fbpx
From Nurse to Digital Ninja

From Nurse to Digital Ninja

[0:00] If you’ve ever considered shifting careers our guest today can speak into that with personal experience as she’s shifted in a very big way with Alex Pemberton

 

[2:01] How Alex pivoted from registered nurse to web designer and digital ninja. 

 

[5:41]How Alex’s career choices seem dissimilar things from the outside end up being exactly the same on the inside. 

 

[6:40] Family support and how Alex’s sister became her first paying client

 

[8:56]  Do businesses really need a website today?

 

[11:58] The biggest mistake with websites and how it could be affecting your site now

 

[17:14] Alex’s favorite way to create content

 

[19:27] Using video as a Human Design Projector 

 

[22:34] Where to connect with Alex online

 

Website: http://www.Alex-Pemberton.com 

 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APHQstudio 

 

Check out Alex’s Class: https://alex-pemberton.com/tame-the-blocks/

 

Grab Alex’s 30-point inspection website checkup guide: http://www.Alex-Pemberton.com/amplify 

 

[24:37] Next week you’re gonna hear from Yong as she celebrates the one year anniversary of Amplify Your Awesome and her birthday week. Plus, Yong has a special gift for you to celebrate these milestones together!

 

Read Full Transcript

0:00
Hey there, Amplifiers! Welcome back to another episode of the Amplify Your Awesome™ Podcast. I am excited you are tuning in today because if you're someone that's ever considered shifting careers and you just weren't sure how to make that happen and worth the timing was right, our guest today can speak into that with personal experience. She's shifted in her career in a very big way. And you know how I love to bring you other entrepreneurs, and share their stories with you to inspire you on your journey, because entrepreneurship is definitely not a one-size-fits-all job for sure.

0:36
Have you ever felt like there was something missing in your business, something holding you back from the success that you're seeking? If so, you are not alone? For nearly 20 years, that's exactly how I felt as a business owner. It wasn't until I discovered Human Design, that it all became clear. And it turns out that I was the missing piece in my own business. joining me on this journey of discovering the real me and hear stories from other business owners, building businesses around all of their awesomeness. I'm Yong Pratt, and it's time my friend to Amplify Your Awesome™.

1:20
Our guest today is Alex Pemberton. And if you're ready to ditch the tech overwhelm, and focus on growing your business, you need Alex in your corner. She's a registered nurse turned web designer and digital ninja. And she creates and maintains beautiful and easy to use websites to help small business owners attract their dream clients. Yes, yes, yes. Give me more of that. Alex, I am so glad you said yes interview. We had an amazing chat before we even started this interview, and I'm ready to dive into some really meaty topics today. Welcome.

1:59
Thank you. Thank you for having me on.

2:01
So Alex, I want to know about this shift. Because I know when I share my story of being a dancer, choreographer, and now helping people with their content and repurposing and automation, they look at me like I had gone crazy. They think how could you possibly have been a dancer before? And now you're doing all this tech stuff? It doesn't even makes sense. But then when I explain to them, well, really, you know, choreographing a dance is very much like creating a new piece of content or putting together an automation to help people, you know, get to see your content more often. It's the same thing. So I'm sure going from nurse to web designer has caused some people to stop in their tracks. So let's talk about this shift and what caused the shift to happen for you.

2:52
Okay, so, as a nurse, I get to help people. And that's really why I got into it in the first place. I'm also very creative. I always have been. I've been sewing my clothes and making jewelry for as long as I can remember. And so this last job I had as a nurse was really, really tiring in in a mental way. There, there was a lot of stuff going on that was on the wrong side of ethical maybe. And so when we got ordered, I'm a military spouse. So when we got orders overseas, I said, Yes. This is the universe giving me a break. I can quit this job and do something different. And at first, I thought maybe I can just do some blogging, monetize it, talk about decluttering. That's my thing. And so I joined some groups, bloggers, and it quickly became obvious that many people felt completely overwhelmed with the tech side of blogging and their websites. And I thought this was funny because the tech part that's easy. I even even in nursing, I was always the one explaining to people how to use the system is unlike me, how do you not get it like this is? This is easy. You click here. You click there and submit them. Easy peasy, right? And when I explained it to them, people like Oh, that makes sense. I'm thinking well, it didn't before. Because I can explain all day, I'm happy to explain. And so I would help people in the groups. And eventually people were, you know, tagging me and saying, Hey, can I can I pay you to do this? Can I pay you to teach me to do this? Can you do this on my website? And I'm like, Okay, you know what, this is probably another sign from the universe. And forget blogging about the cluttering. Here's your new job, web design, and troubleshooting. And it really follows the same path as as in nursing, right. A patient comes in, you do the assessment, you figure out the diagnosis, you create a plan for for treating it. Execute, and then figure out if it's working right? You re-evaluate. Did it work? If it didn't? Okay, next thing we're going to try is this. And it's the same way with web design. You're looking at the existing website, or if there isn't one, that's the problem in itself, right? And you figure out what's wrong, what's working and what's not. To figure out a plan to fix it, then you fix it. And then you look, at the end, you reevaluate, right? You do get some diagnostics, like your analytics, Google Analytics, or what have you. And you're looking what worked, what didn't, what do we need to fix now? Okay, easy peasy. But it's really the same process.

5:41
I love it. And I just the idea that you listened to the universe, and that when the universe spoke up and said, Okay, we're gonna move you to a new location so you get to figure out what you're going to do. And you literally thought you were going to do one thing. But then by participating in these groups, people started asking you questions, and they started sending you invitations, which as a fellow Projector, that's a really big deal in our world for people to give us invitations to recognize us for our skill sets. And Projectors, I think, we also have an interesting way to look at the world. Like we look through the lens at the world differently than all of the other types of human design. So I think that really, as a tech person, as a fellow lover of tech, it's interesting how these very unsimilar things from the outside end up being exactly the same on the inside. So let me ask you this when you switch your careers, was your family supportive of that switch?

6:40
Yes, my husband is incredibly supportive of whatever I do, I could probably say, I'm gonna raze this house down and back. But in some ways, like he thinks I walk on water, and I couldn't do anything wrong. So if I think this is a good idea, he's like, go for it. And I love that about him. I mean, we've been together for 15 years, and it's been a great 15 years.

