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Hustleburg Episode 43 – Interview with My Mathematical Mind’s Deborah Peart #BlackWomenRockMath

“If not me, then who?”

Most people don’t actually hate math, rather they hate the bad experiences they’ve had with math as it’s been presented to them. Deborah Peart of My Mathematical Mind works with teachers and students who feel like they just “aren’t math people” to develop lasting positive math identities, and improve achievement in mathematics. Often, it’s a matter of not having questions answered, as Deborah experienced in her early childhood education, which silences the student as their curiosity and interest is dampened.

My Mathematical Mind's Deborah Peart

“Why Are Your Students so Excited About Math?”

When your peers in the education field ask you that question, you know you’re doing something right. Whether it’s the one-on-one coaching with elementary school-aged students, mentorship with educators, or the scholarship and public speaking on the subject, My Mathematical Mind offers the tools to create and nurture educational environments that grow confidence around mathematics.

Grow Your and your Child’s Confidence Around Mathematics

Connect with My Mathematical Mind:

Website
Twitter
LinkedIn
Read about guiding students to a healthy math identity

Get Engagement Training in Your Inbox Now

If you’re not satisfied with the social media results you’re getting, Beyond Your Side Hustle offers this training via email.

Find out more about Beyond Your Side Hustle here:

Website
Hustleburg Listener Community on LinkedIn
Beyond Your Side Hustle on LinkedIn
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
Brett’s LinkedIn

If you enjoyed what you heard in this episode, please take a moment to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast on your favorite player. Each episode is available on its own post, with the entire catalog here. It’s available on Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsSpotify, or your favorite podcast catcher. We listen to this show and our favorites on Castbox. It’s hosted by Podbean. We appreciate your attention, and we can’t wait to have you back for the next episode. 

Be a Guest on Hustleburg

If you have any questions you’d like to have answered on an upcoming Q&A episode, please take a moment to visit beyondyoursidehustle.com/podcastquestion and ask there. If you’re a St. Pete businessperson who’d like to sit down for an interview, please reach out to us here

Hustleburg Episode 42 – Answering Your Self-Care Questions

This episode is a Q&A episode answering questions from you about taking care of yourself while being an entrepreneur working on your business. At the beginning, you’ll get the lowdown on what to expect for episodes of the podcast and our social media presence for the upcoming Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, as well as find out about our first video episodes. 

You can subscribe to YouTube to get them on their early release schedule, starting in December.

It Can’t Be Hustle All The Time

One of the biggest flexes from entrepreneurs is that they are CONSTANTLY “on the grind.” A key component of content marketing success is the consistency of your content creation. Consistency is valuable, as is being able to unplug from time to time. When you can plan your breaks from consistent practice and make known the deviation from the standard, you offer your community an adjustment. 

If you’re an extrovert like me, you are energized by your interactions with others. The holidays present an opportunity to re-connect with those who don’t get as much of your attention when you’re “on,” as well as recharge yourself with the love and quality time spent with your loved ones, deepening your connection with them. 

We’ve all seen someone preoccupied with their cell phone, rather than engaging with the people around them. Obviously, in 2020 we’ve had to reexamine and retool our work lives to fit the framework we find ourselves in, and as we discussed in the bonus episode released toward the beginning of the pandemic shutdowns, it’s important that we maintain separate “work” time from the rest of our time. Really, it’s about making sure you aren’t sleepwalking through the relationships you have with the most important people in your life as a sacrifice to what you do, especially when that scrolling and app-checking isn’t actually productive time spent.

Taking Proper Care of Yourself

We’ve all heard the sage wisdom from those wise flight attendants, who remind us before every take-off to affix our own mask before attempting to help someone else, and that’s an attitude that many entrepreneurs who are always going, going, going should adopt. First, sleep. Sleep is necessary. It is healthy, and it’s rejuvenating. Sleep spurs creativity. Sleep improves your performance. There cannot possibly be something of value you gain for your business by denying your body its natural recharging activity constantly. Take a moment and imagine if you put your cell phone through its paces without putting it on the charger. You need to serve yourself before you can serve others.

