Feed Your Audience With Tracy Hazzard Moms With Dreams Show With Erica Blocker

You're listening to the Moms with Dreams podcast, episode number 166.

Hello. Hello. Welcome back to the Moms with Dreams podcast. I am your host and. And I'm so excited to be here. I'm Erica Blocker, the creator of this podcast. And I do this because I absolutely love empowering and inspiring moms to follow their dreams without feeling guilty or selfish. And why do I love doing this so much? Well, because that's my story. I am a mother of four, and I've always had a big vision and big dreams, but it's always been a challenge for me raising four children, especially after going through a really bad divorce and becoming a single mom.

So.

So I realized that, you know, I wasn't alone in my struggle. Regardless of if being a married woman or a divorced woman or a single woman with children, we all still have those same inner struggles. And so that's why I created this show. It's been five years now since I've been doing this podcast, and that, to me, is kind of surreal. But, you know, it is what it is. Time doesn't stand still for any of us, right? And here I am five years later, still rocking with you here on the Moms with Dream show and loving every minute of it. So today I have the pleasure of introducing you to Tracy Hazzard. And Tracy Hazzard is one of those women who, you know, you can't ever imagine her not having the right answer or not having what you need when you go to her for help. And what she is. I mean, Tracy is an authority in the podcasting space. She is. Well, actually she's an authority magazine and Ink columnist and. And the co host of the top ranked podcasts feed. You'd brand one of CIO's top 26 entrepreneur podcasts, product launch hazards for inventors and e sellers. And she's also been featured as an exclusive live podcast at SXSW and the Blockchain Venturing Exploring podcast the new trust economy. With a constant stream of content and products from her brandcasters authority platform potatoes, Tracy influences and casts branded content and $2 billion worth of products and innovation around the world. So Tracy's amazing and you're going to hear from her in a few minutes. But I also want you to listen. In addition to her expertise and the things that she's going to share with you, I want you to listen to her from a mom's perspective, too, and from a woman's perspective, and listen for what you can pick up and apply to your particular Life and your story, even if it doesn't sound like Tracy's story or you're not doing the same thing that Tracy's doing, or have no aspiration to do what Tracy's doing, you still will pick up something here from our conversation. I know that you will. So this is really good. Especially if you are looking to become a podcaster or are a new podcaster. Tracy shares lots of good information about connecting with your listeners, creating stuff of high value, you know, content, whether that's content shows, whatever you're doing in the podcasting space. So this is really good. I'm not going to give it away. So without any further ado, here is my interview with Tracee Hazard.

Well, I'm so excited to bring you my guest today. This is like one of those interviews where we've been like pushing it back, had to reschedule a couple times, and I was just so excited to finally have Mrs. Tracy Hazard with us. So let's welcome Tracy to the show. Welcome to Moms of Dreams.

Oh, thank you for having me. I'm so excited we get to talk again because I loved interviewing you.

Yes, that was a blast. And oh my gosh, I forgot about that almost.

Yeah, it was quite. It was like three, four months ago, so. It was a while ago.

I know. It was warm. See, here in New Jersey, it's freezing right now, so like, summer seems so long ago at this point.

That's right. Well, we get to catch up again. Yay.

I'm excited. So we're going to talk about some great stuff tonight. Flipping it around a little bit. When we talked, it was all about me. Now tonight, it's all about you, Mrs. Hazard.

Woo hoo.

And I just got finished sharing the brilliant things that you're doing in the world, Tracy, and how you're making a difference. I'd love for you to share before we jump into the goody good stuff, because I have lots of good things that I want to talk with you about today. I'd love for you to share. How did you get started as a podcasting? I'll call you a podcasting marketing mogul and like, mega entrepreneur. How did you get into this genre of.

Well, I'll accept that because that's such a wonderful moniker.

I love it.

