Hyper Local Podcasting – Good Morning Gwinnett with Audrey Bell-Kearney

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 Feed you'd brand center of Influence and I've got a new podcaster feature today, and it's really a little bit different. So. Audrey Bell Kearney is the founder and CEO of ABK Media Group, which is a media marketing and consulting firm that curates and produces digital content for clients and helps them get exposure for their business. She is the host of the Good Morning Gwinnett podcast, and she's going to talk about doing hyperlocal podcasts, which I think is a totally new topic, so I can't wait to talk to her about that. She's also the founder of her YouTube TV or HerTube TV, which is an empowerment video and television network about women and what women care about. She's going to be at the she Podcast event, which is how we got connected. She's the CEO of Bakke TV Network, which is new empowerment TV network aimed at empowering black people. Audrey is also the publisher of Peach State Women magazine, which Peach State, if you guys don't know, we're talking about Georgia. And she's right in the Atlanta area where the she Podcast event is going to take. Audrey's the author of what's yous Big the Ultimate Guide for New Entrepreneurs. And I want to write a book now. What A to Z of Self Publishing and Can They See youe Now? Easy Video Marketing Even when youn Hate Being On Camera, which is kind of why I started a podcast. So we're going to have to talk about that. All can be found on Amazon in print and Kindle versions. And her new book, Women who have Launched a Podcast and how youw Can Too, will be released this summer. Well, the summer's almost over, Audrey. Is it gonna be released sooner or maybe pushed to the fall?

No, it's gonna actually be released in a couple of weeks. So we're still gonna be in summer.

Still gonna be summer. Okay, awesome. Can't wait. You'll have to let us know so we can feature it. So you have also, you are a single mom who wanted to create a nice life for her daughter, who was eight years old at the time.

And.

And so you had an idea for plus size fashion dolls. So you're a product entrepreneur too, which is just so cool. So we have that in common. And so you and your daughter became partners in Big Beautiful Dolls in 1999 and you invented the first plus size fashion dolls. You went on to start your own newspaper titled Women in Business Today. And the paper profiled women who are already in business. Audrey later became a consultant with Rutgers and Keene University Small Business Development center in New Jersey and sat on the board for Rutgers University. Wow, Audra, you have done so much. It is amazing. And what made you decide to start a podcast amid all that? And what year did you start?

Okay, so Tracy, how I got started in this industry? I was actually, I started, I was working at a newspaper. I got a job as a news at the newspaper. When I launched a doll company, I went to make some copies of an article that had been written about me in a magazine. And when I went into the copy shop, the guy was launching a newspaper. And when he launched that news, when he was talking about launching, I said to him, listen, is anybody going to be writing on entrepreneurship? He said, no. And I said, can I? He said, sure. So I became a columnist for that newspaper, which was called Local Talk. And I became a columnist writing about entrepreneurship. And then I had a friend who came in and said, you know, how do I launch a newspaper? So because I was there writing the article, I got to see the ins and outs of how to start a newspaper. So I told my friend how to launch a newspaper and he launched his own newspaper called Essex Times. And about two years in, I was like, heck, I could start my own newspaper. And I started Women in business like you're somebody else's. Right, right, right. So but what happened was there was a gentleman who picked up the newspaper one day and he was a radio show host and he asked me to be a guest on his radio show. It was a Saturday show. Saturday, early in the morning on a 7:30 on a Saturday morning. And I said, sure. So I was his guest on the episode. People loved the episode so much they asked me to come back again. And so I went back again. Then he asked me to co host the show with him and that's how I got into radio. And so I co hosted that show for a year with him. Interviewed Mark Victor Hansen three times on the show. For those of you who don't know who he is, he is the co author of the Chicken Soup for the soul series. And I just love radio, and that's how I got into radio.

So you fast forwarding from radio into podcasting? I love it. So when did you start as in radio?

I started in radio in 2003.

2003.

So.

So podcasting came up. What year did you decide it was going to be podcasting for you?

