Anne McGinty - Part 2 - Host Reflection: How has podcasting been so far?

This episode is Anne McGinty's reflection on how hosting the 'How I Built My Small Business' podcast has been so far and offers additional insights into the process.

She answers the questions:

How has podcasting been?
How do you find your guests?
Are you monetizing?
How is the show performing?

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Anne McGinty Host.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:08

Hi everyone, thank you for being here. So, in addition to my host introduction, which dropped just the other day, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on what podcasting has been like up to this point. The most common question I get from friends is point the most common question I get from friends is how has podcasting been? So this is a much deeper question than most are probably thinking and I'm going to try and answer it as best as I can. So podcasting has been incredible and far more rewarding than I imagined it would be. Now, if you're asking about stats which I've learned is what some people mean the stats are kind of blowing my mind, but I'll get to those in just a little bit. To start off, I wanted to take a moment and reflect on the more meaningful part of the process beyond the stats. So back to that question how has podcasting been? Well, I've been learning so much in the most wonderful way. There are the basics, like learning how to record, produce, edit and release a show, which, honestly, already feels like a triumph, because I had no prior skills in this before launching and I have so much more to learn, but I know enough in the moment to get an episode out in a quality that is good enough for now. I crash course taught myself how to use Adobe edition using Mike Russell's YouTube videos, and, if you know anything about Photoshop, I find the two softwares share similarities. Only audition is for sound waves instead of images, so very cool for anyone who appreciates Adobe products. But the best part of this process is getting to think about who I'd love to have a conversation with, what knowledge they have that I think could benefit my listener, and what's their story. I receive emails every day from people wanting to be guests on the show, which is a good way to get my attention if there's a guest that you think I should consider. But usually the way that I find my guests is that it's me reaching out to them because they have a story or lesson that I think is a good fit for my show when considering the benefit I'm hoping to provide for my listeners. So what void do they fill in my lineup? What message do they have to share? How does their knowledge fit in the overall curation of the show? Because this is a creative outlet for me with a very simple goal to provide real insight that'll help others.

Speaker 1: 2:43

I'm not a business coach, I'm not a consultant. I'm not on a speaker circuit and I'm not a business coach. I'm not a consultant, I'm not on a speaker circuit and I'm not selling a course. I do have a wishlist for people I would love to bring on the show because they fit the criteria I just mentioned before. But this part of the process can be challenging. If I'm approaching someone who has somewhat of a public appearance, self-doubt absolutely creeps in. So this is something that I'm working through and developing within myself. On a personal level, you know how to answer the questions who am I? Why would that person want to speak with me?

Speaker 1: 3:20

And that feeling of constantly being pushed outside of my comfort zone is something that hasn't been a prominent outside of my comfort zone is something that hasn't been a prominent part of my life since selling my last business three years ago. The podcasting challenges are different to the feeling I have as a parent, where you push yourself to do the best job you can to raise adults, and it's different to taking risks, making investments of a financial return. But to give a few examples of what stepping outside of my comfort zone has done in the podcasting process my memory has improved, my knowledge has expanded, new ideas are forming and my perspective has grown. So I have benefited tremendously from the conversations that I've had with guests and I've learned so much, and I hope that you, too, have enjoyed listening along. One thing that I've really noticed in the planning of my lineup is the gender gap, and I already posted about this on LinkedIn. But I searched CEO founder on LinkedIn out of curiosity to see who would pop up, and out of the top 22 results that populated, only one was a woman. Women still only account for less than 9% of CEO founders. So I'm continuing my dedication, to the degree that I can, to rotate between men and women leaders. To rotate between men and women leaders.

Speaker 1: 4:46

I am developing my personal skills by connecting with people I don't know and preparing to have a meaningful conversation with them in a way that flows well and also puts them at ease. Sometimes the one hour conversation is so profound because there's vulnerability, there's shared interests and sometimes overlap in values and then active listening on both sides, and part of my goal is to make the guests so at ease that they can speak with authenticity. So the interviews are by far my favorite, favorite, favorite part of this, and usually when we get off the record and stop recording. We'll continue to talk for a while while the recording processes, and because of the vulnerability and active listening, it feels like a deeper connection is developed in an hour than I'm used to experiencing in normal everyday conversations. So what I'll say to friends is this if you could choose to have a conversation with anyone in the world, who would you choose to talk with, and why so? Just think about that for a second. That, to me, is so fun, it's exciting, it makes me nervous at times and it is helping me to grow as a person.

Speaker 1: 6:04

I get to speak with people who have tremendous knowledge on a sliver of the world that I don't, and that is fun to me. For example, my last episode was with New Zealand's Olympic surfing coach, who battled cancer in his early 20s and decided that he didn't want to spend the rest of his working life in an office in a skyscraper. So he started the art of surfing and the one before that. The founders of the Charleston Hemp Collective and High Rise Beverage Company, started their business when they were in their mid 40s and they learned how to lean into vulnerability, and that led them to a very unexpected $40 million valuation after only five years. So these are incredible stories with so much learning. Upcoming guests include one of Vogue's top 50 event planners in the world, a quintuple platinum singer-songwriter, the founder of a worldwide wetsuit brand, an eight-figure, four-times Emmy, two-times Super Bowl ad marketing guru, a Stanford entrepreneurship lecturer, and so much more. So the lineup is diverse in niche experience and perspective and is so, so fun.