7:05
Amazing. And what's the rest of your family as supportive? Your parents or siblings?

7:10
My sister was very Yes. She actually was one of my first clients. She helped me kind of get into the maintenance portion. She says, Well, you know, I paid my accountant so much every month and to do my stepsister. She says, I will pay somebody to do maintenance for my website. And I said, you would like you paid me. I'll send you, I'll send you an invoice. So go ahead and invoice. So she was one of my first paying clients who actually got me into the continuity. And so that was, that was really great.

7:46
I love that your sister was one of your first clients. What a cool story that used to tell because I know sometimes when it comes to making big shifts and big pivots in business, family can sometimes, without trying to be mean, they can sometimes not be super supportive. So I love that your family was was gung ho and your your husband, you're saying he's, you know, he thinks you walk on water. I think that's so sweet. And the fact that you've been married for 15 years, and he's so supportive of you, I just think that is exactly what we all need, right? We need those that support system that validates and confirms the ideas we have in our heads to let us step into a new space confidently. I love this. So let's talk about websites. Because I've heard a lot of different sides of the story. Some people say in this day and age, you know, you don't need a website. Some people say all you need a website, not these other things. So as a web designer, as someone who helps people attract their dream clients, with a website, what is your take on a website in this day and age in 2020.

8:56
So you can say that I'm biased, but of course, I think you need a website. It is your single piece of real estate on the internet that you own, there is completely under your own control. Right social media accounts. They don't truly belong to us. They belong to the social media company. Facebook can decide at any moment that they will shut down your account. And good luck appealing that same thing with Instagram and wherever else you may be. But your website is your website. Now, do I think that just having your website is enough? No, of course not. You need to have an email list. You need to be on social media talking to people you need to be talking to people in person. But your website works while you sleep. When people look you up, they expect to see your website. They expect to they expect you to at least have something there. Right? So think about it. You are looking for an electrician or a dentist in your area because you just moved there. You go online and you say, best electrician in I don't know, Cheyenne, Wyoming, one of the places we live. So you're looking to see who's there, right? So if you come across all these Yelp things, and they know websites, do you trust them? Or are you going to go with the tool that maybe they do have a website that may not be that great, but it's better than nothing? Right? So yeah, in my opinion, you need a website, everybody needs a website, if you have a business, you need one, because it's there. When you're not awake, when you're not on your computer, when you're on vacation, and it speaks for you. It's your best salesperson.

10:45
I couldn't agree more. I know, It baffles me when I, when I live in a small town. So I'll just preface it by saying that. So I think people in a small town, they have a different perception of what a website does, right? They don't necessarily understand that. Even though they have an offline business, having that online portion is really an important piece of their success. Because if people aren't able to find you online, find out your hours. I know, I get frustrated. So businesses that don't have websites, I usually don't do business with them. Because I was so frustrated trying to find them and Google them for 30 minutes trying to find all these different things, and nothing comes up. You have to for me personally, that's kind of how I, I do my shopping and choose who we go to for certain services. But yeah, I totally get that. Having our own address. Having our own home on the internet, as big as it is, is a really important piece. And yes, we all those kind of things, too. So let me ask you this a follow up question. What is the biggest mistake that you see from business owners looking to update their websites, or maybe even starting their very first website? But what's the biggest mistake You see?

11:58
Okay, without going on a complete rant, the biggest mistake that I see people making is getting talked into a page builder. But let me start at the beginning. Okay. Back in the day, WordPress was wonderful. But you have to know how to code to create pages. So page builders came along as a workaround to that. And they allow people who didn't know how to code to create pages, right? The the post editor was really simple. It was very, you know, word based. So if you could do it in Word, you could do it on your website. But that wasn't, it didn't really give you anything to do your pages with only posts. And page builders are excellent workaround for that. However, we are now in the 21st century, and we have moved on. WordPress has moved on way past where it used to be. And we now have the block editor, which is excellent. And it allows you to create pages without any page builders. Now page builders, although they were great work around, they added to the weight of your website, right? They they slowed it down. So they came at a price. Back then it made sense to pay the price because nobody was really expecting a website to load in two seconds, right? People were so many people were you know, like on dial up. So they were gonna wait 15 minutes anyway.

13:27
So

13:29
I remember those days.

13:33
But, but now people are on their cell phones. And if it if it hasn't loaded in two or three seconds, they're gone. There's somewhere else. So it doesn't make sense to use a page builder. If If you want your website to load fast, because there is now a native solution that is so much faster. And second, if you're completely new to WordPress, it has a steep enough learning curve, that you do not need an extra piece of software to learn. They're not easy to learn, even though they they're sold, as you know, what you see is what you get kind of a drag and drop. There's a lot more to it. So please say no to page builders.

14:15
So I have a little confession then because when I started having to build my own websites kind of out of necessity, I knew nothing about them. And I do I knew nothing about code. So yes, the page builder for sure was the way for me to be able to quickly put a site together that didn't look like a three year old made it right. It kind of had some nice features to it, for sure. And, you know, I think we had this discussion last time we chatted as well, about the updates to the WordPress platform and how I still use the old version because I kind of liked that version. And you were trying to, you know, suggest that I might try the new version. But it's one of those things that trade off right there. At the end of the day, what is the opportunity cost for me to learn it or to hire somebody you know, because I will have to admit that I'm kind of a micromanager. I like to have my fingers and all the things and know how everything works. And I like to fiddle around. So sometimes it's hard for me to pass tech off to someone like yourself because I kind of like to go in there and, and, you know, do a little diagnosis on my own and say, Oh, I wonder what would happen if I just did this. I like to just play around. So it's interesting that you say that this page builder now in this day and age, though, I didn't realize that it actually slowed the load speed down. So I have I'll have to go reassess. Now, I'm using a theme. So I don't know if themes. Are those page builders? Are those considered page builders? Are those separate?

15:43
Now a theme is not a page builder, but there are themes that rely on a page builder or are built for page builders? And then there are those that are just made to work with the native interface?

