The Podcast Accelerator Ginni Saraswati Shares Tips for Beginners

Hey everyone. Ashley here with RSS.com. Today we're bringing you Gina Saraswati, podcast coach and creator of the podcast accelerator. We'll be talking about mindset, motivation, and so much more. Enjoy the show. Well, uh, Ginny, welcome to the show. I'm so glad you could be here. Could you do us a little bit of a favor and tell us who you are and what you do? Sure. So my name is Ginny Saraswati. Ginny like the drink Gin, not Genie or Jiny or all the other names that I get over here in America.

So, uh, I am the CEO and founder of Gmedia. Uh, I'm a serial entrepreneur, a perpetual student, lover of podcasts, coffee, and all things, most things edible and brunch related. So that's, that's me in a nutshell there, Ashley. I love that. That's awesome. So tell me a little bit about your podcasting journey, like how you got started, um, how you came to be where you are today and all that good stuff. Sure. So I became a podcaster as a consequence really.

And I know not many people say that they're like, how did you punish yourself to be a podcaster? Well, I think when podcasting started early on, when, you know, Apple made the iPod and you know, that's why podcast exists as a name as it does, right? Podcast, iPod and broadcast, uh, as a consequence of being a radio host.

What a lot of, um, the way a few podcasts came out originally, I know there was an original podcast and you know, but a lot of podcasts in Australia, typically, if you were a FM radio show host, if you hosted a morning show, which I did for 10 years on and off, um, any kind of celebrity interview that you did, or like a quick segment that was really like hypey or like it had a pop culture segment.

What the radio stations would do is they would pull that TV show and they would pull that interview out. Um, they'd cut it and they'd pop it onto iTunes and it became a podcast. So my original pathway to a podcaster actually was out of consequence. And then after I left radio, it was intentional. I'm like, okay, well, what can I do now? I have, I did notice a very significant shift with how audio was being consumed, right?

So radio gave us this sense of intimacy where you could be in a car and on your commute, you hear the weather updates, the news updates, you listen to music, you listen to people, but you always, in most cases you would listen to the radio alone. That's, that's the intimate space audio has, but I noticed the restriction of, okay, I've got to tune into this personality between this time. That's the only way I can hear them. That opened up when podcasts came out.

Like if you had a celebrity interview in Australia and you're a big fan of say Paula Abbele, like, Ooh, I want to listen to Paula Abbele's interview in Australia, but it's 3 AM and I don't know how much I love Paula Abbele to get up at that time to it, but you could catch it in your own time. So podcasting opened up this whole audio autonomy. So yeah, anyway, that's just my, my excitement coming out about audio, but that's how I became a podcast out of consequence and intentionality there,

Ashley. I'm kind of glad you mentioned Paula Abbele because, uh, you know, child of the nineties, one of the very first talent shows I ever did, uh, was to Paula Abbele's Forever Your Girl. Little, little fun fact there just brought me right back to when I was 10 years old, dancing on stage by myself, cause my, my dance partner was like scared. And so she dropped out. And so at the end of it, just me on the stage and so it was Paula Abbele too funny.

I was, uh, I was obsessed with her and Janet Jackson. Right, right, right. A bit of a rush rush there. I bet I'd be terrible here. I mean, I'll stop now. This is going to be terrible. Well, and I mentioned Janet Jackson, so I'm going to take back control. So I'm curious in your opinion, why is it imperative to start a podcast if you want to stand out as a leader?

I think podcasting is, it's one of those things where I think when it came out originally, people didn't take it seriously for the fact of what I said. A lot of the podcasts that were putting, being put out originally was like, okay, this is just repurposed radio. But I think what people didn't quite call it podcasting was, why comprehend was, okay, yes, it started off as repurposed radio, let's just say.

And then it evolved into all sorts of things like audio entertainment, like audio universities, like audio, like it just, the, the branches of podcasting just, you know, grew and grew. And I think if you are a leader in your space, having a podcast is kind of like, it's they, they, they're calling podcasts are like having a book. It's the equivalent of having or publishing a book. However, podcasting allows you to create content, connect with people. It's like the new coffee, right?

People are so busy nowadays when you're like, Hey, can I have 30 minutes of your time for a cup of coffee? People don't have that kind of time anymore. 30 minutes is a lot to ask of people. It's even a lot sometimes to even ask of your podcast audience, right? Like, do you want to listen to me for 30 minutes? They're like, no, I want it in nine. It's like what?

