the bossbabe podcast - 74. Start, Shift, Scale: Your Guide To Launching A Successful Podcast With Melissa Monte

Episode Date: January 15, 2020

We’re joined by special guest Melissa Monte, host of Mind Love podcast, which has been featured in Forbes and Harper’s Bazaar. Melissa started her podcast as a way to align her love of speaking and passion for modern mindfulness. Tune in to discover Melissa’s journey, from humble beginnings as an inexperienced podcaster to now having the top mental health podcast in 29 countries. We’re lifting the lid on what it takes to build, grow and scale a successful podcast, from equipment set-up to mindset shifts. If you are struggling to find your big passion or have dreamed of starting a podcast, Melissa will leave you feeling inspired to take action.  This episode is brought to you by The Société. Join the community and learn how to start and scale your business at bossbabe.com/connectbuildgrow.  Sign up for your 1:1 30-min podcast strategy session with Melissa Monte: calendly.com/mindlove/clarity-call Podcast Equipment: Audio-Technica ATR2100 USB Cardioid Dynamic USB/LXR Microphone - https://amzn.to/39TvZLD NEEWER Microphone Boom Scissor Stand - https://amzn.to/2FC7wfF DragonPad USA Pop Filter - https://amzn.to/2FBX8Vh On-Stage MY-420 Studio Microphone Shock Mount - https://amzn.to/2Nf5eaw  Podcast Hosting Companies: Libsyn - https://libsyn.com/ Recording Software: Garage Band Audacity - https://www.audacityteam.org/ Freelance Podcast Producers: Fiverr - https://www.fiverr.com/ Upwork - https://www.upwork.com/

If you're expecting to be good at something before you start, that's basically the definition of what a fixed mindset is. You can become better at anything. Things definitely do grow as you practice. You have to find the evidence, build your own evidence for your own success as you go along. Hi, and welcome to the Boss Babe podcast, a place that 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 Danielle Canty, co-founder, COO, and president of Boss Babe,

and your host for this week's episode. Now I am super excited about this episode because you guys know that we love to make sure that we are delivering not only a good story but amazing actionable content. That's one of the key things about our podcast is that you guys can go away and feel like you've learned something and yeah you can implement it and this episode is jam-packed of everything that you need to know about starting, growing and scaling a podcast. So in this episode, I was joined by Melissa Monte, and she is the host of popular podcast Mind Love, who you may remember from the society, you may remember her from November's success kit, because she created an epic success kit on all

things podcast. And as a former VP of marketing, Melissa has applied her strategic mindset to growing her podcast. And she has seen absolutely explosive growth. She's reached number two in her category in Apple podcasts. It's a top mental health podcast in 29 countries. Forbes named her show the number one podcast in your life and career. Harper's Bazaar

called it a must listen. She's been invited to share the stage with top influencers in podcasting like Pat Flynn and Jordan Harbinger. So she is literally epic and she was willing to come on here. She's also been in society and she's spilling all the secrets to the boss babe community about how to grow your podcast. So you'll definitely want to pen and paper if you're all the secrets to the Boss Babe community about how to grow your podcast. So you'll definitely want to pen and paper if you're going to listen to this. And whilst we're on the subject of creating amazing content, I just wanted to let you know that the society is open right now. So it's our community for female entrepreneurs, and it's where you guys can connect, build, and grow. So connect with each other, build your businesses and grow your empire.

And so we only open this a few times a year. So if you want in, you need to get in and just for $35, that's it, $35 a month, you can get so many trainings. So we do video trainings, you get to come in and meet your community full of your business besties. We do live goal setting sessions, but you get access to a whole host of resources so whereas before you might have had to spend thousands on all these different courses you get them all in one place that $35 so like I said we've got one on how to start and scale a podcast we've got ones on Facebook ads we've got them on Instagram we've got them on Pinterest we've got them on LinkedIn we've got them on like how to do your finances right these things that you to know, like people aren't sure what to do or even around,