15:57
No, I love it. So if you're listening, and you're thinking, what the heck are you guys talking about? I have no idea about WordPress. I have no idea about themes or page builders, it is okay. We're just having a conversation about you having a place to put your business online. So whether you use WordPress or another platform, there's lots to choose from out there. Just know that we're really talking about in this day and age, we want your page to load quickly. And we want it to look nice. And if you have questions for sure. Alex will share where you can connect with her at the end of the episode. So if you have follow up questions, because, of course me talking about this right now, I have follow up questions. But I didn't want to take up more time to talk about, you know, WordPress and the platform and page builders, because I think for some people, that might be something they've never encountered. And that's okay. We're just reach out to Alex at the end and say, okay, talk me through this, Alex, because I need some help. So let's shift gears a little bit Alex and talk about content. Because at the end of the day, a website in general, whether it's on WordPress, or a different platform, is really content. So when it comes to you creating content for your website, or for your social media, what is your favorite way to create?

17:14
So for a while, I did a lot of writing, not so much on my website. But I've been answering questions on Facebook groups, or in Facebook groups. But recently, I got into video. I did this ignite video challenge where we did a video every day now for like a little over three weeks. And the idea is that you go from really, like camera shy to really comfortable on camera. And that's how I want to go. Moving forward. I want to make videos for people, because I figure one you get to actually connect with me. And two, it makes it easier to to address questions as they come up. Because sometimes writing it down is like okay, well this this Do I have to have to worry about editing and how it looks versus getting on video where I just turned it on? And hey, how's it going? I'm Alex, let me answer your question by now.

18:14
Yeah, I love it. And I love video itself. But it took me a long time to say out loud, proudly that I love video. Because for me as a Projector with a defined throat center, speaking out loud and connecting with people, whether it's an audio or video is the easiest way for me to do that as well, even though I've written books, and yeah, I used to write a lot all the time. In this day and age, though, it's so much easier just to turn my phone on push record, just start talking. And whether that's a live video or in my notes app, or you know, on otter, my favorite transcription platform. Yeah, being able to just be in the energy of other people will be in the energy of the internet. And when it comes to reusing that content, video is the best content to repurpose, because it can be created into so many other things. And we have the most availability when it comes to video to audio to text to all these things. So I love that you said video because I'm always trying to talk to people about doing video and you know, there's always a lot of pushback. So what was it about video that drew you in now and why have you committed to doing video?

19:27
So with video, I think. So I'm a Projector as well. And with video, I figure you get to feel my energy. And you get to decide if I'm the person for you as a Projector. I don't get to tell you come work with me. Right? I can say, here's who I am. Here's what I have to offer. But the invitation has to come from the other person who says I love what you have to offer. Can you please do this for me and then and I am very right brained. So I have a lot of information that I don't even know is necessarily, and I don't always know how to pull it out, but other people can get it out of me. A lot of times, if you ask me a question, I'll give you an answer and then thinking, I knew that I didn't do that. So, so that's why I figured with video, I will attract the right people, and repel the ones who kind of look at me and go, Wait, she is crazy. Okay, fine. If you think I'm crazy, then don't even contact me, right? It'll save us both a lot of frustration. But if you think I am the person for you, then please let me know. And I will be happy to help you.

20:43
I love that. And I love that you use the word crazy, because I think we're all variations of crazy, we just have different kinds of crazy in our lives, right. And I know when I first came in, especially to the online business, I didn't want to rock the boat. I didn't want to offend anybody. I tried to speak to everybody. And that led to speaking to nobody, because I didn't know who I was speaking to. So being able to stand up and say, You know what, I'm kind of weird when it comes to this, and I am crazy about this. But if you want to hang and you'd like to be crazy to then come on over. So in and this podcast is really a testament to that is about helping business owners really stand in, in the spotlight of their own business, confidently, not saying okay, well, this is kind of weird. I'm going to hide this over here or this. I don't know if I want to share this. I'm going to show that over there. Because I lived that segmented, boxed up life, and tried to run a business like that. And it was so hard. Because nobody really knew who I was. Therefore, nobody really had an emotional connection to me. So yes. So if you're out there thinking, I don't know how I want to share this, I'm gonna challenge you all to go share that thing or go do the thing. Be crazy, in your own way. Be weird and embrace that, because that is how people find you. That is how you stand out from somebody who could literally be doing a video at the same time on the internet, attracting different people, right? There are people for all of us, there's enough to go around for sure there is no shortage of people who need all the things you have to offer. Now, Alex, I do want to make sure that if people have questions about their website about WordPress about not using a page builder, how do they go about finding you on the interwebs?

22:28
So obviously, I'm going to say on my website,

22:31
Absolutely!

22:34
www.Alex-Pemberton.com. I am also on Facebook as APHQ Studio. I'm pretty sure. And I also have a little freebie for the listeners that. So I have this website checkup Guide, which is basically a guide that takes you through a very quick 30-point inspection, kind of like if you would do your car, right of your website both the front end and the back end. So you can see where your website needs a little bit of TLC? And you can get that.

23:08
I love this. So where do we get this I don't want to stop.

23:12
Sorry, you can get it at www.Alex-Pemberton.com/amplify

23:18
Whoo, I love that you use the word amplify. And I will make sure I put all those links in the show notes for today's episode. Because I know there are people listening who are saying, Okay. I'm ready. I need someone to to look at my website, or I want to do this checkup with Alex do this 30-point checklist and make sure I'm doing the right things. Because when it comes to the world of tech, there are so many things that can go wrong. If you don't know what you're doing, right. I've been there. I've had to hire people, because I thought I knew what I was doing when it came to tech with my website. And then I literally broke things and I had to hire developers. And that gets really costly on the back end. So just do yourself a favor, save yourself some time headaches and money. Call Alex make sure you connect with her on Facebook or her website. Grab this checklist because I think once you've diagnosed yourself, you can then be armed with the information you need to say Alex, Okay, I'm ready to amplify my awesome with an even better website. So good. So Alex, I want to thank you so much for being here today. I enjoyed this conversation immensely. And I know that we'll have many more conversations to come

24:31
Thank you, Yong. This has really been fun. I was scared to come on here but I had a lot of fun.

