside her comfort zone to create her own vision of success. Before we kick off this episode, I want to share a free resource with you.

The Boss Babe Business Plan. A free workbook that's packed with expert tips and tricks, plus our personal process for making business plans work for you. Whether you're wanting to start a new business, boost your sales, or you're prepping for a big launch, this guide will help you do it the Boss Babe way. Go to bossbabe.com slash bizplan to learn more. That's B-I-Z-P-L-A-N. So let's dive in.

Welcome, Natalie. Hey, thanks for having me. So today we're going to have kind of a meta episode, right? P-L-A-N. So let's dive in. Welcome, Natalie. Yay, thanks for having me. So today we're going to have kind of a meta episode, right? We're going to talk about podcasting on the podcast. I'm ready. Let's do it. Podcast has been an interesting process for us. Just like a quick backstory, Natalie and I were just doing some podcast tech for the last hour, trying to do in-person recordings and everything. So I'm excited to talk about that journey with you. Yeah, let's go. Let's go. Okay. So before we dive in,

I wanted to quickly ask you, when did you first get into the podcast game? I think it was about a year ago now, so I'm still pretty new to it. Okay, great. So when you first started the Boss Babe podcast, how did you kick things off? How did you know what to do? Or did you just freestyle it? Honestly, just freestyled. So when we decided we were going to launch a podcast, I remember literally just googling how to start a podcast and what equipment you'd need. So that's kind of where I started. And then I was messaging my friends who I knew had podcasts, and they would send me links to different bits of equipment. And we actually got on a call with one of our friends who showed us

what kind of software online to use and they told us about Zencaster which was really really interesting because it basically means that you record two separate audio tracks so say my audio is a lot louder than yours when they're actually in post-production they can make at the same level and it's just a really really good. So we got told about that. And then we got told about different bits of tech and we put that together. And it was really good. In the beginning, we would just plug it into our laptops

and we could record episodes as long as we weren't in the same room together. And you're talking about now we're struggling with just figuring out how to do it in the same room. And there's all these different bits of software to download that generally for anyone else is probably easy, but it can be really challenging. So we've just found out everything we know from Google and YouTube and just buying bits of equipment. But the main thing for us was we just didn't want to invest a ton of money on something

before we knew we were going to really stick at the podcast. I love that. Also, YouTube is your best friend. Yeah. And I really like that you figured it out along the way because sometimes you make these really big upfront investments and you don't end up using it. I remember buying a podcast microphone like, I don't know, seven years ago and I bought it and I didn't know how to use it and then I never used it. So I really like that you kind of figured that out along the way and not investing too expensive of equipment right away. Well, because I made the mistake too, where I bought a really expensive camera for YouTube. I think at the time it was like $1,500,

which was a lot of money for me quite a few years ago. And I never really ended up using it that much. And I just, ever since then, I've kind of learned my lesson. I'm like, let me try it and see if I actually stick at it, if I enjoy it, and then I'll invest in the equipment. I think it was Tim Ferriss that had an interesting post that he put up where he was showing how he records his podcast on the go for something like $20. Just not fancy equipment at all. He's just getting it done and it sounds good. And I think good is better than perfect in a lot of situations. I really like that. And I feel like it's also how you run the business, right? As a CEO, like, let's just try it. Let's just give it our all. And then we can improve upon that. And it kind of leads into like MVPs of a product too, right? So

how do you think about that process of improving upon something? Yeah, I think it's really important. I think having a list of kind of non-negotiables, things you're not willing to compromise on, and then know that the rest you're happy to compromise on as long as it means you can move fast and test. I think one thing that's just really important to me is being able to listen to our audience and test things. And we can't do that unless we put something in front of them. And so really being willing to put something out there that might not be perfect, or you might feel like you're going to pivot and change, but just get that feedback and know whether it's actually worth doing. And I say this for pretty much everything.

