Fire Up Your Podcast Interview! See How To Let More Unique Influence And Passion Glow With Connie Benjamin Of My Fire Within Radio (Podfaded)

Wish you were one of those influencers with raving fans who binge on your every word, consume all your content, buy everything you have to sell, and demand even more. Then stay tuned while Authority magazine columnist and buzzfeed contributor Tracy Hazzard shares strategies, tips and tactics from top videocasters, podcasters, authors and social influencers on creating that bingeable factor. Now let's join Tracy as she explores how to rise above all noise with the Binge factor.

Hey everyone, welcome to the Binge Factor. I'm Tracey Hazzard and I've got a podcaster on fire. Not an entrepreneur on fire, podcaster on fire, an influencer on fire. I've got Connie Benjamin today and she has got the podcast My Fire Within Radio. She's also the number one best selling international author of the book Women with Fire, an international speaker podcast host of this My Fire Within Radio. And you know, the story of how I met her is so interesting and fun and this is what I want to kind of raise, start today with. I want to start this episode with because it's a really interesting. I met her at one of my speaking engagements for a company called CEO Space, and they are an entrepreneur accelerator and they been involved with them on and off for probably, gosh, I mean, I at least do one forum a year for them since 2015. So it's been quite a while that we've known each other and we've been through there. And so in the five years, I never met Connie, she wasn't a member. But when I saw her cover art, so when I met her in the meeting, saw her name, she told me she was a podcast host. She told me the name of it. I immediately, of course popped it up and noticed on her cover art an image of the hotel that this company, CEO Space, this networking group, used to hold their event. When I first started going with them, it was in Lake Las Vegas and it has a big fire pit behind it and so it's very recognizable. I spent many a night sitting out there talking with entrepreneurs. And so I was like, I said, connie, is this where you took this photo? And she said, yes. And I said, have you been a member of CEO Space before when they used to be at that hotel? And she said, I didn't know they were at that hotel. So we had this small world moment where our paths could have crossed before, didn't. And now they're crossing again because of the podcasting world and because of a great networking group that we both belong to. So I love that, that kind of model of bringing everything together gets you into a place of growing and building your network even stronger. And those connections make for stronger connections and stronger interviews. And you're going to hear that because we already have a rapport that we've been building over the last couple of weeks as we've been chatting back and forth both from the networking group and also from just getting to know each other and getting and getting to see if we're right fit for each other's shows. This is something that you can do is build that rapport ahead of time and you're going to see why that's so valuable because I know a little bit about Connie's story. So now I'm going to share a little bit about our story with you so that you have a little bit of context before we go into the interview. So after nearly losing her marriage and almost giving up on her entrepreneurial journey, she began a quest to live her mission in both her business and and her family. She developed the My Fire within system that helped her fall in love with her husband again, launch her best selling book, and love being stay at home parent with her three daughters. And this is where Connie and I relate again. Three daughters and three daughters. Connie is now on a mission to empower other entrepreneurs to build trust with themselves and the people they love and their customers. She is passionate about helping speakers, authors, coaches and influencers who feel like their unintentional best kept secret is to cut through the noise of the online world so they can powerfully share their message through her unique intentional interview process. Connie's mission is to empower entrepreneurs to fulfill their divine purpose so they can uplift their family and humanity through socially responsible business. I know you're going to love getting talking with Connie Benjamin today and you're going to see a lot of yourself. You're going to see a lot of why you started your show or why you're interested in starting your show in this. And you're going to see that path and how sometimes it veers off, it comes back and we are always guiding that. And Connie has a great way. She has a great model for how to trust that fire within and she uses it to help others see that as well. So I know you're going to enjoy this episode. Let's hear from Connie. Connie, so excited to talk about My Fire within.

Yay. You are awesome. I am so grateful to be here.

So talk about women with fire. You've got some fire going on. You have been flying through this podcasting process, getting your show set up, getting episodes recorded, finding great guests. So I'm so excited to have you talk because I think there's a lot of gumption and a lot of action that has to be taken to be a podcaster and you embody that. Tell me, what gave you that sort of impetus to start podcasting?

Oh, my goodness. It is true that it does take some gumption, right? It is just a bit of a crazy world and I love it so much. For me, it was a moment that I received some inspiration, some divine inspiration, saying that, you know, I needed to interview people, some of the top world experts. Once I started realizing that, really by doing that process, having a podcast and interviewing these world renowned experts, that I had the most amazing minds at my fingertips. And I, Tracy, I got so hooked. I was like, man, if I could just interview and podcast all day long, that would be my happy place. Because it just was so amazing at meeting these incredible people, hearing their stories, hearing the times that they fell down, how they got back up, how they achieved success, and it's just been an incredible journey to hear their own fire within as well.

You know, I love that you call it my happy place. That for me, is interviewing as well, because I live in a world of curiosity and I want to learn new things. And now that I can just make that a part of my job, that becomes my happy place. And so I was just talking with another podcaster whose interview will be coming out shortly, and he mentioned something that he called that it was his intangible return on investment was the interview process. Are you seeing that? What kind of return on investment are you seeing both for yourself and for your business from the interviews that you do?

