How to Automate Your Audience Growth Through Podcasting

I am so excited about this episode. We're going to be talking about how to create your first episode. And really, before you can even create your first episode, this is just a step forward into embracing your story, owning your story, and being okay with your story. So if you want to learn how to leverage your story and use it to help your life to feel a little bit more easy and your business to grow, stay tuned.

Welcome to Crafted to Thrive, the globally ranked podcast for entrepreneurs living with chronic illness. I'm your host Nikita Williams, and after being diagnosed with multiple chronic illnesses myself, I figured out the surprisingly simple missing links to growing a profitable business without compromising my health. Since then, I've helped dozens of women just like learn how to do the same. If you're ready to own your story and create a thriving business that aligns with your health and well-being, you're in the right place. Together, we're shifting the narrative of what's possible for entrepreneurs with chronic illness. This is Crafted to Thrive.

Okay. So this episode, when I was thinking about the first launch episodes, I'm like, what are they going to be? The relaunch episodes. And I thought it would be really amazing to talk about how you craft or create your first episode for your podcast, or if you're relaunching a podcast, how to do this and why it really starts with embracing your story as an entrepreneur living with chronic illness and also sharing a little bit of The power of hearing your story out loud. Okay. How many of us are walking around just saying our story of how we got to this place in time out loud, all in one setting? I know I hadn't. I know when I first recorded my first episode, I was so in a frizzy, like even before I did my first episode, I was so in a frizzy about getting guests on the show, which I think is so important, a huge aspect of why I believe my business has grown. Also why I believe I've had some mindset shifts. I've had some tools. Unearthed for me, all of those different beautiful things, which I'll talk about in another episode. But I was thinking about connecting with everybody. And when it came to the first episode, I was like, well, I guess the first episode should be about like, who is this person talking to all these people? And then also what is the purpose of the show? And mind you, I had started this podcast, started planning that— this podcast literally from the recovery of my bed from my hysterectomy for endometriosis. Now I have to put this in here every time I say this. As an endometriosis warrior, having a hysterectomy does not cure you, but for me it did give me a choice of having a little bit better life quality. It really did. It still does to this day. I definitely think it definitely helps. Man, was it way more challenging, I think, when I didn't have my hysterectomy. And I'm not saying that my life is easy peasy right now, or I don't have any stuff, but I just definitely think it changed the quality of my life having the surgery. So anyway, I had written my story down like in different bits and pieces every single day. You know, while I journal, I think journaling is a huge piece of your journey and like just being able to see where you come from and get all of that stuff out of your head. I had also prayed often, every day, multiple times a day about different aspects of my journey. But never had I sat down and said out loud with no one else in the room and said all of the things that I kind of had experienced. And I don't even think in that first episode I said all of the things, but just the amount of things I did say out loud and the hearing that out loud to me was earth-shattering. I realized that as much as I was spending time beating myself up for where I was and how I wasn't enough and how much I really at the time hated my body and why is this happening to me thoughts and negative thoughts that I had, I didn't realize how much I actually had gone through because I was so busy in it, right? And that alone helped shift an awareness for me around, wow, wow, I have gone through a lot and I wouldn't be here in this place if I hadn't experienced some of these things in my life. I I don't think I would have developed some of the resilience and the grit and the journey and the joy. Yes. Joy and learnings that I learned had I not gone through some of those things and the determination and so many different things, right? The value. Sometimes we just always think about the negative when we go through really hard times, but there are golden nuggets that are discovered, diamonds that are made, pearls that are un— earthed during some of our hardest times, and we don't really realize them until we say them out loud. And so I want you to thinking about your first episode, not just as a vehicle for your business to be seen, heard, and people to find you and for you to make money, or even an easier way for your business to grow because you have an easy marketing, long-form content strategy and system. But also a path towards hearing how uniquely awesome and resilient and how you've chosen to be resilient, how you've chosen to show up, how you've chosen to do all these little baby hard fall, like, like falling over cliff face hard stuff. And you're here. It's such a powerful thing. So I just wanted to share that with you. If you're like thinking you're in the, in the rabbit of like, let's get this podcast going and let's get this podcast creating, you know, income and everything. I want you to kind of just sit with the power of you embracing your story when you