There’s more to your overall well-being than just sleep and energy, and you should be investing in yours to be the most effective at what you do. Dr. Jenna Elwart noted in Episode 23 of this podcast, there is a benefit to taking a holistic approach to work on all the interdependent aspects of what makes up each of us. We should be ensuring that we stay physically active through exercise and activities that enrich our bodies, eat well, and get the right amount of sleep. One thing that really helps me stay at peak productivity and separate aspects of my life is meditation. It serves as a sort of bridge between “work” time and “play” time.

Personally, I find myself far more engaged, effective, and efficient in all that I do and am when I work on the totality of my well-being. 

How Can You Do All of That?

I’m sure you’re a busy person, and you’re probably asking yourself (and me, by extension) how you can fit all of that in, when you’re working, building your business, participating in hobbies, and spending time with your family. Stop letting others dictate their action item or to-do list to them and create their own, focusing on what is important to their success. I found one thing that helped me be at my most productive at work, no matter the job, and that was to “batch” my work. Focus on doing one thing at a time. Even brief mental blocks created by shifting between tasks can cost as much as 40 percent of someone’s productive time. 

Often, you think that you can manage your time better by taking every single thing you “have to” do and scheduling them. Forget prioritizing your schedule. Schedule your priorities. 

Get Engagement Training in Your Inbox Now

If you’re not satisfied with the social media results you’re getting, Beyond Your Side Hustle offers this training via email.

Find out more about Beyond Your Side Hustle here:

Website
Hustleburg Listener Community on LinkedIn
Beyond Your Side Hustle on LinkedIn
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
Brett’s LinkedIn

If you enjoyed what you heard in this episode, please take a moment to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast on your favorite player. Each episode is available on its own post, with the entire catalog here. It’s available on Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsSpotify, or your favorite podcast catcher. We listen to this show and our favorites on Castbox. It’s hosted by Podbean. We appreciate your attention, and we can’t wait to have you back for the next episode. 

Be a Guest on Hustleburg

If you have any questions you’d like to have answered on an upcoming Q&A episode, please take a moment to visit beyondyoursidehustle.com/podcastquestion and ask there. If you’re a St. Pete businessperson who’d like to sit down for an interview, please reach out to us here

Hustleburg Episode 41 – Interview with The Body Electric’s Katelyn Grady

“It’s a More Spectacular Way to Connect With People.”

Much like yoga’s ability to merge our bodies and our minds, in this episode The Body Electric Yoga and Athletic Company‘s Katelyn Grady shares how she and her partner Jenny Miller found how they could combine their passion for mindful fitness and their careers. Studying spirituality and philosophy in college, Katelyn sought to share that knowledge and way of living with as many people as possible. Once she found that could pursue her passion as her work, the yoga studio was born.

The Body Electric Yoga and Athletic Companies

“Your Light Lights Other People Up.”

Motivated to light up as many others as possible, the pair grew The Body Electric beyond the studio, reaching out in the community with free classes at the Sundial, the Pier, and throughout St. Pete to get their name and their style of practice into the minds and bodies of the yoga community. In early 2020, they expanded to include the offerings of a “baby gym,” bringing the same approach to fitness workouts that they used for yoga practice. As with most small businesses in 2020, the name of the game has been to pivot to find a sustainable model going forward. 

In this episode, Katelyn mentions that every Saturday at 2 PM, The Body Electric partners with the Urban Yoga Foundation for the People’s Practice, a “pay what you can” practice that benefits the foundation.

BE Mindful, BE Fit, BE Active

Connect with The Body Electric:

Website
Yoga Facebook
Athletic Facebook
Yoga Instagram
Athletic Instagram
YouTube
BE App iOS
BE App Android
See Their Yelp! Reviews
(727) 490-9361
Katelyn on Instagram
Jenny on Instagram

Get Engagement Training in Your Inbox Now

If you’re not satisfied with the social media results you’re getting, Beyond Your Side Hustle offers this training via email.