you know, I want a business, but I'm not even sure how to start. So what is my niche? What is my vision? What is my mission? So all these things are covered and we walk you through in our success framework. So you never feel lost. You never feel overwhelmed. And you've not only got us, the Boss Babe team to support you but like I said you're going to meet a whole host of amazing women supporting you along the way so if you do want to join then go to bossbabe.com forward slash membership and you'll be able to find the link there I'm going to drop it in the show notes as well and we would absolutely love to see you in there so without further ado I'm going to dive into the interview and I would love for you to

share your takeaways with me at daniellecanti on instagram and at bossbabe.inc so that we can share too. 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. Thank you so much for joining us on the Boss Babe podcast, Manisa. I'm really excited to be interviewing you today. Thank you so much for having me. I know how valuable your community is, so I'm just honored to be here. Well, we get the best guests on. And I know from the success kit,

which you did for the society recently that, you know, this conversation is just going to be so value packed, which really is what our podcasts are about. Like I love podcasts where they tell stories, but what I love even more so is where that story actually winds in actionable takeaways and that our listeners can leave going, oh my goodness, I learned something and I can apply it. So I'm really excited to talk to you today all about starting and growing a podcast, which I know so many of our listeners are going to want to know all the behind the scenes details of and how they can get started themselves. Well, I've definitely had my hands in it for a while now, so I'm excited to share. So I want to just rewind because I feel like it's always a

really good place to start. And I shared with the listeners around how your podcast is really successful now. But when we start anything, we never know, you know, if it is going to be successful, all we can do is try. But really, what made you kind of say to yourself, right? Yeah, I'm going to start a podcast. That's what I'm going to do. Well, I had gotten to a point where I was vice president of a startup and I was just tired of building somebody else's dream and I wanted to start a foundation of my own. But like so many people, I honestly had no idea where to start. Like what was my big passion? I had a bunch of different passions.

I've always been curious about things. I would just randomly get certified in skydiving or something crazy. And so I was always doing something different, which made it really hard to have that one thing that was like the lifeline through my whole life. So I got to this point where I was like, well, you know, I've read all these books about finding your purpose. And there's always these exercises that I thought were a little cheesy at the end of each chapter or something like that. And I finally just got to my rope's end and was

like, I'm going to do these exercises. I'm going to open a journal and I'm going to write out the answers to these questions instead of thinking that just because I'm reading the information that it's somehow infiltrating or penetrating my life. So I started to figure out just based on what I had loved doing in the past, when I'm successful, what people come to me for, that I really love talking about the power of the mind. And no matter what new I was teaching myself, whether it was sales or just how to be a better person, a lot of it had to do with mindset shifts. So I knew I wanted to do something around that. But then I also had to figure out the platform. I'd been an entrepreneur for quite a while. So I had already started a few different websites and a lot of them fizzled out. So the downside of this is that I started to

believe that maybe I didn't have, I wasn't the type of person who could follow through enough to be successful. But what I started to realize is that writing a blog post was, I would kind of get overwhelmed with making it perfect or I could always talk myself out of being on YouTube or doing a video because I didn't have my makeup on or whatever it might be. And so I was like, you know what? People always compliment my voice. I love to talk. I think a podcast might be the right thing. And as the universe would have it, a day or two later, I got an email from my favorite podcaster. Pat Flynn at the time was one of the main business podcasts I was listening to. It was Smart Passive Income. And all of a sudden, he announced his first podcasting course. And I'm like, this is a sign. I'm doing the work. I'm actually putting in the effort to

figure out what I'm meant to do. And everything was leading to that. So after that happened, I just went full force and I launched my podcast two months later. And my whole life is different now. I love that. And I really relate to that as well. You know, I think a lot of people, you know, when they're trying to get themselves out there, they're trying to get businesses out there or even just grow a personal brand, people automatically go to like, oh yeah, I've got to do it on Instagram. I've got to do it on Facebook. Right. And actually there's so many different platforms and maybe YouTube is more up your street, but actually podcasting now is becoming more and more popular. And it's something that I really relate