2009.

Okay.

So I've been doing it for a.

Minute, so, yeah, you're a lot longer than most, so love it. So what made you switch from that radio model to the podcast model?

Well, I moved to. I moved out of Jersey, and now I'm living in Georgia, and that was when I was in Jersey. So I was on two stations in Jersey. I was on 10.70am, and I was on 93.3 FM on two stations, two different shows that I hosted myself. But when I left Jersey, I needed to do something different. So when I moved to Georgia, I was like, I don't know what I'm going to do. I launched the TV network, which is crazy. But then a couple of years later, I was like, you know what? I can do podcasting again. And I went through an accelerator here in Georgia called Launchpad. And Launchpad was for women who were trying to grow their business to a million dollars. And so I went through that accelerator, and I loved it. And I decided, you know what? It's a lot of powerful women in this network. I'm gonna start a new podcast. And it was called. So my first podcast I started in Georgia was called Talk Business with Doidry. And I started that podcast, and I did about 15 episodes on that network, but I wanted to do something different radio. And I was like, I really want to play music. But nobody in the podcasting industry was playing music on your podcast. I was like, well, I can't watch the podcast and play music because nobody's playing music. So I kind of stopped doing that podcast because I wasn't really feeling it like that. And I said, you know what? Let me just focus on the TV network, and I focus on that. But then I just really want the podcast because I like to talk. Like, I don't know about you, Tracy, but I found that most podcasters, they like to talk.

They do. They absolutely do. You're so right.

And so this was a perfect platform. So Fast forward to 2018, which is when I launched Good Morning Gwinnett. I had been living in Georgia now for five years, have been working on Hertube for the five years that I've been here. So I didn't know anybody because I was head down in the business. I was in the business. I was working in the business so much and didn't know anybody in my county. Live in a beautiful county, Gwinnett. And I said, you know what? I'm gonna do something where I can give back to the community because I can spotlight entrepreneurs. I can still play my music on my show and just have like a regular radio show based around the county that I live in. So Good Morning Gwinnett is actually the county that I live in. And that's when I launched Good Morning GWINNETT, which is December 2018. I'm up to 144 episodes right now.

Wow, that's really fast. In a year and a half, basically. Oh my gosh. Amazing. Well, you know, this is something I want to touch on this because most people don't deal with music on the show because of royalty rights and other things like that. How have you managed to make that work for you?

Well, I have a membership with a company called Epidemic Sound. So I pay a $15 month fee, a subscription fee, and I get to use all of the songs on my in my show. And I know a lot of people don't because of that. But because that company has the rights to use that, I'm assuming that they pay the the artist like a portion of the proceeds from that. But I pay a $15 fee monthly and I'm able to use like they have a catalog of like 30,000 songs.

Fantastic. So you've adopted actually what radio stations do because you had that insight into how they work. So that's a lot how a lot of radio stations and how a lot of small businesses who play music in their stores, they do the same thing. They subscribe to one of these catalog networks to be able to utilize their music libraries. So wonderful. So smart. You had some more insights than most podcasters who are just so afraid of touching it and afraid they'll get their shows up. So that's wonderful. You've been podcasting on and off for a while then. But what are some of the really interesting things that happened to you? Like some of the cool things that have just raised your level of authority in your industry or your community.

So in any business they tell you to niche down, right. And I didn't even realize I was niching down. I just realized I didn't want to have a regular podcast and I really want to get to know my community. That was the other thing. And I really wanted my community to know me because it's such A great place to live. And I was like, you know, this is a great opportunity. But since I have decided to just go hyper local, it has opened up a lot of doors. Like, even with she podcast, being able to talk about this on a platform like she podcasts, that's a huge platform. I did Python last weekend, which is another huge platform. I'm speaking on a cruise on September 13th through the 16th, talking about this very same thing. So it's opening up a lot of speaking opportunities for me. I'm up for an award from the chamber because of it. I've been invited to come to places like I'm invited to go to a political black tie event because I'm in media. So we are in media as podcasters. And so it's opened up a lot of doors. I did a live broadcast from an expo that I got paid for. Like, a lot of podcasters struggle with how to monetize their show. And to be honest, Tracy, that was one of my issues when I first started. Like, when I first started 2009, podcasting was nothing like it is right now.

