311. Manage ambiguity and chaos feat. Leanne Hughes

Learn how to manage ambiguity and chaos as a podcaster

No one starts off as an expert in a field. Mostly, it comes from the reps, the experience, & the help of trustworthy and competent people. In this episode of the show, we are talking with Leanne Hughes, who cares deeply about growth as a person. Hear her story about how she started her podcast, which allows her to travel the world.

In this episode you will:

• Learn how to Leanne Hughes started her show while running a lot of workshops around the world
• Understand how to make a connection with your audience
• Learn to develop your skills in podcasting
• Take a deeper look at the nature of facilitation
• We answer a question about writing articles as reps
• We discussed Leanne’s first speaking engagement through a podcast guest connection.
• Understand how writing articles provides a counterintuitive perspective
• Hear us talk about creating more insight and impact from your podcast audience
• Learn how to manage ambiguity and chaos in your business
• Think differently about being able to listen, respond, and be comfortable with ambiguity
• We talk in-depth about growth as a person and as a podcaster

All this and more, on this week’s episode of  Should I Start A Podcast.

Make sure you listen to the end … I’ll break down this episode to give you 3 small steps you can execute right now to help you take this listening experience into execution experience. Also, if you know a business owner that needs to hear an episode about why a podcast is the best business development tool, please share an episode with them.

Pretty Please. Enjoy the show.

After you listen to this episode I would love you to take these 3 small steps that will help you <manage ambiguity & chaos>:

1. The more reps you do, the more comfortable you’ll be with your ability to respond.
2. Being so prepared that you can’t go off script ruins flow
3. Braindump weekly.

What you pick as your strategies to grow will depend on where you are at in your business. Pick the right strategy for where you are at and not where you want to be.

These are 3 small steps that if you execute, irrespective of where you are at in your business and podcasting journey will make a huge impact on your making your podcast more profitable & more impactful.

If this is the first episode you’ve listened to all the way to the end or if you are a regular, thank you … I love that you are here. Check out our back catalogue on  ShouldIStartAPodcast.com, subscribe to the show and give me a review and rating, it really helps us get found more.

If you are a business owner podcaster and want to join others just like you in a group where we share tactics & ideas on what’s working (or not) for us when it comes to using our podcast in the best possible way. For more on that go to wearepodcast.com/group … it is free.

We Are Podcast 2022 – It is happening this year. For the latest announcements on Australia’s first podcasting conference for business owners, join the free group wearepodcast.com/group

Stay tuned next week when we going to cover how to remove icky sales conversations from your podcast with the amazing Mick Hawes. We cover lots including how he is using his podcast to change his industry and grow his business. So, don’t forget to subscribe to the show to get that episode as soon it gets released. Until then, much love.

 

Having worked with thousands of business owners to create a podcast for their business, I’ve created The Recurring Results Roadmap for Podcasters™.

It’s a step-by-step guide to growing your business to 7+ figures using your podcast.

Importantly, it removes the guesswork so you know exactly what to focus on at all times to generate that recurring revenue.

The best part? It’s personalised, free and it lets you get started straight away.

Download The Recurring Results Roadmap for Podcasters™ here.

If this is your first time here, this is Should I Start A Podcast. I’m Ronsley Vaz. Each week you’ll hear me, and a star-studded guest lineup, dig deep into the podcasting process. We’ll bring you tactics, tips and tricks to use in your own podcasting journey. We’ll teach you how to build an audience. And we’ll show you how to keep them coming back, show after show.

So if you want to start a podcast, or expand your current audience, this is the show for you.

Here is the transcript of the entire episode done by a.i. for those who like to read …

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

podcast, people, episodes, conversations, thinking, day, business, reps, feel, hosting platform, listening, terms, leanne, hear, relate, speak, metrics, story, year, happening

SPEAKERS

Leanne Hughes, Ronsley Vaz, Anna Vocino

Ronsley Vaz  00:08

indicator one, this is launch control. Please advise when the pre flight checklist is complete with indicator one flight is complete. All indicators read Green.