to. You know, I am a terrible writer. Like I just have this, I have this panic when I go to like put pen to paper over what to write, or if I want to type something and share a story on Instagram, I just freeze. Whereas podcasting for me is just so enjoyable. Like I love it so much. And like you say, you don't have to be, and we'll touch on this later, but you don't have to have all your freeze whereas podcasting for me is just so enjoyable like I love it so much and like you say you don't have to be and we'll touch on this later but you don't have to have all your makeup on and I know people who do their podcast in their pajamas which I think is hilarious that's me I love it you're like yep sign them now and so that's the thing it's just like finding your medium which I think is so important and I love what you just touched on around that whole like okay am I a failure because I haven't followed through with these with x y and z it really is

just I'm finding something that actually is is enjoyable to do like one thing I've really learned is that I don't like the gym and so if I always try and tell myself I'm gonna get fit by going to the gym I always quit whereas if I try and get fit via doing like dancing or running, like I do it because I actually enjoy it. And I think that's the same thing around getting your purpose and getting your voice out there is finding that platform that really aligns with you. Well, it's interesting too, because it's hard for the average person now to actually figure out if their goals are their own or if their goals are goals because it looks cool on the outside or because other people think it's cool or because that's what everyone's doing right now.

So it's so easy to be, say, scrolling through Instagram and see all these beautiful profiles of... This happened to me back. I thought I wanted to be a travel blogger because, I mean, look at the photos. Who doesn't want those beautiful images of them in all these places? But I started a travel blog and realized when I'm traveling, I do not want to sit there and deconstruct my day and tell people exactly what I did and take photos at the top of Machu Picchu. So you have to take it beyond what will it just look like if I have this and actually drill it down to what would each day be like if that was my career?

What would my tasks be? What would be expected of me? And do those things light me up? And if you come from that place, like what do I actually love to do? And what are my strengths? You might come up with something totally different. I love that. Okay, so let's help our listeners figure out whether podcasting is for them on that note.

Because I think that is like the perfect thing to say. Like a lot of times, like people don't really lift the curtain behind the real behind the scenes they give this kind of exterior behind the scenes and yes it's all glamorous and like you said that travel blog yes I just sat here in this beautiful sunset and not the fact that they hiked for like four days or waited so long at the top to get that sunset so let's just take it back to like how do people start a podcast? They're like, okay, I want to start, but how? What's the first thing that they need to understand? The first thing I think that you should actually drill down is the podcast the right platform to

you. Do you like having deep conversations with people? This doesn't mean you need to already be good at interviews. When I did my first interview, I had never done an interview before and I was pretty terrible, but I was pretty confident in my ability to keep a conversation going. So think about those things because with podcasting right now, it's kind of like 20 years ago with blogs. When anyone can just start a blog, the internet was actually full of ugly websites. It's rare to come across a bad website anymore because what tends to happen in most industries is people realize the opportunity and everyone pounces on. But then there's a bunch of crappy content out there. And then people,

the audience, get sick of seeing or hearing or watching the crappy content. And then it starts to weed out the ones who are going to win with the ones who aren't by who's willing to grow and learn with the platform. And so right now with podcasting, we're at a point where so many people are trying to start a podcast, but it might seem overwhelming. There's 800,000 podcasts right now. Last year, June at WWDC, Apple announced there were 550,000. So that's a 45% increase in a year, which is a lot. But at the same time, there's a lot of those podcasts that are inactive, a lot that only have 17 episodes. That's the average. So it's a competition, but it's also not. Right now, we're at the point where people need to... You have to focus a lot if you want to grow your podcast

on the content and how good that content is. So whenever I talk about actually growth tips, I start with tips on how to make a really good show. So figure out if you're willing to do that work because it's going to be a lot of work in the beginning, especially in the first year. You're going to be figuring out your processes. And my first year of having a podcast, it was much more time consuming than the second year. So understand it's going to be a lot of work and you have to really commit to it because one of the biggest things with podcasts are consistency. You want to be posting if you have a weekly show, bi-weekly, once a month, whatever you commit to, make sure you're having your episodes up. So the very first step, I tell people to start planning their content. Figure out what you want to talk

