#050: I can't believe I've recorded and published 50 podcast episodes. It's been a wild ride!
Nothing could have prepared me for the journey this has been, and I'm only just getting started.
I thought I'd record this to share with you the ups and downs of this adventure so far, but also my biggest learnings (in the hope they will help you with any new project).
In this episode, I share:
I hope you enjoy this peek behind the scenes and share my learnings with me.
Enjoy the episode and here's to 50 more!
Lou xx
#050: I can't believe I've recorded and published 50 podcast episodes. It's been a wild ride!
Nothing could have prepared me for the journey this has been, and I'm only just getting started.
I thought I'd record this to share with you the ups and downs of this adventure so far, but also my biggest learnings (in the hope they will help you with any new project).
In this episode, I share:
I hope you enjoy this peek behind the scenes and share my learnings with me.
Enjoy the episode and here's to 50 more!
Lou xx
Hello and welcome to episode 50 of the online course creator show. So I actually wasn't planning on doing an episode on 50 episodes of the show, at least not yet. When I created this podcast, i literally knew that I wanted 100 episodes and that was always my goal. So to hit 50, it seems like, yes, it's not as big as 100, but I have learned so so so much from this podcast. I actually cannot believe it. And to get to 50 episodes actually feels like way more of a big thing than I would have ever imagined right at the start, right. So today I want to share with you the five biggest lessons that I have learned from creating the show, from recording my episodes and getting to 50 of those episodes. Now, normally when I record these podcasts, I actually have a fairly solid structure of what I'm going to talk about. It's not scripted, although I have done quite a few scripted episodes, but this one I am literally just going to riff. I have, like, the five things written down in my notes section on my phone. It feels a little bit different actually to turn up to the mic today and not have a very solid plan, but I'm willing to see where it goes, and I hope that you are too. I think if you are considering starting a podcast, then this will be a really beneficial episode for you to listen to. However, i think what I am going to share in this episode actually relates to many projects, and obviously this podcast is about creating online courses and selling and marketing those online courses, and I think there is there are a huge amount of similarities between what I'm sharing with you today and actually any big project.
Speaker 1:Now to backtrack a little I had wanted to start a podcast for a pretty long time. It is something I had considered. I had asked many people for their opinion, as I used to do which I no longer do and always had mixed advice. And one of those pieces of advice I always got was we'll just go on other people's podcasts And yes, it's all well and good, but I really wanted my own, and I think I've kind of always been that way inclined. You know, like I have my own Facebook group, that kind of thing. I'd much rather have my own stuff as well as featuring on other people's podcasts and other people's programs and all that kind of thing. So it had been on the back of my mind for a long time And once I actually niched down into online courses, so I had been I mean, i've been in marketing for 15 years, which is just insane. I used to help a really wide range of clients, and that did include helping people with online courses from about 2013 onwards, but it wasn't until I think it was 2021 when I actually niched down into just courses, because that's always been my favourite thing And I no longer wanted to be that person that just did absolutely everything, because you can imagine the amount of just keeping up constantly with what's going on in the industry for multiple different things.
Speaker 1:It just became something I no longer wanted to do. So so I have shared a little bit along the way of my podcasting journey, particularly in the episode where I announced that I was changing the name of the show, and actually, funnily enough, a lot of what I'm talking about today does relate to that change, and if you listen to that episode I think it was episode 41, and I will link that in the show notes One thing I knew was that I had to make a change, and if you're wondering if that name change has been a good move, then you're going to find out in this episode, so I did want to run through those five things that I have learned, so I will go through each of those And just to give some context to the first one actually I knew that podcasting was going to be a long term game beforehand. I had been told by Lindell from the podcasting VA, podcast VA. I used to be in a mastermind with her, so I was talking to her about it And she told me straight up it is a long term game to start podcasting and don't expect results for six months. So I went into this knowing realistically what to expect And I am very grateful for getting that piece of advice. Like I think that there's so much online about how you know you. We want to like promise more, but sometimes actually sharing the truth with people is actually going to help them stay in the game and get the results that they need, and I think that's very applicable to the whole online course industry as well.
Speaker 1:The first lesson for me is how you show up when you're not getting results matters a lot, and what I mean by that is If you know anything about podcasting stats. If you've looked into podcasting, you may have seen that the average amount of podcasts on the internet have like less than three episodes or something crazy like that. I'll have to find the exact stat. But it is insane Like yes, there are a ton of podcasts around like there are so many. However, there's not actually that many who are consistently showing up and producing content all the time regularly, and there are a lot of podcasts out there that only have three or so episodes and then they've never kind of come back. I actually have noticed a lot of people drop off around the 30-ish episode mark And I think that is probably about the phase where I could have done so as well. But changing the name has kind of reinvigorated everything for me and I'm so grateful for that.
