Episode 253: Nicole Grinnell: Building Influence and Connections through Strategic Podcast Guesting

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the do the Thing podcast. This is your host, Stacy. Lauren. Well, you guys just like all things with do the Thing, the universe just kind of opens up at the times when I wanted to. And right in the middle of me doing this audience accelerator program, I got connected to our next guest, who happens to have a business that helps people. Actually several businesses that helps people do all kinds of things. But the one that we're going to be specifically focusing on today is where she is able to talk about how podcast guesting is such an incredible way to grow your network and your business and your relationships. And so I'm so excited to dive in with her about what she's doing, and we'll see where this conversation goes. So I'm so excited to share my next guest, Nicole Grinnell, with you guys.

Hey, Nicole. Hi, Stacy. Thank you so much for having me today.

Yeah, I'm so glad that we got connected, and I'm so excited to have this conversation with you.

Absolutely.

I'd love to start off and just have you share about Mic'd up and basically how that started and what you're doing for people with that company.

Yeah. So, like most things that I've started in my life, it seems I've stumbled upon a need and it turned into a business, and Mic'd up was no different. So I have another business that focuses on staffing, and primarily, we support a lot of small business owners. And we. We were hearing over the last eight years or so, I don't have a way to get my word out there to have a presence to bring awareness to my product, my service, whatever that is. And a lot of people that are really in a space where they're like, I don't have 20, $30,000 ad spends. Right. But I know I need to get that out there. I need to get my story. And so we kind of fell into this service line of getting people on podcasts. This was about eight years ago when podcasting was still fairly new, and we were actually kind of growing up with that industry, and so we kind of had it as this underground service, and staffing didn't belong there. And honestly, about two years ago, at Thanksgiving, we were driving up to some family listening to How I built this, which is one of my favorite podcasts, and they were talking about having to differentiate your service lines and make sure that your message is clear. And I kept thinking about this service, and I was like, this is a great service, but it does not belong in staffing. And so we launched Mic'd Up. My daughter actually thought of the name. We bought the domain on our car ride up there and really gave it some legs and have been just thrilled to bring what we know to be a really valuable service and a great industry and a great connector to the masses and have a better education on that.

There are so many people that don't even realize that anyone can basically just be a podcast guest. It's such a great way to get started with podcasting because there's no extra time involved. It's just you reaching out and being able to have a conversation with someone and then you're able to do it with your company being more intentional and help people streamline that effort. So I'd love to just kind of hear more about. For someone that's brand new and hasn't done any podcasts, no guesting, what would be the benefit of them being able to do it?

Yeah. So what I found, and I can speak even just from my own experience as a business owner, is our time is very limited and we know that we need to get our message out there. We know that we need to begin to build that presence in our marketing and branding and social media and all that. But the reality is that's a lot of work, it's a lot of expense, it's a lot of time, it's a lot of effort. And so what I found was podcasting was really kind of a one stop shop. I was able to show up and for 30 minutes to an hour of my time, connect with a host, which inevitably led to referrals. The show was introducing me to people, they were promoting it on their platforms, they were providing the content for me. There was SEO being linked back to my website. I was repurposing that show for sales calls. I did, sending it out to newsletters. I mean, it was really like, is this the best kept secret out there? Like, this is a one stop. We're hitting all the targets that we want to hear for a very nominal cost and a very nominal time commitment as a business owner. Yeah, it's so true.

It opens up this door of what's going to happen next. Right. Because like you said, you meet the podcast host and then you're opened up now to their whole network. And then also whoever might know the podcast host that you're on and you get to say, oh, I was on this podcast, that opens it up even more. And then you could even use it in your own branding materials, marketing materials that you were on the podcast.

Yeah. And you know, the fringe benefit of all of that was that then people that were interested in our service coming to us. My sales cycle was that much shorter because they already had the buy in. Right. They under. I mean, people nowadays want to know who they're working with, the story behind them, the why behind it. So they knew all that and at that point they were coming to me just to work out the details of what they needed. So it also helped that sales cycle for my own business. And I'm just become a firm believer. It's actually my only marketing effort that I use.

So yeah, that's great. So it's almost like you took your staffing company customers and you were able to transition them as just another revenue stream over. And it was more specific through mic.

