1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,839 When I got off the plane in the evening, it was number two in 2 00:00:02,879 --> 00:00:06,000 the Business Top charts, and then I think it was the next day that 3 00:00:06,040 --> 00:00:10,359 it was number one. And since that launch, I have pivoted topic. 4 00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:13,839 I have changed the show's name. I've changed the cover art twice. I 5 00:00:13,839 --> 00:00:17,320 have changed the description. I have changed everything about the show. There is 6 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:22,480 actually very little other than the original format the Monday, Wednesday Friday short episodes. 7 00:00:23,199 --> 00:00:27,719 There's very little that is still the same about the show that I launched 8 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:33,200 five and a half years ago. Welcome to Imperfect Action. I'm Steph Taylor. 9 00:00:33,719 --> 00:00:36,759 For years, I read all the books, downloaded all the freebies, 10 00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:41,399 and did all the courses, but it wasn't until I started taking imperfect Action 11 00:00:41,719 --> 00:00:47,000 that my business had its first million dollars. Here imperfect Action is about doing 12 00:00:47,039 --> 00:00:53,280 things before you're ready, prioritizing consistent action over perfect action, and moving forward 13 00:00:53,679 --> 00:00:57,520 even when you're not sure you're doing it right. On this show, you 14 00:00:57,520 --> 00:01:02,520 can expect mindset advice, actionable marketing, and strategies to build a business that 15 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:07,599 brings you more profit, more freedom, and even more joy. You want 16 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:11,879 the list to get my daily businesses. Every day, I'll send you a 17 00:01:11,879 --> 00:01:15,159 bite sized prompt designed to help you grow your business in a more intentional way. 18 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:19,159 Sign up at Steph Taylor dot Co, forward slash DBB, or at 19 00:01:19,159 --> 00:01:26,359 the link in the show notes. Hey, welcome back to Imperfect Action this 20 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:30,400 episode seven hundred and thirty eight. Today, I'm sharing a little bit about 21 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:37,120 how I started this show way back in twenty eighteen, all on my own, 22 00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:40,319 and I'm also going to share with you five things that I wish somebody 23 00:01:40,319 --> 00:01:45,040 had told me before I started the show, five things that I had to 24 00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:48,760 learn the hard way, and that I'm sharing with you today in the hopes 25 00:01:48,799 --> 00:01:53,239 that it'll stop you from making the same mistakes as I did if you are 26 00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:59,319 also starting your own podcast. So this show started before it actually began. 27 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:05,920 Now, began back in twenty sixteen when I was working part time and I 28 00:02:05,959 --> 00:02:09,080 was running my first business part time, and the job that I was working 29 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:13,919 in, I was in a co working space and I sat down one day 30 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:16,520 and there was this new guy sitting across from me and we started chatting, 31 00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:23,159 and I found out that he was a podcaster and he had a podcast agency 32 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:28,639 or podcast production and marketing agency. He also happened to be running a podcasting 33 00:02:28,719 --> 00:02:32,120 conference. And here in Australia there aren't a whole lot of podcasting conferences. 34 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:36,360 It's not like the States where there are all of the different ones and they 35 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:39,960 all have thousands of people. There weren't any at this stage in Australia. 36 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:44,759 So he invited me along. They come along to this conference. I thought, 37 00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:49,319 great, Okay, I'll go for fun, but I will never actually 38 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:53,400 start a podcast. That's not really for me. I'm not a speaker. 