Hey hey welcome back Human Connection podcast listeners! Today’s interview is with my good friend Jess Freeman of Jess Creatives!

Jess Freeman is an award-winning web strategist and designer that helps health and wellness coaches get better clients.

We chat about SO many good topics, I’m super pumped to share this episode with you!

Jessica Freeman on how niching down her business helped her earn more revenue and the strength of being an introvert

Show notes

In today’s episode, you’ll find out:

• How to use social media to connect with your audience
• What is connection content on YouTube and how to implement it in your content strategy
• 3 things you need to be doing on your website to attract your ideal audience
• How your website can connect with your audience on a deeper level
• How niching down helps you connect more deeply
• What it’s like to be an introvert as a business owner — how you can use that as a strength/power
• What it’s like being a quick start and what trying new things teaches you
  

Resources mentioned during the episode

• Jess’s website
• Follow Jess on YouTube
• Follow Jess on Instagram

How to subscribe, review, and help the show

Like the show? There are several ways you can help!

• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or Google Play
• Leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. The ratings and reviews help for two reasons: 1) Most importantly, I get to know you, the listener, and what content you enjoy the most. 2) The more reviews the podcast has, the better chance it has at getting in front of new listeners.
• Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram

Want more? Sign up for the email newsletter!

Be the first to know when there is a new episode out and get the inside scoop on all of the guests.

Thanks so much for tuning in. See ya next week!

It is already December, can you believe it?! This year has flown by, just like all the others, and we are quickly approaching a brand new year and a brand new decade.

I don’t know about you guys but I often spend time at the end of a year reflecting on all of the happenings of the past year. What went well, what didn’t go well, things I want to improve upon, both personal and professional.

But for this episode, I want to zoom out a bit and think on a bigger level.

Let’s flash forward to the end of your life…What do you want your legacy to be? Your legacy is not your name, but how you left your mark on the world and the people around you.

What do you want your legacy to be?

Show notes

In today’s episode, you’ll find out:

• Why your message matters
• The 4 things that hold most people back from being visible
• Why you’re doing a disservice to the world if you aren’t sharing your message far and wide

Resources mentioned during the episode

• My new course, Impact + Influence is now open for pre-sale! Click here to check it out and sign up.

How to subscribe, review, and help the show

Like the show? There are several ways you can help!

• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or Google Play
• Leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. The ratings and reviews help for two reasons: 1) Most importantly, I get to know you, the listener, and what content you enjoy the most. 2) The more reviews the podcast has, the better chance it has at getting in front of new listeners.
• Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram

Want more? Sign up for the email newsletter!

Be the first to know when there is a new episode out and get the inside scoop on all of the guests.

Thanks so much for tuning in. See ya next week!

Today’s interview is with Zoe Scharf, Co-Founder and Chief Brand Officer at Greetabl. Greetabl is an online one-stop-shop for creatively-curated, personalized gifts and greetings.

Zoe and I talk about what Greetabl looked like when it was first getting started (what they invisions for Greetabl to start is actually not what it is today!), how Greetabl uses direct feedback from their customers to help shape their company, the value of negative feedback from customers and how it shapes their product, and the importance of the language that you use in your marketing materials.

The holidays have arrived and if you’re looking for the perfect gift to send to your clients, I’d highly recommend using Greetabl!

Also, before we get into the episode, I want to let you know I’m working on something ✨BRAND NEW ✨that I think many of you may be interested in.

If you are a service or product-based business owner that is:

1️⃣1-3 years into business
2️⃣Looking to get in front of bigger audiences or gain more visibility for 2020
3️⃣Curious about how you can use PR to grow your website traffic, email list and social following

Head to brittneyllynn.com/waitlist to be the first to know when doors open to my new online course!

Zoë Scharf on How Greetabl Connects One-On-One With Their Customers and the Lessons Negative Customer Feedback Has Taught Them

Show notes

In today’s episode, you’ll find out:

• How Greetabl uses direct feedback from their customers to help shape their company
• The value of negative feedback from customers and how it shapes their product
• The importance of the language that you use in your marketing materials.

Resources mentioned during the episode

• Sign up to get on my waitlist for the online course I’ll be pre-selling starting on December 2!
• Greetabl website
• Follow Greetabl on Instagram

How to subscribe, review, and help the show

Like the show? There are several ways you can help!

• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or Google Play
• Leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. The ratings and reviews help for two reasons: 1) Most importantly, I get to know you, the listener, and what content you enjoy the most. 2) The more reviews the podcast has, the better chance it has at getting in front of new listeners.
• Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram

Want more? Sign up for the email newsletter!

Be the first to know when there is a new episode out and get the inside scoop on all of the guests.

Thanks so much for tuning in. See ya next week!

Hey hey there Human Connection listeners! We are deep into November which means the holidays are almost here which means a new year is coming up SOON!

You may have already started thinking about your 2020 goals for your business and I want to walk you through creating your 2020 publicity plan.

Now first, let me dismiss some common myths and explain to why you need a publicity plan for 2020.

Let me ask you this: is one of your 2020 goals any of the following?