Anna Vocino  00:20

This is should I start a podcast, a show for business owners looking for tips, tricks and ingenious hacks when it comes to growing a business using their podcast. This is your host Ronsley. He’s interviewed more than 1400 people and has been listened to over 5 million times in 133 countries, a TED speaker, author and a podcast purist who believes that we can use our voices to grow our business and our influence, you know, because every conversion in any business always happens in a conversation. And now Ronsley.

Ronsley Vaz  01:02

Lyon, how are you? Thank you for being here. This is so cool. Yeah, it’s great to be here on sleep. Always think about you and Steph Taylor and a few other people every time I think that things are down in business as an entrepreneur, like think of why am I doing this sort of thing. And I do think about y’all, and I love your story. I love how it all started. But I don’t want to taint my version. So I’d love for you to give what your version of what it looked like from the beginning, like before podcasting was even on your radar, and then how you got into it, and a summary of where it’s at today.

Leanne Hughes  01:38

Absolutely. You’re right. So podcasting was never on my radar. But I loved listening to podcasts, and I was working in a corporate job. So every single day I would get in the car commute to work and just listen to podcasts from Pat Flynn, people like Jordan Harbinger. And then I realized that Jordan was actually coming to Brisbane for your podcasting event. So I signed up because I just super keen to hear him speak and connect with him. And little did I know that that will just turn everything for the best. I remember Andrew Griffiths was emceeing your event. And he said, right, we’ve got a competition, you can win a copy of my book. But to do that, you need to enter the name of your podcast and pop it into the hat. And of course, I didn’t have a podcast but I thought you gave me advice runs late it was create a show about something you’d like to learn more about. At that moment in time, I was working internally running a lot of workshops around the world. But I wasn’t very confident at doing it. So I thought Look, I’m a first time facilitator. I like the alliteration of that. So put it into the hat. I said if this gets picked out, I will start the show. And lo and behold, Andrew grabs his hat, and I see my blue Post It note. And I was like crap, I’ve got 30 seconds to think of what this show is about who it’s for when I run up on stage. And then fast forward three months later, I launched the show. It’s a very nice show. But it really helps build an audience and gave me the competence to leave my job 12 months later. So that’s the origin story.

Ronsley Vaz  02:58

Oh, how cool. I love the story on how you put in the reps, because I think that is probably the most important part of the story is you putting in the work? So let’s talk about that. I mean, three months later, it’s not normal for someone to have the inspiration and to follow through with the inspiration, especially in today’s world where you can say I’m starting a podcast, get all the likes, and then feel like it’s a lot of work and then go you know what, I think it’s too much work. Let me stop it. What will your reps like to get going?

Leanne Hughes  03:26

Yeah, well, I think like everyone else, I was super nervous. I mean, I had no real personal brand. What I did have were a few key people. And really podcast today is it’s just conversations, your record that you released at scale. And when I got back from a trip to Canada, I had this incident happened during a workshop where a guy just refused to participate. So I came back from that trip to Australia. And I rang up a few facilitation friends and asked them what would you have done. And I as I was thinking about that format, I thought, hey, these chats are actually quite useful. I love that, quote, start where you are, use what you can. So I basically brought with my first three guests for people that I had a lot of trust with and competence. And I just started Yeah, just sharing it out. Now you talk about the reps, I was so rewarded from having conversations because I was learning from that, like my skill was developing just as a result of these conversations. So it wasn’t purely focused on building business or marketing or anything like that. It was quite selfish reason. But I found that in service of myself, I was helping all these other people as a like side benefit. So I remember the first email I got actually was from I think after episode four, I start this podcast, email, this special Gmail account. I never checked it because who was going to email me who was listening to the show? I checked it and a lady in Canada actually emailed me and was just talking about how excited she was about the show and I I think that you know, after episode four, just getting that one email just really spurred on some momentum.

