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Episode Highlights:
- What it really means for my business to bring you this show each and every week so you can evaluate if a podcast is right for your business.
- The good, bad, and the ugly behind every aspect of the podcast and step in the process of making it.
- The free gifts I have for you as a thank you for making these past three years so special for me.
Why This Episode Is Awesome:
I love getting to pour into you every week and provide you with the trainings and guidance that helps you build your business and find lifestyle freedom.
This podcast has allowed me to connect with you in a way nothing else has.
That’s why I could think of no better way to celebrate our third birthday than by giving you a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to bring you a new episode each week.
And, I could think of no one better to help me with this than Britany Felix.
Britany has been a part of this journey as my editor and producer since the very first episode. This podcast literally wouldn’t have launched without her and I’m so happy I get to celebrate this birthday with her and you, my amazing listeners!
How to Take Action:
-
- Share this episode on social media, take a screenshot, and then email it to podcast@sweetlife.co by January 19th, 2020 to get free access to my Ideal Client Avatar Masterclass.
- When you do step one, you’ll also be entered to win a 2-hour deep-dive business strategy training session valued at $700!
- Join me in my business mentorship and mastermind, SweetLife Launch.
[Tweet “I love getting to pour into you every week and provide you with the trainings and guidance that helps you build your business and find lifestyle freedom.“]
Links Mentioned:
The SweetLife Entrepreneur Podcast | Episode #00: Lifestyle Entrepreneur Manifesto
SweetLife Entrepreneurs Community on Facebook
SweetLife Entrepreneurs Behind the Scenes on YouTube
you. You’re listening to the sweet life entrepreneur podcast simplified strategies to grow your service business and launch a life you love faster with business, mental and entrepreneur activator a probe Age. Wow. Wow. Wow. Okay, welcome to this show. It is episode number 157. Do you know what that means? I honestly didn’t even sink into me and tell the end of November when I was planning our podcast episodes. It is our third podcast birthday. We have been podcasting. You and I have been together.
We’ve been delivering episodes to you every single week for three complete years. Like we don’t turn three until that year’s completed. Wow, I just can’t even believe that we’re here. To be really honest, this podcast has been such a blessing because it’s given me an opportunity to connect with you on a much deeper level than we can do through any social media. Even through writing a book, I’ve written two books. Nothing I’ve done in the past. His enabled us to break down the barriers between technology like podcasting does.
And I am so grateful for you. Literally. I have some big gifts I’m giving you guys big gifts this week for our podcast birthday. It’s gonna be a celebration that want our week long. And I’m so stoked about that before we dive into this, it’s gonna be a little bit of a different episode today. A cool one. I hope you love it. That plan, because it’s a little bit longer than our normal episodes. So just a heads up about that. But it’s gonna give you some awesome insight,
especially if you’re wondering what podcasting is like, what it’s like behind the scenes, how I plan these episodes, how it affects my life and my kids and my money and my travel in my sanity and my sleep and my systems and everything. We’re talking about everything behind the scenes here, but before we get started, I just want it. Bless you. Bless you. Bless you. This podcast would not keep going without you without you subscribing without you sharing this show with your friends without you sending me direct messages on Instagram saying,
Hey, April what you said resonated with me. Those things hit home to me and want to get those comments from you buys when I when I see you sharing it or when I get an email that says, Hey, April, thank you so much for giving this training the way that you did and not charging for it. When I get those messages from you guys, it really keeps me going. That feedback is is so important, because this show really is a love offering and a labor of love for you.
You know, before we started this show, I really felt strongly that any woman that wants to launch a business and grow a business deserved really trustworthy in free, proven, actionable business trainings. And that’s why I created the show in the first place is to make sure that there is good, safe, solid, trusted business coaching for any woman that chooses to watch and grow her business and design her life through entrepreneurship. And if you don’t know me yet, or maybe not that well, maybe your new listener.
Thank you so much for tuning, and I’ve been coaching women tow, watch and grow their business for 23 years, and I’m an online business pioneer. I launch my first online courses back in 2008. Well, we were like duct taping stuff together and my core purpose is to teach women how to design their life through entrepreneurship. So this show really is an extension of my why. And it’s just all about you. So thank you so much for tune into it. And so I want to pour into you guys today immediately here on the show right away and bless you and give you gifts for our birthday.
So let’s start out with that. And then we’re gonna dive into today’s episode, and then we’re going to give more gifts away at the end of today’s episode. So the very first thing is, I want to give you guys. If you are listening right now, during the time that we’re recording this show, so during our birthday week only, which means you’re a subscriber, you’re getting this podcast real time. So it’s January 13th 2020 through January 1920 20. So within this week, if you were in between January 13th and January 1920 20 you get Theresa.
I talk about on today’s show. The first thing is anybody listening? I’m giving you completely free access to my ideal client Avatar. Master class. This is an amazing class and It comes with a huge workbook where you’re gonna be able to hone in and find your ideal clients. And what’s even cooler about this is when you’re done with this class, you’re gonna walk away with the copy written for your website Marketing copy Already planned out. It is a killer class and I’m giving you totally free access to it as our birthday present.
How does that sound? So here are the rules. Every single person listening this week who follows these rules is going to get free access to this master class. The rules are number one share. This podcast episode even shared on linked in you can share it on Instagram. You can share it on Facebook. So I want you to share this podcast episode wherever you want to share. You can share in your instagram stories. And when you share it right, a little message or something about why you like this show.