• Make more sales of a particular service or product you have?
• Increase your revenue?
• Grow your email list?
• Get in front of brand new audiences, further exposing your reach and impact in your industry and in the world?

Then you NEED a publicity plan!

In today’s episode, you’ll find out how to create your 2020 publicity plan that will help you in increasing your reach, revenue and impact.

Your 2020 Publicity Plan

Resources mentioned during the episode

• Sign up here to get on the waitlist for the online course I’ll be pre-selling starting on December 2!

How to subscribe, review, and help the show

Like the show? There are several ways you can help!

• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or Google Play
• Leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. The ratings and reviews help for two reasons: 1) Most importantly, I get to know you, the listener, and what content you enjoy the most. 2) The more reviews the podcast has, the better chance it has at getting in front of new listeners.
• Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram

Want more? Sign up for the email newsletter!

Be the first to know when there is a new episode out and get the inside scoop on all of the guests.

Thanks so much for tuning in. See ya next week!

For any of you fellow entrepreneurs out there, I know the struggle of knowing the right things to invest in for your business.

Should I invest in that paid mastermind?

Can I hire a Virtual Assistant to help me?

Is it time for me to go that conference?

And while I obviously have a bias to investing in PR (I am a PR strategist ya know 😉) I realize that not every entrepreneur out there is at a point in their business where it makes sense to invest in done-for-you PR services.

In today’s blog post I’d like to share all the ways you can do PR on a budget.

Everything mentioned in this post is either 1) completely free to do or 2) very minimal cost compared to investing in a done-for-you PR strategist.

I think everyone can benefit from using PR as a strategy to grow their business so you have no excuse to not implement these tips!

PR On A Budget

PUT TOGETHER YOUR OWN STRATEGY

Despite it being totally worth it to invest in a publicist for your business, you can in fact, put together your PR strategy with a little help from yours truly 🙂

Here’s how to start putting together your own strategy:

1. Define your purpose for pitching: What are your business’s goals for the next year? Increase sales, email subscribers, land speaking gigs, etc? Whatever your answer is here will help you narrow in on the best PR activities that will give you a return on investment.
2. Clearly outline your ideal target audience: What are relevant websites, podcasts, magazines, tv, and local media that your target audience follows? You need to know your target audience to a T. If you don’t, you aren’t quite ready for press opportunities yet. If you do already know, you probably have an idea of the places where they spend time the most.
3. List out the topics you can speak on: No matter what type of PR opportunities you go after, you’re going to need to narrow in on specific topics you want to become known for. Make sure these are related to your purpose for pitching listed in number 1.

I help you grow through all of this in my free beginner’s guide workbook. Click the box below to download a copy for yourself!

Related post: Beginner’s Guide to PR For Small Businesses: Why It’s Important and How To Start

SIGN UP FOR HARO

HARO, stands for Help a Reporter Out, is a great free resource everyone should be signed up for, especially if you’re focusing on landing press opportunities.

HARO is an online service that connects journalists and bloggers with sources for the articles and stories they are writing about. Anyone can sign up and pitch themselves (or pitch clients like I do). It’s awesome because these are stories that are already being written.

HARO sends three emails per weekday (morning, afternoon, evening – yes, it’s a lot!) filled with journalists looking for sources for upcoming stories they are writing.

The categories that HARO covers are:

• Biotech & healthcare
• Business & finance
• Education
• Energy & green tech
• Entertainment & media
• General (a catch all)
• Lifestyle & fitness
• Public policy & government
• Travel

You can check out this blog post I did about how to start using it!

Looking to do PR on a budget? Check out this blog post from @brittneyllynn! #publicrelations #PRtips Click To Tweet

FOCUS ON HIGH RETURN OPPORTUNITIES

Almost no matter what industries you’re in there is one PR platform that I recommend to nearly everyone I’ve ever worked with.

It takes the least amount of effort, it has the quickest turnaround and turns brand new people into raving fans…what is it?

Podcast interviews.

There is a podcast out there for just about every niche topic known to mankind.

There are more than 700,000 active podcasts out there and they need excellent guests like you.

You can check out this blog post for more on how to pitch yourself to podcasts.

BUILD RELATIONSHIPS WITH PEOPLE LOCALLY OR ONLINE

PR is all about building authentic relationships (more on that here!) and is something that every business owner should really focus on as their building their empire.

For one, building relationships with others is free, and we are talking about PR on a budget, aren’t we?!

You can find people on Instagram or Twitter to connect with (I’m partial to Instagram!) if you want to find people online.

Or you can connect locally by going to free local Meetups in your area.

And for two, relationships will always serve you. It’s rare that I’ve met someone in my life that I’ve said “dang, I wish I never would have met them.”

You should go into building relationships with other people not trying to “get something out of it.” People know when you’re being sleazy and self-serving. It’s not a good look and you shouldn’t do it.

My freelance writer friend Alli and I did a workshop all about how to cultivate authentic relationships with journalists, check it out if you’re interested!

INSTALL BOOMERANG

Boomerang is a free Google Chrome extension that you can install that allows you to schedule emails in advance. This helps remove some of the “fear” of pitching as you can schedule the email to go out in the future.

