Make Ripples Of Impact With A Heartfelt Nonprofit Podcast Like Kala MacDonald, Founder Of Yoga To Cope

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 the digital noise with the Binge Factor.

Hey, everyone.

Welcome to the Binge Factor. I'm Tracy Hazzard and today I've got a yoga show for you. A yoga podcast show. Now, you know, maybe those two things don't seem like they go hand in hand because yoga seems like it might be something you might want to do only as a video, right? You might want to do Instagram TV, you might want to do a YouTube show, you might want to do a TikTok if you're doing things about yoga. But this topic lends itself really well to podcasting. So I have Kayla McDonald on. Her show is called Yoga to Cope and that's also the name of her organization, her nonprofit. So Kayla lost both of her younger brothers, Jordan to homicide in 2013 and and Breton to suicide in 2016. So they were 21 and 22. During her times of grief, Kayla dove deeply into yoga practice that carried her through these unimaginable losses, vowing to become a teacher so she could share the myriad benefits of foundational, purposeful yoga practice. She studied in Bali to learn her current 500 hour certified yoga teacher status from Zuna Yoga. She specializes in foundational tantric hatha yoga, particularly to combat depression, anxiety and stress. See, now you see the tie in to why it's so perfect for podcasting. In 2020, Kayla authored her first book, Grow, Eat, Breathe, Repeat. When Kayla isn't working to grow Yoga to Cope or hosting the organizational's weekly podcast, you can find her teaching privately to our wonderful clients. Hosting women wellness retreats around the world are cozy at home in LA with her husband and their dog Larry. So Kayla has taken on a lot. She's getting her master's degree, she's got a lot going on and she's built a great show and a show that's so uniquely focused on, you know, coming out of pain and when we are in people's ears, when we're in their ear. With our podcast, we have a great opportunity to influence people, to help to create a broader reach for not just the people that were listening to our show, but the People beyond that, the people that they touch, the people that they become because of listening to our show. And that's really something special. So I am so excited to have Caleb McDonald on the show and have her talk about the genesis of Yoga to Cope and some of the brilliant things she's been doing with growing this show. And it is a fabulous show that you're going to want to check out both the style of how she does her interviews and these interesting little mini episodes that she does that you're going to want to model. So please stay around. Let's hear from Kayla McDonald.

Hey, Kayla. Welcome to the show and excited to talk Yoga to Cope, which sounds like why am I excited to talk about that? But I think it's so important what you're doing, and I really would love for you because I touched on it in the intro, but I'd love for you to tell why this is so important to you, why you had to start the show.

Yeah. Well, thank you first of all, for having me and taking the time. It's a really long story, so I'll give kind of the. I'm not good at summarizing, and the people who listen to my show know that. And it's really what makes podcasting something I enjoy because I can just talk and talk and talk. But as concisely as I can put it, Yoga to Cope is a nonprofit that I founded at the end of 2018. And it really came because I've lost both of my younger brothers, my brother Jordan to homicide and then my brother Brenton to suicide almost three years to the day apart. And obviously, those are both very sudden and traumatic ways to lose a person. And at the time, I mean, I'm young now still, I like to think, but at the time, you know, I'm like early to mid-20s, I'm just getting out of college and into work. I don't have health insurance. I can't afford therapy. I. I don't want to be on medication. But I was already going to yoga classes. And it's like without doing anything different, without going to different teachers, different studios, all of a sudden, yoga just turned into this different experience that was really profound and healing to me in a way that I didn't even fully understand. I just noticed myself coping somehow differently than the people around me who had also experienced a loss. I just came around to my first yoga teacher training. At some point in there, I decided this is important. I feel really strongly about that. Maybe my life is guiding me in this yogic direction. I did My first teacher training and it's sort of like I got to peek behind the curtain a little bit and was like, oh, that's why it works. And all of a sudden I had all these not just experiences, but tools that I could share. And Yoga to Cope. If I had to boil it down to one word to sort of sum up that whole story really came down to accessibility. I don't think that yoga is the most accessible thing in the world, and yet it's so important and powerful that I feel it should be more accessible. So Yoga to Cope's mission is to offer free yoga based resources to people coping through trauma, grief, depression and the like. And then we, pretty quickly, toward the beginning, started a podcast as an extension of the organization to just keep the education going. Here's some different voices, not just mine, and it's just kind of grown from there. So.

Wow. You know, it's such a powerful and fantastic story in terms of like the growth that you took over that time period. And you do tell it on the show. So if anyone wants the longer versions. She tells it as one of her episodes, which I'm so glad you did because, you know, it wasn't actually your first episode. I think it's a little bit. It's like your second or third or something. So, you know, I was looking for it because I read your bio and I said, now I have to find this story in here. It's in here somewhere. And I think that's so important that when we have a powerful story behind our show and behind the mission that is building our show, we have to tell that we don't just dive into this idea that we're a host and that has this separation. No, this is personal. It is personal for everyone. And so I'm glad that you bring that forth in every episode you do and especially telling your story.

