326: Want to Start a Podcast? With Elzie

Hey movers, it's Sally Z with Be Moved. Let's go create some talks that will move this world. We're going to talk with amazing speakers, share tips, tricks, resources, and we are going to be moved so that our audience can be moved.

This moved me.

What is moving you? Well, hello everybody. Welcome, welcome, welcome. I'm hoping that so many of you are as excited as I am about talking with Elsie today from Podcast Town. He goes by The Mayor. I can't wait to hear a little bit more about this. Elsie and I met when I was on his podcast a few weeks ago, maybe. Months, I don't know. Time is weird. Time is hard. I never really know what is up when and where, but Elsie and I had an awesome conversation and I thought, you know what? I think this actually would be really great for all of my speakers to hear about and to talk about because podcasting has been in my life for a really long time. But we are, we're in the up, like mid 300s at this point, which is crazy to me. Crazy. I got, I was a, they, you know this, I started podcasting before it was a thing that anybody knew about. And now many of you are in the throes of building your business, the ecosystem of your business. And we need some help to do that. And podcasting may be one of those things on your list. On that bucket list that like, you know what, I know I probably should do a podcast. So we're going to talk about it. We're going to dive in with Elsie because he helps entrepreneurs a lot like us build their podcasts and really leverage podcasting in their business. So we're going to hear a little bit more about him. So let's bring him in. Let's see if I can do this right. My— let's— here he is. Yay. Hi, Elzie.

Hello. How are you, Sally?

Great. How are you?

I am fantastic. Good.

So tell us about Podcast Town. What is this? What do you do? What's your story? Bring us into the whole thing.

Got it. So in short, Podcast Town is a podcast marketing company and we help brands, B2B mostly, but just any brand that wants to leverage the power of their voice, the power of audio and video now these days to, to grow their business. It's a fantastic way to build relationships and that's what my brand is all about, building relationships. I tell people my number one job is to shake hands and kiss babies. And so that's, that's what I do.

I love it. I love it. Okay. So tell me about what your experience has been with your own podcast, because We, a lot of us are doing the thing that we teach. And so tell me about your podcast and how that fits into your business.

That Sally, that is such a loaded question because I have two, at least, right? So Enterprise Now is my flagship show. That's the show that I got into this whole crazy world of podcasting with way back in the day in 2016. And it has taken on different forms over the years. When I first started, I literally started it because I wanted to meet business people and I knew that that was a really good way to do that. I wasn't selling anything. It was very broad, very general by design because I didn't care if you were in the toy business, if you were an author or you were a speaker or who, whatever you were. I wanted to get you on the show and learn from you. And, uh, and I did that because I was struggling to cross over from corporate America into my own thing. And I realized that there was, there was a, a knowledge gap. You know, I had been doing it for the better part of 15 years and I thought, okay, the, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. I'm not going to do that. And so I said, okay, I, I know I need to learn from these people. And so I, I, I did, and I started to learn things about concepts like low-cost experimentation. Mm-hmm. And market research and little things like that along the way. I, I could literally write a book. Um, I've actually saved all of my notes from all of those conversations. But anyway, so in the beginning it was, it was intentionally broad. And, and why? Because my, end goal was just to learn. And then as things grew, my company grew, I ended up quitting my, my job and working in podcasting full-time, right? And so needs changed. Uh, Enterprise Now, the goal wasn't, it wasn't a fit anymore. And so I actually retired it for a little. And fast forward to last year, decided to launch a personal brand and now Enterprise Now makes more sense. With a more narrow niche focus. And so now my focus is diverse B2B enterprises, helping them master their craft, level up, and excel. Because of my experience, right? And, and my journey, now I, I can give that back to people. My other show, Podcast My Brand, is my fun show. It's the show where I invite people.

Fun show. I just have to say, it is such a fun show. There's like music, there's trivia. I mean, I was like, I have never, I have never guested on a show quite like this one before. It was so fun. And that's why I'm like, we got, I gotta have Elsie. I gotta have Elsie on. It's so fun.

