Striving For Excellence Is Key To Inspire And Support Your Podcasting Community Like Corinna Bellizzi Of Care More Be Better

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 I have another partner for you today. I've got Karina Bellizzi. Mediacasters is one of our favorite partners. We are so excited to be supporting women network owners and Karina is one of them. And I'm going to have Julie Loken on in about a month so you'll get both of them in the coming days. But Karina Belizey is just an amazing podcaster. She, you know, hit the ground running when she started our podcast and embraced everything podcasting and then decided that the podcasting world needed a network that supports women and underserved voices. Just like her podcast serves a really important area that needs its message to be brought out in the world. Her podcast is called Care More Be Better. She also has Mediacasters as a podcast and it is housed on the mighty networks in terms of the organization and network structure. She has a podcast for it too, so she's got a lot going on and I can't wait for her to talk with you all about it. But let me tell you a little bit more about Karina's background because she has another podcast coming out which she gives us a sneak peek of. Carina Bellizzi is a natural products industry executive who's earned a reputation for leading the development and growth of responsible brands. Example Nordic Naturals, iwi, Nutra Gold. She's presently working tirelessly on the development of a new pre market brand that seeks to achieve a carbon negative impact as a part of her lifelong education journey. She earned her MBA from Santa Clara University, graduating at the top of her class with a triple focus on entrepreneurship, leadership and marketing. She launched her first podcast show, Care More Be Better to share the stories of inspired individuals and conscious companies to show us all that one person with one idea can have a big impact. It now ranks in the top 2.5% of all podcasts globally. In November 2021, she co founded Mediacasters, the Mediacasters, Right, the Mediacasters Network with her business bestie Julie Loken the Mediacasters is a podcast and community that elevates the voices of people and supports their journeys through podcasting, publish, and public speaking. I am so excited to be partnered with Karina. Her mind just blows mine every single time. The amount that they can accomplish, the amount that they think about what they're putting into everything just goes to show you how much she cares more and wants to be better with every aspect of her business and her life, not just in that sustainability and future growth world. So let's take a listen to the interview with Karina Belusi.

Karina, thanks so much for joining me. We are going to talk about Care More, Be Better Mediacasters, a whole bunch of stuff in the scope of what's going on in the podcasting world. And, you know, I want to start with how you decided to become a podcaster, because I haven't heard that story before and we known each other a little while now, and I haven't heard that story. And I'd love to hear that.

Okay, well, I will say I think podcasting can be an addiction. And so, like any addiction, what does it usually start with? Some sort of a gateway into the world. Right. I listened to some famous NPR shows for years and years. Like, one of my favorites of all time is Car Talk. I will still go back and listen to those episodes with the Click and Clack Brothers and just have fun thinking about all the days I spent in garages.

Are you a Boston girl?

No, no, no. But I was a car fanatic and I used to race cars.

Oh, okay. Because I was gonna say because that, like, I mean, those of us old school Car Talk people are from, you know, New England.

Yeah. Or if you're a gearhead and you just like to hear stories about how people, like, fix cars on a budget or a shoestring when they're just trying to figure out what's wrong with my old used junker, you know? So that one was a lot of fun. And I just had stopped listening to radio because I got bored with ads and everything else. And so I had heard a lot about podcasting and what people were doing in that space. There was a show that my friends told me I just had to listen to, which was called My Favorite Murder. I mean, I think most people know that show. And I was just like, no, I don't know if I can listen to that. I'd lost a dear friend to murder. And so it was like one of those things where it was just way, way too fresh still for me. But it had been about five years. And when they came out, I was starting to hear about it, and I'm like, yeah, I don't know. I'm not ready. Not ready, not ready. And then fall of 2020, I was like, well, I think I could do this. I think I could give this show a try. I started with one episode, and I think I heard between November 2020 and middle to end December, every single episode they'd produced, including all of their minisodes, just binge listening like crazy. And so I was like, God, you know, I have a voice. I could do this. I could do something similar. I mean, if these girls, starting with, like, their Apple laptop and a couple mics, like, giggling and eating hamburgers together, can start a podcast that can create a movement, heck, I could podcast about things that I'm passionate about. Why not?

Yeah.

So that was the impetus. And I just. I think I looked at all my history. I'd done media tours before. I've been a guest on radio shows. I had the training to be able to do that. I'd even done some technical editing and audio editing, technical directing when I was in college. And so I'm like, well, it can't be that hard. I could do this.

That's what I love. I love to set that. The tech is not a challenge. Right. The tech is the easy part at the end of the day, although some people like to make it insurmountable. But it's also not where you want to start, right? You want to be like, I have a voice.

Yeah.

And, you know, that's what I think is so brilliant about what you've done since you started podcasting. Because, I mean, reality is, you're relatively new to the scene of podcasting. You come in and you get so passionate about it that you decide you're going to create a movement, and that movement is now called mediacasters.

Right.

And it's really about building more voices and really making sure more voices are heard. Did you struggle with that at the beginning of starting your show, with trying to figure out how to get your show heard?

