1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Tis I, Lord Podcast. Are you yearning to equip yourself with the confidence to record? 2 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:12,160 Elijah, the skilled podcast professional, is preparing himself for a tale of tools and 3 00:00:12,160 --> 00:00:19,040 skill that only a mighty podcaster may employ in one's podcast journey. Elijah, I do believe 4 00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:24,280 that we shall teach our weary wanderer the confidence that they strive to achieve. Shall 5 00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:31,560 we start a podcast? We shall. It's settled. Let's start a podcast. 6 00:00:31,560 --> 00:00:35,960 My name's Elijah. I'm the host and Coraline is here to talk about launch and strategy. 7 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:41,480 She has a lot to say about what you should be doing to podcast launch. But first, Coraline, 8 00:00:41,480 --> 00:00:45,960 I really need to understand that you're qualified. You have the street cred to talk about launch 9 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:48,920 strategy. So I have a few questions. You ready? 10 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:49,920 Let's go. 11 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:53,780 You're ready for anything. I love this. And you're in the dating scene. You're taking 12 00:00:53,780 --> 00:00:58,000 these cool selfies like way up in the angles and getting getting the sweet angles going 13 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:03,320 so you can have that perfect date, right? Maybe lunch turns into breakfast. Maybe not. 14 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:08,040 But I need to know. It's been a long time since I've dated. I need to understand when 15 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:13,320 is the appropriate time to text a person back your interest? Is it right away or do you 16 00:01:13,320 --> 00:01:15,440 let them wait, play hard to get for a couple of days? 17 00:01:15,440 --> 00:01:20,380 So I've been I'm a big fan of testing things like I like to try a bunch of different strategies 18 00:01:20,380 --> 00:01:29,280 and then see what works best. So the A B tests with Yeah, so I've been doing both so far. 19 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:35,320 The just replying when you have your phone in your hand seems to be the best bet. I don't 20 00:01:35,320 --> 00:01:41,520 seem to notice that like leading them on or making them wait for it, you know, does any 21 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:46,600 better for the situation. So as long as I'm on my phone and my phone's around and I see 22 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:51,320 the notification, I I'm the type of person who will answer it right away. Yeah. 23 00:01:51,320 --> 00:01:55,160 I'm sorry to say this, but I don't think you're in your 20s anymore. And maybe those games 24 00:01:55,160 --> 00:02:01,880 just aren't for you. Yeah, just get it over with. Yeah, yeah. I have no time. You're a 25 00:02:01,880 --> 00:02:05,760 female founder. You have no time to waste. Just let's go. Let's have lunch and move on. 26 00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:09,520 Yeah, exactly. The sooner the better because then I feel like it's easier to to gauge someone 27 00:02:09,520 --> 00:02:15,640 in person than it is, you know, be a long, long, long text conversations, which also 28 00:02:15,640 --> 00:02:20,920 seems to be a thing in the dating world. So I prefer to just get let's grab lunch, let's 29 00:02:20,920 --> 00:02:25,760 grab dinner or drink and see if there's anything there. 30 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:30,140 And if there is anything there, when is the appropriate time to talk about the bedroom 31 00:02:30,140 --> 00:02:34,020 romance under the covers? Again, it's been a while. I never really knew. My friends are 32 00:02:34,020 --> 00:02:35,760 all impatient. What's your take? 33 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:40,960 I think everybody is a little bit impatient. I feel like there's a little bit of I have 34 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:44,800 I have a mind that just lives in the gutter. I'm going to say that my brain just lives 35 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:50,560 in the gutter. So, you know, if the conversation is good, it usually comes up. If it doesn't, 36 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:56,280 then it doesn't. I think everybody's different. But I tend to make offside inappropriate jokes 37 00:02:56,280 --> 00:03:02,040 sooner rather than later, just just to see what the person's like. 38 00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:06,220 Just to feel it out. And if it's if they're not taking your segue off of bacon and eggs 39 00:03:06,220 --> 00:03:12,040 and tomatoes, then it's over. Yeah, no, not exactly. You ride motorcycles too, right? 