So people understand why the heck you’re sharing it. And you can also tag us If you’re on instagram at Sweet Life entrepreneur or at April Beach, you could find me that way as well. We’d appreciate you sharing it purposefully not just sharing whatever works for you and then take a screenshot of where you shared it. An email, your screen shot. Two podcast at sweet life co dot com. Okay, so again, sure. The episode Take a screenshot email the screen shot The podcast at sweet life coat dot com has to be This week has to be between January 13th January 19th and we’re gonna send you completely free access to my icy A My ideal client avatar Master class,
which is like the gold standard Master class. If you are in a place where you are having trouble finding your clients or communicating with them or you don’t know what you’re niches, this is all for you. And then on top of that, one person is going to win a two hour deep dive business strategy training with me, and that is a $700 value. Okay, so share the episode, and then one person who does that and gets access yes to the master class is also going to get a two hour,
totally free deep dive business strategy and planning session with me. So I hope that gets you totally excited, and I want you to listen to the whole inter show but positive show right now, and you can share it and send your screen shot and make sure that you get access and that you are intertwined The strategy session. Okay, so this show, like I said, it’s a little bit different. There is no one better that I could think about celebrating our third birthday with us, then Britney Felix.
Britney Felix is our podcast producer, and I found Britney and you’ll hear a little bit about this story. I found Britney because, frankly, I had thought that I could produce his podcast myself. I was like a card. Could this be got into a very quickly and realize that? Yeah. No, that’s just not gonna happen. And so I immediately found Britney, and I will tell you this show would not have launched without Britney. Britney Felix is a podcast editor and consultant who founded podcasting for coaches,
where she specializes in helping female coaches and consultants either launch a podcast for their business or improve their existing podcast so that they can develop relationships with their ideal clients, build brand awareness, generate new leads and making valuable networking connections she’s awesome. And so she is going to interview me on this week’s show, and we’re gonna share a lot of behind the scenes. You guys, we talk about what it really means to produce a podcast week in and week out. For those of you guys that are thinking about hot casting,
I know a lot of people start podcasting and then drop out, which is not great for your brand. And so this show is gonna help you determine Maybe if podcasting can be part of your future can help you connect with your audience more. But then we’re also sharing the good the bad. Am the super duper ugly? You guys were gonna know how I cut corners behind the scenes when I choose guests and why I choose guests and why I choose certain guests over other guests. We’re totally getting into it,
and we’re sharing the complete production. So I’m sure you exactly step by step how we produce this show, what I do in what order what we upload to wear and how the show is completely produced from the audio Thio, the research behind each one of the show’s toe actually marketing the show as well. So sit back. Grab a glass of wine. Celebrate with me. Thank you so much for being here. I appreciate you guys so much. This is sweet life Entrepreneur Podcast Episode number 157 and all the show notes can be found by visiting suite life podcast dot com forward slash 157 All right,
you guys, this is a really special episode. And that is because we have reached our third podcast birthday. The Sweet Life Entrepreneur. A podcast is turning three this week. Maybe it was last week, someplace in the middle of this weekend, next week, and and that we’re just so grateful to you. This is a celebration episode, and I have Britney Felix on the show, and we’re gonna do something a little bit different today. First of all, as I introduced before, Britney is a reason why this podcast launched you guys.
It definitely could not have gotten off the ground or continued to be produced. Especially which is the high quality and attention to detail that Britney and her team bring Thio Not only my podcast, to be honest, but like so many women’s podcasts, she’s just an icon in this space. And I’m so grateful to have her as part of our smart, hard 10 team bringing this show. And so we’re inducing a little bit different. We’re actually like flipping the interview. And Britney is gonna interview me on today’s show regarding how we go through and produce the sweet life entrepreneur podcast and also talk a little bit about behind the scenes of what it takes to bring this podcast to you guys for 157 episodes three years in a row.
So thanks so much for being on the show. Britney and everything. You D’oh! Give everybody an intro. Dios. They don’t know you yet. Yeah, Thank you so much, April. I always love being on the show because you just shower me with compliments. And of course, that feels amazing. But I am thrilled to still be working with you three years later. This is kind of surreal to me. You are actually my very first launch client. So you’re the first person who’s client are who show I helped officially,
like, launch into the world. So I consider the show a little bit of my baby as well and I really look forward to the information that you provide as a listener. Even so, even if I weren’t getting paid for it, I would still wanna listen to the show. Because I love the rial take and the raw information that you provide to people you don’t hold back. You’re no holds barred, and I just I love that there’s not enough of that in the world right now. Thank you so much.
Thank you. All right, so this is gonna be a cool thing. Britney knows how hard it is for me. Toe. Create content and bring this episode to you guys. Sometimes it’s beautiful. Sometimes it’s really, really difficult. Usually that all spins around what’s happening in my life with my kids. Is most of you guys know been faithful listeners for three years, and so we’re gonna flip this a little bit and give Britney and opportunity thio kind of walk me through the steps as I share them with you on how we bring this podcast of life.
So the first area we’re gonna dive into is actually the podcast planning process. And as we get into more of the production, then Britney is really gonna be able to share even more behind the scenes of what it takes to bring this show to you. So, Britney, you know, you see this planning process that I put together, You know what would be the questions that other podcasters or people considering podcasting might ask about the planning process. So one thing I would say is I see the end result of the planning.
Basically, I see it when it comes on our spreadsheet. For those that aren’t aware of April’s process, we use a system called Air Table. It’s an online spreadsheet. Platform is completely free, and it just helps us kind of keep everything organized. So I see the topics that are going to be coming up. But I have no idea what goes into deciding what you’re gonna talk about and when. So what’s that process like for you? How do you determine what topics are gonna be discussed in what episode and how does that intermingle with what’s happening in your overall business in life?