But no, you know, this is. The thing is like, you know, it's. As with most people, podcasting is relatively new in the scope of things. Marketing is not, but podcasting is. I have been working in design, development, products, and marketing for 27 years. So for a really long time. And most of that is spent on understanding consumer behavior, retail, understanding the needs of, you know, who's ever going to consume it. It might be in a business to business or a business to consumer situation. So understanding the heads of where they are. So it wasn't all that, you know, difficult for me to start thinking about. My customers are podcasters and their customers are podcast listeners. So we have to put our minds in the mindset of that. And, and when you are centric around your consumer or your customer, however you want to look at it, when you're centric around that, everything just really flows easily. So five years ago, I started my first podcast trying to be focused on, you know, serving my community and fast forward to it. Everyone who was a podcaster begged me to do the same for them. And that's how I have this business monetized right now. And, you know, we love what we do, but at the end of the day, it's all about being really focused on who your client is.

That makes so much sense. And I think that when we take that approach, no matter what you're doing right, if you are focused on your consumers needs, what they want, why they're coming to you, then you can really serve them in a way that no one else can, right?

Absolutely. And, you know, it's also not just understanding it from a what do I bring them from as solutions, but why are they even looking for things? Why are they out there looking for information? You know, what are the moms with dreams listening to you for? And as I think about that, then I think about how I can serve as the best representative and bringing that forth to you. Because, you know, in a way, you're my client here because I'm your guest, right? And so we always, if I always think about that and put myself in that situation, you're actually really always in a service mindset first.

I agree. And that's where I try to be all the time. I think as moms, it's easy for us to be in a service mindset because we're always used to giving, serving, and taking care of other people. So that's a great thing that you brought that up, Tracy. And so how do you get like, how does someone work with you? I know that you do a lot of the marketing behind the scenes and pretty much allow or give podcasts the visibility that they need in the marketplace across all types of platforms. So how does that work?

So, you know, what we really do here is we're the largest post production house, so in other words, you record, podcasters record, videocasters record, and we take it from there all the way through to syndication and share graphics and things like that. But at the end of the day, you still have to do the other side of the marketing, right? You have to connect with your listeners via social media or in whatever communities you choose to be your outreach and we don't. I refused to step into that space, even though many of our clients have begged us to share to social media for them. Because you have to be in connection with your community. If you're not, your content's not going to be any good. You're not going to be a great host. I don't want passive podcasters. I want people in there who are building their businesses and creating deeper relationships and connections because that's why they'll stay podcasting, it's why their communities will grow, it's why their listeners are loving it and why they have higher downloads. So that's the situation as I'm always looking at what are my services and where can we provide the best value systems? Just create like all the headache of stuff you don't want to do or you don't want to have deep knowledge in because it's not important to what you do as a living and what you want to give as to your community so that you can stay in that place of giving, serving, creating value and not in the doing of things.

That's really neat. As you were talking, I'm thinking about how you're doing exactly what you love, right? You love the marketing and the positioning and all that other stuff that you've had. You've had so many years experience. And I'm just listening like, wow, that's so cool. Because while you're doing something that you love and you're an expert in, you're taking that off of someone else's plate. It's like the roles are totally reversed. Like, that's something that I don't love, right?

I just, I joke with people that I'm like, I'm your how to girl, right? Like, I've always figured out how to make something, how to do something, you know, how to get it done, how to do it the most efficient way. I add systems and processes to things all the time, but I also add strategy and vision that's on the front end of something. And we do that here because if you don't have a great strategy for your show or a great strategy for your company or your programs or your marketing, the strategy is what will hold you back, right? If you aren't thinking about how am I reaching them and is it working? You should always be refining a strategy in a feedback loop. We used to do that with products. So I used to make products that you buy every day. I guarantee you, all of you moms out listening out there have bought some of your products. Because I've designed baby products, kid products, furniture products, like stuff that you bought at Costco, Walmart, Target. I was a ghost designer. I even did some design work for Martha Stewart. So thinking about all of that, you probably bought my stuff. But if I didn't create a feedback loop by how, you know, was it selling? Were people enjoying it? Were they commenting, were they leaving great reviews? If I didn't pay attention to that, my next product wouldn't be any good. My revisions to those products wouldn't be any good. And so we have to create a system by which you have a strategy all the way through the feedback loop. And you should be on both ends of those. But the stuff in the middle, that's messy. And sometimes you're not the best person to do that. And that's where we get caught up. A lot of us solopreneurs, right, who are doing everything ourselves, you know, moms with side businesses, we think, wow, we're really capable of doing stuff. But we're also really busy, so maybe we shouldn't.

Right? Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do it.

