Lipstick Leadership: A Powerful Podcasting Journey With Susanne Mueller Host Of Take It From The Ironwoman

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 Hazard 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 the digital noise with the Binge factor.

Hey everyone, welcome back to the Binge Factor. I'm Tracy Hazzard and I have Suzanne Mueller with me today and I did a little promo for her book the 50 Shades of Lipstick Leadership, which I totally love the name which she sent to me after our interview and it was such a great book and it's got such great inspiring stories and it all came from her podcast. So I definitely want us to chat about that. You're going to hear a little bit about how that development happened. Take it from the Iron Woman and Suzanne Mueller is the Iron Woman. She is originally from Switzerland, based in New York and her professional career started in sales and marketing department of an airline company. It can't get more difficult than that and it was there that she had her eyes open to the world where she's been working across numerous sectors and geographies ever since then. She's coached high potentials and global leaders in industries such as pharma manufacturing, consumer goods, sports apparel, finance, marketing, information technology, advertising, and in the nonprofit and for profit segments. Her coaching style can be described as holistic yet pragmatic. I'm going to tell you, it's not only pragmatic. She is so actively involved in making everything work when she coaches. It's beautiful. She believes that a healthy mindful thoughts are key ingredients for a healthy and successful life. She's been a mentor for the Sherry Blair foundation for Women, Ed Snaps for STEAM students and stand beside them US Veterans as a way of giving back and has volunteered her time providing leadership training in India and Indonesia. She's a TEDx speaker. She has done numerous things in the active industry, anything physical. She's a running coach, active athlete, triathlons.

Marathons, yoga and hiking.

She climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. She's just absolutely amazing. Lipstick Leadership, Empowering and Inspiring Women who Dare to Lead has been such a great book for her and she did such a fabulous fun book launch after our interview though. But you can hear some of the prep up that she can do it and she has her weekly podcast Take it from the Iron Woman We. We can learn so much from her. And I'm going to be back to tell you a little bit more about some of the intros she made for me after our call. So let's go to Suzanne Mueller. Take it from the Iron Woman. Suzanne, thank you for joining me. I'm so excited to talk about Take it from the Iron Woman. And you're such a pro. 428 episodes as we're recording this, do you know that puts you in the elite of the elite, the top 1% of the 1%.

Thank you so much.

Did that give you goosebumps, Bumps I get?

Yeah. Oh, did I. Do I really have that many episodes? Yes, I do. And I recently saw that statistics. So It's. I'm top 1% of the podcasters.

Yeah. Well, it's not even that you're top 1% of the 1%, because most people don't make it past a hundred episodes ever. Most people don't make it past 25 episodes, so the majority of that. But. So if you're in the top 2% of podcasters already, you've chances of are you got past 25 episodes. If you're in the top 1%, you got past 100 episodes.

And if you're in the 1% of the 1%, you got past, got really.

Past 400, almost to 500. And that's where you're on your way to.

Oh, my God, I didn't know. Thank you so much for highlighting this. This is exciting. Okay, so I'm. I'm in a good club. I think.

It is.

It is. And you have a new book that Lipstick Leadership and another one that's coming out too. So we're going to definitely talk about that today. But as I was prepping up here, I realized as you were jumping and I was reading through your bio and everything, I was like, I don't have lipstick on. I better put it on. And I almost never turn on my camera without my lipstick on. So it's so funny that I was like, I got reminded and this the first time ever.

This is so cool. And mostly when I speak to people, they say, oh, yeah, because of you, I put the lipstick on. And I think it makes such a big difference. If you put the lipstick on, you're like, more self confident. You're just more visible in the room. And if you don't have the lipstick, I think Zoom has a functionality where you can actually add lipstick. It doesn't look so natural.

Just put it on.

Yeah, you can get eyebrows and lipstick. Yeah.

Oh, I love it.

Well, you know what? My mom taught me that. So my mom was. Is an artist. She's a beautiful, fine artist. And so she always worked at home, but she never walked out of her bedroom without lipstick on in the morning.

And I always remember that.

And so I never leave my house without lipstick on. I very rarely will even come into my home office without lipstick on because of her. So I do think it has. It changes your mindset. This is work mode for me when the lipstick is on.