It is. It's a show where I get to reach out to other podcasters, talk shop, make fun of them, get made fun of, and just have a blast. Yeah. And the only goal with that show is twofold. I want to help other podcasters grow. I want to inspire people who don't have shows to get into the game because if you're, if you are in business, in 2 to 3 years, you will be in the podcast space. Either you're going to be guesting on shows or hosting your own or sponsoring a show. You will be in the industry in one of those forms, period. Right?

Okay.

So I'm going to pause.

Pause. That, that's huge. Okay. So there's a, there's a lot of people listening right now who are, and watching right now, who are going, I don't, I, I know I see other people doing it, but I'm not sure if I see myself doing it. And part of what you're saying, it's coming for you in 2 to 3 years, even if you don't right now, like you will, you'll either be guesting on people's podcasts or you yourself are gonna create that platform.

Right. Or, or you'll sponsor shows, right? So in one of those 3 forms. I recommend all three. You will be in the space. I mean, it is just, it's growing so fast. And when you do dig into the numbers and the research and you realize that people who listen to podcasts are 60, I think it's 67% more likely to purchase or buy from a host that they trust. And really that just boils down to the inherent trust and influence that happens when you have a podcast guest. If I mention a product or service on my show, whether I have 100 listeners or 100,000, they, they listen, they hear, and they trust my voice and my recommendation. So they're more likely to purchase or buy or act when the host says something. That in itself is huge. It's a game changer.

Yeah. Yeah. You're talking about this intangible relationship that you build. And it's easy to forget about that from a podcasting perspective as the podcaster, because I create this content and then it goes out into the world and I'm not there with them necessarily in the moment when they are taking it in. And when they, when, when that relationship is being built, it's this funny asynchronous relationship, but it doesn't make it less, any less powerful or or potent or influential. So same thing with video, like both of these things, the relationship is happening even if you are not right there. So I, I completely agree with that. It tracks with my own experience just in the last month. All of a sudden I'm hearing, and you, I've been doing this forever. All of a sudden when I'll say, you know, where did you hear about this? They're like, oh, well. I listen to your show and I'm like, cool, great. I'm so glad to know. I don't know. There's numbers, but I don't know who they are. Yesterday I had a speaking qualification call where I was chatting with somebody who wanted me to come in and keynote for them in the fall. Same thing. She was like, I listen to your show. I was like, this makes me so happy because it's a lot of work. So what you're saying is it's worth it.

It is. It's, it's more than worth it. I can't tell you how many times, especially as we emerged from, from COVID and we were, you know, in person, I, I call it in 3D again. I would meet people, right, that I haven't seen in, in person. And they would say things like, hey, I, I heard that, how's your move going? Or things that I had only said in my, during my show and, and not, you know, promoting it, just As, as a conversation, they listen and they hear it, hear that stuff. And even when, you know, when you're posting clips on, on social and, and your, your content, people see that stuff and they bring it back up to me. And I'm like, I really ought to just make sure I'm, um, on the straight and narrow because people are listening and watching, um, what you do. And, and the bigger your show gets, the more fine-tuned your messaging gets, the people are. Are affected by what you, what you say. So it's been an amazing platform for me.

I love it. Okay. So what are some of the big questions that you get from people when they're thinking about whether or not they are ready, that their business is ready for a podcast? Like, what are some of the things people are worried about or thinking about?

The big one is always time. Do I have enough time to dedicate to the, to a good podcast? Because the savvy business owner realizes that that brand is attached to your business. So you want to make sure that you, you know, do it well. So that's, that would be the biggest thing that I hear over and over is, do I have time? And if you were to ask me about that, I would say you, you don't have the time not to. It is that important to, to your brand. Will, will you get 100 new clients on episode 1? Probably not. But the, the content that you can draw from the conversations, the relationships that you're gonna build, the, the voice, right? We talk about stale social media posts, like we all see 'em, that you could tell that they didn't put much thought into it. It, it's just not. Connecting.

Yeah.