That's right.

I love that. And you're so right. It's important to get the feedback from our listeners and to find out if what we're doing and what we're creating is actually something they want and if it's impacting their lives in the way that we're hoping.

So there's this term that they call it in software and tech and you've probably heard it called minimum viable product, right? You put out an mvp, a minimum viable product. And I hate that term. I absolutely hate it. Because what you're missing in there is we shouldn't just make the like easiest thing to do, so we can just get it out on the market. It should be the maximum valuable thing. So what is the most valuable item? What is the most valuable feature? What is the most valuable thing that I can add because of my expertise, my relevance, my experience, what I'm capable of to whoever's listening, buying, you know, consuming in some way, shape or form. Where is that connection? Because that's where we should spend our focus and our time first.

I agree. So as A new podcaster or someone who's aspiring to start a podcast, would you encourage them to start there? Like, think about what is the most value I can bring, or is that tied into their message? Like, how would you communicate that to someone who's just on the verge of getting started?

So I have this exercise I make my clients go through, and I think it's a great exercise to do for anyone. So the exercise goes simply like this. Imagine you already had a show. Doesn't matter what it's called, its name, or anything like that, but imagine you already have it, and you're going to do your very first intro episode, and the first thing you should do is you should basically focus on your audience. So who's out there listening to them? Who are you speaking to? Who does that? What are their needs? What are their aspirations? Where are they right now? And so you just start answering that question, sort of like, who are they and what do they need? What do they want? What do they desire? And that's where you spent, like, five minutes just talking to yourself about that. Like, you know, I imagine that my audience is doing this, this, this, and this, and they're thinking about that, and they're struggling with this, and, you know, maybe they're moms and they've got three kids at home, and. And they're trying to figure out how to balance time and how to also be true to who they are, right? And so you start thinking about that, and. And that's where you put yourself in their mindset first rather than your mindset. And then secondly, now you go in and you say, okay, now I know who I am and what I've brought to it. And, you know, I've raised three daughters, and one of them is my partner in my business, you know, and what can I add to the viewpoint that others don't have? And why am I uniquely suited to bring this show, this business, this message to the world? Why am I good at this? And why am I the best suited for creating this link between those people I talked about at the beginning, the listeners, and what the show is going to be about? And then the last part is you should always visualize what your future looks like, right? So you should visualize. And in this case, imagine what it sounds like, right? So what does my show sound like? What does it feel like? Do I have segments or do I have great guests? Who are they? And, you know, because that helps you feel whether or not this fits you. And then when you listen Back to Go, that sounds like a great Show. I would listen to that show. That's the right show for me. And then check it out with one of your target audience, one of the people you think this would be my perfect person. If this person listened to my show, I know I did it right. Go ask them to listen to it. You've got to know someone who's the right kind of person.

I love that, Tracy. It's so good, so juicy. You just gave us four simple steps. But I wanted to circle back to the one where you talked about knowing who you are and thinking, how can you bring or how can you share the value that you inherently know that you bring? How do you bring that to your show or make it so that people can receive that value? And I know that often as women, as moms, we tend to minimize our gifts, our skills, our talents, and sometimes we forget how great we are. So when there's. Have you ever come across that with your clients? And I know that that is a common obstacle that many of my listeners face is not feeling like they're good enough or they're ready to do this. What would you say to encourage them if they're struggling with the. Identifying their greatness?

So I'm a big fan of diving in and doing things, but I'm also a big fan of making sure that it's right fit for you. So I love ways. It's one of the main reasons I started podcasting to begin with, because it was simple and easy for me to access the technology and try it. Right. It wasn't a lot. I didn't risk a lot doing it. And, you know, Facebook Live is a great way to do that.

Right?