Ronsley Vaz  04:48

Yeah, it’s always absolutely insane getting a listener sort of say, Hey, I so I still love it so much. It is such a thrill but you’re talking about me giving you advice about becoming the learner. And I want to kind of just touch on that for a second because I feel like people start a podcast, because they want to be seen as the experts. And I’ve heard people say, Oh, I do a solo show, because I want to be seen as an expert. I want to put out my expertise. And of course, there’s places for that. But in my opinion, I believe that a podcast is actually not a Content tool as much as it is a business development tool. And especially when you’re starting off, like getting the reps in, it allows you to do that, while not having to deal with the imposter, right. And I think people started to use this imposter syndrome as this excuse of like doing dumb shit. And I wonder what your thoughts on the whole process is.

Leanne Hughes  05:44

I love the process. I had a podcast about facilitation. So naturally, I’m actually all drawn in by co creation, everything I do anything in my business, I see it as a partnership. And I always do things in draft as opposed to having things that are final because, again, not that I am resisting the urge to be an expert, I’m sure one day I’ll step into the light, but I’m very comfortable in rallying people’s thoughts, seeing what the best is out of this and then creating more insight and impact. And you’re right Rumsey, like a lot of my previous guests on the show I’ve actually ended up working with so one of the cool things was Jenny Blake, who I mentioned a lot. She mentioned this podcast story in her book called free time. She flew me to Paris to run workshops with her like that. That is like the most insane thing. So she’s been a guest on the show. What am I guess, Adam? I wanted to know more about the Clifton Strengths tool, and he is his certified coach over in the Midwest of the US. And after our conversation on the podcast, he said, Hey, you and I should speak at the conference in Omaha next year, either. I mean, this is like as if we got selected sorry. My first one, my first gigs are speaking in the midwest of America through I guess connection. So you’re absolutely right.

Ronsley Vaz  06:52

The most scariest things I’ve ever done in my life and still continue to do for whatever reason is we are podcast. And again, this year, we had the conversation about whether I should do it or not. And just before the deposit was due, I had this whole moment of like, life is really good right now. I don’t need to put this. In Rochelle said something really interesting to me. She’s like Russell’s my wife. So everyone listening all this fear. You’re feeling like just take it in, put in a little box, and we’ll discuss it after we are podcast. And I found that insane. I find that her telling me that was so helpful. But then she went a step further and said, but just so that I’m clear, why did you start with a podcast? And you know, the shell. So this is not like a normal Rochelle question to ask. And I said, you know, to be honest, when I started with a podcast, I was like, Well, I found this secret that business owners need to know about. And I just wish everyone knew that they could use it. And hearing that story right now is like, Oh my God, that’s why I started. We are podcast, it is so crazy to hear that story. I mean, what other things come to mind like that? Because I can’t seem to get people to understand how good this medium is?

Leanne Hughes  08:07

Yeah, I think I’ll tell you a quote that I really that really stands out for me that is related to to the theme of what you’re saying is David White, the poet he said that which you can plan is to small theater lives. And I think when anyone is like citing and podcasts you might be writing like, this is what I need to do. This is what I wanted to gain, you might have your list of what motivates you. But look, I didn’t have on my list, be flown to Paris by my favorite author, speak at one of the best events in my industry, straight off the bat build my business off the back of this run online program. Like none of that was on my list because I couldn’t even be brave enough to anticipate or imagine that. So that’s the beauty of podcasting is it and what Jenny by talks about, she uses the phrase serendipity popcorn. So it’s an evergreen medium, you’re having these conversations in six months time, someone might pick it up, popcorn starts bursting in your inbox, an opportunity arises that you could not have planned or dreamed of. That’s why podcasting I think is so powerful. You can’t logically think, what will this create for me because it’s actually going to exceed it? Well, in my instance, and and I think in your instance, as well Rawnsley,

Ronsley Vaz  09:10

I’m continuously surprised Oh, well, I don’t think after all these years, and Facebook reminded me a few weeks ago that it’s been 10 years doing this, I just feel like I’m getting started. I feel like I’m the new guy into the block. I really feel like I’m still learning so much. Even when I hear people who have done it differently from when I started, things are different tools are different strategies are different. I always feel like when I asked a question that I won’t be surprised, but whenever I ask the question, I’m always surprised at what podcasting has done for someone else and how it has opened doors that none of us could have predicted. And it continues to do that. And then sometimes I wonder if you go to the same thing, like other podcasters and kind of go, I should just check my numbers and then you look at the numbers and feel like it should be something else. Does that happen at all?

