In 2013, I had found the podcast, The Lifestyle Entrepreneur by Kris Gilbertson, and became obsessed with listening every chance I had. I was kind of early for podcasting and hearing about lifestyle entrepreneurs and it was basically the only place I could get my fill! (I had to look that up to remember the name!) On my list of 2014 Goals, #8 was start a Podcast, and by Summer 2014, my furthered goal was “Podcast Equipment.” In 2015 I had written down my Podcast plan and potential website names. In 2016 the goal evolved to recording 50 episodes. So, I started recording in June of 2016 and launched in August of 2016 with a once a week podcast. Now we’re here, exactly two years from when I recorded my first episode with some local business people in Jackson Hole, recording my own 100th episode.
Before now, looking back I always thought I should have done the process a lot faster, but with a little more grace towards myself, I’m revising that thinking. To be fair, I was alone in a new state, with a fresh degree in fashion design, working in Fashion, creating art shows, and wanting to develop a podcast on the side. In recent years, online stuff has gotten way more intense and in your face (although this may be because I’m in the space a lot more). Today people basically say if you aren’t creating a podcast within a week, you’re falling behind. That mentality held me captive a lot during the last few years. Thoughts that if I wasn’t doing enough as soon as possible, I was losing out on money, losing out on furthering a potential career, and just plain losing in general. I don’t know about you, but to me, it always seems that people are doing things before me every time and I have to race to catch up, or else buy their program to get fast results.
In short, what I learned from 100 podcasts is not some amazing one-liners from guests, or how to build the perfect business, but more little things. Things like becoming a better listener, accepting that there’s a lot more than one way to reach a goal, and being proud to show what I’m doing.
As much work as the podcast takes, I actually stayed away from promoting it for a long time. Instead of thinking about who could benefit from it, I thought about what I might be saying wrong, or things I say that people might find annoying. I didn’t want to advertise something they might not like. By doing this, I actually was hurting everyone, not giving them a chance to hear episodes that I put my heart and soul into. I was so focused on consistently putting out an episode every week (to stay with my goal) that I lost the big picture of what I was actually doing! If you’re working on a project right now, share the in-between moments. The times when things don’t go right, or when you’re frustrated, as it makes the end goal a lot more special.
Through the years, I’ve evolved in the podcasts I like to listen to. A few favorites have been: Smart Passive Income Podcast, Tim Ferriss Show, GaryVee Audio Experience, Goal Digger podcast, School of Greatness. Each show is good for different reasons, although I must say I’ve learned the most about Podcasting from Tim Ferriss – who likes to break things down to a molecular level and explore why and how to achieve optimal results. He’s studied podcasting techniques which is a lot about asking the right questions, getting the show to flow, getting people to open up, and being a good listener. If any of you are avid podcast listeners, I’m guessing you notice the people who use phrases like “I love it!” or “That’s amazing” or “Interesting…” Basically fillers in times where you haven’t thought quick enough of anything else to say. Now I notice things like this a lot more often (which is sort of annoying ha!) but also helps me notice it in myself. Becoming a better conversationalist is usually just about being interested and asking better, deeper questions. It requires that you open up maybe more than you usually do, and also stay quieter than maybe you want to. Some quick tips are to allow for silence, be the first one to say something vulnerable, and listen instead of thinking about the next question.
Another huge thing learned from podcasting and more specifically, the things I talk about pertaining to running your own business is that you can succeed in lots of different ways. Every time someone says they’ve found the recipe to success, someone else that’s incredibly successful comes along and didn’t do or isn’t doing any of the same things. I spent a lot of episodes talking about productivity and morning routines, and to be honest, though I think they can be helpful, I really don’t think they’re necessary. I was pleased to hear my favorite artist in the world, Gemma O’Brien, tell me that her extensive art and travel life doesn’t include solid routines, but just trying to fit in a run and having a nice breakfast outside when she’s home. I spent way too many days beating myself up for not doing the 10 things you are supposed to do when you wake up, finally to find out that giving myself a break feels a lot better and starts me off on a great note. I do think that there are ways to get successful more quickly, and that’s what I try to help with on this Podcast, showing how people are doing awesome things and you can too, but if I had to boil it down to one thing, I would say it’s the people you hang out with. To be cliche, who are the 5 people you are chillen with and chatting with the most? Are they people you are aspiring to be or would be happy to trade places with? If they aren’t, it’s as simple as finding people that are those type of people and that will help you achieve what you want.