Find out more about Beyond Your Side Hustle here:

Website
Hustleburg Listener Community on LinkedIn
Beyond Your Side Hustle on LinkedIn
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
Brett’s LinkedIn

If you enjoyed what you heard in this episode, please take a moment to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast on your favorite player. Each episode is available on its own post, with the entire catalog here. It’s available on Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsSpotify, or your favorite podcast catcher. We listen to this show and our favorites on Castbox. It’s hosted by Podbean. We appreciate your attention, and we can’t wait to have you back for the next episode. 

Be a Guest on Hustleburg

If you have any questions you’d like to have answered on an upcoming Q&A episode, please take a moment to visit beyondyoursidehustle.com/podcastquestion and ask there. If you’re a St. Pete businessperson who’d like to sit down for an interview, please reach out to us here

The Interview Went Well, Now What?

You really knocked it out of the park with your interview! THAT. IS. AWESOME.

Now that the interview is complete, you’ll want people to listen to what you had to say, right? You wouldn’t want all the work you’ve done thus far to be for nothing. After all, your pitch e-mail or one-sheet should offer your help in promoting your episode to your community, so your job isn’t quite over yet. 

Help Promote the Show with Your Community

You should ask the podcast host or producer how they promote each episode of the podcast to make sure your efforts will complement theirs.

Network podcasts will often have a marketing team that pushes all of the network’s shows and episodes through their own marketing sequence. Independent creators will typically promote their own work, relying on their community to spread the word. This often means a push on social media or through their mailing list to bring attention to each episode they publish. Regardless, you’ll want to know what to expect to see to amplify their efforts to promote your appearance.

Whether independent or on a network, ask someone on the podcast team what that process is like: what platforms they use, when promotion for an upcoming episode begins, and how long it typically runs after each show publishes. Make sure the people who need to know have all your social media handles, so they can tag or mention you in each post. It will help better expose their community to you and your brand.

A day or two before you expect their promotional efforts to begin, you should share a post on a shared social media outlet, tagging or mentioning them in a post about how excited you are for your upcoming appearance or how much fun you had recording it. This increases the likelihood of immersing yourself in their community, by having your post retweeted or shared from THEIR social media to kick off the promotion of your appearance on the show.

Generally speaking, your efforts in promoting your appearance are better spent directly sharing their post talking about you, rather than creating your own content about it. By retweeting on Twitter or sharing their Facebook or LinkedIn posts to your own community, you help their posts gain further exposure, while also promoting yourself. 

If you find that their process is lacking in any way, don’t be afraid to step up your own promotion to drive listeners to the episode.

Forward Their Email

If they utilize a mailing list to update listeners, you have another opportunity to help promote your appearance. If the service they use provides a built-in forwarding mechanism, use it to send their promotional e-mail to your family and friends, most engaged community members, and internally within your business. If their service doesn’t, just forward it along with a personal note to those same stakeholders in your success. 

Refer Future Guests

If you look back fondly on your experience, definitely connect future guests with the podcast team. A glowing review or recommendation from you will offer future guests a preview of the experiences, outcomes, and networks their appearance can provide them as well. The team will appreciate your referrals, because podcast creators are almost always “on the hunt” for guests.

If your suggestions work out well, you are probably going to be invited back to appear again without all the hassle of research and preparation. It could even lead to a recurring guest spot.

I did this exact thing with two radio stations before moving to Saint Petersburg. I started out as a first-time guest, became a repeat guest after sending more their way, and both offered to have me on for a weekly spot to build my profile with their already-built community and share my areas of focus FOR FREE. 

Speak Well of Them

Believe it or not, podcast creators talk among each other. The more popular the show is, the more connections each host and producer has with other podcasts. Like I was taught, if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all. 