Yeah, absolutely. Well, this has been a wild ride, so I'm excited to share some of this crazy entrepreneurial journey with you. So when I first started podcasting, Tracy, I had no idea how it was going to monetize how this might work within my business. I didn't have a Tracy to guide me. And so, you know, I was really new to trying to figure it out. And honestly, it took a long time where I was just interviewing and I was not getting any return on investment. It was a way to build influence, and I loved that part of it as well. And I noticed that even by itself, it was an incredible way to build influence. You know, you meet one person and with the right systems in place, they keep introducing you to more and more incredible people. And that's what I found happened to the point where I was interviewing some top world leaders and I'm going, I can't even believe they're talking to me. This is amazing.

So tell us some of those cool stories that really inspired you there. What were some of the great interviews that you personally loved?

Yes, so. So many. One interview I'm thinking about is one time I was interviewing Dame Doria Cordova. And if you know Doria, she is just this incredible light that has served so many people worldwide. In fact, people partnered with Robert Kiyosaki and Tony Robbins learned from her and all of these greats. And so I'm talking with her, having this incredible conversation, and just realizing it was a moment in the conversation where she said something to me, and she said, I don't usually talk about that during an interview. And I realized, like, oh, this is getting so good. And I just realized in that moment that the connection that I could build in an interview with somebody amazing was more powerful than any other connection I could create. And that's what I found, is that when I could use interviewing as a way to truly serve, to be present with that person in a way that they don't get anywhere else, that it really opened doors of opportunity, and it's kind of like a side result that happened unexpectedly, but so appreciated by me.

Did you train? I mean, had you done a lot of interviews before? Did you take a course, read a book? What'd you do to help yourself up your game in interviewing?

You know what's so funny, Tracy, is when I reflect back on my life, I think I've been interviewing my entire life. This is just part of what I love to do. And it wasn't until I reflected back and I thought all the years that I spent social work, doing social work. So this is where I started off. And my journey's kind of crazy. I started as a social worker, and I loved what I did, but I also wanted to be able to move and to be able to take care of our kids because we were living in an area of town that was unsafe. So that's what made us. Made me go into the entrepreneurial space. When I reflect back on those moments, I remember sitting there in the social work part of my life and hearing the story, looking for the story, looking for the strengths within that story. And it's just been amazing to see how much those moments in time, even as a little kid, always looking for the story, how much those moments have led up to what I do now, which is really uncovering people's story in a way that they literally cannot tell themselves. Yes, I've always done this. I've always interviewed.

Such a good point that you have this innate skill. You've honed it by some of the experiences you've had as a social worker. And now by doing so many interviews in a row, you're really honing it for a good purpose. Are you always thinking about your interest or are you thinking about the audience interest when you choose your question?

So I'm thinking about a couple things. So one, I'm thinking about that audience. I'm thinking about that one entrepreneur that's listening, and maybe they're working out, or they're in the grocery store and they got us plugged in and they're looking for answers within their business. How can they overcome a hurdle? So I'm thinking about that person, but I'm also thinking about the person that's in front of me, the person that I'm in that interview with, and trying to be as present as possible with them. My intention is to always help them to tell the story they can't tell themselves, whether that's through the interviewing process that I do with them or through the other work that I do through influencer interviewing. But I want them to be able to share stories that they can't access on their own. And that's what I find is that often during that process, and quite honestly, to be totally transparent, being guided by the divine as well, and that place where those pieces meet, where the presence of the guest is, the presence of doing my best to be present, the presence of the creator of the universe and stepping into that place and honoring the person that listens, I find that that's where the stories that change my life, the goosebumps stories, that's what I'm looking for.

It's so interesting that you mentioned that sort of idea of looking for that thread of stories and that tying to an influencer interview so you know, you're bringing out the influencer in people when you interview them. That's the sort of slight twist on it. You know, many of us want to be interviewed by an influencer. This is what I hear from my clients all the time. They want some bigger influencer to interview them. But the reality is, if that bigger influence isn't bringing out your great influence, at the end of the day, it's not really helping. How do you find that? How do you look for the place that that person could have the most influence on your audience or on their audience?

Yeah, I think that's such a beautiful question. It is this amazing relationship that happens during the conversation right where we're trying to edify and uplift, and we're also bringing in the questions. Oftentimes I've talked to guests before that have been many different interviews, and sometimes I've had to reassure them. I'm not going to ask you something that's going to make you look bad because they've been in other podcasts or in other situations where they've been thrown a curveball or they've been asked a question that. That's kind of made to catch them. And I want them to know that when they're in my space, it's a safe place. And I think that there's this balance of one seeking to understand where they're coming from and helping the audience to understand where they're coming from, Helping when I can see them as the most amazing person I've ever met in my life. And I truly believe that each guest, like, their story's amazing. They're so incredible. If I can see them that way and I can draw out the stories that help the audience to see them in that way, man, I feel like that's when the conversation gets lit up, they get really authentic. They can be themselves, and they can step into that place where they have the influence in the conversation. I'm just guiding it along to help them share it even more.

Nice. Nice. So you started your podcast, and what was the biggest challenge for you?

I think the biggest challenge actually goes back to the question you asked at the beginning of this episode. So I'll go back to that, because you asked the question about how do you. Do you monetize this? What does this look like in terms.

Of what's your return on investment? Yeah, right.

