Today, my brand new podcast, Shoot it Straight, is live and in the world. And in honor of this I thought it would be fun to share the “why” behind starting a podcast.
Let me back up and do a little story telling… a few years ago, I remember thinking that there were so many great authors and educators and industry authorities on podcasts. I remember kind of fan girling over so many different episodes. Listening to them teach on podcasts felt almost like they were talking directly to me. I mean, obviously they weren’t but the experience felt almost intimate even though we weren’t in the same room, on camera or even in a dm. It was just that listening to them while I was in my kitchen or on a walk felt so special.
Then I started my online course, The Organized Photographer. As I tried to grow my educational platform, I knew I needed to be a guest on some podcasts. But man, oh man, was I nervous. I love public speaking so I have no clue why recording an audio episode on my computer was nerve wracking, but it was.
Luckily for me, I am personal friends with a big time industry podcaster, Annemie Tonken of This Can’t Be That Hard and she asked me to be a guest on her podcast. I say “luckily” because I was asked to be on a successful and established podcast without having to even pitch myself. So, yea, lucky me:)
After that recording, I was basically hooked. Ha! All it took was one recording and then hearing the episode air and I realized how fun I thought the platform was. Enter me pitching myself to as many people as possible.
Not to any surprise, I was shot down (or ignored) a bunch because I was just a “small fish”. I wasn’t established yet and so it took a while to get the interviews rolling. But slowly, over time, they did. You can catch a bunch of those episodes HERE.
Somewhere along the way, I knew in my gut that I wanted to have a podcast of my own but I wasn’t ready yet. Part of this “not yet” was literally the time commitment part. I wanted to get a few of my educational offerings out into the world. I wanted to get my new website launched. I needed to get consistent growth out of my audience and prime them for a podcast. And I also didn’t want to start and then fizzle out too soon. You see, I have a history of jumping into things too early.
And if I am being transparent, which I always try to be, there was fear involved too. I was afraid that I wasn’t good enough to have my own podcast. That I didn’t have enough followers. That I would “fail” (whatever that means). That no one would listen. Or that too many people would listen (and complain). There was fear around a lot of it. And then I finally said, ENOUGH.
The confidence piece fell into place and then I waited until the timing felt right.. And then at the start of this year, it felt like the stars were aligning. I started to feel in my gut that this was the year I would make it happen. The first thing I did was reach out to Haylee Gaffin to learn about the process and hire her to get my podcast created and out into the world. And then I quickly hired her to produce it because it is a LOT of work!
And now my podcast baby, Shoot it Straight, is out in the world and I couldn’t be more excited. My hope is that when you listen, you will be inspired and encouraged. That you will hear my words and the words of my guests and know that you are not alone. That each week you would gain insight into your business and also your heart.
I can’t wait to take this journey and I really do hope that you will come alongside me. Of course, now that I am an official podcaster, I am going to ask you to subscribe and leave a review over on Itunes because, well, I guess we are doing this thing.
Interested in being a guest, suggesting a guest, or have a topic idea for me? I would love to hear from you here.