Yeah. Thank you. It's really hard too. Like, I feel, I have felt at times it's like this roller coaster, right? It's a wave that I ride of. It isn't only my story to tell. I'm just telling my perspective of these losses and then what's happened since. But there's like guilt that comes up and there's awkwardness that I feel sometimes of like, oh, should I have shared that? Is it too much detail? Am I too much? Is my story too much? And it's like clockwork. We'll get it DM on the Yoga to Cope, Instagram or something of someone just so random reaching out and being like, I just listened to this episode from a year and a half ago. And like, it just changed my whole day and I learned something and thank you for what you do. And I'm like, okay, it's not for everybody, but it's for someone.

You know, it had a purpose and it's out there. Well, you know, you've tipped over a hundred episodes, so you've hit that point at which you're. You should be being reached out to on a regular basis. So I'm glad to hear that you are. Did it surprise you that you would get messages back on those early episodes like, you know, you did them. They were therapeutic in their own way. You were done with them and you've moved on, but they're catching up with you.

I know it's very strange in the best way that it could be because something that I've always said is it's definitely in part for me. You know, I interview the guests I interview and do the many episodes that I do for myself because I'm interested in these things too. And I also hope that it translates and meets someone else wherever they're at.

At.

Which isn't always at the time that I put it out. You know, it's really.

I don't.

Fun isn't the word. Cool isn't the word. It's heartwarming. I guess I could say to just feel like what I've always said, if I reach one person, especially on the suicide front, because we do talk about that quite a bit and just like self worth, it's like if we bring some one person away from a decision they're about to make, that's worth it. And then of course, we hope we reach more than one person. But a life is a life is a life and we're really just sort of trying to constantly celebrate it and remind people that theirs is worthy and they're worthy and they're just these beautiful magical creatures that I think we forget that we are in the density and the speed of life. And yoga really gives us all these tools to sort of dive into that.

You know, sometimes we do this podcast and we do our programs and we have these other things and we don't actually count. And because it's not as clear cut, right? It's not a download or a play, a listener, a subscriber, right. But there are ripples, right? Who knows that person that may change their decision, who you helped? Who knows how many more people they reach, how many more ripples you've created from that? So that's something really powerful. That we have to keep remembering that, you know, we do this show in isolation, but the ripples are going out there. I mean, we've put it out there for a reason. And just because we can't see the results doesn't mean it's not happening out there. So our measurements have to be a little bit different.

Very true. It's so true. And in isolation, even more so in the last year. I mean, I record this podcast, edit, get the guests. It all happens right here. And so then you, like, hit upload, and all I've done is hit a button, and I'm like, I have no clue who's digesting that thing that I just put into the world. Who's gonna hear it, Right?

We don't know who our subscribers are.

Oh, you know, we know when they reach out, but, like, for every one person who reaches out, 300, don't you know, it's. And you can kind of see the numbers. And I don't know what that means. Like, I really am just the talker, and I don't know anything about the behind the scenes.

So what I'm gonna tell you without revealing Kayla's numbers, but Kayla has some great numbers for a show that's in a niche. Right. So when we have a show that might be niche, and so not only is she a yoga show, but she's a yoga show that's, you know, dealing with more emotional issues at the same time. So she's got both going on. So that could be seen as very tightly niched. But at the same time, she's got some great, average numbers going on, if you want to call them average. So what we don't always realize is really the resonant volume of what we're doing. Right. Over time, it's compounding over time, it's having those ripples. So you're on your path. Kayla, I can tell you from having reviewed hundreds and hundreds of shows, probably upwards of a thousand. And so you got a great show going. You're on a great path. You've hit over a hundred episodes, and there's some success things that you've done. What I'd love to do is do our five things and get everyone to hear some of those things, and then we can talk a little bit deeper about the way you structure your show, because I'd love for people to hear the difference between your mini episodes and some of the other things that you do. So our five things. How do you get great guests? How do you find those guests that can tell such great Stories.

Really good question. It's a lot of quote unquote cold calling. I don't use my phone to talk on the phone ever. So that's not literal. But it's a lot of just like DMing people and hoping that they see it, emailing people, hoping that they see it. And it's really just I always go in with this is an invitation, not an expectation. Sometimes they write back, sometimes they don't. Sometimes they write back and say no. And occasionally we get someone. And as far as choosing people, it's really always this sort of kind of what you're saying, a ripple effect in a different sense of I start following this person and they mention this person. I click on them, oh, I love what you do. And they're advertising this book. I read the book, I love it. I reach out to the author and probably the two people that I touched on to get to that author. And one of the three comes on the show and they can all kind of speak to something similar because they're in a little sort of echo chamber there. And then I step out of that one and find another one. So it really is a lot of just reaching out, trying to give an elevator pitch of what I do and what I would love for them to come on and speak about while being specific so they know what they're saying yes or no to. And then just waiting and hoping I will say. In our first year of the show, I had a guest on every week and we've now switched to a guest every month, which has been a lot more manageable for me as this kind of yoga Cope's not a one woman show, but the podcast kind of is. So that's been a lot better for me to handle.