I think so. And also a lot of people are laughing when they hear lipstick leadership. What is this? Something cutesy, girly. And then I come with the financials. So 2022, the beauty industry, where the lipstick is located, was a $400 billion industry. And they predict by 2027 the industry will be by 500 billions and it's global. And the majority where that number comes from is the US Or Asia. So you see a lot of people, and I always say people because there's men also who are using lipsticks. And if you look at the art scene, if you go to a theater or a Broadway show, people have lipstick on. So I think this is something that we have to pay attention to. And it's not just a girly thing. It's actually I dissect it a little bit more into learning, listening and leading, because I think lipstick leadership for me started out when I started my blog in many years ago, 2010, and it is about lifelong learning. So I'm using that L word. And so that's why the learning, listening and leading is a part of the lipstick leadership.

I love that. Now are you going to change your podcast name maybe?

No, no.

You like it the way it is.

Say like lipstick Leadership. So actually my journey started out because I have completed 26 marathon races and I've also done one Ironman. And then the book, the first book was Take it from the Iron Woman because I'm a woman. And when I started the podcast Journey in 2019, my friend said, oh yeah, take it from the Iron Woman. This is cool. But I think it's that Take it from the Iron Woman is about healthy lifestyle, health, healthy mindset, running Ironman, but also the entrepreneur ship part that it is. And then the Lipstick leadership is kind of like an add on. And when I talk about empowering and inspiring women or other people, I think it's that we need to empower and inspire others. So you could be an athlete. I call myself a weekend warrior, so I don't do the Iron Man. Anymore. So I, yeah, I say like once an ironman, always an ironman. So this is the mindset, but the Lipstick leadership is like, it's about equality, it's about sisterhood, learning from others and then leading and helping others. And I think this is also what your podcast is about, showcasing others and learn with others. So I think it's actually a marriage in a way. From the Take it from the Iron Woman, which is more feminine, but then Lipstick leadership takes it a notch higher.

I love that.

I.

It's always a consideration when you get far enough in as like, do I want to make a change to my show?

So that's why I was asking about it.

It's like sometimes our businesses shift and change underneath us, but. So you've been consulting and coaching for quite some time. Has it shifted because of the podcast?

Yes, in a way. So the consulting and coaching is always like, take it from the Iron Woman, global business coaching with sports parallels. Because I think you can draw a lot of parallels from the sports into the business. So it's about the determination, it's about the energy never giving up. And we know as leaders, we do the 2% that nobody else would do. Same with the podcast. So I started and I was like, I want to get a hundred. And then 200 came around 300, now 400. I was thinking the other day, 500. Should I stop? Should I keep going? I don't know. But I think sometimes the podcast has more sports and then sometimes we have more entrepreneurs. But I use my podcast almost like a grassroots platform where everybody can share their story, share their happy stories. And some people also share their stories. We have one lady, I used to work with her and she's actually losing her eyesight. And I connected with her and I said to her, why don't we share your story on my podcast? So she has a go fund platform. They need to. Because she cannot drive anymore. They need to build an add on at her son's place. So why not have that on a podcast? She can send it out. It's helping her. And we know research says that when you're helping others that you're actually also feeling better. So it's not that self fulfilling prophecy. Oh, it's about me. The podcast is not about me because if you listen to episodes, I rarely talk. So I'm actually happy to be on your podcast to maybe tell a little story, what my podcast is all about. So when you listen to episodes, you.

Don'T get a chance to do that often enough on your show. Yeah, yeah.

So I let the people talk, share their stories. I mean, if you listen to the lady, she's losing her eyesight. People are like, I want to help her. I want to see what's happening. And we also can learn about her journey. So that's how I use my podcast, but also for networking purposes. So I'm actually looking for a lipstick company and I this morning I was researching a little bit. So what I did actually, very selfish this time now I reached out and I said, hey, I have a podcast, Take it from the Iron Woman. And my book is Lipstick Leadership. Would you like to be a guest on my show? So I'm kind of like reaching out to them because I want them to buy my book or support my book, but they can also share their story on my podcast. So I think that's.

You might also need somebody who's like a little bit more edgy.

So I.

We have something here in California called the Lip Lab. I don't know if you have them out in New York yet. I bet you do. But the Lip Lab, you can go in and have custom made lipstick done. They'll match your. Because how many times have all of.

Us, like, it's happened to me, I don't know how many times. But like, I have a lipstick I.

Totally love and then they stop making it. It happens all the time. Well, you can just bring in whatever like little amount you have left in the tube and they'll match it. They would be great for a podcast advertising because they're already kind of digitally and on the cutting edge with that generation and that would expose your show to a new generation as well. So that might be an IDE sponsor.