You do a Facebook Live, it lives for a very short period of time. Some people watch it, some people don't. You get some feedback. Right? So finding a place at which you can experiment and feel like, does this feel comfortable for me? And get yourself confident in it. So when I first started doing my podcast, I didn't know if I would be great at interviewing people. That's where I thought, you know, I know. I think I ask good questions, but I've not done this formally. I'm not trained to be a broadcaster. Right. So am I going to be good at that? And so having some practice getting it in and just doing it was the best thing for me, because what I discovered is one of my superpowers was asking good questions. And it became part of why I love the show so much, because it energized me. So I think you'd be surprised at where you sit when you just put yourself out there and you go try these things. We get caught up in this idea and I say women are, I'm going to say, more likely for this to happen than men in my experience, is that we're overqualified by the time we reach out and we start doing something. We have more degrees, we have more experiences under our belts. We've waited lot longer to get started, and we put ourselves at a disadvantage. So while I'm not a proponent of you going out there with no experience saying, hey, I'm a life coach, you know, today, and I've got no background in psychology, no background in anything, that doesn't mean that you can't add value. But let's maybe step into some of these things, but let's try them. Let's see if this really is right for you and for your potential clients. Are you really adding value and build a really simple, easy way for you to not only get feedback but get confident?

So good. Thank you, Tracy. That was great. And I know that that really helped someone who's been struggling with that. So I really, really appreciate that response. And I wanted to also talk with you about the fact that you raised three daughters and you mentioned that one of them is your business partner.

So I haven't raised them all. I'm still raising two of them. So let's clarify.

Right. Yeah. You're raising three daughters and you're also simultaneously running a business and you're a wife and you have so many things going on. So let's talk about that portion because that is the juiciness as well. How did you do all of that?

Well, so I've been married to my. By the time this airs, it'll be 28 years. Married to my husband, who is my business partner, and we've worked on and off together pretty much almost our entire marriage. And most people can't fathom that. And, you know, I was asked one time on stage, well, how do you work with your husband every day? How do you not get in each other's way? How do you stay in your own? Lane was the way it was worded to me. And I got kind of annoyed. And I was like, you wouldn't be asking this to my husband. Said it's a really sexist way to look at this. I said, first off, does it even matter what lane we're in? And so I look at it, and we've always looked at it. We have completely different jobs. We're running business together. Yes, in our vision, but we each run it in a completely different way. He's sales and technology and I am vision and team building and out there and marketing and outreach.

Right.

So we have very different jobs. So we don't actually overlap for the most day. Most of the day. We spend our entire day on phone calls. And then at night we go, who'd you talk to today? Like, we finally catch up with each other and then we're in the same office. So, you know, it's a really different process. But what we also do is I also look at it as like our entire family, our marriage, all of that runs in a situation I like to look at as harmony. We don't run in balance because balance is completely unattainable. It's not sustainable. We can't stand on one foot for a really long time. Balance in a yoga pose, whatever it might be, right? We can't do that forever, but we can take the high road, take the low notes, right? High notes, low notes. We can do all of that and we each can take over. And when someone has a bad day, the other one's taking up. And last night I was exhausted and my husband put the kids to bed, even though that's normally my thing. And he gave me just enough breather for me to go, oh gosh, I can relax now. I can take a load off. Right? And so we have to have that balance for ourselves so that we can function. And we need to do that as a team, as a group. So we do that as a family here. So let me touch quickly on my kids. So I have 5, 10 and 24. Those are the ages of my girls. And then we have a puppy who's just turning a year old and she's a girl too. So we have all girls here. And there's a very different mentality to our household because we're entrepreneurs as a whole family and they're all involved in the process. That's how they see it. When my, my 10 year old a couple of years ago, she was, the local Staples store was closing and so she, we walked out of there after buying something. I said, oh, that's probably last time. We'll walk, we'll go into the store again because they're closing. And she says to me, where will all the people sleep? And I looked at her and I was like, what do you mean, where will all the people sleep? They're going to go home. And she says, you mean they don't live upstairs? And I said, no, they don't. That's just at Our house.

Our office is in our home. Right. You know, so I was like, that's just. At our house. I was like, not everybody's business is like that. And so you don't realize, but you set a different tone, a different normal when you have that kind of entrepreneurial or, you know, hey, I'm more than just a mom. I'm more than just a wife. I'm all of these things together, and we're all in it together.

That's awesome.

So when you say you're all in it together, do all of your children work in some aspect of the business or do they just kind of, like, help out or when you, you know, you know, you guys are doing something and need some additional help. How does that work?