Speaker 1:But back to that lesson how you show up when you're not getting results matter. Now, i could have given up so many times on this journey. I literally was not seeing results. Like Lindell told me, don't expect results. For six months A year in, i still wasn't seeing results from this, and from results I mean like people inquiring to work with me, booking calls and getting customers from this podcast.
Speaker 1:Now you might be thinking, well, that's just stupid to keep going with something that's not working. But I'm actually going to get to that soon. But I really think that sometimes it's not about something not working and then quitting. It's actually about looking at, well, what's happening here and how can we fix it, rather than quitting, because I actually have really enjoyed the process of showing up and creating this podcast And it wasn't something I was willing to quit on. So I think having that willingness not to quit is so powerful and having the resilience to keep going Even when it's not working out the way you want to. And I just think we get sold this instant results thing all the time And, quite frankly, i mean I'm at the point now I've been in this industry long enough to know that it is absolutely not true. And if you are listening and you're hoping that you're going to get results much quicker, like can you be that person that actually is in it for the long haul, that is committed, even if you're not seeing the results yet, because sometimes you're so close to actually getting those results.
Speaker 1:Now, the second thing that I have learned and this is a common saying, i guess that you know we hear a lot And that is to look for the solution rather than dwelling on the problem. So I definitely think I did spend a bit of time dwelling on the problem And that was like literally I'm going to be very transparent with you here I was not getting very many downloads per episode. So I, when I first launched this episode I was this podcast right at the time that I launched it There was a massive spike. I had tons of lessons to those first three episodes And then after that, you know, like I did the launch at ranked in the charts in New Zealand mainly, and then I kind of knew at that point like I had the right expectation, i think, where I knew, ok, so now it's going to be getting into the just keeping this thing going, getting above three episodes, getting above seven episodes, getting above 10 episodes. And I just kept focusing on those milestones. And I use Buzz Brown as my podcast host And they kind of gamify that whole thing and they send you emails when you hit 10, when you hit 25. And I'll get one when I publish this episode as well that I've hit 50 episodes And I found that really helped me. It really kept me going. They also send you updates when you hit a certain number of downloads and all of that kind of thing. So that really helped me.
Speaker 1:But there definitely was a few phases where I was dwelling on the fact that not enough people were listening rather than doing something about it. So I started looking for solutions and that actually led me to change my name. I could have quit at that point, right, so I could have walked away from this podcast and thinking it was a great journey, i learned enough. Unfortunately, it didn't work for me, but instead I started looking at it like this is working, this is working, this is working, but this isn't. This isn't And you know, like how do I increase my numbers? So The name change was actually something that I had been told to do by a few people who I had talked about it with.
Speaker 1:So I think, even though we're not always seeking opinions, like I was talking about before, it is good to talk to people who actually know what they're talking about. And a couple of people said to me you need to change your podcast name to make it keyword rich, because before it was just called the Lou Blakely Show, which at the time was a great name, just to get started and get moving, and that was powerful. However, i knew I needed to change it to something with those keywords in there after having those conversations with those people And you know, as someone with quite a lot of experience in SEO, i know how powerful keywords are. Although I feel like I'd kind of forgotten, and when I changed the name, i actually felt like it was quite a boring name, but now I can totally see the impact that it's had. Now, another thing that I have learned through the podcasting experience is that consistency gets results. So up until my name change. So I changed the name of the podcast at the end of April. So it's not that long ago right, it's not even two months ago, which is crazy. But the month before that I decided right, i'm going to get super consistent with this And I'm going to see where it goes Now. My downloads had actually started to increase dramatically in that month, even prior to changing the name, and the reason for that was that I was releasing every Tuesday and consistently sharing that on my stories on Instagram and then consistently sending out an email newsletter.
Speaker 1:So I've had a bit of a battle with consistency. I am definitely not going to sugarcoat it, so I don't know how long you've been listening to this podcast, but some of my backstories that I burnt out quite badly from basically overworking when I was freelance, so I'm so passionate about moving towards a more online core space business model And through that my relationship I guess you could call it with consistency really started to fade Like so the burnout for me manifested as, like chronic fatigue. I used to get every single bug there was under the sun. Like twice a month I'd be getting the flu. I would spend days in bed. I literally could not predict what my health was going to do, like I'd wake up some days with such bad brain fog I couldn't even look at the computer. I literally just had to drop my son at school and crawl back to bed and stay there for the entire day, and that happened a lot. Like I would say, about a week out of every month that was the case, and then the rest of the time I felt pretty average. There weren't many days when I would actually have a really good day health wise.