So I don't know who's running that, but let's. You should look them up. So all I have to say is it was a great experience going there.

And honestly, I think it cost me less to replenish the lipstick than it did from the original place I purchased it. But they don't make it anymore.

So I don't feel bad about like reduplicating it.

See, that's why we needed to connect today.

That's right. Yeah. You never know where the good ideas.

Are going to come. Well, here's something that I really wanted to ask you about because you started out as a blogger and there is. There are few of us. I mean, it's more of us who started pre2020 for sure, who were bloggers first and then became podcasters. But how are you tying the two things together? Are you still Writing the blog or has the podcast taken over? How has it shifted for you?

That's a very good question, actually, this morning. So I'm writing a weekly blog, and I've 710 blogs that I've written. And it started out when I went first, I lost my job. I went to India for five weeks. And then I was like, this was the time when the book Eat, Pray, Love was out. And I was like, oh, I need to write a blog. And so my motto basically is E for energy, P for play, where I can talk about funky things, crazy things. And then the L3 is the lifelong learning. So that's why the lifelong learning keeps following me. But, yeah, so the blog started out more like a travel blog, and now these days it's more like a leadership blog. And then I was thinking, should I stop? And then I was like, nah, Actually, I sometimes use the blog also when I see an interesting article I write about, and then I know I've written about that article. So if I ever have to go back to an article, I know it's somewhere in a blog. So it's kind of like my.

It's as much for you as it is for everybody else. I do the same thing. I'm always like, oh, here's a great article.

And for us, our blogs and our podcasts are intertwined. That's how I ended up resolving this issue about whether or not I should keep blogging.

I do both, but the idea of.

It inspiring something, I. We definitely do that. And then we'll just talk about it.

On air so we cover it, at least in both places.

But I love that 710 blogs, when I started my podcast, came because I couldn't get enough readers to my blog. Like, that was exactly why I started it. I swear. My dad was my only consistent reader.

And so it was just one of those things.

It's like I was like, what am I going to do? How am I going to get more readers to my blog? And it was start a podcast. And that's how it happened for us. When in the sort of line of things, because you started your podcast in 2019. What gave you that idea? What gave you that sort of impetus to just get started in podcasting?

Yeah. So I think the blog is one thing, because I also use the writing more as my quiet meditation. So it's my time. It's my quiet time. That's one thing. And then I always had an idea of interviewing others because I'm interested, I want to know about others, and I want to Share what others do. And then at one point, the podcast fellowship, it was called that from Seth Godin, came up and I was like, should I, shouldn't I? Should I, shouldn't I? And I was like, ah, let me just do it. And yeah, that was the big. I didn't think too much. Sometimes that's my natural that I just say yes to something and then I think, oh, what is it? But I think it, it has worked well. And I've really connected to so many people from around the world. And actually when you told me that I'm the 1% of the 1%, my podcast is in four languages. English, French, Spanish, German. Oh, five, actually, Swiss German, five. And I have covered all the continents. So I'm trying to find out in the Guinness Book of Records, maybe I get a. I get mentioned there. So that's kind of like my ultimate goal.

I love that you're so competitive in a. In like a. Against yourself.

Right?

Like, that's really what it is. I love that that's the athlete in you, for sure.

I think so, yeah. It's not that I need a gold medal, but I would like to have a recognition of somewhere, something. And I have to say, talking about recognition. So when I wrote the book lipstick leadership in 2021 in the pandemic, so I took some blogs and I put them in the book. I said, like, let me send a copy of the book to Kamala Harris, the vice president of the US she sent me a thank you note. Wow, isn't that nice?

That is great.

Wow.

I love that. And what a good analogy too, because I don't think I've seen her without her lipstick anywhere.

She's certainly leading, so.

Right, exactly.

Well, when we get over 400 episodes and when we get over 200, it starts to become cumbersome in terms of remembering all the episodes, in terms of.

How we refer to it with our.

Coaching clients, in terms of how we organize it on our website. And I noticed that you organize yours by year, so you've got them organized by year. But has that become like kind of a place where you're sitting back going, I really feel like I need to do something different here, like the organization side of the podcast.