Finally, you should include this guest appearance to your website or blog, as well as an update to your one-sheet.

Hustleburg Episode 40 – Answering Your Questions About “Racing to the Top”

This episode is a Q&A episode answering questions from you about “Racing to the Top” with your business. Instead of treating what you do like a commodity and continually racing to the bottom, here’s how you can race to the top!

What Do You Mean By “Race to the Top”?

When you starting a business, many entrepreneurs make decisions about who they’ll serve. If you try to serve the masses right away, you’re sitting there with your fingers crossed that you will become an overnight success. I hate to break it to you, but there is no such thing as an overnight success. We shouldn’t race to the bottom by trying to find advantages to exploit the status quo. We shouldn’t compete on price, location, or speed, because someone can always do it cheaper, closer, or faster. Compete by adding more value for your customer than the price they pay.

Find Your Community

“People like us do things like this.” — Seth Godin

The people like us are the people around us who see some aspect of the world similarly or who have similar experiences to ours. We encounter others through these early community connections that bring them into a similar orbit that find themselves drawn to our shared experiences, and we find that they also encounter many of the same problems we do. When you solve a problem of this community, you’re adding value to their lives. You have just found the smallest viable audience. You’re solving problems, and in return, they are paying you for it. They are the first to have their problem solved by you, and you serve them well. They tell others they know that have similar issues needing to be solved… Other people like us. They all had this problem but you solved it. I bet you can solve it for others too with this thing. The thing like this.

Brand as Reputation

The bottom line when it comes to brand is that it’s not your name, a logo, or a sign. Your brand is the reputation that others have about you and your business. When you’re starting out, your reputation is a blank slate. You have no experience, but also you have no baggage. Through time, your experience grows, and your reputation will as well. Like attracts like, and your reputation spreads, and you end up with a clientele that expects that from you and will act accordingly.

Kill Them With Kindness

What if I told you that there is one thing that you can focus on in your business that will set you apart from everyone else in your industry, make you the talk of the town, and make your brand such that you get the best customers to join your community? No matter what business you’re in, if you focus on kindness in every interaction you will have an amazing advantage that can’t be surpassed or undercut. When you focus on kindness, you add so much value in every interaction that the rest of your brand identity and reputation dovetail around it. 

The best part? Kindness is free.

Don’t let that price tag fool you about the value of it.

Get Engagement Training in Your Inbox Now

If you’re not satisfied with the social media results you’re getting, Beyond Your Side Hustle offers this training via email.

Find out more about Beyond Your Side Hustle here:

Website
Hustleburg Listener Community on LinkedIn
Beyond Your Side Hustle on LinkedIn
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
Brett’s LinkedIn

If you enjoyed what you heard in this episode, please take a moment to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast on your favorite player. Each episode is available on its own post, with the entire catalog here. It’s available on Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsSpotify, or your favorite podcast catcher. We listen to this show and our favorites on Castbox. It’s hosted by Podbean. We appreciate your attention, and we can’t wait to have you back for the next episode. 

Be a Guest on Hustleburg

If you have any questions you’d like to have answered on an upcoming Q&A episode, please take a moment to visit beyondyoursidehustle.com/podcastquestion and ask there. If you’re a St. Pete businessperson who’d like to sit down for an interview, please reach out to us here

Hustleburg Episode 39 – Interview with Psalms’ Gourmet Brittle’s Psalms Mack and Carlton Owens

“It’s Been Prepared with Love, Caring, and Blessings”

With their gourmet brittle in over 30 locations through Saint Petersburg, it’s hard to find someone who hasn’t tried Psalms’ Gourmet Brittle. Who hasn’t seen their kiosk during the holidays at Tyrone Square Mall or found their brittle at Mazzaro’s and Rollin’ Oats?

In this episode of Hustleburg, Psalms herself, joined by her son Carlton Owens, share their story behind the creation and operation of their family business. Starting with baking peanut brittle during the holidays for friends and family to expanding beyond the traditional into brittle with pecans, mixed nuts, almonds, and other specialty, made-to-order options, they are spreading the Psalms’ love with this tasty treat throughout the ‘Burg.