You know, I think first step is confidence. It's really hard to feel confident doing something so new when you know that that first episode's gonna be public. It's gonna be public for foreseeably forever. If you keep paying to have your feed out there, right? Or that somebody could download it, even if you decided to take it down later, it's out there. There's no real taking it back. In a way, once you get it out there. And I think that piece can feel really daunting and overwhelming. And so I felt like when I was getting started, I was working with a particular production company, and they were helping me get my intro and my outro together, and they were going to edit my trailer, and then I was going to see if I could budget to have them keep doing it. But it was a lot of money, and I was in grad school. It's just like a lot of moving parts. Right. So your confidence is a little bit not there right in the beginning. And what I found is that I just lacked community. I lacked people to talk to about it. I had reached out to some people that I knew in podcasting or that I was trying to get to know in podcasting, but they were so experienced that they were far from where I was in the process. And so what I longed for was people that could relate to me in my specific spot of just trying to get started, who understood or remembered very keenly what it was like in that beginning phase and that were willing to spend a little time with me to help me figure it out. And ultimately, I didn't really get that. And so that's part of what I'm hoping to do with the mediacasters in collaboration with Julie Loken, because we have a lot of new or fresh podcasters or people who are just getting started that we're trying to collaborate with and help them kind of find their sea legs so that they're confident not only in their voice, but in their power in guesting and the sorts of things that they can do to get out there and gain that confidence. They can take those steps forward and ultimately succeed and not pod fade. I mean, we're all told today, oh, you want to start a podcast? Just go ahead. Like, here's Spreaker. We make it easy for you. Or here's, you know, this anchor platform, and we're going to make it easy for you, too. But so many of those people, pod fade, like, they come out with a show, they don't really know what they're doing. They haven't really even found their voice before they started. They didn't have a plan, and then before you know it, they're five episodes in and they're gone.

Yeah, I mean, five is being generous.

Right.

A lot of them don't even make three. Right.

They might make one. They just need a trailer and then they stop. So it's just. It's really, you know, that part for me, I think, is sad, because so much effort, so much Creative energy goes into that early process where you're just like, even deciding to do it that. To abandon ship before you get started. It just feels like they don't have the resources that they want or need or the community. And I think that's the piece that I can personally help to solve, because one of the things I'm personally really good at is remembering what it was like before. And so that's a skill set that I've brought with me throughout my career. It's like I remember what it was like before I knew anything about Omega 3s. I remember what it was like when I was just a little girl working in a retail shop in Balcomal in Cupertino. And I've always reflected back on those moments in time when I run into somebody who's very new to the thing that they're doing, because I find that it helps me to both relate to them as a salesperson. Like, I came from sales, right? So you sell, you learn, you market. How do I speak to somebody in a different language, really? Because they're not in the same space yet. They don't understand what a daw is. What's a daw? They don't understand, you know, what kind of microphone, if it needs a USB connection or another. You know, it's like they're starting out, and so we just have to kind of, not necessarily, necessarily dumb it down, because that's not what I mean at all. It's just remember and then give the tools to help people kind of get comfort, get to the space and support.

I love that. That's what you're all about. And, you know, I think it's really interesting that all your podcasts, though, also have that same theme. So, like, what you're doing here, your podcasts have that same thing. I mean, your main show is called Care More, Be Better. And that be Better part, that's what I hear a lot from listening to the episodes. I hear a lot of Be Better is about community and support. And I think that's so valuable because, I mean, look, you're tackling a big subject and Care More be better, you're tackling sustainability. You know, this type of idea of things that we need to do as a society to become better, to make the world better, to make our climate better, to, you know, it's daunting. I know, because I personally worked in this for a really long time from the early stages. And if you can't get enough to make that step one, then step two, you're never going to make it, because that perfection is so unattainable in today's world. Right?

Well, you've hit your podcast. That's the nail on the head. Like, you know, when you talk about a lot of the sustainability podcasts out there, some of them, I will just say they come at the subject from kind of a highbrow perspective. And what I mean by that is they get really technical really fast, and they start to talk about things in a jargon way. I see the same thing when you're talking about entrepreneurial podcasts. Like, suddenly they're talking about, oh, what is your cagr? And like, what am I going to get a beer with? My advice now, is that what's happening here? Oh, compound annual growth rate. What does that mean? Even? And so not to approach things from an elementary perspective, but from a perspective of. I don't want to alienate with jargon, right? When somebody says something like, oh, I was at cop 26, people don't understand what cop 26 is. I mean, yes, it's a sustainability initiative that's been happening for 26 years, and the 26th one just happened in the UK. And but, like, when we listen to a lot of these shows that are speaking to their own belly buttons, they don't necessarily provide a digestible story to somebody who might just be in that discovery mode. And so how I look at what I do with Care More, Be Better is I call that show. It's an invitation. It's an invitation to Care More so we can all be better. And one of the things I keep in my signatures of almost every email I ever sent is a quote from Margaret Mead, which essentially says, never doubt that a small group of people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. I believe that. I believe that together we can move mountains, we can achieve more that that there's power in community. And then without developing a community, you aren't gonna see the same successes or you're not gonna enjoy it as much if you do succeed, because who's gonna be there with you? You know, you're off alone. One of the most powerful moments in my professional career, I was talking to my HR manager at Nordic Naturals. I was second in command, right? And so I'd grown this company from less than a million in annual revenues to over a hundred million. I'd seen them through, you know, being just a little professional brand into a natural products retail giant, and now in 37 markets around the globe, right? So I felt lonely at the top, okay?