40 00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:17,560 I do. Yeah, I drive a BMW F 900 R right now. Yep. 41 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:22,960 That's more of a some I'm six five or 196 centimeters. So there's probably no way that 42 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:24,960 I would ride well on this bike. 43 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:29,360 We wouldn't do too bad. I'm a little short for it, to be honest with you. I'm about five, 44 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:34,720 six, and I struggle with it on hills and stuff like that. It's a heavier bike than what I'm 45 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:39,000 used to, I would say. I mean, you probably do OK. Your knees would get uncomfortable 46 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:43,520 on long rides, but for the most part, the seating position is pretty upright. So it 47 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:49,400 is pretty spacious for long legged folk. Perfect. And when you're upright to you to hit the 48 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:52,280 gas, hit the handle all the way back to the wheelie. 49 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:56,440 Is that? No, I'm not a wheelie girl. I'm more of like 50 00:03:56,440 --> 00:04:02,080 a long, slow drive through the country girl. I haven't been riding that long, so I tend 51 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:09,760 to take my time. It's also a very dangerous activity to do. So I tend to err more on the 52 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:16,720 side of safety in that part of my life and risky in the business side of things. 53 00:04:16,720 --> 00:04:22,000 So when it comes to launching off a motorcycle, you have to really play to your strengths 54 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:27,080 in your comfort zone. You have to know what doesn't work. And in this case, it's falling 55 00:04:27,080 --> 00:04:30,000 over and breaking something, which is probably bad. 56 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:35,160 Definitely, definitely bad. Yeah. Know your strengths. Know your weaknesses. You know, 57 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:40,280 I'm not great on hills. Sometimes stalling out on hills. 58 00:04:40,280 --> 00:04:43,520 Sometimes launch can take a bit. Needs a bit of patience. Got to get up that hill and kind 59 00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:48,160 of chug along. And eventually you'll start to go right once the road's flat. 60 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:52,160 Yeah, exactly. Perfect. So I think this is great. You qualified. 61 00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:56,200 You're putting up with my strange and wonderful questions to prove your worthiness. So thank 62 00:04:56,200 --> 00:04:57,200 you for that. My pleasure. 63 00:04:57,200 --> 00:05:02,000 Absolutely. When we're talking about worthiness, what is the worst kind of strategy for launching 64 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:05,680 you ever seen that something just kind of tanking go? Oh no, I can't believe they just 65 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:08,520 did that. Got anything? I love gossip. 66 00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:12,900 Are we talking podcasts? Are we talking business products specifically? 67 00:05:12,900 --> 00:05:17,760 I'm here for any of the juicy details. So if you want to hit me with business or podcasts 68 00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:19,480 or both, I'm for it. 69 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:24,680 So I mean, I feel like the same answer probably applies to both kind of. So like on the business 70 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:28,840 product side, if you're launching like a digital product, like a course or something, you know, 71 00:05:28,840 --> 00:05:35,940 the worst thing you can do is build it before you sell it and to build it before you build 72 00:05:35,940 --> 00:05:41,000 a community of people to sell it to. Right. And I think that coincides with podcasts as 73 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:47,680 well. I think a lot of people, you know, just pop a podcast up without having even a small 74 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:51,720 community of people to launch that to, to share that with when that first episode goes 75 00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:59,320 live. And I think that can make for a slower buildup of community of traffic of listens, 76 00:05:59,320 --> 00:06:04,400 et cetera, over time. And so I think sometimes having that community in the front end set 77 00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:10,320 up in the beginning just gives you a smoother launch, a much smoother launch. 