When you have a, when you have a podcast, you can literally draw from that and put social media posts together that are authentic in your voice and that will resonate with your audience. And so it becomes this cool content anchor that you can use other aspects of your business. So that's one part. The other thing I will say is, is once you get to the point where you're comfortable on the mic slash on camera, You understand your processes. It kind of starts to flow and click. It doesn't take as much time as people think. Initially, yes, because you're still getting used to it and the ebbs and flows and how everything works. But once you have that nailed, an hour or so a week as a host should be more than enough time to produce a really good show. Given if, you know, if you have team on the backend or help with that.

Dang, that's amazing. An hour is sort of the dream timeline, right? But what you're saying is when you have some additional help, if you don't have help, because a lot of, a lot of my speakers, they're, they're just building this ecosystem. And one of the things that people want, which is exactly what they need to be doing, is establishing their authority and their voice as an expert. Because we have to start there. It's like, yes, I know what I'm talking about. Yes, I, I have some ideas. I have a point of view. And podcasting is such an incredible way to do that, to be seen as that authority. So, but oftentimes they're, they're just starting. And so doing it on your own, it's one thing if you're Mel Robbins, who's like, I think finally gonna do it. She's been talking about doing a podcast forever and I'm like, Mel, like, couldn't be easier. Like, she's, she's got 40 people helping her anyway with all of her stuff. I love her. I love her. But it's very different for those of us who are true solopreneurs. And so what's the, what are some of the pieces that you feel like, okay, you've got to have a few things in place here to pull this off? Because you're going to need more than an hour.

Yes.

Especially when you're starting off, at least, right?

A good rule of thumb is about 4 times the length of your episode.

Okay.

So if you have a, let's just say an hour-long episode, just for easy math, because I'm a recovering engineer, I like deleted all of that stuff, right? So let's say it's an hour-long show. It's going to take you about 4 to 5 hours.

Yep.

From Arthur Fu.

Yeah.

And there's a lot of pieces, right, that goes in between that. I don't think we have enough time on this show to talk about, but suffice it to say, I actually advise people to edit it themselves at first. Edit it yourself. Do the show notes, the video clips and the audio clips. The video clips especially, maybe hop on Fiverr or something like that to help to have somebody help you do the video clips., but do the audio clips yourself, write your own social posts, because this is, again, it's gonna be from you. It's gonna sound like you. Yeah. And, um, it's gonna connect. And the, the reason I say that is because when you, when you edit a podcast, you have to listen to it. And sort of if you think like a, an athlete, when I'm a Bucks fan, and so when they, they lost against Boston this year, they undoubtedly looked at the tape. The game tape and they're like, okay, we, we gave Jason Tatum way too much room. He had time to set up the, set up his, his thoughts and the, the offense is set and now he can just pick us apart. And so the next game they started to pressure him, um, a lot more and made him make more decisions and then he made more mistakes. And so they win. Same thing with podcasts. You wanna listen slash watch because you're watching for verbal cues, you're watching for body language, you're watching for crutch words that you say, you're watching for, did you, did you set that question up properly? What the heck is setting up a question in the first place?

Right.

Are you long-winded? What percentage of the conversation did you talk versus your guest? Like all of those things you can only get better at if you listen to the episode and while you're editing it, You're gonna notice all those things because if you say, um, 1,000 times and you have to edit, um, out 1,000 times, you're gonna get tired of editing, um, out and you're gonna stop saying, um, right? Better.

For sure. For sure. And it is a really powerful exercise in, in almost becoming objective with yourself because it's a very hard thing to watch and listen to yourself. We are super critical of ourselves, but One of the beautiful things about podcasting is if you're doing it consistently, which is how you should do it, is consistently, then you're on a tight timeline. And so you start to just be a little more ruthless in the approach of it. It's like, from my own experience, the learning curve is steep, but once you figure it out, I was a machine. And that's how it works for all of us is we're like, I don't have time for this. I'm gonna find a faster, more efficient way to create something of value for my audience. And there's, there's the tools now are so much better than they were when I started 7 years ago when I was like, everything was hard and new and now there's so much that's been automated and the social media side of it's so much easier. So I'm just underlining, yes, it's hard at first. You will find a way and you will learn so much about yourself in the process.