That's the thing I hear again and again, so many really do.

It's really hard because people look at you like, okay, well, they're off. You know, they are so high above me from, let's say, your rank or your status within the company, whether or not you even act like that, right? It's just. Just there's this innate alienation. And so when you're in that spot, it's harder to get perspective, it's harder to understand when you may be making a mistake, if you're not getting the right feedback, if people aren't being honest in their feedback because they're intimidated by you. So again, it's like all these things can feed in. And my HR manager said to me, karina, it's lonely at the top. And I'm like, this is a powerful statement. And I don't like that. And so what can I do to change that? Right? I can create communities with other companies. I can create communities with other individuals or in similar jobs. I can work to create better kind of segues between myself and other leaders within the company. I can work to connect more with people that are in the lower ranks of the company in a genuine and authentic way. But all it all comes down to is this power of connection, building community and trying to keep a real clear headset about what is real. Because, you know, in the changing world of podcasting, I've only been in it for a year and a few weeks officially, right? And in that time, I've already seen, I think, podcasting go through a few changes. It has, and that's in a year. So what happens in two years and three years? And what are we going to do as a community to acknowledge the changes that are happening to. To support communities that are up and coming throughout the podcasting world and to be, let's say, friendly and kind of like lock arms with one another as opposed to look at everybody as competition. Because I think if you continually say, okay, well, oh, you're playing in my sandbox, so I'm not going to be, you know, collaborative with you. I think you're doing yourself a disservice, especially if you're talking about reaching a consumer. Like, for myself, I'm trying to reach people in the sustainability and social impacts space, and I'm absolutely networking with other podcasters in that space to see if I can invite them on or be on their shows or even just have, you know, listen to their shows for potential guest ideas and find a through line to collaborate in some way. Even if it's not direct, because there is power in that. And I'll learn more and I'll grow more, and I can support their growth, and I can introduce them to people that may move for change that we both want, too. So it's just, again, getting back to that power of community, power of collaboration. Connection is important, and especially when we're living in this kind of disconnected world where people are increasingly on their screens.

Right.

And they're also doing this, you know, oh, I don't believe what you believe. I'm going to divide from you when we have more in common than we have. That's different. So. So if I can be a part of a community that can foster collaboration and help heal divides, I want to do that.

Well, I think you have already, because this is what I really found is that you have some really diverse guests on your show. And I, you know, I was just reading an article about Design Matters, which is one of the oldest podcasts. It started in 2005. That's how long ago it started. And because I come out of the design world, I've actually been listening.

Was there podcasting back then?

There was, technically, yes. It was a little bit. I mean, RSS feeds have. A list existed.

So you were blogs.

Yeah, you were. You were doing that over your blog, essentially, back then, you weren't really syndicating in the same way that you are, you know, Although I think. I think that technically iTunes came about in 2007 in terms of allowing RSS feeds into it. So I think it did happen around that time period. I'll have to look up my history on that. But she started the podcast in 2005 over her website. Right. Like, that was its purpose. But I think that as long as I've been listening to it over the years, like, I hear the same thing from her again and again and again, which is, oh, yeah. So, you know, we were talking at an event, and I decided I should have you on my show. Like, everybody's connected to her. She's not really always reaching outside of herself to bring on guests. And I hear that from so many hosts who either burn out because they don't get enough guests, and it's really because their whole guesting program is all focused on this. So one of the three questions that I always ask in every show that I do here on the Binge Factor is about how you get great guests. But the angle that I want to ask you about here is really, how are you finding that outreach to find someone who you've never met before? To talk to. Because I hear them on your show and it's a really not a direct link to you that you've invited them on. You went out and reached out to them.

Yeah. So sometimes it's just an idea, right? Like this week's podcast, the one at. Well, last week, Ethan Welty, I was having a conversation with Julie Loken, my partner for the mediacasters, and she's like, you know, I heard about this guy or this company called Falling Fruit. You should really look into that. And sometimes it's just as simple as a suggestion coming from my community. Right. I'm careful to actively listen when these things come up, because if they touch on the subjects that I want to talk about, I'm like, okay, I'll make a note and I'll go look at that. Falling Fruit. This example. I mean, it was really the idea child of two college kids that decided they didn't like that all the fruit in their neighborhood was falling to the ground and wasn't being harvested. And couldn't they use their programming skills to create some sort of a log and go out there and, like, have people in different communities around the globe log the trees in their area when they were in fruit, and so they could actually be, you know, managed and the food wouldn't go to waste, and you could feed people who might not otherwise have food or just provide really great connection to your local environment and the food sources that are already there. I'm like, wow, that's great. So I reached out to them on LinkedIn, right. Like, hey, you know, I don't have a way to get introduced to you. I'm just gonna reach out. Another recently was Paul Hawken, which was a big guest.

