Inspiring Women in Business Podcast - Episode 5 - Why Now is a Good Time to Start Your Podcast - Interview With Lynsay Anne Gould
Is podcasting for you? How can it help you with what you are doing right now? Is it worth your time and effort?
In this episode, my first ever podcast guest, podcast, and business coach, Lynsay Anne Gould, talks about the hows and whys of podcasting. She shares about the industry of podcasting and how it can help you, whether you are a business owner or a freelancer.
Key takeaways from this episode:
- There is no shame whatsoever in taking a sidestep before you move into business full time.
- If you're looking to get out of corporate, if you're looking to start a new business or pivot in your business, get some extra support. You can do part-time and build your business gradually.
- A podcast is an excellent way for people to feel connected to you to get to know you. By the time somebody is ready to chat with you about working with you, they already feel like they know you.
- If you can really get behind why you want to do something that will push you forward, just take a small step every day.
About Lynsay:
Lynsay Anne Gould is a podcast and business coach. She helps people to start and grow podcasts that are going to help them grow their business. She’s particularly passionate about getting more female voices heard. She is the host of the Podcasting For Business show.
Lynsay is running her podcast in a day workshop on 29th April*. If you’ve wanted to start your podcast for a while now, but you’ve been putting it off because you feel it’ll take loads of time, and you’ve maybe not been sure whether you can do it. You can join this workshop and, in the end, leave with your podcast ready to go! I did this training with Lynsay, and it was awesome! It cleared up all my tech questions and helped me plan out the episodes and launch plan.
*This is an affiliate link, so if you purchase through this link, I get a commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend things I love or have personally experienced myself. Any questions, send me a message.
Connect and know more about Lynsay here:
Website: https://www.lynsayanne.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1812987755694279/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lynsayannegould/
Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/podcasting-for-business/id1485599658
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynsay-gould-72610415/
More about Ruth:
Hi, I’m Ruth, a business coach specializing in helping freelancers and business owners adjust their mindset and their marketing so they can get fully booked with clients they LOVE to work with. I’ve helped hundreds of self-employed women achieve the time and money freedom they craved.
I’ve started this podcast because when I first went all in and left the corporate world to be a freelancer, I was grateful for any work that came my way. After over 20 years of freelancing and working for other people, I started to realize I’d created a glass ceiling for myself.
In 2017, I finally started listening to that voice that had been telling me for a long time that I wasn’t doing what I loved and fulfilling my true potential. It took a critical illness to give me that wake-up call. I don’t want the same to happen to you.
You can expect practical advice, inspiring stories, and a lot of aha moments as we uncover and kick to the curb all the obstacles you have been putting in your way.
I’m on a mission to inspire women to start and play bigger in business.
Connect and know more about Ruth Gilbey here:
Coaching: https://www.ruthgilbey.com/coaching
Free stuff: https://www.ruthgilbey.com/next-client
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ruthgilbeymarketingandcoaching/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ruth_gilbey/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruthgilbey/
Transcription
INTRO
Hello, and welcome to the Inspiring Women in Business podcast. My name is Ruth Gilbey and I'm a business and marketing coach. I'm on a mission to inspire women to start and play bigger in business. Now, I started this podcast because when I first went all in and left the corporate world to be a freelancer, I was just grateful for any work that came my way. After over 20 years of freelancing and working for other people, I started to realize I created a glass ceiling myself. It was in 2017, when I finally started listening to that voice that had been telling me for a long time, that I wasn't doing what I loved, and I wasn't fulfilling my true potential. It took a critical illness to give me that wake up call. And I don't want the same thing to happen to you. You can expect practical advice, interviews, inspiring stories, and a lot of aha moments, as we uncover and kick to the curb all the obstacles you've been putting in your way.
RUTH
Hi, Lynsay, so lovely to have you here. So I've got Lynsay Anne Gould here who is a podcast and business coach, and I'm interviewing her today's first interview interviewing for someone for the first time on the Inspiring Women in Business podcast. I'm gonna let Lynsay introduce herself. Lynsay, do you want to introduce yourself, tell everybody about you and your business.
