62. How to Evolve, Pivot and Thrive in Your Business with Des Walsh

Des Walsh is an executive business coach, LinkedIn expert and trainer, and social media strategist.

A former Australian Federal and State government senior executive, a CEO, communications consultant, industry training specialist and executive coach, Des is passionate about helping business owners and executives fulfil their potential. He has been actively engaged for over 20 years in promoting the business opportunities of the digital economy and is a certified specialist in social media strategy. He’s co-author of one of the first ever books on the LinkedIn platform – LinkedIn for Recruiting – has been blogging since 2003, is a featured author on Market Leadership Journal and a podcaster (the Let’s Talk Leadership show).

Des’s coach training is from Coachville and its Graduate School of Coaching. He was a founding member of the International Association of Coaching (IAC) and served for a time as a member of the IAC Board of Governors. Des lives near the beach on Australia’s Gold Coast and coaches mostly via Skype and phone. His mission is to help business executives in small and medium business meet confidently the challenges of the digital age, lead their teams well, deliver great results and stay balanced and happy in the process.

In this episode we talk about:

  • Des Walsh’s podcasting journey
  • The idea behind Des’ podcast
  • Why he chose podcasting as a medium
  • How much LinkedIn has changed over the years
  • The importance of social media in extending your reach and building relationships with people
  • How LinkedIn is related to Des’ business
  • The ROI involved in podcasting
  • The important things to consider when starting your own podcast
  • Why it’s good to get a podcasting service
  • Things that Des wishes he learned before starting his podcast
  • Common mistakes that a new podcaster can avoid
  • Des’ top pieces of advice

When someone is considering a podcast as a medium, how do they know if it’s for them? How complicated is it to do a podcast?

‘Don’t expect that it’s going to be obvious or that it’s all going to be simple straight away.’

What are the first mistakes that podcasters often make?

‘Spending too much time trying to find some perfect set-up for podcasting instead of getting started and thinking, “maybe I can improve on this”.’

What are the most important things to consider?

‘Choose a topic that you are not going to be bored with in six months or 12 months time, or two years time.’

‘You’ve got to have a fair idea that there are some people out there who are going to be interested in it.’

‘Don’t get down in the technology and don’t be scared when someone says you need to have a $10,000 studio to get started.’

‘Get a good podcasting service so you don’t get stuck with trying to figure out all the technology, unless you are a tech wiz and you like doing all that.’

‘One thing I would say is make up your mind. You’re going to have your own domain. I chose to have my podcast host on my main website, but if you’re going to have your own separate website, think about the name you want and then see if the domain is available.’

Where to find Des Walsh

Resources

Website:  http://deswalsh.com/
Podcast:  http://deswalsh.com/leadership-podcast/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/DesWalshPage/
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/deswalsh
Google Plus:  https://plus.google.com/+DesWalsh

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