That yeah, I knew that we needed to put real processes behind it. We needed to invest in some technology. A big thing that sets us apart is our clients are getting a dedicated booking agent, they're doing discovery calls to really understand the audience. I always joke on sales calls. I don't want everyone winding up on Golden Retrievers Monthly. Right. Great dogs, Wonderful pets doesn't belong where you need to be. Right. So we spend a lot of time in our own technology investment and working with your agent to make sure that that time that you do invest is spent wisely and in an audience that is going to obviously give you that ROI that you're hoping for. So we've been able to, with having its own company really get some good results, even more than we were doing within my own staffing company as it was kind of a side hustle within the company.

So yeah, yeah, okay, let's talk first to the person that's like, okay, this sounds really great, but I've never been on a podcast. I don't even know what I would say. I don't even know what I would do. Let's talk to that person first. How do we get them to just take the first step?

So it's so funny because I am not a self promoting person. I actually kind of loathe it. I prefer my background is being an ea. I like being the person just sitting in the back, not being spoken to, getting things done. That is my true joy and happiness. So when I first started, I was like deer in the headlights. I mean it was like, who wants to hear from me? I have nothing to say. This is awful. But really what you realize is you are the only person for your business that can truly convey and educate others on your product or service. And so you have to get over that of being some type of self promotion or it's about me. It's not about you. If you believe that your business is providing something of value to a potential customer, you are that messenger. And so once you kind of get yourself in that headspace of realizing, oh, this isn't about me, we say a lot. This isn't a commercial, it's a connection. So it is truly just a conversation of outlying why this product or service is of value, why this is a need, and educating others on this opportunity. So that kind of helped me get myself, my ego, my whatever out of it. And no, this isn't about me. I really just want to inform because I believe I'm bringing something very valuable to my clients.

So you pretty much mentioned this part, but I want to be able to get at even more for people to hear. It is, why do you think podcast guesting is an unkept secret of passive networking?

Yeah. So just like you and I are meeting, Stacey, this would have never happened outside of this world of podcasting. And so for me, I just realized this is no different than me going to a chamber event, a networking group, where you are going in kind of sight unseen and hoping to make a connection. Now, the advantage to what we're doing is we have strategically chosen and found people that either have a connection to your industry or could need your service, are providing education in that. So we've kind of funneled it. We've all been to those networking things where you look around the room and going, I don't think this is my audience. Right. So we kind of funneled that down to bringing in your audience for listeners and also that host, which that is where we really teach our clients to make that connection, do follow ups, see where you can serve them. It was a good referral for you, Stacey. How can I help you in your world? What are you looking for right now? And building that relationship. And that is really how that network expands.

Yeah, that is the best kept secret. You just literally said it. It's so true. People are going to all these events and actually even adding to it too, which I love doing, is when you do go to a networking event and you meet people with the podcast, or if you have a podcast, that's my thing, is having a podcast. Then you're able to follow up with them about having them come on your podcast, which also really helps the relationship too.

Absolutely.

And then I'd love to ask you also how podcasting solves business problems for entrepreneurs with sales funnels and marketing and SEO.

Yeah. So I mean, just Like I kind of already mentioned earlier, it was kind of a one stop shop for that. So establishing yourself as a thought leader in your industry is really imperative, especially when you are maybe in a service line or a niche product. So really using podcasts to establish yourself as that, both through your story, education, how long you've been doing it, whatever that looks like, and then as you are connecting with people in real life or potential clients, they're able to view that and they're able to see. I mean, I can't tell you how many times I get off a sales call and I send them a podcast that I was on. Hey, I know you and I talked about how it's really hard to delegate. Take a listen to this show that I was on. We really dove into that and I feel like that'd be necessary. Well, that's giving me that credibility. Right. It's no longer just, I'm telling you that I am amazing at this or I know what I'm doing. You're not getting to hear from me the why and the how of our business being able to do this for you. So that's one aspect. And then obviously any type of cross collaboration is going to drive that SEO to your website. Taking all of that content, splicing it up for social media, which we are able to help our guests with as well. We use all of my shows and newsletters. So I mean it, truly, I could go on and on about the ways that you can repurpose this content and really expand your network and marketing in those efforts. Yeah.

And it's one hour of your time, like you said.

Yeah.

Talk about leverage. Right? You're taking that one hour and then you're able to send it out to anyone that has a problem with that topic that you just talked about. I do this all the time with people pleasing is something I hear a lot about. And I did an episode on people pleasing, so I'm able to reference that. And it's so good to be able to have something that you can easily send people when they're having a problem that you can solve without even having to talk to them. You just can send the podcast.

Absolutely. And they can listen at their own time and see the validity to what you have already spoken to them about.