I think it actually serves you pretty well because your mini episodes are really great. So you get more of those then. So then increasing listeners, right? Like, so the next thing we want to do besides get great guests is increase our listeners. How do you do that?

Really great question. I'm definitely still learning. I should preface with I don't feel like I have all the answers to any of these five questions.

This is the question that everybody says that at the very beginning of it.

I believe that you're not alone. I think it's like trying to use social media as the tool that it is and not taking it too seriously. I want the show to be taken as seriously as it can be. But also, like, there's some lightness and some playfulness and some fun. And of course I want people to listen you know, Yoga2Cope being the nonprofit and us being as new as we are, relatively speaking, we're not making money off of the show yet. I don't feel like my success or failure with the organization depends on how many listeners we get it yet. So I do feel a sense of freedom and I want people to listen, of course, but I'm not attached to that number. However, we have a few volunteers who are much better versed in social media than I am, who do a lot of sharing, a lot of tagging. It's like not just the story, but the story and the feed post. And lately we've been trying to get guests who are open to also sharing it on their end. So then you're kind of hitting two audiences who both are probably interested in the content. So someone recently we talked to is Kelty Knight. She's this Entertainment Tonight correspondent, TV personality, and like lady boss entrepreneur with upwards of one hundred and something thousand followers. And she shared it on her page and that's great exposure for us. That is also relevant exposure. So we're really trying to kind of not get too out of our lane so that we stay consistent. And I'm losing the word I'm looking for here, but real. That's not the word I'm looking for, but that kind of gives you a sense.

Authentic.

Exactly. Yep.

Yeah. You know, this is the benefit though of having an organization or a business that can help you with the posting as well, because then they're sharing your show. It doesn't feel like you're constantly promoting to your friends and family. Right. So they're sharing it out to the organization, the members and the people that are truly interested in topic overall. So that helps.

Yeah. Because really I do want growth. My ego self. Of course I want growth, but I want it to be authentic. And if that means it's a little slower, I'm cool with that.

So you want it to be the right people who can benefit the most.

Exactly. Yeah.

So you said you're a one woman show here on the podcast, so you're producing it like a pro. I have to say, Kayla, you're doing a great job on your own. I feel for you. This is why I have an entire production company, because why I didn't want to do that. But what do you think that you do that makes it the most professional? What do you spend the most time and energy on?

So I'll say I really appreciate it at the beginning of this, if I may peel back this curtain a little bit where you were like if you want to say anything a different way or if you want any, if you're like, oh, I didn't like the way that came out, you edit it. And it's okay for me to kind of self edit. I offer the same thing to my guests before I hit record so that they feel comfortable just speaking and knowing that I'm not going to put anything out they don't want out there. But I don't tend to have a lot of people take me up on that. So I don't do a lot of editing of the actual conversation. It's pretty much start to finish. I used to take out all the ums and all the pauses and now I'm like, leave them in my time is worth more than these ums. Like they don't, you know. But I think what makes for me, what makes it feel more professional and more like I deserve to be in my Apple podcast list alongside all the other shows I listen to, is I spent a little time putting together cover art that, like, when I scroll through my podcast, I don't stop and see mine. It doesn't stand out. It looks like it belongs there. And it's just a photo that someone took of me rolling out a yoga mat and our logo laid over the top of it. Simple. But it just makes it feel like packaged. I spent like $5 on a royalty free site for a little jingle. Nothing to it. It's so basic and simple. And it's like now I have transition music and intro music and it was so easy to figure out. And I just use GarageBand on my computer. I did spend money. The only thing I've spent money on, maybe this is interesting for anyone out there on a mixer. So I have the RO, like mixing board.

So for those of you who don't know what that is, she's got a mixing board which actually helps her level the sound before she has to edit it. So this is, you know, we edit all of our shows, podcasts, we edit, you know, over a thousand a month. And so, you know, when we look at what's going on there, we say the bad audio in just makes a whole lot more work afterwards. So if you get better audio in, you're saving yourself a lot of time and energy. So worthwhile investment.

So worthwhile. And I mean, I don't know if all podcasts would qualify, but as a nonprofit, we got some really amazing shure microphones donated. So we have really good mics. And the mixing board, I mean, it was like 7 or 800 bucks, but well worth it because when I have a guest in person, which hasn't happened in a while because of COVID but I can record our audio separately, mix it before we start. And then it just, it's so easy. And then I think the last thing I could say about kind of the whole package is I've recently. It was all me. I've recently outsourced to some of our volunteers to do the little blurbs about like our book club and about our Facebook group and things we have coming up. So you hear different voices, almost like what feels like ads at the beginning of the show, but they're all for yoga to come. Things that we have going on. But you get to hear from people again who it's not just my voice anymore. And that for me has been the most exciting part of this whole organization growing is having a team.