So at times they, you know, occasionally there's like, envelope stuffing and some fun stuff that they can do. But no, for them. I mean, we do. We don't put our children to work here. Although I have a. So our very first business that we did together was stylus pens for handheld computers. I'm dating myself way back to the late 90s. And my daughter, who is now our operations officer for our company here, the older one, she was five at the time then. And we would be assembling stylus pens to get them out to customers in the early days. And she was like a line manager, so she was set up to be an operations manager from the day she was born, basically. And she would go in and she would tell people, you're assembling them wrong. You should do it in this order. Put the ink in, then put this in, and then put it in the package. And she would tell, at 5 years old, tell them all what to do. We would have these assembly parties with our family and friends and pay them all with dinner just so we could get our early production done. And so, you know, that kind of thing, I look at that and I go, they learn great skills by just being around. They learn ways to do things. They may not have done the actual work yet, but, you know, if they want to, they can.

And they're also exposed to the entrepreneurial mindset at a young age, which many children don't have that experience because we're taught to go to school, get a good education, get a job, work for someone else, build someone else's dreams. And I love that your girls are in it. Like, they're in.

That's right. They're in it.

They're so entrenched with, you know, they're right there with you, and they see the Value of working for yourself and building your own dreams. I think that's pretty awesome.

Well, we make them feel a part of it, too. So, you know, for instance, Tom and I both went to the she podcast event where you were at as well. And, you know, we both went there. And we normally don't always travel together. We try to travel separate. But when there's a big event or something really important, then we will go on occasion. And so that means the girls are at home, that they're being babysat by their older sister, you know, and they don't love it, but we say, hey, look, this is what our business needs for us to do. And we need to do this to keep our business growing, which you're. You need to be a willing participant in and help us out by being really good, by helping out, by making sure everybody gets their lunches made, make sure you get to school on time, all of those things. That's your job here. That's your role. And so making them feel empowered and a part of the process that they're participating in our success is really important, too.

So do you think that that plays a part and helps you in a way? Because a lot of moms experience mom guilt when they feel like their business is taking away time from the kids and vice versa. But it sounds like you guys have a nice system going where it's a nice little intertwining of family and business. So do you feel like that helps you not feel guilty because you're still around your kids and they're still involved in some respect?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think that mom guilt is our own thing. Right. It's not a. I mean, don't get me wrong, my kids occasionally needle me, like, you missed that. You know, you missed out on my singing thing, you know, and it happens. It does happen. But, you know, so there's always a little bit of that, but you can let it get to you, or you can say, you know what? But I was there for these five other things that moms who go to a day job would not have been able to do. So, you know, I look at that overall and say, you know what? It all evens out in the end. And I also have a confidence level because I raised one already all the way to 24. Right. That there is a confidence level, that there was no permanent scarring. She turned out pretty great. So, you know, there's a confidence level in that when. I guess it's harder when you're all in the. In the middle of all the Young ones. Right. And so. But mom guilt for me is. It's self imposed. And so it requires you to say, you know what, that just. I'm being unreasonable to myself. I'm not supermom. I'm not superwoman. I can only do what I can, and I show up for the really important things that are important to both me and to them. And when I can't, I make sure that I have a really great proxy and my mom or my dad goes. So they have their grandparents there or, you know, my husband's there. Right. We figure out a way to make it work.

Right.

And then the first thing I do is call them up and say, how'd it go? Right. So they know that there's still the attention. But feeling guilt is. You're guilting yourself in that. And I just don't believe in that. It's something that I, you know, I am not going to shut down who I am because I don't think that's the best representation for my kids. It's not that they're not important to me. They're extremely important. And everything that they do, I'm super proud of and interested in. But that doesn't mean that that requires me to sacrifice everything of who I am and what I do, because I think I'm making the world a better place so that people can have their podcasts out there, then can help them be better moms than they had for themselves or that, you know, better be better parents. And there's podcasts out there because I made that happen, because I made a system for that. So more people are being impacted and helped. And that to me is a power. Right. So I live in that, that the impact, the ripples, all of those things are just as important because that makes the world a better place around my girls, too.

Absolutely. And it gives them a great example of what we can do as women and moms. And like, the sky is, you know, I wouldn't even say the sky is the limit. I feel like there is no limit. And like you said, I feel that.

