Teri Holland 0:00
The podcast came out of that whole period of my life where I felt like I lost everything. After about two and a half weeks, I reached number one in self improvement on iTunes. The way you're likely to make money through podcasting is through selling your own products, your own services. What I find it actually works the best to get people to listen to my podcast is,
Finola Howard 0:24
that's Terry Holland, coach, public speaker and podcaster. I invited Terry onto this podcast for a couple of reasons, firstly, to explore the idea of burnout from a different perspective. IE, she didn't burn out because she hated her job. She burned out because she loved it so much, she was killing herself to do it. I wanted to dig into that idea a bit more as I equipped myself with what I need to make a joyful million I want that journey to be as joyful as possible, so I definitely don't want to burn out in the process. The second reason I invited her on was because of our podcasting expertise, and she's got a must have podcast launch strategy checklist for us. So if you're interested in starting a podcast or want to find out the things that will make you reach greater heights with your podcast, tune in to find out a bit more. I look forward to sharing it with you. I'm Finola Howard, Business Growth strategist with a joyful heart, and your host of the your truth shared podcast, I believe that every business has a story to tell, because that's how the market decides whether to buy or not, and your story has to resonate with who you are and with the people you want to serve. And this podcast is about helping you reach the market in a way that feels right to you. So if you're an entrepreneur with a dream you want to make real, then this is the podcast for you, because great marketing is your truth shared. Actually, I'm going to start with a confession, and my confession is around how I introduce myself to our next guest. And our next wonderful guest is Terry Holland, and I spoke to her about all of these stories about burnout, and because I wanted Terry on to speak about podcasting, and I said I just kind of want to do some more kind of dig deep conversations on this podcast, and that there were so many situations where people were in jobs that they hated and then they were burnt out. And then she said this to me. She said, Well, I actually have a burnout story. Finola, I'm really sorry to tell you, I loved my job so much I was killing myself to do it. Welcome Terry Holland,
Teri Holland 2:47
thank you. Thanks for having me on.
Finola Howard 2:49
What a weird intro.
Teri Holland 2:52
It's awesome. It's perfect,
Finola Howard 2:54
and it's really interesting, because, like the world that we're living in, burnout is rife. It's everywhere, and it seems to be everybody's story. And it really it kind of upsets me a bit in some ways, because I'm like, are we not learning from this? Are we not looking at our lives and learning? And then you said this to me, and I went, Oh my God, all the stories I've heard are for people who hate the corporate structure, who hate what they do. Tell us your story, and this is only a small part of your story, because remember, we're more than these things that happen us.
Teri Holland 3:28
Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. So my story is that I was already an entrepreneur, and I was working in a an industry that I loved. I was in the fitness business, so I was a personal trainer and a sports nutritionist, and I loved what I did every day, and I loved my clients, and I was trading time for money. So if I wanted to make more money, I needed to train more people in a day, which meant working more hours. But because I loved what I did so much, I thought, well, it's fine. I can do a 14 hour day. I can work six days a week. Sometimes I can work seven days a week. It's fine, because I love what I do and it's fulfilling. And we hear that old saying, I forget who said it first, but you know, if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life. So I thought, well, I love what I do, this isn't work. This is fun for me. And I was ignoring all the signs and signals from my body that I was burning out, that I was doing too much. I have an an autoimmune condition that I had been ignoring. So I was dealing with that. I was also in fitness competitions at the time. So on top of working as much as I was, I was over training and I was over dieting myself. And between all of these things, the overworking, the overtraining and dieting and the autoimmune condition, I burnt myself out and and I think sometimes when people talk about burnout, what they're really talking about is fatigue, that they were tired. They were exhausted. They knew. Of rest. But when I talk about burnout, I mean my body was was done to the point where my doctor pulled me into the office one day and said, Your adrenal system is starting to fail. If you do not stop everything you're doing, you will be in the hospital.
Finola Howard 5:16
It's unfair of me to say, but why did you not see the signs? But I want to know, why do you see the signs? Because lots of people are not seeing the signs. What? What is it? Yeah,
Teri Holland 5:25
that's, I think that's a great question. That's a fair question to ask. It was, I mean, maybe to say I wasn't seeing them isn't accurate. I was seeing them, but I wasn't taking it seriously. I kept going back to my doctor saying, Something's wrong. I'm tired all the time, and I was looking for her to give me something to fix it, that she would give me a prescription, she'd give me a vitamin, a supplement, tell me to do something, but she kept telling me, Terry, you need to slow down. You can't do what you think you can do. You need to cut back. And so I was seeing that something was wrong, but I wasn't willing to do what was necessary to fix it. So I was ignoring what the solution was, and the solution was cutting back, and I didn't want to do that. I wasn't getting what I wanted from her. And I was going regularly. I was going to her and complaining that my hair was starting to fall out. And she would say, Terry, you need to cut back. You're doing too much. You can't do as much as you think you can do. And so we had this back and forth. And so I was seeing the signs, but I wasn't taking them seriously.