24:37
Stay tuned because next week you're gonna hear from me. It happens to be my birthday week and we're celebrating the one year anniversary of Amplify Your Awesome™. And I have a special gift for you so that we can celebrate these milestones together. I'll see you then.

24:57
Thanks for tuning in to the Amplify Your Awesome™. podcast. Be sure to hit that subscribe button so you don't miss any tips, tricks or secrets on building a business based around your awesome. Hey, and while you're there, leave us a rating and review. Let us know what you think of the show. And until next time, my friends, go out there today and Amplify Your Awesome™!


Quotes and Images for Sharing

Alex Pemberton - Amplify Your Awesome™ Podcast - Yong Pratt
Amplify Your Awesome™ Podcast - Yong Pratt - Alex Pemberton
Yong Pratt - Alex Pemberton - Amplify Your Awesome™ Podcast
Why We’re Rebranding

Why We’re Rebranding

[0:00] Have you ever created a product, a service, a program or even a business? And in the beginning, you were so proud and so excited to share your baby with the world? 

 

[0:12] Then at some point, you realize that something’s not quite right. There’s just something amiss. You’ve missed the mark, and you can’t quite pinpoint it. What do you do? 

 

[0:26] Well, you continue business as usual, serving your clients to the best of your abilities. And then one day, seemingly out of the blue. The answer hits you. 

 

[0:37] That’s exactly how it’s been with our upcoming rebrand coming your way on February 17, 2020. 

 

[1:09] The backstory behind the rebrand and when the idea of Superpowers made its way into Yong’s world

 

[2:34] How Yong entered the online space  

 

[3:20] How Yong’s Aquarian qualities helped her to launch 3 courses and what she discovered 2019 

 

[4:17] The upcoming rebrand is all about helping you create a business built on your unique gifts, knowledge, experiences – your SUPERPOWERS! 

 

Read Full Transcript

[0:00] Have you ever created a product, a service, a program or even a business? And in the beginning, you were so proud and so excited to share your baby with the world?

[0:12] Then at some point, you realize that something's not quite right. There's just something amiss. You've missed the mark, and you can't quite pinpoint it. What do you do?

[0:26] Well, you continue business as usual, serving your clients to the best of your abilities. And then one day, seemingly out of the blue. The answer hits you.

[0:37] That's exactly how it's been. With our upcoming rebrand coming your way on February 17 2020. Welcome to episode number 256 of the In a Weekend Podcast. I'm your host, Yong Pratt and today we're diving deep into the upcoming rebrand of the podcast and the entire business. In order for you fully to understand the rebrand though, I do need to give you a little bit of a backstory....

[1:09] In 2013, I published my first ebook on Amazon. It was called raising a superhero, how to unleash your child eight superpowers and propel learning through the arts. This idea of unleashing superpowers in kids was at the core of my performing arts school and it had been since day number one.

[1:35] Until the book though, I wasn't able to articulate what we did and what we provided quite so eloquently. The idea of superpowers, those things that make us unique, who we are and why people resonate with us helped to create a much better understanding of the services we provided for our community. It helped parents understand how we were different in language that wasn't flowery or what my friend Kim White would call 'girl speak.'

[2:06] In fact, embracing the imagery of superpowers and referring to kids as superheroes opened up the minds of many dads that would never have been interested in looking to us for classes for their kids. The book launched on the same day we celebrated our brand new facility. It was just weeks before the end of the year performance, and we hosted a traveling dance troupe to help kick off this new chapter.

[2:34] It was a truly amazing time for me and the families at my studio. It wasn't long after though, that I kept getting nudges, some bigger than others had led me into the online space. Once I arrived, I served a couple of different niches: one for performing arts studio owners needing help with their tech; one for parents based on the contents of my book; and most recently, podcasting.

[3:04] While each of them lit me up in different ways, none quite hit the mark, which probably sounds super weird. I know there are some of you listening that has never swayed from your current business. And I give you kudos for that. I'm just not one of those.

[3:20] Maybe it's the Aquarian in me. As an Aquarian, I'm creative, free-spirited, innovative, and a seeker of knowledge with a focus on growth. The plus side of being an Aquarian means I can often see the gaps others don't, especially in business, and I love dreaming up innovative and creative ways to solve problems. Conversely, I'm often never satisfied, so I'm always searching.

[3:52] Last year, the Aquarian in me launched three In a Weekend classes: one for podcasting, one for collaboration, and one for creating ebooks. In the process, I learned that as much as I love podcasting and helping amazing business owners like you create and launch their podcasts [books and collaborations], what I really adore is the strategy that goes behind it.

[4:17] Helping you create a business built on your unique gifts, knowledge, and experiences is the focus of this new brand. And it's based on superpowers. That's right. It's based on your superpowers and mine and what we can create together. I never in a million years would have thought that my first book would literally be the catalyst for this new brand.

[4:47] Four years ago, I released my take on unleashing superpowers into the world in the form of an eBook and on February 17 this idea is coming full circle. Get ready to unleash your superpowers in a big way, and share your awesomeness with the world. In the coming episodes, I'll be revealing something special we have in store for you to embrace your superpowers and commemorate relaunch day with us. Next week, I'll be sharing more about what the rebrand means for you. Until then, I wish you an amazing day. Cheers.

Visibility and Podcast Guesting

Visibility and Podcast Guesting

Wanna increase your visibility? Find out why podcast guesting may be what you need in today’s episode, #246, of the In a Weekend Podcast.

If you’ve ever thought about being a guest on someone else’s podcast but weren’t sure how to begin, or whether or not it was advantageous for you and your business, stick around. Today’s guest, Angie Trueblood is spilling the beans about what it could mean for you to be a guest on someone else’s podcast.

Today’s episode is a bit of a departure from our recent episodes where we’ve taken a deep dive into crafting your own podcast – selecting the ‘spices’ you can add to your podcast to ensure that what you’re creating is the best it can be for your audience as well as you as a podcaster. If you happened to miss any episodes, listen by clicking the images below.

