The Ultimate Blog Podcast - A Grateful Goodbye: What This Journey Has Taught Us

Episode Date: October 21, 2025

After nearly four years, more than 200 episodes, and countless meaningful conversations, The Ultimate Blog Podcast is coming to a close. In this final episode, Amy and Jennifer sit down to reflect on their incredible podcast journey. They’re sharing the lessons they’ve learned, the community they’ve built, and the gratitude they feel for everyone who’s tuned in along the way. If The Ultimate Blog Podcast has encouraged you on your blogging journey, please join the email list to stay in touch!💌 Stay in touch on our email list🔗Check out the show notes for this episode

Welcome to the Ultimate Blog Podcast. This podcast is the podcast we wish we had when we started blogging. I'm Amy Reineke and I'm Jennifer Draper. Our episodes dive deep into how to monetize your blog, sharing unique insights and practical tips. We bring you in-depth interviews with successful bloggers and experts who offer valuable, actionable advice. Our mission is to educate, support, inspire, and empower you in your blogging business. Welcome to The Ultimate Blog Podcast. Well, welcome to what is the final episode of The Ultimate Blog Podcast. A very bittersweet day today, hitting our chord on this.

When we started this journey in January of 2022, there was so many unknowns, there was so much excitement. We had no idea the journey that was going to lie ahead. And today as we are recording this, there is a lot of different emotions swirling for sure for both of us. And if you've hit play, there might be a little shock as well with this being the last and feelings of that. And we just want to say we recognize that. We want you to know that doing this podcast has been, I don't even know if I have words. It's been one of my most favorite things I've ever done.

And we have learned so much alongside you guys. Oh, I was trying not to cry. But you can see that sometimes difficult decisions have to be paid. And you hitting play, you being part of this community has meant more to us than I think you'll ever really know. Giving us space in this industry to share this with you, to encourage you to walk alongside you on this journey. has, it's been a blessing, truly, one I'm very, very grateful for. I'm so thankful about the podcast is part of our story. And we hope that you feel the same way, that you are glad that this podcast was, you know, able to encourage you on your blogging journey if, even if it was

only for, you know, a blip in time. Yeah, I'm right there with Amy. This has been just absolutely one of my favorite experiences in my life. It certainly has pushed me for. far outside of my comfort zone. And it's going to be something that I'm so sad to leave behind in the past, but it's also something that I'm so proud that we created. And if you're sitting there going, if you guys love this so much, why are you quitting doing it? And I just want to address, this isn't an easy decision, but it's something that as business owners, we had to talk about and think about and make a really intentional decision about. So in our business, we always have meetings since there's two of us. We're always having conversations, honest

conversations about the direction of our business and about things like our capacity and our energy and our resources and how those things are going to be allocated. We both have busy personal lives. We both have a lot invested in this business. And it just takes a lot of time and energy. And we realized at this point that the podcast can no longer be a part of our plan. And like we said, it's not because we don't enjoy it. It has been incredible. All the people that we've met and become connected to and become friends with, quite honestly. And that's the hardest part to let go of being here able to talk to you every week, to talk to our guests, to really, truly connect because we love it. And we are truly going to miss it. But sometimes in your business, you have to make decisions that may be hard,

but they are necessary, things that you have to let go of so that you can move forward in other areas. We wanted to share just a couple things that we've learned over the almost four years that we've done this. I thought it would just be kind of a fun way to think about that because as I kind as we kind of talked about in the last episode, sometimes you have to like reevaluate things and look at what you've learned and reflect. And so as we were, you know, just talking about this episode specifically, like what do we want to share? I said that, you know, I wanted to share some things that we've learned about podcasting in general with you and as a way to encourage because we hear so many bloggers who want to start a podcast. So just offering you some, some advice and just some

encouragement there I thought would be kind of a fun way to just to end this as well and not just doom and gloom. So I'm going to share two things. Jennifer's going to share two things. And the first thing that I want to share is that when you start a podcast, think about the intention behind it. We didn't realize when we started that you really do need an offer attached. Now, we already did have an offer attached. I'm coming more from that from my own personal podcast that I've had before, that there was not an offer tied to. So it was very interesting for two years to build the podcast side by side and see how each one was different and how it built different. So I've had two different basically viewpoints of how a podcast has been built, one with an offer

and one without. And I find that you will be able to find more success if there is an offer tied, whether that be coaching or whether it be a service that you provide. If your audience relies heavily on affiliate sales, you might be able to. But that was something that didn't pan out with my other one that I thought would. And so I think that that's really important just to make note of. Like, as you're considering potentially adding a podcast, make sure that you really do understand the reason behind it and what that purpose is going to be in your business. And talk to people about that. It can be a really great hobby, I will say. And if you want it to be more than that, then just make sure that you know the purpose that comes behind it. The podcast is my favorite.

