Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode. We are back in the studio for season three, episode 22. Now, last season, I recorded an episode called the Anti Anti Hustle. And it was, to date, still one of our most downloaded, most talked about episodes. It was a bit of a soapbox kind of episode, and you know what? I think we're gonna have another soapbox type episode. I actually did not plan on recording today. It was not a recording day, and I actually have about 50 things on a task list.
More on that in a moment. But I felt so passionate about this topic that I actually went and was like, we're recording, set it all up and off we go. Because this is a topic I feel super passionate about. And I usually feel passionate about it, but there's a couple of things that have happened this week that just makes the passion burn in my belly a little more than usual. So, today, we're talking about just do the damn thing. And you're like, eh, I've heard it.
But I really want to highlight a few things. I don't know if you've heard, there's this guy called Kanye West. You're like, oh, here we go. I am not a Kanye fan. I'm team Taylor. My daughter is a full blown Swiftie. I could be a bit of a Swifty if I was being honest. So immediately not a Kanye fan. But I want to highlight something that Kanye did, and it will play into the rest of what we're doing. But Kanye went and spent, I believe it was 7 million dollars on a Super Bowl commercial.
He recorded it with less than perfect lighting on his cell phone. I think it's in his car and he didn't show it everywhere during the Super Bowl. So you're like, I watched Super Bowl, I didn't see it. Only certain regions saw the ad. $7, 000, 000 on a cell phone commercial. Now, I'm not going to tell you that you can't do amazing, amazing video with a cell phone. But this video. It's just a selfie video. Seven million dollars. He made nineteen million dollars from that video.
And you're like, sure, sure, sure. Here's the thing. It can't if you don't do it. As I said, I'm not super pro Kanye, but, I saw this and I was like, Oh, it really reminded me of something else that happened this week. It's what started this whole, I'm super passionate about this topic and we have to dive into it. I guess, years ago, I had a person who I was following in the online space in almost kind of like a mentorship role. I connected with them in a Facebook group.
And I was truly inspired by this person's confidence and their acumen and a bunch of different things. And many years ago, that person talked about having a podcast. And they were doing so many different things, but they talked about having a podcast. And that person may not know it, but it's one of the reasons that I decided to have a podcast. I was like, that sounds super cool. I could do that. And so, this podcast was born. Now, that person and I ended up turning into friends.
And I talk to that person a lot. And I don't think she listens to the podcast, but if she does, don't worry, I'm not calling you out. But this is a thing. This was a moment. And so, she inspired me to have this podcast. Not because she said anything. Not because she said you should have a podcast. But because, she made it sound like a great idea when she talked about having a podcast. Two different things. Like, we don't exist in the same space. But, a lot of respect for this person nonetheless.
Now we did take two very different routes to how we were going to do the podcast. I started with a podcast producer, but always planned to record episodes over time. I would record and submit and the producer would edit it and do all those kinds of things and then we would publish it. But I never intended to do the whole podcast season upfront.
So this friend of mine, she also hired someone, but the intention was to record all of the episodes for the whole season in a couple of days and then kind of be done. It was more of a one and done kind of, plan all your episodes, record all your episodes. And then that project was kind of back on the shelf. This podcast is definitely a lot more progressive. Like right now, when I'm like, I'm super passionate about this topic, I need to record an episode.
I'm turning the studio on and we're doing it now. Very different. Very different. So she paid a huge amount of money up front. I mean, in the whole scheme of things, I guess not a huge amount of money. But compared to my startup journey, she made a way bigger investment, and I was always like, "am I doing this right like you know I don't know," and so, here we are and we are wrapping up the third season and ironically I was just talking to this person. I'm going somewhere with the story.
I was just talking to this person and we were chatting about the podcast.
We're starting to line up guests for season four and we're going through a planning phase and someone asked me about podcast and how we rank and this and that they were interested in being on the podcast and they said, " you have to tell me what it says when you look it up on this specific directory" and I can't remember what the directory was called now, but, I had never heard of it and so I went and I looked and this was a super proud moment for me,
it lists off like where you are ranked in different areas and different topics and that kind of thing and this podcast is in the top 10 percent globally. I'll be honest, that was a super cool moment for me. So side note, thank you to all of our listeners, it would not be possible without you. It has been an incredible journey and this episode really kind of highlights that. I was a little bit mind blown that this was even a thing, that our podcast had come so far.
Here we are, getting close to the end of season three. Planning season four, top 10 percent globally of podcasts. I, like, this is like a crazy moment. And so now she and I are talking about this. Like I said, now we're friends. It was really like "holy cow. Can you believe how far this has come?" I was like shy, introverted, quiet. I always say, I just need a computer and a closet. I'm good. And now, this is where we're at. It was kind of that, like, holy crap. I was super pumped up.