LYNSAY
Of course, first of all, thanks for having me. I'm honored to be your first guest. So thank you. So I'm Lynsay. I'm a podcast and business coach, I help people to start and grow podcasts that are going to help them grow their business, what I'm particularly passionate about is getting more female voices heard. So I love it. When I'm working with women who have a message to share. I adore that side of the work. I do work with guys as well. But my particular passion is working with women. I'm also the host of the Podcasting For Business show. And we've just Well, when I say we've just hosted at the time of recording, we've just hosted the very first Podcast in the Business Awards as well, which was fantastic. So that was a great way for us to showcase loads of indie podcasters, like myself and Ruth, who are working hard on the podcast behind the scenes with with just a small team or no team at all. So that's who I am. That's what I do and I'm really happy to be here.
RUTH
That's brilliant. So and you've helped me get here as well. I've known Lynsay for a few years now and always admired what she's been doing and was on my radar for a very long time to start a podcast. And Lynsay helped me get here as well. So tell me a bit about what led you here. Where did you use to work etc. and what what led you here?
LYNSAY
Yeah, good question. So my background is HR and training. The last role that I had was as a national training manager, and I've worked as HR director, I've done all sorts of roles. And I got into that, because I love seeing people develop. I've always loved seeing where somebody joins a company and what their ambitions are and how they develop and grow. I've always loved that. But what I found was, as my career progressed, as I got more senior, it became less about that it was less about helping people are more about protecting businesses, I felt I was more it was more on the legal side towards the end, and it just didn't inspire me. So I spent a few years stuck in that in my head thinking I love the work that I do, but I really not enjoying where I'm gonna end up, I could see the roles ahead of me. And they weren't inspiring me. So I spent some time thinking about this. And during that time, my husband was retraining as a teacher. And he'd been in optics for years and years and years. And he wanted to be a teacher. So he left and he went back to university full-time. So that was another reason what I felt I can't just give up a job at the moment. I've got a student who was. So he went back to uni, and he trained to be a teacher. And I really vividly remember that very first week, he'd finished his training. He got his first job at a local high school, which was brilliant coz you don't have to drive anymore. He could walk to school. He came home at the end of the first week. And I remember having dinner and saying so have you made the right choice. And I'm really ashamed of my response. He said I should have done this years ago, and my guttural response was absolute jealousy. I was so jealous. Obviously. I was happy for him. And I was so proud of him. But I was really, really jealous. And I thought you know what, enough is enough. So this was September time, he just started the job. And I promised myself in that moment. That's it. I'm going to leave this job and I'm going to start working for myself by the end of this year. And I did. I did that I stuck to it. So what I did first of all, is I sort of eased my way out of the corporate world. I started working for myself set up a company and started doing consulting work contracting. I worked for some aviation companies. I work for airports or engineering. And it was great in that I was earning a really good income, I was choosing the contracts I wanted to do. But again, I still had a boss, I wasn't in control of where I was going to be sent in the country, or what I was going to do, I actually ended up going to India during that time, I really didn't want to, you know, I was, so I was still stuck in this, oh, my goodness, I'm just traveling for another boss, but sort of working for myself. So I had this like transition period where I was doing that. And then, at the same time as doing that, I started to work on my coaching business. And I started getting some business clients. And that was really cool. I loved it, absolutely loved it. And during all that time that I'd been desperately wanting to get out of my job, I'd been listening to podcasts on repeat constantly, you know, I pretty much lived on the M25 or traveling. So I was always listening to podcasts. And I remember thinking that when I start my own business, when I'm able to I'm going to start my own podcast as well, because I knew how much they had helped me, they sort of made me feel that there was another path for me. And there was another way because I didn't know anybody in sort of my real life, who had a business like the one that I wanted to have. So it sort of showed me what was possible. So, fast forward to me in this coaching business where I thought, right, I'm gonna really go all in now on coaching, which I did. So I gave up the consultancy work, gave up the contracts, moved full time into coaching, loved it. And I was helping people to sort of get out of their nine to five, I was helping people to escape corporate, because that's what I knew. And then I started my podcast the very first time and I was inundated with people asking about the podcast, you know, how do you do this? How did you know how to do it? How did you make money from that? You know, what microphone should I use all the questions that you can think of, and I loved it. I'm a bit of a tech nerd and a bit of a geek. And I loved it all. And I really talked to podcasting as soon as I started. And I started to do a little bit of work on the side of my coaching business of helping people with their podcasts. And it eventually got to the stage where I was doing more of that than the business coach and I was accepting more clients for podcasting than business coaching, because I loved it so much. And I could see the results immediately. And then I pivoted and said, that's it. I'm going all in on podcast coaching. So that's what I did. And it took time and you hear a lot online, don't you about you know, you leave your job. And then you can make six figures in six minutes. And it's just a load of BS. I mean, it's rubbish. In reality, it rarely works like that. And I think, you know, it does happen like that for some people. But I think if you're looking for a long term business, if you're looking for that longevity, and you want to be in it for the long haul, I think it's worth taking a bit of time over it. And I think if I had the business that I had now, right at the start, I wouldn't have known how to run it, it's took that time to be able to figure out what it is that my strengths are, and how I can support people in the best way. I think I've really found my niche now. That was a really long answer. But you know, now why I'm doing what I'm doing.