Psalms' Gourmet Brittle on display

Break Off a Piece of their Gourmet Brittle

Connect with Psalms to find out where, when, and how you can get some yum:

Website
Shop Their Online Store
Facebook
Instagram
E-Mail
727-201-3371

Get Engagement Training in Your Inbox Now

If you’re not satisfied with the social media results you’re getting, Beyond Your Side Hustle offers this training via email.

Find out more about Beyond Your Side Hustle here:

Website
Hustleburg Listener Community on LinkedIn
Beyond Your Side Hustle on LinkedIn
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
Brett’s LinkedIn

If you enjoyed what you heard in this episode, please take a moment to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast on your favorite player. Each episode is available on its own post, with the entire catalog here. It’s available on Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsSpotify, or your favorite podcast catcher. We listen to this show and our favorites on Castbox. It’s hosted by Podbean. We appreciate your attention, and we can’t wait to have you back for the next episode. 

Be a Guest on Hustleburg

If you have any questions you’d like to have answered on an upcoming Q&A episode, please take a moment to visit beyondyoursidehustle.com/podcastquestion and ask there. If you’re a St. Pete businessperson who’d like to sit down for an interview, please reach out to us here

Hustleburg Episode 38 – Answering Your Content Creation Questions

This episode is a Q&A episode with questions from you about creating content for your business. In the first podcast Q&A episode, I seem to have struck a chord with many of you, as many of you have been asking questions about content creation generally and pillar content specifically. This episode is for you!

There is No Such Thing As Too Much Content

I’ve often been quoted as saying there is no such thing as too much content. We aren’t going to be creating content for the sake of creating content. Everything that you create needs to add value for your community and it needs to be a part of The Five, your five focus areas for content. This isn’t as tough as it may seem.

Here’s the good news: Each tweet you send, each link you share on Facebook, each photo you post to Instagram, and each video you share on TikTok is a piece of content. If you have a podcast, you can re-purpose it by slicing and dicing audio clips, create memes of important quotes within the episode, use your show notes to create blog posts, and record not just audio, but video to create for YouTube. You can also ask your community to create their own content around their vision and use for what you do. Look around. There are a ton of aspects to your business and your life that you’ve never shared with the community you’ve created.

  1. Re-use your content with context – Use content on multiple platforms, creating multiple posts using the same words, images, videos, etc. The key thing to think about here is context, not simply cross-posting
  2. Re-purpose pillar content – Have a long-form evergreen piece of content that you can break down and re-purpose into multiple pieces of content. White papers, podcasts, videos, and webinars can be very helpful here. 
  3. Ask for user-generated content – Engage your community and have them create content for you. Your many fans and followers are definitely willing to share their ideas, create content that you ask for, or even create content for your business without anything more than an ask.
  4. Document your life – Use your daily routine and the activities of your to create content around your business. Treat your life like you’re on a reality show and share the results.

Re-Use Content Across Platforms with Context

The REASON behind your post and the value you bring to the community on THAT platform make up your context. Also, your content can’t be about your calls to action. It should be about adding value to your community. With all this in mind, you can’t increase your content creation by simply cross-posting your Instagram photos to Facebook, which they’ve made super easy to do with only a slide of the switch. Your community on each platform expects something different from you, because they interact with you on THAT platform, not to be a part of a marketing effort. The key is to treat each post as an individual piece of content and craft it as such. You’re reaching out to two or three different audiences on each of the platforms you share it, so you need to consider each of them differently.

There is a TON of content out there, waiting to be consumed. So, you have to be great to reach people where they are and engage them. So, DEFINITELY post that photo across every platform you use, but only do so if you can offer something different to each audience that consumes it.