The other thing that I'll add quickly is weekly. The other question I get a lot is frequency. It's like, how often should I publish? Weekly, weekly is, is ideal, but I always tell people start out with, with biweekly, every other week, because that'll give you time and space to grow into the machine so that now weekly is like, okay, boom. And then batch recording. So set aside 8 to 10 on every other Monday, and that's when you're gonna record all of your episodes and then set up a block of time where you're gonna do your editing and a block of time where you're gonna do show notes or social and things like that. So, but 2 episodes a month is much more manageable than every single week. So that, that's a big one, right? And then as you, as the show grows and you, as you alluded to, become a machine, now you can crank 'em out every, every single week.

Yeah. And my audience would tell me times like, I can't keep up. I can't keep up. I was doing it weekly and now I still produce something weekly, but it's often repeated content. So I don't feel anymore like. I'm killing myself here to produce multiple forms of original content a week. It's like, that's, that's more than anybody can keep up with or do. So in some ways, podcasting is just another avenue, another landing place for content that you're probably building and doing anyway. So that, that blog post you were going to write this week, maybe that is actually your podcast. And then it shows up in the blog. Like, what are the ways that you can be really smart about the need that we have as speakers and entrepreneurs and coaches? We have to show up. We've got to be visible. We have to build that sense of authority and trust. Podcasting doesn't have to be the only thing, and it doesn't have to be a whole new thing. Like, how can it fit into the ecosystem that you already have going on? Yeah.

Exactly. Exactly.

Okay. So my question for you is really about what are the trends that you're seeing right now in podcasting, especially for people like us who are entrepreneurs and coaches, where podcasting is the way that we are really trying to build a connection and authority with our audience.

One of the bigger trends, it's probably my least favorite, is the trend toward— I'm an audio guy. I grew up singer-songwriter. I just love the connection that you get with audio. However, the numbers suggest that video is a thing. I don't think it's either or, I think it's both. So that's one big trend that I'm seeing. The other thing that I'm seeing is a lot of people are leveraging guesting on podcasts. And again, there are pros and cons to both, right? To hosting your own podcast. And to guesting on podcasts. I recommend you do both, right? For, for different reasons. So those are probably the two biggest trends. Of course, podcasting continues to grow, especially on the B2B side.

Yeah.

Businesses and brands are starting to, to catch on to the fact that this is, as we talked about earlier, it's a, a, a really, really solid content anchor that, to your point, you can write a blog based off of it. You can do social content based off the show. You can, if you're doing a good job on your keyword research, you build that into your, your show. And so it's, it's this really good engine that you can use for every other aspect of your business.

Right.

Um, I'll give you a good example. On my show Enterprise Now, and even on my podcast, my brand, I always ask my guests, if you were me, what would you be, what would you be doing? And I just leave it that open. And I cannot tell you the ideas, the perspectives that people have given me over the years. And so I sort I've kind of used my podcast as a little mini focus group to, to pick their brain, to get information and things that I want to know. Like I might ask a, a B2B guest, what's the biggest challenge that you're having in your, in your business? And they might say, like, you know, creating content is, is really challenging for us. We, we have a hard time knowing what to say and, uh, and how to say it and who to say it to. Mm-hmm. Well, podcast is probably a great idea for you because X, Y, Z, right? And so it's this cool way to kind of get information and intel too.

That is brilliant. I just wanna say that, like, there's, we think, we think we get into, we, people get into podcasting, they think it's because it's going to put them like, like, oh, now I'm gonna go viral and, you know, build my audience. And it might do that, and in a lot of ways it likely will do that, but there's all these surprise benefits to podcasting that nobody really talks about. Like, you— the— your audience in your— your guest is your focus group. Sorry, it took me a while to get there. I'm like, what am I saying? So distracted right now. Yes. So that's a beautiful surprise benefit. I think about, for me, and I, and I want speakers to know this, and I'm going to talk more about it next week, actually, at this time. So know that, everybody. But we, I use the podcast as a specific way to network. And when I'm at a conference and I absolutely loved a speaker. I will go up to them and say, that was amazing. I'd love for you to come on my show and talk about your speaking journey. And now I have a connection to somebody who has spoken at a conference that I would really like to speak at. And then now I'm one step closer to those relationships. So it is such a relationship building, relationship driven experience, whether you want It to be a, they're a focus group for you, a tiny little, you know, deep dive into what's going on with your audience. You're using it to intentionally connect with people. I just think it's, there's a lot of surprise benefits to it that make it worth the technological challenge and the time challenge that you've talked about.

