Today I am challenging myself to do something I tell my clients to do all the time. Be open, honest and vulnerable. As it turns out, it’s much easier to encourage someone else to do this than to do it yourself and...you aren’t surprised.
So what is it I’m working on? Creating my own content. Sharing my ideas and thoughts with the world. Opening myself up to criticism or being disliked. It’s easy to hide behind my clients, but if I really want to have my own business, I need to lead.
The thing is, I’ve been working to get more podcast clients this year - especially more climate and clean energy related clients - and I haven’t succeeded yet. I met with my friend and fellow podcaster Angela Hollowell last weekend and shared this struggle with her. I explained how my experience in environmental politics and communications pairs so well with my other experiences in sales and podcast production. How I’ve succeeded at helping my clients tell their stories, raise more money and build critical relationships. She asked me if this was on my website. I said no.
And as Taylor Swift reminded me in her Person of the Year TIME article - you have to invest in yourself. It’s true - every time I’ve bet on myself I’ve always been glad I did. Because even if I didn’t “succeed” right away, I learned. I got in the arena. And learning is still an investment in yourself. If you wait around for someone to choose you or help you, you might be waiting forever.
So here I go. Beyond working on my website and owning my wins, I’m starting a monthly series called “The Format.” It’s a podcast-newsletter hybrid living primarily on Substack. I’ll be talking with other podcast producers, hosts and podcast-adjacent tech founders about podcast technology, trends, best practices and impact. The Format will allow me a place to continue learning about my craft and share those learnings with my community. I’ll be demonstrating my passion for the podcast format, for storytelling and technology. I’ll be doing for myself what podcasting does for my clients - showing (not telling) my passion for what I do through my questions and conversations. Hopefully you will join me!
My first episode (live now!) is with my friend and fellow podcast producer Angela Hollowell. I have to thank her for being an amazing friend already - encouraging me whenever I’m struggling. In this first episode we talk about everything podcasting - how we approach interviews, what technology we like, what technology we hope for and finally why podcasting is becoming a powerful format for storytelling.
As my other queen Rihanna once answered “what do you do when you don’t feel confident? Pretend.” Eventually she reconnects with her confidence and she’s not pretending anymore.So here we go!