It makes it feel so much more professional. Well, it does sound really professional. And for all of you listening out there, you know that I am going to send you to the show. There's going to be show notes in the binge factor@the bingefactor.com places for you to go check out what Kayla's doing. But you want to listen to those promo spots. They're nice and short, they're heartfelt. You can feel the energy of the people who love yoga to cope in the promos. And that's really important. And you know when you're building a community as heart centered and valuable as your community that you're building because it's centered around an organization with such a good and an important mission, we don't want to have promos in there that feel salesy. It wouldn't fit.

No, I mean the only ad that we've ever done for just kind of a small donation to our organization was with a life insurance policy. And it started because we did a life insurance episode because that is sounds really boring in theory, but in context of losing two of my younger brothers when they were 21 and 22 and neither of them had life insurance policies and it makes a lot of sense and is actually a really important, like personal topic to discuss. So it again, it was authentic and it made sense. So I loved that. But we're hoping to do some in the future. Again, authenticity always. And I'm just gonna let that build naturally, not forcing it.

I'm so glad. So encouraging engagement. That's our fourth thing that we usually talk about. And so you said you've been posting out on our social media posts about the episodes and information how are you encouraging engagement from the community? Are you getting them to ask you questions, suggest topics, things like that?

Yes. So we love, I mean, I personally love the feature on Instagram where you can just put the little question box and people can type whatever they want. So we'll ask like, what do you want to hear mini episodes about this month? Like give us some topic ideas or like what have we talked about before? That needs a little more like a follow up episode. A Part 2. What Guests do you want me to speak to? That's always really nice when I'm just kind of like, I don't have any like roads to go down right now, I'm busy or whatever. It's like, give me an idea. Who do you want to hear from? And more often than not we get an idea that plays out and we have them on and then we do a lot of like follow up, like the episode posts and then we're like, have you listened yet? And it's a little poll of like, yes or it's in my queue or like, not yet, but I'm listening tonight. And it's really cool to see people, like, we don't have to give them the option to say, no, I'm not listening, but it's just cool to see people like, I haven't listened yet but thanks for the reminder. I'm actually going to listen now and you know, we'll get the screenshot of the thing people post like, this episode was so great. I loved it. Go listen to this show. Really love when people with the Swipe up feature have that. Because we don't yet. Because we're not.

We don't either.

Can we please all as businesses and organizations have the Swipe up option. It'd be so helpful. So if anyone wants to go follow us, we're looking for that 10k so we can swipe up.

That's right. We're all actively seeking that. That's right. I. That is so frustrating where you're like, I want that feature because I could be using it right now. But you know, it just occurred to me that we're testing out something that we've tried and the two things you mentioned there, so you mentioned like, you know, asking about like who you'd like to have featured as a guest and the poll idea, what my team started telling me, my social media team just gave me a full like recap of what we did last year and some strategies and tactics they like to try. I like to let my team experiment and one of the things they said was that the open ended questions didn't do as well as our polls did. And so it occurred to me just now as you were saying that that some of those guests who haven't maybe answered you yet could end up in your poll. So there's an ego boost if they get vote upvoted so that then they're going to want to come on the show and you can tag them. So you could kind of make, kind of push them into getting on your show. That might be a great strategy.

That's a good idea. Build a little pressure. If I may. I know I don't want to take up too much time, but one co story that you just reminded me of. We have a book club and it's so great because there's a Facebook community. We do like weekly discussions and then kind of a digest. We did a live event with the book Zen and the Art of Happiness by Chris Prentice. It's a very small, like the tiniest, skinniest little book ever. I think it's like 80 something pages. It was such a quick read but we still took the whole month to digest it. Cause it's just like so much amazing information. And at the live event we got the author to come because one of our social media wizards tagged his son because the author isn't on social media, tagged his son, his son, got in touch, made a donation to the organization and got his dad to come speak at the event and he stayed like an hour overtime. Just like being with us and answering people's questions. It was amazing.

So you know, monetization is our next thing. And so your book club doesn't make you money. Where are you able to send people from the podcast into your organization that helps, you know, with donations and funding?

Yeah. So you know, the podcast ads is definitely a place I want to explore, but we're not there yet. Book club, we're not making any money directly from you know, like we haven't partnered with say like an audio book company or anything like that. We do get, I would say the bulk of our money that we get coming in all in forms of donations. Like and I say everything is relative. Small quote unquote donations saying less than 50 bucks, I'd say from two streams. So Amazon Smile. We really encourage people who are in our community to go into Amazon, into Amazon Smile settings and you can choose a charity. It doesn't have to be yoga to cope, but would love for it to be. You can choose a charity and then every time you shop on Amazon, which we all do it doesn't cost you any extra. Amazon gives like 5% of your purchase to your chosen organization. And that adds up.

