Welcome back to Vision Pros. Today, this is going
to be fun. We've got Virginia Elder from Podcast
Abundance. Virginia, I'm really glad you're here.
Would you introduce yourself a little bit? Yes.
Thank you, Sue. I appreciate it. Yes. I am Virginia
Elder, founder of Podcast Abundance and host
of the podcast called Podcasting for Financial
Professionals. Oh, wow. That's a niche. Podcasting
is going nuts, isn't it? Yes. Yes. And the financial
professionals are the primary folks that I serve.
So that's why I wanted to be really clear with
that name. So that's a hint for everybody right
there. That is. That's a good hint, actually.
Well, how long have you been doing this? Yeah.
So I accidentally started producing podcasts
in 2019. I have a financial background and went
to a conference that was all about media production
for financial content creators because I was
like curious about like, oh, like blogging and,
you know, what is all this online stuff? Um,
and while I was at that conference, a couple
of other financial professionals asked me to
produce their show. And, um, at that point I
had just dabbled in it a little bit. So I said,
I didn't know like how to get, so, you know,
are you sure? Like I tried to just like talk
myself out of it. And they were like, no, no,
it's going to be fine. You're going to be our
producer. From there it has just been. And what
I do full time now, I really enjoy it. That is
so cool. Oh, my gosh. All right. Well, I've got
some questions. I, you know, I would love to
know, like, tell me about your vision for Podcast
Abundance. Yeah, thank you. So of course, at
that time, I did not have a vision whatsoever.
It was very... Let me figure this out. I appreciate
those first few clients being willing to grow
and take steps forward together, knowing that
I probably wasn't going to do it perfect, but
I would do it as best as I could. So now, six
years in, the vision is, of course, very, very
clear. We are destined to be the leading provider
of audio and video podcasts for financial service
professionals. It took me a long time to like
really decide and fully step into that niche.
I think that's like a really common business
owner journey where you are almost afraid to
call out your ideal client because then you feel
like you're excluding everyone else. But I will
tell you that even with that vision being really
clear. other people do come my way. I've helped
professors at universities. I've helped medical
professionals. I've helped therapists and a wide
range of other professions. But typically, and
this is kind of the interesting piece, is that
money always has to do with something. that they
are talking about, right? Whether it's their
services and clients potentially affording their
services or the costs of medical care and the
various resources, you know, there's all kinds
of ways that money infuses into the conversation.
So that's where that like financial piece comes
in. And as long as it's. at least touching on
a financial topic, I'm interested because I'm
just a dork and I love financial content. That's
awesome. I bet you learn a lot too, as you, you
know, pulling the same thread through a whole
bunch of different ways that it can show up.
That's really cool. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Well, that's
amazing. Now tell me, where did your vision come
from? So I loved a book I read called Traction.
It is part of the EOS platform and learning process.
And that really helped me identify that concise
sentence as a vision, right? Before that, it
was like... I might have taken five minutes to
explain to you what I did. But just looking back
over the years and looking back at that same
conference that I still attend every year, and
it's still the number one source of clients for
my business, whether I'm on stage or not that
year or whatever is going on. I've continued
to serve financial professionals. I still love
that financial content. The financial space and
the economy is changing all the time. So you
can never just be done learning about money.
And like you said, I love to learn. And so as
I'm... listening to people's shows and either
approving edits or picking out which section
should be the reel or whatever it is that we're
doing in the production process, I was able to
identify, you know what, like this is where we're
going. This is where we're going to live and
thrive. And I made sure to pull the piece about
audio and video production into the statement
because of all of the new video opportunity that
is in the podcast space these days. Oh, that's
amazing. So you're doing both video and audio.
Yes. Wow. Was that a learning curve? Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah. And it's made possible by a good team,
right? I can have audio editors. I can have video
editors. They are always learning new skills
on their own. And if there's ever a request or
some new cool tool or whatever, they might already
know about it before I do sometimes. But also
with team members, there's always the opportunity
to hire new talent and someone who has got even
better or different skills that a new client
might be requesting. So there's a variety of
factors in the background there. Yes, I'm always
learning, but my team is amazing at kind of taking
the lead in that area. That's fantastic. That's
so great. How has it been? That's a learning
curve all its own. Yeah. Having a team, like
finding them, training them, you know, managing
them, growing with them. How has that gone? That
is an area where I feel like I've been fairly
lucky, but I want to like back that statement
up because I don't think luck is just bestowed
upon you, right? I do think. I managed to find
the right resources and be very clear with a
description of who and what I was looking for.