Um, but as a leader, putting out that content in podcasting, you, you're actually given an opportunity to create, as I mentioned before, that intimate connection, because as attention spans are shortening, I think the recent study Microsoft did was like 10 seconds that we have, that's like nearly a goldfish. When you think about it that way, like Ashley, like we have goldfish attention spans, like that's not like we are all becoming Dory.

I mean, I love Dory, but like, you know, how that retention that we have is, is Dory like, that's quite scary, but if you can reverse engineer that, if you can look at the flip side of it, the intimacy, that connection that you have will keep people coming back. It'll allow you an opportunity to build trust. You can build a platform to be a pioneer in that space.

So as a leader, podcasting really is a platform for you to leverage your leadership, your expertise, your knowledge, and to really cast a net out to your potential customer. So there's so many opportunities there. I can go into data and stats if you want, but, um, that's, that's why I think every leader should have a podcast. It's so true.

I definitely agree with that. And, you know, one of the things you said was, um, that we have shorter and shorter attention spans, and that's honestly one of the reasons why we're starting to experiment a little bit with what we're calling quick hit episodes, where we're taking the episodes that we have that are, you know, your standard 30 to 45 minutes and we're chopping them up into little three to five minute bites.

And it's, it's not like exactly TikTok style because, you know, I know that TikTok you can, well, I actually, I did hear that they started beta testing like longer than five minutes now.

But the idea that, um, if you want to just come in and just get a quick nugget, a quick hit of, uh, of something that you're trying to learn, it's a, it's a great way to have that intimate moment with your audience where you're just like taking those longer episodes and making it short so that they can get what they came for and then move on about their day. Exactly.

Exactly. And I think that's a great, great way of putting it too, because it's, it, I think it, a part of that attention span, I feel it is, uh, uh, what's the word? A result of the pandemic. I think we, in that time where we were locked in a space physically and information just pumped at us and everything going off everywhere. I think that is kind of an aftermath of that.

I don't know if that's going to shift, like if focus and mindfulness is going to kind of come back to the forefront and be like, Hey, we're highly distracted. How can we focus? But to your point, platforms are testing that out, I think, because they are preparing for that to come about soon. Well, and then you still have the longer episodes if you choose to use them, but it's just the fact that you have options. I think that's one of the big things is it's just giving people options.

So, Hey, if you've only got five minutes and you're like doing a little laundry or whatever, here's this quick hit. But if you're going for a walk or maybe, you know, a, a run or whatever, you can get a longer episode and just have that more intimate time with someone. So with, uh, with your own podcast, um, you do still have your own podcast, right? Correct. I do. But it's haven't released. Sorry, go. No, no problem. I was just going to say, so what is it about and, and how did you decide?

All right. I'm going to start podcasting about whatever it is. Sure. So that's also another interesting question there, Ashley, because when I

started my podcast, obviously when you have a background in radio, typically, especially a morning show, there's new segments, traffic, weather updates, the breaking news, your, your content's kind of more or less shaped for you, right? You walk in, you're like, this is what you're talking about today. This is what's happening. And you pave your personality or weave it into those bits, right? But a podcast kind of gave me full autonomy, like, what do I really want to talk about? I had no idea.

Like just full transference. Yeah. I'm like, I have no idea. I called it the Genie show because I'm like, this is kind of me reclaiming myself outside of radio, but also kind of about including radio in it, some, in some ways. But the Genie show started off as a podcast that was kind of like an audio storytelling documentary.

Of my life growing up in Australia as an immigrant kid raised by a very loving, devoting mother, a devoted mother and, and being growing up in Australia as a gay immigrant kid. So that was kind of like a narrative of growing up and what I learned. So it was like wisdom drops meets like audio narrative comedy. So that was what it started off as. And then as I moved to New York, it evolved into a lifestyle type show where I did more interviews and it was about personal growth.

But now we're kind of rebranding it at the moment because a lot's happened in the last three years, right? For humanity and a lot's happened to me. And I thought to myself, all right, this new season is going to be something different. It's going to be about how we're all curious spirits and how we can grow and evolve with travel, adventure, whatever is there. But it's really a show about growth told through like travel storytelling in places. So that's what the show is about.

And we've got a new season coming out in May. So I'm very excited about that. I actually love that. I really do. I was, I was just reading the podcast, Pontification by Eva Tara, and he was talking about how, you know, the podcaster he was when he started is definitely not the same person today. When you look in the mirror and you're like, who am I as a podcaster? It definitely evolves and it changes.

