100: Reflections to 100 Episodes of the Professional Creative

You know, when I first started this podcast, I didn't really have a roadmap or a detailed plan. I just knew that I had stories to share, lessons I had learned, and a community that I really wanted to connect with on a deeper level. I'm Bonnie Christine and this is where all things creativity, design, business and marketing unite. I'm a mama living in a tiny town tucked right inside the Smoky Mountains, running a multi seven figure business, doing the most creative and impactful work of my life. But when I first set out to become an entrepreneur, I was struggling to make ends meet and wrestling with how to accomplish my biggest dream of becoming a fabric designer. Fast forward to today. I'm not only licensing my artwork all all over the world, but also teaching others how to design their creative life and experience the same success. I'm here to help you spend your life doing something that lights you up. I'll help you build a creative business that also creates an impact, changes people's lives, gives you all of the freedom you want, and is wildly profitable. Welcome to the Professional Creative Podcast. Hi everyone. Welcome to this very landmark episode of our journey together so far. This is episode number 100. I'm so excited to just do something a little bit special. For this episode. We're going to look back on the road that I've traveled to get here, the lessons I've learned along the way, and the dream really behind this podcast when we started it in the first place. Find a cozy spot, maybe grab a cup of tea and let's dive in. Now, hitting 100 episodes feels both surreal and really like a natural step. You know, when I first started this podcast, I didn't really have a roadmap or a detailed plan. I just knew that I had stories to share, lessons I had learned, and a community that I really wanted to connect with on a deeper level. In our first episode, I talked about starting from zero, and so it's one of our most popular episodes. Probably that true with every podcast, but if you want to go back and listen to it, I really start from zero on the time that I started my business, when I had zero audience, zero skills, zero money, and just went year by year on how I've grown this business ever since I started it in 2009. And now, 100 episodes later, we've covered everything from art prompts and designing a fabric collection to building your email list and growing memberships and also sorts of business topics as well. But more than topics, we've built a community and a real conversation that stretches far beyond Our time together that we spend just listening in each episode. So let's talk numbers for just a minute and I'll expand on these stats a little bit later. But I think it's important to reflect that we have now had more than 700,000 downloads. We've reached 124 countries, and we've had over 300 listeners who cared enough to share a review of what this podcast has meant to them. I can't tell you how much this means to me. These numbers are more than just metrics. They represent so much of the love and time that we've poured into this podcast and together as creative professionals. As a commitment to growing together. Making this happen consistently every week has required quite the blend of passion and strategy and consistency. It's been like growing a garden. It takes patience and all the right tools and a lot of willingness to learn along the way. So if I think about the very beginning, I sat with this idea for nearly two years. I was reflecting on the idea of having a podcast and just really incubating on the entire idea. I wanted to give it some space. And honestly, I was procrastinating. But I was procrastinating for a good reason. I promised myself that I wouldn't start this podcast until I knew that I could be consistent with it, mainly because I knew at the time that there was just no bandwidth to give it the time that it really deserved. And I wanted to be able to show up consistently for you, meaning I wanted you to be able to trust that you could come every Tuesday and every Thursday and listen into the podcast. That was really, really important to me. And so I really decided that I wouldn't even think about the podcast until I had a day in my business where I was like, I wonder what I'll do today? And that time finally came and I thought, okay, it's time to go. Educating creatives is a huge part of my mission, and I wanted to be able to do that for you in a way that was consistent and predictable. So finally I started on November 15th of 2022. And today I'm going to tell you what it looks like. 100 episodes and one year later, I had wanted a weekly touch point that was free for my audience. That's you, in part, because from the outside looking in, a lot of times throughout the year, I felt like it doesn't actually look like we're doing that much. And that's often because our content is typically behind closed doors. It's in courses and in our membership. And so from the Public facing aspect. Sometimes I felt like it looked like we weren't really doing a lot, when in the reality is that we're doing so much. And so I wanted just a way to break through that and show up consistently and free for you. I also wanted to overcome what I call the swan effect. You know, if you think about a swan, it's beautiful and elegant on the surface, but really just beneath the surface, its legs are kicking wildly to swim and keep it afloat. And sometimes I think that that's the way our business looks. I hope it looks that way, that on the outside it looks all very well thought out and consistent and beautiful. But really what's happening just underneath the surface is really a lot of effort and strategy and team systems and processes. And so I wanted a way to really just pull back the curtain and show you what was happening just underneath the surface. And I think that that's not only interesting, but hopefully helpful for you and your business as well. So the very first steps I took were to begin with, really determining the goal and who I wanted to talk to. You know, my industry is surface pattern design. It is what I love, it's what I'm known for, it' what I do. But I also wanted to start speaking a little bit more to the creative entrepreneur at large. Meaning the vast majority of content