Leanne Hughes  09:58

Yeah, I’m What a metrics person. I’m really quite intuitive. I think people look at me from the outside and think organized metric focused goal oriented. I’m not, though, at all. Yes, I’ll look at the podcast more I’m really looking at is like, is it growing over time. But what I’m most delighted about is actually seeing the backlog of episodes that are downloaded. And I think that is just this one hour of conversation and that futility and is grateful that I’ve had that because it just keeps again, generating more serendipity popcorn, my initial podcast was extremely niche. First time facilitator, I did it for 200 episodes, the only metric that I really cared about is Am I still learning and growing, but it came for Episode 200, I felt my own energy start to wane a bit, because I no longer identify with being a first time facilitator to knowing that my most important metric I had to sort of go right, let’s close the show, let’s start something different, that will give me more energy for these conversations. So for me, that’s the most important metric. And in terms of like, the KPI and the ROI on the podcast, I just feel it’s already like it’s against the past what I originally had imagined in terms of opportunity. There’s a few direct lines to have this conversation got a gig, a lot of it is indirect, but it’s just reinforcing trust, reinforcing relationships, every episode that I released.

Ronsley Vaz  11:12

Yeah, you mentioned a few times that the podcasts so let’s get into the story of First of all, 200 episodes is a lot in terms of reps. Like there’s a very famous stat of seven or less episodes being the normal, let people buy out when it comes to the podcast, because of the kind of work that’s required. But let’s talk first about the evolution. So you got 200 episodes, what was that? Like? Did you feel before that that you were changing? And then how did you go about making the next one? What was that process? Like?

Leanne Hughes  11:42

I think it was episode 130, or 140, actually interviewed a guy on podcasts, Alan Weiss, the million dollar consultant, and this was a podcast, and on that he was just challenging me on my business model. So if you’re like a coaching call, I really broke up, actually. And I think as I was reflecting on that conversation, he’s basically saying, Look, you can’t be a facilitator, you got to be an expert and deliver your expertise through a variety of mediums. I was reflecting on that I was resisting it a bit. And so over the course of about 60 episodes, what I was learning was that I was hearing things, the podcasts, but they were patterns, I already kind of heard the same type of advice or insight. And I just thought, Look, if I really want to reposition myself as something different, or just separate myself from the facilitation tag is to say to clients that I can offer more, I had to sort of go, but I’ll tell you what the other unintended side benefit of having a podcast, particularly if you are in a role, where you communicate is just the skill set you develop, being able to listen, respond and be comfortable in ambiguity, I think is really key

Ronsley Vaz  12:41

when you’re thinking about stuff getting in the way. What is the stuff that gets in the way of you making the podcast? Does anything happen? Or do you feel like it’s effortless? I spoke to Jim and Jamie shields a couple of hours ago, who again one day just decided like, hey, Ronsley I want to start a podcast because it’s COVID. And they’ve like exploded, and they don’t know a lot of things that are happening. And it’s kind of like they’ve almost outsourced a lot of the stuff. And it’s so cool to watch that there’s so in this like artist mode, but they have nothing that gets in the way, apparently, according to them because they feel so empowered by it. But I wonder whether, you know, there’s something that gets in the way, what’s difficult in you making the podcast?

Leanne Hughes  13:21

Yeah, I think in early days, it was just like, how the heck do I do this thing. However, I feel if you’ve got a resourceful mindset and attitude to it, these are actually easy, like quite simple things to overcome. And Ramsey. I’m sure people talk to you about the tech all the time. And I just say to people, like, don’t even work like that’s the easy part. Tech is easy. It’s all about, like you’re getting like the strategy, you’re getting right guests on to you learning all that as well. So in the early days, now, this is a bad thing. But I actually enjoy editing, like for some reason I get in a weird flow, state my edit things. And so it took time, but I felt reluctant to offshoot that, but I have got to this, I mean, I think around Episode 50, I was starting to outsource shownotes that type of work to people and in with my new show now. I just record I do the intro and post production. And I wake up the following week. It’s all done and delivered. So in terms of objections, now, it’s probably more about I’ve kind of gone the other way. So I went from a really niche podcast to something that’s extremely broad now, which unfortunately for a person like me, I kind of maybe need some constraints on myself. Otherwise, it’s like topic around this and this, but I’m still enjoying it. So I don’t really see that as a massive objection.