And so I love the fact that you said you're starting a new season because even though it's yes, it's a new season of your podcast. I think it's really cool that with something as diverse as podcasting, there are seasons of life to it. And so there can be seasons of life to your actual podcast as well. And I just, I think that's really awesome. And I'm definitely going to have to check out your show. Thank you.

So I'm curious, um, whenever you began podcasting, you, you already had, you know, like you said, the background in radio, but what was it that you had to get or like what kind of equipment did you need whenever you first transitioned from radio to I'm going to be basically broadcasting from my home? What, what kind of things did you think you needed to get started? Well, I was kind of confused, Ashley, because again, when you walk into

morning show radio, it's like the microphone set up the panel boards there. Sometimes I would panel, but it was already set up. I didn't have to plug any wires or XLR cables in that. And anytime we did like live events outside broadcast, it was all set up by the engineering and tech team. I literally had to walk on press buttons and speak. Right. And I'm like, okay, what is this sorcery?

I don't know what, and I, and I knew when I Googled microphones back then, obviously we've come a long way with podcasting since 2016 when I released my podcast six years ago, a funny thing was I started Googling some, some things. And I'm like, okay, microphones for podcasting. I think there were a couple that came up, but there were different, like, I'm like, oh, I ordered two microphones. One was the ATR 2020 and the other one was, um, it was a Sennheiser microphone.

But they were both XLR, XLR microphones. And I was looking, what I was actually looking for was a USB microphone. So I'm like, I ordered the wrong mic, but now obviously we've come a long way since with educating with podcasts. So microphone was a big thing for me. And I think as a radio presenter, that was really drilled into my head. You need a good microphone. And then also how do you soundproof?

Like, you know, when you're in a studio, it's already soundproof for you in a way where the floor noise is minimized and everything else is minimized. The floor noise is minimized and everything like that. So soundproofing and microphones, I feel, are the two things that a lot of podcasters think about when they're all a lot of aspiring podcasters think about. At least for me, that was the case and it was insane.

Um, but when I actually took the first step and I bought it, I'm like, okay, this is pretty cool. I got it. And I had the privilege to work with a producer who did my air check or my sound check or my demo reels. When I was a radio host and he's like, buy this mic, buy this mixer. You're good. I'm like, okay, good. Then I was set up and I'm like, all right, you know what? I don't know what I'm doing. And he kept giving me tips. He's like, maybe cover your head with a blanket.

I'm like, what is this? Like, what is this sorcery? I like, I do not cover my head with blankets, but it worked. So you kind of learn these things as you go along, right?

Well, and I mean, luckily these days we have things like, you know, software, like, uh, one of the pieces of software I'm obsessed with is Descript because, you know, it can take all the echo out. Exactly. Exactly. Echo and you know, all that sort of background noise and, you know, we have a production team too, if you're lucky to have an audio editor or a sound engineer, they can do what they can in post about that.

They can reduce echo and you know, whatever they can do to reduce the floor noise. Yeah. But I mean, the good thing is like, as the, as the space continues to evolve, as this medium continues to grow, there's more and more things that are coming out for, for the beginning podcaster who can still take, you know, even their phone and turn it into what sounds like a studio produced piece of audio. And it's, it's really awesome watching just how much it's grown just in the last couple of years.

Um, I mean, cause I know that podcasting has been around significantly longer, but the fact that just since like the pandemic, like, um, it's, it's just blown up, like just watching it in the last two years has just been absolutely insane to me. So what would you say to, to a beginning podcaster today? Um, if they're about to launch right now, what do you think they need in place to get started with the show?

I think what they need is I think people think they need a lot of things before that they start. One thing I've noticed about humanity, Ashley, is that we are very quick to talk, talk ourselves out of something that we want to do. So if you, so, you know, you know, that whole mentality work, I'm going to go to the gym tomorrow and when you wake up, it's tomorrow and you don't go to the gym. Right. You've got to have yourself prepared with some statements to counter that.

Right. Like I go through it every day. I wake up and I'm like, yo, I gotta go to the gym. And then my voice is like, just sleep another 10 minutes, text your trainer. He's going to kill you, but just text him. Um, yeah, I, I've texted him and I've seen the consequences, but you forget about that when you're tired. Right. So what I did, did was I kind of come up with like a counter in my head.

Like you always feel better, Ginny, when you go to the gym and that's, and it's true and it always has proved to be true and kept me consistent. So you're starting out with a podcast, really think about why you want to create one. All right. Is there a topic that you're so passionate about? To have those thoughts in your head. Cause that's what's going to propel you forward. All those thoughts about, I can't do this. Who am I to start a podcast? This is too hard.