And it is something I have loved so very much. And it is hard to walk away from something that you enjoy. But like Jennifer said, we've had to have some difficult conversations, some hard conversations. And sometimes you have to like make space for things that makes sense. And you have to let go of the things that are no longer making sense. So that was one. Podcast intentionally would be would be that tip. The second is that community, if it's never been more clear to me, is that community is so important. It is so very important. And not only do I think it's important for, you know, us as individuals, but I think especially as content creators who are sitting behind our computers every single day creating content or our phones, you can feel very lonely in this space and having

a community that you can lean on that you can grow, you know, support with is vital. If you've, if you've been a listener for a long time, you know Jennifer and I's story and how we got connected and we were neighbors and I started working for her. So I've never known blogging, alone. Nor do I want to, if I'm really honest. I do find community to just be such an impactful part of growing a successful business because you are not always at your best and you need somebody to encourage you along the way to remind you why you want to do this. And we have gotten so much fulfillment from the guests that we have had on. The people that we have gotten connected to who have been listeners, those of you who have listened and then turned into students and the

roadmap and members in the roadmap, those of you who have trusted us with your dreams and your blogs and your goals and you have shared that so vulnerably with us, I want to say thank you. Thank you for sharing your dreams with us and allowing us to be part of your story. It means more than we can ever say, and it truly does mean a lot to us. I hope that you know that, that this community, this podcast community is just so, so precious to us. And this podcast is a testament that we need each other. And those of us in this industry truly do need one another. When we started this podcast, I had so many questions for Amy because I had like no idea how any of this worked.

I was like, people just come on your podcast. Like you just ask them and they say yes. And my mind was just blown away by this. And it's just still one of my favorite things because I think back over the last almost four years and all the people that we've asked and they've said yes are people that we would have never known otherwise. And what a gift to get connected with people who are doing such amazing things. So it's other bloggers, other entrepreneurs, some of our students. and members have shared their own stories. And it has just truly been incredible.

Like you said, it just all relates back to that community. And the one thing that it really has shown me is you can listen to all these podcasts from us, from other people, all these stories and successes. But at the end of the day, there's no one right path to success because any of these people that we've talked to, no matter what they were doing, how many email subscribers they had, whatever the criteria was that we were looking at, they are all successful in their own right. And so the idea is just to remember, there's no one right path to success and you get to write your own story. So take what you get from people that you meet, what they share,

their energy, their tips, and all of that. But you get to do this in a way that is unique to you and you get to stay true to yourself. And staying true to your values is going to take you the furthest when you create your own business. And like I said, this industry is just full of amazing people. And I think the thing that I've learned is that people are so generous. They're generous with their time. They're generous with their talent. They're generous with their encouragement in wanting to lift others up. And so what a great time to be in an industry like this. It's such a great way to live your life. I just always feel inspired. Every time we got off of a podcast, I've voiced, wow, I've got so many great ideas. And that's, I think,

going to be the hardest part to let go of, even though getting on and talking with people isn't my strength. It always ended up leaving me feeling so encouraged and so inspired. And just never be afraid, I guess, is my tip, to reach out to people who are doing similar things. Don't be afraid to make those connections. You know, what you offer to them in return, you will get back so much and your life will be so enriched by just taking the time to reach out to somebody. Because I promise you, even though there will be some people you may not hear back from, most people in this industry are so willing to connect, so generous, and it will be so worth your time just to reach out and make that connection and talk with them. I would just like to truly give a heartfelt

thanks to everyone that has listened to us through all of these years. I would have never thought that people would be emailing us because they wanted to listen to what I had to say. And so That just makes me feel so good that I've been able to share and connect with you guys and that you are here week after week listening to us. So please, if you want to stay connected and you are not already on our email list, we really really want to stay connected to you. We will put a link in the show notes. If you are not on our email list, please sign up and please stay connected with us.

Thank you again so much for your time. and your energy and listening to us. And it wouldn't be a close-out without a little pep talk from me. And so this is just your reminder. If this is the only capacity that we are ever going to be in together, I want this to serve as a reminder

to show up imperfectly and to keep going even on the days that it feels hard. Never quit on a bad day. Quit on a good day. And I want you to know that you have everything already inside of you that you need.

you know enough to get started, you know enough to take the next step and don't let the voices in your head or the story that you're telling yourself tell you that you are not worthy or that there is not space for you or that you're too late. None of those things are true. There is absolutely space for you. You are totally worthy. You know enough. And thank you. Thanks for being part of this story, for being part of this community. Thanks for your encouragement for us. I don't know a lot of people who build these businesses who don't just have a slew of negativity like flung at them, but we don't, we don't have a negative community.

And I can't tell you how grateful I am for that, that we have had such a positive and encouraging podcast community who has really shown up. So thank you for just being so gracious. and it means a lot to us. And if in five years from now, we hear that someone has said they were the ones who helped me believe I could go for it, then this has all been worth it. And we hope that we have encouraged you on your blogging journey. Please join the email list.

We would love to hear. You can email us also at any time and let us know how things are going. We truly do care and we want to know. So thanks for tuning in for all 201 episodes. It's been a blast. So thanks for being part of it.