Yeah. What does this look like? And I think that's been the biggest challenge that I faced in that journey. I spent a long time, probably about two years, trying to figure it out and banging my head against the wall. I wish I had found this podcast earlier, Traci. And one of the things that made a big difference for me is understanding that if I could create something where I could truly serve the people, that I would be interviewed, you know, that would be on my episodes, on my show. If I truly had a way to serve them, then that's a way that it could start shifting things. That's what's happened for me. So I've noticed that. You know, I don't know if you know a lot about my story, but my husband and I, we've been doing speaking and training for about a decade. We've been going Internationally, through Canada and the States. And, you know, we've been doing that work, and we've seen the journey of entrepreneurs. We've seen how challenging this entrepreneurial journey can be. And so one of the things that we're passionate about is supporting entrepreneurs with getting their message out. And that's something that, after interviewing people, was probably after. I spent about 3,000 hours, Tracy. In fact, I remember it. I counted it one day. I was like, how much time have I spent in this interviewing space? And it was after about 3,000 hours that I realized that, going back to what you said earlier, that I saw their genius. Like, I knew how amazing these people were. I wanted to shout it from the rooftops. And then sometimes, Tracy, I felt like, why didn't I know about this person two years ago? Like, they're so amazing. Why didn't I know about them? I don't know if you've ever felt like that. Have you ever felt like that?

All the time. And I say that because, you know, I came out of the product world, and my gift was being able to see that path of where that product could fit in the marketplace and be successful. Now, it didn't mean that it was. It just meant it was the most direct path, didn't mean it was the only path. But to get someone to follow that was impossible because they got caught up in their thing, and so they were still over in there nurturing their lovely thing, and they weren't action takers. That's where the inventors lived. And so I was like, you know, this isn't. It's my gift. I can see it, but it's just frustrating to me. So I'm going to find and use my gift somewhere else. So the podcasting path is a lot easier to get people to take the steps to do because it's not as hard, not as expensive. So totally understand it.

That is such a great story. I love that you talk about that, because you could see it. That's your gift, clear as day. You're like, but just go this way, and this is the way you need to go. And sometimes they weren't able to go down that road.

So before we. Because you're touching on the edge of your binge factor, so I'm giving you a little hint here, but are you a binge listener?

I am. When I totally love the show. Yes.

So you understand what a binge listener is like. Did you imagine that people were binge listening to your show? No.

No, I didn't.

I don't know.

The thought Just never crossed my mind. But, you know, it's something that. It always surprises me when someone comes to me and says, but Connie, I heard this episode and this one and this one. And I'm thinking, how many episodes have you listened to?

That's one of my favorite lines from an old movie, When Harry Met Sally. I never had anyone quote me back to me before. When that happens, that's what it's like. And you know, you have a binge listener at that moment, right?

Yeah.

Right. Well, you do. I'm very sure of it. What do you think your binge factor is?

I think my binge factor is that the stories that people get are stories that really get to the heart of the entrepreneur. Stories that maybe they wouldn't. They don't hear somewhere else. I love to. One of the questions that I like to ask is when the entrepreneur is sharing their journey and they're sharing the ups and the downs and their success. I think sometimes that that's often shared is their success. But what's often not shared is that gap between when they felt inspired to do something. Like, I just interviewed purpose driven entrepreneurs. Those are the people I talk to. Those are the people I work with. That's my jam. And so it's that moment between when they feel inspired to do something great and it all working out and all the faith and the courage and the chaos in between. And I love to draw that story because often that's the story that's not told. And I think when we hear that.

Well, they often don't tell it because it's messy in that middle. Right. And so, yeah, we want to skip to the aspiring part and jump to the, you know, to the great outcome. And so we gloss over that a lot in our stories. Well, you know, I think that is your binge factor is the fact that you start to see that seed of their story, that genius where it could be helpful to your audience. Right. So you're seeing that path and you light it up with your questions along the way and you just sit back, ask the question and listen.

So you, you're.

It's kind of like you're pushing them back on the path and that you let them keep going and keep telling it. So you're not actually pulling them through that path. And I think that that's a really interesting way to go about it and do your interviews. It's a tough way for many, many hosts to do that because. And maybe it's the social worker in you. I'm not really sure, but many Many hosts are too leading. They're the authority, they're the guide, they're the influencer, they're pushing their agenda instead of pulling that story out slowly, keeping that path clear that you see yourself. So that's what I see for you. Your binge factor is that you like that path. You ask the right questions along the way and you take that guest and the audience on that journey from beginning to end.

Yeah, that's such a beautiful way to put it. You know what's funny is I always do a debrief after a conversation. So when I'm doing the interview, I always do a debrief. So you listening right now? You've got a podcast.

Do it.

Debrief. That's so helpful. And what you're saying is so true. There's so many times where I've had amazing guests, world renowned authors, coaches say to me, connie, I've never had an interview experience like that before. And I always ask them, why? What exactly are you talking about? And often the feedback is exactly what you're saying. Tracy, them talking about. You know, often I'm being asked a lot of questions, but it's the interviewer is trying to look good in this conversation. You're making me try and look good. You're helping me to shine. And they also talk a lot about energy. And I think this is something that often we don't talk about in the interviewing space, but I think is something that is so cool.