To jump to something a little more lighthearted, I want to point out a few moments from the last Hundred episodes that I think are worth revisiting!
Ep. 6: Everything starts with a dream or vision of what you want to do. It doesn’t even have to be in the realm of what’s possible, it’s just What am I passionate about? Being okay with not knowing the outcome. It will make you more creative, innovative, more engaging in life. It’s as simple as not booking every hotel before you take your next vacation. Where are you most comfortable and how can you shift that to be more spontaneous. -Tim
Ep. 12: You’ve gotta understand that Passion is what fuels success and you can’t be successful without putting passion out there. You’re gonna make mistakes and you’ve gotta be okay with it, and learn from them. – Roy
Ep. 14: It’s not enough to care about something, you’ve gotta care deeply about something. -Becky
Ep. 16: People live in so much fear and you have to let go of the fear, you have to do whatever it takes, whether it’s reading books, going to church, surrounding yourself with people that are going to be your cheerleaders in life, you have to expel the fear. Forget the people that say no you can’t do this and forget the people who stand in the way of your vision. -Dianna
Ep. 18: The biggest mistake people make is they say: I wanna make a bunch of money. And they launch something they aren’t very passionate about, it isn’t solving a problem or engaging their soul. There’s no purpose or mission besides financial gain, and they quickly realize building a business is so hard, they give up because they don’t have a driving purpose. Successful entrepreneurs are purpose driven. -Mike
Ep. 24: Think, what does someone around you have problem-wise that you can help? Start small, and then continue to solve bigger problems, and make a bigger impact. Think big and start small. – Phat
Ep. 26: When you give away, you get more. Give all that you have, you can impact all people. – Thip
Ep. 28: It starts with what you choose your attitude to be every morning. You get to choose how enthusiastic you’re gonna be, helpful you’re gonna be, how you’re gonna react to situations. If you follow your dreams and passions, it will rub off on the people around you, on strangers, it will impact the world one person at a time. Giving everyone your best version and being super positive. -Julie
Ep. 46: I didn’t wait for the passion to hit me, I took action on the things on the things I wanted to change in the world, and more passion came in the process. By pursuing a purpose, you’ll become more passionate.
Ep. 54: Keeping an open mind, by doing things I might not normally do, there’s always a way to do something. Maybe it’s not as easy as you want it to be but you can get it done. Always give it an effort so you don’t look back and regret things. Just go out there and give it 100%. – Greg
Ep. 61: It’s all about embracing a dream regardless of what people tell you and finding the people who will support you. Everyone in life needs their own Mt. Everest, and for me, it was Mt. Everest, but for others it might be a triathlon, canoeing down the river, or whatever, setting a goal whatever that is, training hard, starting the day and not knowing how it’s going to end. – Ellen
Ep. 63: You gotta make that snap decision and just do it. – Sri Lankans
Ep. 69: Are you trying to do something for every single person in the world, or those few specific people that need what you have to offer (every single company isn’t helping everyone)
Ep. 83: How often do we allow ourselves to be influenced by what we think we should be doing instead of following what you love to do and your passion. Be willing to take a chance and listen to your passion – the you that only you know. -Bubba
Ep. 87: Acting with intention. Don’t just roll into your day and react to what happens. If you think about what you’re grateful for and decide on the feelings you want to feel, it makes a difference. Whenever I look at people I smile, whenever I walk into a room, I try to engage folks. If we don’t prime ourselves, there’s too much distraction out there. -Christian
Ep. 98: You can be successful at anything if it aligns with your passions. If you aren’t 100% sold out on what you want to do, you won’t be able to sustain because after the initial hype, eventually, you have to dig in deep to what you believe and what your passions are and continue from there. -Amber
And as always, have the best day ever!!!
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