Great. Okay, so I have a four step planning process for this show. The first thing I do is I usually look at what’s happening with my business.
So what programs do I have that air coming open? What sales do we have? You know, that might be happening in the Desert times throughout the year.
What events, whether it’s a retreat or one of the mastermind events that we have happening. And then what’s also happening with my affiliate partners?
Because I do have some other businesses away affiliate with that we support. So the very first thing I dio is I look at my whole entire 12 month calendar now as a reference point for you guys.
If you haven’t laid out your 2020 calendar yet, gold back and listen to episode number 1 51 and actually give you the steps toe,
lay out your whole 12 month calendar. And so I do that. And I’m pretty faithful about doing that because the purpose of what we’re doing here is to make sure that in a perfect world,
it’s not always perfect. But in a perfect world, what I’m talking about on the show aligns with what’s happening in my business.
Maybe, um, I’m opening a new program or it’s a new training course or it’s a new event,
and so I want to make sure I’m talking about on the show what’s happening with what we’re offering and the extra help we’re giving entrepreneurs.
And then the second thing that I do, which I don’t know if this is like what everybody else does.
This is just my life, because everything I do is I actually look at what’s happening in my own life with my kids.
You know, where am I gonna be? What is the season of that life? So, for example,
my oldest son is graduating from high school this May. So the podcast episodes that I’ve artist sketch to talk about or what happens to you and your business when you know you’re not totally empty nest.
But when your kids are starting to move on to what they want to do and you have a more of an opportunity to design a different version of your life,
then you have for the last 18 years. And so that’s kind of how I am lined the episodes with what’s happening in my life.
Also seasons, right? So is it summertime? You know, our people trying to plan a vacation in other happenings that are going on is far as trends in the year,
for example, and this is just hypothetical. I don’t have this plant, but it would be like how to do a big you know,
Mother’s Day sale. If that Mother’s Day is in May, then that would be a show that that I would plan to do and released in April.
So I really kind of take a look at what’s happening in my life and what’s happening with what we’re offering and what’s happening within the sales of the year as well.
And then I look at the needs of you, buys the listeners, and this is really what it comes down to.
I can lay it all out here on the counter, and I think it’s a great idea. But what really is like the final check is what you buys need.
And so we look at things very carefully. You’ve been listening to this show for a while. You know,
we specialize in service based business development, whether it’s online or offline. Still, So what’s happening in the industry?
What’s happening with online business? What’s happening with courses? Many of you might have heard the episode that I did last year and I’ll look up the episode and put it in the reference for you of the show notes.
But it was like our online courses really working, and that was a really important episode to have because so many people have launched online courses.
But at that time when we recorded it, the data was not great about how many people were actually buying and finishing them until that was an important show to host.
So it’s kind of an example of what I look at what’s happening in the industry and in what you guys need,
what problems need to be solved, what bottlenecks you guys were facing, what fears or different issues could be coming up.
And I listened very carefully, toe obviously my clients to the women in my mastermind programs, to the women,
my Facebook community and I pay really close attention to those of you who connect with me and share your problems and your issues.
And I develop shows to solve those issues. And the final question I really ask is, what is the injuries?
Olt of a show And I do that actually, even before I start recording the show. So you know What’s the Andrews?
Well, what’s the final need? What’s the final goal or knowledge? Or a problem that’s solved at the end of recording a specific show?
And then the last step I do as faras the planning process is I determine whether or not that particular episode is gonna be a solo at this old or whether or not it should be a guest that I should bring on the show.
And I think, Britney, you think we’re probably about 50 50 solo and guest episodes. I don’t know what it works out to at the end of the year,
because I know you kind of go through phases, which might be something else to talk about where you have mostly solo episodes for a month or two,
and then maybe you have mostly interviews for a month or two, and I think that’s a deliberate choice as well.
Yeah, yeah, I can definitely speak to that, and we’ll talk more about, like the recording schedule and the actual production process.
But I d’oh, so I host a lot more solo episodes, usually before I’m about to open a registration for one of my master minds or registration to work with me in some capacity.
I do that because it helps my audience connect with me more. And it helps me to really clearly communicate and help my audience and my clients to identify is is something they actually need help with before the opportunity arises as to whether or not they want to invest in themselves to get the solution to that.
And so I feels, hear me doing a lot more solo episodes before my sweet life launch programs or before one of my master minded programs opens.
But I look for a lot of guest episodes during the times where I know that I am almost totally out of office,
and I think that’s what breaks easily, too. So it’s kind of brings us to our recording in production phase.
So I am mainly out of office from June through August. This particular year. You guys, I don’t know how I’m gonna do it yet.
Connect with me on Facebook or Instagram and and send me some encouraging mama entrepreneur vibes because and when I’m looking at my calendar,
I’m pretty much traveling from May all the way through the end of August in although that you know, that’s a laptop life.
That’s what we all want. It’s really difficult to maintain the podcast during those times, and so I have to be a super awesome planner to make sure that I have guests lined up and we’ve already pre recorded.
So this kind of how this works for me, I usually have a week blocked off on my calendar.
That is all podcast production week, whatever that week is. I do a very good job of not scheduling when I want private client meetings not filling out my calendar with anything else in that week,
and it changes. It’s not always like the first or the third week of the month. It does change,
but its planned well in advance in that week is just too match, recording with guests and producing podcast episodes,
researching my own episodes and outlining my own podcast radiance that I host. So I do that one week a month,
but I don’t record in June, July and August, so that means that I have to start batch ng really early,
and this is for any of you have applied to be a guest on my show. Just know that so I’m already recording.
