100:{Solo} A HUGE THANK YOU

This episode is dedicated to YOU! Thank you for being here and coming along this podcasting journey with me. It has been one of the BEST decisions that I have made and I'm grateful for each and every one of you. I had no clue what I was doing when I started ( hellllooo YouTube videos) and am a huge advocate of teaching yourself new skills. Yes it has been frustrating, yes I've wanted to throw my computer out of the window but it has been SO WORTH IT! The podcast has been a way that I've met and connected with the most amazing women, it's provided a place to share my thoughts and stories and it has opened up endless business opportunities. So if you are on the fence about starting a podcast, this is your sign. DO IT!! 

Transcript

Caroline (00:01.422)
Hey friend, welcome to my 100th episode of the feminine founder. I am so glad that you were here. I wanted to do this podcast today solo because I wanted to take you through my full podcasting journey and wanted to say thank you. I appreciate you coming along this journey with me. So back in 2023 in February, I turned to my husband, Gary and said, I'm starting a podcast. And he looked at me and said, okay.

And from then I went down the rabbit hole on Google and found a blog about exactly how to start a podcast. I had no clue what I was doing. I had no clue how to edit anything. I had to do any marketing, how to get any guests. just knew I want to start a podcast. So I went down the rabbit hole. I read the blogs. I downloaded and purchased the tech, the microphone, the hosting software, the recording software, and I was set up and good to go.

So I knew how to go in there and record an episode, but I had no clue what to do with it afterwards. So thank you YouTube videos. So in February of last year, I launched my very first episode. My very first episode had 15 downloads for the month. And I'm so happy and so grateful that you 15 people listened in to me because you encouraged me to continue producing episodes every single week. And I'm so happy that you're here.

So the whole podcast originally started on the idea. was recruiting in my corporate career at the same time and I wanted to interview other workplace experts about what was working with company culture, with recruiting, all the things. So I turned to LinkedIn to start recruiting my first guest. And so I originally started with my first few guests in my actual personal network. So if you're on the fence or thinking about starting a podcast, that's where I would highly suggest you start first.

because those are the people that are mostly more likely to say yes to you to come be your guest. So I started with my network first and then I went outward and I knew that I wanted to do interview, guest spots. I wanted to do some solos as well. I've done a mix here and there with you. You can see that, but anyways, I had been recruiting a recruiter headhunter for my corporate job. So I was completely comfortable interviewing anybody and everybody.

Caroline (02:21.014)
So once I recorded my first couple episodes, I started getting into the editing process because I knew I didn't want to outsource that in the beginning because I wanted to learn how to do it myself. And I would highly suggest if you're interested in starting a podcast, either come send me a DM, I'm happy to help you or get on YouTube videos and figure it out. I use a program called Audacity. use a PC to edit my podcasts. And so it was a matter of exactly figuring out what to edit, how to edit, how to put the...

intro in, how to put the music in, all the things. So I went down the rabbit hole of choosing the right music that I wanted for my podcast. I recorded an intro for my podcast. So you know exactly what this podcast is all about. And I went to town. All 99 % of my podcast guests have come from LinkedIn. I've only gotten one podcast guest.

from Instagram and so LinkedIn is my number one lead source when it comes to finding guests. And now that I'm a year and a half into this journey, I used to have to do outbound requests asking people to come be on my podcast. Now I get between 30 and 50 inbound requests every single week of people that want to be on the show, which I'm so grateful for. I have a form that they can go apply to, but it is a great opportunity for people to showcase what they're doing, you know, their work.

If they have any books coming out, podcasts coming out. So anyways, it's been a great experience. If I would not have started this podcast, I would not have met the amazing people that I've had as show guests. I would not have been able to participate in a podcast mastermind that I invested in earlier this year where I met eight other other female entrepreneurs and podcast hosts and meeting them and networking with them has been a literal game changer with me.

And the host of that event is an individual I highly admire and she has over 15 million downloads. And so I knew if I was going to take this podcast thing seriously, I wanted to learn from the best and I want to learn from her. So that was something I had to apply to. I had to be accepted to, it was a large investment. I went out to the retreat in Denver, Colorado earlier this spring to actually learn how to strategize, how to monetize your podcasts, how to do all the things.

Caroline (04:37.942)
And so if you were listening to this, I would highly encourage you to start a podcast because it's been literally a game changer for me and my professional life. You might be sitting there thinking like, I have no clue what I would do. I would have to outsource it. You don't have to do that. Literally editing last year used to take me three hours to do. And now it takes me under five minutes. And so my point of that is

whatever kind of skill you need to learn, can teach yourself. So I would literally be sitting there trying to edit it and I would want to throw my computer out the window. Like Gary would come home and be like, hey, how are you doing? And I'd be like, I can't talk right now, I'm editing a podcast. So now I literally do it in under five minutes and it is a breeze. So it's something that you can continue flexing your muscle getting better at. So starting a podcast has opened up a lot of doors. Not only if I met incredible humans who've been guests on this podcast.

but it also has opened up opportunities for me to be a guest on other people's podcasts as well. I do a lot of podcast swaps. Another thing, door it's open for me is speaking engagement. So now people have seen that I know how to speak, I know how to talk, I have thousands of downloads and all the things, but I also can execute and speak and be the authority figure on a stage. So that is another game changer with the podcast. Also, I literally have been able to meet

individuals who have listened to my podcast and I'm so grateful for each of you listening, learning. I hope I'm teaching you something or you're learning some new skills or I'm encouraging you or being your hype girl for LinkedIn. Either way, I'm here for you and this whole episode is just to say thank you.