39 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:57,800 I don't enjoy my voice. I'm not confident. What would I talk about. 40 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:00,560 Nobody would be interested in what I have to say. So I remember 41 00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:02,759 driving down to the conference thinking, yeah, cool, this will be fun. 42 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:07,360 It's a few days off work, but I probably am never going to 43 00:03:07,439 --> 00:03:14,840 start a podcast. I left that event thinking wow, podcast things really cool. 44 00:03:14,919 --> 00:03:17,879 It's got an awesome community. The people are really interesting. And as 45 00:03:17,919 --> 00:03:23,560 a marketer, I started to see where podcasting would fit into a marketing strategy 46 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:28,400 for a business. I saw how powerful it could be as a marketing tool, 47 00:03:28,479 --> 00:03:32,159 as a nurturing tool for a small business. At that time, the 48 00:03:32,199 --> 00:03:37,960 business that I was running was an e commerce business. I was even though 49 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:40,400 I was in a marketing role part time, and I was obviously doing all 50 00:03:40,439 --> 00:03:45,879 of the marketing for my own business, I hadn't yet started working one on 51 00:03:45,879 --> 00:03:50,560 one with clients if for their marketing as a marketing consultant, so I kind 52 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:53,400 of just parked this idea for a podcast. I thought, great, I 53 00:03:53,439 --> 00:03:59,960 can see what benefit it would have in marketing a business, but it's not 54 00:04:00,159 --> 00:04:02,599 gond of really be relevant to this e commerce business that I have, so 55 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:08,199 let me just park it. The company that I was working for then decided 56 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:11,000 to start a podcast, so I got to go through the whole podcast launch 57 00:04:11,039 --> 00:04:15,240 process with them, and I got to watch as they were working with the 58 00:04:15,319 --> 00:04:20,920 agency so my friend's agency. I got to watch as they started to get 59 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:24,319 this show off the ground. They went through a rebrand, and I got 60 00:04:24,399 --> 00:04:28,160 to witness all of this from the outside, and part of me was like, 61 00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:30,959 this is absolute madness. I never want to do this, and part 62 00:04:30,959 --> 00:04:34,160 of me was like, Oh, this is actually doable, this is something 63 00:04:34,199 --> 00:04:39,480 I could potentially do as well. Then fast forward a whole year. A 64 00:04:39,519 --> 00:04:42,759 whole year later, I had closed my e commoce business down. That's a 65 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:46,519 whole nother story for a whole nother day. Essentially, I realized that I'd 66 00:04:46,519 --> 00:04:50,079 started this business for freedom, and it was giving me less freedom than my 67 00:04:50,079 --> 00:04:54,399 corporate job had and it was paying me a whole lot less. So I 68 00:04:54,639 --> 00:05:00,000 eventually made that decision to close the business down and I started working with clients 69 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:04,399 one on one as a marketing consultant. I had also launched my first online 70 00:05:04,439 --> 00:05:08,120 course, so we're now actually probably about a year and a half later. 71 00:05:08,279 --> 00:05:15,000 So mid early mid twenty eighteen, I had been consistently blogging about various marketing 72 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:19,439 topics. I would pick something that was a slightly controversial opinion, slightly unpopular 73 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:24,120 opinion, and I would write a nice one thousand to two thousand word blog 74 00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:27,920 post about it, and I was getting really good traction from that content, 75 00:05:28,399 --> 00:05:31,240 but it was taking me so long to write and edit every single post. 76 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:35,639 So I started to think about podcasting again. It started floating back into my 77 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:43,240 mind and I thought about, maybe maybe I'll be doing a marketing related podcast, 78 00:05:43,279 --> 00:05:47,639 one that will serve as some kind of lead generator for my marketing consulting 79 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:50,959 business, which at that stage I thought I was going to grow into an 80 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:57,319 agency. And at the time I was living between New Zealand and London. 