You know, those summer show’s starting in the month of February were batch ing those. So I do have guests more often during the summertime when I’m not really there,
and it just helps me to be able to serve our listeners more because I am that put in time,
usually only working like a 15 hour work week and traveling around with my kids. I love that you do patching,
and that is what I recommend any of my clients. D’oh! Because it really does help you get into this frame of mind where you can just knock all of these things out.
And how great is it to know that you have your content for Well, you know, like three months plan now?
And it’s not something you have to worry about when you travel, because I can personally attest to this.
I actually, whenever I travel, I find it so difficult that I put my podcast on hiatus every time,
every time, meaning whatever I travel for, like a month or two at a time, because I do that.
So I think that it’s great that you planned this out ahead of time and it’s absolutely critical that is planned out ahead of time.
There’s no way that you can start doing this even a month before you want to take off and travel like this or enter an extremely busy season where,
you know, you’re just not gonna be able to put the time and effort into it, right? And I love Okay,
So you guys that don’t know Britney yet you should definitely connect with her. She travels everywhere, and I think that’s why Britney and I work together so well together because she’ll send me a message or email usually is earlier she can and saying,
OK, hey, I’m gonna be in Scotland for a month or whatever, you know. And so we worked together where she’s,
you know, she might come to me and say, OK, April, I know your batch recording just wanted to let you know I’m gonna be out for this period of time,
too. So let’s try to get in all your batch recording ahead of time so that so it works for both of our travel schedules,
and I think that’s one of the reasons why she and I worked so well together. Very grateful for that because our lives are travel,
lives are very, very similar. And, you know, I think that one of the things I do have to say that’s important about pre recording and connecting with the right audience is even though I’m traveling in June,
July and August, I’m still working with clients. I’m still running my master minds and still coaching entrepreneurs.
I’m still hosting my programs, and so all of my energy during that time is actually poured into direct work with the clients it that are in our community.
And so it’s incredibly important to me to make sure that I have guests on the show that can keep pouring in at the level that I want for our listeners who aren’t yet in our community.
And so I really try to seek out those gas that are experts in their space in order to deliver deliver shows that are timely for that time of year.
So when I say I travel in most of you know this, it doesn’t mean I’m not working at all.
It just means I don’t have extra time to be thinking about making sure we’re putting out great content on this podcast because that would be very,
very difficult. I’ve never recorded a podcast away from home. I know many people do where they can,
like recorded podcast in the hotel. It just doesn’t work for my creative mind. Like I need to be in my space,
my creative space not staring at some, you know, hotel wallpaper in order to be inspired to create a show for you guys.
And so I record everything here. I do not record on the go. I think that’s important to mention.
Yeah, it is. Because you definitely can do this on the go. I mean, I know people who travel full time,
as I’m sure you d’oh! And they still record content. So it is possible. But I agree.
I do prefer to record a home. I have bought travel microphones. Ah, few different ones. And I take them with me planning to record,
you know, maybe like a solo episode. And it never happens because it’s just I’m not in the frame of mind like you are.
Yeah, and I think that that’s just knowing who you are. So if you’re thinking about starting a podcast and you’re wondering how you could do it or you can do it from.
I think knowing how you best create content is a really important question to ask yourself before you decide that.
Hey, I can record, you know, from the car. Or, you know, I could record anywhere.
And so I think that’s just important thing. To know yourself well and to kind of get into that healthy ecosystem that inspires you to create really awesome stuff.
And and this just happens to me, my home office space, you know, which obviously comes with its drawbacks because,
for example, like when the kids were on vacation, a lot of shows, they’re like the dogs were barking and somebody is like,
coming at last, have, like, 10 boys stop in through the garage and drop their skateboards everywhere.
And and that’s just the way it is. And that’s actually in nature of this show, and so it doesn’t bother me,
but that might not be a great thing for somebody else, depending on where you guys choose to record,
right. So before we moved to the next phase in the process, I am curious when you do these batch recordings and you do emus faras a few months in advance.
Are you ever concerned? Because I know this is something I hear pretty often about this information not being relevant anymore or about the links not even being good.
A lot of people don’t think about that. You know a program no longer being available. Does that ever occur when you’re kind of planning out this process to think about that?
Yes, 100%. And so the guests that I curate for the show. So if we backtrack a little bit,
the first thing I want to clarify is that after I’ve determined the right episodes that you guys need to solve the problems that you’re currently facing in your business or the trends within the online business space,
I then go to our guest application list, and I then look for guests that can solve those problems for you.
So that’s my process of doing it. I’m very particular about who we curate and how we bring guests to you guys to pour into you.
And if there is not a guest on my application list that I will go find one. We’ve had quite a few guests and show where I’ve hunted down and said,
Hey, listen, my people need what you have to teach and I will go after them and I will personally find them until with that being said,
when I talk about batch ing ahead of time. So with guests, I always make sure that anything they’re sharing it has to have longevity.
If they’re launching a program or something that is timely in the show has to be produced and released on a certain amount of time in order to support them.
That’s something that’s planned well in advance. So that’s something that’ll do with our affiliate partners. And we’ve done that in the past with,
like, Pete Vargas was on the show because we supported his stage to scale method. But we had those plants planned well in advance,
so I usually don’t bring guests on the show for the purpose of selling their programs. It’s usually for the purpose of pouring into our listeners to give them a skill set that they would normally pay thousands of dollars to learn.
And then I love to honor our guests, however, though, that if we can figure out how to then give our our listeners the extra bump with having an opportunity to join their program.
Then that’s planned really well in advance. And then for my own, you know, lengths and making sure everything is in a way that is always timely and always up to date for you guys.
All of our things that we deliver to you are planned out for the whole entire year and very well in advance.