Ronsley Vaz  14:27

So let’s talk about that. I mean, it’s obviously taking up some mind space, right. So what’s the new show? Just tell us a bit about it. And what do you go through when you prepare for it and record for it?

Leanne Hughes  14:38

Yeah, sure. So the podcast is called the end use work and live large. And even as I say that I’m like it’s not rolling over my tongue. So I’m thinking about a potential rebound in future. What goes through it is I think about who is someone I see out there that I in my way of living a large and working life is doing that is actually just taking action having ideas testing things out and going all in. So think about people, I think about books that I’ve read people that I want to connect with. And that’s just, that’s my simple question of Who would I want to speak to that actually will provide joy. And then I’ll learn from the show that others can benefit from. And then it’s just reaching out all myself, because I think it’s all about building that relationship. I often want to get authors, I will read the books, I’ll take notes, I will research for authors, and then just record it and shoot it off to those folks that helped me out with all the post production.

15:34

Hey, this is Sandy waters. I’m a radio host for over 20 years and help people sound better on their podcast. I’m on the inside of we are podcast members, or as we like to call it the way family. If you were thinking about growing that business using your podcast and your online presence. Come join us on the inside. I would love to meet you, James and Ronsley. They coach us to get those recurring results in our business. If you want that roadmap, which we all follow to get those recurring results you can download [email protected] are podcast.com Now here’s Ron’s.

Ronsley Vaz  16:12

I think people from the outside think that liat has a system for everything. At least I feel that and I’m super curious on what do you have systems for? Like, what are the systems that you have in place, you do certain things that are like pretty on schedule. So what are your systems like?

Leanne Hughes  16:28

So like this public perception of me, it’s just so I don’t know. Like, if you were to come over right now and see my computer desktop, like I’ve got like 100 icons on this desktop, I’m think I’m really good at managing ambiguity and chaos. And I rather than having to force a system onto it, I’m actually okay with being structured within the chaos, which I think is actually a superpower. But you’re right, I find that exercising will wake up my brain. So I see it not for the utility of getting fit more about it will get my mind sharp. So I have to exercise like at least sweat for an hour every morning. That’s like a non negotiable. I think I work pretty quickly. So the systems I have I spoke with air table the night before, I’ll just write down like, what am I thinking for tomorrow? At the same time, I also leave space in my calendar, because when inspiration strikes, I want to take action on that straightaway. The more that I leave it, the less the idea will be exciting for me. So I plan that I think Shawn D’souza talks about chaos planning, I always plan some chaos into my day as well.

Ronsley Vaz  17:22

Yeah, I mean, those are systems and those are pretty like, interesting system. That’s what I’m saying. Right? I think we don’t give ourselves credit for the things, we find it difficult sometimes to explain the things that are come naturally to us. I think that’s what it is. And as a result of come up with these frameworks and stuff like that, and I feel you’ve done a lot of the same, because I see your frameworks and your two by two, which you’ve come up with, which is amazing. Let’s talk about that. And how you came up with that idea.

Leanne Hughes  17:51

Yeah, well, I like I said before, my new podcast is actually quite generic. And I thought I need some constraints on myself. Because it right every second Tuesday, I’ll do an episode where I solve a problem or a challenge. And I draw a two by two matrix to do that. So challenge I solved recently was that I had someone asked me like, Hey, I’m listening to all this new stuff, but I’m not taking action on it. And I thought, Oh, that’s interesting. So I just mapped on a two by two on the y axis, I put consumption, so the amount that you’re consuming versus low consumption. And on the x axis, I put creating, like, what are you actually doing with the information that you’re consuming? And then that’s basically it. So it’s like a shorter episode, it’s more YouTube first. So I draw it talk it through. And the good thing about that is people can identify where they are on the quadrant. And then what they might need to do to actually move to the quadrant they’d like to go to, it’s a great challenge, because I don’t usually think like that. But it forces a framework on all the crazy stuff going on. In my mind. It’s funny,