about on your show, what the main theme is. Draft up a description. You're going to need a title and a description. I think it's good to lay out the ideas for anywhere from 20 to 50 episodes, maybe even more. You don't need to get them all figured out, but just jot down a spreadsheet or a list of some topic ideas. Then go figure out the guests. And so there's a lot of different ways to figure out good guests. But I recommend finding somebody that has at least a little bit of a speaking ability and that has also honed a piece of content in one way or another. That might be they do webinars, they have local events. There's some really good tips for starting out before you have

an audience. People that have local events would love to be on your podcast that you don't have up yet. I don't think I had anybody say no because they're like, okay, yeah, I need the practice. It's kind of a win-win. So go for those people who it'll still be mutually beneficial and just start laying out what you plan to do. And I recommend doing this first because for me, I thought my topic was going to be a little bit different until I started laying out the episodes. And when I got to like episode 15, I realized my original idea, which was a little bit more along like health and wellness, holistic living. I realized after episode 15, I don't think I would have had, I wouldn't have loved

talking about that anymore. You know, that's 15 hours of talking about that. So make sure it's something that you have an endless curiosity about. But there's depth to the conversation as well, right? Because like you said, if you pick like such a niche topic, oh, you're going to talk about this. And I'd say after 10 episodes, you're like, oh, what else do I cover? Whereas when you have something you're passionate about, and like you say, you're like, oh, what else do I cover? Whereas when you have something you're passionate about and like you say, you're drafting those potential titles, it really gets you to kind of think, I guess, and pull out a little bit more. So I love these tips. Great. Yeah. And also consider who do you want to become through your podcast? Because every week for me, and I have interviews like this, it's like a coaching session or a mentorship session, which drives me even more

to keep it going. So if you're thinking about starting a show on like getting over breakups, consider you might be going through a hard time going through a breakup right now, but in eight months, do you still want to be mulling over your breakup? So those things are important to consider as well. I love that. So I think these are really great tips. And like, first of all, understanding those, that content and we can dive maybe, maybe a little bit deeper into SEO and stuff as we kind of going through this interview. But one thing I would just want to stop on, cause I know that people get so worried about this. It's like the tech side, like, Oh, I can't start a podcast because I have to do it in a podcast studio, or I can't start a podcast podcast because it's going to cost me like two grand in equipment. So I know the truth behind this. So I'd love for you to kind of share

and lift the lid a little bit on like actually what you can afford to start with. My entire podcast setup is less than a hundred dollars. And it's funny because I've actually purchased more expensive equipment. I have a mixer in my room and I keep setting it up, but then deciding that my current setup is just easier and I don't need to overwhelm myself if I don't need to. So this $100 setup produces sound good enough to have tons of reviews that talk about how good my sound is. And so the microphone that I highly recommend for people starting out is the ATR 2100. It's pretty widely used in the podcasting world and it's a dynamic microphone.

So it's going to drown out any other noise in the room for the most part. So I just use that. I have a little boom arm, which allows me to just swivel it out of the way, but that's not necessary. Just makes it a little handier. I have a shock mount just in case there's like a hit on the desk. You won't hear a loud boom and a pop filter so that my P's and K's aren't as intense. But the pop filter is like this $10 little contraption. The shock mounts was like $13.

So that's just the setup from the arm coming out of the desk to the microphone. And other than that, you can just export and edit using GarageBand or Audacity, or there's a free one that comes with Adobe as well. I use GarageBand. I think it's super easy. But I also recommend if you already have a business going and you're trying to use your podcast to get more people coming to your business

or basically just get more exposure for your current business and you have a little bit of extra money to spend monthly, you can also find somebody on Upwork or even Fiverr or LinkedIn or whatever to edit for you. My current editor, it's about $30 an episode. So it's pretty inexpensive. And I edit more than most people. So it can definitely be done on a budget I love that we're sharing this because I think like so often people are just like oh god it must be really expensive and like you say it's not actually guys I'll try and get links put into the show notes

for some of these bits of equipment and the one that we use to record we actually use Zencastr as well but I agree with you and actually we found the person who edits ours and who does an amazing job we found her on Fiverr so you know we both are talking of coming up this conversation with you know i'd like to think like pretty successful podcasts and you know just sharing that behind the scenes of like actually it's really not expensive so hopefully this lifts the lid for a lot of people and allows them to see like actually yeah i can get started but one thing i would say as well i'm i don't know if you agree with Melissa that it is worth investing in this equipment like it's not expensive but you do need to be like spending some money on it because there's nothing worse than listening to