78 00:06:10,320 --> 00:06:17,040 And if somebody is not privy to smoother launches, do you think 10 or a hundred or a thousand 79 00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:21,800 listens on the first episode is good? Or is there a particular number that you usually strive 80 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:24,800 for to say, okay, this is going to make it, this is going to be a good one. 81 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:29,880 Yeah. I mean, I think it all depends. You know, I'm a big fan of averages. So, and I, 82 00:06:29,880 --> 00:06:35,440 I teach this when I talk about like YouTube or social media content as well is it's less 83 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:38,920 about like the first episode and how many views you get on the first episode and more 84 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:43,440 so like what's the average of the first 10. And can we use that as a benchmark then moving 85 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:48,720 forward to kind of, you know, set some goals, set some objectives and like work on growing 86 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:52,840 our viewership, et cetera. Perfect. So it depends. Is that fair? 87 00:06:52,840 --> 00:06:57,400 Yeah. I mean, it's, I just don't want to get too political. Everybody's different. Everyone's 88 00:06:57,400 --> 00:07:01,600 communities are different. The size of what everyone starts with is going to be different 89 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:06,580 and it's less about like, oh, you know, 10,000 views is a great benchmark and more so like, 90 00:07:06,580 --> 00:07:10,440 are you having fun doing it? Does it feel in alignment with you? Are you having conversations 91 00:07:10,440 --> 00:07:14,360 you want to have? And if you've checked all of those boxes and you're sharing that organically, 92 00:07:14,360 --> 00:07:18,680 then your growth might look different than someone else's. So let's figure out your benchmarks 93 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:23,800 and compare you to you instead of somebody else in the industry. 94 00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:29,280 Before we flipped the 180, sort of speaking, get to the red carpet, you talk a bit about 95 00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:34,200 that red carpet approach that the plan, the plan to 45, the launch plan on your website. 96 00:07:34,200 --> 00:07:36,800 Can you remind me where that is again? The website, 97 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:42,440 d2cell.com. Perfect. So that's one of your courses. You have a ton of them. You have 98 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:49,120 great strategies and different models to follow. Can you kind of walk me through that, what 99 00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:54,400 that offers? Yeah. So the, I believe the product you're referring to is something we call momentum 100 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:59,840 launch system. And what that really is about is setting up your social presence in a way 101 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:05,200 that allows you to kind of create, yes, a red carpet buying experience or listening experience 102 00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:09,880 for your end user, whether that be, you know, someone purchasing a course or someone listening 103 00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:14,360 to your podcast. And what it's really about is building anticipation, right? I mean, you 104 00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:18,680 talked a little bit about like, you know, bedroom stuff earlier. And if we can talk 105 00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:23,400 a little bit about that, you know, the anticipation, the buildup before something happens is sometimes 106 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:29,040 more important than the action in and of itself happening. And so one of the key elements 107 00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:35,040 of a red carpet experience is creating demand, creating anticipation, creating a buzz around 108 00:08:35,040 --> 00:08:39,960 things. If we look at, you know, Taylor Swift, who seems to be a bit of a controversial woman 109 00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:47,680 these days, but one of the reasons why she's been so successful, why she has so many viewers 110 00:08:47,680 --> 00:08:52,080 from so many different demographics or listeners rather from so many different demographics 111 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:58,020 is because she's been teasing and building anticipation for new albums for years. Right. 112 00:08:58,020 --> 00:09:03,920 And so that is that product is really, how do we build that excitement within your community 113 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:07,880 before you even launch it out there? So that when you do launch, they're either excited 114 00:09:07,880 --> 00:09:12,480 to listen or they're excited to buy or they're excited to, you know, sign up for whatever 115 00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:14,800 it is that you're actually offering. 116 00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:21,320 Now countries are begging her to come because it's like, she's the end all be all for, you 117 00:09:21,320 --> 00:09:26,840 know, pandemic rejuvenation of economies and states and countries and even Toronto, Canada. 118 00:09:26,840 --> 00:09:32,000 Well, you live there. You're probably super excited for all the traffic blunders and a 119 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:37,240 thousand dollar a night hotel tags and all the dates are going to get really muddy if 120 00:09:37,240 --> 00:09:39,520 you can't get the T-Swift tickets. 