Ronsley Vaz  18:47

you’re saying that because from the episodes, it doesn’t seem like you’re and think like that. And it’s crazy that that framework allows you to think like that to your point earlier. It’s about first figuring out what you currently do. And there is a process to that. And when you figure out that process, you can make small tweaks that will make a drastic change or a drastic difference to how you do it. For example, you have figured out that you had your whole day by getting an hour of exercise in the morning. Now, a lot of people know that but might not do it. But you’ve kind of found it to be a non negotiable, which is probably given you all the other things that come with your serendipity popcorn that you talk about is because maybe that’s one critical repetition that probably snowballs through the rest of your day. And you have these goals that you set for yourself. Where does that come from?

Leanne Hughes  19:43

A prime example of what I was saying before about if I wait too long, I’ll lose the idea. That was just like I think it was on the 30th of December the day before two days before the beginning of the year. It was just something attractive about it. 2020 ks and 2020 is like when I hear that there’s some emotion in that it’s like That’s ambitious. It’s not like I’ll run every day for 30 minutes, which I think is just boring. I mean, I want to talk about the behead. We’ve all heard that acronym big, hairy, audacious goal, but it was something attractive about it. I think we could rally some people together for it. So without even doing the math, so I was like, oh, okay, five and a half k’s a day. Every day. I was like, that’s cool. But I didn’t even think about this. If you miss a day, you got to run 11k The next day. Like I didn’t even know that was a thing. If I had even had some awareness on that. I probably wouldn’t have started it. But yeah, I think I got there by the the following year. Yeah. December, I made the 2020. And it’s good to have you part of it. Yeah,

Ronsley Vaz  20:35

you did. So for me, I was on track doing everything great until I was quarantined for 14 days. And those 14 days just compounded. And I’m like, I can’t see myself. And it just went downhill from there. However, however, I got 620 days in the year, which for me, was great. And that snowballed a whole bunch of insane things. And now, I compete competitively badminton and table tennis like, like every week, and again, it wouldn’t have started if not for that fitness craze then Right? So just this snowball effect that these reps have, which we’re not paying attention to, especially when it comes to business. Can you think about these the reps that you do? And I for sure, you must not think that it’s planned is probably not but what are the reps that you do in your business to develop it and to grow it?

Leanne Hughes  21:26

Yeah, boy definitely think the backup conversations like so the back of my business is just having conversations. I think I got in the habit, same year in 2020. When I did the running was like posting every day on LinkedIn now serves two things. Obviously, one is getting your brand out there every day. But it forces me to think about what is actually interesting and relevant to post. And I don’t schedule any of those posts. It truly is, What am I hearing? What am I observing? And I use that as a tool to then frame something up. Now I don’t post every day on LinkedIn now. But I still have that theme of like just paying attention to what’s going on? And how can this serve my content? How can it help with clients as well, and I’ll note it down this year, I’m really focusing on writing articles. So just getting a weekly article out again to refine my thinking. And as you know, runs like you write as well. But writing helps really consolidate and clarify an argument that I’m forming. So this year, that’s my real rap is like just writing articles and providing a unique kind of counterintuitive perspective on what’s actually going on.

Ronsley Vaz  22:26

Fascinating. I want to ask you about the noticing bit like what does that process like what happens when you see something what goes through your mind when you kind of go? Okay, I’ve noticed that I’m going to capture it in some way. And then I’ve got to break it down. What is that process? Like?