a podcast with poor quality audio I remember the first time when we started recording the boss babe one I think I was like two or three episodes in and I recorded with a guest and I hadn't realized like I didn't do the double check that my microphone was being picked up through my headset and it actually came through my computer and so I'd done this hour episode and I listened back on my computer and it seemed fine and then when I sent it to the girl who's doing audio she's like oh this is really bad and I was like really and when she sent it back I couldn't really tell the difference on my computer but when I listened to it in the car oh my goodness the, the difference. I was like, yeah, we can't put this out, and I had

to record that, but I think investing that time and just making sure the quality is good is really, really important because it allows what you say when you started off by saying there's so many episodes out, there's so many podcasts out there that it's really important that you're creating good quality content that people actually do want to come back for. Yeah, and it's really just simple psychology when you consider it. People on average subscribe to five to seven podcasts. So if you want to be in one of those slots, you want people to commit to you,

you have to show that you're meeting them halfway and you actually care about the content that you're delivering. I tell a lot of people, podcasting is such a powerful medium. It's the most intimate medium because people actually put earphones in their ears. You're living in their head talking to them. And not only that, but podcasts overlay people's memories. They integrate with people's lives because there's not a lot of things that... People can't

really watch a YouTube video while they're out and about doing something else. People are commuting to work and walking their dogs and doing laundry while listening to your content. And so you become a part of their life and they rely on you. So you need to put that same amount of care and effort into the relationship. 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 i love that and so just kind of like touching on that subject and kind of moving forward a little bit i want to just ask like one thing i know people will be coming out listening to this,

like, oh, I can't have a podcast. Like I'm not good enough. Like I'm not going to have a podcast. Like I haven't got this, this and this experience. What would you say to that? I would say that that's a mindset of approaching life. So if you're expecting to be good at something before you start, that's basically the definition of what a fixed mindset is. You can become better at anything. So that's why I like to ask people, what sparks joy for you? If the idea of having hour-long conversations sounds dreadful, that's a bigger red flag than like, am I going to be good at it? Because if you go back and listen to my initial content, it's not nearly what it is now. I was so nervous. And sometimes I didn't even post an episode because I didn't feel like I brought my A game or I wasn't that good, which is fine to do. But you have to allow yourself

the ugly first drafts of anything if you want to actually start to develop your art. Totally. And I love just kind of bringing it down to a level because I'm really happy to be vulnerable in the sense of like, I always want to share my learnings. And if any of you guys want to giggle, go back to like the first, I think it's the second episode we released

and Nassi actually interviewed me on my story. And it was the first time I was told my story. And I first of all interviewed her and then she was like, okay, I'm going to interview you now. And I was like, what? No. And she was like, yeah. And I was like, but I'm not prepped. Like, I don't know and I first of all interviewed her and then she was like okay I'm gonna interview you now and I was like what no and she's like yeah and I was like but I'm not prepped like I don't know what I'm gonna say and I was like I don't want to do it and she's like sit down we're doing it and honestly I was I was sweating I was so nervous and you know it wasn't even like live and so I just want to say look it is nerve-wracking when you do first start but like

you said you get better at it and I remember my voice in fact just, it is nerve wracking when you do first start. But like you said, you get better at it. And I remember my voice, in fact, just then I was like so excitable to listen to it. It's quite difficult. I was like really high pitch. And now I'm like, hey, I just ground myself before I do a podcast because otherwise I can hear my voice and getting really excited. And, you know, when you're starting out, you can start with people that are in your circle. And I found that the more I was honest with my own vulnerability during that process,

the easier it was for both of us, because I would talk to somebody and just say like, okay, this I've never done an interview before. And I am really nervous. So I'm sorry if I mess up over my words. But guess what? That's the beauty of editing. I can always edit myself out and just set those expectations. And what's cool about that is you'll notice even within the Boss Babe Facebook group and whatever, you'll see people helping each other the whole time. We have a natural instinct to want to help people, especially if somebody's trying to move up in their career. And if you're interviewing somebody, chances are that person's already got a little bit of a mentor of relationship with you or there's something about that person that you admire. So when you allow them to be along with your journey, some of my first interviewees are my biggest fans now because they've been able to watch me start from zero and bring it to where I am now.

