Podcasting

According to Backlinko, the average listener spends seven hours listening to podcasts! With so much time invested into podcasts by over 464 million podcast listeners, it’s worth your time to create your own podcast!

Starting a podcast and where to begin

Starting a podcast can seem daunting for some with all the different choices of what to do and how to get there. Starting step by step can break down the process easier and help you to start your podcasting journey of your own! To begin, decide on your theme! You’ll want to pick something that you are passionate about and can see yourself sticking to for a long time. Picking something you love makes it easier to motivate yourself to keep up the hard work, even when it’s rough. Michael Keenan from Shopify recommends doing a stress test to help you see if your theme will work for you. He says to write out at least 20 episode topics of what you would discuss (and if you’re interviewing people, you could also include who here as well) because if you can not think of even 20 different episodes, there is a good chance you’ll struggle or run out of ideas before your podcast can even take off. After deciding on the theme/topic of your podcast, you’ll need to figure out the who, what, why, and how of your podcast. Figuring all of these questions out can help navigate your podcast to be set-up clean from the start and make it easier to figure out where a good beginning is. So, consider the following: What is the goal of your podcast? Do you want to inform others of your niche knowledge in your business or do you want to perhaps bring more attention to your business? Why are you doing the podcast? Take “the what” from your goal and tie it to a more personal matter. Much like your business, your podcast is a reflection of you, so it’s important to understand the why. Who is your audience? Like any social media, you have to figure out who your target audience is. Being able to decide the appropriate audience can help you connect with listeners better and communicate better in a way they understand. Finally, how will your podcast shine? What makes your podcast unique and how can you draw them in? Remember, picking a niche is what you want! Now that we have all the basic questions out of the way and your podcast idea more outlined, there are a few more things to consider to be on the road to having your own amazing podcast!

First off, it’s time to decide on a format for your podcast. This shouldn’t be too difficult, it is just the structure of how your podcast will be. This could look like: interviews, scripted (fiction & non-fiction), news, or more. An example of this would be the podcast Serial. Every season, the host follows a scripted non-fiction format where they cover different topics. With your format settled on, it’s time to figure out how long the episodes will be and how often you will publish new episodes. There is no right or wrong answer to how long an episode should be. Work out how long you think it will take to cover what you need to in a way that does not drag on for viewers. When it comes to publishing your episodes, consistency is vital. Consistency allows viewers to come back for more on a guaranteed schedule and ensures you are always staying current. After all this is finalized, choose your brand and category. Choosing your brand is critical as this is many viewer’s first impressions. Branding includes picking out a name for your podcast. When creating a podcast name, Michael Keenan from Shopify uses these guidelines: make it four words or less, keep it succinct and intriguing, easy to spell and pronounce, not taken by another brand, and decide on a name you enjoy saying out loud. If your podcast is mirroring your business, you may also want to think about a name that is similar and a good match to your business. You can also create a short bio as a way to hook your audience into clicking on your podcast. Using keywords can allow you to be seen easier, but be sure not to fill it all out with only keywords as this may have the opposite effect. Your branding may also play into your category. Categories can include: comedy, true crime, lifestyle, political, etc. Be confident in the category that fits best because if your content is not relevant to your category, this can drastically lower your chances of being seen. Finally, be sure to use good sound equipment! There are many options out there so spend some time researching what will work best for you. Although many podcasts may include in-person recordings, a good chunk of your audience will only be able to hear you, so it’s paramount that you sound as good as you can. Furthermore, you can take it a step further and invest in creating a space with good acoustic sound to one-up your podcast even more! Putting in all the time to start off your podcast right can definitely make the benefits even greater.

Benefits of having a podcast

Creating a podcast may seem like a lot of work but there are many benefits to it. For starters, podcasting can help build your brand thus leading to reaching more consumers, increased SEO (search engine optimization), and even increasing your other social media content! If you decide to interview others, you can boost your connections by building up bonds you already have and promote newer connections through your interviewee or those who are listening to your podcast. Furthermore, podcasts have a global reach; meaning even more people will be able to connect with you! Next, using podcast analytics can help you see where to make more improvements on your podcast. Using these analytics allow you to see what the audience enjoys the most, how they’re listening in and from what platform (so you can adapt to the majority of listeners best), and the usual location as well as age. Even more, analytics can  show impressions and drop-off (when viewers stop listening) so you can identify the outreach of your content and when an episode is perhaps dragging on for too long or may need to be updated.  