It does. So I use the Amazon Smile all the time in my app. And so the thing was I only used to use it on the computer when I was doing it because it was harder to use and I didn't realize how simple they'd made it. And only in the last few months did I do it. But it tallies up and says, you donated this much this month and it's or this sale made this much for your charity. It's kind of awesome. It has this positive reinforcement of, yeah, I'm consuming things, but I'm also giving back.

Exactly. I mean, for any connotation that might be like leaning negative that we feel about Amazon, this is like the silver lining. The like, you know, I don't feel as guilty when I know some of that purchase is going to my organization. And that's not to me, but to like our collective efforts. And then the other avenue, Amazon Smile, it adds up and that's pretty good for us. The other avenue is really just we have a donate button on our Instagram and on our website and people just go in and set up either a one time or a monthly donation. And those monthly ones are especially, are just like so helpful. And again, they're quote unquote, small amounts. But if a few people add a monthly donation to us just like they would pay for a Netflix subscription, that all adds up. And that all helps us keep the lights on, expand into new ventures. We're getting into video content right now. So that, I mean, it all takes money and effort. We've done an in person training, we want to do more that involves travel and lodging and the cost of putting on an event. So it all adds up. And so far I'm both proud to say we're all community sourced in those ways and also wish that our community could just like let go and we could be funded by like some amazing grant or something.

But one day maybe we'll put it out there. Okay. Yeah, that's right. You know, you never know. So Krista Karpowich was on the show Wag Out Loud Podcast and she came on one of our clubhouses to talk further about sponsorship. And I had made the suggestion that she should try to be the core podcaster or a podcaster at an event, like go in there and podcast an event. And today I got a phone call asking if I had any pet podcasters for a podcasting event. So you never Know, we say it right here, it may just manifest.

That's right. We'll seek for more sponsorship from a higher source.

Right.

I love that. That's wonderful. Well, you were talking a little bit about video, but I'd love to talk about mini episodes and your video. Like what are the new strategies of things that you're putting in place? So you've had these minisodes for quite some time, but you've expanded them and been doing more of them lately.

Yeah. So mini episodes used to be the kind of seat filler when we couldn't get a guest or someone canceled last minute. It's like I have all the equipment, I could just go on and talk and. Really what? Yoga2Cope is an educational organization. So our goal is education. And that's something I'm passionate about too, on for profit side of my work and what I do. But within the organization, those mini episodes, I just always kind of, of course wanted the guests. And it's a bummer when someone cancels like day of or they're sick or their kid is home and they can't, you know. But then I would really get excited like, oh my gosh, I just have like a free 30 minutes. I can talk about whatever I want and sort of like teach on a topic or subject about yoga or mental health or grief that I want to talk about right now. And it sort of like fed my ego a little bit. But also they were always so well received. So I've started a master's degree program in yoga studies over the last year which has severely cut down on my free time. So we kind of flipped it. So now we do a guest our last Monday of every month and many episodes. Every other Monday of the month. Not every other. Like all of the other.

All of the other Mondays. Yeah.

And it's been really nice because like some of them kind of what you were alluding to will sort of match up with the video content we have coming out. So for example, we talk about meditation seats on an episode. Why is it important? Maybe you've tried meditating and you're like, I'm not good at this. It's not for me, my foot's asleep. And maybe the one puzzle piece that you're missing and then you could just like take off in your meditation journey. Is that your meditation seat? You're just trying to sit on the ground cross legged and that doesn't work for your body. So here's that packaged into a mini episode and then here's a video that goes with it. Of me showing you different props, using different furniture, different seat types. Some your legs are crossed, some they're not, Some you're sitting, some you're laying. Just to give people, like, a visual side of all of this, and hopefully that expands more. Again, we're kind of just kind of going with the flow as it happens, but that's kind of where we're at right now. And I selfishly love the mini episodes because, again, I just.

So this is what I really like about what you're doing there. And this, I think, is a really great strategy when you're giving somebody not the exact same thing on YouTube or on your video channel that you're giving them on your podcast. Podcast, you're giving them something special and different. So we used to have a 3D print show, and we would do these videos that were like, so you want to see this piece being printed? We'll share that with you. You can go see it. We couldn't say it on air, right? So, like, this isn't something you could talk through. It's like, you want to go see it? Here it is. And so we used to have these in these bonuses that were the videos, and we could drive more people to our website to see those videos embedded right there in the blog post than we would, you know, if we had just given the same talk save that video to an audio file. It's not quite the same. And so, you know, and then. So they're listening to it and they don't feel that compelling need, that they're missing out on something visual.

Yes, because. Yeah, exactly. Because I speak about meditation seeds and meditation in general and the benefits and the shortfalls that are really common. And then it's like, go watch this video and I'll show you what I'm talking about. The only other thing I could add to that is something we actually haven't advertised yet. Here's a scoop for you. We have started recording the zoom, like, video interviews that we've done and put those up so people can watch us do the interview if they'd rather than listen to it. But again, we haven't advertised them yet. But the content exists, so, you know.