So just be open about those struggles when you're doing that with anything in your business yeah completely and I just shared with you a couple of things that I do to prep for podcasts so I really try and ground myself so I do if it's nice weather I mean it's winter and it's throwing down in the UK right now so I've not done it today but sometimes I'll go outside a bit particularly in the summer or I'll make sure like I do some breath work which I did today like box breathing just to make sure my heart rate's really calm. Do you have any rituals that you do before you jump into a podcast?

I like to meditate usually for just about 10 minutes right before an episode. I feel like I'm able to just sort of harness my energy and I like to ask the universe, let the best message come out during this. Then I do 10 jumping jacks. And that's just to kind of get me from that place of stillness to raise my vibe again. And then usually have my cup of water. Sometimes I do

vocal exercises, but that's not always consistent. I love that. So you're like raising your energy and I'm trying to calm my energy. Both work. See, you know, you just have to pick what's right for you. I love that. And so, like I said, I love kind of getting into the nitty gritty stuff. And I know when you're interviewing, I would love for you to share a little bit around how you prep for your interviews because some people like questions sent to them. Do you have every single question planned? What do you do? I like to lay out about 15 questions and I'm not stuck to it. It's not rigid. You have to allow room for the conversation to take you new places. I will say when I was starting out, I was really nervous about this. I didn't trust

my ability to come up with things on the fly. Sometimes I was too nervous to come up with things on the fly. So it might have stuck a little bit more rigid with my questions. But now I write things down with a pencil and paper during the interview. If something comes to mind, you can hear typing. So I recommend just having a little notepad for questions that come up. And then I have the 15. That way, there's normally a few different routes that the conversation can go. And the way that I find these is it depends on where I'm really finding the guest. So if they have a book, a lot of times you can go into Amazon, check out their book. There's the little look inside and get a sample of what their intro

chapter is, their forward, their chapter titles, and get an idea of the things they're going to talk about. So that's if I'm trying to do a quick prep. Often I really do read the books of people that I bring on because a lot of times, I actually bring on people after I read the book. I'm like, this is a great book, which is a great part of podcasting. It gives people a reason to talk to you who would otherwise not talk to you. And so that's one of my favorite parts where I'm like, I'm going to talk to this author. Yeah. And so I have those planned out, let the flow of conversation take me somewhere else if it does. But again, after doing over 100 interviews, those skills really start to come naturally.

And I just want to give people some hope out there. When I first started, I did not know if I had the skill to be a good interviewer. And now it's something I pride myself on. So those things definitely do grow as you practice. I'm the same. I literally have two pieces of paper have some questions like you said but I didn't necessarily stick to it but just some ideas I always try and like have a kind of journey of where I want like a roadmap of where I want the

conversation to go and then I have a blank piece of paper on the other side and I'm always scribbling notes and quite often the same thing which I'm we all touch on this but in a second about getting guests on that you want to learn from or you want to have conversations with I take so many notes I like ask questions that I want to know the answers to I remember when we had to Stefanison who has a product-based business I was just asking her so many questions because I oh I want to know this I want to know this and when else do you get the opportunity to pick someone's brain but I also remember when I interviewed Steve Bartlett from Social Chain and that one was in person and with video and I couldn't have my notepad and I was like oh my goodness what am I gonna do without my notepad so it's really amazing

actually what you get used to and like what format like fits well with you and it was like I realized that my notepad was becoming a little bit like my comfort blanket and I missed it when I didn't have it. I did the same thing. I didn't do my first in-person interview until about a year in and I was so nervous. Didn't really want to admit it because by then I was like, I should have this down. People would say, do you do in-person? And I'd be like, yeah, sure. I do in-person sometimes, but I really prefer Skype. So then I pushed myself and I accomplished more than I thought I could. You have to find the evidence, build your own evidence for your own success as you go along. I love that. And so one thing I want to chat about, because I feel like this is one of the