So I have a Excel spreadsheet where I have all the episode, the numbers, the date when it's published, the name, what we were talking about. So mostly just the website and where the people are located. And because I've written a book, I had to ask permission of the people if they want to be in the book. So I have, like, a little X that means yes. And then sometimes when I speak to somebody, let's say I recently had a friend and she lost a family member. And I interviewed Diana Nash, who was my professor, but she's also a grief counselor. So I said, maybe you would benefit from this episode. So I'm actually sending now episodes to people that I think, hey, Tracy, you need to meet this person. Or I was on a cool podcast with Ali, and she is the owner of Athlete Bouquet. I hope she's listening to this. And she connected me with others, and I said to her, why don't you go on my podcast and if you need other athletes to be on your podcast, just tell me. Because I know everybody. I can make a connection. So I think this is my organizational part of the Excel spreadsheet. And then obviously, I'm using the simple cast. And then on my website, and I have a dear young woman who is helping me put that on the website, on the YouTube, on Instagram, and I do Facebook and LinkedIn. It's a lot of work. If people think like, oh, podcasting is cool. We know the statistic, like, a lot give up after 20 episodes. I want to say my episodes are between 15 and 20 minutes, and it takes me probably five hours end to end. So you reach out to a person, you record the podcast you edited. My team is me, myself, and I at the moment. And then you listen to it again, you level it, and then you. The social media part, it's a lot of work, and it is a lot of work. I want to do this anymore. And then I'm like, oh, when I can post it and schedule it, I'm like, oh, this feels so good. So I'm kind of like, in a conflict.

Stay in the energy of that. Right? I love that.

Is there anything that stands out for you in all of those? Because that's a lot of episodes. Is it. Is there something that continually stands out to you that you're like, I never forgot this episode, or, I never forget this topic?

I think it's the human element that shines out from everybody. Everybody's doing great work. Everybody's giving back, paying it forward. I've never had a person who. I mean, I had once a person who said, like, I want to promote my book. And I was like, no, sorry, I don't want you on my podcast. I rather have somebody like this lady again who will lose her eyesight or had another friend and she had a fire in the house. People need to know about this. And then we have some fun episode. The guy who did 52 marathons on all the continents, all the states, we need to highlight that. Like, there's so many cool people who do cool stuff and they're not on all the TV stations or they're not celebrities, but they are my celebrities in my heart. So that's what I think. It's the human element and the fun part.

So this is where sometimes we're going to do the binge factor right on the episode like we've been doing. And sometimes I'll be doing it in.

The closed side, as you guys have.

Maybe noticed as you've been listening for a while.

And right here we're sitting on the binge factor of Take it from the Iron Woman. This is what I hear, Suzanne, on your show that you, because it's not a really long show, you go straight into the thing that intrigues you the most. And it is the thing that gets me to go. I really relate to that story. I want to know more about them. So I think you're doing your guest a huge service because you're highlighting that one thing that does make them a celebrity, that does make them special, and then making me want to connect more with them, to hear even more beyond that story. Others you just go, you meander so far before you get into something like that that it's just not fast enough for me to go. I'd like more.

They're like, I feel like I got it, I don't need anymore.

And so you don't get a lot of that connection happening. I bet you your show is making a lot more connections for your guests than they get when they go on another show. So that's high value to it. But it also says your audience is binging because they know you're going to introduce them to somebody really interesting and cool. That's why they binge, that's why they don't skip an episode. So you've created a really wonderful model that works for that short format which not everyone does well.

And I want to add. So I'm an executive coach and in coaching it's also important that you ask one question at a time. You don't ask like da da da da da da what I think and this and the research has shown, what do you think? I'm always like, people just ask one, just ask the question, what is what were pivotal moments in your life? So you want to ask those open ended questions, what were pivotal moments in that time? And then you let the person talk and Then you pick out one element. Oh, I heard you say, tell us more. Or when somebody was.

That must have been really challenging. I want to hear that part.

Right?

Yeah. And it's the coach. So actually the podcast thing has helped me in the coaching and the coaching has helped me for the podcasting. So it's actually listening closer and not multitasking for the listeners who are here. So a lot of people are. I'm listening to a podcast while I'm doing something. Yes, we all do that. But in a way, if it's only 15 minutes, take that time and listen carefully to what the other person wants to share. And then that one question is so powerful that you don't need to ask like 7,000 questions. I think that's what I've learned through the coaching and the podcasting.

And it sounds to me, and this is really common for seasoned podcasters too, but I think you probably been doing it from the beginning, is that you don't over prep your questions. You know a little bit about why you've invited the person on the show, and then it's really, really happening straight on the show itself.