Yeah, absolutely. And you guys can't see it, but behind me is a bookshelf. And I have a whole half of a row that's just from former guests that have sent me their books. And in those said books are all sorts of great information and knowledge and learning that I got just because they were a guest on my show.

Add that to the list of like beautiful things that come out of this experience that nobody, that's not necessarily why you're gonna get into it, but that's One of the major benefits that you will experience.

And Sally, the other thing that I always tell people is, especially for this audience, because you guys are speakers, you know, if you imagine that each one of your listeners is, it's just the same thing as a speaking engagement, right? So if you have 100 people that are listening every episode, that's 400 people a month that you're speaking to. And better, you're the only voice that they hear for 30 minutes. Or however long your podcast is. So that is, I don't know the number for you, but that is extremely valuable. It's just a matter of how you leverage it and what you do with that.

It's the free stages that we have access to that we should absolutely be stepping onto every day, whether it's social media or your podcast or you're, you know, going live on TikTok now is like the new crazy thing, right? It's free stages are there waiting for you, but you have to, you've gotta do it and step out on there. Okay, so I've got one more question for you and then we will do a This Moved Me moment, which is my favorite way to end the show. So what would you recommend for people is step one if they are thinking about a podcast?

I would say start doing some research on what you might talk about. When I, when I, when we started, I, I would go to a networking event and tell people that, you know, hey, I have a podcast. And about 70% of the people would say, what, what is that? What is a podcast? How do you, how do you listen to it? Yeah. Now when I go to a networking event and I say I have a podcast, 70% of the people say, oh yeah, me too. What's yours about? So I would say, because now you have to be different, you have to stand out and you have to have a different perspective or angle. So I would say spend some time figuring out what that is for you. Um, and really, um, drilling down to what your why is. As you said earlier, it's a lot of work. And in around episode 7 or 8, it starts to feel like a lot of work, right? Once the excitement wanes and everybody's liked and commented on your post that you made that you're launching it, it starts to feel like work. And so when you have a strong why, it'll carry you through that. So those would be my top 2 recommendations. Okay. The tech stuff you can figure out, you could, you know, take a course. I always advise that. YouTube is great, but when you learn things out of order, it sometimes ends up just taking you longer. Um, so I would buy a course. It doesn't have to be from, from us, but Somebody who knows the information that can walk you through it efficiently and in sequence, and then just dive in. You don't need a ton of money to get started. You can start with a $70 microphone from Amazon and your computer and a webcam. Doesn't take much, but spend a lot of time on the strategy part. Who are you going to be talking to? What's your unique proposition? How are you going to add value? What is your ideal listener? Those types of things. And then just do it. Don't analyze it or overanalyze it because it really is a simple thing, but simple doesn't mean easy.

Yeah.

Um, and so really just kind of stepping through it that way is what I would say.

I love that. And I just wanna add to encourage you to play, like be in the playground of it. Allow it to be messy and hard at first and allow yourself to learn publicly with it because you will learn, it'll keep changing. My podcast has, is on like the fourth big evolution of it. So that's not unusual. That's how it is, partly because creatively it needs to stay interesting and it needs to continue to evolve and work with the business that I have now versus the business that I had when I started. And so you're just gonna go for it and figure it out as you go along. And people appreciate your bravery and your courage. More than they look for it to be perfect. That's not really what anybody's looking for. So love that. Okay, let's do a quick "this moved me" moment. What is something that has moved you recently, Elsie? Something that just has kind of touched you in some way. It could be anything, a show you've watched recently, a talk you've seen, an image. A conversation?