And so let's say I'm ready to come join Mike Depp. What would that look like? What is that process like when someone's coming on your company?

Yeah. So one thing that was really important to me was creating price points and packages that were low barrier Entry for business owners and entrepreneurs. I mean I love marketing. It for sure has its place but it can be very expensive and not everyone is at that place. And I have such a heart for a small business that I wanted to create something that really allowed them to begin that process and hopefully build on from there and obviously continue with marketing efforts. So the way we handle new clients is we bring them in initially. We do a, we call it our Pitch Perfect kit and that's where we're designing our one sheet, our email intros and we're really diving in with the client and the agent on who that audience is and creating that list of who we are going to reach out to. Can be multiple audiences, multiple industries, but really understanding where they want to be in front of. So we do that and it's just a one time 795 fee and all of those items are our clients and those materials are for them. And then we go to our month to month and it's just 3.99amonth. Very digestible number for marketing efforts. And really what you're going to see is anywhere from two to five shows per month booked on that. So that's a good range of having a lot of content that is going to consistently drop. So I will tell you from my experience, I work in about six months stints and with those six months I'm going to have 18 months to two years of content dropping. So it is just a continual roi. I mean I can't tell you how many times I log on to LinkedIn and I see a show I did three months ago and it's dropped and now I'm getting all this free promotion and I'm getting clients from there. So it's almost like it's running in the background. And for your hour investment you are getting a lot of ROI in the marketing field.

So does that include also the repurposing of the content where you're able to pull the episode and be able to convert it into the clips?

Yeah. So you obviously all get that content post show. The show is going to always provide that for you as a client. We do have add on services where we can turn those into social media newsletters, all of that. But that content itself is provided to the client. Sometimes they have their own teams. But we do offer that service for individuals that are like hey you know what, every time a show drops I'd love for you to make that a newsletter, a story, a post, a LinkedIn article, whatever. And we can absolutely handle that.

I really think this is Huge. Because what you're doing is you're taking all the time away for people and then they're just having to show up pretty much, it sounds like.

Yeah. And that's what their booking agent will do. I mean even I obviously use my own services, so even how we got connected. My podcast agent is going to send me over a calendar invite. She's going to let me know what to come prepared for, what questions they're going to ask, if it's going to be video, audio only, whatever that looks like. So I literally just click on my link, I'm already prepared, I walk in and do this and I'm done. My team takes care of the rest of the. So it's really a great way to pack a lot into a small punch for a low price point.

And so for someone that's not ready yet and they're wanting to guest on podcasts and that's how they want to get started is a little bit slower. What would you suggest for them in terms of finding the right audience? The right podcast with the right audience.

Yeah. So I would say the biggest thing is don't think of yourself as pigeonholed. The point of podcasting is to really give a holistic view of who you are and your why. So for example, myself in staffing, I will go on being a woman led business, being a mom, entrepreneur, the cost of employees. I mean it is such a wide range and sometimes we see people come in and they're like, I'm in staffing. Get me on staffing podcasts. And it's like, no, no, no. Your audience lives all over. I did a podcast not that long ago that was just on giving back. Nothing to do with staffing, nothing to do with my story. And that connection has brought in over six figures in just two to three months of referrals. So be very open minded. Every conversation is a worthy conversation. And don't feel that you have to just stay right in your industry. Look at all aspects of your story and your why and who you are and what you bring to the table.

And how do you suggest someone be a good podcast guest?

Yeah. So obviously just like any type of building a relationship or networking. Right. It's not about you. Don't go in trying to sell your product for 999. This is not a commercial. Like we say, let the audience know who you are. Bring value. The goal of this is to educate. People are listening to podcasts because they want to learn, they want to understand, they want to be educated on. So go in with that mindset and then really work with your host to understand how you can bring a value to them and their listeners. So just like any relationship, the more you give, the more you get. So just make sure you are not going in with, I've got to walk away with getting my product out there in the price point. And this better lead to a hundred results. That's not what podcasting is.

And what are your thoughts with podcasting and accelerating your audience? Because there's this part of it where you're sharing audiences. Right. Because you're going in front of someone else's group. I'd love to just hear more of your thoughts there too.

Yeah. So accelerating the audience as in connecting or maybe explain that a little more.

Yeah, thanks for that question. It helps me.

Hear what I need to explain better. Yeah. So what are your thoughts with someone? Let's say they have a business and they're wanting to grow their client base or their audience, the people that are part of their following. How do you think podcast guesting helps with that?