I'm so glad you brought this up because that is all. You do have a very different energy in your show. That's why all of you listeners out there need to go to my Fire Within Radio and check out Connie's energy and that path that I talked about, the way she asks her questions, that's so cool.

Thank you so much for that. But that's always the feedback I get. I say, what did you love about the show? What could be even better? And then I ask, what can I do to support you if you did not write those questions? Make sure you write down those questions, because that is gold. But in the conversation, I truly try and be as present as I can possibly be. And I remember having one guest, she's a world renowned author, she's leading a council of leaders, Theresa de Grobois, and she leads the Evolutionary Business Council. And I remember interviewing her after and saying, what was it like to be in that conversation? And she said, connie, I've never been in a conversation like that before. The way you insert your energy into what I'm Talking about. So there's moments where she'd be sharing her story. And of course, Tracy, I'm asking her, what do you mean, Theresa? Like, tell me everything. She's been on thousands of interviews. Right. This lady's incredible. And so I'm asking her, what exactly do you mean? And she says to me, when I'm talking, oftentimes what happens is the person will. I'm gauging them, whether they're going to interrupt me or not. I don't feel like it can go on with my story. But when you're listening, when you're truly being present with me, I could actually feel your energy. I could feel that. And engaging in conversation, like, yeah, even just those moments of, like, I'm hearing you keep going. And she said, I could take this story a lot further because of that energy that was being injected, as opposed to other conversations that I've had that the host wasn't able to kind of put that out there. So I thought that was a really interesting take on what's happening.

I love that you do that. Let's go into some of our tips, because I think you're going to have some very enlightening tips for the audience here. It's a very different model of the way that you are looking at your guest choices, your listeners, and other things. So what are some of the best ways that you find to get those great guys?

Oh, that's the best question in the world. Okay. This is my favorite tip, because I never have a problem getting amazing guests. I'm booked out months to the point where I invite somebody to be on the show, and they say, connie, your schedule is all booked out. And I'm like, I know there's nothing I could do about it. It's because you're too amazing. There's too many amazing people. And it's because of one thing, Tracy, and that one thing is that they always, always, always ask for a referral. Who else do you know that needs to have their story told on this show? And everyone has an amazing referral. And what I noticed is from that first episode that I did, I got introduced to more and more and more and more influential people, and that's what's happened.

Yeah, you're building up a great network here, Connie. I'm hearing return on investment.

Yes.

Maybe haven't identified it yet. So let's talk about. Yeah, well, we're going to talk about that in a second. So let's talk about increasing listeners. Right. So how do you increase your listener base?

So, honestly, Tracy, this is something that I'm working to crack the code on. So this is something that I see an area that I need to grow in. One thing that I'm doing, though, is seeking for ways to truly engage with the listeners. So things like Pedopolo or different apps where we can actually engage with the listener, encouraging people to comment below, making sure people have some sort of call to action that. That they're engaging with me, and that's one way that I'm doing. The other way that I've noticed that's been amazing too, is seeing my recognizing that I have a platform. When we have a podcast, we have a platform. And I'm always surprised at the incredibly influential, amazing people that I think, but they really want to be on my show, and they always do. And so recognizing that when I've got a platform, I can be connected with incredible people. And when the more and more incredible people that get connected with my platform means the more they're going to share it with their audience, the more that platform grows, right? Yes, exactly.

Yeah.

This is always a part that trips up a lot of people. How do you produce your show like a pro?

So I'm a systems girl, Tracy. So I have a million systems in place. So one thing that I do is I truly have a system for everything. I have a system for booking my guests, and so they fill out a questionnaire. It's very specific. It's got all the call in information, all the questions that I need, everything in there, because I don't have time to chase them for bios and headshots.

I have this one that's sitting next to my desk. I can fill mine out.

Right.

So it's sitting next to me. Right? You do you have systems for all of these things, and that's what keeps you organized. But is that also what helps you prepare best and be more professional in the interview process?

Absolutely, absolutely. Because I got the information and then I can prepare quickly. I've got three kiddos. Life's kind of crazy sometimes. And so I don't have a big, big chunk of time to prepare. But when that questionnaire is all done, I have already have a sense of who this person is and what the conversation will be. And by the way, I cannot wait to have you on the show. I am so. I'm goosebumps excited about this.

I'm excited, too. I love that part. So that, you know, this is a tip for all of you. A lot of times, you know, I invite someone on the show and they immediately Turn around and invite me back. So this is a great way, a podcast swap is a great way to build your network together. So that's a cooperative model and we love that. Right. So your systems are all working really well together. Let's talk about what that engagement really looks like. How do you encourage that engagement? I have not had success in a lot of the engagement podcasting platforms that make it worth my amount of time. What about you? What have you found?