Speaker 1: 7:23

So back to the stats. I've learned that when people say how is the show doing, they mean how is the performance? Is it growing or is it stagnant? So I'll give you a quick snippet. I released my first three episodes at the end of January this year and, because the process is so creative, I'm trying really hard not to look at the download numbers and charts, except for on the first of the month. At the very, very beginning, the numbers and the charts were so tantalizing, but then I settled back into the idea that it doesn't really matter. All the numbers do is tickle my ego. It's very affirming to the process and gives me an indication that what my guests are saying is resonating with listeners. But that's about it. So, anyway, if that's what you're curious about, here you go.

Speaker 1: 8:17

The show has a top one and a half percent global rank. According to Listen Notes, in the USA it's ranked as a top 50 Apple podcasts in entrepreneurship and it floats on and off the top 100 Apple podcasts in business and I'm on some other charts same categories in Germany, greece and Bermuda. So the show has close to 60,000 downloads since published last month. It was averaging 12 to 15,000 downloads per month and now it's currently fluctuating between 16 to 20,000. And it looks like it is continuing with pretty stable growth.

Speaker 1: 9:00

And that brings me to the second most often question asked by friends, which is are you monetizing? So at the moment I don't have any plans to monetize and I'm having fun, and for that reason I haven't spent any money on marketing. It costs me $34 a month and takes about one day of time per episode between planning for the interview, recording, editing and uploading. You know, sometimes it's less and hopefully not more. I'm not doing this for the money, but I've also got a bit of a catch-22, which, if you've never read the book, it's basically a situation where one is trapped by two contradictory conditions. I don't want to focus on monetization because it could impact or distract from the creative process, but if I don't do any marketing, I won't reach as many people, so I don't know what that means, but for now I'm focusing on the process. It's very possible that in season two or season three, I'll think about bringing on a sponsor to cover my time and expense associated with the production, but for now it's just not a part of the equation.

Speaker 1: 10:18

So, to start wrapping up this reflection, I just want to touch base on a few more observations and thoughts. First, I'd like to say thank you to the listeners who have reached out to me to let me know how the show is impacting them. These are so meaningful and I wanna share some of them with you. I received a message from a very successful private wealth manager at Merrill Lynch who said that majority of his clients are business owners, so the show has provided him with insight into understanding his clients more. He continued by saying that he's paying his 17 and 19 year old children $20 per episode for listening and writing a short paragraph about what they learned. So that was an incredible accolade. Another person wrote in to say I'm loving your podcast and I'm telling everyone I know about it. Jason Calacanis, who is one of the original investors in Uber and the founder of Launch, reposted one of my episodes to his 635,000 followers on LinkedIn and that was very affirming. And another listener emailed. I have now binged them all. Just wanted to reach out and let you know how awesome I think it is.

Speaker 1: 11:36

As someone starting out on my own small business journey, I really value the perspectives and insight that are shared on your platform. So these are just some of them, but every single one I receive is really platform. So these are just some of them, but every single one I receive is really meaningful. So thank you. Thank you to anyone who has been listening in, has emailed, left a rating or left a review. And, speaking of reviews, I am an avid listener of podcasts and my favorites include Good Inside with Dr Becky, feel Better, live More with Rangan Chatterjee, slow Mo with Mo Gowdat, stephen Bartlett over at Diary of a CEO, and then APM Marketplace with Kai Ristal for my economic dose. I'm always discovering new ones too, but that's what I currently have in my library.

Speaker 1: 12:27

One thing I wanted to touch on is just the reviews and ratings. I'm growing as a podcaster and, while I've mostly gotten five-star ratings, someone left me a four-star rating the other day and it had more of an impact than it should have. I was like what did they not like? Wait, someone didn't like what I put out and the psychological impact is just so fascinating to feel and then to try and process and understand how one single little star can matter so much.

Speaker 1: 12:59

I started looking at reviews left on some of the podcasts that I listened to and was surprised by some of the ones that I read. For example, on Diary of a CEO, one of his negative reviews was someone complaining that quote. The podcaster made it too personal and should have kept responses non-personal and broad for all listeners. I wanted to jump to his defense and say that as a host, you are in a position of wanting to build a deep connection with your guest, so on some level there's always going to be some personal questioning because it's a way to connect. So I found that person's review to be short-sighted. And on Mo Gowdat's Slow Mo podcast, someone left a negative review about Mo and his guest plugging their books at the beginning.

Speaker 1: 13:47

But part of the beginning is talking about who you and your guests are and what they have done to help people understand who they are about to listen to. So if they're an author, how do you introduce them without mentioning their book? So what I want to say about reviews and ratings is this Most of us producing podcasts are trying to do the best we can to provide real insight that is helpful to listeners. So please keep that in mind and that's all the time I'm going to spend on that. But it does bring up an interesting question that I need to better understand. Why do we care about what other people think about us, especially when we don't know who they are?

Speaker 1: 14:31

In college I minored in photography and was able to get a little bit of practice in learning how to desensitize myself to other people's criticisms. Every week we had to put that week's portfolio of work in front of the entire class and everyone had to offer honest, constructive criticism. Well, some people deliver their opinions in softer ways than others, so it was good practice for developing a shell of sorts, but it's not an entirely impermeable shell. I'm generally a positive person and I don't like to dwell on anything negative. I'm really doing my best with this show and I hope you can tell For the second half of the year there may be some episodes that go deeper into perspectives, leadership and skills that are helpful for anyone to have.

Speaker 1: 15:24

But still from the journey of entrepreneurs, I'm allowing myself to flow fluidly and evolve as a host, while maintaining the vision of continuing to deliver episodes that are insightful and interesting. So my sign off is just this Thank you for being here. I hope you continue to enjoy the show. Please get in touch if you have something to say and, lastly, be kind. Everyone have a great day.