Yeah, Unlimited. Yeah. Limitless. I love that idea. But, you know, the other thing is that, look, my mom was a stay at home mom and I loved her. I appreciate her. She's amazing. She's always there for my girls and everything. But I'm watching the success that she's having in her and I would say in her retirement, right? As she's got grandkids and everything, and she's become this amazing artist and she's starting to show in galleries. And I think, wow, what a shame that didn't happen sooner. What a shame for the world they didn't get to see her beautiful art sooner. And I know she doesn't have any regret, and that's wonderful, but I do for her. I wish that she hadn't felt that it was totally necessary to be around for me completely, that she could have taken on some of her own things earlier.

I love that that is the thread, that is the theme, that is the underlying message of this podcast, that it's okay to have vision, dreams, goals, and all those things, and you can still be a great mom without having to sacrifice your family. And I love that it's great for you and your girls to see both sides of it, right? So they get to see grandma now doing her thing and realizing at the end of the day, I believe that we were born with gifts, talents, unique things that only we have. And it's our right as human beings to express those things, to bring those things to life, to share them with the world. And I agree with you, Tracy, that we shouldn't feel that it's one or the other, and it's okay to have both and not to feel like something is more important than the other, because they're all important to us, our family, our business.

They're very important. But, you know, I get it that it's hard to balance all of it and that. And that's why I move out of that balanced mindset and say, you know what? It's not just within me to have to do this. It's within my entire community. It's in with my family, my bigger family, not just the immediate one, my grandparents included, you know, there's no reason to think that they're more than willing. Anytime I call up and say, hey, I can't be there for something, can you show up? And they say 99% of the time they're like, absolutely, we're there. And so they're just waiting for you to ask.

And getting the support that you need is so critical, especially when you have children. There's. It's impossible to do everything on your own and not get burned out and not feel resentment. And all the things that we tend to do when we try to be superwomen.

That's right, absolutely. And, you know, the thing is that I want to also have the ability to not be overwhelmed by my day to day. Right. So I want to make sure that, you know, at night when it's bedtime and I'm fresh and I'm able to look at them and go, what'd you do today? And how's your day? And start to see these little wonderful personalities emerging. That I can encourage it right, that I'm sitting there in the moment of, you've got my attention and I'm here for you. I want that to be the case rather than it all feeling, like, overwhelming and too much for one person to take. Not that that doesn't happen on occasion to everyone. It does, but especially as we get towards the holidays and other things like that. But if I can sit in this place where this is my moment with them, that's my time. They're the focus. They feel that. And that's way more important at the end of the day than the amount of time. It's that quality of that time.

Absolutely. I so agree with you. And so, Tracy, I know that you have, in addition to what you're currently doing, you have some other projects on the horizon. Tell us what we can look forward to from you very soon.

So I'm excited. We've got a new microphone coming out in the future. Like that's coming out in 2020. So probably by the time this airs, it'll. It'll be out, or at least pretty close to out and exciting because it's going to help live streamers and YouTubers and those doing video because there's a lot more of that going on. So, you know, now I'm integrating my product world with my podcast world, and I love that. That's been exciting, fun for me. I mean, I'm just looking to really hit all of 2020 and moving into 2021 with just massive expansion as much as we can to growing what we're doing in podcasting, getting it out there. Because what I'm hearing back and what I'm excited about is that when we grow and our clients grow, their businesses grow, and that has just this amazing impact and ripples that are going through it of success. And that's what I want. I want to keep people going.

Yes.

And it has to feel good to.

Know that you are part of that ripple. Like, you can see your place in it where it's like I. Like you said earlier, you did that you were able to create those things and make that change in the world. And it's such an amazing. It's really a great feeling to know that you contributed to the value or changing someone's life or just making a difference in the way that we do.

Yeah. We think of things so transactionally a lot of times, and Instead, if we pull back and we start to think of things on a how does this feel? How does this. How is this moving? Do I see the vision for it? Am I making progress towards that vision and that and living in that energy of it, that's where I want to be. Because it's much more rewarding in the end of the day than if I just look at the transactional value of something.

Agreed. So agreed. So we are at the end of our time today. Tracy, I have truly loved talking with you and I love your energy. You got me excited about all the things that you're doing. So thank you for being here. Before we wrap up, I'd love for you to share with our listeners where they can find you online.