He's a big guest.

He's very big. And, you know, I didn't have a direct connection to him. I had invite. I had responded to somebody who came to me from one of the podcast booking agents. They said, we think this guy will be a great guest on your show. His name's David Johnson. He's a Stanford professor of law and design thinking, which I think you would appreciate. So I'm just like, oh, well. I was kind of like, is he going to be a fit for the show? I mean, I don't know. Well, let me at least have an intro call with him and I'll figure it out. Right. So I had an intro call with David Johnson. During our interview, he mentions that Paul's releasing a book in a few weeks time called Regeneration, and you should really look at that. And I Thought, well, I haven't read that book. That's. That wasn't even on my radar. Right. Because it was coming out in a few weeks. And what I didn't know is that David Johnson was neighbors with Paul Hawken. He didn't know that.

So talk about a point of connection.

Right? He didn't tell me this because there's this kind of unwritten rule when you have friends that are borderline celebrities, you don't share their information per se, unless you get permission before. And so what did I end up doing? I went to his website. I'm like, well, I guess I'll reach out through the press contact and see what I can do. And so gave the story in there, like, I just interviewed David Johnson. I'd love to connect with Paul. Here's some stats about my show. You know, Yes, I understand I'm not in the top half a percent and I'm definitely not Joe Rogan, but I would really appreciate being able to have a deep discussion with you on my podcast. They asked for a few more stats, came back to me, booked the show. I interviewed him for an hour and a half.

Fantastic, right? Yeah.

So, I mean, there's various ways. And just recently this, this show hasn't aired yet. I did find out about another doctor that I wanted to interview who's also a very big name, Dr. William Lee. And he wrote a book, Eat to Beat Disease. I'm getting ready to launch a third show, and this is on nutrition. So I'm like, well, I need to meet this guy again. Reached out through his press contact form. Had to go through some hurdles with the PR agent, but I know how to speak the language of a PR agent, so I think that helps. The biggest thing is not to be afraid. Understand that these are people that you can connect with. Like, they aren't, you know, some person. Often an ivory tower.

Yeah.

I might not get their personal email. I might have to work through somebody else in order to get to the person I want to get to. But if these are stories I'm passionate about telling and I'm going to have a fun time interviewing them, my audience is going to hear that. So, I mean, I had a great time interviewing Paul Hawkin. I had a great time. She did, you know, like, I just had so much fun with them.

You know, it's so interesting because I think that PR agents in general underestimate how valuable your show was for selling of the books. Because when you go to a larger audience, there's a much smaller percentage. Yeah, they have A bigger reach, but a much smaller percentage of people who are going to be a right fit for buying the book, actually reading it, sharing it with others, writing good reviews and influencing the right group of people. Because look, you know, if you're the go to expert in your, in your small community about sustainability or about, you know, about nutraceuticals that are, you know, good for the environment and good for you. Right. Like all of those things are valuable and who's going to come and ask you more and more people. So that actually has bigger waves of influence than does someone who just has a large audience. Because you're doing, I call the shotgun approach, right? You're just shooting out there, hoping you're going to hit something. And that's not always the best way to go. So we did this test with a big author, a former shark tanker and his PR company came to us with a list of 10 shows that they wanted to get on. And I pulled a list of 10 shows I thought they should be on and there was some overlap. There's about half of them were overlap, but there was an additional five that I had that they'd never thought of before. They went on those five, added those five to their list. So they actually went on all 15 and ended up doing more sales from the five than they did from the other 10. So, you know, such an interesting model of looking at it from the idea that us small podcasters out there with the right fit community are much more valuable. And if we can get that through the head of the PR firms by having good experiences with people like you and your show. Right. They're going to be more open to that in the future. And so that's so valuable.

Well, and in Paul Hawkins case, I mean, I enjoyed the interview so much that I actually did an 11 podcast series, just going through each of the chapters and sections of the book, and almost like book report style, but with commentary and my own thoughts about what the material was and tips from my own experience, kind of feathered throughout because I was like, heck, this is a very important work. I understand a lot of people aren't going to go out and pick up the book and read it cover to cover. It did something else, though. It established me, I think, as a more credible person in the space of the sustainability message of moving towards something like regeneration. And then I even chose to adapt my podcast name to incorporate regeneration as a result.

So that's valuable to them.

Right. But I always hearing people from the sustainability space, I don't like the word sustainability. Because I don't think these things are really sustainable. And we're just paying lip service to an industry by saying, oh, we can create sustainable business practices. What we need is to regenerate Earth. And so therefore, I said, okay, social impact, sustainability and regeneration. Because even though regeneration might be the preferred term, it could also be misunderstood, be a religious connotation without the context of sustainability. So, you know, but there you go.