RUTH
I think that's absolutely amazing. And it's got that's going to be so helpful for people listening to this. So it's not a straight line is it when you're trying to find what you're looking for? It's a bit of a zigzag. So when you look back, what advice would you give for someone who's actually leaving corporate and trying to make that jump into their own business?
LYNSAY
Yeah, it's such a good question. I was filled with so much guilt about this, you know, because I've got a master's in HR, coaching and mentoring. And I thought to myself, I've spent 1000s of pounds on my education, everyone's gonna think I'm turning my back on that. And, you know, and think who the heck does she think she is to do this, and I had those thoughts in my mind for so long. And I didn't tell people about them. Even my husband, you know, wasn't telling him because I thought, you know, he's just given up a job, he's gone back to university, he really values his education. He's going into teaching for goodness sake. And I'm now going to say, I'm going to turn my back on that Master's I did a couple years ago, and just forget all of that and do something entirely different. So there was a lot of guilt around it and a lot of guilt around, you know, it wasn't a proper job saying that, you know, with inverted commas, but I was so... I knew I was meant to do something else. It was just like a knowing I couldn't carry on doing what I was doing. And I got to the stage where I was more afraid of staying in the job that I was in and seeing what that trajectory would be for my career than the fear of giving up and not knowing what would happen. And I think if anybody's telling you give up your job and just go for it. That's really poor advice, really poor advice. And I always recommend people, especially in the climate we're in right now, you know, we're in the middle of a global pandemic. Nothing is certain at the moment. But if the only reason that is keeping you in a job that you're really not enjoying is the fact that it's going to be uncertain. Our whole lives are uncertain right now. Nobody knows from one minute to the next what's going to happen so I got to the stage and that might be the same for any of you listening right now where you thought or where you're going to think I don't like what's ahead of me, I don't like the the more senior roles that I could go into, they don't inspire me, I'm more afraid of that than the uncertainty of not knowing whether I'm going to be successful. And there is no shame whatsoever in taking a sidestep before you move into that business full time. And I hear this a lot from people where they, they almost feel like they let somebody down or let themselves down by having to take on a part time job, while they're building their business. There's nothing wrong with that, you know, that is you being empowered as a business owner, that is you funding your own future, there's nothing to be ashamed of in that. So my thoughts are, if you're looking to get out of corporate, if you're looking to start a new business, or pivot in your business, almost, there's no shame in getting some extra support. If you need to take a part time job, if you need to go part time in the job you're in right now and build it up gradually, I promise you, you're gonna feel so much better doing it that way. Because you're not going to be in luck, you're not gonna be thinking to yourself, you know, I need a client, I need any client. Rather than working with people you really want to work with, you know, you don't want to be in that mindset of, you know, having to get clients because you need the money, you want to do it in the right way and feel good about the work you're doing.
RUTH
I think that's more brilliant advice. Because I think there's a lack of that practical advice. I think people think it's either go all in or stay where you are. And so there's your advices, there's something in between, there's something I'll do in between, rather than, as I say, as you've just said, going all in, and then you've come in operating from that place of lack and fear all the time.
LYNSAY
That's it, it's not black and white, you know, exactly can go backwards, up and down and all over the place. Because even when you are in your business, things might go really well for a few months, and then you might have a big debt. And that's totally fine, too. It's never a straight line. So it's just about supporting yourself through that financially, as much as you can.