It'S coming out there. That's great. I love multimedia. That's why we love video, to audio, to blog, to social share. You get it all in and you're touching on everyone's. My mom never listened to any of the. I mean, I've been a podcaster like, five years before. She listened to her first episode, really, and it was because it was on YouTube. It was an episode like with literally no video. It was just an audio gram. But that was how she heard her first episode. So she just didn't feel comfortable with the app. But totally fine with YouTube. So you never know. You never know where your listeners are going to be and your goal is to reach as many of them as possible. So.

Yeah, yeah.

So, well, wonderful. Well, what's really, I'm going to say next in terms of it, because you're getting done with your master's program. Congratulations on taking that on. So that has, I mean, I have to say when I heard that on your episode, I thought, I can't believe that you stayed so consistent, keeping your episodes going. Even when you couldn't get the guests, you did your mini episodes, you kept it going, which is such a credit to you. Because, look, if you didn't show up as a yoga teacher week after week, your students would get pretty upset and they'd be leaving you. So your organization requires you to show up, and especially people in need require you to show up. And you've managed to do that amid an extremely busy life. So great job there, Kayla, on that. But you know, now that things might start freeing up a little bit, what's next for the organization and for the podcast?

So it really all depends. And I think that I'm still learning how much it depends on this, but on financing. However, I am consistently in awe of how much we can do with exactly what we have.

But in an ideal world, like I mentioned, we did our first in person training. It was a weekend long continuing education course with another organization we've partnered with. And it was just about yoga and trauma. And it was just this weekend long conversation about the two things. How do they cross paths? What do we do in an in class? How can we be better yoga professionals with trauma in mind? Because we're all a little traumatized, if not a lot traumatized. And that's just a part of life, especially in this time. And I would love to do more of that. I mean, really, I think this kind of could be said about anything. Not just podcasting, not just nonprofits, but I'm really looking for human connection to grow and grow as the world seems to feel like it's opening up a little bit. And we really loved the experience of that in person training. So I think we're looking forward to doing more of those kind of workshops and courses and taking them out into the world and really getting to like shake hands and hug people and I think video content I mean, that's at the top of our list in terms of expanding there. Continuing the podcast, I would love. I mean, this is me dreaming a little bit, but I would love to do like some live podcast, like a little tour with the workshop built in somehow and like see an audience and have a guest come on and speak live. I mean, I see that with a lot of the podcasts I love, which are understandably bigger and well funded, and they're businesses, they're not nonprofits. So it's different. I see it and so I can picture it and if I can imagine it, it's possible. So I'm kind of just, you know, I definitely am the dreamer who reaches for the highest star in the sky and figures I'll land somewhere beautiful if not there. So I would love to do retreats. I mean, I do retreats in my for profit. I'd love to do yoga to cope retreats, sort of focused on different mental health things like PTSD and bring in experts around that and have a population of people who apply because they're experiencing it. Anxiety, same thing. Depression, same thing. Loss of a child, same thing. I just really want to meet people where they're at, you know, and I would love to do that continually on social media and on the podcast, but I would love to get in person too. So.

So how does podcast guesting? So you being on my show and being on other shows, how does that fit into your strategy? Are you using that enough? Are you getting on the right kind of shows?

I mean, we're trying for sure. The person who set this up with, between the two of us, she is radio person. Like, she knows the ins and the outs of the audio show world. And I've really kind of tasked her with focusing on that and like running with her strengths. So between her and I, we're putting our name out there and my story and our show and our organization and seeing who bites and it's. I mean, it's interesting. Like, one of the mantras of my yoga teacher training program was we just heard over and over, where the mind goes, energy flows, where the mind goes energy. And it's like, you can't get that bug out of your ear once you hear it every day for three weeks. It's interesting. Like, as soon as I kind of like joined forces with her and we were like, okay, this is our task. We're going to put some energy into this. And all of a sudden here I am. And there will be a next one and there will be a next one and before, it wasn't a focus, and so it wasn't happening. So it's really kind of cool to think, like, if I want this to take off in these ways, I just have to put some energy there. I haven't had a lot of it because of the schooling, which I think came honestly at the perfect time. I wouldn't have had time to do it before the pandemic. So I just feel really excited about having a little time again. I'm not done with the program yet, but I am. I do just have one more semester and a thesis and then.

And a thesis. Like, that's nothing. You got this, Kayla.

I don't know anything about that except for that it's intense and long and a longer presentation than I've given so far. And I'm kind of glad because I'll be just come at it when I get to it.

You know what? This podcasting is probably a perfect training ground for that, right?

Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

Like, you can take anything that's thrown at you. I love that. Well, you know, yoga to cope is. You said that at the beginning. You. You modeled it after some shows that you like. And I would love for you to tell us what are some podcast shows? Because so often on here, I get hosts who really aren't true listeners. They aren't podcast listeners from the beginning, but it sounds like you are. So what were some shows that you admire?