Finola Howard 6:32
But I like what you said, because I think this is important. I wasn't willing to do what I needed to do to fix it. Yes, and there's something in here, because this, this is a real trap that we're in and because, and the other thing that's interesting to me is that we are looking for where I'm looking for it to be fixed, whereas, in actual fact, where we're supposed to be we're not supposed to live like this.
Teri Holland 6:57
No, I just wanted her to give me something so I could stay on the track I was on and keep going and keep doing and and and make it better. But that wasn't there was no answer like that. The answer was, I needed to stop until it got to the point where it was so bad I had to stop
Finola Howard 7:14
completely. Okay, you said something else about you. Said I was so burned out. I had non existent cortisol. I was barely producing any like and we all think cortisol is a stress hormone, so we're thinking it's good not to have any of this stuff, but tell us more.
Teri Holland 7:33
Yeah, so our bodies have a very delicate system and a delicate balance. And what we hear about cortisol online, and I don't know about you, but I see this a lot on social media. A lot of people are talking about lowering cortisol levels because so many people are chronically stressed. Well, we are supposed to have cortisol, and we're supposed to have a certain range of it throughout the day. When we go we're too stressed, we over produce cortisol. That's a problem. But if we keep going, which is what I did, we go beyond the point where the adrenal system can no longer keep producing enough cortisol. And that's that's what burnout really is. And so for it, to give you an idea what, what my doctor explained to me is that first thing in the morning cortisol levels should be between 30 and 40, and that's what wakes you up. In the morning, we get a burst of cortisol. We wake up so and then throughout the
Finola Howard 8:29
whole for a moment, so that we can take this in. Yeah. Cortisol is good and bad for us. We need it for the kick, for this kick, to help us to move. Yeah, okay, I need to take that in. Yeah, good, yeah, perfect, yeah.
Teri Holland 8:45
So we start with this high, like we get a burst of cortisol in the morning. It wakes us up, it gets us going, and then it Peters off throughout the day, and by the end of the day, it should be around a three, okay. Well, I was starting in the morning. And the way they tested this was I did test throughout the day. So they tested at certain times the day, what my levels were, and first thing in the morning I was out of three. So I was starting where most people will finish their day, at about 11 o'clock at night. I was starting there, and by the end of the day, it was exhausted. By the end of the day, it was untraceable in my in my system, it couldn't trace any cortisol. And so my doctor said to me, I don't know how you even get out of bed in the morning,
Finola Howard 9:33
and what would happen if you because this must have been what happened. What happens when you have nothing,
Teri Holland 9:41
you don't function. You don't function anymore. So what happened with me, and I'm just going to frame this and that I'm not a doctor, so I'm just sharing from my experience. But what happened with me is when what I learned, and again, from my layman's understanding, is that when the body can only. Longer produce enough cortisol to function. It starts pulling from other areas of the body, because our bodies are very smart. So the next thing that dropped was my progesterone levels, because my body was trying to get something to keep going. So my progesterone levels dropped really low, which is not a great thing for women to happen and and the next thing that would have happened if we if I didn't stop when I did and change course when I did. The next thing that happened is that the thyroid goes so it's they're all connected in a chain.
Finola Howard 10:34
It's crazy. And then so it's interesting, because as a as a woman, and when we're thinking about we know about progesterone and estrogen and and it's really important to us. So when we get a drop in either of those two, I'm immediately scared, because of all the talk about menopause. So, so the body, if it doesn't get the cortisol, it goes to progesterone, then it goes to the thyroid. Wow. Okay,
Teri Holland 11:00
keep sharing, please. Yeah. So when progesterone levels drop, it was basically, I was 32 at the time, so I was too young for perimenopause, but it pushed me into like a premature perimenopause, where it affects as women, it affects our cycles, it affects how we sleep. It's it's that feeling of I'm tired and wired, like I'm so exhausted, but I can't fall asleep when I want to, but that I am falling asleep when I don't want to, like in the middle of the day I can't keep my eyes open, so the whole system gets thrown off, and our circadian rhythm is out of balance. And for me, what it felt like is I just could not cope with anything anymore. I couldn't function.