81 00:05:57,519 --> 00:06:01,040 So it's quite funny because that was the one year where I didn't live in 82 00:06:01,079 --> 00:06:06,920 Australia, and the first ten episodes of the show actually recorded from my teenage 83 00:06:06,959 --> 00:06:13,560 bedroom on the same desk that I studied for my high school exams and all 84 00:06:13,560 --> 00:06:17,319 of the exams pre then. I recorded the first ten episodes from there, 85 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:21,480 and I luckily I had a microphone that I could put into a suitcase, 86 00:06:21,519 --> 00:06:26,079 because then the rest of them I recorded on the bed in London because the 87 00:06:26,120 --> 00:06:29,040 house that we were in was just too small and there was no desk or 88 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:33,399 anything. But back when I first started, I would spend so long outlining 89 00:06:33,439 --> 00:06:38,920 and editing each episode, at least thirty to forty five minutes on an episode 90 00:06:38,959 --> 00:06:43,319 outline for a five minute episode, and then at least thirty minutes to an 91 00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:49,600 hour editing each episode afterwards. And I spent so long planning every single detail 92 00:06:49,639 --> 00:06:53,920 of the podcast before I launched it. I did all of it myself. 93 00:06:53,959 --> 00:06:57,639 I even did the first cover art design. As you can see, it's 94 00:06:57,879 --> 00:07:00,839 pretty nice. Now. We also have a different name now, it used 95 00:07:00,879 --> 00:07:04,160 to be called Social Elet. But I did the very first cover art design 96 00:07:04,279 --> 00:07:09,240 back when the show was called Social et and I'd spent so long obsessing of 97 00:07:09,319 --> 00:07:12,399 all of these little details. Eventually I just got sick of myself. I 98 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:14,800 was like, this needs to be out there. I just want to get 99 00:07:14,839 --> 00:07:16,839 the show out there. So I launched it. I put it out there 100 00:07:16,879 --> 00:07:19,560 on a day when I was about to get on a plane. On May 101 00:07:19,639 --> 00:07:25,040 first, twenty eighteen, I I launched the show. I told people about 102 00:07:25,079 --> 00:07:27,160 it, I jumped on the plane, and when I got off the plane 103 00:07:27,199 --> 00:07:30,720 in the evening, it was number two in the Business Top charts, and 104 00:07:30,759 --> 00:07:33,040 then I think it was the next day that it was number one. And 105 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:36,920 since that launch, I have pivoted topic. I have changed the show's name. 106 00:07:36,959 --> 00:07:41,560 I've changed the cover art twice, I have changed the description, I've 107 00:07:41,680 --> 00:07:46,000 changed everything about the show. There is actually very little other than the original 108 00:07:46,040 --> 00:07:49,959 format the Monday, Wednesday Friday short episodes. There's very little that is still 109 00:07:49,959 --> 00:07:55,639 the same about the show that I launched five and a half years ago. 110 00:07:55,720 --> 00:08:00,319 So if you are waiting to have everything perfectly figured out before you launch your 111 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:05,360 show, know that everything can be changed, right, and it probably will 112 00:08:05,480 --> 00:08:09,720 change as your show grows and evolves over time. Now, in a second, 113 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:11,680 I'll share with you five of the things that I wish i'd known before 114 00:08:11,680 --> 00:08:16,560 I started but I do have a free podcasting masterclass I want to tell you 115 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:20,439 about. First. It's called your First one thousand Listeners. How to launch 116 00:08:20,439 --> 00:08:24,560 your podcast without the overwhelm even if your audience is non existent, you have 117 00:08:24,680 --> 00:08:28,360 nightmares about anything remotely techy, and you're terrified that nobody will listen. If 118 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:33,480 you want a direct link to listen to that masterclass, send me a DM 119 00:08:33,559 --> 00:08:37,960 on Instagram. I'm there at stephtaylor dot co. Send me the word podcasting, 120 00:08:37,159 --> 00:08:41,639 or head to stephtaylor dot co slash podcasting and you'll find the link to 121 00:08:41,679 --> 00:08:46,960 register for that masterclass. Okay, so five things I wish I had known 122 00:08:46,519 --> 00:08:52,200 before I started this show. Number One, you don't need to make every 123 00:08:52,320 --> 00:08:56,759 episode perfect. So I was scripting every episode, not just bullet point outlines. 