Here's what I know. I know that as a podcaster there's a couple barriers that we have to true engagement and there's a few things that I know about community. One is that if we can truly have an easy way to have a back and forth communication, engagement is going to go up. Right. The other thing that I know is that gamification works. If we have something that when people do something, they get something. There's people like that. I love free stuff. I don't know about you, but I love getting free stuff. It's so fun. I feel like I won the lottery or it's like Christmas morning. You know, I know for myself that just as a general principle that when we use gamification so people can get rewards for engaging, whether that's, hey, if you comment below, you can get a free copy of my ebook or I'll send you, you know, or you can win a free coaching session or whatever it is that we have to offer. And if we can also include that engagement in the podcast itself as well. Comment. Tell me what your biggest challenges have been with podcasting and get that engagement built out. And what I found is that when I do that in other models, so for example, Facebook groups or my community and that sort of thing, I notice that people want to share, they want to share their experience, they want to share what they learned. We just need to strategically ask.

Strategically ask. I love that. I love that idea. Connie. So we were talking about return on investment monetization and you said this is something that you've been searching for for a couple of years since you started it. What's the latest direction you're taking on the best ways to monetize your show right now?

Well, one thing that has been amazing is that I found a way to serve my audience and or to serve the guests that come on the show. So I began to tell a little bit about. After interviewing about 3,000 hours interviewing people, I started to realize that sometimes their messages weren't getting out into the online space. Tracy. I feel like with the global situation right now, I really, truly believe that. The online space is so crowded with the brick and mortars going online, there's more coaches now than ever before that are going online. There really are, right? Everybody's got, like an online program. You know, it's just getting really crowded. And I think because of the stress of what's happened, I mean, you look in the world today, there's stresses around health stress, there's political stress as we're dealing with right now, there's so many different stresses that is happening globally. And I think that people honestly are getting real tired of promises that fall short and the same old thing happening over and over and skepticism is going up. And so I began to see that part of what's happening is that there's a need for real, true authenticity, really understanding the person's story in a way that they could never understand before. And I realized that this is really important because a lot of entrepreneurs right now are sharing their message in traditional means. And if we look at, like, Engine Land, some of the stats that have come out with engine land, 70 to 80% of people aren't even looking at the ads. So if we can finally figure out the ads and we do it and we get the ad person, like 70 to 80% aren't even looking at them.

And there's a few select percent of us that are gaming the system to screw around with the ads so that they never actually show to us at all. So, awesome. If you want my secrets, maybe I'll tell you. I'll tell you in a LinkedIn profile sometime. I'll tell you. I'll do a video sometime. But, you know, this is. Is a thing. You're right that we find ways. We're always, as consumers, finding ways around the ads. So, you know, it used to be, I used to do a lot of work with the office superstars. They put circulars in your newspaper. And what did you just do? You just dumped them because you knew that it was all like bogus ads and promos to try to get you to walk in the store. And then when you walked in the store, they were trapping you for more money. Right. Like, you know, that's what it was going to be. So we learned our ways around that. Then we got ways to DVR and skip the ads. Right. So we're all really always searching for that. So why is the ad model there? Let's not do that model at all. And that's what I think you're looking at in monetization, right?

Yes, exactly, Tracy. I realized that everyone's tuning out the traditional stuff. And so for monetization, I created a service called the Influencer Interview where I help coaches, speakers, authors, who are many of the guests that come on my show to be able to tell their underlying story that they could not tell themselves and to be able to share that story across all their platforms. And once I did that, in fact, I even started giving away a free discover your underlying story session with some of my guests as well, which they were so excited about it because people were having insane, amazing transformations with that. And so that began the process of they wanted to know more and then some of them started working with me. And so that has just been an incredible journey to find something, a way to truly serve the people that come onto my show and find a way to serve.

I love that. That's really great. Now, six months is a big backlog and a lot of people out there start to think that that makes the guesting process, the process of prospecting through that and that return on investment from your guest actually have a downgraded effect because there's that energy of the interview to now, this delay in publication. So how are you dealing with that? How do you keep that energy going? How do you keep that so that then six months later, your guest actually shares it?

Yeah. So there is something that I love to do that has helped with that a lot. And so what I do is I actually view all of my guests as these amazing influencers that I am going to stay in contact with. And so I constantly seek for ways to serve them. And I love that we are talking about influence, Traci, because it really is some of the important things that we need to understand about influence. One is, we have already talked about if we have got a platform to share. That's a way of sharing and gifting influence. Another way of gifting influence is connecting to influencers. And so one thing that I love to do, I know if somebody comes on my show and has a great time, then they're going to want to go on other people's show that I know. Now here's really. This is where this gets so fun. I could geek out about this all day long, is if you connect two influencers together. So let's say, you know, I've got one person that came on the show two months ago and somebody that came on the show just six months ago. If I can connect them together with the possibility that they could trade or swap at being on each other's show, do you know what happens to my level of Influence, it goes up, right? How much more does that guest love me? Because I haven't forgotten about that person. In fact, I'm working, I'm just connecting amazing people. And so what happens is this amazing law of reciprocation starts to happen. If I connect incredible people together, do you know the first thing that they want to do? Connect me with incredible people. And so the influence, I don't forget.

To share your show. Right. When there's finally get airs. So that's really critically important in the process for you as well. I love that you brought up the law of reciprocity, because I think that that's something that we too often forget. And you may be, because you spoke on a lot of stages, that you may have had this experience of doing this, and especially with training your audience, I mean, training your speakers, that when you either hot seat someone, hand them a gift from the stage, give them a book or something like that, that person is the most likely person in that entire audience to become your client, to buy your thing, that they were just gifted something and you think, oh, they got a gift. So they're not going to buy. No, they're actually the ones that will buy. And that's the law of reciprocity at work.