Say you're going to create an online course. Why create the full 12 modules if you don't know anyone actually wants to buy it? I say create one or two modules, plan the 12 modules out, but then sell it. And if people actually buy, then you can go ahead and create the rest of the modules. And so releasing that MVP wherever you can is probably going to save you a lot of time and money, especially if you don't know your audience inside out, which generally most people don't. I think that's so true. And I want to kind of bring that back to these mini episodes are supposed to be super actionable and something that someone can implement right away.

So I kind of want to break up the podcast into four areas that I'd love to discuss with you. So there's the whole production, the whole tech behind that. Then there's finding the guests, which is the second area. Then there's the third area, which is the post-production. And then there's the whole marketing piece. Like how do you market the podcast? Can you kind of talk through production, guests, post-production and how to market the podcast if someone wants to start one or scale

their podcast right now? Yeah. So for anyone really wanting to start a podcast right now, I think the first place to start is order the tech that you need. The stuff that we use is the Focusrite. It's a red box. If you Google Focusrite, I think it's Scarlett Solo or Scarlett 2i2, something like that. And then I'm just going to check. So we use the Audio Technica headphones and we can put links for this stuff below. So those two things you should buy if you're going to get started and you're just going to do solo episodes, then create an account for Zencastr. So it's really, really cheap.

I think you can even do free accounts. That's where you'll start. That's kind of the foundational, the operation stuff. And then beyond that, you really want to think about your concept. So are you going to be doing solo episodes? Are you going to be interviewing guests? What kind of concept are you following? And why is that different? And why will anyone care? I think

that's a really good question to ask. So once you've got that solidified, then thinking through cover art, what can I create that's going to attract my absolute ideal client to want to listen to this? So once you've got the concept, you've got the tech, you've got the cover art, you're pretty much ready to produce something. So pull up Zencastr and you either record on your own or you record with a guest. So the best way to get started with guests, if you don't have an audience and you don't really have a proof of concept, I would start asking friends. So have friends go on the podcast so you can really get used to interviewing. It's not something you're going to be good at overnight. And as you start to grow your podcast and you've actually got some stats and you're confident that

you can interview well then you can start reaching out to different people and when you start that reach out process let's take a quick pause to talk about my new favorite all-in-one platform kajabi you know i've been singing their praises lately because they have helped our business run so much smoother and with way less complexity which I love. Not to mention our team couldn't be happier because now everything is in one place so it makes collecting data, creating pages, collecting payment, all the things so much simpler. One of our mottos at Boss Babe is simplify to amplify and Kajabi has really helped us do that this year. So of course I needed to share it here with you. It's the perfect

time of year to do a bit of spring cleaning in your business, you know, get rid of the complexity and instead really focus on getting organized and making things as smooth as possible. I definitely recommend Kajabi to all of my clients and students. So if you're listening and haven't checked out Kajabi yet, now is the perfect time to do so because they are offering Boss Babe listeners a 30-day free trial. Go to kajabi.com slash boss babe to claim your 30-day free trial. That's kajabi.com slash boss babe. You know, I do love to bulk record. I would say set aside one day a month that you can record your podcast and then put all of these slots into, say, a Calendly link and then send

that out to your guests. Can you book in a slot with me so we can record a podcast? And then just think about the kind of information you want to receive from them before you interview them. So probably their bio, you might want an image so you can create different assets to promote it. You're probably going to want to know what they're promoting, what stories they love to tell. And so you can combine that with your own research, but you really want to make the process as easy as possible for yourself. So think about the information you want to gather and send that along with the booking link, or even, you know, if you're fancy, have it automated to send out to them once they've clicked and booked and confirmed. So once that's done and you turn up, you record it,

then think about how you're going to get it out there. So, you know, are you going to post on social? If so, you're going to need to have all of your social assets. I love story assets and feed images so that you can really get that whole thing across on Instagram. And then are you going to put it out on Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, just really thinking about how that's going to look, understanding, are you going to record any of it? So you can chop it down into mini bits of content. All of this stuff is kind of a checklist you'll do before you do it, before you actually record. So once you've done that, I would say probably do five good episodes, five episodes that you're happy with, which probably means record 10 episodes and the first five will never see the light of day because they were terrible, but record them