Finola Howard 11:49
And what changed then, how did you how did you fix it? When did this happen? Terry,
Teri Holland 11:54
so this was about 10 years ago. It'd been coming on for a few years, like it didn't just happen, but when what I when the doctor told me it's time to stop everything was in 2015 where she said, You're you're cut off, you're done. You can't work this way anymore. Yeah, and so I felt completely lost. I had attached my identity to what I did because I loved it so much, so I I didn't do personal training. I was a personal trainer. That was my identity. I'd built up this really big business. I had amazing clients I loved working with, and suddenly I was cut off from all of that. I was I negotiated with my doctor. I was allowed to work two mornings a week, and for about three to four hours on each of those days, and that was it. And she said to me, the rest of the time, I would be practicing what she called aggressive rest, which I thought was an interesting phrase, like, what is, what is aggressive rest, right? This doesn't sound right. And she said that I would be, I wasn't allowed to work out. I wasn't allowed to be in a calorie deficit. I could walk my dogs. That was, that was it for exercise. Was just walking the dogs. And the rest of the time I was to lie down, watch TV, read books and rest.
Finola Howard 13:19
And did you did you go crazy? Or did you find it easy?
Teri Holland 13:25
I found it really hard, very hard. I'm a high achiever. I like to do things, and so to suddenly be in a state where I couldn't be achieving anything, I went into a very deep depression. I felt completely lost. I didn't know who I was anymore. I didn't know what to do with my life. I felt useless. I felt like I had no purpose anymore. And, and, and the really disheartening part is that when I asked my doctor, how long will this take? Because I thought, a few weeks. Let's take a few weeks, and then I'll be fine. And she said, this could take months. This will likely take years to fully recover. You can't go back to doing what you were doing. Okay? So, very scary. Very scary. And around that time, I went to a networking event because I felt I was at home. I felt so lonely. I thought I'm just gonna go, even though I don't really have a business anymore, I'm gonna go to this event. This event and meet some other business owners and get out of the house. And there I met a man who introduced me to NLP and timeline therapy and hypnotherapy, all the tools that I use today. And it was that's what changed my life.
Finola Howard 14:37
Like this is a stupid question, right? Are you do you think this? Are you glad? Do you think it was fate? Do you think it was your life has changed for a reason? Is it? What do you think about all those like, sometimes it can feel a little trite that we're going, Oh, it was destined, you know. But, yeah, how do you feel about it?
Teri Holland 15:01
Yeah, I feel like it was a blessing. Okay, I love it. I feel like this was, you know, I'm going to use the word God, because that was, that's what works for me. But I know some people want to say universe or spirit, or whatever works for you. But for me, it's God, that God intervened in my life to put me on the course I was meant to be on and the path that was meant to be on. Because if that, if I didn't go through that, I would never be, you know, maybe I would have found my way here in some other way. But I don't think so. I think that that had to happen for me to learn about what NLP is, and hypnosis and timeline therapy, and find these tools that have now become my purpose to use to help other people to express themselves and to better their lives, to overcome burnout and imposter syndrome and all of those things that hold us back in life. So I feel like it was meant to happen. I remember
Finola Howard 15:53
doing an exercise on a mentorship program I was on like so many years ago, but the exercise, because this identity issue is really interesting, because it's so wrapped up in entrepreneurship, in visibility and all of that our voice and our identity is so critical. And I remember the exercise, and it was with an American mentor, and there was a lot of Americans in the room, and Irish people are generally quite we don't like to talk about ourselves. Okay? So in the room, we were asked introduce yourself, right? And so I think I went first, and I just said, and it was a and it was a leap for me to say this, I said I'm an intuitive marketer. That's what I how it was positioned at the time, right? So, still very intuitive, still a marketer, okay, but that's how I positioned myself. And I'm Finola, and I'm from Ireland, and blah, blah, blah, okay, but very short, like two sentences, and then other people in the program. There's no other Irish people in the program, then the other people came in the program and shared all the things that made them up. So they were like, you know, a few minutes speaking. And that was a lesson for me as well, to realize there's more to me than just this. So that's a lesson on the on the path also. But the exercise then was, you had to give up some of that stuff. I had to make a choice, am I? Which are you? So to reduce it down from intuitive marketer to one of those, if I had to choose one to drop, what would I drop? And I remember going like, just, what do you mean? I can't drop one of those. And then I, you know, took a deep breath and shocked myself by saying I dropped the marketer piece. And I never, always been a marketer, okay? And it was really hard, because I went, and then I, when I tell this story to anybody, they all go, Yeah, well, I knew you'd do that, because for them and for clients, also, my intuition was actually really important to them. But then the next stage was to drop that so that all was left was I am, and that's all we are. And that then creates the space I feel in retrospect looking back for all the things that you are, because it's I am. Yeah, was really cool. That's very cool. I love that you then meet this person, because I've also done NLP and found it to be an extremely powerful, positive way of reshaping how I think about my model of the world. Like I found it to be really powerful, and it helped me make sense of things. Tell me how in the identity piece. So you discovered this, and you studied this, and then you moved into podcasting. Let's talk about that nice segue straight into podcasting, perfect,
Teri Holland 18:53
perfect. So the podcast came out of that whole period of my life where I felt like I lost everything, and everything was falling apart. And around that same time, as I was going through the burnout, my dad passed away of cancer, I was I was so lost, and I needed something to attach on to to give me some meaning and something to do. And I really needed something creative for myself at that time. So I went to this event, another event, and it was a three day event with multiple speakers, and the first day, the very first speaker talked about podcasting. And I was ready to leave right after he spoke and go start a podcast, because something inside of me lit up, and I thought, this is, this is what I need to do now this is, this is what I'm looking for. I could start a podcast and that'll give me something to do. I can sit at my desk and do it. I don't need to be moving around or active. I can still rest and recover. But this gives me something to induce to do and to enjoy. And so that's where my podcast started from. And I. When I started it, it was meant to just be me exploring personal development.