124 00:08:56,799 --> 00:09:01,080 I was writing full script because I didn't trust myself to make it up 125 00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:05,200 as I went. I didn't trust myself to know what to say. And 126 00:09:05,759 --> 00:09:09,759 that's fine if you are just starting out. But I started to realize that 127 00:09:09,799 --> 00:09:13,159 the more the more I've spoken to the microphone, the more podcasting I did, 128 00:09:13,559 --> 00:09:18,799 the more comfortable I became with just bullet point outlines and then being able 129 00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:22,679 to speak as I went. This has also improved my public speaking. So 130 00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:26,240 whenever I'm on a panel now, or whenever I'm being interviewed on somebody else's 131 00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:31,000 podcast, I can put together my thoughts a lot clearer than I used to 132 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:33,840 be able to because I've had so much practice doing it. On this show, 133 00:09:33,399 --> 00:09:39,200 I also spent so much time editing every single every single ah every time 134 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:43,440 I said, like man, that was a waste of time. I realized, 135 00:09:43,480 --> 00:09:46,919 Wow, my listeners probably don't even notice. I don't think they care. 136 00:09:46,039 --> 00:09:50,240 And when I stopped editing them, guess what, nobody mentioned anything. 137 00:09:50,559 --> 00:09:54,559 And I realized that actually, my time is better spent creating better outlines, 138 00:09:54,840 --> 00:10:00,360 creating better content on the show, rather than editing out arms and us and 139 00:10:00,360 --> 00:10:03,320 making the audio absolutely perfect. My listeners are here for the content, They're 140 00:10:03,360 --> 00:10:07,919 not here for an awesome audio experience. Like Granted, the audio needs to 141 00:10:07,919 --> 00:10:13,080 be listenable, but they don't need to have every single arm and R and 142 00:10:13,279 --> 00:10:16,039 like edited out. The second thing I wish I had known is your topic 143 00:10:16,120 --> 00:10:20,559 can change and it will evolve over time. This show used to be binde 144 00:10:20,559 --> 00:10:24,960 sized social media marketing tips. That's what I used to teach in my courses. 145 00:10:24,039 --> 00:10:26,559 That's what I did with my clients that did social media marketing. That 146 00:10:26,679 --> 00:10:31,519 was my main bread and butter. These days, I would rather talk about 147 00:10:31,519 --> 00:10:35,399 anything but social media. So this topic has evolved as I have evolved, 148 00:10:35,399 --> 00:10:41,039 as my business has evolved, as what I've learned has evolved. We now 149 00:10:41,039 --> 00:10:45,480 talk about online business strategy. Okay, it is okay for your topic to 150 00:10:45,559 --> 00:10:50,919 evolve over time. Number three, your podcast listenership won't just grow itself. 151 00:10:50,960 --> 00:10:56,159 You have to intentionally grow it. Your podcast is not something that's going to 152 00:10:56,200 --> 00:11:00,879 put you in front of people on its own, just like showing any other 153 00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:03,480 audience in your business. You have to intentionally get your podcast in front of 154 00:11:03,480 --> 00:11:07,320 the right people. And you can do this by being a guest on other 155 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:11,320 people's shows, by repurposing content to other platforms like I do with the videos 156 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:16,120 from these episodes. I repurpose them to Instagram as reels. I repurpose them 157 00:11:16,159 --> 00:11:18,919 to YouTube as videos. I send emails to my list every time there's a 158 00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:22,960 new episode. I do cross promos on other shows. That's how I get 159 00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:26,519 this show in front of other people. It's a podcast on its own, 160 00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:31,759 isn't very discoverable, except for if you get into newer noteworthy if you get 161 00:11:31,799 --> 00:11:35,000 into the top