share and do your first episode to connect with people. Okay. So why do I focus on the episodes before I work with my clients on the tech? I think a lot of us allow the tech to consume our thoughts so much that we never even get to the podcast episodes. Or if we do, we have spent so much time and energy and sometimes money prepping for the tech that we get to that point of talking about our, like our, our podcast that we don't even realize, I don't even know what I'm going to talk about on the show. I don't even realize it. Right. And so this is why I start backwards, because I believe when you start talking and talking about your story and your tools and your unique perspectives, and you start having interviews with guests and you're starting to connect with people, that energy is so much more serving during the time that you're just checking some boxes off for the tech. The tech doesn't become overwhelming. The tech does not become the thing that stops you from even recording the first episode. Okay. So, This is why I'm going to talk first and foremost about recording your first episode. Now, with my clients, one of the things I do is create— I've created a 4-step system that allows them to really hone in that their story is their leverage, right? It's the key to them building a successful business. It's the key to them leveraging their story in a way that aligns with their purpose, passion, and mission. For their client's journey to solving and creating the desires and fulfilling the desires that their clients have for themselves. So the first thing I like to help my clients do is decide on like, let's talk about your story, your business, your life story. Like, how did you get here? Right. And this is how you kind of start to think about how you will never run out of topics to talk about on your podcast. You'll never stop. You'll think, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. You'll just keep thinking of all these different things, right? But how do you ground that story or your story into creating an episode, just one episode? So moving from talking about your story, the, the next step really is to think about the people you want to serve. Think about the people you want to have conversations with on your show, like the guests you want to have on your show. What are their problems, wants, desires? What are their unique, awesome skills and resources that you want to bring in into this community that you're building on your show? What is it? And it kind of starts with kind of thinking about what are some of the problems they have? What are some of the things they've experienced? What are some of the challenges that they are working through? What are some of the things that they want? What are the things that they wish they could have? Right. And then I want you to flip back into your story. Where are there alignments with you, with what they want and what problems they have? Right. And so what happens is you start kind of creating like a list of their problems and some of your similar problems and desires, the similar desires that you all have and the vehicle in which you want to help them in whatever it is that you do, whether you're a service-based creative photographer, whether it is you're a coach, a graphic designer, whatever it is that you are, right, as an entrepreneur and you're a service-based entrepreneur, what is it that you want to help your clients do? And where do the lines kind of overline, right? Where do the things, the stories, and the problems overlap that you can support them through? Or help them achieve, right? As far as their desires and what they want. And after you do that, you think about some of the things you've personally discovered along your journey. And I want to point out, this podcast is definitely one of the things that I now own as a huge tool and concept and perspective of how I help my clients through some of the biggest challenges they have, some of the hardest things that they're going through as an entrepreneur with chronic illness has been this podcast, right? And so some of the thoughts and things that I've come up with, like my let it be easy concept, my 15-minute rule, my do what you can when you can philosophy, the reset method, my whole framework of like the Chronically You framework, where we tap into the real you, where we take time to reset. We take time to embrace this beautiful journey and sometimes not so beautiful journey. We learn how to align where we were and where we want to be and learn how to leverage those things to create the life and business we want. That whole framework of concepts and tools have been sprinkled into this podcast. It has been sprinkled into how I serve my clients to show up, to help them make the money that they need to support the life and their wellbeing, right? And so you those tools, you have those concepts. Think about the things that you've done in your journey that you probably wouldn't have done if you didn't have the problems, right? You probably wouldn't have uncovered had you not leaned into the things that were your passion and the things that you care about, right? Or the way that you grew up. Think about those concepts, those perspectives. You don't have to have a name. They could be long-winded. You all know I'm a little bit long-winded. Think about all of those things and write them down. Okay, and so when you get ready to create your first episode, you're gonna create a very simple outline, right? You're going to create a very simple outline of who you are, who you want to serve, and how you plan on serving them with this medium, a podcast, right? That's it, really