I've been very clear about my company values
and how I want them to be carried forward through
my people. And so I never just, hey. you look
like an awesome person. Let me just hire you.
There's always been an interview process, whether
they are across the world or in the US. And there's
always been a very strong communication loop.
We use tools like Slack and email and Asana and
various ways that we can all communicate together
as a team on a project. So there's a lot of factors
into that look. But I think And designing that
clear vision of how you want a team member to
work and communicate with you and turn things
in and build and all of that plays out into the
quality of the team that you're hiring. Yeah.
Oh, that's so important. Was that a big step
for you to, you know, make that first hire? It
was. There were several years where I was a one
-woman show. And at some point, you kind of max
out on capacity. And you realize like I am not
able to market as much as I need because I'm
over here doing client work or whatever the barrier
is. And I joined a Facebook group actually that
was full of other podcast editors. The world
was very audio focused in the podcast space at
that time. And I managed to find someone even
within that group who went through my process,
filled out my form, did an interview with me,
did all the things. We seemed aligned and started
working together. So I always hire on a kind
of like test basis. We do a couple of specific
tasks. I review it. I approve it. We have some
dialogue back and forth if there was any issues.
And we walk through that process before it's
like, okay, you're in charge of this client.
Because even then when I hand off something,
I'm still going to see it before it gets published
for the client because that final quality. check
is very important to me, especially when we're
talking about financial content. I've been in
the space long enough to know terms and definitions
and what someone should or shouldn't recommend
and where we're crossing the line. And I can
also hear when there's been, it hasn't happened
on my team, but I've heard things in the industry
where someone didn't understand a financial term
or an abbreviation that was spoken about and
it sounded like an um or an awkward noise and
so they cut it when that was actually like the
name of the thing they were talking about so
as the experienced person in the space, I would
catch something like that before it went live.
So that's really important. Oh, that's huge.
Yeah. I mean, that could change the whole context
of everything. Yes. So how do you use your podcast
then? Does that actually end up bringing you
some clients? It does. I was just thinking about
that today, actually. I have a client renewing
for next season with me. And I was thinking,
she's an amazing client. I love her content.
I love her demeanor and style. She has this really
calm presence. And I was thinking back and I
was like, that all came from me inviting her
on my show because I liked her show anyways.
And it was not... a pitch or a, you know, thinking
of course I would love her as my client, but
I wasn't inviting her on for that purpose. I
genuinely wanted to have a conversation about
her show and the strategy of how her show supported
her business. Cause that is what I love to talk
about because in this AI world, I mean, let's
just be honest. You can pop a video into any.
AI platform and have it edited up for you. So
the real value to working with me is to get a
piece of my strategic mind and for me to be able
to dive into your website, your lead magnet,
your email sequence, and the content that you're
producing on your show and to think backwards
as a potential listener. How would this attract
or repel me? from your business, right? Does
this make me want to give you my money? Does
this make me want to sign up for your course
or your program or not? So that's the strategy
piece. I just love to talk about, I love to hear
what other business owners are doing with their
show or with their content for a strategy to
pull people in because it always prompts fresh
ideas. So anyway. She has an amazing strategic
mind. She's been in business for years and was
on my show. And a few weeks later, she said,
you know what? I can't stop thinking about our
conversation. I want you to produce my next season.
And that is always a wonderful surprise. That's
really, really cool. That's amazing. Well done.
Yeah, thank you. And she's not the only one.
That's just like a very today. example i can
give you um that has happened multiple times
and i'll never cease to be overjoyed when that
happens it's when it works it works that's great
i hope you'll come back thank you yes i hope
so Thank you for being here today. I'm really
happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live.
I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions
as these episodes continue to move forward. This
is going to get more and more fun. We'll have
more and more engagement as well. We'll invite
people to participate in the show. And thank
you for giving us your time and attention. Have
an excellent time building out your vision and
becoming a vision pro yourself.