And she said, your podcast journey is so inspiring. She goes, I still haven't recorded a single episode of mine. And I was like, huh. She said, yeah, I paid them, and she and I have talked about it so many times. Talked about a plan, you know, oh, yeah, we're gonna do it, we're gonna do it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and then it just doesn't go anywhere. Life gets in the way. But this is my soapbox episode for the season. I try not to have too many.
But when it comes right down to it, life has gotten in the way of this podcast. And if you're a frequent listener, you'll know that last week's episode was late. We usually launch new episodes on Wednesdays, and the new episode did not come out on Wednesday. It was Thursday. It's been a really long time since we had an episode come out late, but you know what? It's been really, really busy. But I didn't let it get in the way.
And there was a post floating around a while ago, and it was Alex Hormozi, and he was talking about the number of podcasts that don't go past I think it was six episodes or ten episodes. There was something basically that if you had done more than 20 podcast episodes, that you had like surpassed a certain percentage of people. It was like 95 percent of you. I don't remember the stat, but I remember thinking, "Holy crap, like we kept going." Here's the thing. The podcast is a labor of love, 100%.
Because there is times where work, like right now, is super busy in the bookkeeping space. Our bookkeeping agency is going flat out. It's busy. There's work to do. There's kids to deal with. I've been sick. Life, vacations, sickness. There's times that you just don't feel like it. I mean, let's be honest.
There is nothing in your business that every time you feel like doing, whether that is creating social media content, whether that's taking sales calls, whether that's having Zoom meetings, all of the things. And so, at the end of the day, you just have to do the damn thing. Because this isn't a cost thing. I look at it and I'm like, so we started really at the same time. She invested more money up front, and then life got in the way. And if you're listening, and you know who you are, I get it.
Like, I do get it, and there are so many other things in my life where life has gotten in the way of life, but it wasn't the podcast. And I wanna say, do the damn thing. Don't come up with every reason why you can't, don't come up with every reason why you shouldn't. I mean, I go back and I look at all , you know, obviously we've like upgraded audio quality, we've upgraded video quality, we've done all of these different things. But like, it didn't start with lighting and the right mic.
And the funny thing is, is I have bought several mics trying to buy the right mic up until this season. Why did I not buy the current setup? Because I didn't know. You don't know what you don't know, and sometimes you just have to just jump. Every amazing content creator out there, I think that amazing short form video content creators, that's not a skill that everyone has. But even those who are really great now weren't always great.
If you go back, and a lot of them will hide their oldest stuff because they're like, ooh, cringey, like, I'm not doing that. There's a super talented video marketer that I have on my Facebook. I've had him for a long time, would love to work with him in the future, would love to have him on the podcast. He shared a video recently. He's like, this is my first video attempt. Ha ha ha. And it was only a few years ago. It was less than five years ago.
And here's someone who's now, I would consider it an honor to work with. He's so talented. And it was like, less than five years ago, with the video, I was like, whew, man. Yikes. We grow and learn by doing, failing, learning and doing it again and failing has all different contexts. I think something has failed probably more often than some because I really want a certain result.
And this studio is actually a perfect example of me trying to grow because, well, it's still not exactly the way I want it. It is so much better than it was before. And I just kept going. Was the lighting just right? No, it's still not quite right, but it's getting there. It's progress. It's learning. It's going through the steps, but you don't know until you do it.
There's so many things and I've talked about it in past episodes, especially when it comes to training the team, where we train, we set up procedures, we train all of the things, we do all of the things, and then we have to battle test it. And sometimes it doesn't work. Last summer I went away on, like three days away with my family and the Friday was a work day. And it was the first time in a while that I had left. And, I made sure that, in my opinion, the team was ready.
The team was not ready. Not ready for everything that they dealt with while I was gone. But, we recovered. We got back to business. We made sure that the next time, we were significantly more ready. Because the next time I traveled for a conference, I was leaving on a Thursday or Friday, I was like, okay, this time we actually have to be ready because I'm going to be in a plane. And, they have to be able to.
And so, where we had holes, We filled them but we don't know where the holes are until we battle test. All of this to say, whether it's a podcast, whether it's creating videos on social media, whether it is taking a vacation, do the damn thing. I say this in jest, but, depending on your line of work, no one's going to die if you get it wrong. Yes, some things might not go great, and sometimes you'll have to deal with an unhappy something or someone.
But at the end of the day, It's all part of the journey. It's part of the growth. Every business owner that can now take a vacation, took a vacation that it didn't go well. And they went, Ooh, well that wasn't great. I gotta change that again. I look at it and I think, I even had the idea to have a podcast because this person.