Variety is the Spice in Your Podcasting Life Part 1

Variety is the Spice in Your Podcasting Life Part 2

Variety is the Spice in Your Podcasting Life Part 3

Variety is the Spice in Your Podcasting Life Part 4

 

About Today’s Guest

 

Our guest today is Angie Trueblood. As a podcast visibility expert who fiercely believes in the power of women stepping more fully into their gifts, Angie knows that the only ‘perfect pitch’ is the one that leads with value and focuses on building a genuine connection. Whether she is teaching entrepreneurs how to pitch themselves or working behind the scenes to secure opportunities for others, Angie leverages her super-connector powers to grow businesses and build long-lasting relationships.

Episode Highlights

 

[0:03] If you’ve ever thought about being a guest on someone else’s podcast but weren’t sure how to begin, or whether or not it was advantageous for you and your business, stick around.

 

[0:43] Today we are talking about being on the other side of the mic as a guest. Before that, Yong shares a few stories of the Gremlins that have appeared since week’s episode, “What to do when the gremlins come and play.”

 

[1:47] The Gremlins that came to play when Yong and Angie sat down to record this episode. to share worked incredibly well for us and resulted in today’s amazing podcast interview.

 

[2:18] What to take away from the Gremlin stories

 

[4:10] Today’s Guest: Angie Trueblood is a podcast visibility expert who fiercely believes in the power of women, stepping more fully into their gifts

 

[5:21] What is Visibility? Angie shares her definition as it relates to podcast guesting and in her own client work

 

[6:32] The when, why, and goals of visibility for business owners and how Angie works with her clients

 

[9:00] How attending Podcast Movement validated the work Angie does today

 

[10:07] Yong’s comparison between guest blogging and guesting on podcasts

 

[11:08] Why podcast guesting may be more powerful than blogging

 

[12:35] Why podcast guesting is such a great tool for women to connect with others

 

[15:02] Why having support is a driver of the longevity of a business

 

[18:41] Why guesting on podcasts before you have a podcast of your own may be beneficial in helping you craft your own podcast

 

[19:18] Where to begin if you’re interested in podcast guesting

 

[21:45] How putting your whole self out there is the best strategy as a podcast guest to serve the host and his/her audience

 

[22:48] Start documenting what topics you’re interested in speaking about on podcasts and share them at BELOW PLUS things Yong wants you to remember when you set out to be a guest.

 

[24:11] Grab Angie’s Podcast Guesting Trello Workflow and add her podcast, Go Pitch Yourself to your favorite Podcast Player

 

[26:12] Places to connect with Angie online:
Website: www.Angietrueblood.com  
Instagram: @angie_trueblood
FB Group: Go Pitch Yourself

 

[27:32] Are you ready to go out and start booking podcast interviews on other people shows? If so, let me know BELOW and share with me your plans on how you want to be a guest on someone else’s podcast, and what you’re interested in sharing because I love connecting people who need each other in their lives.

 

[28:17] Next week we’re diving into your legacy. What legacy do you what to leave and what are you going to use to build your yours?

 

Quotes to share

 

– Angie Trueblood

In a Weekend Podcast with Yong Pratt featuring Angie Trueblood

 

– Angie Trueblood

 

In a Weekend Podcast with Yong Pratt featuring Angie Trueblood

Read Full Transcript

[0:03] If you've ever thought about being a guest on someone else's podcast but weren't sure how to begin, or whether or not it was advantageous for you and your business, stick around. Today's guest, Angie Trueblood is spilling the beans about what it could mean for you to be a guest on someone else's podcast. Now this is a bit of a departure from our recent episodes because we've been diving deep into crafting your own podcast and all the spices and all the choices you as a podcaster get to make to ensure that what you're creating is the best it can be - for your audience as well as you as a podcaster.

[0:43] Today we are talking about being on the other side of the mic as a guest. Now before we get there I want to share a couple of quick stories because they're relevant to the episode I released last week number 245 all about nine strategies you can use when the tech Gremlins come and play, which they almost inevitably will from time to time at least. As soon as I released last week's episode, I had several of my own tech Gremlins to deal with. In fact, these Gremlins were the cause of my website being totally shut down during the middle of the launch of the League of Extraordinary Podcasters, my membership that's exclusive to graduates of Podcast in a Weekend, so I had to make a plan B and then a plan C, in order to make sure that these students knew this opportunity was available, and I had a special treat for them in that process.

1:47 And even when Angie and I sat down to record this episode several weeks back, we experienced our own set of Gremlins. We started off on one platform and realized about halfway through that Angie's audio and video weren't actually being recorded so we had to jump ship mid-interview and hop to another platform, which I'm happy to share worked incredibly well for us and resulted in today's amazing podcast interview.

2:18 If you're wondering why I'm sharing these stories with you about those Gremlins, it's this. No matter where you are on your podcasting and on your business building journey, you're bound to confront some obstacles along the way. When you hit that obstacle, you'll have a choice to make. You can either decide that the obstacle is too great, or maybe you're just going to wait a little bit longer to overcome it and go back to how things are, or you can choose to figure out a way and be a massive problem solver, and decide that obstacle is just there to test you. It means nothing about your value or your worth as a person, or the amazing things you have to offer the world. It's just a choice and you get to make it. That's a beautiful thing about having a business of your own, whether it's a full-time gig or whether it's a side hustle for you. It's all about the choices you get to make and the freedom to make those decisions as you choose. So there you have it my friends from obstacles and Gremlins that I had to overcome recently, in order to even bring this episode to you live and to be able to launch my membership to my Podcast in a Weekend graduates. By the way, if you are at all interested in launching your podcast in 2019, in this decade, please reach out to me on Facebook, and let me know how I can serve you because it is my mission to help as many female entrepreneurs, as possible, take their messages far and wide by crafting and launching their podcasts, in as little as weekend. Enjoy today's show.

4:10 Welcome back to the podcast. Today, I have someone special to share with you and I cannot wait to dive into my conversation with Angie Trueblood. Angie is a podcast visibility expert who fiercely believes in the power of women, stepping more fully into their gifts. Angie, I'm so glad you said yes to being here today.