Sometimes I get guests who ask me, can I have questions ahead of time? And I'm always cringing. I'm like, I don't love it either.

You tell me. I made that face because I don't like it either.

Can we just have like a conversation and see where it goes? I have had, let's say, the Spanish speaking podcasts. I send them the question ahead of time because that makes it a little easier. And then I have one podcast with a lady in the Arctic Circle. I actually found her on Facebook and she was in a group of female athletes. Unfortunately, that group doesn't exist anymore. But she sent a message like, hey, people, can you send me a video of your workout? And I was running in Central park and I was like, let me just take a video. And I was in the reservoir in New York City. Hello, this is Sudan, blah, blah. So I sent her a message, Hey, I want you on my podcast. And she sends back a message. I don't speak English. I'm like, oh, what do I do now? So I sent her questions. I mean, she wrote English, so I sent her questions. What do you do? What is your name? How long have you been there in the podcast episode? You would never think that we orchestra orchestrated that like this.

That's so great. I love it. You made it happen either way.

But what an interesting story. So why would you want to miss that? Why not be flexible in how you record then.

Yeah, yeah, I love that. That's so great.

So you're going to be doing a kind of a spin off of your lipstick leadership. We were talking about that before we started airing here where you're going to really take some of your episodes and turn them into 50 shades of lipstick Leadership.

I love that.

So you're going to pick 50 episodes.

Out of all of it?

How are you going to pick them?

Yeah, so actually at the beginning I wanted to take 100 and then I realized, oh my God, this is so much work. So I shifted to 50 and then 50 shades of lipstick Leadership. It's just a cool title so it has to be cool. I shifted between a few other titles but I think I'm very confident with this one. And it sounds like no work at all, but I've been working on that project now for the past six months and day in, day out. So you take the podcast, the wave, the MP3 or MP4, you put it in, I use the script and then you get a transcript that gives you a word document. But then you have all the arms and things that I usually take.

Yeah, we, we know this part well.

Yeah, yeah. Then you have four to six pages of text and some of it does not translate into a story. So basically what I had to do is like reduce the six pages into a two page document to make a story a flow and what is important.

Yeah. And then did you decide to select the episodes so that they like connect up together? That's got to be a hard. I mean to me that's the harder part is how do I pick?

If I've got 428 like you have.

How do I pick the 50?

I just don't want it.

I want them to flow together.

Yeah, As I said before, I'm using that. Listening, learning and leading. So I looked at the episodes that I thought would be interesting to share and actually the first volume, and I'm talking big words, I'm thinking of a second volume. I don't know if it's possible so.

I have to edit that out.

We'll see. But maybe, who knows, maybe somebody's going to help me. It's in a way the first 50 people who also has helped me to get to where I am today. So in a way it's a thank you book to whoever was on.

So that made it a little easier.

For you to choose because you kind.

Of had a, like a mind about which ones did you learn the most from which ones. Yeah, that makes sense. Because you got to have some kind of reason for choosing them, I think.

Yeah. And I wanted to have representation of each continent, which I have.

Oh, see, that's.

You've got such a Guinness Book of such a planner.

You have to be thinking through that whole picture. I love that.

Is it. Is there any area that you feel you haven't touched on yet that you're looking for topics or guests?

Yes. I mean, at the moment, people send me guests, and it's almost a little embarrassing that I sometimes have to say no.

So I don't know. I don't have a polite answer. I'm happy to connect with a lot of people. I'm happy to be connected with others. I want to learn. So in a way, I don't want to say no. But if people. Let's say as a stupid example, if people are smokers, I don't want to have them on my podcast. I want people with healthy mindset, people who are paying it forward, who have a cool story, who have overcome some obstacles, and who have a message for the world. And a lady in South Africa who is producing desks for children so that they can actually put that. It looks like a box, but they can make a desk, and they have a solar light so they can do their homework. Because if you have a desk, you tend to do your homework more often than when you have to sit on the floor. I want to have people like this so that we can showcase it in the world. And maybe she's not that known around the world, but this is what I want, so I want cool people. Who I really want is the Iron Nun. Oh, have you heard of the Iron.

I have heard.

I saw. I read an article about it.

Not like a month ago or something about her.

I know. Cool.

So what I did. I know the Iron Nun is a sister and she is in a monastery. And I sent a message because my sister said, just send a message. So I send a message and say, I would like to introduce Iron Nun to my podcast. And I said, I'm from Switzerland. My sister has a Ph.D. in theology. So to warm them up, you got.