Another way podcasting is beneficial is that you may learn many new skills along the way. Most podcasters start out solo with no additional help and must figure out everything as they go. This can lead to discovering new skills or improving old ones like: writing, organization, public speaking/speech, editing, and more. Last but not least of course is that podcasting can generate extra income for you/your business and, of course, who would turn that down? Overall, there are many benefits to podcasting and it may make you stronger as a person and a business!

Podcasting is Great!

Although it may take some time to get your podcast up and running, it can help your business shine and grow!

Overcoming Fears of Starting & Having Your Own Business

Fear is a part of life. Whether that’s the scary new roller coaster you want to ride or narrowly missing an accident, fear is an emotion that most of us feel. When it comes to work, fear is no stranger either. Starting and running your own business can be the scariest part of it all! Understanding your fears and how to conquer them can help you grow tremendously.

Common fears when starting a business

It’s normal to have fear when it comes to starting and running your own business. There are many different types of fears you might face. Arguably the most common type of fear is the fear of failure. You may feel stopped by the thought of what if you lose it all or what you do isn’t enough. For some, they may be weary of success and if it changes them as a person. Some other types of fear include: rejection, being judged, financial insecurity, stress, and not having a good enough idea. Even with all these different types of fears, there are ways to overcome them and be the best business owner you can be!

Navigating fears to be successful in your business

For some, they may fear not being able to come up with an idea or one that’s good enough. If you can’t come up with an idea, start with thinking about yourself. What do you like/love, what do you do with your free time? Then consider what means a lot to you and what you are passionate about. After you’ve put together a list of all those things, you can look at those things and think what problems you can solve or at least help? Maybe you love knitting and working with kids.Then, a good idea might be opening your own clothing shop for kids. If you already have an idea (or you feel more confident in what you want to do), money may be the next worrisome part of starting and running a new business. Having a solid financial plan in place can help you feel less anxious about money. Ensure you are saving and budgeting for your business and be open to the idea of getting a loan, finding investors, and even using crowdfunding. Looking at the rewards vs. risk of having a business may make it less daunting to put your own money on the line. Although there are many fears one may have in business, there is always a way to work through them.

Now that you’ve recognized your fear(s) in starting and/or running a business, it’s time to figure out what you can do about it. For all fears, it may be extremely helpful to write them out. A process used by Tim Ferris from this TedTalk is extremely helpful here. Begin with “Define.” Define means writing down all the worst possible things you can imagine happening if you go forward with whatever is you’re afraid of. Next, we move to “Prevent.” For every worst case scenario, you are going to write down what you can do to prevent that thing from happening or decrease the chances of it happening. Then we move to “Repair.” Here you are laying out if the worst case scenarios were to happen, what could you do to fix the problem? After all the issues are laid out, you are going to write out what the benefits of success could be. Consider if it would help build skills or even confidence. Finally, think about the cost of inaction. This means thinking about how life would be if you didn’t do anything at all. This in-depth writing may seem like a lot but if fear is holding you back, this can help you see every step clearly along the way.

When it comes to the fear of failure, one way to navigate this fear is by redefining what failure means. Redefining failure works by framing goals to be more achievable and reduce anxiety. An example of this may be you are looking for your first job in a new industry. You set your goal to being hired, so in your terms, if you don’t get hired you failed. Redefining failure could look like changing your goal to being able to answer all questions with confidence. Often, there are circumstances out of our control and pressuring yourself with a goal to be hired just furthers your fears. In addition to redefining failure, it’s beneficial to learn to set approach goals instead of avoidance goals. An avoidant goal is you making a goal for something you don’t want to happen whereas an approach goal is setting a goal for something you would like to do. A simple example of this is that you want to be more social at an upcoming party. The approach goal would be “to be more friendly and outgoing at the party.” The avoidant goal would be “stop being so shy at the party.” Setting approach goals can encourage self-positivity and helps you break away from feeling like you failed with avoidant goals. Learning to reframe fear is also helpful for those who are afraid of the future. Instead of thinking if you’ll ever be able to handle 1000 customers, for example, think about how many customers you can handle now. Focusing on now and redirecting yourself can help keep you grounded.