No, it was so different back then.

You're right, different. Like nobody was making money. We were just talking for fun. And so fast forward to the day people making millions and millions of dollars. So when someone said, hey, let me pay you to come broadcast live, I'm absolutely so, you know, learning how to monetize that whole thing and, you know, just kind of just loving the whole industry right now, where we're going. So a lot has changed since I started. When I started, it was blog talk radio, and people called and they talked to me from around the world. That was great. But there was no clear picture of how to monetize that. Now it is, like so many different ways. On my website, I have a T shirt line on the website. I have. My books are on the website that I've written. You know, I have advertising. Just a lot has changed since. Since I first started.

Did you have some big funny mistakes, like things that went wrong when you were launching your show? Oh, yeah, yeah, Just some errors. And, you know, tell us some of the stories of what happened to you, Tracy.

I still have errors to this day. I mean, literally, like two weeks ago. So my show is live. Like, I do a live Monday through Wednesday, 9am and then on Thursday, 11am live. Because I don't like to edit.

Right, I understand that.

I don't like to edit and I like to have music. Like, I do the horoscopes on there and I do music Then I talk about what's going on in government and business and all that kind of stuff. So what happened was one time I was sitting here and I'm podcasting and so I have a yeti mic. I love my yeti mic. My husband bought it for a Christmas gift and I hit the mute button by mistake. And so when I went back to look at listen to the episode, all I could hear was the music playing. I was like, why can't you hear me? You can see that I have been talking about 35, 40 minutes, but you couldn't hear me. The mute button had been pushed.

Oh, no.

I was so. I was like, anything like me.

I cannot repeat myself twice. Like, I will do it the same way twice, right?

No, you cannot. I interviewed someone about, about three weeks ago. She was a politician. For some reason, the show has really drawn a lot of politicians to the platform. But I interviewed this politician. It was a great interview and it was so cool because she was a Republican and she was African American. And I said to her, listen, I'm just gonna be honest with you. I only know three African American Republicans and you're one of them. She started laughing. But it was such a great interview because what we found out in talking to each other, that we have a lot more in common than we think. That was an hour and 20 minute interview. And guess what happened? All I got was the music.

Oh, my God. It was on location. I had my portable studio set up and everything. Everything looked great. I thought everything was working great. And the cord was not plugged all the way into the transmitter. And I didn't know it.

Oh, no. Oh, no. We just want to cry, right?

I was, I was so upset for about four hours and my daughter said to me, she was like, well, you beating yourself up, can't you just do it over? I was like, yeah, but it's not going to be the same because it was authentic. We had never met each other before. It was just. And I never, I never do an interview that long, like. But it was such a good interview. It was just flowing and we just kept going. So by the time I actually finished, it was an hour and 20 minutes and I had nothing but music.

So backup devices, everybody. Yes, I actually, you know, that's a really important lesson. So I pretty much always, when I just in case, just in case something happens, I always take my phone recorder and turn my phone recorder on because, I mean, even if I. If like the audio's terrible there, which I know it will be, I at least can Transcribe it and then maybe write an article or do something so at least something good comes out of it. So I have. Whenever I'm in person with someone, which doesn't happen very often because I don't do a lot of live interviews, but I turn the recording on my phone on, which people think is odd, but I was like, I've had it happen to me before. I know exactly where the sound just wasn't good. I actually was being. We were being recorded. We did a live podcast from the stage at south by Southwest a couple of years ago, and they had a professional studio in there. Like, the whole. It was all sponsored by TuneIn. TuneIn was, like, had their own audio engineer in there. He had the microphones. He had the whole mixing board and everything. And they were gonna give us the audio file that was, like, a part of it. So then we would repurpose that as the podcast. It was live on Tune in that day, but it would be on our podcast the next week. And the audio was horrible. Luckily, I brought my own guy with me to do video of us. He was so smart that he put a zoom device on the table and captured our sound. And it was so much better than the audio captured by the engineer. So, yeah, so I learned really early on. Backups everywhere. Because I'm terrible at remembering things. And remember, you could turn it on. So, yeah, I know what you mean. And as you're talking, I'm, like, panicking. I keep looking and, like, it's the red light flashing, right? Do I have it on right? I know, right? But these things happen, right? They happen to everybody. And you know what? And it doesn't matter how seasoned you are, you get excited in the moment, and it happens again.