RUTH
It's amazing. And you talked about what led you to podcast coaching. So how long have you been doing it now? And what have you learned over the last few years, etc?
LYNSAY
Yeah, I think it's probably been now trying to figure this out. Actually the other day, I think it's about two years that I've been fully all in with it. But I was doing it before that as well, sort of on the side of my coaching business, but two years all in. So I started off just teaching people in a group program and doing some sort of Power Hour type sessions, then I develop that program into a full six week program, which I still run to this day, I think we're on about the sixth, I think this is the sixth launch we're doing we've just done when you're listening to this. And then after that I developed in person one day experiences where people could come and get their podcast started in a day, which during COVID, we started to do those online. And then following that, as I said, at the very start, we started the awards, which I'm very excited about. I think these are going to be amazing for people. There are other podcast awards out there, but they all tend to focus on like the big industry hitters, the big podcast with huge followings, huge sponsors, advertisers, and so on, but I wanted to do something a bit more human, I wanted to celebrate the indie podcasters, those people who have really pushed outside of their comfort zone to start their show. So that's how things have sort of progressed, I've sort of gone from helping people in groups helping people individually to sort of trying to put podcasting on another level for people and starting to get them to see it as a real opportunity to grow their business and their own credibility as well.
RUTH
So why do you think a podcast is good for a business owner, a new business owner or even you know, freelancer, etc?
LYNSAY
Yeah, really good question. I don't know whether you're aware of the stats. But there are 32 and a half million YouTube channels right now, which is massive. And we still only have 1.6 million podcasts. So when you think about that, I mean, some of you might be listening to this episode now thinking podcasts are everywhere, because you listen to them, or you might be in the industry, you might be a service based business owner might be a coach, whatever it is, you do, you're probably more aware of podcasts because you probably see people launching them, but relatively there aren't that many of them. So there's still a lot of land to grab, if I can put it that way in the podcasting space. And with the arrival of clubhouse in a massive way this year as well. I think the fact that Amazon started their own podcast platform late last year, I think that gives you a real indication of where audio is going. There is a huge future in audio. I think 2021 is the the year of audio definitely. I think it's a massive growth area. I mean, it is a massive growth area, the growth in the US and in the UK over the past 12 months. I was really concerned you know how is COVID gonna affect podcast it's massively gonna. It's a great way for people to feel connected to you to get to know you if you're a coach if you offer products or services online or offline, and you have a podcast but your competitor doesn't, they're going to get to know you by listening to your podcast. And what happens is you get more qualified leads coming through. So by the time somebody is ready to chat to you about working with you, they already feel like they know you. And I have definitely found my clients find the same as well that when you speak to people, once you've got your podcast, if they've come to you through your podcast, they're much more likely to work with you, because they've built up that connection with you is massive for business owners, I think every business owner should have a podcast of some way, shape or form. Even if you're only going to create a season or just a short series, something that you can showcase to show what you're all about is definitely a good thing.
RUTH
And why should someone start a podcast rather than, say a blog?
LYNSAY
You can do both. I mean, podcast isn't the only way to grow an audience. I think it comes down to preference. I mean, there are a lot of people who love to write. But for some people, it really turns you off, you know, the idea of sitting with a blank screen and writing, you could probably speak for 30 minutes and write quite a few blogs. It is personal preference. It's how you prefer to get your message across and how your audience likes to hear it. But what I often say to people with a podcast is you know, do the podcast, but then get it transcribed. And you can make it into a blog anyway. So yeah, and the same with video. I mean, where we're video recording, and we're doing audio recording right now. Oh, so Ruth now has video content and audio content. I'm pretty sure she'll transcribe this. And there are social media clips that will come out of it. So I think for me, it's the beauty of being able to work hard once and then use that content in lots of different ways. I think a lot of people think it takes a ton of time. And it does take a bit of time definitely to do your podcast, but it's what you can do with it afterwards. That is the beauty of it for me.
RUTH
Yeah. 100% agree. It's all about working hard once and repurposing. Brilliant. So when's the right time for someone to start a podcast then?