Conquer your fears and be powerful!

Overall, there are many different ways to approach your fears and learn how to deal with them best. Remember that life is full of trial and error. You can not fully learn anything without making mistakes and that is okay. Stay kind to yourself because having fear is completely normal; and as they say, if you never step outside of your comfort zone, you’ll never grow!

Conducting the Best Business Meetings & Professionalism in Them

71% of senior managers say meetings are unproductive and inefficient according to Golden Steps ABA and almost 50% of employees consider meetings to be a waste of time according to a survey by Salary.com. With so many individuals feeling like meetings are not worth it, it’s important to conduct the best meetings you can and ensure you are professional both as a team leader and a team employee.

Steps to Having an Exceptional Business Meeting

First and foremost, your meetings need to have a clear agenda with set goals. Like anything, having a thorough plan is vital. Your goals should entail what you are hoping to achieve from the meeting/why you are having this meeting as well as determine any challenges that may present themselves and how many individuals really needed this meeting. Your agenda, which is like a timeline of the meeting, should cover your goals (as detailed above), who will lead each topic/the whole meeting, time spent on each topic, questions you would like answered, and time for attendee questions. Once you have your agenda outline detailed and ready, it’s time to decide who to invite. Inviting the right team members is vital to the success of the meeting. When thinking of who to invite, consider the following: those with knowledge, responsibility, and authority of said topic, those that are crucial to executing what you’ll need, and those who are the most affected by the problem. Keeping all these factors in mind can help your business meetings soar to new heights.

Once everything is in place to have the meeting, it’s important to keep direction throughout the meeting too. For starters, stay on time in both start and finish. Workers will be more enthusiastic to participate knowing that they can still have time for everything else they are busy with. Furthermore, staying on track will keep everyone from wasting additional time. Next, although not needed, consider changing up the time and/or place of your meetings. Meetings can become more mundane to some if they are at the same set time and/or place everyday. During the meeting, there may be a lot of problem-solving. As the leader, you want to make certain that you have good conflict resolution skills to guide the meeting smoothly. Some ways to handle this could include: having a zero tolerance policy for personal attacks, avoiding direct blame, and identifying common goals and then building on them. Lastly, be sure to keep records of the meetings and try to gain feedback on it. Like anything, feedback can show what is disliked by people and helps you to change whatever needs to be done to have a successful meeting!

Standing Out in Your Business Meetings & Proper Etiquette

Whether you are the one conducting a business meeting or are simply just a part of one, it’s paramount that you act accordingly. Although many of us know the basic meeting etiquette, it is still in good interest to review. First off, dress formally, arrive on time, and maintain good posture! These are the basic fundamentals of appropriate etiquette in any meeting. Moreover, keep away any personal items that could make you seem distracted. (The biggest example being your phone.) Finally, be sure to show that you are actively paying attention. This means maintaining eye contact with the speaker and nodding along to show your engagement.

With all that is mentioned above, there are still a few ways to help you stand out. To start, be sure to speak up. If you are being addressed, be confident and comfortable to speak up clearly and loudly (at a reasonable level of course). Speaking up also means expressing your ideas/thoughts as soon as it’s appropriate. By actively participating and sharing your thoughts, you are one, having more attention focused on you and two, by promptly sharing your thoughts, you are jumping on ideas before anyone else can say the same thing. Another way to, subtly, garner attention is by sitting near the boss. Those that are sat around the boss show the most amount of attentiveness. It displays to others that you are their right-hand person. Finally, arrive early to the meeting. This indicates you are eager and ready for the meeting. Additionally, arriving early can often give more insight to the meeting since the leads will usually be there first.

Have the Best Business Meetings You Can!

Since business meetings are mostly unavoidable, it’s important to maintain professionalism and learn how to conduct the best meetings you can!