That's just another obstacle that you're going to have to jump over. That's going to tire you if you don't have some positive tenacity powering you through. Right. So really make that your focal point. And the other thing to Google is like, okay. Um, you can Google how to start a podcast and that sort of thing. Like Ginny Media, my company has all these guys about that too, but Googling microphones can be quite overwhelming because there's 2 billion searches. Right.

So just, you know, like there's a lot of resources out there online, put some time into some research, look for a decent mic, cause that's really going to be the difference between a quality podcasts to a decent quality podcast. Like that's the quality factor or the quality variable. Um, and I think what I learned too is sometimes, uh, doing things by yourself.

If you're that type of person who, you know, gets a gym membership for a year, but doesn't really go to the gym, chances are you probably need what's called an accountability person. So bring someone along with you on the journey. That's going to keep you accountable. I'm that person. I will have a gym membership. I won't go, but if there's someone there yelling at me, threatening to beat me up, I will be there. So that's the kind of person that I am.

So apply those same mechanics or mentality to starting a podcast too. It sounds, it can sound really overwhelming, but these are the things that are actually going to keep you accountable to get to your goal. Um, and this is also why I started my podcast. This is also why I started my program with and co-founded it with Michelle Sorrow, the podcast accelerator, because there is an element of accountability that comes with launching a podcast, which is super helpful.

And that gets you across the line. So just to summarize, Ashley, what I said was your mindset is super important and a microphone, the two Ms, M and M. Oh, I like that. Microphone. I like that a lot. And the, and the reality is, you know, one of the things that held me back for so

long is I was afraid of, like I had the fear of failure. I had the fear of no one's going to listen to me. I had the fear of, you know, well, what if I say something stupid? And finally, one day I was just like, you know what, if I just treat this like an experiment app, then, then if I, if I mess it up, so what? Because the reality is it doesn't cost that much to buy your podcast hosting. It doesn't cost that much to, to purchase a decent microphone.

Um, yes, you can go and spend, you know, five, 600 bucks on, on the fancy schmancy stuff or a thousand dollars on a soundboard or whatever, but I mean, I'm sitting here with, um, a blue Yeti microphone that I think was like $199. And, but there's cheaper ones even there's like $60 microphones that sounded pretty decent. So it's kind of one of those things where it's like, if you're afraid, just do it anyway, do it scared because you first need to even know, do you even like this?

Like just try it. Cause what if you exactly, what if you find out you absolutely love it and then you just become kind of addicted to, to, to talking 100% and like, and then you can't shut up, right? Yeah. Like you just want to keep talking and talking and talking. And it's, it's fantastic because I think it's a great space to be in. When you fall in love with podcasting, it's only going to keep going and going and take you to different heights and opportunities. I completely agree.

And I guess my question though is, so once you do actually get started, once you get your M and M in place, so what are the things that you should keep in mind? If you want to create something that's different and stands out from the sea of podcasters that are out there.

Yeah. This is a, it's a great question, Ashley, because people like, I don't know what to talk about, like what could possibly be, what could I possibly talk about that people would find industry interesting, exactly what you said about what was stopping you. That is one of the main objections people have when they start a podcast. It's like, what do I talk about the technology that, um, you know, how I'm going to make money off this thing?

Is this going to be a worthwhile investment or my time, all these sorts of things kind of pop up. And I think once you have those ideas, you get your M and M, your mindset, your microphone, the other thing to think about is, okay, who am I creating this podcast for? Now there's all sorts of things or exercises you can go through. What I find to be helpful is to be specific about your listener.

And I say specificity, some people go start broad, start whenever I say specific because I'm all about creating intention. If you're intentional about what you do, everything kind of aligns when you go along that path. So think about who you're speaking to. So I think about the Genie show as I'm rebranding it because I have evolved as a person and the show has evolved itself too. The Genie show is a podcast for dreamers who are curious spirits and they grow through travel and adventure.

So there's a mindset component to it. There's a travel component to it. There's an adventure component to it. So it started off with me saying, I'm going to do a podcast about travel, adventure and mindset. Who would listen to that? So the audience who would listen to travel, adventure and mindset are dreamers who are curious spirits who grow and evolve through travel and adventure. So really be specific about who your audience is.