You can always unschedule them before they go out, but I find most of the time when I schedule an email I forget about it and promptly move on. It’s almost like having an assistant do the emailing for you, except it’s free!

It also allows you to “boomerang” emails back to you so you can know if a pitch hasn’t been replied to. Pretty neat, right? And perfect for PR on a budget!

Help a Reporter Out, also known as HARO, is a great tool to use when you want to start pitching yourself for press opportunities.

Through using HARO, I’ve landed clients on:

• Glamour
• U.S. News & World Report
• Huffington Post
• USA Weekly
• Business Insider

and more!

Whether you’re just starting to pitch yourself or you’re an experienced pro, HARO is an awesome (free!) tool to help you start landing media mentions. This beginner’s guide to using HARO will set you up for success when you’re pitching!

The Beginner’s Guide to Using HARO

WHAT IS HARO?

HARO stands for Help a Reporter Out and is freemium email subscription service that connects you with journalists who are looking for sources for stories they are writing.

There is a free version and a paid version of the service. I prefer using the free version.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

HARO sends three emails per week day (morning, afternoon, evening – yes, it’s a lot!) filled with journalists looking for sources for upcoming stories they are writing.

The categories that HARO covers are:

• Biotech & healthcare
• Business & finance
• Education
• Energy & green tech
• Entertainment & media
• General (a catch all)
• Lifestyle & fitness
• Public policy & government
• Travel

Each journalist request has:

• A headline summary
• Name of contact (occasionally this will say anonymous, I personally don’t tend to reply to those)
• Email (this is a query email and not their direct email address)
• Name of media outlet (occasionally this will say anonymous)
• Deadline – they are pretty strict about these
• Description of query

Here is an example:

Once you find one that is a fit for your expertise, follow all of the requirements needed to submit.

They are pretty strict about this, so make sure to double-check yourself before sending off.

They are also pretty strict about the deadlines (you will receive a bounce-back email if you submit after the deadline) so try to answer promptly to increase your chances of getting featured!

Check out this beginner's guide to using HARO from PR strategist @brittneyllynn! Click To Tweet

TIPS ON USING HARO

• Do not hyperlink any text when pitching a HARO email, copy and paste the link directly into the email as hyperlinked text does not come through on their end.
• Adhere exactly to their requested requirements, if applicable.
• Try to be as prompt as possible. They will receive many emails from people and you want to be as quick and efficient as possible.
• Don’t give them more info than they need. Answer the question exactly and leave it at that.
• When searching for relevant HAROs to pitch yourself for, use the “control F” to find keywords for yourself. This will make the process go a lot faster than scrolling through each of the descriptions (the emails can get pretty long!)
• Most times journalists that take sources from HARO will not email you after their piece has gone live. Keep track of your HAROs you send out so you can check to see if you’re featured.

Before I work with any new client, whether it’s a retainer client or intensive, I have them fill out an in-depth assessment so I can learn more about their business.

One of the questions I ask is “What are the topics you can speak on and what do you want to become known for?” and I use this as a guiding principle when I’m creating their topics of discussion.

For each client, we have at least 5-7 topics outlined that

1) they want to be known for and

2) is in line with one of their products or services (some of my clients have 20-30 topics, but let’s start small!).

This allows me to pick and choose the topic that makes the most sense for where I’m pitching, which leads to a much higher probability that a journalist or podcast host will select that topic to interview about.

But how do you figure out what topics YOU can pitch yourself on?

That’s what I’ll be helping you do in this post!

How to Figure Out What Topics to Pitch Yourself On

Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

1. What products or services do you want to lead people into?

This is KEY to figuring out before you start pitching yourself, otherwise your press opportunities won’t lead to actual conversions.

What product, service, or free opt-in do you want to lead people to the most right now? What is going to move the needle the most for your business?

Once you have that decided you can move to question 2.

2. What are topics that are related to your products or services that you can speak confidently on?

I’ll give you some examples of my clients:

Client #1 – Productivity expert: She can speak on productivity in the workplace, time management, goal setting, prioritizing, etc.

Client #2 – Financial coach: She can speak on getting out of debt, budgeting, talking to your kids about money, etc.

Client #3 – Student loan expert: He can speak on refinancing your student loans, Public Service Loan Forgiveness, high-borrower student loan debt pay off strategies, etc.
Each of these topics they speak on lead directly into products or services they offer.

3. What makes your brand different from your competitors?

Here’s where we can get really specific on why someone should choose to interview you over another person offering a similar product or service.

What is it about your background/story that makes you unique?

How are your products or services different from your competitors?

What life experiences have you had that led you to offer this product or service?

Answering these three questions will give you a great start on narrowing in on the topics of discussion you can pitch yourself for.

You can use these topics to pitch yourself for podcast interviews, getting quoted as an expert, landing editorial features and more!

I want to know: what topics do you want to become known for? I’d love to hear from you!

Hello and welcome to 2018!

If you’re new around here, I started sharing quarterly updates about my business to give you all a peek at what it’s really like to start a business from the ground up.

They say to write blog posts that you like reading and I love reading these types of blog posts.