Leanne Hughes  22:43

Yeah, well, we then I think it was two weeks ago, I was going for a dog walk and I was walking in this path. And there was a turkey there. And it actually started building its nest on the path. So thinking about that, like, what is this all about? I mean, yeah, so we have to walk around, but you think of are there people leaders or organizations that are just building things in isolation and not considering their environment? Like thinking about that? Right? So that’s I just start thinking, the implication, honestly, for some reason, birds and animals really provoked the the ideas and me as well. So that’s the thought process is like, Oh, that’s interesting. And I think even for half a second, if I’m seeing it, and I think it drives some curiosity, then I think what does this relate to in terms of helping out my clients or content? So that’s it, I just noted down in my phone at the time, cuz I usually forget, because like, my mind goes like this. And then I’ll come back later. Think of the connections. Yeah, it happens all the time. Even when I’m getting massages, I form these stories and ideas.

Ronsley Vaz  23:36

That’s actually really cool. I mean, I wish that I was more organized. And this is something that I really do think about a lot like to organize my stories and organize my anecdotes and organize the things that have happened so that I can better explain certain situations. And I haven’t gotten there, even though there’s so many notes that have been captured since the beginning of time, but feels like for me. So I love that idea of noticing being so curious that you don’t know why it’s happening. And then you kind of go well, if this is happening here, how does that relate to my people? So is that what you’re thinking about? You’re thinking about your audience and what they’re going through? Are you thinking about their problems? Or what situations they’re dealing with? Is that how you make the connection?

Leanne Hughes  24:21

Yeah, absolutely. That’s exactly how I make the connection, or it relates to what am I sensing online? So an example is like, early this year, right? The beginning of the year, I thought, right, I’m going to just schedule in haircuts and booked them for the rest of the year. And I found that after haircut one, I just couldn’t make any of the appointments. So while I tried to do all this planning, and upfront, it just didn’t work in practice, and so that I related that to company strategy, and how they spent most time planning things and have these quarterly check ins and metrics but there’s so much going on that’s going to impact that so at a micro level Lian story, and then I think the clients that I work with, what are their problems and that it’s super easy to just to connect a lot Rosie spoke up a bit before, I just want to highlight the whole way I think about this was influenced by Matthew Dix and his book story where the, so he calls it homework for life. Because every day, there’s something that stands out for you just write it down, capture it in a spreadsheet, or wherever it is. And you find it’s very easy then to sort of think about them, and then relate it to where you want to go.

Ronsley Vaz  25:19

It’s so good. I mean, I do a daily journal, and there’s like, it’s a prompt. So I literally start, it’s a thing button, it generates the thing. And it’s like 10 things, you’re grateful for three intentions for the day, blah, blah, blah. And one of the ones that I’ve added to it recently is like, what conversations are you avoiding, and that has opened up such a good insight? For me, I’m going to add that to my list, because it’s so quick and so easy to kind of like, what did you notice yesterday? Could be something so simple to be added to that list that will spark a memory, which might sort of be forgotten if not captured? Do you capture things? What do you capture?

Leanne Hughes  25:58

Yeah, I’m not very good at using the spreadsheet. So what I’ll do is because it’s like another tool you need to open so with that Turkey story, just like turkey nest on path. And then I’ll just add in like a hashtag, HF, l homework for life. So when I searched my notes, it’s there, you know, I should go to the next stage of categorizing it in a spreadsheet, but I just haven’t got there. But I just know that if I search for that, in my notes, I can see all these stories. And they very quickly prompt, if that could be related to this. Because the hard part is whenever you’re having a conversation, or you’re creating a presentation, it’s super hard to think of, oh, I need a story. Now that represents X. And you have to think of one it’s super hard. If you can go through your list. You think oh, yeah, maybe this will connect and demonstrate this point, I just need to know it’s super simple. Yeah, easy to find. I’m going