Well, I can tell you some of the podcasts that I listen to regularly are kind of like escapes for me. And I also love an audiobook, I will say so my taking in audio content is between podcasts and audiobooks I really like. So, Keltie, that I was mentioning, one of our recent guests, she is one of the hosts of the Lady Gang podcast. And it's kind of like pop culture and, like women and friendship. But it's also. It goes a lot deeper than you might think just in hearing a blurb about them. And really, they've built a whole business. They've now written a book, also something I'd love to do. They have clothing line. They've done live shows and tours and have all these great sponsorship and partnerships that do feel authentic to this brand of a female power trio. But if I could really narrow it down to one show that I admire and would, like, freak out to ever be invited on, or vice versa, it's really Dax Shepard's armchair expert who doesn't love that show. I'm sure that's not surprising to hear. But what I really liked about his show is. He's so unapologetic about the long format. Like there's no games. There's not like Lady Gang, for example, they do good week, bad week, and then they have the guests and then they do questions from people and Dax just talks. Like him and Monica just have a long conversation with the guests. They dive into whatever they want. I know that they're structured, but it listens as very unstructured and productive. And then they do the fact check at the end and it's just like I feel like listening to his show and loving it so much and seeing how popular it was gave me the confidence to not feel like I had to come up with a gimmick that I didn't feel I really wanted to. To do. And I could just talk so that I know that that's probably the most common.

Actually. It's, you know, it's not as common as you think because like I said, I would say the majority of podcast hosts are not listeners, which is really an interesting. I can tell the difference in the production of a show that they're a listener to begin with because they make some different choices about how they structure their show. Typically, a show that isn't has a host that's not a listener, has a really long intro. You don't, you have a nice concise intro with really, you know, music that sets the tone. Like you get it, you want to get to the stuff.

Correct? Yeah, I use the mini episodes to do any like personal catchings up and still try to kind of get to the topic. But yeah, the general episode with a guest is like our royalty free music intro, our blurbs from our Yoga to Cope people about our book club, what we have coming up as, I mean like three to five minute intro about the guest and then right into the conversation. And I close with, with our socials and that's it.

Yeah, so your structure is super simple, but I think that that flow shows that's the kind of listener you are and that's the kind of listeners that you want to attract, which makes a lot of sense. These are people in need looking for you to provide them something, guidance, direction, ideas, help. And so you know that you've got that understanding there. So I'm really impressed by your show, Kayla. I'm impressed by all you've created for yourself and the organization. Yoga to Cope. I mean it's a fantastic organization. You've done a great job on the website. Like there's, I mean just all the pieces seem to be coming together for You. And so I see big things for you to cope in the future.

Thank you. Thank you for saying that. I really hope so. I mean, I can't, if I'm being totally honest. I've had, for sure, my moment since 2018, especially with it being so personal, where I'm just like, what am I doing? Why am I putting myself through this? But they come and they go, and I know that they do. So I'm really. It's interesting to step back and just look at you don't feel like you've done enough. And then when you step back and you're like, wait, I have a podcast with, like, cover art and listeners and people coming on who are, like, on TV and authors and these amazing. It's just like, you have to give yourself perspective and sometimes, if that's hard, surround yourself with people who can to just remember how far you've come. And of course, there's a ways to go. But remembering that kind of, like, keeps me in check sometimes. And I'm excited, excited about what could come because I know there's so much I can envision. So.

So I saved this for the very end here, which normally I'll have done it before now, but, you know, I'm going to give you your psychoanalysis of the show. I'm going to give you your binge factor. So you know that you have listeners who listen at all stages of that and probably listen to all your episodes. So you understand the concept of binge listener. And, you know, you have some. Do you have any concept as to what you think your bingeable feature is?

Well, I do. I mean, I just sort of negated what I'm about to say. But I do think it's that I am peppered into all of the shows and the mini episodes, like, with the guests and without. So it's kind of like catching up. And this is what I like about podcasts I listen to too, is like, I get to catch up with these, like, friends. You've seen the meme where it's like, is it a friend or a podcast friend? And it's like, oh, I've never actually met Dax and Monica, but I feel like. Like we know each other. If I ever saw them at a party, they'd be like, don't even know your name. Get away from me.

But actually, they'd be really nice about it. I have a feeling.

But, you know, it's. I think that people kind of like, you hear a story like mine, and I even forget sometimes, like, how unbelievable it is like, to lose a sibling is something hard enough and horrible enough. And then to lose two, it's just like, wait, that doesn't happen. And I guess people just. I went through something and continue to go through it, so, like, my grief doesn't end. I don't know that it ever will. And people get to, like, be on that journey with me and hop on, hop off whenever they need to, depending on where they are and their grief of whatever they might be going through in life, whether that's the loss of a loved one or a relationship ending or a job going away or a. A friendship crumbling or a pet dying or whatever it may be, the show is there, and I'm there to kind of be in it with them. And I don't know, I guess that's the cool thing about podcasting, is there is this, like, list of episodes. You can go back in time and be at a different place with me that I'm not at anymore, but I can still meet you where you're at.