anyway and listen to them back and understand what you did well and what you could improve on. So get five episodes and then get a distribution platform like Libsyn. That's L-I-B-S-Y-N. Get a bit of software like that so you can actually register

and you can syndicate your audio out to iTunes, Spotify, all of the different platforms for podcasting because you really want people to be able to listen no matter what device they're on. So you'll hook it up there and then I really would recommend when you're ready to launch, launch those five episodes in one week because that has you a really good chance of getting featured on the charts which is going to be what brings in those initial listeners for you combined with your social media audience. And a mistake that a lot of people make is they generally will just put their one podcast out there

and start doing it weekly. And so they miss out on that chart in the beginning, which probably misses them out on thousands and thousands of viewers or listeners. Honestly, I haven't come across anyone that has explained in so much depth exactly what goes into the podcast, which tech to use. So I feel like anyone who is listening to this and is interested in starting one would know immediately how to do it. So thank you so much for always sharing so much information with the community. And I know that that's very important to you. So I wanted to quickly go back to what you said about doing these batch days for podcasts, right?

I know that we feature energy management a lot on the Boss Bay podcast. And so I wanted to chat about that with you a little bit. So how do you manage your energy when you are doing multiple podcasts per day? Because in my experience, I feel like after doing one or two, I feel completely depleted. And it's like very hard for me to continue doing any podcasts. So how do you do that? Yeah, so this is a really, really good question. And energy management is so important when you're batch doing content or just generally day to day. I think those people who can really tap into energy management are going to be really, really successful. So it's something that I've had to learn over years and years of trying and

seeing, you know, from speaking multiple times to coaching, like full back-to-back days, I think I've really honed this in. So I batch record and I'll typically do eight or nine episodes, which is generally eight or nine hours of talking. And so one thing I've realized with energy management is it's very easy in a conversation to get very excited or to raise your energy, raise your excitement level. Say you're doing a webinar, right? When you're selling, you want to raise your energy so high so that someone raises theirs to meet you

and is going to then make a purchase. With podcasting, it's different. Or with content creation, it's different. You want people to feel like they're having a conversation with you and there's not this crazy ungrounded energy behind it. So that generally I think makes you a better interviewer or interviewee. But when you're letting your energy go really high and really low, you're not actually keeping it stable. And that stable energy is what helps you manage it better. So I'll put this into practice. When I'm recording a podcast, say I'm really, really excited about something, I'm probably not going to talk with my hands or jump up and down and raise my

voice. I'm going to keep my tone very much the same. And I'm also probably in between podcasts, not going to go and exert myself or do anything crazy and so in the morning of doing this I will set up my workstation the way I need it so I'll have candles or essential oils I will probably put um blue blocker glasses on since I'm staring at a screen all day long and I actually want to be able to go to sleep that night I'll make sure I've got good fresh air I've got tea water snacks so I'm set up and I don't really need to think beyond that. And then I'll make sure my lunch or dinner or whatever is already prepped and ready to go in advance so that if I've got a break, I can go and focus on just chilling or catching up on something

before coming back to it. And then yeah, just really not going too high or too low and just maintaining the energy at the middle level. And this comes back to just the way I like to be in business. So I'm the kind of person that would really prefer to work at say 90% every single day than work at 10% some days and 150% other days, because I think that really, really leads to burnout. And so I think it all kind of comes back to the same thing. I love that. And I feel like I'm the kind of person who has her arms swinging around when I get very excited about something. So those are some really great tips.