And so I already know exactly what we’re delivering and when we’re delivering it and in what capacity and the links for those things.
And I actually create them at the time that we produce the show. Okay? And I do actually want to go back really quickly to the planning session.
We walked through your four step process there, but what does it look like when you actually sit down to record?
Do you scripted out? Do you have a bullet list? You just kind of let it flow. What does that process look like for you?
I love that question. Okay, so I outlined all of the business trainings, and then I research and make sure that I have all the most up to date data and then I’m delivering the best training that I can.
And so it’s. It’s a lot of old school writing at first, and after three years of podcasting,
you guys were totally gonna laugh at me. I have a five inch, three ring binder that is hand written notes for every single episode.
It is so old school. It’s being born in 1976 and it comes naturally to me. And so I have notes,
and I have pages and pages based on the training that I’m giving now 2020 I finally and Britney, I just sent this to you.
With our most recent episodes, I’m finally and transferring the whole entire outline in outlining every single episode in Dropbox paper.
So we use is for a software We use Dropbox in order to share files and produces podcast amongst our teams.
And so I am riding out in outlining episode of Dropbox Paper, which does a couple of things. First of all,
it’s not gonna go if my house ever burns down. Secondly, there’s a flight or something terrible. Secondly,
yeah, I’m hoping that really helps Britney’s team to produce our show notes, and it helps my team to create the E mails in the articles and the Social media posts to produce the show because it’s directly coming from me instead of having people have to listen to the episode,
go through the transcription and write a summary to the best they can. And so I just really started doing that.
And I’m hoping it’s gonna be able. Thio Give our listeners even more thorough content throughout the week for every single podcast we’re producing,
more in depth content, more steps and actions. So whether they’re listening to the show on audio or rather than reading the block post,
which will be coming up with the block post for every single show as well, however, they like to absorb content,
so that is my process of doing it. But it’s not just the process of recording the show. It’s for a much greater distribution process of the content to get an entire listeners hands that make sense.
Yeah, no, definitely. And I appreciate you breaking down that process because I know for me, I’ve always been curious because I listened to the raw audio.
I listen to it before, gets edited, and you were so well spoken, and if I didn’t know any better.
I would think it was scripted and that you were like the greatest actress in the world because you just run through this content and they’re I mean,
they’re almost no stumbles. Obviously, we all have our verbal ticks and things that we d’oh. But I mean,
you just breeze through this content and I am always so impressed. Well, thank you so much. Yeah,
I just I just want to talk our listeners through it. I think it’s important to talk to them just as if they were standing face to face with me in a live event I was hosting here in Boulder,
Colorado, and I was teaching them the same training. So I do outline it, but nothing scripted.
I don’t read anything. I have heard that before. I know there are some podcasters that even get like teleprompters to read through.
I am not a great reader, you guys, I’ve never been a fast reader. It’s just not who I am.
So if I Meridian something, it does not come out pretty out of my mouth, so that would not be a good option for me or somebody else.
That may be great and that might be where they’re you know, they’re strength is for me. I just need to look at the outline and then I can teach the outline cause I will.
And also, I should say this. I don’t record a podcaster. I don’t teach a podcast in an area where I am not very well qualified or an expert in right.
I’m not just kind of like Polian podcast episodes and Training’s out of thin air and hoping to give somebody results.
I really don’t teacher training and less. I have extensive experience in getting clients results in exactly what I’m teaching.
I don’t have to go back through and read a word for word because I already know it. I just really need the outline to help my mind stay on task so I don’t go on too many tangents throughout the episode,
which I still do anyway, changes their fun, though, so don’t get rid of all the tangent.
Okay, but now that we’re in the process of talking about what it’s like when you sit down and record,
why don’t you want the listener through what that is like recording your solo episodes and recording with your guests yet.
So after I’ve outlined my notes with the sole episodes, I use GarageBand, Britney has All of our sounds are music,
so she mixes it. So I just go through and I just record the hold. Everything in garage man,
there are some times we all have to stop and delete in. Usually, I stop in the lead and start again.
If I look at the timer on garage Band and I’ve been talking for eight minutes and I don’t think I made a point After eight minutes of talking,
I will even look at me like, What did you just say? If in somebody’s valuable eight minutes of their time,
it’s all totally start again. So I will say that that would be the time when I have to come back to the beginning and say,
How can you get this message across faster without his many, you know, mumbo jumbo words? And so I’ll do that’ll take me a few times in Garage Band to go through that.
But once I’m on a roll once, the show is usually with the intro. Once I’m on a roll.
Michelle was started at Flo’s really Easy and Then I export and upload that MP three file to our shared Dropbox folder.
And then I’ll shoot Britney and email and say, Okay, you know, 1 56 is in the box is really all the email says Our system is so smooth now I don’t have to send anything else to her.
And she actually even gets probably a dropbox alert that I’ve uploaded it. So technically, I probably don’t even need to send her that particular email.
And then when I’m recording with guests, I use Skype, which is super archaic. I will say that you guys,
Skype is like, who uses Skype anymore? But we d’oh! And I know there are a lot of other podcasts recording platforms,
so we get switched to. We’ve always used Skype. Our audio quality is really great on Skype, and so we continue to stay with Skye.
But that’s certainly something that, you know, we revisit every single year. Britney and I have a conversation about that and,
um, talk about if that makes sense, still to stay there and then with those files, I actually record video.
So many of you guys might follow us on our YouTube channel where I share behind the scenes video of the podcast.
Super funny. I even share like the pre recording time and all the bloopers and dogs barking and people spilling coffee and everything before we actually hit record.