That's what you're talking about, that so many shows head into the lingo, right. And they're not really looking at it from the perspective of if someone's new to it and they don't understand this term, they misinterpret it, it doesn't mean what they think it means. And I have to pull the two together for them. And that's what you're doing really well. So I normally analyze everybody's binge factor at some point during the episode. It's always random as to when I pull it in. I'm going to pull it in right now because this is what I really want to point out, that Karina is doing so well with Care More, be better with media casters. I know she's going to do well with her new show. It's going to be the same. But what she's doing is she's walking the walk and she's talking the talk. So she's doing both things at the same time. And in her. I mean, she does care.

Right?

Like, it's obvious in everything that you do, you've researched, you spent time on it, you put deep care into everything that you do. And when you decided to podcast that Deep Care accelerated you. And that's what I think most people don't understand. Yeah, you can start your podcast up and you can, you know, get your microphone, get used to the tech, and you can get going on it. But you accelerated in what is a year of time, I think three years in, to podcasting, and that's how I hear your show. It's very professional. It's got all the good characteristics of the shows that have been around for quite some time. And you've done that because you took all of that past experience that you've had in other places, and you just pushed it right into the show and you dove deep into the podcasting community to understand more about how it works, what's working, what's not working, and filter that through how you wanted to create a great show. And I think people don't do that as well. They're just like, I'm Going to follow someone's advice to the T, that's great. It might help you. But if at some point you don't make it your own, then you're not going to hit that stride until you've gone through a period of time. Right? So if you want to hit that stride sooner, you got to filter that in to who you are, what you bring to the table. And you did that very quickly.

Oh, well, thank you. And I will say I did get some powerful advice from your team, specifically. I mean, I'm a marketer, right. And one of the challenges, what do they say, you know, like, go to a graphic designer or marketer and then don't look at their website, look at the other work that they've done, right. Like, it's almost like, what do they say? The cobbler's children have no shoes. Right. Like you're just so busy doing the work for everybody else that you don't spend the time on it your own. And I met your husband after just a soft reach out on LinkedIn from one of your staffers. And in our initial meeting, you know, I knew I had challenges with my website. As a for instance, I'd started off on Squarespace and had like, I was satisfied with it up until I had about 15 episodes. And at a certain point, all of the things that you want to do on your website start to just feel like they aren't there or like you've got so much content now. How do you organize it better? How do you make it a space where people can come and learn more as opposed to just kind of be a cursory top line view like some podcast hosted website, so to speak. Right. So I heard some really good feedback from Tom and he said, you know, I could do all these things for you, but the reality is I don't know if you'll get all the benefit of saying SEO from the things that I'd want to. And so I had to make the leap and come over to WordPress. I haven't looked back since. I know that WordPress is a little more challenging for some people, but there are some really great templates and once you get the structure set, it can be very, very helpful. Just as a comparative spot, I think we went from something like, I don't know, 65 organic keywords to now like over 700 just in a few months time having gone through the conversion. And so I would just say this to other people out there that are really in a spot where you're growing your show and you think you might be ready for the next thing. It might be time to consider converting to WordPress.

Well, and at minimum, like, this is what I also find so app is that we get into our own heads and we get an ego about our podcasts and how things are, that we are not open to that idea, that, you know, we should have an audit, we should have someone else's eyes on it. Right. And that's, you know, that's the one thing I appreciate about my team so much, is that, and Tom especially, is that when he sees somebody who's not going to benefit, he's not going to go into any kind of sales mode. He's going to just.

No, no, he basically was not going to help me.

Yeah, exactly. Right. And, you know, this sounds like head of a company shouldn't be saying that to our sales team, but I actually think that at the end of the day, it does more to build our trust and credibility because some of the people we've turned away have referred other people to us, and it's been more valuable because of that. But I think that that's the case is that if they can't benefit from it and then you sell it to them, you're doing them a disser. And there's a lot of that in the podcasting space. There's a lot of tools that you'll never use that you don't need, that are just wasting your time and energy and money instead of you and money. And you need to be focusing on the things that you should be doing at the stage that are going to really help you and your show and your mission.

That's right.

You know, so that's why I think it's so valuable for you building that mediacasters community. And I want to talk about that in a minute. But you know that listener growth is one aspect of it where there isn't a single service out there that's been able to do anything for it. Now, there are communities, though, that can talk about that. So what have you learned from doing mediacasters, the community that has helped you build more audience? Because I think listener growth is the number one problem at every level of podcasting that I've seen, whether you're just starting out or you've been doing it for. I mean, hey, Joe Rogan's having a listener problem, despite what everybody hears. He doesn't have 11 million listeners. He only has about 2.2. So he lost a ton of listeners, actually mostly viewers, but he lost them going to Spotify. So everybody has a Listener problem. How are we resolving that? And is there some community engagement that has helped there for you?