key benefits, like having a podcast is really, really great for building your business. But one of the things I love most about the podcast is that I get to reach out to people that I would have no other reason to reach out to otherwise. So we have had some phenomenal names in here. Like we had Elena Cardone on here and I was like, I really want Elena Cardone on the podcast. And we just reached out to her like, what are the reasons why I had to reach out to her? And so I'd love for you to share some of the guests that you've just been so excited about having on your podcast where you're like, oh yeah, I just want to talk. I want an excuse to talk to that person. And you say you've messaged them. Well, again, I go for a lot of authors. And so the one that I was most excited about is an author named Paul Selig. He channels all of his books. He

comes out with a new book every couple of months because he channels them all in front of a live audience and they're all transcribed with zero editing. And so I've been to some of his in-person. So if you ever doubt the idea that somebody can be channeling messages from the ethers, this guy will blow your mind. What was his name again? Paul Selig. I feel like people are going to be like, what was the name again? Paul Selig. He's mind-blowing. And I was... One of the first podcast interviews I could really find him on. And he told the story of basically how he cracked open his channeling abilities. And he said he had never told that story before. So it felt really special to me.

But I was also excited to speak with Aubrey Marcus. He's one of my favorite podcasters. I just had on James Clear, who wrote Atomic Habits, which was a book that was really life altering for me. And what I love most, though, is more the relationships that develop. There's people that I did not know before they pitched themselves to be on my podcast. And they've become some of my biggest supporters. And just like a lot of the females, especially the network of support that you get with other women in business. And so I know that if I ever write a book, I'm going to have a pretty killer forward by some badass out there. I love that. And so with regards to getting guests on,

like, let's just kind of share some secrets. Cause I think that was, you know, you touched on it right at the very beginning when perhaps people are just starting out. And I think it is reasonable to say and fair to say that if you're just starting and you don't have much speaking experience, then yeah, go for those like local people. But how do you start like just whether it's a local person or a big person, like how do you start reaching out? So I loved checking Facebook events, especially in the LA area. I would check for LA and New York because again, I could do this interview remotely, but those two places seem to have a lot of creatives that were interested in building their business or had a different perspective to share.

So the point of that is understand what your topic is and the types of people that you want to come on and figure out where they're hanging out or what they're doing or how you find the type of person that has honed that sort of content. So that was really helpful for me in the beginning because like I said, it's hard to get people in the beginning when you don't have a show to even up to say, hey, this is my podcast. You're like, hey, I have a podcast I'm launching soon. Will you be on it? And so having them really clearly lay out a content for their own events is really helpful for the interview. There were so many interviews that it was hard to even learn to interview because I got the wrong person. I got somebody who didn't even know the topic well enough. And there's a lot of learning experiences of who I was looking for.

And so I just never ended up posting those interviews. So that's why I do say, even if you're starting, find somebody who at least knows the content well enough to share it in an hour format. But then after that, I love finding authors. A lot of times I will go to Amazon Books and look up new releases because even bigger names are often ready and willing to come on even a newer show when they have a book released soon or just released because it's a win-win. They want to just get their name out there. They might even be willing to come on yours that you don't really have a lot of episodes posted yet because they want to practice their content for the bigger ones. And that works for me too. So Amazon Books, local events, and also check your network, especially when you're starting out. Go on LinkedIn,

find people who have mutual connections because when you reach out and you ask for them to come on your show and you have that mutual connection or you have a friend in mind, if you can even get an intro from that friend, it goes a long way. So when you find the people you want to reach out to, remember, this is a pitch. You're pitching yourself. They need to be willing to commit to maybe an hour of time with you. So how would you approach any other pitch? Say you're going into a room with a bunch of investors. Would you just come in and say, Hey, would you help me start this business? Because I don't have a lot of experience and I really think you could help me and whatever. No, that's not how you pitch yourself. Nobody wants to help that person.