So if you’re a youtuber, you should check out the YouTube channel for the podcast and you’ll see those on there.
But then we export split tracks and audio files and bring me Why is that? See, this is when we get into your area.
Talk to me about recording this separate audio files on why that’s important. Yeah, so when it comes to recording multiple people,
so even if you have a show where you don’t necessarily have a guest B of a co host. So anytime there’s more than one person and you have to use like 1/3 party recording program like Skype and the recorder that comes with it,
squad cast is another one. Any of those programs you need to have each person on their own track because if you’re both on the same track and one of you coughs,
for example, while the other one is talking, there’s nothing that can be done about that from an editing standpoint,
that cough is gonna stay in there and live in that content and annoy the listener forever. But if they’re on a separate track literally,
it’s a matter of just highlighting it. Clicking one button and that cough is gone, and no one knows that it ever happened.
And it makes it a much, much more enjoyable experience for your listener, which should be just about your main ultimate goal.
From this podcast. You want your listener to love your show. You never want them to be annoyed or think that it’s poor quality.
Yeah, 100%. Thank you for taking care of all that for us. And then we. So we export this guy files same place,
send him to drop box, and then Britney. Britney’s team produces them and and then she sends us a message back after the files have been produced and she and her team manage.
Uploading it. Thio, do you want to share where we put our files and our distribution processes for us?
The tech side to read me? Yeah. So what? This looks like in terms of what I do in this process,
April sends me the files you know, she sends the email like she just mentioned, so that I know I can go and download them from Dropbox.
I do all of my magic, the program that I used to edit. I have some other programs that are way more expensive.
But audacity, which is a free program anyone can edit with it. There’s some basics you can learn.
It’s one of the easiest programs to get started with, and that’s what I use for the actual content at its still as a professional.
I have, like a $900 editing program that holds me clean it up, but I don’t do any of my contact editing in it because audacity is still better to use for that.
So we put it all together with the music and the intros and the Outro owes. And then we have a final MP three file that we upload to April’s hosting service,
which is listen, and that is who I recommend going with. Once we have that in there and reschedule for publication,
it automatically pushes it out to every platform that April is on, which right now is every one of them.
I’m pretty sure I don’t think we’ve missed one. So So we only have to put it in one place and then lips and sends it everywhere.
So it’s not as complicated or difficult as some people think it is before they start a podcast. It’s not like you’re going and submitting this individual episode every single time toe all of these different platforms.
Yeah, and just a little plug there. You guys, we are now on Pandora. I think we’ve been on panderer for a couple of months.
So if you’re a Pandora listener and you have not searched podcasts, I know they’re really doing a big face lift to their home terrace.
Sight, Please describe to us on Pandora. We would love to have more listeners over there because it’s a whole new podcasting platform That would be super cool for us.
It is podcaster only available on Pandora’s mobile platform at the moment. Just kind of us. Enough. I gotcha.
Okay. Cool. Thank you. Yeah. All right. So and then one of the things I wanted to mention about this,
you know, this is when it comes to business delegation in the production, the podcast. There are some things as a business owner.
You should totally delegate that somebody else could do for you and that somebody else should be doing for you.
And there are some things as a business owner that make you happy. One of the things that make me happy that I could totally delegate is selecting pictures and selecting the photography for our podcast episodes.
If you’ve ever been to sweet life podcast dot com, you’ll see there’s a lot of photography on that site because I think the photography tells a story.
I personally choose every single picture for every single podcast episode. And if you’d haven’t noticed every single picture with maybe the exception of a couple and and it’s still in there somewhere,
even if you can’t see it, it has water in it. And that’s just my brand. And it’s our company,
and it’s the soul of our company is really the ocean. And so every single photograph will have some aspect of water in it someplace,
and that just brings me joy away. And so I just wanted to share that you guys don’t. If you’re thinking about launching a podcast,
you you don’t have to delegate everything and the things that make you happy? That’s an important part to mention.
It just makes me happy. And so I do it. I’ve tried to delegate it before, and it made me sad.
So I keep that in house after that. So the podcast goes to different places. What we talked about goes to Britney to produce it,
and then the other half of it, which is the last part of producing this show, is I send it to my marketing in my content quarterback team and what that means is there so much podcast?
There’s so much information. There are so many tips and there’s so many steps with an ever single one of the business training podcast that we now need to distribute it out and get in in the hands of everybody.
And so that goes in their direction. And this is also an important reason why I need to match record because it makes everybody’s life better,
makes Britney’s life better, that she has the audio files ahead of time. It also makes my marketing teams life easier because they already know that they have four weeks to create the content in the social media posts in the little video snippets and all these things that go out for every single episode well in advance.
So when I do my job and makes it easier for everybody else to do their job, I will say that it is very hard to match record sometimes when things were going on with my life and my kids and when I’m doing a lot of traveling.
So this fall I did not do a great job match recording. There were a couple times where I was getting Britney and episode look right on the deadline for her to be able to produce it.
So it’s not always perfect, and I’m not always great at this. But when I am, my stress is much less in.
Everybody’s able to do their job much better, and that brings us to that last part, which is the last part of producing the show is really the impact on you guys.
I’m always asking myself, How can I make this show more impactful, more actionable, more usable, more simple for you to implement in your business?
So how can I help you? Our listeners take the tree means and actually apply them to your business or help you to think or strategize or help you to turn your thoughts into reality based on each one of the episodes.
And so a couple ways we’ve done this in the past, and we’re honestly, we’re always revisiting this to see what you guys are actually responding.
Thio. So we’ve done live streams on Facebook. We’ve done weekly live streams on instagram. We’ve done behind the scenes videos like I mentioned in YouTube.