Right. Well, I think there are two things that jump out to me. One is that again, I think it's tough to get honest feedback. And so if you are doing something like getting an audit from someone who knows what they're doing, that's great. But if you're in a group of podcasters, you can agree to do like, hey, I'll listen to your show and give you some notes and you can listen to mine and do the same because another perspective is always going to help you. And it's just nice to get feedback from someone that might even just be, you know, who's your, maybe your ideal listener or maybe just a listener, someone who's going to take the time to give you notes. And so one of the things I do for our members is I go and I listen to all of their podcasts and I work to give them some feedback about their show. Good. And sometimes the negative too, like, hey, you know, I think your audio quality is suffering because you're either too close to your mic or you're too far away and you get explosives like the big Bs or the big Ps from MIC placement or from the fact that it's a lower quality mic, you're not quite in the right spot for it. I mean, there's all sorts of reasons for these things and they make it harder to edit your show after and they make it harder for it to, to sound as good as it can. So I think that can be really helpful for people. And then we do things like, you know, simple reviews, like, I'll go and write them a review on Podchaser or on iTunes, and both, if they're in both spots, and give them some honest and positive feedback in those spaces so that they can again continue to grow. Like you give them a five star review here. One of the things that I see is that the more that somebody has reviews on their podcast, it seems to affect their ranking on listen notes in particular. And so if they are using that to kind of self identify as, oh, I'm in this top 10% of podcasts or whatnot, you can help them climb that list just by getting more reviews. And so I think it's simple tips like that. It's also having a space where people can post their media without fear. Right. I, I work to keep the scammers out, which I think is also important. This is an issue that's been covered pretty well by dark web Podcast, but there are, you know, nefarious individuals out there that are essentially selling downloads, which isn't going to create lasting listens for your show. And so I think, you know, creating that safe space where people can collaborate, where they can share some tips, even cross guest, and even when they do cross guest, share that particular podcast on their own feed. So it gets more listens and kind of practice some of these collaborative types of efforts enables us all to collectively reach more people. And so I think that's the basics. At least that's what I've found to be successful thus far.

Oh, I so agree. And, you know, all of that is organic, right? This isn't stuff that you can create. And that's the so important part, is that this stuff happens over time, right? You improve your show over time because you take in a little feedback now, the sound gets better, and actually you retain more listeners. So all of it does have an effect over time. But what I really think you're pointing out is the collaborative spirit of what you're building everywhere. And that collaboration is the essential part to being a better podcaster, to being better at whatever the core of your podcasting message to begin with as well. Right? The core business of what you're running and you're doing. And, you know, I love to know what your perspective on collaboration is, because I think you. I mean, I know you well enough to know that you have viewpoints on so many different things, but I think you probably really considered and thought about what collaboration means and what you're building into the mediacasters community to engender that. That type of collaboration.

Well, I think there's a couple things that we're working to do, right? Because there's a lot of podcasters who have more entrepreneurial, focused shows. Guess what? They're likely to get more listeners on a spot like LinkedIn than Facebook. Right? And so one of the things that we can do as the community grows is segment these groups into sort of pods or whatever you want to call them. But a group of people, right, that can do things like give a little bit of love to one another when they create a post on LinkedIn. And I know that this may sound like it's simple, but it's one of those things where your posts are only doing as well as their engagement is unless you're paying to promote them. And so if you don't get engagement almost immediately on a spot like LinkedIn or Instagram or one of these other spots where you're working to get in front of Your audience. Those posts don't even get in front of the same people that you'd like to see. I've struggled with this personally more on Care More Be better than other shows or other media feeds, because I'm covering social impact and sustainability. And the moment I mention climate in a post or social impact in a post, it's like, dampened. Because Facebook and Instagram see these as trigger issues and are actually actively working to make them less visible. I talked to a doctor about COVID and it's mentioned somewhere in the post. And then, okay, that's not going to get the same views either. And so there is what I would call some mild censorship happening. And the only way to break through those things is through collaboratively working with other people who care about those issues, because then they're going to help you grow the exposure on those posts. Because the one thing that Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn won't quash is if they start to see a lot of engagement on something, guess what? They start to show it to more people. And so this is just one small breath of that collaboration. And I think if I could drill home something to anybody listening to this, it would be that there's a way to work through almost any fear by collaborating with somebody else. So if you're running into something where you're like, gosh, I just feel like I'm beating my head against a brick wall. I don't know what to do next. Even just sitting down and talking to someone who has at least a remote idea of what the challenges that you're tackling are, you can work through that thing and come up with a new idea and at least stay fresh on your approach. I think that's critical. We do host office hours every Thursday for our community specifically to engender this kind of thing so that we can talk through issues. What's going on right now for us, what challenges are we facing and how can we support.