So you've got to come in with your validation. You've got to pump yourself up, feel confident. I like to start my emails with, first of all, a compliment to them, where I found them. Maybe it's a book or an article they wrote. Say why it meant something to you because that's already a connection. Then end up with your validation. What validation do you have in your business if you don't yet have any with your podcast? Have you won any awards? Do you know people? Have you done anything else? Cool. Any validation just does something to the mind where it boosts you up a little bit, makes you seem a little bit more important. And that's important when you're making these

connections. And then what really goes a long way is tailoring their content to yours. So say why your audience would really appreciate this interview. Say what you appreciate about the content that comes out there and ask them, tell them what the episode would be about and how maybe you can share it with your email list or your Instagram following. Again, more validation. How else can you make this mutually beneficial for them? And even leading with the vulnerability, a few different people, I said, while I'm growing, having a guest like you would be really amazing. So that even works, but you have to know that doesn't work with everybody. So test out different ways of reaching out and really what fits your voice. I love that. And just kind of accepting that, you know, not everyone's going to say yes,

but keep trying. Like one of my favorite sayings is like, if you don't quit, you can't fail. So just keep trying. And I think from both of our points that's what we've done neither of us came in as great interviewers and some would argue but I'm still not a great interviewer you know it doesn't matter but it's that we both show up and we try and we keep learning and I think that's what for me a podcast is all about as well you know getting to I mean there aren't many ways that you can have like in-depth conversations like this I mean social media is so fleeting and passing you have have a second to get the attention. Whereas, you know, on podcasts like this, you really get to dive into detail, get to know people more. I get to know you more, and the listeners get to know both of us more. So it's super lovely. And thank you so much for

joining us. I have a Trello board as well, where I will track everyone that I reach out to. So you can set up Trello to where every email you send automatically goes to a certain list if you see this long email Trello has. But I track all that. And the reason is, is because there's been a lot of people like James Clear. When I first reached out to him, his people said, he's not doing interviews for the next eight months. Reach back out in October. And I had a memo to reach out in October, replied to that email. And then people are like, well, I told her to reach out at this time and she did. So when you follow up with those things and you have a way to track your efforts. So I have one list that says ideas. I move it over when I say reached out. I move it over when I'm waiting for a response. If they're waiting on a

response from me when the interview is scheduled and when it's done. That way I can go back and just touch base, do a little second follow-up and just reply back like, hey, just moving this up to the top in case this email got buried. That's one of my trick emails. I want to make sure this email didn't get buried because it gives people an out, not saying like, hey, you're ignoring me, whatever it is. But yeah, I have a follow-up strategy too. It's all in the follow-up as well. It's amazing how many people in business, I feel like this is for podcasts, but just generally in business follow-up guys, like it's one of the biggest things because when you do follow up and if you do it in a really,

really nice way, like you just described Melissa, then people can still feel free to ignore. But most of the time, like, Oh yeah, I did actually forget. I'm going to respond now. And I think there's so much growth in the follow-up. But listen, Melissa, thank you so much for such an amazing jam-packed episode. Like I know there's been so many takeaways for people. And, you know, recently you did the success kit and the society for us.

So guys, membership is currently open for the society. So if you want to learn a little bit more from Melissa and all these knowledge bombs that she's been dropping today, then there is a link where you can find us at bossvay.com forward slash membership to join the society, which is just open, but we're going to be closing the doors very soon. And also we're going to give a little link to Melissa directly as well, because I know that you do some one-to-one calls as well, Melissa, right?

Yeah, it'll be a 30-minute strategy session if you want to figure out really how to make a podcast work for you and your business. Again, it might seem scary like everyone's starting a podcast these days, and that's true, but I will say that not a lot of people are thinking at all about a strategy. So if you even insert a couple of the tips that I can share with you, you're going to be way ahead of the rest. I love that. Thank you. So if people do want to, let's say we're going to put the links in the show notes, but if you want to follow you on social media,

where can they find you as well? You can find me on Instagram or Twitter at MindLoveMelissa. Amazing. So guys, we would love for you to share your takeaways. So if you can tag Melissa, tag myself at Danielle Canty and tag at bossfab.inc, we would love to reshare you. So thank you so much again, Melissa. Thank you. If you loved this episode, please subscribe, download a few more and please

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