121 00:09:39,520 --> 00:09:44,600 Yeah. The moment that she announced, I think she's doing six separate Toronto shows in, 122 00:09:44,600 --> 00:09:50,040 you know, well I call it the sky dome. That's not what it's called anymore. I'm old enough 123 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:53,480 where the Blue Jays played. Yeah. Where the Blue Jays play. I'm old enough that it's still 124 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:58,740 the sky dome to me. But yeah, within, you know, I think it was something like five hours 125 00:09:58,740 --> 00:10:02,920 of her just announcing the dates, all of the hotels were sold out. Every single one of 126 00:10:02,920 --> 00:10:09,600 them in Toronto, gone, just no available options. Right? So the ability for her to create demand, 127 00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:15,260 yes, revive, you know, economies is insane, but it's because she has so much anticipation 128 00:10:15,260 --> 00:10:17,240 baked into her marketing method. 129 00:10:17,240 --> 00:10:24,240 How long do you think you'll take to get to the front row ticket price point that Taylor 130 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:28,840 Swift has? Do you think you'll match that pretty soon? A couple of months, a couple 131 00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:31,240 of years? Or do you think that's just way too much pressure? 132 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:33,640 In terms of like how we price our products? 133 00:10:33,640 --> 00:10:38,400 Yeah. Yeah. That services, products, courses, all that sort of stuff. Or if you go singing 134 00:10:38,400 --> 00:10:41,440 on stage, maybe they'll pay for that. I don't know. 135 00:10:41,440 --> 00:10:46,440 I mean, I'm not the greatest singer, you know, I can talk forever. Singing, maybe not my 136 00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:50,400 strong suit. But I mean, if we look at our pricing structure, I think it's similar to 137 00:10:50,400 --> 00:10:55,320 when you are buying concert tickets where you have, you know, kind of nosebleed type 138 00:10:55,320 --> 00:10:59,920 offers where they're lower cost, they're more accessible to more people. You know, that's 139 00:10:59,920 --> 00:11:04,720 something like the MLS system we just chatted about. But then we do have higher ticket offers 140 00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:09,520 that are, you know, probably more in alignment with her front row seats in the five to $12,000 141 00:11:09,520 --> 00:11:13,680 range. So I think we're already there, funnily enough. 142 00:11:13,680 --> 00:11:19,400 Easy. That was, that was a piece of cake. Just made it. It's great. And there's something 143 00:11:19,400 --> 00:11:23,760 for everybody. And I'm trying to hit home that it's hard to do it yourself. If you're 144 00:11:23,760 --> 00:11:29,120 going to you figure this out, a business entrepreneur, hobbyist, whatever you're doing with your 145 00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:34,560 podcast strategy really kind of should be having someone to at least guide you through 146 00:11:34,560 --> 00:11:39,120 this process if you want to succeed. Or you could just kind of stumble through it a couple 147 00:11:39,120 --> 00:11:42,680 of years, but that's not for everybody. Yeah. I mean, I always say like the, you know, the 148 00:11:42,680 --> 00:11:47,520 goal of being a mentor, hiring a strategist or a coach, like whatever term, you know, 149 00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:52,800 feels best for you is collapsing time. Right? So if you're to start a podcast on your own 150 00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:56,680 and you don't Google anything and you don't look up any YouTube videos and you don't leverage 151 00:11:56,680 --> 00:12:01,240 any resources, it's definitely going to take you longer than if you maybe got on YouTube 152 00:12:01,240 --> 00:12:05,280 and started, you know, watching a few videos. And so the whole point of having a business 153 00:12:05,280 --> 00:12:11,280 mentor or strategist who's or a podcast strategist who's done what you already want to do is 154 00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:15,480 they can, you know, cut out the mistakes that they made. And the idea there is that you 155 00:12:15,480 --> 00:12:21,120 don't end up making them. Right? So with anything that we do, there's so much free information 156 00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:26,520 that is so unbelievably helpful. But I strongly believe that, yeah, having a mentor, having 157 00:12:26,520 --> 00:12:31,320 a strategist, having someone to help you launch that idea out into the world, it's not going 158 00:12:31,320 --> 00:12:34,640 to save you all of your headaches. You're definitely still going to make a bunch of 159 00:12:34,640 --> 00:12:38,560 mistakes, but you'll also have someone to talk to when that happens, who's been in your 160 00:12:38,560 --> 00:12:41,080 shoes and who can guide you through it a little bit better. 