You know, I think this is so, like, critically, you, like. It's just. It strikes me as absolutely being a thread from the very beginning here. So you were alone in your corporate leadership, and then you found yourself alone in your podcasting journey, and you instead said, that's not okay. I'm going to create a community here for myself. And I think that that's so interesting because what you just said about needing to get someone else in it, and you're not going to feel alone. All those fears start to dispel. But you also have resources then that you didn't know you would have otherwise resources you can trust to give you a frank view of what you know, what you might need next, what you might want to try, what you might want to test out that's so critically important to growth. So you've built in a place where you can be better. And that's also your theme, Karina.

I mean, you know, I know it's my personal brand.

This is like pulling through everything. Yeah. It, you know, it's why the name is so perfect for you. Right. So I Care More Be Better is absolutely the perfect name for your show. I'm sure you agonized over it, but it is the perfect name for the show.

Well, I have a secret and I don't reveal it often, Tracy, but I'll tell you. Care More Be Better. CMBB are my initials. So a few years ago, I was thinking about an idea. I was like, well, if I was ever going to start a company, what would I call it? I'm not an egomaniac, right. Like, I wouldn't put my name on something, so to speak, but I was thinking about what my mission in life really is and what I want to be there to support and do. And I've always wanted to live well by doing good and really sticking on that doing good space, but while helping others to do the same. And I really like giving people a leg up. So I was like, okay, well, my initials are this. It'd be a personal way for me to tie me as a person proudly to whatever the effort would be. And initially it was going to be possibly a line of products that would benefit bees. So it'd Be Care More Be Better with two E's.

I love it.

And then it became a podcast. Because you know what? Sometimes you have to chew on things. I say to Julie. I have to masticate on that. Or I have to chew on that very kind of visual and kind of tactile way of approaching everything in branding, because I really do. I have to digest it, I have to think about it, and then, you know, create something. And now I feel good about what I've worked to create with Kara Morbi. Better. I feel very inspired by what we're doing with the mediacasters because we're working to be at this intersection that's not just podcasting, but also publishing and presenting and public speaking, because these things all tie together, like, with a bow in my mind, because podcasting is also presenting. And I think as people get used to using their own voices and especially having to do so on something like a video application, they get more comfortable in front of a camera, and then they just have to get over the hurdle of getting up on a stage. And maybe it's writing a book about the thing they're passionate about that's also the subject of their podcast. And then maybe it's a media tour, and then maybe it's something else. And so they can grow, develop, change, and become their own dragonfly. Which is why we chose that in particular for our Mediacasters logo. Because, like, you know, while a butterfly is all about transformation, if you look into the symbolism of a dragonfly, a dragonfly is also about transformation, but becoming your highest self. And if that can be my contribution in some small way to the people I'm able to affect, like, I feel like I'm winning every day. And it's not about the paycheck. It's about keeping that fire in your belly and that inspiration to help other people succeed.

Well, Karina, I think you are well on your way. I want to touch on just a couple, one more thing that you've also pulled through because you believe so strongly in social impact that you're actually doing that with your show. So Mighty Networks is female led and owned enterprise, and you use Mighty Networks as the. I'm going to call it the playground for the media casters, because I kind of think that's what it is because there's so much new to it that we don't really know how we're going to use it yet. But you're testing it out and you're using it continually, finding out what works and then adding more of that to the community. Like, that's how I kind of see it, as a playground. So then you came to us and I usually say no. You may not realize this, but I usually say no to sponsorships all the time because it's such a dangerous ground to give preferential treatment to someone, right to a group, when we are trying to be very agnostic about it. But I really felt strongly that you were hitting a point of being able to do something quickly, being able to really tap into an underserved portion of the community. And that's because you're touching on a lot of women, a lot of voices that haven't been heard before, diverse voices. And I wanted to make sure that that happened. And so that was why we decided to sponsor you and your community. So tell me a little bit about that sort of how difficult is it when you want to sort of step out into doing an enterprise of any kind? In this case, the Media gassers, but really trying to live the social impact that you, you want to have in the world, that's not easy to find.

Well, I mean, we even thought before we were even into any sort of revenue, like, oh, what is the charity that we're going to work to support? Like, well, right now I think we're the charity because I mean, honestly, Julie and I are working for I don't know how many hours a week trying to get everybody the support they need and help them launch some shows and things along those lines. But really I feel like the impact that we're working to have is the build of the community are just like they're so connected and that we are going to continue to change the offering based on the needs of that community. So some of the things that we're looking at doing are for instance, like basics of 101 of recording your best audio or the 101 of creating an outline to draft a book and kind of like get people the basics of the tools that they might need to propel their voice into more spaces to give them an excuse even to be guesting on podcasts. Because I think sometimes when you say things like, oh, just guest on other podcasts. And a podcaster goes, okay, but what do I talk about? Like if I just talk about my show, but what if that's not a good enough subject to cover? It's like the kind of need the steps to get there. And so I think as we talk through these things with our community, we're also deciding we're figuring out what tools are going to need and how best to get it to them. So it's very much a community that's affected by the audience. Right. And a lot of the people that have come into this have come from social audio. Like we met them on Clubhouse or we're meeting them now on Dio's app, another female led company. Right. And that's the Wisdom app. I'm now having to use an iPad to use that space, but figuring out how to record the best audio quality there. So I can also even show people that they could record an episode on the Wisdom app. And so I really think that it's the power of the community itself is creating the network. And so right now we have a total of about 10 different podcasts that are part of this so called network that range from comedy to personal development, to travel, to my podcast on social impact and sustainability and the future show that's nutrition oriented long term that could end up being an advertising Share model that helps to support these individuals. And, you know, we're really just open to where that leads us based on what the community wants, needs, and what we grow into as our own dragonflies.