The first thing that jumps out was I was, I spent a ton of time on LinkedIn and I was scrolling and there was a post about, and I don't wanna say too many of the details, but there was a post of a person who had gotten laid off of their job. And they were just sharing how they had a family member that they were taking care of that was sick. And they just basically had a lot of, lot going on in life. And then this layoff happens. It's like, okay, well, What do you do, right? If that's the only way that you're providing for your family and now that's, that's taken away from you. And the thing that stood out was her, was their outlook. You know, they weren't down, they weren't, um, depressed. They weren't saying, you know, woe is me. They were like, okay, well, you know, I guess this is an opportunity for, to learn something new or, and, and to grow. And so that to me, when you, when you have that type of mindset, that type of approach to life or business, you simply cannot lose. Like, you will win. And that's the thing I love seeing just because I've experienced in my own life that when you think that way, awesome things tend to happen. And so that really stood out because there are other posts that I've noticed on LinkedIn that weren't positive, that weren't, you know, progressive. And they, they were, uh, really struggling with, with the, the, the event that happened. And so that really stood out to me and it really encouraged me to, you know, in my, in my own life and in, in business to, to keep going despite the, uh, challenges.

Oh my gosh. Okay. Well, as you were talking, I started with one idea in mind and as we were talking, I was like, nope, I need to share. Slightly different one because there's just, I feel like my this movie moment is the things that are helping me shift out of the heaviness that I feel right now in life. Cuz there's just a lot that is weighty. There's a lot of hard stuff going on, whether, you know, you've been laid off and you're struggling to kind of find your way through. And I have a friend who just takes pictures of flowers all the time. She doesn't even know that this is like a, a thing for me. And she shares them on social media and it's that little like pause moment that I'm not very good at taking. I'm not very good at just like stopping and, you know, not to be cliché and dumb about it, but smelling the roses, but truly just pause and notice the beauty. And right now it's like lilac going— the lilacs are going crazy here in Minnesota. I know you're, you're Wisconsin, right? We're like neighbors. So the lilacs to me right now are just amazing and so beautiful and they smell so good. And the other day I was on my run and I just had to stop in front of this lilac bush because I I was just like, oh, I'm like drinking it in. And all I wanted to do is of course like steal a bunch of lilacs, but I didn't. I didn't. I'm gonna steal my friend Tiff's lilacs later. But it just, it's such a little thing. And if I can train myself, I'm working on it, but if I can train myself to have flowers be that signifier, that that moment of like, just pause and look and see, take it in, use your senses. It's so grounding and reminds us that it's not all horrible. These flowers, these flowers are here.

Like, mm-hmm.

So stop and smell the roses is really what I'm saying. Oh my gosh. Well, thank you for sharing your This Move Me moment, Elsie. Mindset is everything in this work, in this game that we are playing, cuz it's hard. It's a rollercoaster. And sometimes we never know what's gonna be the thing to help get us through to the next moment of joy and belief and excitement that what we're doing is worth it and it matters. But it is. And It does matter. So thank you so much for being here. I'm so glad to have you on the show.

No, it was, it was a blast. Anytime I have an opportunity to share, I'm always excited and really do appreciate it.

Of course. Of course. So tell everybody where they can connect with you. They see your name on the screen if they're watching it, but it's Elsie from podcast town, mayor of podcast town.

Yes. So the easiest way is to connect with me on LinkedIn. That's my main platform. Um, or you can shoot me an email at mayor@podcasttown.net.

Awesome. I hope, uh, I hope some people reach out to you because I so appreciate your spirit and the way in which you do work. I know you're very relationship-driven because that's how it feels on your podcast, is that it's really about a true connection., and I'm really excited that we're keeping it going.

Awesome. I'm glad you feel that because that is my intention and goal. So it's cool to hear you say that.

I feel it. I do. I do. There's a little magical thing happening on your show. So you're doing great. Well, I'm going to start speaking Elsie. That's my question.

I, it's not the main thing I do, but I am looking to do more. To get out here more and to talk to people because I kind of like to talk to people. Yeah.

Alright. Well, thank you for being here and thanks everybody for coming.