Oh my gosh. I got the best story for you ever. I'm so grateful you brought this up. This is so fun. So there was a moment where I was on an interview and of course it's zoom, because we're, you know, well, they're far away, they're in Australia. And I was on this incredible interview. It was live. They had a group of people together on that conversation. First, they started out with a traditional interview of me, which I've done a million times. We're good. And then, but then they said to me, okay, Connie, you're doing this new influencer interview thing where you're helping people discover their hidden story. And Tracy, just to give you some back, some awareness about this, when I'm working with somebody, it literally takes three hours where we dive into their whole story. Like there is a process there, right? And so the person interviewing me looks up at me and I'll never forget what he said. He said, connie, you're an expert at doing this. Why don't you do this live over the next 10 minutes or so? I'm like, OK, so let me get this straight. Yeah, you want me to take a three hour process and do it in the next 10 minutes? Absolutely, let's do it. And so we did that live. And Tracy, it was incredible. Incredible experience. They had these amazing breakthroughs in these very quick discover your hidden story session. And at the end of that conversation, because he asked, okay, who else wants to go? Everybody in the group raised their hand, Right. And so he said, connect with Connie. She'll do one of those sessions with you. And later, he followed up with me and he said, how did it go? And I said, it's been amazing. All week I've been doing these incredible sessions with people, and the people that had me do it, live with them, my experience with them, when I actually got on a call with them, Traci, was, I already know I want to work with you. Just tell me how it was. Incredible.

Yeah. So for those of you listening on there, I just sent this to Connie before our call here, before our interview here, I sent the charisma quotient Kim Seltzer as one of the ones on the list of shows that I thought and guests and hosts that I thought Connie should reach out to and check out. And the reason I put her on the list is exactly that reason, because Kimmy does this third episode a week. She does three episodes a week. And the third one is where she's doing a live coaching session for about 20 minutes. And almost always what she says on the interview she did with me was that almost always that person becomes a client. They applied for the free because they thought they didn't have the money for it. And by the end of the coaching session, they've received value to the point at which they can't wait to join and do more with her. And so that in and of itself is both mixing that law of reciprocity, but also mixing in and getting that intangible of what you do to being completely understood and seeing the direct value and applying that to myself as both a listener and the person in the hot seat.

Yes. So beautiful. And I'm so going to check that out.

Yeah, I'm sure you will. Because Connie's a researcher. Have you got systems? And she wants more information and more input.

So speaking of more information and more advice out there. So if someone's looking at starting a podcast and they're thinking about what they can do, how they can go about it, where do you recommend they start?

With you? Absolutely.

Oh, Connie, you're such a sweetie. I didn't pay her to do that. She's not a client. Not a client yet. Right, Right.

Totally. You did not pay me to say that. But I say that because when I met you, you made the systems of podcasting make so much sense. And my first thought is, why didn't I meet you two years ago?

I wish you had. We had a lot of fun in the meantime, but we're gonna have fun from here forward. So thank for saying that. I appreciate that. So for a lot of people that systems, you're a systems person and the systems is daunting. So a guide would be the most helpful way through that for you. But besides that part, where else do you think they should start?

Just start. Just start. I think back to that first moment I told this story on Facebook Live a while ago. And I was thinking back to that first moment that I had my first episode. And Traci, my episode was with this incredible doctor. It was Dr. Kathy Gruber. I still remember. I love Kathy. Haven't got a sense. Like, I love my guests. I am neurotically just love them. I think they're amazing. And so I had Kathy on the show and when I invited her, it was really like close my eyes and hit send. You know, I was so scared she'd say no. I thought, she's this amazing lady. She was just interviewed on Dr. Phil like last week. I mean, this is the person she is. And so I asked Kathy to be on my show. She said yes. And so I'm sitting there and I remember not having it perfect. I was freaking out about the technology. I had no idea it was gonna, you know, if she could get in okay, if it would record properly. Like, I was freaking out. I had this green screen in the background and Tracy, I didn't know how to use the virtual background. So it's just like super lime green in the background.

You can fix that post, by the way, so you can always have somebody go in and fix that. It costs a little bit, but not too much. Go on Fiverr. Get them to fix your background for you so you can can save that episode. If that has happened to anyone, and believe me, it has happened, it's happened to the best of us.

That's so good to know. I'm totally going to do that. So you can see this first interview where I'm probably so nervous I look like just Najiri. And I do the interview with her go so good. Like, it goes so good. She tells her story. And here's the thing. Once I forget myself, forget yourself, like, think about the person that is going to listen. Think about the person in front of you. Just forget yourself. And if you can be in that moment, man, you can do something great. And so I remember with Kathy, just having this Amazing conversation. And actually fast forward that two years. I did a Facebook Live and I told the story of that. Now Kathy is one of my friends now. She watched that Facebook Live and she said, connie, I had no idea I was your first guest.

I thought you were a pro at it. She didn't have any problem with it. I love that.

Yeah. So just start. Just start. You're all good.