Angie Trueblood 4:37
Well, I am so glad you asked. I'm very happy to be recording with you.

Yong Pratt 4:42
We have to laugh at this point. This is take two of the interview because we were using a different platform and things totally went a little haywire this afternoon so here we are. Just a note for when you get to recording your podcast in the future, or you're going to be on someone podcast, just be flexible and know that sometimes technology does not always work in your favor. But here we are again. It just means I get to spend more time with you.

Angie Trueblood 5:11
Exactly, exactly. I'm excited myself.

Yong Pratt 5:15
So let's talk about the word visibility. What does that word mean to you?

Unknown Speaker 5:21
So I probably take a more narrow approach to how I define that word than most people because there are a million different ways for you to become visible and to increase your visibility as a business owner. There are paid avenues that you can take. I really define visibility in the work that I do with my clients as positioning yourself in front of other people's audiences. So how do you find new audiences who are totally unaware of you and position yourself in front of them while making sure that audience is full of your ideal clients?

Yong Pratt 6:00
That's a really, really great concise definition because sometimes when we hear the word visibility, it's almost one of those words tossed around and they don't really refer to it in the same way. So thank you for defining it and explaining about how it's really an important asset for a business owner to gain some visibility, to get some traction, and some forward momentum in your business. So tell me about how you work with your clients, as a podcast visibility expert.

Angie Trueblood 6:32
Yes, so I have folks that come to me and they are typically looking to increase their visibility for a couple of reasons. Either they are scaling their business from more of a one-to-one model, and they're looking to go one too many, maybe they have a course or membership or some sort of program to where they really need to increase the size of their audience. So, marketing on a one-to-one basis no longer makes sense for them. The other type of folks that come to me is they're up-leveling their business and they need more clients, or they're looking to increase the number of folks that their businesses is exposed to so they can capture more of that higher-end client, so that the folks that work with me. They come to me, and there's a couple of different ways that I help them out. The goal at the end of the day is really for me to help them position themselves in front of audiences of their ideal client. And I can either do that with my team as a concierge level partnership where we handle the entire nuts and bolts of their podcast visibility strategy - we develop it. I develop the top topics that are going to both resonate with the audience as well as the podcast hosts. That's a super important piece of the puzzle is figuring out that perfect almost Venn diagram of what you're an expert at and what that audience needs to hear. And then we just handle all of that we handle the scheduling, I do interview audits. So that's one piece of it, and then the other is I work with folks who are interested in pitching themselves or keeping that piece of their business in-house with someone that can implement a strategy. So in that instance, we create the strategy, we create a pitch template that they'll be able to tweak personalized but be able to use to make their pitching more efficient.

Yong Pratt 8:35
So many good things I just need to hire you now to handle all these pitches because as a podcaster I forget because I get so wrapped up in being able to interview amazing people like you that I forget sometimes that I also need to talk to other people on their podcasts, in order to meet new people, and build some connections outside of my own circle.

Angie Trueblood 9:00
Yeah, and we both attended Podcast Movement and my biggest takeaway from that was almost validation of the business that I have created because in every session when we talked about growing a podcast audience, guesting on other podcasts was top of the docket honestly. It's what they were recommending was one of the best ways to grow that and so being able to do that and fit into your already busy schedule, it's a really tough thing to add especially if you have client work depending on what the model of your businesses is but it's something that does need to be done and because it's such a, I say it so low activation energy. So my background years ago was science, but when you have someone who's listening to you on someone else's podcast and you have your own, it doesn't require a lot of energy for them just to pop over and start listening to yours. So, there's so many great reasons to do that. And I want to see more people doing it for sure.

Yong Pratt 10:07
It's interesting to see the guesting process on other people's podcasts growing and more people are talking about it which is great because if I think back maybe 10 years or so in the blogosphere, that was really how people were filling their blogs before it was by guest posting. So this is taking it to a more human level because I really feel like a podcast is a much bigger connection piece than is a blog. Because I prefer either to watch something or to listen, that just kind of how I like to information, and reading a long blog post is definitely at the bottom of my list of those things. So with the podcast I love that now we're taking that model of the guest post or the podcast guest, and now that becomes a part of a bigger picture strategy - just kind of that one extra spoke on the wheel that we can kind of add, so we can get more visibility like you've been talking about.

Angie Trueblood 11:08
And the other interesting piece of the podcast guesting is the longevity of those episodes, compared to blogs. So the guest posts will always stay on the internet there's SEO you could search for them and find them, but if you just think of looking at someone's blog, maybe you find someone and you love them. And so you read their articles occasionally. Traditionally, I've never gone back and kind of binged all of their articles. But when you find someone that you love as a podcaster, Apple podcasts, most any platform for listening to podcasts, has a really easy to read dashboard to where you can scan past episodes and see if anything sticks out. And so I find it's also a much more convenient way for folks to go back and hear you and that was, that was one of the reasons I picked it too because, in my previous business, I had optimized a Facebook group. And so when I was guesting on shows I would drive people to that Facebook group too where I could ask them, Hey, how did you find me. And I started to see that there were one or two places that folks kept finding me over and over again, and it didn't slow down, months and months later, it kept the podcasts kept growing, and so the driver of traffic to my Facebook group also kept coming in.

Yong Pratt 12:35
Yes and with so there are so many different ways that people are finding podcasts these days and like you said the longevity It is so fascinating because know if you go find someone who's been podcasting for years and they have thousands of episodes, it is cool. It's like a smorgasbord you can still pick and choose the ones that are most relevant to you again. And you get to come back with them in a way that makes sense on your terms and not someone else's terms so I love that, too, about podcasting. So I'm curious to know why did you feel like especially for women, why is podcasting such a great tool to connect with others?

Angie Trueblood 13:15
I think it's the human component, especially if a part of the business is an online business. There are so many women transitioning from work corporate or traditional jobs and working from home, and we hear over and over again that the hardest part of doing that is you're so isolated. So I think the first part of it is women already are craving connection in business. And when you're able to have an interview that honestly just feels like a conversation, you feel like you're not alone in that game. And then when you take it over to the business side, you take it away from that relationship, you're able to connect with someone and understand fully what they do, get an idea of whether or not you would recommend them or refer them, and then that's a relationship that goes on far past when that podcast gets released. It's something a lot of women have Facebook groups, they have some sort of community where people are looking to them and having questions so the ability to refer after the interview is huge.