That's exactly what happened.

What advice do you have for someone who wants to start a podcast?

Be true to yourself. That's the advice I've been given, because I struggled with that for a few months when I thought about doing a show that had music and horoscopes and all this craziness in it. So I went to podcast, and I was gonna launch. I was like, I'm gonna launch it anyway. I don't care how people receive it. I'm. It's near and dear to my heart. It's how I want to do it. But I still had some reservations because, you know, you got these podcasts and gurus out here, and you go out and you put out a podcast that they think is not up to par, so you can get beat up pretty badly and I was like, oh, my God, think the podcast police is gonna get me? They're gonna beat me up because I have music I'm not editing. You know, I'm not doing any things that they do. And I was still. I had launched a podcast in December, but I still had some reservations. But when I went to Pod Fest and I sat in one of the workshops and I forgot who it was, but it was like, listen, it's your podcast. Be true to who you are. And I was like, so right. And from that day forward, that was my motto to anybody, whatever your podcast is, whatever you want it to be. And I met some amazing women. That's how I got to do the Pot Chicks book, because I met women who were doing podcasting on just about anything you could think of. Like Emily Poppick, I think. I think I'm pronouncing her name right. She's going to be a speaker, too, at she podcast. But I met her, we sat down, we had lunch, and her podcast was all about things that had been invented. Like, why was it invented? Like the straw or the table. It was, like, amazing. Like, that is great. Like, and she's one of the people in the book. But I would say just be true to who you are, like, whatever you want your podcast to be is yours. And feel good about that if you're passionate. Like, I get up for people like, you do four shows a week. Absolutely. I. I get up every morning excited to do my show every morning. And I gotta tell you, Tracy, when I sit back after I finish, it feels like I just came down off this great high. It's like, wow, that was great, doesn't it?

I love that. Yeah. It makes you feel like you're in your element, and that is a high in and of itself. I love that. Well, let's go on to share some lessons. So this is my five things. So what are the best ways to book great guests?

I like to book my guests based on, like, books that I've read by them or something, that they are doing great in the community. I love talking to entrepreneurs. So I would say people that you want to meet, people that you're passionate about in the industry. That's how I go about booking my guests.

I love that. So you're really being true to you there. That's great. What are some of the best ways to increase listeners?

I gotta tell you, the ones that's working for me right now is my mobile app. My show is so local, so my thing is to get out there and meet My community, it's almost like I'm running like a campaign, like a politician. I kind of took a note out of their book, like, listen, go out there and meet the community and tell them to download your app. That has been really wonderful.

Wow, that's really great. How about producing in a professional way? So you're not doing a lot of editing and other things, but how do you make sure that everything's professional sounding as it can be?

I use a Yeti mic. I love my mic. I use a Spreaker studio, which is amazing. My room is kind of soundproof, so it's not a lot of background noise. I podcast early in the morning, so it's not. It's not a lot of lawnmowers going because I'm in Georgia, so it's a lot of grass down here. And the lawn. People could come out really early, but it's not a lot of lawn mowing going around. So I try to make sure that my surroundings are quiet. I don't have any distractions. I have a note on my door, and the door is closed. It says on air, which means don't knock on the door. So I just make sure that my surroundings are quiet. And I have, like, a really good microphone. Like, I love my Yeti.