Re-Purpose Pillar Content

It’s easier to re-purpose content and make derivative pieces when you have a pillar content piece to draw from. A podcast episode, white paper, keynote address, meeting notes, and instructional videos can all turn into several other pieces of content aside from their initial purpose when published. It could be all of these can be broken up into 3-4 blog posts on your website. You can then slice them up further using some of the ideas we outlined earlier in the episode to create even more content for social. This content on social media will drive your existing community toward your other work, and you’ll be able to deepen your already-existing connection with those that carry over. 

Engage Your Community for User-Generated Content

Take some of the pressure off by getting your community to create content for you. Whether video, photo, or written work, featuring user-generated content will not only ease your mind about creating enough content, featuring how your community uses your product or service will highlight them. Reach out to your customers to create content for you, based on how they interact with what you do. Your team is second, only to you, in being an expert in what you do, and they may have helpful tips, hacks, or suggestions to make what you do even better for your clients. Focus some of your user-generated content on the people you do business with. This is an easy way to engage your community, both internally and externally, to make content for you. Sounds like a win-win.

Document Your Life

It may not seem like it right now, but by the end of this episode, inspiration will spark you to realize how interesting you are and how interesting what you do is to other people. We love to look at what others do, think, and surround themselves with when it’s not like us or obvious to us. Right now, you could probably create 100 pieces of content based on your view, your desk set up, the tools you use and how you use them, and your calendar. 

Like the environment you find boring, your process may seem to be as well, but there will be an audience ready to get a glimpse of how something works or how you get from raw materials to finished product.

We come to care about those we know. Even if we’ve never met, we want to know about the people we interact with. 

Documenting is easier than creating, and it’s just as interesting.

Get Engagement Training in Your Inbox Now

If you’re not satisfied with the social media results you’re getting, Beyond Your Side Hustle offers this training via email.

Find out more about Beyond Your Side Hustle here:

Website
Hustleburg Listener Community on LinkedIn
Beyond Your Side Hustle on LinkedIn
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
Brett’s LinkedIn

If you enjoyed what you heard in this episode, please take a moment to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast on your favorite player. Each episode is available on its own post, with the entire catalog here. It’s available on Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsSpotify, or your favorite podcast catcher. We listen to this show and our favorites on Castbox. It’s hosted by Podbean. We appreciate your attention, and we can’t wait to have you back for the next episode. 

Be a Guest on Hustleburg

If you have any questions you’d like to have answered on an upcoming Q&A episode, please take a moment to visit beyondyoursidehustle.com/podcastquestion and ask there. If you’re a St. Pete businessperson who’d like to sit down for an interview, please reach out to us here

Hustleburg Episode 37 – Interview with St. PetersBARK!’s Krista Schmidt

“You Are What You Eat… For Our Pets as Well”

With so many options for feeding our pets, enriching their lives with a quality food that can promote good health, Krista Schmidt seeks to share natural pet foods with the pet community of Saint Petersburg. She created St. PetersBARK!, a pet market offering a full-scale selection of healthy dog and cat provisions paired with incredible customer service. Today, the pet market is packed with hand-selected natural food (whether raw, kibble, canned, or freeze-dried), treats from local vendors, and pet accessories. 

In this episode of Hustleburg, you’ll hear how Krista went “city shopping” in Florida to find the best place to start her business. Saint Petersburg’s small business-friendly environment and vibrant pet community drew her, and she launched St. PetersBARK! in 2015 after a year of making all-natural dog treats in her home. 

Passion for the health of our pets also includes hosting a low-cost veterinary clinic, nail trims, and non-anesthetic dental cleanings on a regular basis. 

Passion for their customers includes an annual BARK!toberfest Customer Appreciation Event, expanded to be three days in 2020 to ensure a COVID-safer experience, October 9-11. This Facebook event offers even more information about this year’s event.

Feed Your Pets Well

Connect with St. PetersBARK! to ensure you serve your pets the best foods to help with a long and loving life:

Website
Shop Their Online Store
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
727-217-5366

Hear Krista Schmidt from St. PetersBARK! on Hustleburg

Get Engagement Training in Your Inbox Now

If you’re not satisfied with the social media results you’re getting, Beyond Your Side Hustle offers this training via email.