charts. Those are maybe the only two ways that your podcast 162 00:11:35,039 --> 00:11:41,600 can be discovered because the search engine in the podcast apps it's still pretty average, 163 00:11:41,639 --> 00:11:45,919 it's still pretty fresh, and it's really hard for somebody to find your 164 00:11:45,919 --> 00:11:48,960 show just by searching for it randomly. Right, They're not going to just 165 00:11:48,279 --> 00:11:52,679 search for your topic and find your show most of the time. Number four, 166 00:11:54,080 --> 00:11:56,759 Getting crystal clear on your ideal listener will make it so much easier to 167 00:11:56,799 --> 00:12:01,120 come up with content ideas for your podcast. I have been guilty of jumping 168 00:12:01,159 --> 00:12:05,720 around a bit with this one, and I've noticed that when I've been trying 169 00:12:05,720 --> 00:12:09,720 to talk to too many different listeners at once, I struggle to come up 170 00:12:09,759 --> 00:12:15,120 with relevant topics, Whereas when I have one really clear listener in mind, 171 00:12:15,759 --> 00:12:18,159 I can come back to this one question. What are they struggling with? 172 00:12:18,279 --> 00:12:22,159 What do they need from me? How can I create an episode that's going 173 00:12:22,159 --> 00:12:24,879 to speak to the exact pain points that they have, the exact symptoms that 174 00:12:24,879 --> 00:12:28,159 are showing up in their life, the exact situation that's going on for them, 175 00:12:28,720 --> 00:12:33,440 rather than trying to speak to everybody and ended upgoing so broad that it 176 00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:37,960 makes no sense to anybody. Number five the fifth thing I wish I'd known 177 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:41,559 before I started my show. Don't assume you know what your listeners want to 178 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:46,559 hear from you ask them. The best episode ideas that I have they come 179 00:12:46,600 --> 00:12:50,759 from the surveys that I send out. Twice a year. I send out 180 00:12:50,799 --> 00:12:54,559 surveys asking my audience things like what questions do you have about building a profitable 181 00:12:54,600 --> 00:12:58,120 online business, what are your goals? What's stopping you from reaching your goals? 182 00:12:58,279 --> 00:13:03,679 I do these a year, and then that gives me such great ideas 183 00:13:03,720 --> 00:13:07,879 for how I can serve my audience better with the content in these episodes. 184 00:13:07,480 --> 00:13:13,399 Sometimes I will assume that my audience knows something and then I realize when I 185 00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:16,200 survey them, oh, wow, they actually didn't realize this, Or oh 186 00:13:16,279 --> 00:13:20,360 they have this question that I thought they already would know the answer to, 187 00:13:20,480 --> 00:13:24,600 but they don't. So I always talk to my audience. I send the 188 00:13:24,600 --> 00:13:28,559 surveys to my email list. That's where I get my best insights from, 189 00:13:28,919 --> 00:13:31,799 so they have it. That's a little bit of a background around the story 190 00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:35,799 of how this show came to be and a couple of things that I wish 191 00:13:35,840 --> 00:13:39,399 I had known. If you ask thinking of starting your own podcast, make 192 00:13:39,559 --> 00:13:43,639 sure that you tune into my free podcasting masterclass. It will help you to 193 00:13:43,799 --> 00:13:48,919 uncover that standout topic and look at a few ways that you can start to 194 00:13:48,120 --> 00:13:52,039 also make money from your show. The strategies to make sure that your show 195 00:13:52,159 --> 00:13:56,320 is generating income as a revenue stream for your business, not just something that 196 00:13:56,399 --> 00:14:01,399 lives on its own and doesn't really provide any kind of financial benefit to your 197 00:14:01,399 --> 00:14:05,120 business. So you can register for that at Steph Taylor dot co slash podcasting 198 00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:09,440 or dm me on Instagram at Steph Taylor dot co. Send me the word 199 00:14:09,480 --> 00:14:13,480 podcasting and I will send you the link to register for that masterclass. That 200 00:14:13,639 --> 00:14:16,919 is it for today. If you've learned anything from this show so far, 201 00:14:18,039 --> 00:14:20,559 please take thirty seconds to leave a quick rating and a review. I read 202 00:14:20,600 --> 00:14:24,000 every single one of them. It means so much to me when you do. 203 00:14:24,480 --> 00:14:26,679 Thank you so much for listening. Catch you next time.