LYNSAY
Yeah, good one. If you're thinking to yourself, I should start a podcast because everyone else is doing it. That's not the right time. If you're thinking I should start a podcast because I want to earn six figures. It's not the right decision. So if you want to start a podcast, because you want to connect with an audience, you want to grow an audience, you want to increase your credibility, perhaps you're thinking of writing a book, and you want to pull together an audience for that book, perhaps you've got a program or a course online that you sell a podcast is a great way to grow an audience for it. So there isn't a right time. The right time is always yesterday, to be honest with anything like this, isn't it. But as soon as you feel ready to get it started, I would go for it. It works particularly well for audience building for credibility. If you're a speaker, it's a great thing to do. Because you know, there's not many stages to speak on right now. So it's a great way to grow an audience. So if you're somebody who is thinking, well, I can't start a podcast or don't have an audience, that doesn't matter, because your podcast can grow the audience for you.
RUTH
Brilliant advice. I wanted to ask you about what you thought of Clubhouse I've seen you've been on it actually, a few times. Any advice for anyone who's at clubhouse?
LYNSAY
I've just written another module for my group program all about clubhouse, because I think it's gonna be huge. I think it honestly feels like we're at the start of Facebook. That's how big I think it's going to be. I think it's got the capacity to be huge. I do a regular show on there Monday to Friday with a couple of my friends Sarah Mosley and Liz Melville, we run the Business Brunch show Monday to Friday 11 to 12. And we show up every day and have conversations about anything. You know, today we had one all about relationships. Tomorrow, we're talking about is there such a thing as work life balance, which I don't think there is. And but you know, we talk about everything related to business. And it's a really great way to connect with people. Now, when clubhouse came out, there was a lot of noise in the podcasting community about, is this the end of podcasts. And it couldn't be further from the truth. Everybody's really excited about it. Now, because it's such a great way to find guests for your podcast, it's a great way to sort of pre... almost pre interview them to check whether you're on the right level. It's also a great way to invite your listeners into a conversation with you. So let's say you have a solo show, and you release it every Monday, you can say at the end of your episode, don't forget to join me on club house tomorrow at five o'clock. And we're going to talk all about this. I want to hear what you think. So it's a great way to do market research. It's a great way to build that connection with your audience even deeper than it is with the with the podcast as well. So I am loving it. I've not been on there that long, four or five weeks maximum. And the growth on there is phenomenal. So if you're not on four paths, if you're on Android, unfortunately, can't be on there just yet. But I have said to a few Android users, it's worth getting a secondhand iPhone four just to get on there because it's only available on iOS at the moment but it is going out to Android soon but we don't know how soon soon is.
RUTH
Yeah, it's interesting because someone said to me, it's like listening to your favorite podcast host. But then you can also have a conversation with them as well.
LYNSAY
Exactly.
RUTH
I saw something pop up on Twitter as well. I think it's called flyer there actually, you can have an audio chat on there now.
LYNSAY
Yeah. They're starting it. Yeah. And this is what I'm saying about the year of audio, people are really caught it on to the fact that this is huge. the advertising industry for podcasting now is just a billion dollars, which is insane. You know, it's huge. It's growing all the time, because there'll be people here now listening to this episode, walking the dog on the peloton. You know, exercising and doing the dishes, you know, working in it, you can do all the things whilst you're listening, can't you? And you can't do that with a video.
RUTH
100% Yeah. I've listened to two podcasts this morning already. Right. Because you can do it alongside doing other things. So have you got any favorite podcast?
LYNSAY
Oh, my goodness, what I'm gonna say. I love podcasts. And you know what, I don't have a specific favorite. I'm one of those people who I've subscribed to about, I don't know, I've got about 200 shows on my podcast app. It's ridiculous. The very first podcast I ever listened to, with Amy Porterfield. Online Marketing made easy. Love it. Obviously, that's a huge show. But I have some really cool new favorites. After doing the awards. There's a great one, which is hysterical. I didn't know about but when I told my husband that they'd won in the awards, he said, "Oh, yeah, I know them", because he's a teacher. And it's called Two Ps in a Pod cast. It's hysterical. And it's all, it's two teachers, two IT teachers. They're both called Mr. Parkinson, their brothers, and they talk about, they talk about all the stories of funny things that have happened in the classroom. And teachers write into them and say, "This is what happened." And then they talk about it on the podcast. It's honestly brilliant. It will make you cry laughing. So the story. So that's a really great one. So they won the listener's Choice Award this year in the awards. And you can check out all the winners over on my website, LinsayAnne.com, forward slash PSP awards. And you can see all the top 30 in the listeners choice plus all the winners from the categories. So if you're thinking of, you know, how do I listen to some some cool indie podcast, then yeah, check those out as well.