My hope in sharing these with you is to inform you on what it really looks like to intentionally build a business, encourage you when you’re feeling like you can’t go on, and help you realize that this ‘ish is a twisting rollercoaster that is always evolving and changing.

If you want a bit more background on my business as a whole, check out my update from last quarter.

I wanted to share what Q4 of 2017 looked like for my business as well as a look at what’s coming in 2018 and my word of the year. Hope you enjoy!

Q4 Business Update + 2018 Word Of The Year

Review of what happened in Q4

Attended the FinCon Conference in Dallas

Uhhh, what? Where did this come from?!

This was not on my radar at all to attend, but one Thursday night I got it in my head to look up conferences in my area and lo and behold, FinCon popped up.

I had heard of FinCon before but had never considered going because, well, a financial blogger I am not.

But on this Thursday night, I was desperate to meet new people in person. I was having somewhat of a breakdown, feeling alone in entrepreneurship and really craving being around other people physically.

I’ve talked about the rollercoaster of running your own business, and of course, my husband and friends (both in the flesh and virtual) are amazing, but there’s nothing that beats in-person meetups where you can talk with other people who get it.

So when I saw FinCon pop up, and I was vaguely familiar with it, I decided on a whim to attend. I mean, it was happening 10 minutes away from my apartment so I basically had to go, right?

Attending this conference changed the trajectory of my business. Bold statement, but it’s true.

I had several huge realizations during this conference, but the one that stood out to me most was that for my own personal development and for the betterment of my business, I need to be going to more in-person events.

I met a group of girls at the conference that I immediately connected with, I got to meet Pat Flynn who was the person that introduced me to this whole world of online business, I even got a couple of clients out of it (maybe more, a few are in the works)!

Overall, my business is all about building relationships with other people and the best way to do that is in person. I have 4 conferences planned for 2018 and I can’t wait to see how else I grow as a person and business owner.

Follow me on Insta!

Lesson learned: Prioritize in-person meetups, whether it’s ones that are in your own city or traveling to conferences across the country.

Check out how Q4 2017 went down for @BrittneyLLynn's business and see what her word of the year is for 2018! https://brittneyllynn.com/2018-word-of-the-year Click To Tweet

Connected with a lot of awesome people

Speaking of connections…I connected with so many amazing people in Q4. Most were via a video chat or phone call, but several people I got to meet in person!

Alli Hoff Kosik

This girl and I were meant to meet. You may remember her from episode 010 of the podcast but that was just the tip of the iceberg.

We’re working hard on a fun project these next few weeks that I can’t wait to share more about and we’re even attending the Ignite Your Soul Summit with Amber Lilyestrom in April together so to say we became fast friends is an understatement. Can’t wait to meet her in person!!! Check out Alli’s blog if you want to know what it’s like to be a freelance writer.

Nevica Vasquez

Nevica and I are in the same circles online and I’m shocked it took us until last quarter to finally chat. Turns out, we’ve had several of the same clients and had no idea!

Nevica is one of the kindest people I’ve ever met and boy is she good at her job. I’m hoping I can find an excuse to travel to NYC to meet her. Are there any entrepreneurial conference I should go to in NYC?

Jessica Lawlor

I’ve followed Jessica for over a year now (can’t remember how I found her blog!) and since we started our businesses around the same time I’ve always loved following along. She’s also a fellow PR gal and I loved getting to talk shop with her.

She just celebrated her 2nd anniversary of leaving her corporate job and shared her top 10 popular blog posts. All are must reads!

Jaimie Myers

Jaimie and I have been Insta-friends for a while but we exchanged services in Q4 and this girl…LOVE HER.

She’s an Instagram strategist and I’ve never really been strategic about Instagram so I knew I needed help.

In exchange for her giving me an Instagram strategy (that allows me to actually BE myself), I gave her a 90-minute PR intensive and we both had so many breakthroughs. I love witnessing those “aha” moments with people.

Met up with my clients in person

I got to meet FOUR of my clients in person during Q4. This never happens so to be able to see four all in the span of a week was amazing. I feel really lucky to get to work with some amazing women (and men!)

It’d be amazing to meet all of my clients one day, but I currently have three overseas. Looks like I need to plan an international trip 😉!

Went to a FinCon meet up

Lucky for me, the FinCon team is actually based here in Dallas and they have a local meetup every quarter. Of course I had to attend after going to the conference!

Everyone that’s in the FinCon community is incredible (and so nice), I feel so fortunate to get to hang with these people. I even got to speak with PT, the founder, of FinCon for a bit about PR. Who knows, maybe I’ll get the opportunity to help out even more! I already booked my ticket for this year’s conference :).

Lesson learned: Have Skype dates, phone calls, or grab lunch with people you admire. You never know what ideas could pop up out of these conversations.

Review of Q4 goals

Let’s quickly review my Q4 goals before we get to the good stuff: my word of the year for 2018!