My friend talked about having a podcast and now we just started and kept going and along the way, little inside behind the scenes, there have been certain guest episodes that we have recorded that have never aired, not because I don't value the person's time and that is usually the biggest struggle that I have is that someone took the time to record, but that the episode doesn't go in the place that I think provides value, or it doesn't offer insight in the right direction.
And so we have a couple of episodes, and you know what, I do share those on YouTube, the episodes that don't make it on the podcast. They say hindsight is 20 20, there are episodes that I look back now and think, Ah, I probably wouldn't have. But, it's all part of the journey. We talk about this and I share this in a way because, had I not started with the podcast, we wouldn't be where we are.
And so for that same person, who inspired me to even start, to then say, " Holy cow, like, look at that, like, that's incredible, like, way to go, because I still haven't even recorded an episode yet. And like, you've, like," That's one of those moments along the way where you really have to just take a stop, just take a moment and say, "holy cow, this is amazing." You know, our, our podcast team has changed over the seasons. Shout out to our new production team. They are incredible.
Last week I was supposed to record and it just, you know, yeah, yeah, I'll do it. Yeah. Yeah, I'll do it. And she sent me a message. Hey, just checking in. I don't see a recording. And, I said, yeah, yeah, I'll, I'll get to it. I didn't. It was super late. And so, I get it to her and she goes through the editing and production and getting it all ready and this and that. And I tried not to stress about it because I thought, you know what? It doesn't happen very often.
And we have an episode rollout every single week. It's usually this time of the year, it's busy time, tax season. Every last minute entrepreneur is like, "Hey, I need my books done." And I never want to say no. So we take everybody, yeah, of course, let's do it, let's do it. But, here we are.
And so if we take a lesson from Kanye, which is not someone who I usually want to take that lesson from, but, I mean, Kanye has, in my opinion, a very inflated self view, but $7, 000, 000 on a cell phone video made $19, 000, 000 because he just did it. If we take a moment and really reflect and say, what is this something that I've been sitting on? Whether it's in your business or your life or whatever, what is it that you have been sitting on that you've been talking about doing?
Record that episode. Do that video. Last year there was a trending, funny TikTok video going around. And I thought it was the coolest video and I had like my own little creative pin on it. I don't usually do like the trending kind of stuff. It's not really my jam, but, I wanted to do this one. it was a lesson. Oh my goodness. The people who do these kinds of videos.
They're amazing, because I'm trying to get it recorded, and it took me so many takes that by the time I could get the transition right, my hair was like a mess, and I was like, kind of sweaty, and I was like, this is crazy. This is absolutely crazy. I had all the creative in my mind, and I had done the multiple takes, and we edited it all, and we shared it, and you know what? it was fine.
It was cute, my daughter knew the trend, and she thought it was funny that I had done it, but, it's not my typical thing, but would I do all of that again? Maybe not, but am I glad that I did it, that I had the idea, and that although it was totally out of my comfort zone. I just did it. I just did the damn thing. Yes, I'm glad I did it. Not because I went viral or anything amazing happened with the video. But because, you know what, we have to do the things that teach us something.
That we're willing to feel uncomfortable. I was working with a client recently and we were dealing with some photos. Not, like, they're not going to have ever done like a brand photo shoot. And so when I suggested, now I really believe in brand photo shoots. If you follow us anywhere on social media, you know that I have worked with the same brand photographer my entire online business career. And, we actually did an episode earlier in the season called Beyond Basic Branding Brilliance.
So, if you've been following along, you know that I'm a huge Steph fan. Now, these clients were not ready to do something like that. They, at this point, were just, not ready to take that big step. But, I was able to convince them that, hey, I'm not a photographer. But I could help them just get a couple of shots for some of their marketing materials that had the right light. They had sent some photos and the lighting was not great and, the pictures were super blurry.
And they were so nervous when they arrived. They were so uncomfortable. But I was so impressed that they still showed up. They did it together. We all had some laughs. They showed up very early in the day. We were, like, in and out in 15 minutes. We had a couple laughs. I managed to spill coffee all over myself. And the pictures are great. Because we had a couple laughs. At the time the guys were like, I can't believe we're doing this. Like this is crazy.
But again, sometimes you just have to be willing to show up and do the damn thing. Now they have great pictures in some of their new marketing material. We had a little laugh and you know what? They will be less nervous next time. But I want to share something else that happened to me last year, as we were talking about, I'm super passionate about brand photography, and I adore my brand photographer. I will link her in the show notes. I will link her in the podcast description.