simple. It's a beautiful introduction to your podcast and your community and your, your, your joy as an entrepreneur and as your entrepreneur life with chronic illness, right? It's a great way to start setting intentions and expectations. And it's also a really great way for you to impart your journey and story and the way that you want it to be. Consumed, right? Oftentimes we hear a lot of stories about our chronic illness warriors who honestly, I don't know if they would have chosen how to tell people that they've experienced certain things, right? And maybe have been taken out of context. Someone shared their information without them asking. Maybe they were saying it out of, you know, to retaliate or react to some negative or not so nice things that people said. Right. And now when you start a podcast, you get to own that story and tell it the way you want. Right. You get to tell it the way you want and you get to tell it in a way that serves other people so that you can serve them. So I'm going to tell you about a couple of my clients, um, right now that are getting ready to launch their podcast episodes and what their first episodes are really going to center around. They're all chronic illness warriors, which I love. Um, well, all of them except one of them. One of my clients is isn't necessarily a chronic illness warrior. She's just awesome. Like all of them are, but my chronic illness warrior clients are going to talk about how, you know, they started to have this love for photography and the world and taking care of the planet because they grew up in the planet, right? They were out in the forest and they were out doing all these different kinds of things, but it also had a challenge with the different things that they were experiencing as you know, as a kid and as a growing adult and how that shapes the way that they decide, or she's decided to, you know, shoot and take images of the world. She's all about sustainability, right? She gets to tell the story of that in her way because it's hers, right? I have another client who is another chronic illness warrior who gets to tell the journey of how being diagnosed with chronic illness when she was young, and dealing with all of the things that she's dealt with led her to another love of herbs and plants and taking care of yourself holistically and how that will serve the world to make a better planet. Right. And I have another client who is dealing with another chronic illness, who is a mom who loves, you know, her, her family. And she loves all the things that she's doing. She has all this beautiful professional background of helping other moms. And now as, out there and getting ready to share her tool that has helped her persevere through her chronic illness and how she's helping other people do the same. Those are stories rooted in their journey. And they're going to use that in their first episodes to talk about how they're going to show up for people and create the change and the results that they want to see in other people's lives and in their own. So now it's your time. It's your time to not overthink the tech. It's actually— forget the tech right now. Forget it. Just grab a set of headphones, your AirPods, your ear— like what they call them, plug-in earphones and a mic and just record your story out loud. You don't have to post this anywhere. This doesn't have to be your first episode, but just talk about your story out loud and see how powerful that will be. Honestly, this is an exercise that I give my clients to do. Before they even record their first episode is to really just get into hearing what your story is. When you can hear what your story is, you are more able to embrace all the goodie nuggets that are there and open up a world of awesome relief and love and self-compassion that you will have for yourself once you hear what you have gone through out loud, right? So The 4 steps are really simple to starting and recording your first episode, right? One, what is your story? What is your life? What is your business story? Who— number 2 is who do you serve? Who are you going to serve? Number 3, what problems and desires do they have and overlap with what you have or experience? And number 4, what concepts and tools are you going to use to sort of support them in solving those problems? And what kind of concepts are you going to help them uncover for them to create the desired results that they are seeking in their life? Okay. So that's it. It's a really simple process. Leave the tech alone. Just get out there, have fun, and record your first episode, or don't record your first episode, record your first sample episode, and then listen back and see what you think. And if you think you might overthink listening to it again, just record it again and send it to an editor. All right. More on how you can use podcasting to leverage your story and to grow your business with more ease in future episodes. But the next episode is actually going to be about an amazing woman who is sharing her story and some of her tools that she used during an unexpected battle with cancer. All right, stay tuned.

That's a wrap, y'all. Thanks for tuning in to Crafted to Thrive, the podcast that helps entrepreneurs with chronic illness to thrive and build a holistic business and life. Check out our website at craftedtothrive.com for this episode's show notes and all the gifts and goodies. Connect with me on Instagram at @ThriveWithNikita for more tips and behind the scenes and more. Tag me to share what you loved about this episode, and I'll feature you on an upcoming episode. So until next time, remember, yes, you are crafted to thrive.