I love that about it. So you didn't hear this part, Connie, because the way that I record here, all of you for listening, I'm going to like reveal a little curtain here, curtain left here. So Connie doesn't hear the intro I do of her. She didn't hear the story I told about how I met her. But here's the interesting part. I want to mention that right now because there is this kind of fate. We should have met before. We absolutely should have met. Because the first moment I looked at her website and looked at the COVID art of her podcast, I said, that's the hotel that I hung out at a ton when I was working with this group that I met you at, which is CEO space. And we should have met there, you know, because her photo, her background is it. I recognized it instantly.

And so we should have met before.

But we finally did through a network like CO Space. How do you use those networks, these great places where you meet people, how do you use them to help mine that as well? So it's not just your guests referring, but it's also your bigger network looking out for you?

Yeah, absolutely. Oh, my goodness. I love events like that. I mean, that's where I met you. And I'm so grateful for that conversation. I think that there's a few ways that I do that. So in the podcasting space, one of the things to recognize is when you go into a community like that and you're in a networking event type of thing and you see the person. I always look for two people. I look for the person that's leading the event because they're the person that has the most influence in the room. And I look for the people that are speaking at the event because they are also having the most influence in the room. And I don't do that out of a weird sort of what can I get type of attitude. I do that from a. If I want to make the biggest impact that I can in this world. And my mission is to support purpose driven entrepreneurs to be able to fulfill their life's purpose. That is my mission. So if I want to create that mission in this world, I have to connect with people that are changing the world already. And so I consciously go into those environments seeking opportunities to serve. When you've got a podcast, I think sometimes we can undervalue that and think, well, it's just my podcast. No, no. It actually is a way of gifting influence. You have to understand what you have. And so when you meet someone.

I love that you said that. Gifting influence, so, so powerful. Connie, right there.

Yeah, thank you for that. And so it's something that you can actually give to somebody as a way to support them in their mission. And so you better believe, when I met Tracy at that event, the first thing I'm going to say, I would love to have you as a guest on my podcast, but what happened?

I think I beat you to it. Right? You did.

Because I understand that intimately. And I'm always on the lookout for those people that I think will make interesting stories, who have interesting shows. And the first thing that I do is I chat with them in the chat that's going on. So we haven't even met yet, and I'm already. I've already checked out her show and invited her because she was smart enough to say her show, which, if you've ever heard me on any event and some of my clients will be speakers or other people within the event, I'd be like, excuse me, you forgot to say the name of your show.

Yes, it's so true.

The name of your show from the beginning. And that's really where you are offering that gift of listening and that gift of guesting. You are offering that right away into your community. And that, I think, in and of itself, is so powerful.

Connie, thank you. Thank you so much for that.

I'm so glad you came on the show. I'm looking forward to being on the other end with you and enjoying that as well. And I might just add in a little piece before mine goes live after I experience your interview, because this show isn't going to air until after I've been interviewed. It won't air after yours airs because I try to keep a shorter leash on my airtime. But that would be an interesting thing. So everyone check out the post discussion that I always have and see if I've given you a little update into insight into how it was on Connie's show.

Fun.

My Fire Within Radio. Got to check it out. Connie Benjamin, thank you so much for coming in today.

Tracy, this has been so much fun. Thank you so much for having me.