So that's your binge ability feature right there. So when I look at a binge factor, I'm looking for something that isn't gonna make me go through all your episodes. So what is that one thing that's going to make me keep going and listening to all your episodes? And that is that you are steps ahead of me. If I've. I've experienced a lot steps ahead of me in your yoga practice, your steps ahead of me and those things. So I'm never going to really catch up to you, but I. It's going to make me flow through the whole show so that I can keep up what. The little pieces that I need at this stage and time so I can go through it. Never skip an episode, because I'm going to get all those little pieces of you, pieces of the person who's right, a few steps ahead of me. So, you know, there's a lot of, you know, doctors and authors, as you've put it, who could be hosting a show like yours, hosting a show about grief. But that's not what this is about. This is a fact that I might want to know someone who's coming through it just ahead of me, not something who's up on a pedestal way, way, way above me. Right. And that's the guide that you are for everyone that's coming through the show.

That's a really. I never would have gotten there on my own, but that's a really beautiful way to put it. Thank you for saying that. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, Kayla, you have put your heart into the show. I feel it in every episode. And I want all of our listeners out there to come and check out your show. Yoga to Cope. It's a fabulous show. Every Monday, you're out there. The mini episodes are really a great model if you're looking for modeling another person's show. The long form is hard to master. You have to be really good at it, and you have to really have almost a celestial for it. But the mini episodes are a great model for some things that you might want to mix in. You know, give yourself a break. Not all of us can do interviews every single week and stay ahead of it. It's not the easiest. So Kayla's done a great job of blending that in beautifully. And her audience, I'm sure, is very happy to come along for the ride and get whatever they can get each week.

Thank you. Thank you so much for having me and just giving us the platform. I mean, we just love to make new friends in the industry, get new followers who really want to be there. So I just appreciate you even having us on and wanting to learn more. So thank you.

Well, one of the reasons that we do that, Kayla, is because I want to make sure that all of the podcasters who follow the show, and we have a lot of successful podcasters who follow the show. Kayla's a great guest, right? You just heard that here. She's a great guest. She's got lots of great information. She's got lots of background. So if you're hosting a health and wellness show, any kind of show where there might be people in need in your community, this is a great guest to have on your show. So, Kayla McDonald, maybe you're going to get a guesting opportunity out of being on the Bitch Factor.

Thank you so much. I would love that. I mean, truly, like, I can always make time to come chat with someone. So thank you.

Well, everyone, yoga to Cope Mondays on your favorite podcast app, Kayla McDonald's.

I told you that was going to be a special episode. And really, Kayla has done some beautifully heartfelt things, but she's done it in service of both her community and herself, for what she wanted and what she needed as well. So because there's a lot of therapeutic benefits to us to being a podcast host, we're exercising some of the things that we want to model better in our lives. It's creating accountability for us to show up to our communities. There's a lot of benefits to doing the podcast as a part of our community, our programs, and our Companies and our nonprofits in Kayla's case. So keeping those in mind, that's one of the critical reasons why being consistent and constant and just dialing deep down into what you believe that it truly needs, especially when you don't have a lot of feedback and a lot of advice in the early days, can serve you so well. And this is what has served Kayla's show so well as she's grown yoga to cope into a really good and well listened to show. I, you know, didn't disclose her sats there, but she's doing, I mean, I'm gonna say about 300 times better than the average podcaster. So there's some really significant things that she's doing well. And part of it is, you know, you have to keep in mind that when we have a show that's in pain, sometimes people aren't sharing that with others. So, you know, we have a lot of on our platform, we at Potatize, we have a lot of addiction podcasts, we have sex addiction, alcohol addiction, drug addiction. We have multiple shows in those areas. And they tend to find that they have trouble with that listener growth thing happening because someone listens, they're in pain, it's really personal. And they don't necessarily share it out on social media to hundreds of people. Right. They might share it with one or two people, which is great. You're reaching one or two people who really need you and that's important. So that growth is happening, but it doesn't happen at that sort of faster rate that most of us podcasters seek. But because Kayla's got an organization around and supporting underneath the structure of it, that in itself has a membership seeking model. And because of that, the listenership, it's like the podcast is bonus, it's extra free stuff for those already interested in the community. So keeping in mind that you can create that dynamic relationship between our organizations and our podcast shows without having to name them the same thing. And her kids case, it made a lot of sense to name them the same thing. But it doesn't always, it doesn't matter as long as the two things go hand in hand and can support each other. You know, bringing more content to your community that already exists and that community, sharing that content out with other people in need or other people interested in your mission and your topic, so those things can go together. So as always, thebingefactor.com has all the information on how to reach Kayla McDonald, how to check out her podcast, but of course, you guys already know how to go to your favorite podcast, place there and select Yoga to cope. Subscribe Leave her a review. Ask her to be on your show, too. Don't forget about all those things of which you can serve all the podcasters who come here to our show. So thanks everyone, for listening. I'll be back next time with another podcaster on the Binge Factor.

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Sam.