You know, before we go, I'm really curious about your thoughts on what's going on in monetization in the marketplace and podcasting. I know this is like, this could be like in a whole segment on its own, a whole show on its own, but I'm really curious what your perspective is. It's like, are you seeing some good areas of monetization that you think are worthwhile? Are you seeing it just go really wrong? And you know, because I know you and you're going to tackle it, it may not happen today, but you're going to tackle that. So I want to hear the perspective.

Well, it's one of these things where I have a tough time with monetization, specifically as it relates to my show. Care more, be better. And I think a lot of people will relate to this. The reason I have a tough time with it is it's so purpose driven that finding the right advertiser match feels like it could be really challenging. So that's one thing that doesn't really work for me. I have personally tried very hard to work the angle of having the Patreon piece and I found that nobody donated. I have gotten one time donations via PayPal from people that just wanted to support the show that are, you know, well, they're thousands of percent more because I've received zero from Patreon. But some individuals have seemed to be able to make Patreon work. Maybe it just doesn't work for my audience. So I'm not sure what that magic sauce is going to be for everybody. But what I'm sure of is that this constant thought that I'm going to start podcasting and I'm going to make money at it and I'm going to make money on it from day one and I'm going to cover all my expenses from day one. It's not super realistic. I mean, you can do all of your own podcast editing and all of that own work, you know, getting to a spot where you cover something like your hosting and your website, that might be relatively easy. But if you're talking about turning it into revenues that could support your, you know, escaping from your day job, it's a completely different world. And I think people need to understand when they come into the world of podcasting that it's first and foremost about refining your voice and being heard and reaching an audience that matters to you. And then if you look at your revenues as being part of it, it's like if you're in the coaching space, it's a funnel to your business. If you're in the nutrition space like I am, maybe it's also a funnel to your business. You know, maybe it acts as your advertising. This is one of the things I'm planning to do with my nutrition show, right? It's supporting the launch of a brand of omega 3s from algae and also some other algae supplements. And it is going to be hyper focused on providing value to the community, specifically about things like nutrition. Right. Without compromising things like our environments or their morals and their ethics. So it's not going to be a vegan show. I've already decided that I'm not a vegan. But it will provide people with the tools that they need to consider their ecological footprint as well as their diet and their health. And that information will feed the success of the brand that's launching while still remaining really true to this overall message of not being overly salesy and not being overly, like, pitch driven. Because the moment you get there, a lot of your audience will stop listening and you lose a little bit of credibility and then you're not going to be able to get the big, big guests that you want to get on your show and reach the same broad stretch of audiences. And so I look at monetization as something that needs to be a priority. Like long term, we should cover our expenses, we should grow, we should continue to see growth for the show. I mean, I come from the world of sales. I'm going to think like that regardless. But, but I really think the focus needs to be on producing good content and on also seeing where the other benefits to you are. Like, are you establishing yourself as a thought leader? Are you also able to connect with people that end up forming partnerships with you? Are you able to see many more people and then think about the quality of engagement you have with them and getting your message to those people that might not otherwise have picked up your book or that might not otherwise have visited your website to figure out what products you sell so you're reaching them in a genuine way through this world of audio.

I think that's so such great advice. Karina, I'm so glad you have entered the podcasting space. I'm so glad you're here because your value that you're adding to the world is so, so important and so valuable. Thank you.

Well, thank you. It's been really fun. I look forward to many years more of being in this world of podcasting because I just fell in love with it. So I think that's what it takes.

I told you she was going to blow your mind a little bit, right? She's got that whole focus that's so intensely detailed, and I love that about her. She's got just all kinds of like looking at all the layers and all the different areas and where can I do better? Where can we accelerate this? What can we take on right this moment and make it better? And that's, you know, to me, you don't have to be perfect, but you have to strive for that being better part of it. That's what's so brilliant about her podcast, her podcast name and everything that she and Julie Loken are building over at the Mediacasters Group. So I hope that you're going to check out the show, you're going to check out Mediacasters and go join the network. We'll have all the links for how to do that right here in the Binge Factor website for the blog post of this episode@thebingefactor.com so make sure you go there so you can go click right through and connect into the Mediacasters Group. Thanks everyone for listening. I look forward to featuring more Mediacaster Network people on the show, and I look forward to featuring you one day as well. So be sure to tune in next time for another Binge Factor.

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

Sam.