Yong Pratt 14:21
Absolutely and I love that you used the word crave because that really sums up what so many women are feeling that's missing in their lives. We start these online businesses so we can have a more global reach because we want to really be able to help and serve lots of people. But in the process, we missed that connecting piece - how we used to go into the office and talk around the water cooler or do office activities. Those things have now been removed, which makes the business very streamlined. However, it doesn't make our lives so streamlined because we are definitely not linear creatures at all.

Angie Trueblood 15:02
Not at all. And I think, depending on the season of life that women are in, I know for me when I was working around my kids' schedule when they were home, I didn't crave that connection so much because I almost had it from them. But then when they both went off to elementary school, that was when I really started craving it. You know you're in this house alone, doing work but so you want that relationship and you want to feel like you're doing this business with other people. For me it was the sense of being on a team that I missed and I feel like I have found that through masterminds, your interviews, your friends that I've made online, and it's a really important, I think, driver of the longevity of a business is to have that support group cheering you on.

Yong Pratt 15:51
I think we almost, think about the support group, as a second thought it's something that we don't actively seek out when we create our businesses, but at some point, we have to be able to cultivate that in a real way, and by hearing people's voices and people seeing you on video and having like you said the real human connection. Being able to pull that back into our lives, I know for me that is such a godsend that I just, it's something that lights me up and I look forward to those pieces of my weekly schedule the most, because I know that I get to really just be real and have some fun, and you know let down some other the barriers I often keep up when I'm constructing the business.

Angie Trueblood 16:35
Yes, absolutely. I agree with everything you just said.

Yong Pratt 16:39
So if people are listening and thinking, wait wait wait. I haven't even started a podcast, yet. Can it still be on someone else's podcast, without being a podcaster myself?

Angie Trueblood 16:50
Absolutely. I mean it really just takes you having some level of expertise, and I feel like again, as women sometimes we elevate that word "expert" into something that it will take years to, you know, to achieve. And that's just not the case. I mean, if you have a service-based business. Let's say you're a Pinterest strategist, well you're an expert at Pinterest and there are podcasts out there whose host want someone to come on and explain to their listeners the benefit of it but they themselves are not a Pinterest expert. So, as long as you have some level of expertise, you have a business that you're able to talk about what it is that you do and what you share with your own audience and your own clients and students, you can totally shift that into podcast interviews. I mean I would say right now my clients, half of them have podcasts and half of them don't. And so it's important and it still drives people back to their online communities to their email list. They book clients from it so I mean I don't have a podcast right now. By the time this goes live I will, I think. Yeah, I know so excited but yes that should not be a barrier to entry at all.

Yong Pratt 18:12
But so good to know and I think a lot of listeners are breathing a sigh of relief saying, 'whew. Now I don't have to stress and rush to get the podcast up before I can be a guest. You can do it in either order. Both of those pieces, though are important, to the strategy and especially in terms of growth of your podcast so be thinking about both sides of the mic, when you're thinking about how you're going to maximize your podcast for sure.

Angie Trueblood 18:41
Well, and guesting on podcasts before you have a podcast of your own is also a great way to nail some of the messaging and get a real sense for what people are going to resonate with before you launch your own because being interviewed and having conversations to a lot of people, myself included, is far easier than speaking into a microphone by yourself. And so getting some of those, what would be a topic that would resonate well and getting practice, having conversations around, it is a great way to prep you for your own podcast.

Yong Pratt 19:18
Just to add on to that too if you're listening, and you know you want to have a podcast down the road, being a guest and talking about your upcoming podcast before you even launch it can help start building momentum so when you release your podcast people already know about it. And people are getting referred to your podcast already because you were on someone else's podcast so just be thinking about all these little ideas too, because podcasting and the world of podcasting, whether you're a guest or host, there are so many facets to it. Angie, I've had such a wonderful conversation with you today. Thank you so much for sharing your wealth knowledge, and I have one last question for you. If people are listening and saying, okay, I'm in. I really want to get some more visibility for my business. I'm not sure if I want to be a guest first or start a podcast or maybe both. Where the heck do I start?

Angie Trueblood 20:21
So the place to start, and I know this isn't probably the sexiest answer for people. But I've had people that have said to me, oh, I have a friend, it was a couple of years ago who said I pitched 10 podcasts this morning and I thought, Oh my gosh, I mean I pitch often just 10 per client per month, because I'm tweaking them and making them so personal. So I really think the first step to start is to figure out, taking what you are an expert at and crafting that into a few messages into a few talk topics that would resonate with other people's audiences. So rather than start searching on Apple podcast for relevant podcasts, really figure out strategically: What is my messaging going to be? What do I want to get out and talk to people about that is going to resonate with my ideal client so that they can be drawn back to me? And then you can take those messages and think: Okay, well what type of podcasts would this message really serve? What type of podcast host would be interested in having this talk topic on? So it's taking almost, you start far earlier than you don't need to be in Apple podcasts to start prepping sort of your pitch strategy.

Yong Pratt 21:45
That's a really great place to start and like you said it's not one people want to talk about all the time because it's not the sexy stuff it's not about looking for the top podcasts or any player. It's about dialing it back a little bit and thinking: What do I want to talk about and what can I talk about and really serve people with my message?

Angie Trueblood 22:06
Yes, because if you are not serving the audience and you are not serving the podcast host. You are not going to connect and resonate and you won't be able to draw people back to you. You need to show up and provide value and really not hold any punches. I've heard of some people trying to figure out where do I draw the line and what information I share on podcasts, and I just feel like you need to put your whole self out there. And if people can go and make transformative changes in their life based on you being a guest on someone's podcast, then that's awesome. But if they can, those are going to be the people that get drawn back to you and want to end up working with you.