1. Closing out 2017 with a bang with my clients: I feel like I did a great job at this while also being able to take a break for Christmas while we traveled to LA. I have some big projects on the horizon with my clients and I wanted to be prepared for the year ahead.
2. Dream, plan and think about the future of my business: I spent a lot of time dreaming and planning for 2018 and beyond. My PR business has grown in ways I didn’t imagine, so I find myself constantly pivoting and reevaluating where I spend my time. Overall, I’d love to continue to grow my business, not only by bringing on more clients but also increasing my influence to help even more people learn how to use PR for their business. Stay tuned for more lower-priced options such as ebooks, courses, workshops, and more!

My Word of the Year for 2018

My word of the year for 2017 was Growth and holy heck did I grow.

I…

• Started outsourcing to a variety of independent contractors
• Brought on 9 new clients
• Started going to therapy
• Doubled my income from 2016
• Went to my first conference as a small business owner
• Bought a house

Whew, I got tired just typing that out!

But in all seriousness, 2017 was an incredible year of growth for me, in more ways than I expected. The part I’m most proud of is the mental and emotional growth I’ve done.

Going to therapy regularly really helped with this and while it may seem odd that I’m sharing this part of my life with you, it’s not to me.

My mind is what runs my business. If I’m not mentally in a good headspace, I can’t be the best business owner I know I can be. Going to therapy and having someone to talk to about my fears, struggles, and stresses extremely helped me. It’s even what I credit for accomplishing all I did this past year.

If you aren’t taking care of yourself, who else will? 

Now, for my word of the year for 2018…

Visibility

I’ve never been someone who likes the spotlight. I’d much rather be behind the scenes. Which is fine, I’m not ashamed of that in the least.

But, I do think much of that has to do with fear of being seen, not necessarily because I do my best by being behind the scenes.

I’ve never liked rocking the boat. I prepare myself so I know exactly what to expect in any situation. The thought of offending anyone or even disagreeing with someone gives me a lot of anxiety, so I often say nothing.

These things aren’t inherently bad, but there are times that I wish I’d spoken up.

I want to be more visible in my own personal life: sharing my thoughts and ideas about topics that may be different from other people, standing up for the people in my life, standing out in my faith and Christianity, etc.

I also want to be more visible in my business: going on podcasts, landing more editorial interviews, doing more live videos, etc.

Putting myself out there will, of course, help me continue to grow as a person, but it will also help my business. I already had someone message me sharing that they appreciated me sharing press I’ve gotten for myself because it shows that I actually do know what I’m doing for PR.

I need to practice what I preach for myself, even though it’s slightly terrifying.

Final Thoughts

I hope you enjoyed my Q4 business update and getting a look at what’s coming up next for my business.

I’m excited about the rest of 2018 and would love if you shared your goals for the year too! Leave a comment below so we can cheer each other on.

Heads up! There are affiliate links in this blog post. What that means is if you click on a link and then make a purchase, I make a small percentage of money because I referred you. This comes at no additional cost to you. I only share products and resources that I trust and that I know will help you in your business. Grateful for your support!

As you all know, I launched the Day in the Life podcast in October of 2017, but really, I had been planning this podcast for months. The idea came to me in early 2017 but it took me until October to actually launch the dang thing.

In full disclosure, I didn’t spend January – October feverishly working on the podcast. I thought of the concept of the idea first, let it simmer for a while in my brain, and then really started to take action in May.

I wanted to document my experience and what it was really like to launch a brand new podcast. Everyone has different experiences, but I wanted to share my own in case any of you were interested in learning more about the process and for any out there who wants to start a podcast but doesn’t know where to start.

Again, this was my own personal experience, in no way is this me saying YOU MUST DO ALL OF THESE THINGS because I’m still learning what it takes to maintain and market a great podcast.

So, here we go. Below is a detailed description of what it’s like to launch a new podcast. The good, the bad, the funny!

What It’s Really Like To Launch A New Podcast: The Good, The Bad, The Funny

How I Started

First and foremost, the number one thing I had to do before I got started was I had to get over the fear.

I had a lot of self-limiting beliefs on launching a podcast.

Who am I to launch a podcast? I know nothing about launching a podcast. Who will want to hear me speak? Won’t people be annoyed by my voice? I’m not interesting enough for people to want to listen to. Nobody else will care about the topic.

These were all thoughts that went through my head and ultimately, I had to listen to my gut.

The fact of the matter is, I had a higher purpose for launching the Day in the Life podcast.

With everything that’s going on in our world, it was important for me to launch a podcast that could help bring people together.

I wanted to interview people that looked different than me, that had different backgrounds and experiences. That looked at the world differently than I do.

And hopefully, in sharing a variety of people’s days, we could all find common ground and realize we’re all more alike than we probably realize.

We all have fears, ambitions, struggles, and successes.

We go through amazing life experiences and also sucky life experiences.

There are good days, there are bad days.

In the end, we’re all just…humans trying to make an impact in the world.

In the end, we're all just...humans trying to make an impact in the world. @BrittneyLLynn shares why she created the Day in the Life podcast Click To Tweet

I definitely had to be in the right mindset before launching otherwise I wouldn’t produce the best podcast I possibly could.

Other than getting over the fear, I do a few things that got me a jump start on launching the podcast.