To give them a reason, right?

Yeah, some salesy stuff. And actually, they got back to me and says, we sent your message on to Sister Iron Nun, and if she wants to be a guest, she will come onto your show. But, I mean, she's 93 or 95 years old. I don't want to give up. This is my dream. No, don't give up.

Yeah, yeah. Just. I mean, I'm always surprised There, there are over time where someone, you think they're never going to come on the show and you ask and they just do. And they're the best, most gracious guest and they usually are the ones who thank me the most afterwards. And I'm like, oh, my gosh, you.

Did me a huge favor by coming on. That's what I always think.

And where sometimes the people push the hardest to be on your show are the worst guests.

It's the opposite, isn't it?

I know. Yeah, it's. Yeah. I mean, obviously I would like to have a celebrity like Daniela Ryf, who is the super iron Woman. I think she's in her last year of her career, so I don't want to push her so much, but I will. She's from Switzerland, so I can reach out to her. Roger Federer would be somebody I would love to have.

Well, and we've got the Olympics coming.

Up before we were recording this right.

In France. Is there. Are you going to do anything special? Are you doing some tie in? Are you bringing on any special guests during that time period or you're just going to let it flow?

That's a good idea. I actually had a person who was in the Olympics in Sydney Paralympics, so I have already an Olympian on my show. But yeah, that's a good thing.

I think I have a perfect guest.

For you I'm going to introduce you to. And he does a lot of the.

With the Olympic organization and the Paralympics.

So I've got somebody for you. So maybe you could squeeze them in and then have a special episode right during the Olympics. So I'll let you know. But, you know, I think that as.

You get to this stage and an.

Iron woman, an iron man, that is.

Endurance takes a lot of training, a lot of effort, a lot of time. How have you focused on podcasting from that endurance perspective as well? Because I really want people to keep podcasting because as you and I both know, the more you do it, the more rewards that are there. But they give up too quickly. So is there any tactics, are there any things that you use in your coaching and consulting business that could translate to teaching someone about how to endure this podcasting marathon?

It is a marathon. Yeah. From the coaching perspective, it's about setting a goal and setting a goal we all know we need to set a smart goal. So specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timely. So can I make one episode per week? And initially I did actually two episodes. That's why I accumulated so many episodes in a way to become more than 400. It's about setting a realistic goal. Do you have the time, do you have guests or do you want to be alone? Host on mic. Initially, I think host on mic is intimidating, but it can be actually easier because you don't have to hone down a guest and record. And you can go at your own pace. So that might be something. And then think about the topic that you want to talk about. So start up with a topic and you can always change. And you mentioned like we have changed. So if you maybe listen to my first few episodes and now to an episode, it has changed quite a bit. The pacing, the guests or anything. And don't overwhelm yourself. Like you have to have a podcast every single day. I would not recommend that.

I really don't recommend that.

Have a podcast once a month and also start small. Right? Interview somebody that you know who is helping you a little bit. Don't get a celebrity person as the first person that you want to interview. Get a family member or get a friend of a friend who can help you. Oh, your podcast sounds so interesting. So you can elevate your profile a little bit. And then you go to the outer circle. And I mean, I have interviewed Seth Godin. You want to be prepared when you interview a person like him. You want to research that person what I think or when I was preparing for that episode, I didn't want to ask all the same question that people already have asked. So I asked him about networking and I saw that at one point he was with Richard Branson, Mary Folio and some other high ranking people. So I've asked like, how is it to network in those circles? And I was like, oh, to me, at least I thought that was a pretty cool question. And then I'm like, how can I get into that next level? And I think he said it's about networking, but it's about doing meaningful work. And he always says, create something that if one person listens, you have changed their lives. So if only you, Tracy, are listening to my podcast, I've changed your life. And I know my dear friend Ian. He is listening to all my podcast. He's my, my greatest supporter.

I love that.

He was on my 200th episode and when I see him, he says, can I be on your podcast again? So I'm like, okay, you were on the 200th podcast. This is kind of 500's coming up.

You might have to have your biggest fan at least do a little spot.

I think so.

Yeah. I would like to invite him for the book launch.

I love that idea, though, that you.

Were just saying there, where you're focusing on making one change. I mean, to me, you and I recording this is way more important than how many people are listening to me.