161 00:12:41,080 --> 00:12:46,280 Pat you on the head, say they're there and then give you a swift pat on the rear end 162 00:12:46,280 --> 00:12:50,000 like the football coach does and say, see ya. Good luck. 163 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:55,120 Yeah, yeah. Go get a touchdown or sports points or whatever it is. 164 00:12:55,120 --> 00:13:00,480 Yeah, you're going to fail a million times, you know, and I think most people don't take 165 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:04,320 that into account when they launch something like a podcast or a digital product. I can't 166 00:13:04,320 --> 00:13:10,520 tell you how many failed podcasts I have. If you search my name on Spotify, I think 167 00:13:10,520 --> 00:13:16,120 there's like four or five in there that I launched and kind of gave up on and didn't 168 00:13:16,120 --> 00:13:19,520 go the way that I planned until we finally, you know, we have the one that we have today 169 00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:24,360 and it does really well and you know, the community loves it. But that took us a few 170 00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:29,280 rounds to get it right and to kind of get into a groove with it. So there's a lot of 171 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:32,960 failure involved in any success that you're going to have. 172 00:13:32,960 --> 00:13:38,120 I was going to say you're holding out on me on the gossip. All this stuff that you failed 173 00:13:38,120 --> 00:13:42,560 to mention that conveniently talking about now, but in all seriousness, I've had a ton 174 00:13:42,560 --> 00:13:47,760 of that stuff too. I talk about nerdy things or games or whatever is hot and cool or try 175 00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:52,840 different things that are kind of just fun and go, well, life changed or somebody gets 176 00:13:52,840 --> 00:13:56,880 married, somebody gets promotion, or you just say, I'm just going to shift course. And I 177 00:13:56,880 --> 00:14:01,480 guess the moral of the story is it's okay. You just, even though I really want to Google 178 00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:06,240 your name right now and search for all the failed podcasts because I love the gossip, 179 00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:10,440 it's good to hear that I'm not the only one that has failed attempts, if you will, in 180 00:14:10,440 --> 00:14:11,760 trying again. So it's cool. 181 00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:16,000 Yeah. And I think anyone you talk to that you look up to or has a business or a podcast 182 00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:21,600 or a product or anything really, anything in life that you deeply desire or you admire, 183 00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:26,160 they will tell you that they failed so many times trying to get there. And anybody who 184 00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:32,000 doesn't, I think that's a massive red flag. I think that's a red flag. We're like, it 185 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:35,400 was great. First time around. Run. 186 00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:39,680 Those sales system ads on Instagram. I've done this. I've done this a hundred million 187 00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:45,080 times. I have big muscles. Look at me be successful. I love those ads. They're entertaining for 188 00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:46,080 me. It's nice. 189 00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:50,980 Yeah. They are entertaining. I think advertising is a super funny part of this industry that 190 00:14:50,980 --> 00:14:57,360 keeps getting, I don't know about water, but more interesting. Yeah. 191 00:14:57,360 --> 00:15:01,280 So when you develop the interest, when you get the success going, I'm going to roll out 192 00:15:01,280 --> 00:15:06,120 the red carpet for you. Somebody is when you get that podcast going, how do you get there? 193 00:15:06,120 --> 00:15:10,120 What are some steps? What do you, what do you talk about? Maybe some systems, maybe 194 00:15:10,120 --> 00:15:15,240 we can implement how, how the courses work, whether it's nosebleeds or T swift ticket 195 00:15:15,240 --> 00:15:18,600 prices. It helped me understand that to get to that red carpet. 196 00:15:18,600 --> 00:15:24,080 Yeah. You know, I think it always starts with an idea. And the thing that I think a lot 197 00:15:24,080 --> 00:15:27,440 of people get tripped up on is thinking that they have nothing of value to talk about or 198 00:15:27,440 --> 00:15:33,280 to share, or, um, you know, they have no skills to create a course or to build a digital product 199 00:15:33,280 --> 00:15:39,040 around. And I always tell people to do a little bit of like internal market research in your 200 00:15:39,040 --> 00:15:43,320 life first and foremost, to kind of figure out what your topics are going to be or what 201 00:15:43,320 --> 00:15:48,600 people usually come to you for. So I'll often go, you know, when I first started in a task 202 00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:53,160 that all of our students do is I have them ask their friends and family, like, what do 203 00:15:53,160 --> 00:15:57,680 you, what do you value my opinion on? You know, what do you notice I light up when I 204 00:15:57,680 --> 00:16:02,600 talk about, what would you say are my strengths and my weaknesses? You know, and then doing 205 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:07,720 kind of like an audit in your life as well of what do people ask you questions about? 