So you can of course find my business and me on potaties and that's monetize with POD at the beginning and also feed your brand. So that's our podcast for podcasters. So that's where I interview great podcasters like Eric out here. That's how we actually met the first time. And so feed your brand. And we have a specific focus on that center of influence and those turn into authority magazine articles. So it's FeedYourBrand Co is where you.

Can find that awesome stuff. And I'll make sure that I have Tracy's information in the show notes for today's episode. In case you're driving or at the gym and you just can't jot that down, you can always pop on over and click on her links to go check her out. She's awesome. So I encourage you, if you're looking to step your podcast up or you're just getting started in the podcast world, whatever, wherever you are in the podcasting space, I'm sure that Tracy can help you get to the next level. So I encourage you to definitely reach out to her. And lastly, Tracy, we always like to wrap up the show by asking my guests, what are your words of wisdom that you'd like to leave with our listeners with today?

So this is something that my, that I've used again and again. We always say here, hope is not a plan. So we don't look for just having vision and hope. Like, I hope I can do that someday. Like I wish I could do that someday. Hope is not a plan. You have to take action to that. And when you put action to it, it doesn't have to be massive action. It can just be a little action. I'm going to step out and I'm going to interview one person. I'm Going to ask some questions. I'm going to do a Facebook Live today, whatever that is. Take that action. Move towards those dreams that you have. Paint a picture, go, you know, put it in a gallery. Go try some of those things.

I love that. Take a little action.

Yeah.

Doesn't have to be a grand step. You don't have to jump off the ledge, but, you know, just do do something in that direction. And I think the more we do those, take those small steps, the more confident we gain and also the clearer their vision becomes. Because now we can actually see that it's right here. Like, the whole time it was right in front of me, and all I had to do was take that step.

Well, absolutely. Because if we just talk a good game, right, people don't take us as seriously around it, but the minute we take a step towards something and other people see it, they'd say, oh, I have somebody to introduce you to, or, oh, my friend owns a gallery, or, you know, whatever that might be.

Right.

They start seeing something and they step up to help. Like the universe steps up to it in front of you.

Absolutely. I love it. Such great stuff, such great wisdom, and I love the insight that you shared. Tracy, thank you so much for being a guest here on the Moms with Dreams show. We enjoyed you, and I want to congratulate you on all of your success. Continue to do great work and make a difference in the world.

Oh, thank you, Erica. And thank you for all you bring to Moms with Dreams.

So did you enjoy that conversation I had with Mrs. Hazzard? Isn't she awesome? I love when she said that when you are centric around your customers or consumers, everything flows really easily. That was one of my favorite quotes. And I also loved when she talked about you have to be in connection with your community. If you're not, your content's not going to be any good. And also how we should focus on the most valuable things versus trying to just get something out there to grab someone's attention. Putting out value is always going to help your brand, your business grow, no matter what, because people are going to know that when you put something out, it's worth it, it's helpful. It's solving problems. It's adding value to their lives in some way, maybe to their businesses, their dreams and goals. And it's just. It's an important thing to remember. It's so easy to get caught up in, like, the shiny objects of business building and what everyone's doing. But when you dial back to the basics and the foundation of what successful businesses are doing. Tracy talked a lot about that today with you, so I hope you grabbed some golden nuggets. I hope you heard something that inspired you, that encouraged you, that maybe gave you that answer to the problem you've been struggling with. And if you feel like you know what, I really love Tracy. I would like to connect with her. Feel free to click on the links below the show notes for today's episode. And if you're listening from another platform other than the website that is@ericablocker.com 166 for Tracy Hazard's interview today on the show. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you for being a part of this five year journey with me. We are rocking and rolling. I go through my ups and downs being a podcaster. It's not always fun and glamorous. It's not always easy, but I do love it. It's become a part of me. And I want to thank you for sharing this experience, helping me make it what it is. Because without you, I would have no podcast. And I want you to know that I truly appreciate your support and being here with me as I grow through this. Whatever I'm growing through, right? My ups and downs, my obstacles, the good times, the fun times and all that in between. All right. So I hope that you are taking good care of yourself, that you are well, that your family is safe and well. And I will be back with you soon. Until then, reclaim your, your dream, do what you love and make a difference. Take care.