Yong Pratt 22:48
So good, so stop and do your work today. Take out a sheet of paper. Take out your phone and whatever app you use to keep notes on and just start jotting down some of these talking points about you just your wish list - 10 things you want to talk about eventually or 10 things you could talk about when someone calls you on the phone and ask you about something. What do you know a lot about that you can get excited about sharing with others? Write those down and I definitely want to hear more about that for sure from everyone, so come on over to the website, www.yongpratt.com, and drop us some comments and let us know because this is a big deal. To go out there into the world can feel kind of scary. It can feel almost intimidating because what happens often I know to me is that we start comparing where we are to where someone else is and where we want to be and think that we're not enough.

I'm here to tell you and I'm sure Angie will back me up I'm sure that you, my friends, are absolutely enough. You know enough. You are definitely worthy and you're just awesome for being you. So take the best parts of you, and put those together on your list and then go out there and start connecting with our podcasters and influencers, to go serve more.

Angie Trueblood 24:10
Yes, absolutely.

Yong Pratt 24:11
And now Angie I know that you have something to help everyone kind of track their visibility, so they can really kind of go step-by-step and really keep record of what went well and what doesn't work and kind of tweak the process along the way. What is it that you have for them?

Angie Trueblood 24:31
Yes, so podcast pitching does involve a workflow because you do all of the prep work. You have a pitch list. You pitch. You follow up. And that was one of the things I thought there were some entrepreneurs that kind of had the bones of a system, they just didn't know how to keep track of it and what that workflow looks like. So, I have actually shared the Trello workflow that I use with my own clients, and my team to pitch and to share my clients with the world. So it's a Trello workflow board, and it also has a training, it's a video training that goes along with it that kind of walks you through it. So folks can find that at AngieTrue Blood.com/Yong. So people can go there and grab it and hopefully by the time this podcast comes out, I will have my podcast, which is Go Pitch Yourself so there will be lots of also free information and free resources listed or shared on that podcast.

Yong Pratt 25:31
First of all, congratulations on this podcast because I think I've been silently waiting for this to come along, thinking when is Angie going to launch her podcast because she really needs one. So kudos to you for launching and thank you so much for being so generous, sharing this workflow. Being a systems gal myself, I when things are put into a process so we're not just throwing things out and doing things really hot and heavy one day, and then trying to come back in two months to try to resurrect that so thank you for sharing for Trello workflow with us.

Angie Trueblood 26:08
Oh, you're welcome, you're welcome. Thank you for having me on and sharing me with your audience.

Yong Pratt 26:12
So, before we wrap up, where can people connect with you if they want to know more about your podcast or about the services you offer as far as helping your clients?

Angie Trueblood 26:25
Yeah, so my website is Angietrueblood.com spelled just like it sounds. I'm also pretty active on Instagram. And so my handle there is @angietrueblood and I'm sure you'll have that in the show notes, but we also have a really fun Facebook group. It's called Go Pitch Yourself. And it's a really amazing group of folks who are stepping up and putting themselves out there and really supporting each other along the way. A lot of us are involved right now in a bit of a pitch sprint to where we are encouraging and sharing how we are pitching ourselves to be featured in different outlets so I would love for folks to come in there.

Yong Pratt 27:04
Absolutely! I'm in the group, too, so come up with both of us. We'd love to see you there. I will put all of the links in the show notes for today's episode, so you can link directly to her and see all the awesome stuff she is doing, plus keep track of her podcast launch, as well.

Angie Trueblood 27:22
Yes,

Yong Pratt 27:23
Thank you, everyone, for tuning in. Thank you, Angie, for being here and being so generous with your time. I appreciate you all, I'll catch you next time.

So what did you think? Are you ready to go out and start booking podcast interviews on other people shows? If so, let me know. Come on over to www.yongpratt.com/246 and share with me your plans on how you want to be a guest on someone else's podcast, and what you're interested in sharing because I love connecting people who need each other in their lives. Again, head over to yongpratt.com/246, so we can continue this conversation about visibility and being on the other side of the mic.

Next week we're diving into your legacy. What legacy do you what to leave and what are you going to use to build your yours? Cheers.

Variety is the spice in your podcasting life Part 4

Variety is the spice in your podcasting life Part 4

[0:02] Welcome to part #4 – the finale – in our miniseries “Variety is the spice up your podcasting life.” Today we’re diving into another spice – how you want to record your podcast..

 

 

[3:39] Yong welcomes Nicole Thompson, host of the Build Your Wealth Podcast, and graduate of Podcast in a Weekend to today’s live podcast recording

 

 

[3:50] Nicole’s podcasting story and how long she had a podcast on her wishlist

 

 

[5:03] A story Yong hears all the time about when people are researching podcasting

 

 

[5:33] Why Nicole purchased Podcast in a Weekend even though she had just spend big $$$ on another podcasting course

 

 

[7:23] Find out how quickly Nicole launched her podcast with Podcast in a Weekend even though she was completely skeptical of being able to launch in a weekend

 

 

[7:41] How Podcast in a Weekend is structured to help even the busiest of moms and business owners launch fast without all the fluff

 

 

[8:38] Find out how Nicole was feeling as she got closer to launching her very own podcast

 

 

[10:53] How Podcast in a Weekend lit a fire in Nicole

 

 

[11:32] The ways in which Nicole felt Podcast in a Weekend was different than the other course she purchased

 

 

[13:18] Cutting out the fluff when it comes to podcasting and giving you soup to nuts to launch successfully

 

 

[14:03] “Podcasting isn’t all about launching. It’s really about building those systems and processes so that each time you launch a podcast episode, it’s the same” – Yong Pratt

 

 

[14:45] What you really need to focus on when launching a podcast – it’s not what you think

 

 

[15:35] Have podcasting questions? Head over to http://www.yongpratt.com/244 and ask.

 

 

[16:01] One of Nicole’s big questions before she took Podcast in a Weekend

 

 

[18:01] Yong’s favorite and fastest way to create podcast episodes. Can you guess what it is?

 

 

[18:29] How Nicole prefers to create her podcast episodes

 

 

[21:27] Podcasting and technology

 

 

[24:12] Connect with Nicole and listen to her podcast, Build Your Wealth. Save your seat inside of Podcast in a Weekend.

×