Well, you know, we have actually a lot of mixed results with the Yeti. So the yeti can be really bad unless you have a great environment, which you do, because I can hear it right now. Your sound is fantastic. So that is a really big difference for a lot of people. So if you don't have a great environment, the yeti picks up so much sound around your room that it can actually hurt you. And so that's where we find some people have fantastic results from it, and others are just like, oh, really? You got to get a cheaper mic, honestly, so. So that it picks up less sound. So while. Good for you. So, yeah, getting the sound to be really good in the beginning, that's half the battle right there.

Yeah, yeah. Someone told me about the Yeti. Like, I've been had this since probably this particular one. It has to be seven years, eight years, the same mic. I've been had it. I went to B and H in New York and I was like, go to B and H. You can get the yeti out of there.

I know B and H because I used to live outside. Yeah, I know what you're talking about.

I love Bhatti. Oh, my God. If you ever go to B and H, if you're like us and we like, gadget chicks don't go to B and H because it's like, yeah, it'll.

Cost you too much. Yes.

What are some ways to best ways to encourage engagement?

I can tell you what I've been doing lately, and I'm loving this. I love Headliners. Have you heard of Headliners? No. Okay, so Headliner is a little. Is an app that you can take your episodes if you don't have a video, but if you don't have that capability, if you go to Headliner app, it'll let you take your episode. You type in your podcast in the search engines and it'll pull up your podcast and you pick the episode that you want. So you can either cut it down to a small segment or you can let it do the whole thing. I've been taking, like, at the end of my show, I do what's called inspiration of the day. And I've been taking that last five minutes of my show and putting it in Headliner and let it turn into a video and then posting on my social media. So people who don't want to listen to the entire show, they can get my daily inspiration.

Love it. That's really cool. That's a great way to get engagement. So you were talking about some ways to monetize it. What do you think really for your particular niche and business? What has been the best way for.

You advertisers so far? Like, I have banner ads that's running on the front of my website and like a little Carousel Runner slideshow that has been great. And I can tell you the most lucrative thing I've done so far has been on location. So I'm looking to do more of that. So I just recently got postcards done to say, hey, listen, I come and broadcast live this particular event. Let me see that. Okay. There's a need for people to do who have events going on. Maybe a car dealership you can go and broadcast live. You know, they have a budget for it. This. The person I did this event for, she's a therapist, but she was having an expo. And what she wanted to do was she wanted me to interview all of the vendors. So what we did was she was having some trouble with marketing the event. And I said to her, she was. She was actually a guest on the show. That's how I got the gig. She was my guest on the show. We talked about the event, and I said to her, well, how are you marketing? She says, I'm having a rough time marketing the show. And I said, well, you know, Maybe if you told them they were going to be on the Good Morning Gwinnett show, you can sell more vendor tables. I said, right now, to get a sponsor, you're kind of late in the game because the physical year for them is pretty much over in like July. Said, but vendors, you could probably get more vendors if you said to them, hey, you're gonna get interviewed on the Good Morning Gwinnett show. And she said, I would pay for that, right? And I said, her, absolutely. So I sent her a PayPal link and she paid and I showed up at her event and I interviewed some of her vendors. Now, what I found interesting, Tracy, was that there were a lot of vendors there who were scared to talk to me. I found that very interesting.

I find that too. I used to do it early on. When we first started our very first podcast, we had the same thing was we were at. We were given a booth by an organizer at the event. I was asked to speak there as well. So they automatically gave us as a speaker and a booth as well and said, hey, would you guys do a live podcast from there? And we said, well, we don't really air live, but we'll record them while we're there and then we'll, we'll do a series for you afterwards and that way it'll help promote the next event. And he said, oh, that was great. So that's what we did. But we would like, literally have to drag some people out of their booth to come and interview with us. They were so afraid to do it. But podcasting was still new back then too.