I hope people are listening because I.

Hope I want them to hear you.

Not because, oh, I really care about the vanity of my numbers. I don't care. I will do it anyway.

And for the same reason, if I do a coaching call and one person shows up, I will coach exactly the same as I would if there were a hundred people there.

Because that.

That's the mindset that it really takes, is that I'm making a difference. It does not matter how big that difference is, because that difference is what is my. Where the real reward comes from is in the doing.

I think so, yeah. And it's also with the coaching. Right. So people always want to hear results and statistics. And I'm like, I don't sometimes. Yeah. I look at the statistic. What I like is to see where people are listening from. So I see the map of the world and I see the yellow points. I'm like, oh, this is exciting. But the numbers, it's not so important. I see if you have a person who is actually sharing the podcast with others, that's when you see when the podcast goes up. But if, let's say, Seth Godin is not sharing the podcast that he had with me, but I get a little more. She has a celebrity, so maybe then people are listening in. Yeah, it's. It's not so much about the number. I think it's about showcasing others. And also, you mentioned something, actually, for me, the before and after the podcast, when I record is sometimes the best for me.

And now it's my favorite part, too.

Yeah. So you get to know the person, you network a little bit, and then you're like, I need to connect you with this person. Oh, what about this book? What about this article? So I think it's that exchange that we have, and the listeners, they don't see that. So I think it's that what we do behind the scenes, which is actually more work than anything else, is actually way cooler, I think, than the podcast energy. I mean, I'm very proud of all the podcast guests that I have. But the before and after is, to me, again, something really cool and special.

Oh, it is. Well, you have a really special show. Take it from the iron Woman, Suzanne Mueller. I just love what you're doing, and.

I really hope you're gonna go for another 400 plus. I really hope you will, because I'd really love to see you be really elite.

Okay, well, we need to get that iron on. And the person from the Olympic team, that would be very cool.

We will work on that. Well, thank you so much for joining me today. I so appreciate you.

Thank you so much for having me.

One of the things I love most about Suzanne is that she's so active in pushing what she's looking for in the world and making sure that she embodies that. So many people talk about on coaching and other things that they are big connectors, but then the connections, they just, I'm going to say, throw it out there. Like they connect you to anyone and everyone. Oh, who can I connect you with? Without a lot of thought and intention, Suzanne has brought some really intentional connections. The very. And I'm going to give you a little preview. Last episode of this format of the Binge Factor is someone that Suzanne introduced me to, Craig Constantine. And I'm super excited about you to hear from my interview with him. And that happened all because of an introduction that she made. She has really, truly taken the power of collaboration, the power of cross promotion, the power of connection from podcasting and from her book, and turned it into something at a whole new level. And I don't think you can expect anything but that from someone who performs at such a high level as an Iron Woman, of course. But one of the things that I love most about her is that, like, I've been made a couple of small introductions to her, but she has just taken them and run with them, and they have turned into some great connections for her and for people around her. That's amazing. If you're going to put your podcast out there and you're going to put your connections out there, then you've got to take them, maximize them, and make the most of each of them. And that's something that she does just absolutely brilliantly. And when she does that, who can't return? So here's what happened. So her book wasn't read, wasn't out yet. It was coming. She was gonna have a book tour. She was gonna have a book launched. She wanted to have a livestream book launch, which I couldn't make, but instead I recorded a video for her where I gave a testimonial on this book. And I'd only been able to read a couple of chapters, mind you, but it was still, I had already at least gotten in that far to be able to say that and to give a promotion for her and give her that video as a thank you because I couldn't not show up for her because she showed up for me. That's that brilliant reciprocity that had happened so often on a podcast. So Suzanne Mueller, someone to know, Check out her podcast. If you have a podcast, she's the guest for you. She's going to do a fabulous job. You absolutely want to invite her on the show. So take it from the Iron Woman, Suzanne Mueller. Go check out her show, subscribe to it, listen to it, get some inspiration from the amazing guests she has. But also listen because she does some brilliant things about the way that she asks questions and the interest level that she expresses in everyone that she interviews. And that's just a beautiful thing. And I just love it when I get to see someone doing such an amazing job and being well over 400 episodes on top of it. So go check it out and be stay tuned for that episode with Craig Constantine, which is going to be my very last episode of this format of the Binge Factor, so you're not going to want to miss it. So I will still be back because I've got a couple of more for you in between. I will be back next week with another great podcaster here on 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.