Finola Howard 20:04
And did you when, when you started the podcast? Was the podcast for you or for an audience?
Teri Holland 20:11
It was mainly for me, because I didn't think there'd be an audience, yeah. So, so I thought, you know, I started my podcast within 48 hours of hearing that talk at that event. I love it, and I was able to start it so quickly because I didn't think about it. I just I didn't think anyone would want to listen. I thought maybe some of my personal training clients might be interested to hear what I'm doing. Maybe my mom if she could figure out where the podcast app was on her phone. But that was it. I thought this is just for me. It felt like, I don't know if you ever did this, Finola, but when I was a little girl, I would sit in my bedroom and I would pretend it was a radio host, and I'd record myself talking, and I would do the weather report and the news report the traffic, and I'd introduce artists and interview people. And so that's, that's the part of me that woke up when I heard the speaker talk about podcasts. No,
Finola Howard 21:07
I just sang into my hairbrush because I wanted to be a singer. Oh, that's
Teri Holland 21:10
awesome. I did that too. I did it too.
Finola Howard 21:15
Oh, you were meant to do this then,
Teri Holland 21:17
yeah. So it was that, that part of me woke up, and so for me, sitting down at the mic and recording was just, I'm just talking about what's on my mind and what I'm experiencing and what I'm learning about. And if anyone ever listens, that's cool, but I didn't think anyone really would.
Finola Howard 21:37
And what do you think it did for you? Like, what happened next? Because you then realized, like, something started to shift. You've called this is called success in mind. So, yeah, I love the name of it. It's great name, and thank you. Tell us what happened next, because voice is so powerful, absolutely,
Teri Holland 21:56
yeah. So I didn't start it as success in mind. When I started it was called the empowered life, and I've rebranded it twice since then. So it was the empowered life and that it was the Terry Holland show, and now it's success of mine. But what happened is that people were listening, and after about two, two and a half weeks, I reached number one in self improvement on iTunes, and that that blew my mind. I thought it was a mistake. I had noticed that I was climbing the apple charts, and so that morning, I woke up and I looked at my phone to see, well, where is it now? And and I was sort of bouncing around the top 100, which was very exciting. And I opened my phone and I looked at I was number one, and so I didn't know how the podcast algorithms worked, though, so I thought, well, it's on my phone, so of course it's favoring me. Someone else's would look different, right? And so I made my husband check on his phone, and then I checked on my computer, and then I called my best friend and said, Can you check and see and he said, Yeah, you're number
Finola Howard 23:00
one? Yeah, I remember that for myself too. And I remember going, and I remember getting emails, because it was a similar time period as well. I remember getting emails from people going, how did you do that?
Teri Holland 23:12
Yes, no, yeah, same, same. I had, you know, another, a friend of mine at the time. She had started her podcast at the same time, and she said, Well, what are you doing that's different for me? And I said, I don't, I don't know. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just recording and talking. And
Finola Howard 23:30
do you know now?
Teri Holland 23:34
Kind of I think there are a few things. I think one is that I recorded every day. I did an episode a day for the first several weeks. Wow. And so I think that helped build momentum. I mean, I had nothing to do. I wasn't working right? So it's easy to do that. And so I think that gave me a lot of momentum at the start. I think the other thing was my vulnerability and the authenticity in my content, that I wasn't holding anything back, because I really didn't think anyone was listening. I was just talking freely. And I think that helped me connect the people who were finding the show, that they felt a connection with me and what I was going through.