We have published the full audio file in a video format to our Facebook page, and I also have hosted and still do.
I host a monthly live question and answer business training session for those vests that are in our podcast insiders community.
And so we try to make sure that we’re not just giving you the information, but we’re helping you implement it,
because in the end of the day, this is for you. I heard you know all this. I’m the one teaching it.
I’m not doing this for me to sit there and share a business training. It’s making sure that you,
our listeners or getting the help in the support you need that honestly will have other business coaches charged thousands and thousands of dollars for in a way that you can actually them in your business right away.
And that’s part of being a social entrepreneur. That’s part of our mission of the sweet life podcast is to give you guys trusted,
proven business training center free and that you can take to the bank and applying your business right away. And so I Oh,
the third part of this is just really asking ourselves, How do we help you implement it more? How do we help you actually use the content in the training that we have created?
So before we wrap up, I have a couple of things that I am just curious about even myself,
as someone who has seen you grow and this podcast grow over the past three years. And I’m sure your listeners a curious about this as well,
especially if they’re considering starting their own podcast. What have been some of the biggest struggles or some of the biggest growth moments and opportunities over the past three years with this podcast,
what have you really maybe learned the hard way and and now you know, you’re gonna take those lessons and move it forward to just make this podcast even better in 2020.
Definitely scheduling and having to stay on top of my schedule in batch recording. That has been very difficult for me to d’oh.
So that struggle number one, number two in the beginning. And I’m sure this before in the beginning,
I thought that I could do everything myself, and I learned very quickly that I couldn’t produce the show without you,
I didn’t get the first episode off the ground, so I identified very well that technology and April don’t get along that well,
and I needed to get that off my plate. But then the third thing, I would say we’re just for me.
Personally, I feel like I have grown as a leader in the fact that I have to be very clear about the injuries.
Old I’m giving people from each episode. So in the beginning, and I don’t no, that I was quite is clear.
And I still think that I have a lot of work to do to grow into this, but I’m trying to always share that in the beginning of every episode,
you know, this is what you’re gonna learn This is the end result of hanging out with me for the next 25 minutes if you are in this place than you need this.
So I’m trying to do a better job, actually communicating the expectations of listening to every single show and the better it outlining the show tree means I’m also trying to be a better speaker and not go on as many tensions.
And that’s a little hard, because I I just wanna hang out with my listeners. You know, like I’m just talking just to you right now,
and we’re just talking to one other person listening. It doesn’t matter who else is listening. We’re talking to the one person that is tuned into her computer or her phone listeningto us talk right now,
and I really am striving to make sure it’s like we’re sitting across the kitchen table from each other. But she’s getting a kick ass business training for free,
so I think I need to continue to work hard at being better at that, too. So you mentioned a little bit ago about outsourcing and figuring out what isn’t exactly your strong suit.
I am curious, and I think that this is going to apply to more than just podcasting. This can work for a social media manager,
a marketer via any of these things. We have had moments in the past to be, you know,
completely real and honest, where because I think of a lack of communication, things just weren’t clicking between us,
where we’ve had some tension in some moments of confusion. So what is that like? I mean, we have been working together for technically over three years at this point,
and there have been times where you’ve had to set some boundaries. I’ve had to set some boundaries, but I love that we do it in such a respectful way.
At least I feel so that it doesn’t really impact our working relationship. And even, you know, at this point,
I consider you a friend. So what is that like? How do you navigate that world of outsourcing and working with in other people’s boundaries while also still making sure that you set your own?
Mmm, That is a very hard question. And honestly, answer it. So I am not a great delegator.
I am an entrepreneur. My who I am and my strength that completely into that entrepreneur personality and that is creating and teaching and,
you know, mental rain. When it comes to stopping to think about what I need and then creating a system for it to delegate it,
it’s something that I’m really, really bad out. And so when I bring somebody on board my team,
I have Thio have a very healthy understanding that I’m bringing like you onboard this team because you know more about this than I do.
I don’t have to know everything about everything. And so when you say this is how this has to be and as long as I understand the why behind it,
then I submit to you in that because I’ve given you that place of authority and my company and on my like extended team because,
you know, and I don’t in. So although it pisses me off that I don’t know everything, and sometimes it really hurts and ruffles my feathers when you’re like April,
you have got to get this episode in right now or whatever, you know what I mean? I need that and that’s why I hired you.
And I think that all women, as they’re growing their team. They should have a healthy level of respect for the people that they bring in their team.
You need to take the time. If you identify like me that you’re not a great delegator. Understand that you’re not a great delegator because therefore,
you need to be a better communicator because you understand that you understand that you might not be a great delegator,
and there has to be this incredible level of trust and mutual respect. The other thing that I will say is that you know,
when you’re growing your team, a lot of people start out bringing people on their team, especially women as their best friends.
And you can’t be too nice, but they’re overly nice. Let’s have coffee. Let’s take our kids to the park or whatever,
right? You’re hiring somebody to do a job. And so I think that friendship develops after the establishment,
and that’s what I’ve found. Two. Because I used to do that all the time, and it was very hard to then draw find hard lines in the boundaries between Frank,
my team. So I used to want to be in everybody’s best friend and they could come over for dinner and you know all those things in a night In the last five years,
I haven’t grown my team that way. First, I hire somebody for their area of expertise, and then we develop mutually respectful,
you know, boundaries in a relationship. And then the friendship grows like you went and saw Jacob dancing on the dance with me.
I mean, the way we do stuff together, that’s a business relationship. And I will say this,
you guys, this is why you see men do a better job growing teams and women, cause we all just want to be already is friend.