Speaker 1:So, as you can imagine, the side effect or the impact of that on consistency is massive. Like you, literally you can't be consistent at all because it becomes a case of your health is way more important than your business And you're just trying to survive, and I really, really feel for people who are going through chronic illness and also trying to run a business, because it is very difficult. So I was experiencing that and I'm so grateful now that there is no longer the case. I'm no longer experiencing that, fully healed from it, which, to be honest, has been probably the hardest thing I have ever overcome, but also a reason why I'm so passionate about online courses, because I don't believe that that burnout would have happened without the very in-depth relationship that you have to have with clients when you're freelancing that kind of thing And literally growing their business instead of your own.
Speaker 1:Anyway, my relationship with consistency was completely out the window, completely dead, and then, as I was healing, i went through a few stages where I started to deny that consistency even mattered, which is kind of funny. I find that in hindsight, i find that quite funny. I may have even said it in the early episodes on this podcast that I don't believe in consistency, which now I actually just laugh at. And also I give myself full permission to change my mind on things, and I hope you do too, because we're always evolving and growing and we don't have to believe what we used to believe now, and even if we've told people that. But yeah, i think also a part of me felt like consistency, felt boring. But when I started releasing the episodes on Tuesdays and sending out the newsletter and sending out the stories, yes, it did feel kind of like mundane, but when I started to see the results I was like, hmm, i could get behind this. So I guess that's really my first like recommitment to consistency.
Speaker 1:So prior to that, i was just doing podcasts willy nilly, like I try and get one out every week, but I actually think that was like a full month in 2022 where I didn't even release one episode, or it might have been one. And, yes, some months last year my download numbers were pretty low and, yeah, it's just so interesting to look back at that because it really did impact my results, like, without a doubt. And then I think it was around May, i Got Covid and got quite sick from Covid, so literally could not turn up and speak into the mic for at least three weeks, maybe even a month, and Luckily, i think I had a podcast going out that day that I got it and then Couldn't show up and do another episode after that. For because of that, how sick I felt. So I Think that you know, sometimes stuff does come up and you can't be consistent. But I've also found that I'm kind of getting better at sitting with that feeling of being Boring and having that consistency created. And if you're one of those people that are super consistent, you're probably listening to this going. What is she talking about? But if you could relate to me, yeah, i just want you to know that I completely get it and I think We all struggle with consistency in some way, shape or form, but there's no doubt that it works.
Speaker 1:Another thing that I kept doing, that I kept noticing, was I, when I did get the chance to batch record a whole bunch of episodes, i would then get super excited and roll them all out like in a week, which is just I don't know what was behind that, to be honest. And I think that month where I got super consistent, i was like no, i'm not gonna push them all out. I think it was from this place of you know, my goal is to get to 100 episodes. If I just push them all out, then I'm gonna get there really fast and I will have hit my goal actually in December. Now I remember I did two podcasts a week and that was such a massive push. And then What happened was I got to January and I don't think I did one episode, or I may have done one. So it's like Doing all those episodes in that quick succession when I wasn't really ready for it. Actually, i Think it kind of pushed me into a little bit of podcast burnout. And then it was January and it's summer here in Australia, and then I actually went to New Zealand for three weeks in January, so I was away, wasn't really able to record podcast episodes and I So I just didn't do any and I'd already done so many in December. I was kind of over it.
Speaker 1:So one thing that I've really learned is If I do batch create, which actually really works for me I have found I'd much prefer a batching over doing them weekly. And If I batch create and have them just one coming at you every Tuesday, that helps me massively. And I have to say I have realized that one of the things that actually brings me joy is Looking at the content all lined up, ready to go, all done in a month in advance to me. I have realized that that is a Really good feeling and something that I actually have started kind of visualizing when I am doing the batching to get to that point Because it makes me happy. Now, i don't always batch create like this one today. I I'm recording a week before it's due to go out. Sometimes it is the day before and, yeah, sometimes it's Tuesday and sometimes it's Wednesday or Thursday, but that is something I'm continually working on.