Tips for getting started

• I bulk recorded episodes: I recorded about 10 episodes before I launched the podcast. Not everyone does this but I knew I wanted to have enough recorded ahead of time so I wasn’t stressing about finding a guest and recording a new episode each week.
• I started talking about it with people: I talked about the podcast to anyone that would listen. Seriously. My family, friends, person walking down the street. Anyone. Okay, I’m slightly exaggerating about telling randos on the street about the podcast but I wanted to get the word out there about the podcast. I think this contributed to a successful launch day because people had been following my journey on launching the podcast so they were super excited once it launched.
• I pitched a bunch of people: I remember the day I made my first list of people to pitch to be a guest on the podcast. My husband and I were driving to San Antonio for my birthday and we brainstormed all of the cool people in our lives and who I should interview. Once I had this list, I create a pseudo-email template (kind of like my podcast pitch template) where I’d pitch them the idea of the podcast and if they’d like to be interviewed. This was helpful because at the time, people couldn’t listen to an episode to have a clear understanding of the podcast, so I needed to be able to explain it so people knew what to expect. Creating a template helped me minimize the time I was spending, but I could also make each email personal.

How I Set Up For A Recording

I did quite a bit of research before purchasing any equipment for the podcast. No one has ever accused me of being tech savvy, so I was starting from complete scratch.

I looked at podcasters I’ve admired and the tools that they recommend to get a head start. Pat Flynn’s podcasting tutorial was the most helpful for me.

To record each episode, I have a routine that I follow to ensure each episode is recorded the same. I shared a video of how I set up for each episode in the podcast Facebook group if you’re interested in seeing how it’s set up.

Here’s my routine before recording:

• Put my phone in airplane mode & do not disturb: Though I record on my computer, I don’t want my phone buzzing with notifications while I’m recording.
• Turn off notifications on my computer & put on do not disturb: Same thing with my computer. I don’t want to be getting 7 zillion Slack messages while I record, so I turn off any notifications to ensure our recording won’t be disrupted.
• Take my dog’s collar off (ha): Learned this the hard way as my dog started scratching is ears right next to my desk while I was recording.
• Open up two versions of my outline of questions: I have an outline of questions I follow for each interview. I like to have two versions of the document open, one to have on each screen.
• Open up Skype and make sure Ecamm opens: I record on Skype (more on tools below) and I make sure Ecamm (which helps me record the call) opens and is working properly.

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Tools I Used

This is the list of tools I use to record podcasts or keep things organized. This is up-to-date as of January 2018.

• Skype (free): I like being able to video chat with guests so the interview feels more authentic.
• Ecamm for Skype ($29.99 one-time fee): This allows me to record the Skype call.
• Acuity Scheduling ($10/month): This is the link I send people to once I’m ready to schedule a time to chat. This saves me SO much time and gives guests all of the information they need to record. This tool also sends reminder emails so I don’t have to remember to 🙂
• Boomerang for Gmail (free): Sometimes I like to write emails on the weekends but I don’t want to send out emails on the weekends, ya know what I mean? Boomerang allows me to schedule emails to go out for the future as well as “boomerang” back emails that I’ve sent but haven’t been responded to.
• Canned responses for Gmail (free): If you don’t have this turned on in Gmail ARE YOU CRAZY?! This is one of my favorite features of Gmail where you can save email templates for emails you send often (don’t we all send like, the same 10 email responses all the time?).
• Microphone ($108.19): I use the Blue Yeti microphone. From my research, this was a middle of the road microphone to use. I’m sure I’ll eventually upgrade but it works perfectly for me right now!
• Foam cover ($12.95): This helps drown out noises coming from all angles of the microphone.
• Headphones – AKG K 44 ($48.99): I bought these headphones on Amazon. They feel comfortable on my ears and fit my oddly large head (hahaha).
• Logitech Camera – C920 ($59.86): This wasn’t absolutely necessary, but I wanted an update camera as my computer is older.
• GSuite ($10.00/month): Google Drive is where I keep any outlines for episodes as well as social media and website graphics. My team members have access to these which cuts down on emails.
• Thunderclap ($55 one-time fee): I used Thunderclap to spread the message about the podcast on launch day. This was 100% worth the $55 (there is a free version) and would highly recommend using this tool for future launches.
• Libsyn ($30/month): This is where my podcast editor uploads the episodes to distribute to all of the different feeds. This is also where you can see your stats (aka downloads per episode because nobody knows how many subscribers they have). The amount you pay will depend on how long your episodes are and how much space they take up.
• Asana (free): Omg, would NOT be able to keep track of all of the to-dos for the podcast if it weren’t for Asana. This is where my team and I communicate back and forth about the podcast episodes, what’s done/not done, etc.
• Planoly ($9/month): I was using the free version of this for a while, but now I upgraded to the paid version to be able to upload episode promo graphics to Instagram ahead of time. You can follow the Day in the Life podcast Instagram account here.

People I’ve Outsourced To

If you don’t know me well, you may not know that I can be stubborn at times. Yes, I admit it. And sometimes my stubbornness can get in my own way.

Though I technically can do all of these tasks on my own, that was not going to be the best use of my time and I’m definitely not the expert of any of these below. I’m so grateful to have these three women helping me with the podcast and I couldn’t do it without them!