206 00:16:07,720 --> 00:16:11,640 Right. And what could you stay up all night reading books on or watching YouTube videos 207 00:16:11,640 --> 00:16:16,600 on or, uh, you know, what, what gets you going down a tick tock rabbit hole really well. 208 00:16:16,600 --> 00:16:22,120 Right. So the first thing is having that really valuable idea. And from that idea, can you 209 00:16:22,120 --> 00:16:27,800 find different unique perspectives or themes that you could create something like an entire 210 00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:33,320 show or like an entire course on? Right. So you've built up this anticipation whilst 211 00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:38,640 you're doing this research. And then the next element honestly is to sell it. So, you know, 212 00:16:38,640 --> 00:16:44,920 with a podcast, I would probably record my first one to five, maybe even one to 10 episodes 213 00:16:44,920 --> 00:16:48,760 first and foremost, just so that when you do launch, there's 10 episodes for people 214 00:16:48,760 --> 00:16:53,760 to watch and listen to, to get them hooked in and ready to be there, you know, and excited 215 00:16:53,760 --> 00:16:59,640 to keep continuing. And what that also does for you as the podcaster or as the business 216 00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:05,920 owner, um, is it also gives you space to maybe not record every single week like you need 217 00:17:05,920 --> 00:17:10,920 to. Right. So I made this mistake really big when I launched a YouTube channel was I only 218 00:17:10,920 --> 00:17:16,440 batched two YouTube videos. So I had two YouTube videos available for people to check out and 219 00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:22,000 listen to. And I planned on or watch, sorry, I plan on doing one every single week, but 220 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:27,080 as, because it was a new process for me, a new workflow, I had to record it, edit it, 221 00:17:27,080 --> 00:17:31,440 you know, do all these different things with it. It took more than a week for me to get 222 00:17:31,440 --> 00:17:37,040 a video out. And so if I had planned ahead and maybe batched five or six videos, I would 223 00:17:37,040 --> 00:17:41,720 have given myself more space to create those systems, to understand how long it takes to 224 00:17:41,720 --> 00:17:46,920 do things like that. Um, and probably wouldn't have been so, you know, stressed out trying 225 00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:52,720 to hit those deadlines every single week from a systems perspective, you really want to 226 00:17:52,720 --> 00:17:58,680 ask what are the things that I'm doing consistently and just document those from a, you know, 227 00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:04,960 step one to step 10 to step 20, whatever it is. So, you know, if you have a, for example, 228 00:18:04,960 --> 00:18:09,320 you're recording a guest episode, step one is finding a guest. Step two is reaching out 229 00:18:09,320 --> 00:18:14,760 to them. Step three is, uh, you know, sending them the link. Step four is making sure that 230 00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:19,440 they've submitted that information. Step five is getting that, uh, link to them before they 231 00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:24,120 join step six. We got to get on the podcast and record it. Step seven, we might have to 232 00:18:24,120 --> 00:18:29,000 do a little editing and we plug it in our podcast software. Then we schedule it out. 233 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:34,760 Right. And so with the systems and the automations and stuff like that, you want to write down 234 00:18:34,760 --> 00:18:40,560 what everything is step one to step Zed, however many steps there are. And then I like to go 235 00:18:40,560 --> 00:18:46,160 through and ask, do I need to do this or can my computer do this for me so that I'm taking 236 00:18:46,160 --> 00:18:51,160 myself out of the process as much as possible. And that's where we start to have, you know, 237 00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:55,520 businesses that become more sustainable or podcasts that become more sustainable when 238 00:18:55,520 --> 00:19:00,960 we can remove ourselves as much as possible from the actual process of getting something 239 00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:07,560 from a to Zed. Somebody has startup capital, which is like next to nothing or bleeding 240 00:19:07,560 --> 00:19:14,020 cash. How, how soon do you think it'd be good to push or getting assistance or getting those 241 00:19:14,020 --> 00:19:18,400 automations in? Should I do it from day one or if I absolutely zero, no chance I have 242 00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:23,260 to do everything in a small team of people, will that hinder my chances or should I try 243 00:19:23,260 --> 00:19:27,880 to plan ahead to get a budget to get help? Um, I think you should do it yourself for 244 00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:34,400 as long as possible. And that's a pretty controversial opinion. Um, I think especially in this space, 245 00:19:34,400 --> 00:19:38,720 a lot of people will tell you outsource if you don't love it outsource. Um, but I also 246 00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:46,080 deeply believe that like your podcast as a whole, let's say it becomes