If you ever have the opportunity to have a photo shoot with her, she is absolutely incredible. I can't say enough good things. But I was actually traveling, and I was going to be connecting with someone, that I was in a business partnership with, for a project, and we were traveling, and we normally are online, and I said, you know, while we're together, we should get some photos done, because, as I said, I'm super passionate about it.
Now, I struggled looking at photographers, because I know I'm so spoiled with mine, and I looked, and I looked, and I looked. And in the end, the person I was connecting with, the partner on the project, she found a photographer, and we looked at her stuff, I know I'm spoiled, it wasn't love. They were pretty good, and I was super happy with it. But I went into that session with the same confidence, because I don't get nervous for my own brand sessions anymore.
I look so forward to them, which I know, absolutely crazy. Four times a year. It's a super fun day. We have a great time. And so I went into this with that same kind of like, Oh, this is going to be great. And I got the photos back and almost every bit of confidence that I had acquired over like two years of doing brand photo shoots was gone. And I had felt like the shoot had gone pretty well, but when I got back, it wasn't what I was.
And so, this most recent time that we had our brand photo shoot back with Steph. Now, I would have just had the photos with Steph, but we were flying across the continent. So, that wasn't an option. But, my next photo, I was a little nervous. I said to her, I feel like everything we built up in confidence over years was gone in just a moment. I actually almost canceled that shoot. I was not having a great week. Stars were not aligning. It was the same week as the podcast being late.
Just because there was absolute chaos. If it could be extra time with my husband, my kids, my business. Everything was just, absolute chaos. I almost canceled the shoot. And I thought, no, I'm going. And I actually thought, for that moment, there was one shoot I did with her. And I was having the worst day and I was like, I'm going, I'm going. But, when I got there, I literally could have almost cried. At this point, I have no idea what I was so upset about. I'm not usually that type.
But, regardless, I got there and we sat there and we chatted for a little bit. And she said, do you want to just walk and take a few pictures, or are we just going to reschedule? After we'd kind of been chatting for a little bit. And I said, no, we're here, let's just do it. And those are some of my most favorite photos. Like I said, my photographer is literally the best. You can't have her, but you can borrow her.
Although I was nervous, and I felt like my confidence had been rattled, I decided, nope, I remember that other time where I ended up so happy with it, so we did it. And I went and we did the shoot last week. And had the greatest time. Some incredible photos. And she said to me, after she sends me the gallery. And I was like, oh, thank you so much, these are great. And she says, have we restored your confidence in the process? And it was the way she said it.
Have we restored your confidence in the process? Not in photos, like, the process, and the words were so powerful to me, and they really tied into what we're talking about today, in that it is all a process. I remember my very first photo shoot with her, I was so freaking nervous.
We talked about it on our episode that we recorded earlier this season and I was so nervous and then slowly we get a little more confident and a little more confident to the point where now I feel pretty good going to a session with her and I had a session with someone else that did things a little differently. Not wrong. Not bad. Very successful photographer. But not, I don't even know what to, I don't even know how to describe it. Rattled the confidence.
And I thought, what if I, instead of having the person who built the confidence, and made it fun. What if I had a person like the other? The whole time, I would have stopped doing it. And so, that's the lesson in it's a process, it's a journey, keep going, do the damn thing, but it's your thing. So if you don't like the way something feels, you don't like the way something is going, change it. Don't stop. It's not an excuse to stop.
We come up with these reasons, I can't do it because it's uncomfortable, I can't do it because I didn't like it, I can't do, It doesn't mean you have to stop, it means you have to change something about it. Go back to, what I know works for me. We're back on, everything's great, life is good. I can't emphasize enough that had I never done it in the first place, I never would have realized that I liked it. Brand photos, podcasting. YouTube, speaking on a stage.
Had I never done it, I never would have realized I liked it. I never would have realized that we can share this podcast and be doing amazing things. So thank you for being a part of the podcasting journey. Thank you for being here and listening week after week. Our listenership keeps growing. If this podcast has resonated with you along the way, we are really working on gathering reviews to help the podcast continue to grow as we wind up Season 3 and get into Season 4.
Season 4, we have some great things, amazing things planned. Reviews really do help the show grow. So, people often say You talk about leaving reviews for the podcast, but how do you actually do that? So, podcast reviews are best left on the Apple Podcast app. So it's the purple app if you have an Apple iPhone. You can go there, you can leave a review for the podcast. Written reviews really help, but 5 star reviews are also just great. We'll take the stars.
You can also leave 5 star reviews on Spotify as well. That can really help the show continue to grow. And you know what? At one point it really starts to just feel like this podcast has grown so much, but we're really just getting started. And that is really the magic of the process. Do the damn thing, start, fail, grow and repeat. It is and has been an incredible journey and we'll continue to do so. Next week we have a very special guest in the studio.