• Graphic Designer | Kimberly Weber: She created the Day in the Life logo, album artwork, social media graphics, and more.
• Audio Editor | Caroline Hull: She edits the episodes, created the trailer, helps with the backend of Libsyn and more.

The Good, The Bad, Funny

Alright, here’s where we get to the nitty-gritty stuff of what it’s like to launch a podcast.

The Good

• The systems I set up: I’ve had so many people compliment me on how it’s super easy to schedule a time and much of my process is automated which is amazing for me. Definitely using Acuity, Asana, and Boomerang help with this.
• I was already connected to all of the people I pitched, so I got 99.9% yeses. Because of the nature of my podcast, I could interview almost anyone. Thankfully, I have a lot of amazing, incredible people in my life that would be perfect guests for my podcast. They were excited to say yes because I already had a relationship with them.
• I talked about the podcast so much leading up to launch day. SO MUCH. Guys, I think I talked about it for at least 6 months straight before launching. People were really excited to finally hear it once it came out, which I know helped on launch day.
• Thunderclap: This was one of the best tools and was recommended to me from my mastermind buddy Andrew Brockenbush from Beefy Marketing (also podcast guest 008).

The Bad

• My DOG. I hate putting my precious pup in the bad category because um, hello, I’m obsessed with him and think he’s perfect, but UGH, the barking. Once we’re in a house I’m hoping this won’t be a problem anymore. #Apartmentlivingprobs
• I didn’t figure out how to work the microphone until well into recording episodes. BRITT. What were you thinking?! Again, no one has ever accused me of being tech savvy and reading instructions to me is bo-ring, but I didn’t even realize I could mute until like, the 8th episode. ‍😳
• Critiquing myself: Once episodes started to air, I really started to critique myself. I say “like” “so” and “you know” way too much. While I’m guilty of being too critical of myself, it is a lesson in public speaking and helping me pay more attention to the words that I say.

The Funny

• My first episode I was SO nervous. Like, it took me a good 10 minutes to actually get into it. In fact, the bit at the very end of the trailer for the podcast (you gotta check it out if you haven’t yet) was from the first episode I recorded and my guest (Kali Rogers) convinced me to use it in some sort of way.
• Podcasting is weird because no one truly knows how many subscribers they have. Seriously, no one. Come launch day, I really had no expectations to reach a certain number of downloads, ratings, or reviews, because the Apple Podcasts charts are so elusive. They use a combination of subscribers, downloads, ratings, and reviews to rank you in the charts…but to what degree? No clue. It was funny to me because I obsessively refreshed my Libsyn screen, but I really had no expectations other than hoping the numbers would continue to increase, and they did!

How You Can Help Me Spread The Word

Like I mentioned above, the more people that listen to the podcast, the higher the podcast ranks on the charts.

Ranking higher on the charts means the podcast can reach more people. Reaching more people means I’ll be able to continue interviewing high-quality guests.

Ranking in the charts means a better chance at monetizing the podcast too. To be blunt, the podcast is not making money right now. Which is totally cool! I knew going into this that it was going to be a passion project that I poured my heart into.

I do invest money into the podcast (you can scroll up and see my expenses). I’d love to get to the point to at least bring in enough money to cover my expenses.

So…that was a long-winded way to say, here’s how you can support the Day in the Life podcast (or really any podcast you love!):

• Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify…should be available on any podcast app!
• Leave a rating and an honest review on iTunes. The ratings and reviews help for two reasons: 1) Most importantly, I get to know you, the listener, and what content you enjoy the most. 2) The more reviews the podcast has, the better chance it has at getting in front of new listeners.
• Follow on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Use the hashtag #DITLpodcast to share what a day in your life is like!

Want more? Sign up for the email newsletter!

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Also, join the Facebook group to interact with guests and other listeners!

Heads up! There are affiliate links in this blog post. What that means is if you click on a link and then make a purchase, I make a small percentage of money because I referred you. This comes at no additional cost to you. I only share products and resources that I trust and that I know will help you in your business. Grateful for your support!

Hello and welcome to Q4 of the year! Per usual, I’m behind on getting this update out but hey…better late than never!

If you’re new around here, I started sharing quarterly updates about my business to give you all a peek inside what it’s really like to start a business from the ground up.

They say to write blog posts that you like reading and I love reading these types of blog posts.

My hope in sharing these with you is to inform you on what it really looks like to intentionally build a business, encourage you when you’re feeling like you can’t go on, and help you realize that this ‘ish is a twisting rollercoaster that is always evolving and changing.

If you want a bit more background on my business as a whole, check out my update from last quarter.

Q3 Business Update + Goals For The Next Quarter

Review of what happened in Q3

Prepped for the podcast

From July through September, I prepped a ton for the podcast. I was initially going to have the podcast go live on September 28, but due to some unforeseen circumstances with family, I had to delay until October 10 (don’t worry, everything is fine!). I will talk about launch day/week in the next business update since it’s technically in Q4.

A lot of work goes into creating a quality podcast, and I wanted to give myself plenty of time to figure things out. There was definitely a learning curve, as I was starting from complete scratch. I knew nothing about creating quality audio or podcasting tools, so it was kind of exciting to start a new project as a newbie.