Find out more about Beyond Your Side Hustle here:

Website
Hustleburg Listener Community on LinkedIn
Beyond Your Side Hustle on LinkedIn
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
Brett’s LinkedIn

If you enjoyed what you heard in this episode, please take a moment to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast on your favorite player. Each episode is available on its own post, with the entire catalog here. It’s available on Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsSpotify, or your favorite podcast catcher. We listen to this show and our favorites on Castbox. It’s hosted by Podbean. We appreciate your attention, and we can’t wait to have you back for the next episode. 

Be a Guest on Hustleburg

If you have any questions you’d like to have answered on an upcoming Q&A episode, please take a moment to visit beyondyoursidehustle.com/podcastquestion and ask there. If you’re a St. Pete businessperson who’d like to sit down for an interview, please reach out to us here

Hustleburg Episode 36 – Answering Your Podcasting Questions, Part 3 – Being a Guest

This episode is a Q&A episode with questions from you about podcasting. In Episode 32, Brett asked for questions and you delivered. The first podcast Q&A episode focused on how a podcast could help your business. The second podcast Q&A episode centered around podcast monetization. In this episode, we will answer questions about being a guest on a podcast with a pretty substantial step-by-step guide to get you behind the microphone.

How Can I Find Podcasts Looking for Guests?

Just about any podcast that has interviews or panels as a part of their show is looking for guests. First, you’ll need to find relevant podcasts where you can add value for the audience. Start with “The Five,” the five areas of focus for your content to begin your search for relevancy. 

I would start by going through Apple’s Podcast Directory by category to identify potential shows for you to appear on. Additionally, utilize Apple’s Podcast Directory to search for specific keywords that make up “The Five” for you. Next, turn to Google. You should be able to find plenty of shows here as well by typing podcast+ one of your five focus areas.

Take a look at influencers in your industry and in “The Five” to scout the media appearances they have done. The disconnect between podcast hosts and potential podcast guests is large enough that there are several podcast matching services who aim to connect podcasts and guests. 

You identified a bunch of possibilities. Now, it’s time to see how relevant they are to your intended audience from the list of podcasts that you identified. A few bits of information will give you a better look at whether they should remain on your list going forward. You may also discover that their show’s contact e-mail address is hard to find.

How Do I Pitch Myself as a Guest?

Now that you’ve identified all the podcasts that are appropriate for you… Be prepared to be rejected a lot. Also be prepared to not hear back from a lot of podcasts. Before you do anything further, listen to at least one episode of the podcast that includes an interview or a panel. Prepare a one-sheet as an introduction to the podcast host(s) and producers about you. The easiest part of getting booked is reaching out, because you’ve already researched the podcast and prepared your one-sheet for their viewing. Have a follow-up e-mail ready that is different from your initial contact, but offers more value with you as a guest. You’ll be on a podcast in no time.

How Can I Make the Most of my Guest Appearance?

Congratulations! You’re booked to appear on a podcast. Now what?

If you followed what I outlined in the previous question, you have already listened to an episode of their podcast to get a general feel for the show, its format, and how interviews fit. The best way to prepare for an awesome interview is to ask what to expect. Also, you should ask for a question pool that they intend to use in the interview. 

Use this information to prepare notes and figure out how to tie it all together with “The Five” or a call to action in the interview, both contextual and in closing. As part of your preparation, you should create an offer to add value for each listener that you can refer to in the interview naturally, as well as provide to the podcast audience in the show notes. In the same vein, almost every podcast host will give you the opportunity to promote yourself toward the end of the interview, so preparing a call to action for that closing is as important as your contextual one. 

You should arrive several minutes early to the in-person or virtual meeting to record, so that you can get your bearings before jumping into the show. Finally, before you sit down to conduct the interview, take a few moments to relax, breathe, and look over your notes one last time.