And people might be like, but Ginny, that sounds really, really broad. I'm like, well, not all dreamers want to travel and grow. Some dreamers just want to dream and perform on stage. Right. So my audience is specific enough and broad enough to have potential to grow. So that's the other thing you want to think about because when you're creating, you're going to be very, very intentional about who you're creating for. So, and then you're going to be very intentional about what you talk about.

And actually once you get into that mindset, again, bringing up that M word, the creation process becomes quite messy and all those blocks that you put in between will be like, actually a dreamer who is interested in travel would not want to know about spoons. I'm not going to talk about spoons today. So how do you find your guests for your show? Well, I typically, I, I like to follow people on social media and I'm like,

this person's cool. They've got an interesting story. So typically I follow people on social media. It's people within my network, people who have been referred to me. That's typically how I find my guests. And I've been lucky. I've been doing this for a minute now. So, you know, they're like, all right, Ginny is a legitimate person. She does have a podcast. She's not this crazy as she looks. She's not this crazy as she looks.

I have a podcast, she's not this crazy Australian sitting in her office in New York, you know, just yelling at people. Although that can be a reality sometimes. Um, so, you know, that helps when you have that credibility there. But I think when I was starting finding guests was easier for me, because again, I had that radio background, but I remember starting out in radio.

I didn't have, it was like literally, how do I find these guests that I want to record with, how do I find these people and start with your inner circle? Really like start with your inner circle, get them on the show. I got my best friend at the time, or she's still my best friend to do like a movie review. She's like, what? I'm a movie review. I'm like, yes, you are today. You're going to review the movies. You're going to be my movie reviewer.

So start with your inner circle and they'll share it and then eventually build it. They will come keep, keep, start with the inner circle, people that you know, and then ask them to suggest people. So that's how I started to find guests. I want to rewind for a second because it just came up again. You said with radio, one of the things that was happening is that you had like a structure, you knew how to weave your personality in between the news segments and the traffic segments.

So how do you structure your episodes these days? How does that work for your podcast? That's a great question. You've got great questions today, Ashley. Like I've got to get like you on and get you to like script my show out. So how do you structure your show? So when I first started in radio and my podcast, I scripted everything. So when I first did my nighttime show back then, it was called I Spy. It was a music review show. I scripted the whole two hours.

Now, ultimately when you get into your groove, that's not sustainable, right? Like scripting for me took about three hours and then the show was two hours and it's a lot of work. So a good framework to start with is like an arc for your podcast. So for my podcast, the Genie show, the, how we're planning it out is, okay, we're going to speak to guests about three travel memories that they have, and we're going to weave in their personal story about these memories, the people involved.

And that's how we're starting it off as. And that's quite, that's specific enough. And again, broad enough through the conversation to go here, there, or everywhere within a certain parameter. Right? So I think people kind of feel like they need this rigid script. Sometimes it's a great safety net to start off with.

And then, you know, it's kind of like having your training wheels before you can ride the bike and then you can go to the gym and then you can go to the gym and then you can go to the gym and then you can go to the gym and then you can go to the gym and then you can go to the gym and then you can go to the gym. So that's kind of like, if you want to be Phoebe, Phoebe from friends, keep the training wheels on.

But I suggest at some point, take those training wheels off and just have a very kind of solid, but loose enough structure where you can actually

allow a conversation to happen. Right. So that's good advice. Such good advice. And in fact, that's kind of how I started. Whenever I first started my personal podcast, I definitely had the whole script, and I wanted to make sure that I say, and so like, even when you and I sat down to start this interview, I had this list of questions, but even still, based on the things that you've said, I was able to take what you're saying and ask you another question.

And I think that's important because you need to be able to not be so rigid with what you're trying to do that you miss out on a great opportunity to ask a question like, you never know what's going to come out of a conversation. So if you, if you focus too much on the script, you're not going to get the opportunities to actually let the conversation evolve. Exactly. And the key to having, being a good conversationalist is listening, which is the key to being a good podcast.

If you're too rigid, you're not leaving any space to listen, right? Like, and that organic flow of conversation to actually uncover. And to that end, I would say be sitting down with a pad of paper and a pen. Because I see you go. I see you writing it. Yes. And the reason why is because, you know, there'll be something that you'll say. And then, you know, the conversation moves on, but it's like, Ooh, but that was such a good golden nugget. What was it? Oh crap. I can't remember.

I'm saying it's like shiny diversion. The door is back there, right? Oh, I have, I have shiny objects and drove something awful girl. Let me tell you what. So, um, now would you consider your podcast successful? It's interesting. I would say no. And then people are like, you built your company off the back of your podcast. I'm like, Oh, I did. Here's the thing. I think with me, I set a standard for myself for a podcaster and the standard has grown as I've become a producer.