It's not that new now. And I'm thinking, man, do you realize that this is free publicity? I remember interviewing Marc Victor Hansen three times, and he lived in la. He lived in California at the time. So I was doing the show at 7:30 in the morning. It was a live show because it was regular radio. And I asked him on the third time, I said, why did you do my little show in New Jersey? And because it's 4:30 in the morning his time, he said, you never give up a PR opportunity ever, because you never know. And I such good advice, Yes, I have lived by that saying. Mark Victor Hansen said, never give up a PR opportunity ever. And I've lived up live by that. And my show was very small. It was New Jersey in the five boroughs of New York. So it wasn't a major show. But he did it three times.

Well, you know, it's interesting because I reached out to. I only got through half of the list for the she podcast event. So I have to admit. So you're lucky your name was at the top.

Oh, thank you.

But so I got through half the list and sent out messages to them and said, okay, next week I'll send out the other half if my calendar doesn't fill up. And you were one of the first to book a spot. You know, I was really shocked at how few of those women booked a spot with me. I mean, this is free publicity, right? And there's a magazine, which you don't normally get print, Right. You don't normally get something on the other side and, you know, digital print, but still print. And so that had an added benefit to it. So it's not just a podcast. It's also something more. And I was really so shocked that most people didn't take advantage of it. So you're so right. That. And I do find it a little bit higher rate with women than men, unfortunately, which I think is a shame. You should take every opportunity to talk about what you do and who you are and share that with any community you can. So let's talk a little bit about this hyperlocal thing, because that is truly different about what you do. How is that more successful for you? What is working about that? Hyperlocal? What is the key to that?

I think for me, it's really about me being true to what I want to do, and it's also giving me authority in my community. So I've been working, doing things for government. I've interviewed pretty much everybody in government here, which is great, because they want to talk about what they're doing, the great job that they're doing in government. I've interviewed so many politicians, and I think it's so crazy because election season is coming up, and I just know my. I was at a networking event last night. I got approached by three politicians. Hey, I want to be on the show. And I tell my listeners, listen, I know this is not a show just about politicians. That's who keep showing up. Like, I want to talk to entrepreneurs as well. But being hyper local gives you the opportunity to be an authority in your community. It also gives you the opportunity to be an influence in your. In your community.

Right? Yeah. So that authority and influence, that's what I talk about all the time. That's actually what my talk will be about, is increasing authority plus influence and what that looks like. And so, yeah, you're doing both. And you can use that for such good.

Mm. For such good. And I, at the top of the show, I normally give a shout out to a nonprofit that's doing some great things in our community because they do great work, and a lot of times they don't get the recognition or they don't get the exposure that they need. So I understand all these things. So I said, you know what? And I think I pretty much shouted out all of the nonprofits in Gwinnett County. So now I'm going to have to move beyond Gwinnett, because I think I did them all. But I think that they do such great work and they have such great causes, and it's a great opportunity to shine the spotlight on some of that and also to make people who may not even be aware that they exist, that they are out there, and that they offer such great services.

So, Audrey, I want to touch on what you're saying about entrepreneurship, because way back when, when I had my first business in 1998. Wow. I'm really dating myself, but I didn't consider myself entrepreneur, even though I was. I didn't consider myself that. I thought of myself as a small business owner, and I think that happens a lot in the local areas. But you've always seen yourself as an entrepreneur from the time you started a doll business with your daughter, which I totally love the idea of that. So what is different about small business owners and entrepreneurship mindset? What are you seeing the difference?

When I think of being an entrepreneur, I think I'm always grinding. As an entrepreneur, you're always on the grind. Now, that could be good and bad, because if you are working in your business and always grinding, that means you don't have a whole lot of time for anything else. And I've been down that road before. I think when people get to the point, this is my personal opinion, when I get. I don't even consider myself a small business chef because I don't have a major team. You know, if you look at the standards by which a small business is judged, it's like, you know, you're making up what, 50 million, $5 million or something, and you got like a team up to 50 people. That's. That's considered small business by the SBA, SBDC standards. So I don't feel like I'm there yet. I feel like I'm an entrepreneur and I'm still grinding. And here's the thing. I love the grind. That's it. I love it.