Finola Howard 24:13
Do you think that that it's very interesting, because I just recorded another episode in the topic of and we were, talking about video and the topic of vulnerability came up. Do you think that, and we were talking about it from the perspective of vulnerability being a differentiator now in our AI world and our, you know, like over exposure, of so many channels of where you can get, receive content. Do you think is that this? Do you feel the same way? Is that vulnerability a critical component or a critical ingredient? Now, for success?
Teri Holland 24:52
I think it is, but I think I think vulnerability is important, but not in the way a lot of people use it. And. Okay, so I think it's important to, especially if you're positioning yourself as a leader, to share your vulnerability. And for podcasters or for people in video, you want to be relatable, and the way to be relatable and to connect with the audience is to share, what are your your firsts? What are your failures? What are your F ups? You know? What? What has worked, what hasn't worked for you? And to be honest and sharing it and and share openly where I think that people sometimes get it wrong, and I see this on social media a lot, is that they share all of their baggage, and, you know, they'll be in a bad state. Something horrible has happened, and their instinct is to turn on the camera while they're crying and while they're in the thick of it, and to start talking about it. And I don't think that's the kind of vulnerability we need. I think it's sharing our experiences from a very authentic place, but with the audience still in mind that we are sharing to help someone, that the intention has to be there, I think where vulnerability goes wrong is if we start using our platforms as therapy and trauma dumping on our audiences. I don't think that's taking care of our audiences.
Finola Howard 26:18
Why is that happening now? Like, is this ego?
Teri Holland 26:22
Yeah, I would say it's ego based. I would say it's attention seeking in some ways. I think it's in, you know, social media has created a world where people just want to get likes and views, and they're not really thinking about, how is this landing for the person who's listening to it, and is this responsible to be sharing right now? Is this, you know, is this responsible? Is this okay for myself to share it? Is this also responsible for that other person who's out there to be listening to it? Am I taking care of my audience in this I train and coach a lot of podcasters and speakers, and I always say you need to share from the solution. So while you're in the thick of it might not be the time to talk about it, once you've come through it, and you can help guide someone with your story to come through the other side with you. Now you can start talking and sharing about it, but you share from the solution, not from the pain
Finola Howard 27:18
someone I've heard someone say, when it's guard over, then it's time to share.
Teri Holland 27:23
Yeah, great way to put it. It's a great way to put it. And so I think, I think a lot of people get caught up on that, especially on social media, where they think, well, people are going to watch this because people love a train wreck, right? That's people stop and look at a tragedy. I don't think it's a safe way to be expressing ourselves. I don't think that's the way to heal anything. I don't think that's really helping anyone and and I also question the true authenticity of that, because if you're in that really vulnerable moment, the moment you turn on the camera and you start talking, you're not in it anymore. It's not real anymore. Now it becomes a performance. Ah, okay, yes, yeah, because you're, you're not in the same state of mind. It's, it's now a performance. It's not real, it's not authentic. It's actually the opposite of authenticity,
Finola Howard 28:16
and it's a foolish business strategy, because we don't buy from the train wreck, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Might sell hot dogs. We don't buy from the train wreck, yeah, yeah. We became, if we do that, we become the cautionary tale shorty, I agree, yeah. So when? So let's, let's think about some of the listeners who are thinking about starting a podcast. So here's my first question for you, which is, in in this age where there are a lot of podcasts now, okay, so is it still a good marketing decision or marketing strategy to start a podcast, and how do you know if it's right for you?
Teri Holland 29:05
Absolutely great questions. So let's start with the first part of that. So yes, there's tons of space in the podcasting world. There are, and these stats vary day to day, but there's approximately 5 million podcasts online right now, that seems like a really big number to people when I share that, but if we compare that to how many people are posting content on Instagram, on Tiktok, on Facebook, on YouTube, that number is a lot smaller. It's not as big of a pool as we think. And then when we really look at it, more than 50% of those podcasts are inactive. So you're really you're narrowing down your competition. Now it's only like 2.5 million podcasts that are actually producing regular content. Most podcasts don't get past their third episode. Okay, so there might seem. Seem like everyone's launching podcasts, and everyone and their dog has a podcast, but they don't. It just
Finola Howard 30:05
appears that way, and is it. So it's interesting that you say most stop after the third episode. I had heard 60. If you get past 16, you're you know, you're on a roll. You're laughing. Yeah. What makes them stuff.