The reason why I've taken such a long time to relaunch this fourth season of the Ginny Show, typically I do the podcast every year, 2020, I stopped it during the pandemic because the business, as you said, podcast boom, so Ginny media got crazy as well, and I launched a couple of other businesses as you do, right? In the pandemic, like, I'm just going to get crazy. Then I'm like, do I, do I really have the time and space to start a podcast?

It would have been, my intention was to start it last year. I'm like, and I think I'm in that mind frame of it's not successful because I'm not putting out what I teach my clients to do. So I think for me, it's, it's been a great vehicle for me to build my businesses off. It's been a great relationship building vehicle for me. Actually. Yeah. Now I think about that. That's pretty successful. Thank you, Ashley.

Like you reminded me, cause that's what I teach my, like, if you build a business off it, if you build relationships of it, I'm like, yeah, thank you for that. Ashley. You're welcome. I'm reminding you how successful you are. So now you've, you've mentioned your clients a few times. So what would you say to your clients or even to a beginning podcaster about how to not only get success, but then maintain it? That's a great, another great question, Ashley.

I think getting success and maintaining it.

Firstly, you go define what success looks like for you. And this is a thing where I think where I was a little bit like, Oh, is that what I call to be success? Cause I want so much more. And I think start there, like what does success look like for you? And also be mindful of the fact that your definition of success, what works for you may not be the definition of success for someone else. I had put up with one of my best friends the other day.

And she said to me, you know, in the middle of the day, I can go for a walk in the, um, in the forest with my daughter and she can tell me about the fairies that live in the tree. But I have the ability to do that during the day whenever I want and have time with my daughter, that to me is success. That is, that's fantastic. She's figured out that she's got that self-awareness to be like, that's what I want. So start with, okay, what's my podcast? What am I creating my podcast for?

So going back to the mindset of, okay, what is this for? Who is this for? That sort of thing. And what will this bring me and what kind of joy can I keep going? Cause if there's not joy, chances are you're not going to enjoy your success or whatever you call it to be. So start with that. What do you define this? What are your kind of goals with this podcast? And sometimes people like, Oh, I want to be like a top 200 show in two years. Eliminate that pressure.

I just find pressure just sucks out the passion of things, right? Pressure is needed in certain circumstances. I do appreciate that. But when you make a passion project, a pressure project, it just, it fails. So just look at what your definition of success is. What you want to achieve and remain consistent, right? It's a consistency game too, in podcasting and Ivo Terai listened to podcast pontifications too.

He said, sometimes when we become podcasters, we forget to actually think about the podcast. We're thinking about the reels, the videos, the trailers. It's like, let's just go back. Let's go back to basics. Now let's go back to the conversation, what we're trying to create, what we're trying to really put this podcast to work to do for us. So start off with what is your definition of success when it, um, in pertaining to the podcast and how, what's going to really keep you motivated, right?

Cause we know anything that we want to be successful will take work. So what's going to motivate us to make sure that we get out of bed and we do that every day. I agree with everything you just said. I'm scribbling notes left and right. So we added another M. So we talked about mindset and you added another M. You said motivation. So now you mentioned for yourself, one of the things that motivates you is having an accountability buddy.

Now what do you think that you would tell others if they needed motivation to actually get going, what would you say to them? That's a good, you're full of great questions today, Ashley. It's a motivation. Yeah. Motivation. You know, I use that word interchangeably. Sometimes I feel motivation can be like a bad lover. Like motivation only shows up when like ownership is a bad thing. It shows up when like only during the good times and it's like, eh, I'm gone for when you really, really need me.

Do you feel the same? Okay. You're chuckling. I'm trying not to do it on the microphone because I didn't want to ruin your audio, but my goodness, I'm rolling over here. That's fantastic. But it is. It's like that, that, that fair weathered love it's like, yo, I'm good for the rooftop selfies, but I'm not going to come down and hang with you while you're digging up trenches for your new place. Right. Motivation can be that asshole. Sorry about the swear.

I think about like what again, I'm going to go back to a J word, so MM and J. Joy. What really does give you that joy? Right. So I think that for me, accountability partners sometimes can't be the most joyful. I know my personal trainers, I wouldn't exactly describe them as joyful.