But it comes down to the bottom line of getting a job done in finding the right person that believes in your mission that believes in what you’re doing.
The resonates with the purpose behind what you’re producing, whatever that may be, and that they have the right area of expertise.
If you do all those things, the friendship’s gonna come out of that. But that’s where I believe that it starts.
Okay, so as is the case when I normally interview someone, this is going on a little bit long.
So let’s wrap this up here and I am curious. What are your three favorite episodes from the podcasts over these last three years?
Okay, I’m so glad you asked me that. So I have to say, in year one, my favorite episode that we did is still the podcast trailer.
It’s episode number 00 if you guys haven’t listened to it before, I cried in that thing like I was so moved and I was so determined to get this podcast off the ground It totally start crying in it.
And I remember reaching out to Britney and being like, I can’t do this. This can’t be the trailer.
And you’re like, No, this is the trailer were producing this and this is in the beginning, we were producing this.
This is what we’re putting out there because this is who you really are. April. It’s just like six minutes long.
It’s my lifestyle entrepreneur manifesto because all of it is still so true. And it’s just everything this partner.
So I love that one. I would say in 2018 it was pretty awesome having Amy Porter field on the show,
and I really love that one. That’s episode number 87. If you guys haven’t heard that one yet.
I love that one because I had known Amy for a few years before we recorded that episode, and I was able to get her on the show and talk not about online courses or marketing until was a really cool show for her to share some vulnerability.
That show is about being brave and bold and being authentic to communicate with your TRIBE. And I loved the opportunity also for Amy,
but then for us to see and hear her talk about things she doesn’t always talk about on her own podcast.
And so I really liked that one. And then for 2019 this shows that I’m a business modeling geek.
It’s definitely number 122. How to choose the best business model for your life because I think that’s way where it needs to start.
For all of you guys, if you don’t choose the right business model the build you’re gonna be totally miserable.
You could even make all the tea in China, and you’d still be miserable if your business model isn’t right.
So it would be episode number 122 from this year. Awesome. Well, I know that you have some incredible listeners,
and you have an audience that absolutely adores you. And I don’t know why they wouldn’t. So is there anybody that you want,
Thio particularly give a shadow too? Yes, In here something. It’s so hard just to pick a couple.
And so I’m just gonna read some reviews for those you guys that have taken a chance. I’m to leave us some reviews on iTunes,
and I would just appreciate you guys being listeners. So much. So the domestic diva said this podcast is informational,
interesting and educational. Thank you so much for posting this violet. And I really, really appreciate that.
We’re going back, like, a couple of years, too. And, uh, see, Nam Lee said this is just what everybody who needs a business who’s starting a business needs step by step all the tools at your fingertips making it clear and easy.
I absolutely love this. Jay said Creative, informative, very enlightening. You totally have to check this out.
And then Caroline Cole said April is terrific. Tune into your strategies you can use immediately to move the needle on your life in your business.
Well done, April. I do appreciate you guys so much. There are so many reviews on here.
It was really hard, really hard to pick. I will say one more from Lila Davidson. She says she loves his podcast for its practical on actionable advice,
and she finds a pro to be more personal than some personable than some other podcast does with the Miller content is probably because I tell why let all my dirty laundry behind the scenes,
I could relate to her mom, entrepreneur and sensibility and reminders on keeping things real as we work hard and build our businesses.
And so, Lila, thank you so much for taking the time to write that review and all the guys,
if you haven’t reviewed us yet on Apple, we would totally love it. And thank you so much,
Britney. We have to give, like, clap my golf club behind the scenes. You guys wouldn’t have this show without Britney.
And so for our third podcast birthday, stay tuned here after we wrap up and we we say goodbye to Britney and I’ll be giving you a bunch of information.
That, and gifts and cool things that you guys can take with you after today’s show. So thank you,
Brittany. I appreciate it. Of course. Thank you. April. Thank you so much for sticking around at the end of this episode.
I know it was longer than most far our episodes. I appreciate you so much more than me sitting here can say in this Mike.
But when I record this show, I don’t imagine myself speaking to hundreds of thousands of people that have downloaded this show.
I just imagine sitting here like me and you with a glass of wine woman to woman talking about business,
talking shop and me pouring into you every time you connect with me on instagram or you share this show with your friends.
I see that on on the other side, too. And I just fully appreciate it so much. Your support for the sweet Life entrepreneur a podcast.
I am some massively awesome episodes plan for you guys in 2020 who? Just wait where I really get your business to the next level.
I’m so excited to pour into you in 2020 and beyond. So as we talked about your birthday present,
the sweet life podcast is giving you a birthday present. I’m giving you completely free access to my ideal client Avatar Master Class.
This is an hour long training and a complete workbook to help you hone in on your ideal clients really decide on your niche and actually write the copy that could go on your website and in all of your marketing,
so that you can make a ton of money. That’s the thing. When you get your messaging right,
that’s when your business is just catapulted to the next level. And so I’m giving you completely free access to my eye.
I see a master class, and one person is also going to receive a free to our deep dive business strategy session with me,
which is $700 value. So in order to get the free master class and have an opportunity to work with me totally free in the deep of strategy session,
here’s a recap. This is the three short steps you need to do Number one share this episode and number two take a screenshot of what you’ve done sharing this episode.
Then number three email s your screen shot to podcast at sweet life co dot com. But the rule is you have to do that this week,
so this is only valid. January 13th through January 1920 20. So that’s rule. So I appreciate you guys.
Thanks for tuning in to the show. All of the show notes can be found by visiting Suite Life co dot com and again email your screen shot of your share to podcast at Sweet life co dot com.
Thanks so much.
No more resu