Teri Holland 30:22
So there's a few things. So I think the biggest thing that I see is they're expecting too much out of it. Their expectations are unrealistic. So someone who is unknown starts a podcast, and they expect that they're going to be Joe Rogan the next day, and Spotify is going to offer them a multi million dollar deal, and that's not going to happen unless you're already a celebrity figure with a huge audience and following no one's offering you a big podcasting contract. So we need to keep our expectations in check. Why are you doing this podcast? If you're starting a podcast solely for the purpose of making money, maybe it's not the right thing for you. There needs to be more to it than that, because it does take a lot of work and a lot of effort, and you might not see a return on it for a while. And while, it is possible to make money through podcasting and and I do the way you're likely to make money through podcasting is through selling your own products, your own services. That's that's how I use it. I use it as a tool for lead generation. It's not why I started, but that's what has come out of the podcast, is it's brought me a lot of coaching clients over the years and speaking opportunities and business ventures and partnerships with other people, collaborations. But I didn't start there. And I think sometimes people start a podcast thinking, I want to make a lot of money really fast at this. And that's not how
Finola Howard 31:49
it works. Do you think that, because I find this for myself? Do you think that people are afraid of doing the work for anything, and not just a podcast, because success requires you do the work. And I know that. I know that very often the stumbling block is with with entrepreneurs is, one is focus, and two is you got to do the work.
Teri Holland 32:19
Yeah, and I think that goes along with the expectations. They have unrealistic expectations. So they think that not only are they going to make a lot of money really fast at it, but they think they're going to be able to hire a team to produce and do all the work for them. And unless you have a lot of money behind you to put into it, that's probably not the case. You're probably going to be editing it yourself, producing yourself, reaching out to guests on your own and doing all the groundwork, and that takes time, and a lot of people are afraid of the time it takes. And then I think with that too, there are also another reason why people stop so early, is they're afraid of what people are going to say. So as they start doing it, and they start realizing, oh, people are listening to this. And this does give you, when you have a podcast, you instantly have a global reach. It's not like you're limited to one demographic. You are everywhere around the world. And sometimes people get overwhelmed by that. When they see, oh, people are actually listening to me. Well, what are they going to say about me? What if I make a mistake? Are they going to cancel me? And so there's, there's a lot of factors that go into it, and sometimes they just haven't thought out their content strategy. So they think they have a lot to say, and they record a few episodes, and then they think they're out of topics. They don't know what else to say,
Finola Howard 33:38
but they probably don't have a content strategy for anything else, either,
Teri Holland 33:41
right? Yeah,
Finola Howard 33:44
so it makes us really think about our business in a much more strategic way. If we want any initiative, like if we were, if you were exploring any way it any visibility method for your business, you have to bring it into the ecosystem of your business and not have it just on the edge and expect it to know what it's supposed to do for you. Absolutely. Yeah, Okay, what else would you say when someone's starting so, so we already know that one you've answered the question of yes, you should podcast to, you know, be have realistic expectations and actually have a strategy for your business and how it fits into your business. What would you say next?
Teri Holland 34:27
Don't get caught up on all the technical stuff. You can figure that out as you go. So what stops a lot of people from even starting is they think it's going to be so overwhelming and so tech heavy, and it's, it's pretty simple. It's, you pick a recording platform, some software, like, we're recording this on Riverside. That's what I use for my show as well. You hit the button you talk. When you're done talking, you hit stop, like, that's, it's, it's pretty simple. And especially. Especially today, compared to when I started. And this always makes me feel so old, but over the 10 years, we've had aI come out that helps a lot with the editing and helps streamline our editing processes and and marketing the show. And there's so much that we can save time on because of AI and so but people get caught up on that, or they think they have to have the most expensive mic, or the best headset, or the you don't when I started my podcast, I started with a Blue Snowball mic, I think it was $60 Canadian, and I paid, I think, $20 to have someone on Fiverr create my cover art, and another 20 to someone else on Fiverr to do my intro for me. And that was it. Those are my startup fees, my hosting site. I started with the free trial version, and when I upgraded, I think it was $10 a month. Like it's you can start very simply, and you can start with what you have. You probably have enough tools. The only thing I would say that you should buy if you don't have it already, is an external mic. Don't use the one on your computer. But other than that, you probably have most of what you need, and you can keep it really simple. And then, as you develop and you learn, you can get more creative with your editing. You can, you can try different types of software. You can upgrade your mic. You can, you can change later. But the point is to get started. You're not going to get good at anything until you start.
Finola Howard 36:35
And in terms of how, how someone so we're quite free flowing, but we did have a chat beforehand, and I'm playing with like I'm playing with the importance of, how much do I have an agenda, how much do I have a script. And I'm playing with those formats to see what will pull the best from my guest on the show. How would you guide someone in helping them organize their content, or how they get the content of the show. How you tips there?