here on the podcast isn't only applicable to those of you who are surface pattern designers, it's applicable to those of you who are growing your creative business, no matter what that is. And I call you professional creatives. And I knew that I wanted to get to a hundred episodes as quickly as I could. Now, this is a strategy that I read a long time ago. I'm not even sure where I read it, but it stuck with me. Basically, if you're starting something new, right? So if you're building a portfolio, you want to make a hundred patterns as quickly as you can, or if you're starting a YouTube channel, you want to get to a hundred videos as quickly as you can. And if you're starting a podcast, you want to get to a hundred episodes as quickly as you can. And this is to build a substantial body of work. It's to really improve your skills and figure the thing out. And it's also to establish a presence in that space. And so when I really thought about it, yes, two episodes a week is a lot, but it's either going to take me a year. If I do two a week, it'll take me a year to get to a hundred, or if I Do one a week, it's going to double that, and it's going to take me two years. And I thought, thought, okay, the juice is worth the squeeze. And so we decided not to do seasons and to commit to doing two episodes a week, which will get us to 100 episodes in a year. That's today. And I can't believe it. So the very next thing I did was I wrote the trailer, I decided on the name, and I recorded the intro in my closet with my kids just right outside the door. I tried to pick out some music that was happy, but hopefully wouldn't drive me nuts in a year, which I do still like it. And I began to research and really choose categories that I wanted to speak about. I also wanted to choose categories to list the podcast in that I thought that I could hopefully rank in. And so I chose art and design and entrepreneurship. Now, the very next step was to register the podcast with Spotify, Apple, and Google. And I'm very pleased to share that after a year of worrying about what this would look like, it took me 10 minutes. So, lesson learned. Just start. Then I trademarked the name. I do recommend trademarking the name of anything that you really want to use as yours. Right. And then I sent an email. Now, this email is something that I learned from Jeff Walker. And Jeff teaches a launch strategy. And this particular email is something that he calls a shot across the bow. So basically, it's an announcement and a favor. So it is emailing your audience and sharing with them something that you're super excited about. It's an announcement. In my case, it was the podcast and asking them for a favor and share with me something that you would be interested in learning about. So I like to say anytime you are really trying to ideate and think about something, anytime you're wondering what your audience would like to know or learn from you or listen to, all you have to do is ask. Because this simple email gave me around 800 responses in a form from many of you who are listening today on things that you would love to learn about. And it was so beneficial for me to just sit down with this list and a big spreadsheet and just start making ideas like, ooh, I could talk about that. Or I've got something that would really help this person. And it was really just validating. Like, you know what? I do have something to say. I do have value to give, and I do have enough ideas, because I don't know about you, but anytime we start something, am I going to run out of ideas? And so it was just validating to know that there is enough there to talk about. I do have value to add, and I am excited about all these different topics. After I really validated the idea and reviewed the survey, I went out and bought the equipment that I needed. Now, I've already gone over this in a previous podcast, so we'll link to it in the show notes for today's episode. And I just started outlining episodes. I recorded a couple of ads. Now, the ads were for me, things that I had going on in my business. And I recorded the first few episodes in my closet right inside my house. And then I pretty quickly hired a podcast editor. And so I love to outsource things that we may be capable of doing, but really we don't need to be the one doing them. And so I did edit a few of my own, but I outsourced that as quickly as I could. And then I just developed a little bit of a workflow, which is what we'll start to talk about now. As we built momentum, the process became more fluid. We have a set of tools and people working on the podcast. I've got a podcast manager, Nikita, who helps me with ideating for the podcast and coming up with show notes and outlines for me to work through, which has been really helpful as well. But our system has changed a bit. So at the very beginning, I went straight from those survey results and a big list of episode ideas that I had already, you know, come up with to a spreadsheet. And I just began recording when I could on the ones that I was excited about. Picture this. Your creative business thriving beyond your wildest dreams. More than just a business, more than a entire legacy. It's not just possible, but I want you to feel how close it is to within your reach. I want to unfold the map of success together with you. In fact, I want to invite you to join me on a journey unlike any other with my brand new professional creative business coaching program. If you're currently making in between 50 and $200,000 a year in your business, it's time to think bigger. Imagine expanding your team, honing your leadership, and overcoming the challenges most businesses face. You know, what got you to where you are today isn't going to be the same thing that gets you to where you're going. If you're nodding along, I made this program for you. We'll have weekly live coaching calls, accountability pods to keep you on track, and a vault of resources and bonuses, along with a community of fellow creative big thinkers. Because Growing together is where all the magic happens. We've got the Time management lab, my $5 million launch debrief, and a creative profits training, which you'll have as a launch pad for all your revenue streams. But if you're unsure if this is your next step, I would love to chat with you. So in order to do that, I