Um, people that bring me a lot of joy, they bring me a lot of pain, but ultimately they are pushing me to my goal, which is what is every day when I'm, you know, having, when I'm full of energy, that's bringing me joy. So really think about, you know, again, why you're doing this, because sometimes it could be, Hey, I'm going to connect with really cool people. That's a great place to start. Right. I'm going to connect with new people. I want to expand my network. So that start with that joy.

What brings you joy? So I know motivation I did put in there and I use that interchangeably, but joy is probably a more trustworthy friend to have in your times. Joy will be there. And if joy doesn't want to be there, joy won't be there. And it'll be very clear why. I'm having a Marie Kondo moment. If it doesn't spark joy, let it go. 100%. 100%. Now, um, so you've, you've mentioned your clients a couple of times and you've mentioned that you started a business based on your podcast.

So what is it exactly that you do to monetize your show and how did you build a business off of your podcast? What does that mean for you? Sure. So when I started the Ginny show, um, I was like, Oh, how can I monetize this thing?

I wasn't sure. Again, I started because I just wanted to get on the mic, be, have a joke here and there, talk to really cool people. And then that was what brought me joy. What I didn't anticipate is how I was going to build a business off of this. It kind of happened organically. So when I started, when podcasting in Australia, at that time, I released a podcast, it wasn't as booming as it is now. It was relatively new.

And again, as I said, it was still like a lot of FM radio shows, repurposing radio. So when I started the Ginny show, it got nominated for a couple of awards. Um, one was the Australian podcast awards and one was, uh, the Australian LGBTI awards has got, it got nominated, which was great. And I had a lot of people come up to me going, Hey, you started a podcast. Can you show me how you do what you do? And then it hit me. I'm like, actually that's a really good point.

Cause when I started, I'm grateful I had my audio engineer because he could edit things for me, right. And he could give me tips on how to make my sound better. So I learned a lot from him. But then the other thing I was thinking about is what if someone could actually post my episode for me? What if they could write my show notes for me? What if they could create artwork to promote the podcast? And I saw an opportunity here of like, hang on. People actually need this.

Podcasts actually need this. Like I knew for me, it was great to kind of just be in that creative space. I just want to go on. Like what I said, do you have all the tech set up for me and have things be recorded? So I'm like, Oh, there's an opportunity here. So again, accidentally I started Ginny media. So, um, in that, in that year and a half, I got five clients. So it was a side hustle for me as I was doing the podcast, working my day job. And then I got five clients in that time.

I had fallen in love with a New Yorker and I'm like, all right, I'm going to move to New York. So I moved to New York in 2018 with five clients. Now we've launched over 200 or 300 podcasts as a company. Wow. And, um, yeah, so again, it was all accidental, but there was definitely a need for that kind of production support.

So that's how I monetized off having the Ginny show and the Ginny show also in Australia got picked up by a network called Nova and then I got advertising revenue as a way to monetize from there at the moment. Like I don't know what I'm going to do with Ginny show and how it's going to monetize, but I know that if I continue to put in joy, that'll figure itself out. Somehow.

It sounds like, it sounds like for monetization, like for what people always ask about is you're indirectly monetized because you're, you're, you're not necessarily like buying sponsored or getting sponsored ads or anything like that instead it's you're using it as a platform to kind of kickstart other stuff. Yeah. 100%. That's exactly what it is. It's exactly what it is. Actually it's kick the kickstarted other stuff and allowed me to keep being in my craft learning.

Cause I said, I'm like a perpetual student. I'm still continuing to learn and it allows me to share and keep learning. Well, well, speaking of learning, um, you, you definitely are also teaching what you're learning. Um, tell me a little bit about your program. Cause isn't it called something like the podcast accelerator? The podcast accelerator. It's called an accelerator for a reason. It is an eight week program, which I co-found with Michelle Sorow.

So Michelle's, I talked about mindset and microphones. So Michelle out of the M and M in this particular scenario, she's very much the mindset, so she is a transformational coach. So her, her, her job is to kind of get you, get in, get you in the love seat and like talk you through your, your blockages and your barriers. I'm more the microphone, AKA the tech.

So I will wear the producer hat and sit like, and also bring some creative expertise as to what I've seen work with podcasts, what I've seen could be beneficial to said person's talents and skills. So that's where I come into it. So it's an eight week program, the only program of its kind on the planet, because we actually do everything for you. So it's not one of those online courses that you sign up to and you're left to your own devices over those eight weeks.

We cover eight different steps to launch your podcast. We hold you accountable. That's why we've had every, I think we've launched 128. Um, we have a 95% completion rate. Whoa, that's incredible. We hold you accountable.