Teri Holland 37:06
Yeah, so if you're doing a solo show, no, yes, just, it's just you talking my solo shows. I don't script. I'll have an idea. And I have a running list on the Notes app on my phone of ideas, because once you have a moment of inspiration, you think this would be a great podcast topic. You have to capture it, otherwise you're going to forget it later. So that's my first tip. Is always have a running list somewhere where you can just jot down ideas quickly. Then I don't script it. But what I might do is I'll plot out some bullet points. So these are the points I want to make in the show. If I have a specific call to action, I'll have that in front of me too, so that I don't forget to mention it, that this is what to do next, or this is where to download the worksheet for this episode, or whatever it is, and then from there, I just talk about it. When I was starting out, I started that way, and then I thought I would save some time by repurposing some old blogs that I had written. And I started recording my blog content. And my business coach at the time reached out to me, and he said, Terry, what's what's changed? Your Podcast sounds different. What are you doing differently? And I said, Well, I'm using some old blogs for content. He said, Stop that you sound so stiff, you sound different. It's not as free flowing. It doesn't sound like you anymore. Stop doing that.
Finola Howard 38:30
It does. So that's the interesting one. It doesn't sound like you anymore. So it is, it is like I know we've been speaking about authenticity, but it is. Voice is an authentic source of who we are. It is part of our identity. It is, it is like in in kind of, in other terms, it's the seat of power. Voice is the seat of power, our power, our presence in the world. So we've got to let that flow really, yes,
Teri Holland 38:59
yeah, think of it as you're just having a conversation. So even if it's just you in a solo show, think about who you're talking to. I usually picture it's my best friend sitting across from me, and we're just having a conversation and and I'm just talking to him. That's all when you have a guest with a guest, there's there is more prep involved, because you need to know what to ask that guest, what their stories are, what's how you're going to shape the conversation, to have a great conversation. And so I'll have, I'll always have a list of questions in front of me for the guest, and I'll put them into a flow of what I think will work really well. But then I'm open to free flowing. And so, yeah, I like my my interviews to be just just like what you're doing here. It's very comfortable. It feels like a natural conversation. And so I'll have my questions in front of me, so I know where I want to go and what I want to talk about, but then within that, I'll ask follow up questions, or maybe we go off on a different direction that's more interesting than what I had planned. End, and I'll allow for that to happen. So be flexible in preparing for your guest interviews and allowing the conversation to go where it needs to. You know, a good example of that is I had my business strategist on the show. I've had him on a couple times, and a recent conversation we had on the show, I brought him on to talk about business trends that he was predicting for 2025 at the beginning of the year. And as we started talking, the conversation turned to all about AI and how we can leverage AI for business and the importance of it and and how if you want to have a competitive edge in business today, you really need to get comfortable using AI, and so that became the theme of the show. It had nothing to do with trends coming for this year. We focused in on that, and that's what took over the conversation. And that episode has done very well. People loved it.
Finola Howard 40:54
And how often do you check the stats when you're publishing an episode, and you use those stats to to guide you of of what would other content like this in this space be? How conscious are you about that? So
Teri Holland 41:10
I'm a data nerd, so I check my stats daily. Okay, I always want to know why podcast is doing and, you know, Is that wise? Is it not? I don't know, but I just love looking at numbers and data, and so for me, it's interesting to see, or suddenly I'll have a spike in downloads from an episode I recorded months ago, or sometimes years ago, and I want to know that, like, what is it that's happening in the world, or who shared that episode somewhere that suddenly, now it's getting a bunch of new traction to it. What's going on? But I do look for trends all the time. So what is trending? What are they liking? What are they not liking? Apple gives really good data. They'll show you exactly where people are dropping off in an episode, so I'll know. Okay, maybe my episodes are getting to be too long. Maybe they want something shorter again, or what happened in that particular episode at that time that they dropped off? Did we go off track? Was I talking about something like, did I go on a tangent about something that maybe wasn't relevant? What? And so it informs me of, what is my audience liking, what are they not like? And sometimes it's really surprising. Sometimes I'll have a guest on that, I think, wow, they're going to love this one. This was such a great interview, great conversation. They're going to love this, and they don't, and they don't download their link, and they don't, you know, I don't that nothing. It gets no traction. So sometimes it's really surprising, and you don't know what your audience likes or doesn't like unless you're actually paying attention to
Finola Howard 42:42
it. But what this says to me is that this is a very conscious cornerstone of how you market your business. It's part of your business, so therefore you're paying attention to it. Yeah, yeah. And I think that is a mistake that people make also, and they make that mistake even around their social like, like, the likes and all that are one thing. But is it converting? Is it what is it doing as part of your business? Is it driving traffic to your website? Are you getting those downloads? Are you getting those people subscribing all of those things? And I think that disconnect happens across channels. Absolutely. What do you do? So what's the the other component for a successful podcast is, once you've got, you know, you've got yourself set up, you've got the technology of whatever level you're entering in at, and you're producing the podcasts now it's to share it with the world. What give us guidance here from your perspective. How so? How so like sharing? Oh, so So, for example, do you have best practice for are you taking snippets? Are you taking audiograms? Share with people? How to tell people that you've got a podcast?