need you to send me a DM on Instagram or fill out our short interest form over@bonniechristine.com coach so that I can personally follow up with you and just ask you a few questions because I want to make sure that this is the perfect fit for you and your journey right now. You have my word. If I don't think I can truly move the needle for you, I'll tell you. So if you're ready to elevate your creative business and step into your power and into a room of some really big thinkers, join me by filling out the interest form@bonniecristine.com coach or just. Just DM me over on Instagram the word coach, and I'll respond with my first few questions for you. Together, let's make your passion your legacy. Now, we take regular submissions from you, the audience. If you haven't seen this, you can head over to Instagram. It's in my links there. You can just submit an idea for the podcast right there. And we review those every time we work on a new batch. And then I also have my whole team coming up with ideas as well, because sometimes I may be missing something that we're hearing over and over again or a topic that maybe I'm just too close to to really realize would make a great podcast. So the team has a Slack channel where they put any ideas that they have for the podcast as well. And then we really consider our calendar as we plan what's coming up for us as a company. And what holidays are coming up. What kind of energy do people have? The energy in December is very different than the energy in January. December is very cozy. We're kind of reflecting and reviewing, and we're not really doing big, deep strategic work most of the time. But then in January, we have this renewed energy for decluttering and creating new habits and strategizing and looking ahead. So we try to think about those things. Even though we may be planning those episodes in October or November, we have to think about, well, how do we really feel in those times of the year? Right? So from an outlining perspective, I went from just using a Google Doc and outlining them myself to really coming into A team setting. So now we just had our third one today. Actually, we do batch planning sessions every six or seven weeks. So we come together and plan the next batch of 14 episodes. So we come up with the ideas for about 14 episodes at a time, and then we kind of work from there to create the outlines for each of the episodes, trying to record more and more and more in advance. And then we edit and prepare for publishing. So batch recording actually didn't go like I thought it would. I'm a huge believer in batch work, meaning do, like, tasks at the same time. And so I was sitting down to do eight episodes at a time. That is an entire month's worth of podcasts, and it's a full day of recording. And so my hope was to sit down and do eight. And I just wildly underestimated the, like, creative output that that would take. So then I moved to six, and then I went to four, and now I'm doing two. I just realized that it is so hard for me to close my brain on one idea and open it right back, like the next moment to another idea that I've got to wrap my entire head and heart around. And so I just decided that that was okay. Okay, so maybe I'm not batch recording six or eight episodes in a single day, but I will try to batch them back to back. So two at a time and then do them multiple days in a row. So I can do two every morning when I get to work. And the cognitive load of that compared to eight in a day is much more manageable. So that's where I'm at. I would love to get to where I could do six to eight in a day and not think about it but once a month, but I just have not been able to do it yet. Now, for every episode, we also have show notes. So from the start, we've pretty intentionally kept these show notes at a minimal design. They include key takeaways. They include an embedded version of the episode so you can listen to it right in the show notes. So there are a couple of gaps that we are working to address, and I'm happy to share them with you. The first one is really about me and how I show up to the podcast and moving really more the ideator of it to more of a visionary role, if you can imagine. I say so many things in Q&As and in course lessons and in a membership lesson and in the Mastermind and in my coaching program. Like, there's no shortage of content or body quotes or ideas that I've really gone down a rabbit hole with and we're moving to more of a place where the team is really keeping an ear to the ground and listen for those types of things. Where have I taught something before, even if it was three or four years ago and in the membership or something like that, that would be a great topic to resurface and share on the podcast. Or was there just one quote that I said during a coaching session that would be a great mini episode where I talk a little bit more about that in depth. And so that's been a really fun way for the team to just be listening to all the things I share and say outside of the podcast and bring those ideas for us to think about with and expanding on here. Now, I don't know if you follow me on social media, but you might have noticed that I haven't done the best job at sharing podcast episodes regularly, like on Instagram, and that's just a bandwidth issue. I'm just not showing up as much as I really believe that I can and should and will. So we're very much working on just having a process where we can easily and consistently show every Tuesday and Thursday what podcast episode came out so that you don't have to rely on coming here to check, but that you get those notifications on Instagram as well. And then we're also working on YouTube, so we're working on launching a YouTube channel, and I'm excited about it, but very much trying to get my footing with video. If you have a podcast, you might realize that it's a really big lost opportunity to sit and do audio but not capture the video at the same time. And I always thought that I would do that until I tried it. And then I realized that it's a whole different ball game if you have to get camera ready as well, and then you're thinking on the fly or pausing awkwardly, or you have to remember to smile and make eye contact with the camera. It's a whole different beast. And so I'm very much trying to figure out what does it look