a show with, you 247 00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:51,020 know, a hundred thousand weekly downloads. You need to also make sure that when you have 248 00:19:51,020 --> 00:19:55,720 a team managing those hundred thousand downloads and those episodes creating that, that you 249 00:19:55,720 --> 00:20:00,600 can really understand every single part of the process so that you can ensure that quality 250 00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:05,840 is maintained throughout the whole thing. So if you outsource too soon, there's a chance 251 00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:11,160 that you're going to miss the opportunity to learn the key skills in the process. And 252 00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:17,360 therefore you might struggle to lead a team to that next level in the future. Right. Um, 253 00:20:17,360 --> 00:20:21,400 you know, there are so many cost effective ways that we can outsource things. For example, 254 00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:26,620 like the, you know, the tool that we're using right now, I'm sure it can be used to send 255 00:20:26,620 --> 00:20:31,300 reminder emails to your guests. Like I got one before this, right. Um, there was a link 256 00:20:31,300 --> 00:20:34,920 that you sent me where I can book things like that's an automation already in place. And 257 00:20:34,920 --> 00:20:40,000 it's like having a team member on your side. Um, and so you want to look for softwares 258 00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:44,680 and stuff like that, that you can invest in that are lower costs before you go and outsource 259 00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:50,760 to a person. Um, at least that's my philosophy personally. I got, I got one right on the 260 00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:58,720 Coraline checklist. Sweet. Fantastic. This is good. And so part of the design to sell 261 00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:04,940 is the podcast and that is designed to sell podcasts. There's a ton of explicit episodes. 262 00:21:04,940 --> 00:21:08,720 So I think that's just transparency and off the cuff stuff, meaning that it's not perfect 263 00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:13,760 and polishing and super scripted, which is nice because then I get the real deal. Uh, 264 00:21:13,760 --> 00:21:18,740 what's inside your mind, even though that could be a risky business to check in their Coraline, 265 00:21:18,740 --> 00:21:24,500 it's really good. But I, one caught me building a sustainable scalable business just for funsies. 266 00:21:24,500 --> 00:21:28,680 Could you kind of walk me through that? I've listened, but somebody else hasn't helped 267 00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:33,900 me get excited again. Yeah. I mean, I think that we are in a time and you know, for those 268 00:21:33,900 --> 00:21:38,440 of you guys who like, aren't super familiar with me, I deeply love technology. I love 269 00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:43,760 everything about analytics. I deeply love AI. I think AI is fascinating. I love the 270 00:21:43,760 --> 00:21:47,920 software that we're sitting on. You know, I really love social media. I think technology 271 00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:52,500 has done nothing but enhance our lives. And when it comes to building a sustainable business, 272 00:21:52,500 --> 00:21:57,400 one of the reasons why we can do that is because of technology. Um, and I always say, you know, 273 00:21:57,400 --> 00:22:03,200 it's never been easier and it's never been more cost effective to build a business than 274 00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:07,420 it is today. It's the easiest it's ever been to build a website. It's the easiest it's 275 00:22:07,420 --> 00:22:11,980 ever been to build a course. It's the easiest it's ever been to market your business. It's 276 00:22:11,980 --> 00:22:17,140 the easiest it's ever been to automate things. It's the easiest it's ever been to sell products 277 00:22:17,140 --> 00:22:23,540 on the internet, you know, and that's a really big piece of building a business that is sustainable. 278 00:22:23,540 --> 00:22:27,140 You know, I think the other element that kind of goes into sustainability is simplicity. 279 00:22:27,140 --> 00:22:32,500 And I think a lot of people over complicate business, especially for podcasting, like, 280 00:22:32,500 --> 00:22:37,260 especially in the first one to three years of business, we think if I have more products 281 00:22:37,260 --> 00:22:42,500 and if I have more offers and if I have, you know, a more complex website, then it's my 282 00:22:42,500 --> 00:22:47,980 business is going to grow. And it's the exact opposite of that. So a sustainable business 283 00:22:47,980 --> 00:22:54,260 is really a very simple one with a very clear direction that you can really optimize and 284 00:22:54,260 --> 00:23:00,020 optimize and optimize for over time. I've seen a lot of businesses fizzle out because 285 00:23:00,020 --> 00:23:04,500 they over complicate it, right? They have one really great product, that product is 286 00:23:04,500 --> 00:23:09,760 doing extraordinarily well, it's selling extraordinarily well. And instead of continuing to focus on 287 