Teri Holland 43:59
Yeah. So I do, I do share it on my social media channels, especially when I have a guest. When I have a guest on, I will do much more sharing on social than I will if it's just me. And I will share clips, usually at least three clips per episode. I'll share clips. I'll share some still graphics of the show. I will send it out in my newsletter, I'll post it to all of my platforms. I make sure my guest has all the different links that they can share, and I send them some graphics and stuff as well that they can use if they want. That's that's what I do. But you know, what I find works the best is not sharing it to social media. Because I think, and I don't know if you agree with this or not, but I find it's really hard to get somebody off of social media to then go listen to a podcast, because they're in that space of scrolling and consuming content quickly. They don't want to go listen to a 30 minute, 40 minute show. They're looking for some quick dopamine hits and something to make them feel good, and that's it. Right? And so what I find it actually works the best to get people to listen to my podcast is writing really specific show notes for each episode, using keywords strategically in my titles and in the show notes, titling all my show chapters very strategically with keywords. And that's what I find is working the best for me.
Finola Howard 45:23
What I find also helps is if I am sharing it in social and I'm trying to reach somebody new to pull them into the podcast that not making them search for the link for that particular episode. Oh yeah. So like, you know, comment or DM me if you, if you'd like me to send you that link to save you the time that really works. It increases as well. Yeah, the clips, I think, are really important to be the clips give us this sense of that sounds like a really interesting conversation that I'd like to have more of.
Teri Holland 45:56
Yeah? Yeah, I think so. I think it does. And I'm not saying I don't pull an audience off of social media. I just think strategically using SEO for the podcast is working the best. But you know, all those other things help and I think where social media really helps me is it keeps me top of mind for people who are already listening to the show and interested, because they'll follow me on social media, and then they'll be like, Oh yeah, right. Terry's new episode is out. I need to go check that one out, or I want to listen to that. So it does definitely help with
Finola Howard 46:30
that, I'm sure. So there's often a dilemma of our show notes enough, or do you repurpose it to turn it into like a Pinterest pin, or do you repurpose it because Pinterest is also a search engine? Or do you repurpose it to be a blog as well as show notes? So
Teri Holland 46:49
I repurposed to be a blog. Okay? I was experimenting with Pinterest for a while, and it seemed to be working, but it's just something I've I haven't been doing lately for just because of time, that's all. But it was working in getting people to my show and getting some interest from there. But I do use it as a blog, and especially with AI, it's so easy to take your transcript, turn it into a blog, they never use the version that AI creates for me, because it's we need to humanize things, but it's so good at just quickly condensing what it is you talked about on this show, putting it into a written format, so then you can sift through it and create a blog out of it that's interesting and engaging and directs people back to the podcast if they want to listen for more.
Finola Howard 47:38
What I know that you have a fantastic checklist for people. So it's a podcast launch checklist, and I'm going to share that in the show notes as well. But what would you like to leave people with today? Terry,
Teri Holland 47:51
I think you know, when we're talking about podcasting, the most important thing is that, like, if you're thinking about starting a podcast and you're not sure if you should start a podcast, I think that every person has something to say, and everyone deserves to be heard. So even if you're just starting it for yourself, to capture your life and to share and document what you're doing, everyone deserves to have that and whether you do that through video or podcasting or wherever you want to do it, you have something to say, and you are worth listening to.
Finola Howard 48:23
I love that. Thank you so much for your time, Terry,
Teri Holland 48:27
thank you,
Finola Howard 48:30
and that's it for this episode, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us. Make sure to connect with Terry on LinkedIn, and don't forget to check out her must have podcast launch strategy checklist, check out the show notes to find out more, and thank you for listening to your truth shared. If you enjoy this episode, please do rate and review it in your favorite app, at love the podcast.com/yourTruthshared. It really helps spread the word and helps me to continue to invest in the podcast. I.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