And I'm sure that a lot of people had a lot of takeaways there as well. So I wanted to first compliment you, but also then dive into why I feel like you're very eloquent and there's not a lot of post-production needed where when someone's listening to this podcast, it all sounds good, but there's so much that goes on behind the scenes, right? We're stumbling over our words and everything. I feel like you don't have that as much. So how did you become so eloquent? Was it practice? Do you have certain rituals? Do you go to a voice coach? Like, you do well thank you that's a really good compliment I don't think I'm great at it because I know I say um and like a lot and

I actually got told if I want to stop saying like that every single time I say like I have to say like five times and then it trains the brain to not say it anymore so that's something that I want to work on but also is very awkward can you imagine being in the office and I'm like, like, like, like, like, like, so that's something I want to work on. But just generally, I think practice makes perfect. And I've been creating content for such a long time and having these conversations for a really long time that I'm pretty used to it. And then beyond that, I've got a lot of canned responses, I would say. So if I'm on a podcast and someone's asking me my story, I've put a lot of time into figuring out what my story is and how I tell it and what points I have to hit.

And so it's very much like a story arc. Or if I'm going onto a podcast, I'm going to be asked about Instagram. It's something that I talk about a lot. So I'm pretty used to. And so I think it's just practice makes perfect and really listening to other people that are very, very good at it and taking on board their tips, making notes, try and implement it and see if it works for you. I think that's so true. And I'm really glad you chatted about this today because I feel like there are so many people listening who want to get to that point and maybe feel like there's so many blockers. There's the whole blocker of the tech and how do I actually get started? And then there is just the emotional

blocker, right? Am I good enough? Is my voice good enough? Am I making mistakes, et cetera? You really touched on both of these sides of starting a podcast. I know that for myself, when I listened to Danielle and yourself speaking on the podcast, and when I had to come on, I got nervous, right? Because you are afraid to make mistakes and English is not my first language. So for me, I want to balance, okay, I need to say this in correct grammar, but I also want to sound spontaneous and really have my personality come through. What you touched on, those both sides of how do you actually do it and how do you emotionally get there is going to resonate

with so many people listening. So thank you so much for sharing that today. Yeah. And I think just being willing to make mistakes is so important because when Danielle and I started, honestly, if we could release some of our first episodes, oh my God, they are so, so bad. And we had no idea what we were doing and we'd get nervous or come with bullet points and sound like robots because we're reading off of scripts and it was just terrible.

And I think just giving yourself the grace to not be perfect right away and just lead with value. I think that's really what comes through for me with any type of content creation or putting yourself out there. Just lead with value. And generally that's what people will see. They won't see the mistakes or the errors that you're making

they'll see the takeaways that they got or they'll feel like they're on the journey with you you know there's a lot of podcasters who will admit their first episodes were just so so bad I love listening to the skinny confidential him and her podcast but in the beginning they used to talk over each other a lot and couldn't quite get that balance right. And they were so open about that and admitting that. And I think that's great. And it made people realize that they're human too and just kind of have a little bit of grace on them.

So true. And I listened to one of their episodes this morning as well. I love their podcast. All right. So if you enjoyed listening to this podcast, feel free to tag at I am Natalie and at Kay Snells. And we'd love to hear what your takeaways were. And also, if you're considering starting a podcast, let us know.

We'd love to check it out. Thank you, Natalie. Thank you. If you love this episode, please subscribe, download a few other ones, and be sure to leave us a review. I want to hear what you enjoyed, what your main takeaways were, and I also really want to know which topics you'd like us to cover next. To thank you for leaving a review, we'll send you to Boss Babe 25, which includes the 25 essential resources you need for personal and professional growth. It covers everything from our favorite rituals, books, and hacks.

So if you want a copy, leave us a review, screenshot your review, and email it to podcast at bossbabe.com. We'll send you a copy over ASAP. And since we love Instagram, you can go to the hashtag The Boss Babe Podcast and ask your question on the most recent pictures that pop up. We'd love reading through all the comments and use them as inspiration for next episodes. So yeah, thank you so much for listening and I'll see you next week.