Yeah. Like, the creativity of it. So you were in the product business, which. The product business is a grind. It's really hard, and it doesn't really matter how big you get. I know that because for 27 years, I've designed and developed products that are sold at mass market and online. And so it's. I know exactly where you're coming from. This is a hard, hard road and hard business. How did you make it work?

It was funny because I was working in pharmaceutical. At a pharmaceutical company, and I had this idea for this doll. Had no idea. The idea just came to me, probably because I hated the job. That's probably what the real problem was.

Your mind was elsewhere. I understand that.

And I had this idea for this doll. Had no idea what I was doing. Tracy had never invented anything in my life. I had written a book by that time, but that was pretty much it. And just started to. Went talk to one of my friends and said, hey, listen, I had this idea for this, and this is actually what I said, hey, I got an idea for this fat doll. And she said, I want to be the president. I did not know that she was a doll collector at the time. She had just purchased a doll for $250. Almost jumped out of my skin. I would say, people pay $200 for a doll. And she said, yeah, she had a whole collection of them. And I was like, oh, my God, we're gonna be rich. That was my first. Oh, my God, we're gonna be rich. I had no idea, Tracy, what I was getting into. None at all. And so for a year, we spent a year on Wall street trying to get money for a doll company, getting doors slammed in our face, and people telling us, that's never gonna happen. You never gonna bring it to market. You know, it was like, constantly. And I remember saying to her, because she's actually from New York, but she was living in New Jersey, and I said to her, there should be no fat people in New York, because you walk everywhere in Jersey. You drive everywhere in New York, walk everywhere. It's hot. You're in the train station. But we did that for a year, and it was a great experience. So we ran that company for five years, manufacturing our product in Hong Kong. After we got the specs done and got our molds done and all that stuff. It was a great experience. It was hard, though. I'm not gonna lie. And I recently went back to my manufacturer, who has been my manufacturer since 1999, and I said, listen, you know, there is a movie coming out about Madam C.J. walker that LeBron James is producing. I need to get that doll. I need to get my blood. So my doll comes in white Black and Latina. And I said, I need my black doll turned into Madam C.J. walker. So I ordered some samples. The doll is beautiful. But here's the problem. Right now the prices are ridiculous because of the tariff wars. So I'm stuck.

They are absolutely ridiculous. So we deal with this all the time. They are there. It's really, really difficult.

Yeah.

If you're shipping direct to consumers, there are some other ways around that. By shipping through Canada, frankly, and it's kind of unfortunate, but there are ways around it. But you have to be shipping direct to consumers. You can't be shipping to warehouses and other things. And there are resources for that. So if anyone's listening in that, that's been their issue. So you can run Kickstarters and programs like that through these types of venues. But, you know, I mean, this is the thing is that it's making it much more difficult to do business right now. Will it ease up? Will it change? Yes, it will. But right now it's a very difficult position to be in.

Yes, it is.

Because price points are so sensitive in retail. So, so sensitive. So you've been talking about doing some of the live podcasts and the live events. Where do you air those? Are you airing them over your Facebook page? How are you doing that or straight through your app?

Only my app directly from my website. So here's the thing. For me, it's like always driving traffic back to my website. So it's like listen to, listen to the show live. Go to goodmorningwinnet.com that's to get my numbers up on my website. And when I look at my stats, like, yes, it's working. So I do a live broadcast directly from my website and through the app.

I highly, highly recommend the website because that's where we see the most value long term for everyone. So that's really great. And you know, most people have a hard time getting people to download their apps, but you with the local, that really makes sense. It gives people a compelling reason to want to download the app because they're going to get a grouping of things that they wouldn't get otherwise. And so I love the idea the app works so well for you. That's really, really great. I'm assuming they can find you on social media somewhere. How did we find you?