We're like, you got to get your artwork in. Otherwise we can't do you cover art. You got to get your episode audio in. Otherwise we can't edit it. We need, we get everybody out on the apps on the same day. So it's an eight week program. We get you live, um, and it's an accelerator for a reason. Like we get there, people have all sorts of tech questions. Like, I don't know how to plug my microphone in, but they're always at the finish line, they get their podcasts out 6 AM that particular date.

So it's a, it's a great program because you really see how people transform. And then two years later, what they create is just phenomenal to witness. So it sounds like unlike, you know, many of the, I guess, podcast programs that are out there teaching you how to be a podcaster, you don't just teach them. You actually hold their hand and do it with them. 100%. 100%. It's the only done for you program on the planet. And it's, it's crazy.

Like when Michelle came to me with the idea, I'm like, this is crazy. I'm totally in because it's crazy. Like, you know, it's, it's nuts. Like who would think, okay, we're going to take a huge group of students. I think at one stage we had 40 people do the program and we're going to edit 40 podcasts in a week. We're going to do their show notes, do their artwork, pop them out on one day. My team's like, you're crazy, but now they're used to my crazies. They're like, okay, it's just too neat.

And now if I give them 40 podcasts, they're like just 40, what else you got at me? So it's just one of those things that I think that it's totally crazy, but it's so powerful because it's keeps you so accountable and it takes out a lot of the hard tech stuff for you too. Well, goodness with that many podcasts, it sounds like you definitely have some systems and processes that you work and I bet you cover all of these in your, in your accelerator. Yeah, we do. We do.

We, we, so Gini Media, like when I, when I tell my team, okay, we're doing around a podcast accelerator or we call it the PA, it's happening. We're like, all right, cool. We're good. We're just going to trust the process. So we make sure that we're very clear about what we can deliver. Um, even though sometimes it may be overwhelming, it's everybody that we've, we've always had a hundred percent guarantee. We do get your podcast out that day. That's amazing.

So, I mean, you, we've covered a lot here today and it sounds like a lot of the things that we've covered are things that people need to know. Where can people find you online? They can find me at GiniMedia.com. So Gini like the drink G-I-N-N-I media.com and I'm available on Instagram at the Gini show. So please do holla. Love to speak to you. Love to answer any questions that you have about Eminem or motivation.

Dude, I want some chocolate now, but, uh, but I'll definitely leave all the, uh, the, the links down in the show notes below. And, uh, Gini, I just, I gotta tell you, you, you opened my eyes to a lot of interesting things and I can't wait to check out more about your podcast accelerator. And I just, I want to thank you for, for taking the time today to chat with me. Um, please thank you for the joyful experience. You asked wonderful questions. So thank you for being a good listener.

Speaking of wonderful questions, I'm going to ask you one last question that I ask everybody before I let you go. Is there anything I didn't ask you wish I had? I wish you asked me like what I like to have for brunch. Because then I want to know what you have for brunch. And then when we, one day if we meet up, I know exactly what to order for you. All right. So then, then let me ask you, what do you like to have for brunch? Thank you, Ashley. I'm very happy.

I feel satisfied now that you've asked me this question. So I love Australia is very big on their brunch culture. So I love a good avocado toast on some sourdough or ciabatta, um, some halloumi and some poached eggs would be good for me. So that's what I like with my side of mocha and oat milk. How about you? What, how do you take your brunch? If I'm going to brunch, I'm probably going to get a little bit fancier than I would at home.

I probably do, uh, uh, bagels with, uh, like fresh locks and cream cheese and, uh, a little bit of a fruit bowl and of course the bottomless mimosas. Oh, there we go. Girl. Okay. We're down. I'll have to, we'll have to have brunch. All right. I'll meet you in New York. Absolutely. Let's do it. Well, and you know, the crazy thing is I have never had avocado toast. Really? Well, listen, I could open your eyes to a new world of avocado toast. Let's, let's just, let's go have it. All right.

All right. So, uh, meet us in New York, everybody. All right. Well, I guess that's actually all I really have for you today. So I'll go ahead and wrap it there, but I just want to thank you again so much for your time and everybody, please go and check out all of Jenny's awesome links that we'll have in the show notes. And until next time, y'all have a great day.

Well, my fellow podcasters, I hope you enjoyed all the insights that Jenny had to share with us to learn more about how to launch and grow your own podcast, head over to rss.com backslash blog. You can start your show for free and get your first episode on us. Thanks for tuning in.