So, everyone, Connie Benjamin, My Fire Within Radio. Told you it was going to be an interesting interview and told you she was going to be a lot of fun and you were going to be able to see parts of yourself in her. This is what I think I hear again and again from many, many of you out there as you reach out to me, as we touch base in the beginning. And some of you are very focused on making sure that you're going to spend your time on something that has a direct return on investment of time. So your approach from the beginning of podcasting is on achieving a specific return on investment. But very often, either you become very disillusioned quickly, and this is where we have the pod faders who quit at 10 or 11 episodes, 11 and 23 episodes. Remember, those are the hotspots, right, of quitting. And so the pod fading happens because it didn't have that immediate gain in return on investment that you expected, or it was a whole lot harder than you expected, right? The systems, and that's what Connie was pointing out. Sometimes those systems, even as a systems girl, a self admitted systems girl that she is, it still trips you up and it makes things more difficult and makes it hard to go through. But she really persevered through this. I mean, she has gotten two years worth of podcast episodes, she's gotten a lot of interviews on her belt, she's booking out six months. So she's got a lot of content going on. But what if we started our journey with a slightly different viewpoint? What if we started our journey on saying we know and we hear that there is a return on investment for our time podcasting, we don't necessarily know what's going to be the right one for me and my business and my life and how I want to work and the kinds of clients I want to attract or the kind of business I want to do. It may not be that same path that it is for Connie Benjamin, or it is for Tracy Hazzard, or it is for Pat Flynn or any one of the other people that I've interviewed on this show. It's always a different monetization model for each one. And or the return on investment for their time is very different. When I interviewed Shiv Gagliani, who has osmosis, right, his osmosis business was doing so well with it. But he personally listed as one of his return on investments is the time that he spent interviewing people and learning something about his industry, his world helped him to be better CEO, better able to guide his company and help it grow when he knew what was going on in the marketplace. And knew what was going on through those interviews. So that self information was a guide to his business and that was invaluable. Couldn't define a dollar amount to it, but invaluable. That's what I find as well. So when we're looking through this process is what if we just took return on investment off the table and said, we know there's going to be some, but until we get through enough episodes, until we get through the process long enough to start to see what that is, we won't be able to say, that is the one that's worth it to me. So if we're concentrating on, wow, this person achieved return on investment from advertising or achieved a sponsor in 25 episodes, like, that's what I want, then we may be leaving out the opportunity for all the alternative return on investments we're looking for and doing. And that's where I think Connie is starting to shift that model in her head is what does the business model look like? Is a little bit more difficult as we're starting to formulate because we get caught in the what and the how tos. But if we're getting it out of our mind, that has to have a very specific return on investment. And instead we're saying, I've got this audience, I've got this listenership. What do they want the most and how can I serve them the best in the process and then let me develop a product, a service, a system that will serve that community so that they can't help but want to buy it? That's exactly what they've been asking for. They just didn't know how to say that that's what they wanted. So when we get locked into the mechanics of things and we get caught into this, I'm learning everything. I'm trying to build a system, I'm trying too hard. Sometimes we're overlooking the easy things that we could be putting in today that would logically lead to people doing more business with us that we also don't, then look at the things that we find the most valuable so we can do more of those. Right? Let's do more of the things that are valuable. And for Connie, that place is a happy place of interviewing. And I love the way she terms that, that she's gifting her influence to in her happy place of interviewing. Like you're marrying up the two most important things that you could possibly do in any business and a marketing model. Anything that you're doing, you're doing something that you enjoy doing that you really like and is your gift to the world and you're serving someone in that process of doing that. Brilliant. Do more of that. Now let's figure out what the service, the systems, the processes around that are going to be that is going to make you and able to keep doing that. You found that sweet spot. You found that beauty in it. Now put your ear to the ground. Start listening to what people want. That is where Connie Benjamin is in her My Fire Within Radio journey right now. She is going to start tapping into that monetization model and really make it work. And I can't wait to follow her and I can't wait to see what she does in the next six months and the next year to really pulling that out into something that is a working model of business that she's excited about every single day. And our clients just flow from it in such an organic way. And I think you guys can do that too. Check out my Fire Within Radio. Check out the blog post for this episode and all the information on Connie Benjamin and what she's done. And you know, don't forget to check out Women with Fire book as well. It is an international bestseller. And so you may want to check all of that out to see a model by which how you might be able to do better interviews, model a better podcast and come up with a place of which you're able to gift to bring your gifts to the world. Whether it's gifting influence or gifting sales messages or tactics for real estate investing, whatever it is that your gift to the world is, find that model that you can bring it out just like Connie Benjamin has on My Fire Within Radio. Thanks everyone for listening to the Binge Factor. I'm Tracy Hazzard and I look forward to interviewing even more fabulous podcasters and bringing you new models and new ideas for how you can grow your show and grow your influence and authority through podcasting. So, hey everyone, Remember I told you I was going to be on Connie's show, My Fire within, and I was just finishing up the interview with her and thinking of all of you and making sure that I came and updated you on what it was like to be interviewed on her show? Because I thought that'd give you a little bit of insight into what it's like on the other side for each of your shows. So Connie first off has a really long form to fill out because she wants to deep dive and do some research and understand and get into the person that she's going to be talking with. And while that's good Sometimes that could hold you back from getting really good guests who are too busy. So be prepared to have like the short form for some really special guests that you want to do and then maybe the longer form for the ones that are more of that prospect look, lead person that we were talking about in the episode today. So someone who you're really driving through your funnel, your podcast, I call the podcast pipeline. But the people that you're driving through that, you know, make them do a little bit more work because then they're going to be more active and more valuable potential clients in the future. So that works out really well too. But have a short one for the people who are really busy, who you need to have, you would like to have their authority. So that's one of the things that I saw with Connie's. But you know, the other thing though about it is that she broke us up into two interviews. So we actually did our hour long session, but we broke it up into two interviews, one where we talked about business and one where we talked about our personal. So she got a two parter out of it. And I think that's a really cool idea for some of you out there. Now, it might not work for everyone, but if you've got something where you can leave a cliffhanger or leave something where they're going to come to another episode and consume the next one, you're pushing them through the binge ability. So Connie's creating her own binge factor within it as well. So I love that model. And, you know, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't and it might be the right fit for you. I think it's going to work for Connie. That's my gut instinct is I think it's going to work for her really well because it gives people the opportunity to sort of have both the story and the lesson at the same time or within a couple of episodes. And so that will get them to sit down and consume both where they might, when it's mixed in together, might get lost in the shuffle of things. So an interesting way, but Connie's a great interviewer. She's got a great style of thinking about what she wants to ask next. You can see it on her face as you're watching her. Of course, your listeners aren't hearing that and your viewers aren't seeing that because they're seeing who's ever talking at that moment. But you can see she's really thinking hard about what's going to be valuable to my listener next and what should be that next question that I ask, and that's a sign of a great interviewer. So anyway, check out my Fire Within Connie Benjamin and stay tuned next time for another podcast episode of the Binge Factor.

You've been listening to the Binge Factor Podcast. For more information on podcasting and videocasting success tips and tactics, please go to thebingefactor.com and be sure to listen to our other show for podcasters called Feed you'd brand. If you'd like to be interviewed on this show as well as featured in Tracy's column, please go to thebingefactor.com guest and apply Sam.