On the Good Morning Gwinnett.

On the Good Morning Gwinnett everywhere, I hope.

Yeah, well, IG, well, you know, Twitter only gives you so much space. So on Twitter is GM Gwinnett. On Instagram and Facebook is good Morning, Gwinnett.

Wonderful. Easy to find. So do you have a guest that you. A really big guest get that you'd really like to have that you haven't been able to yet?

Yes. It's a politician, actually. I got a couple of them in politics. Right. I want to interview Elizabeth Warren. I want to interview Kamala Harris. I would like to interview Oprah.

Who wouldn't, right? I think it's every interviewer's dream to interview the ultimate interviewer.

And, you know. You know who else I really, really like a lot? And she hasn't been out for a while because. And I would like to know where she's been is Rachael Ray. If you've never heard of Rachel Ray's story, her story is so wonderful. Like, I have a lot.

I'm a huge fan from when she first showed up on the Today show. I know my daughter used to say that I looked like Rachael Ray when I cooked. And so I was like, okay, good. That's a good thing, I think, right?

Yeah. Cause she's very pretty. I love her, and I haven't seen in a while. I would love to talk to her and ask her, you know, what's going on? Why haven't I seen you in a while? And two other people that I really, really, totally admire is Kathy Hughes, who is the founder of Radio 1, and Sheila Crump Johnson, who is the founder of BET. So they're all in media, you know, all my media faves. But those are the people. And if I could go back in time, Madam C.J. walker.

Yeah. Unfortunately, they got to be alive, huh?

Oh, I love it. I love what you're doing. It's so fascinating. And so now you're going to be speaking at the she Podcast event. So am I. And I'm looking forward to seeing you in person there. What do you hope to get out of the event for yourself, for your.

Growth, more exposure for the show, Also to meet other women again. I had so much fun at PodFest. I felt like I was with my people. That makes sense. Like, I was like, oh, my God, I'm with my people. Just to be around more women. Like, it was a lot of guys at Pie Fest, but I got it. I got to meet some amazing women. So to me, the fact that it's gonna be in my own backyard, that's a great thing as well. And just to shine more spotlight on this industry, because here there are some podcasters, but I don't think they understand, like, the power of podcasting. So collaborations I want to probably do part two. To Pod Chicks. To the book Pod Chicks. I'm sure I'm gonna meet a lot more pod chicks at this event. Just more awareness about what we're doing and more connections.

I love that. Wonderful. Well, I look forward to supporting you while we're there. And I agree with you. I think just getting to meet some amazing women, it's really. We don't get as much of an opportunity to do that. I got this summer an opportunity to give a speech in New York to 200 women in the investment and finance community, and I have never given a speech to that many women at once. Usually it's mostly male audiences where I give speeches. And so it was such a treat, but it was also so intimidating, I have to tell you. I was like, wow, this is harder than I thought it was going to be. I'm a little more. I'm a little nervous, and I'm never nervous on stage, so that was unusual. But I. So I really look forward to that opportunity as well. So. Wonderful. Well, I can't wait to see you there. Everyone, this is Audrey Bell Kearney. She has Good Morning Gwinnett, which is an amazing podcast that's hyper local. So everyone take a listen, check it out, see how different it is. That's the one thing that we're trying to do here on Feed you'd brand center of Influence is expose you to amazing podcasters who are doing such unusual things so that you can get some ideas about how you might want to start your show, how you might want to become an authority, whether it's in your community like Audrey, or it's out in the world somewhere, all, you know, worldwide podcasting, whatever you choose. I'm Tracie Hazzard with Audrey Bell Kearney on Feed you'd brand center of Influence. Thanks for listening. We'll be back next week with a new episode and a new interview.

You've been listening to the Binge Factor Podcast. For more information on podcasting and video casting, 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.