RUTH
Brilliant. And what would you like to see more of? What type of podcasts would you like to see more of?
LYNSAY
That's a really good question. So I listened to quite a range of podcasts. I obviously listen to business podcasts, because that's what my business is and what I do, but I like to listen to drama, and I like to listen to comedy podcasts and things to listen to while I'm gonna embarrass myself now, while I'm knitting. I've got a new hobby and lockdown. But yeah, just I really enjoy conversations, feeling like I'm listening into a chat with friends, things like that. I think there are some really fantastic, very polished, high produced podcasts out there, which is great. But that's not what I really enjoy. I really enjoy the conversations, and I enjoy connection. I enjoy real life stories from real people. I enjoy hearing how things really are for people rather than the polished view that we see online. And I think there's a beautiful thing about podcasting in that when you're not in front of a camera, you're not in front of a live audience, and it's just you and your microphone, you've got this ability to just completely be yourself, all the layers are stripped back. And I think you find a lot of people are much more themselves on the podcast, and they ever are on any sort of live Facebook video, for example, or on stage, I think you just get the real raw version of them, which is what I love about it. I'd love to see more of that.
RUTH
Brilliant. And have you got any last piece of advice for listeners, if someone's listening to this, and they're, maybe they're in a corporate job, and they're, they've got that niggling feeling that they want to do something else, there's something more that they want to do, or perhaps they've started, you know, freelancing, and they're not quite doing what they love doing. What last bit of advice have you got for people?
LYNSAY
Ask yourself the question, you know, why am I doing what I'm doing? And why do I want to do the thing I want to do, I think if you can really get behind why you want to do something that will push you forward, just take a small step every day. Sometimes our goals, or our ambitions and where we want to be with our businesses feel huge. They feel so far away that you can't see away to them. So for me, it's always been about not worrying about the outcome, but just taking a step figuring out what the next step or two is going to be and do it. And I think if you're not 100% sure of the thing you're going to do, whether it will work. When you start taking action, you figure out pretty quick whether you are on that right path, whether it is the right thing for you. So I think it's Marie Forleo that talks about clarity comes with action, and it's not 100% true, take a step, do something towards what it is you want to do. And then sit and feel how that feels. Think your body holds a lot of knowledge about whether you're on the right path with something. So feel what it feels like in your body. Ask yourself those questions, stop along the way and think to yourself, Am I doing the right thing? Am I on the right path? If I felt the most confident me, what would I do next and take that step, but just life is way too short. And if there's something that this pandemic has taught everybody, it's that, you know, family relationships, our health is the most important thing in the world. But we have to do the things we love, because we never know what's going to happen. So just take a step and do something today that's going to help you progress to where you want to be.
RUTH
Amazing advice. And lastly, how can people find out more about you and work with you?
LYNSAY
Of course, thank you for asking. So I hang out in Facebook, I've got a group over there called Podcasting, the business community. It's the same name as my podcast, you can listen to my show if you'd like to. If you are interested in getting your podcast started, you can always find me there. Or I'm on Instagram, Linsay Anne Gould. I'll give Ruth the links if you want to come and find me online or without into having a chat with people who are interested in getting started or growing their podcast as well. So thanks for asking.
RUTH
Thanks so much, Lynsay. That was so... that was brilliant and so helpful to so many. Thanks a lot.
LYNSAY
You're so welcome. Thanks for having me.
OUTRO
Thanks for listening to the inspiring women in business podcast. I hope you found this episode helpful. If you did, I would love it if you would leave me a review. Also, I would love to connect with you on Instagram. That's where I hang out most of the time. I'm @Ruth_Gilbey. I'll put a link in the show notes for you as well come and connect with me. Tell me about your business. And also tell me what you'd like to hear next on the podcast. And lastly, go and check out the business building hub on my website. There you can find more amazing free resources to help you take the next step in your business. And you can also find out other ways that you can work with me. I'll see you soon.