00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:13,980 selling that product to more people, they build a different product where they, you 288 00:23:13,980 --> 00:23:18,820 know, they go and focus in a different direction. And I always say that, you know, your business 289 00:23:18,820 --> 00:23:22,940 is trying to tell you what it needs to be sustainable and to grow. You just have to 290 00:23:22,940 --> 00:23:25,980 look at the information, you have to look at the data, you have to look at your metrics, 291 00:23:25,980 --> 00:23:32,140 you have to know your numbers. And that stuff is also super, super easy to find, and not 292 00:23:32,140 --> 00:23:37,340 hard to digest because of some of the tools that we have today. Right. So sustainability 293 00:23:37,340 --> 00:23:44,420 really comes down to keeping it as simple as humanly possible, leveraging as much tech 294 00:23:44,420 --> 00:23:49,940 as you humanly can so that your profit margin is still high, right? So we're not, we're 295 00:23:49,940 --> 00:23:54,620 not looking to have massive teams, we're not looking to, you know, have the most expensive 296 00:23:54,620 --> 00:23:59,660 consultants, you know, we're really looking at how can I keep my expenses as low as possible 297 00:23:59,660 --> 00:24:03,500 so that my profits can be as high as possible? And how can I stay really, really, really 298 00:24:03,500 --> 00:24:07,340 focused on the one thing that I really, really want to do? 299 00:24:07,340 --> 00:24:14,380 I heard about a popular podcaster that interviewed Drake and Mark Cuban, but she's done about 300 00:24:14,380 --> 00:24:19,940 six or seven podcasts so far. And she's in heavy debt. She isn't making any money even 301 00:24:19,940 --> 00:24:24,540 from just ad sponsorship because she's flying around doing all these things, living a baller 302 00:24:24,540 --> 00:24:28,500 life, but she's not keeping it simple. So you have these big names, but you're like, 303 00:24:28,500 --> 00:24:32,620 well, it might fizzle out because I'm going to run out of cash because I'm first class 304 00:24:32,620 --> 00:24:36,900 everywhere to meet up with these celebrities. That's not going to work, is it? 305 00:24:36,900 --> 00:24:42,540 Well, I mean, it's one of those super interesting things where the celebrity names obviously 306 00:24:42,540 --> 00:24:49,900 bring clout and obviously are going to bring eyeballs and attention. And attention is our 307 00:24:49,900 --> 00:24:56,460 most sought after commodity. I think in 2023, that's the thing that every tech company 308 00:24:56,460 --> 00:25:00,460 in the world is fighting for. That's the thing that every advertiser in the world is fighting 309 00:25:00,460 --> 00:25:06,220 for is attention. So it's a challenging question to answer because on the one hand, she's definitely 310 00:25:06,220 --> 00:25:11,020 gaining attention. But we don't know at this point if that attention is going to be enough 311 00:25:11,020 --> 00:25:15,860 to have her business turn a profit in the long run or if she's going to continue to 312 00:25:15,860 --> 00:25:21,180 be in the hole. To me, I mean, you can look at businesses like Airbnb. They've never 313 00:25:21,180 --> 00:25:25,860 once turned a profit, not a profitable company by any means. It doesn't mean that they're 314 00:25:25,860 --> 00:25:30,900 not a company. That doesn't mean that they're not huge, but they don't turn a profit. To 315 00:25:30,900 --> 00:25:36,500 me, if you don't turn a profit, then why are you in business? Right? Like that's the monetary 316 00:25:36,500 --> 00:25:41,380 side of things is part of the reason, especially as small business owners and entrepreneurs, 317 00:25:41,380 --> 00:25:47,180 why we start a business is because there's a financial opportunity there for us to detach 318 00:25:47,180 --> 00:25:53,260 ourselves from the typical nine to five. So I mean, time has yet to tell us if she's going 319 00:25:53,260 --> 00:25:59,020 to be able to turn the ship around. But I think history will tell us that it's probably 320 00:25:59,020 --> 00:26:02,060 going to take her a little bit longer than she thinks. 321 00:26:02,060 --> 00:26:06,900 People are probably taking side bets by now. The cruel world of behind the scenes, right? 322 00:26:06,900 --> 00:26:10,580 The bookies are getting out and playing it up, but hopefully for her sake, she makes 323 00:26:10,580 --> 00:26:11,580 it. 324 00:26:11,580 --> 00:26:15,020 Yeah, I think so too. 100%. Yeah. 325 00:26:15,020 --> 00:26:20,780 So you have a lot of systems in place. You have a lot of ideas. You have the home of 326 00:26:20,780 --> 00:26:25,140 a design to sell. I think we're doing okay. I think we're going to give people a chance 327 00:26:25,140 --> 00:26:29,660 to get moving, especially if they come to you, Coraline, your partner saying, I need 328 00:26:29,660 --> 00:26:34,340 a little help to get launch ready. And if you forgot your digital home is Coraline, 329 00:26:34,340 --> 00:26:38,500 we can get to the show notes and description, have all that good stuff, make sure that people 330 00:26:38,500 --> 00:26:41,940 are doing the linky links and clicking, make sure they know where to go if they need the 331 00:26:41,940 --> 00:26:44,340 help. So thank you. This has been awesome. 332 00:26:44,340 --> 00:26:47,500 Thank you so much for having me. 333 00:26:47,500 --> 00:27:09,820 Thank you so much for having me.