Yeah, that's a big piece of what we do is really making sure we always say podcasts should not be one and done. There's a lot of follow up that comes from there. And even going in with our hosts and understanding who their audience is. A lot of times hosts will even be sending that out in their own newsletter communication. So making sure that you suggest the follows, really building on that, connecting with your host on all the platforms, obviously, and then really seeing who even their followers are and where those markets are. So I think building that audience and that network is huge. And so that's where we really see the value in podcasts. You're not just showing up and being done. That connection needs to go further and look for ways that you can connect with the host audience.

Okay, now let's talk for people that don't have a business and they're just wanting to do something new. I actually had this happen because I had mentioned I help people start podcasts, but I also have a singles community. And when I was trying to get people from there to start a podcast, some people went and they started their podcast, but other people weren't ready yet. And then I realized I give dares. And so one of the dares was to be a podcast guest. And so that when they took. Because I have a lot of people now in the group that have their own podcast. So yes, was less scary. And I just like to hear what do you think the benefits are for someone that just is doing it for a new experience and to get out of their comfort zone.

I mean one first and foremost that just getting out, even if you are at a new place or maybe you're wanting to hone an elevator pitch or hone something that you are thinking of getting out there or educating or training or whatever that looks like on. It's a great way to practice that messaging and hearing hosts ask you kind of on the spot questions and really being able to field that. So I think there's always value in practicing that skill. For sure.

Yeah. It's interesting that you just said that. This is coming alive for me right now. So one of the things in the audience accelerator program I'm having people do is go on podcasts and. And what just happened with us where I was explaining to you what my program was and you had a question about it. Right. That's a really good way. Like you said, honing your message, it helps me get clearer on what people need to understand in order for me to explain it better. And I think that was just such good evidence of why it's good to be able to constantly be talking to people about it because that's where it's going to get massaged and evolve and iterated over time.

Yeah. And it may seem clear as day to you, but when you go to say it to someone who's not familiar with your business, who hasn't eat, slept, breathed it for the whole time, they may be like, what? And they'll come back with questions that help you hone that messaging. Because if you can't make your message clear, that no one's going to connect with it.

Right.

And so I think it's a great way to practice that skill.

Okay, I'm gonna go off topic because we have to talk about. I mentioned the singles community. I've even been telling them it'd be good for dating for them to either have a podcast or go on podcast.

Yeah. That's so cool.

I love that.

I had not thought about that, but that's amazing.

Yeah. I just want people to expand their mind because there's so many different ways that once you get comfortable and you see that you're not going to die when you go on someone's podcast. I think there's so many different ways that you could take it.

Absolutely. It's just a great connector. I mean, it really is. And I'm just such an avid fan of it. No matter what that looks like or what your business is or service or product or just looking to expand your connections, be seen as a thought leader. I mean, there's just so many benefits to it.

Yeah. And you mentioned in the beginning how you fall into things, and I'd love to just go there for a minute because I think that's a big part of your do the thing story. Right. Is when you are hearing about something and you're seeing a need that's out there. It doesn't sound like you're having to go 500 steps ahead before you start. You're sort of starting, and then as you go along, you're kind of figuring out what's the best way. And I'd love to just kind of hear what's your strategy when you fall into something like this.

I would love to tell you there was a strategy.

That's what I want. That's perfect.

I'm like, I think I have a very high tolerance for failure. It does not scare me. I think you learn from so many things, and if you can really get yourself to a place of not having pride or ego, then failure is like, who cares? This is a great time. I learned so much from that. So I think that's a big piece. I do kind of have a real big figure it out mentality. And I think when you see a need. And I will tell you our, in both of my businesses, our service lines are ever evolving and ever changing based on where the market's going, what people are needing. I mean, we went through that with my staffing company during COVID post. Covid. I mean, we were constantly pivoting and moving. So just being really nimble and understanding that as that idea is coming to fruition, you may think you had the best business plan over here, but find your market is here. So just don't feel like, no, this was the idea. We have to stay with this idea. It's like, okay, no one wants that widget. They want this widget. Let's go with this widget. So just be flexible, be nimble, give yourself grace, don't be afraid to fail. Obviously, be calculated risks, of course, but just try and show up and work hard and serve, and it typically will either work out really great, which is awesome, or you will have learned a lot and that may lead you into another business.

How do you think you got your high tolerance to failure?