The Interview Went Well, Now What?

You really knocked it out of the park with your interview! Now that the interview wrapped, you want people to listen to what you had to say, right? Often, you can ask the podcast host or producer how they promote each episode of the podcast and what that process is like: what platforms they use, when promotion for an upcoming episode begins, and how long it typically runs after each show publishes. A day or two before you expect their promotional efforts to begin, you should share a post on a shared social media outlet, tagging or mentioning them in a post about how excited you are for your upcoming appearance or how much fun you had recording it. For each social media outlet, your efforts are better spent directly sharing their post talking about you, rather than creating your own content about it.

If you look back fondly on your experience, definitely connect future guests with the podcast team. Believe it or not, podcast creators talk among each other, so speak fondly of your experience or don’t mention it at all.

Get Engagement Training in Your Inbox Now

If you’re not satisfied with the social media results you’re getting, Beyond Your Side Hustle offers this training via email.

Find out more about Beyond Your Side Hustle here:

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If you enjoyed what you heard in this episode, please take a moment to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast on your favorite player. Each episode is available on its own post, with the entire catalog here. It’s available on Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsSpotify, or your favorite podcast catcher. We listen to this show and our favorites on Castbox. It’s hosted by Podbean. We appreciate your attention, and we can’t wait to have you back for the next episode. 

Be a Guest on Hustleburg

If you have any questions you’d like to have answered on an upcoming Q&A episode, please take a moment to visit beyondyoursidehustle.com/podcastquestion and ask there. If you’re a St. Pete businessperson who’d like to sit down for an interview, please reach out to us here

How Can a Podcast Help My Business?

There are several ways a podcast can help your brand or business. 

Share Your Knowledge and Expertise

The first way a podcast can help your business is by giving you an outlet where you can share your knowledge and expertise, shedding a light on your business while giving insight into your industry. You have direct knowledge and expertise that only you can share about the industry and, more specifically, your business. You are an expert in what you do, and this is an opportunity to share that expertise with people who are already interested.

Plus, if you’re one of the first podcasts in your industry, you also have the first-mover advantage over others that may join the podcast space for your industry down the road. Regardless, you have your unique perspective and an opportunity to differentiate yourself from other podcasts and businesses in the industry.

Sharing this expertise on an audio platform helps you build community around the show and your brand that you may not reach on a visual social media platform. Many people listen to podcasts while occupied with other tasks, passively consuming content while walking the dog, exercising, driving, or while working in a way no other digital media can be consumed.

Creating Connections

A podcast can also help your brand or business by creating connections to others in your industry. If you choose to interview guests on your show, you have the opportunity to reach out to and share viewpoints with your colleagues, vendors, and customers to offer a 360-degree discussion of your area of expertise. You also have an opportunity to add value for them, as well as the audience, while you discuss your industry and business. Without guests, you can share customer stories, solutions with vendors, funny anecdotes, and other content that showcase your expertise. 

You also reach people already interested in your industry and business with your show, acting as a reminder of who you are and what you do. It’s like nurturing a community of “warm leads” for your business.

Get Insight Into Your Community

When you engage and involve the listeners in the show itself, you also help your business, gaining insight into your community of customers and potential customers.

Can you imagine being able to ask an engaged community what they want to know about your business or industry? This is like having a FREE focus group to tell you how you can better serve them. You can also test new ideas with them, to find out if your latest idea is a good one. When you listen, you’re able to gain insight into how they want you to serve them.

Is there a better insight into the minds of customers than an engaged community of customers themselves?

Create Pillar Content

Finally, for a brand or business that’s creating content around themselves, a podcast gives you a tremendous amount of long-form content that you can use as a pillar for a lot of other content you create. You can re-package and re-purpose the same content across a variety of channels without having to create something completely original for each platform.

Using a podcast as “pillar content” is a great way to have a variety of content created for many platforms and uses.