Speaker 1:I actually think to get back to full consistency for me has been a massive healing journey, and I definitely don't expect you to understand that if you have never been a person who has burnt out or, you know, has had an illness or just had a lot of stuff going on in their life where they've been taken away. But I definitely. I didn't put that down as a lesson, but I think that I have really kind of reignited my relationship with batching as well as well, alongside consistency. So the fourth lesson I have learned is like be prepared to make changes Instead of quitting. I think it's so important that we can look at what's working, what's not and then kind of being willing to make a change, and that actually ties in with the fifth lesson is be prepared to take risks, and changing the name for me felt like a huge risk because it could have gone either way, it could have flopped, it could have gotten even worse, but I think that for me, that was a risk that is really paid off And, as I said before, it's only not quite two full months Actually, by the time this episode goes live, it probably will be about two full months And it felt risky.
Speaker 1:It didn't feel like the name felt like it was a little bit plain, like the new name to me, but I was willing to give it a shot because I'd had advice from other people who not who were on the sidelines saying, oh, you should do this or that, but people I knew who had done the same. One of the people that I talked to had actually done the same, where they'd changed their podcast name and seen benefits. And another person was someone who's very experienced at podcasting and had nearly a million downloads on their podcast. So they told me, they looked at my podcast and said do this, this, this, this, this and this? It gave me a list of things to do, and the first one was changing your name to something with keywords in it. So, yeah, so I did that and the benefits have been huge.
Speaker 1:So what have been the benefits for me? If you want to know what those are. My downloads have increased by four, so they have quadrupled in that short space of time and literally have done nothing extra. I have been consistent, like more consistent than I was saying the three months prior, but, like this month, for example, i had visitors from New Zealand. So I was not, I didn't record any podcasts at the start of this month, but I was looking at my downloads every few days and I'd be having some days where there are a ton of people listening when I hadn't even uploaded a new episode for a couple of weeks. Right And before, like, i'd get like a bunch of lessons when a podcast came out and then that was it, whereas now I'm having massive spikes, like when I haven't even released an episode.
Speaker 1:So I could not be more grateful to myself for taking that risk and for being willing to make changes rather than quitting, like and I think this is so applicable to launching courses as well Like I think there's so many people out there who you know I've talked to. When I say to people what I do, a lot of people say so what happens when you launch something and just doesn't work? And I think there's so many people out there who have a course, who have launched it once, and then they just put on the background because they didn't get the results they were expecting. And I think the biggest problem is that we just give up way too soon, like and for me, you know like I got told don't expect results for six months and that really helped me. But what about when it turned into a year of no results? then And I'm not saying like there were no results, as there were no one listening, but the numbers weren't very high and I was not getting people reaching out to me from the podcast. Now I am getting calls booked in with me from all over the world every week And it has actually started to turn into a real machine for my business And I just show up and I record the episodes. I'm doing the same amount of work as I was before. Yes, i'm being more consistent, but and that has a part to play for sure But it is actually doing what it should be now, and that is purely because I changed the name. So I think that has to be the biggest lesson from this podcast.
Speaker 1:Right Is be prepared to make changes, always look for a solution rather than just sitting on the problem And you know how you show up when you're not getting results matter, because you know are you going to keep going or are you? are you going to quit And it's the same with your course, like maybe your launch didn't go so well, so are you going to quit, or are you going to get back up and actually look at the numbers and look at what's happening and talk to the right people who have experience or expertise in what you do and actually get the right advice to of what to do next and what to change, of where you can improve instead of quitting? And I think that so many more people would achieve amazing success in online business if they had that mentality. And I'm really proud of myself And I'm really proud of myself when it comes to this podcast that I didn't give up. And I think that I have learned so much from this podcast because I didn't give up, and now I'm seeing the success that I actually hoped had come a lot earlier. And you know like the feeling of this working now is so fulfilling and so satisfying that it's worth staying in the game. So there are my five lessons from my 50 episodes of the online course creator show.
Speaker 1:I really hope that you took something out of this today And you know, if this is you in the online course space, then keep going. Look for what ways you can improve it, reach out to me if you want to have a chat about it And stay in the game and keep going, because there's a reason that you're doing this. So I hope you enjoyed this episode. I hope you enjoyed the kind of riffing nature of it. As I said at the start, i don't normally do this And, yeah, just thank you so much for being here. Whether you've listened to most episodes or maybe you've just joined me, i'm really grateful to have you here listening And I wish you every success. That's it from me this week. Hopefully I'll catch you in the next episode. Thanks, course Creators and Go Getters. You're incredible And I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If you haven't done so already, make sure you hit subscribe in your podcast app so you don't miss an episode. If you'd like to find out more about what I offer, hit across to LouBlakelycom. See you next time.