Well, first of all, I will caveat that with, I do have a husband who has an income, so I always give that caveat of, I'm not worried about feeding my family at the end of the day. Right. But I do think it's kind of just comes from. I don't have a lot of worry about what people think about me. Which I know that sounds awful, but I think when I see really people paralyzed by it, it's ultimately a fear of, what if I fail? What if I'm not successful? What if I look dumb? What if I can't do this? And when you kind of toss that all out and go, but what if I tried it and what if it worked out great? And what if I found awesome people along the way to help me with this? It's a very different mentality and vision that you see for your company. And so I think that's kind of innate in me in general, 100%, my team. I mean, I think that's the biggest thing is being able to locate talent and go, you are really good at this. I'm going to put you in this place. I'm going to bring in this and be able to scale that way. But I would just say, honestly, get over yourself. Try it. No one cares. Any entrepreneur with their salt would respect people for trying and failing more than the guy who has the perfect business plan that never got off the couch. Right? So just believe in yourself. Know that you're going to work hard and take calculated risks.

And I'm just imagining all of the, I want to say, pain that you had to go through through Covid, having a staffing company. Actually, it's funny, we talked earlier about how we have a lot of parallels. I didn't even tell you I used to own a staffing company, so. Oh, no, it's literally the same line. It's really funny. And I'm remembering cause I had it during COVID But anyway, yeah, doing that during COVID and then mic'd up, starting when podcasting was still kind of just coming out and all the things you're doing, how do you overcome just that hard stuff? How do you get yourself through it?

I mean, I love working. I really do. I mean, I love figuring out solutions. I just love figuring it out for people. I love serving people. I love being able to just come with a problem and figuring out a way that we're going to make this work. So I don't know, I just have a. I guess maybe a high tolerance for it. I mean, of course there's bad days, but I think it's just really knowing your why and why you want to serve and why you believe in your company or your product and really just figuring out a way to help your customers in that way. So Covid, for an example, we do a lot of fractional work and it was actually a weird time for us because we got to put our business model to the test and we were seeing that our clients were actually keeping us but letting go of full time employees because they were already on a fractional remote model. So our business actually highly excelled during COVID But then post Covid, we saw, oh wait, now we're open back up again. I need help getting people in person. And that's where we kind of swung and shifted towards finding staff that could come in house. So it's just a constant listening to your clients. What do they need, what's coming down the market, what are trends, what do team members need? And really just kind of navigating those waters for all parties.

And what kind of employees do you staff?

So we do everything. Girl, we're coast to coast. My personal philosophy is recruiting is recruiting. And if we have a good, accurate job description and an understanding of a client and their needs, we can recruit it.

And are they working for you under your payroll or is it direct placement?

So we have all different services lines, so we do fractional, which is where we're having contractors work in a fractional basis for our clients. And then we do in house, where we're doing just traditional direct hire staffing. We also work as outsourced recruiters for larger HR companies where they maybe have HR professionals, but they need recruiters. So any type of talent that somebody needs, we're able to do that.

You have a lot of things going on. I'd love to hear how do you handle all the moving parts in your life?

I for sure like a life that has a million miles a minute. I mean, that's what I thrive off of. I would say all of my family, we're kind of all or nothing. So I'm either going to be a thousand miles an hour or I'm asleep. So that's just kind of my mo So I like having a lot of projects. I have an amazing team for all of my companies, so that's what keep things running. So it allows me to stay in this space of being a visionary, hearing what the market's bringing, saying, hey guys, we're going to implement this and they go and run with it. So, I mean, I'm nothing without my team for sure. But I do, I like being able to think and create and find solutions for people and then build that.

And what would be your biggest piece of advice for people on doing the thing?

Ooh, just do it. I mean, if I could have started way earlier. I would have. I mean, don't think it has to be perfect. Believe in yourself. Go with your gut, Work hard. All those trendy things are really. They're true. They really are true. Seek counsel for sure. Get a good mentor. Listen to others advice, listen to your clients. Don't be prideful and show up and work hard every day and you'll be successful.

And please share with everyone how they can get connected with you. I feel like we should talk about both companies because it just feels like if they're podcast guesting then you guys, probably many of you have your own business where you're needing help too.

Yeah. So our staffing company is called Bosun Solutions, which is B O s u n. It's just bosensolutions.com and then podcast is miked up booking. So M I c d up booking.com.

Thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate Stacey.

I really enjoyed it. And who knew our lives were so parallel.

And for the listeners, do the thing. Don't wait for opportunity, create it.