Here are things I did to prep for the podcast launch:

• Outsourcing: I quickly realized I did not want to do #allthethings for the podcast. While I definitely could do all the things, I only have so much time and energy and I didn’t want to spend it teaching myself how to edit audio. I hired an editor who edits the podcast, created the intro and outro, uploads my episodes into Libsyn, etc. I have a graphic designer who created all of the album artwork, social media graphics, etc. I also have my VA work on things like formatting and scheduling the blog posts, creating and scheduling social media, etc.
• Recorded episodes: I think I recorded 10 or so episodes before I even launched the podcast. This helped me immensely because I didn’t have to worry about recording new episodes immediately after launching.
• Setting up systems: There are lots of moving pieces with having a podcast. From scheduling guests and getting their information, to creating marketing materials, to scheduling in Libsyn, there’s a lot going on. We finally nailed down a system that works for us, but I had a lot of it figured out beforehand. I use Acuity to schedule guests (and have an automated follow-up process so guests know what to expect), Asana to communicate with my editor & VA on where episodes are at in the process and relay relevant episode info, and Planoly to schedule Instagram posts & Instagram stories. I also use SmarterQueue to schedule out social media.
• Prepping marketing materials: My graphic designer created templates for the social media graphics which was amazing to have ahead of time. We prepped a lot of social media content as well as set up a landing page on my site for people to join the email newsletter.
• Facebook group: I started a launch Facebook group of people who were my biggest supporters who wanted to help start the show with a bang. After the launch, I turned it into a group of listeners and super fans of the podcast. Join the group to chat with other fans and guests!

 

Lesson learned: Working ahead of time can pay off. Also, outsource things you either aren’t good at doing or isn’t in your zone of expertise. It’s WORTH IT.

Hosted my first paid live masterclass

At the beginning of August, I hosted my first live paid masterclass, Master Your PR: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Your Story, Building Relationships, and Getting Noticed. You can actually still sign up, you’ll just receive the recorded version 🙂

I’ll admit, this was somewhat of a last minute decision but I really wanted to help people learn more about PR and how they can use it for their small business.

The fact is, not everyone can afford to hire someone like me on a monthly retainer to do their PR but they do want to learn how PR can help their business but they aren’t sure where to get started.

This masterclass is a great place to start if you aren’t quite sure how to start using PR for your business but want to learn (which, by the way, PR is not only for big businesses. PR is free, which is why it’s perfect for any type of business, even beginners!)

For a two-hour masterclass, this took a lot of time and energy from me. Maybe it was because I was nervous, or maybe because it was my first live masterclass, but whew buddy did it take me forever!

I haven’t done the best job at promoting it after the fact (horrible, but the truth), but I’m trying to kick my butt into gear and promote it because it’s a great class. Hoping to do more in the future!

Lesson learned: Take the time to create digital products so people can buy something from you if they land on your site. Up until this point, no one could buy anything from me except my services.

Took a vacation

Say what?! Yep, took a real-life vacation and it was great to take a break from everything and get away. 

I will mention that because of some personal things that happened with family, it did make the vacation a bit more stressful. I basically took off the week prior to vacation to focus on family, so then it ended up being two weeks “out of the office.” Which, isn’t truly me being “out of office” because I still worked, so it was a difficult time to balance everything.

Lesson learned: Find more time throughout the year to take breaks. I don’t want to rely on one big vacation in a year. Ideally, I’d take smaller vacations throughout the year to be fully refreshed.

Check out my business update for Q3 and what my goals are for Q4! #smallbizhttps://brittneyllynn.com/q3-business-update/ Click To Tweet

Review of Q3 goals

Let’s quickly review my Q3 goals before we get to the good stuff: what’s coming up for Q4!

1. Launch a podcast: Nope didn’t launch but took A LOT of steps forward. More on the launch day in the Q4 recap!
2. Find me time again: I’ll admit, I did not succeed at this at all. If anything, it got worse (and it got really worse in Q4) but I’ll save that for a future post. 
3. Work smarter, not harder: In some ways, I accomplished this and in other ways, I definitely did not. I’ve slowly realized I’m not the best at creating systems for myself (I need someone to tell me what to do) so I’m considering hiring outside help to help me get my ‘ish together.

What’s planned for Q4

Planning for 2018

What Q4 is really about is closing out 2017 with a bang with my clients and prepare for 2018. I set aside a day in December to just dream, plan, and think about the future and what I want for my business and I’m so excited.

A client of mine recommended purchasing Amber McCue’s Frest Start 2018 to help me and I’m so excited to dive in.

Plans will include planning for the podcast, growing a mini-PR agency (!!!) and focusing on becoming a better leader/manager. I have a lot to learn but I’m excited to see what 2018 brings.

Final Thoughts

I hope you enjoyed my Q3 business update and getting a behind the scenes look at what’s coming up next for my business.

It’s interesting because my word of the year is “Growth” and I am definitely growing in a variety of ways: outsourcing, bringing on new clients, mentally, and emotionally. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the year holds!