like for me to be able to record the audio for the podcast and also show up on video at the same time so that we can share it both ways. And I'm still just working through it. I get really awkward when the camera's on and I'm trying to look at notes or think about the podcast. It's a little bit weird. So working through that one and then very much still trying to find a good pace with batch recording. If you Looked at how I work sometimes on paper, you might think that I procrastinate, but I don't actually. It's this other thing that happens, and I suspect that it happens to you as well. Focus and clarity comes with a deadline and that is a character trait. It's like a personality trait. And it doesn't work well when you're trying to bring people from a team in to support you. Right. Because what I won't do is make my team work last minute, or I at least try not to ever make them work last minute. But it is a genuine problem in my world. I don't know what I would say in three weeks from now, because it's now and not three weeks from now. And so it's a genuine thing that I'm always trying to figure out almost. Can I put in fake deadlines for myself so that I feel that last bit of creativity come in the focus and clarity and creative aspect of it? Or do I need to just set up a system where I can record? Like, I'm pretty good at recording a week or two out, but eight weeks out feels. I don't know, feels way too far out. But that would really be what would give everybody who touches the podcast the most bandwidth with to do their thing. So working on that as well. So those are some gaps that we're addressing. So let's move into some milestones. So from the very first listener to the 500,000 listener, each one of you have just been a little part of this incredible journey. So far we've had episodes that you tell me make you laugh, ones that make you think, ones that really brought us together. And your kind of testimonials and the times that you reach out to me on Instagram dm, dm to tell me about something that was meaningful to you means so much to me. At eight months in, we hit a half a million downloads of this podcast and began averaging 50,000 downloads a month. We also hit 20,000 opt ins, so email addresses during that time as well, which means so many new people to our world. And that's exactly where I wanted to be pretty much as quickly as I could be. So I wanted to hit those milestones within a year and we hit them at eight months, which is just really incredible. I think publishing twice a week really helped us hit that stride. And it seems to be the right amount to keep you all coming back and having fresh content regularly, but not too much. And then our opt ins are always really relevant to the very specific episode that we were on. And it's helped us really build a new segment of our audience that's interested in business as opposed to only surface design or art, which is, you know, what I've been known for and what I still want to be known for as well. Well, but I do think this podcast reaches a broader audience as well. So now at 100 episodes in and exactly one year later, we've had 724,000 downloads. That means we're averaging around 53,000 downloads a month. We've had 23,000 opt ins. And though rankings change, like, all the time for reasons that are unknown to me, we have ranked at number nine for arts in the US and number two for design in the US which feels really substantial. Our top five episodes of all time, which we'll link in today's show notes are starting from 02 weeks notice with Amy Porterfield, your path to success, creative or educator, and strategic planning for the professional creative. And so those are all very much worth a listen to. We'll link those up on the show notes for today's episode. But beyond these numbers, my goodness, I'm just so grateful to those of you who have taken the time to share what this podcast has meant to you. We have 375 reviews in a year with a 4.9 star ranking, and that is just incredible to me. Thank you so much for each of you who have taken the time to do that. I love reading them and it really just fuels me for the next episode. In over 3 million podcasts globally, we're also ranked in the top.05%, which it's hard for me to even wrap my mind around. It means that what we're sharing here is impactful and that's really all I could ever hope for. This podcast has become way more than a platform, I think the catalyst for growth, not only for me, but for our community at large. When I look at stats like this, it's just validating to me that there was a hole that I filled. And it's so special to just be in your ear two times a week. This has meant so much to me personally. It means that I can overcome imposter syndrome and it means that, you know, I do have something to share and it means that I can do hard things and I can be consistent and show up. Right? And I think that it's just really validating to set your sights on something difficult and show up. That is how we build confidence. Right? We promise ourselves we're going to do something and then we do it, and then our confidence grows and I wasn't sure I came into it not knowing if I could do it. And here we are. So looking ahead. I'm excited to continue, really with the same thing we've been doing. So we're continuing with two times a week. I'm so excited to incorporate our new marketing team and helping us share more consistently about it. And really, I mediate on the types of topics that you want to listen to. I'm excited to hear more about what you want to learn and listen from you as well. We're going to do a listener Q and A soon to celebrate 100 episodes. And then of course, that link to submit ideas for the podcast is something that we really value. And you can find that again over in the links in my Instagram bio, but we'll put it with the replay notes for this episode as well. So before I sign off, that was a lot of feelings and a lot of stats. But mainly I just want to say thank you for listening. Thank you for walking this path with me. For every download, for every time you've shared it, for every moment you've spent with me. I just want to say thank you. It means so much to me. So my friends create the beauty that you want to see come alive in the world just like like this podcast was for me. And remember, there's room for you.