Ronsley Vaz  26:43

to come back to you and ask you about your tips and tricks for a new podcast or getting into podcasting after all you’ve learned. But I’m going to talk about the mistake for a second that we make as business owner podcasters. And that is picking the wrong hosting platform. Now this is number 69. I’ve made a list of a whole bunch of them that we make, because we’re business owners that are getting into podcasting, or we are podcasters that are getting into business. So we make a couple of mistakes that we don’t even know we’re making. And usually we can just fix them by by reading it. And if you want a whole list go to mistakes, or we are podcast.com you get the whole list today is number 69. picking the wrong hosting platform. If you have not caught a previous live, I did a live interview with Rob Walsh from Lipson and we were talking about the different components of a hosting platform. What does it give you? What kind of metrics it gives you? Is it always up and running? Does the service ever crash? Is your podcast always available? So these are all the little things that sometimes when you’re picking a podcast platform, you’re not really sure, if you’re trying to choose between two different things, usually we got a cheaper price if we don’t know what to look for in terms of features. And I’m not saying not to go for a cheaper option. I’m just saying that look at all the components that are available, like look at what you get as a result of being part of a certain platform. Now, I’m a huge proponent of Lipson I’ve used it since the beginning or my client side. And I suggest it to everyone primarily because they have been around for the longest account for the most amount of downloads, and it kind of been around for the longest time actually. But not to say that they’re the best. I know that there are other platforms out there, but just do your research. Make sure you figure out the right media hosting platform for your podcast, because if it’s not reliable, it’s everything that that you’ve put your heart and effort into. So make sure you take that. Leanne, what do you use to host your podcasts? And I’m curious whether you’ve changed it for the next podcast.

Leanne Hughes  28:42

Yeah, I actually use Buzzsprout but I also use I’ve got a few and I like Captivate like all that. I really like what they’ve got going on with just the combination of private and public podcasting. But right now I’ve got Buzzsprout for my public podcasts. And I use Hello audio and I’ve got the powerhouse plan now I’ve got like 30 Private podcasts in that that I’ve hosted for clients and courses

Ronsley Vaz  29:05

Dr. Lindsay is is amazing Padilla she’s started Hello audio and she’s been on our podcast a few times. It’s such a cool way to create private playlists even so, for someone listening here that sort of started out what are some of the things that you wish you had done earlier? Or what kind of tips and tricks would you have for someone that is a new podcaster or even someone that’s veteran like maybe the things that you’re doing that we all need to know about?

Leanne Hughes  29:32

Yeah, so many I guess I think I won’t confuse everyone but number one thing was actually have a call to action to get people on your email list offers something very exciting. I’ve got so many podcasts in my back catalogue that are how to episodes like with very specific points like even checklist like process driven, like there’s so much I could have done even shared transcripts of episodes to get people on my email list. I’m still pretty slack in the whole lead magnet area. But I think the quicker you can convert people onto your email Listen, industry dialogue with them is good. I think I waited a bit too long to start my community on my imposter syndrome. I was like, and who will join this and be excited for 50 I think I’ve got close to 2000 people on there now, I knew I wanted to do it. I thought, Oh, I’m gonna wait for it. It’s like no, just do it now. So that would be my know if anyone’s hesitating just go all in.

Ronsley Vaz  30:19

Yeah. Thank you, Leanne. Where can people find you? They’re looking for your work and where to connect with you.

Leanne Hughes  30:24

Yeah, so LinkedIn at land use Instagram, Twitter. I’m at Leanne use as well. And my website is Leanne T’s dot com where you can find podcasts, YouTube, all that.

Ronsley Vaz  30:34

Cool. Thank you for doing this. I do appreciate everyone that comes on the show. So I thank you for being here. Thank you for keeping on doing the reps because you can tell that the reps have been put into place. So thank you for being here.

Leanne Hughes  30:47

Thank you so much. Franza, you’re a champ and I love your phrase return on reps. It’s been enjoyed chatting to you as always.

Ronsley Vaz  30:58

All right, so you still till the end, you found this useful, and you have a business. And, Paul, you have a podcast and a business. And you kind of want to make it work for you and grow your business using this podcast will you know what, that’s something that I have helped 1000s of people do and 1000s of businesses do in different forms, through an agency in a one on one fashion through a conference in a group and obviously in courses and stuff. So please, I want to be able to give you something that you can use to get recurring results in your business using a podcast. We call it the recurring results roadmap. It is years of putting this in practice. It is the blueprint to get results in recurring results using our podcast if you’d like that, send me a message [email protected] I want to hear from you. I want to hear your voice or I want to hear from you. So if you’ve listened to this and you want that roadmap, please send me an email [email protected] I want to hear from you. Much love. I’ll see you in the next episode.

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