Imposter Syndrome, Fear, Affiliates, Batching – Podcast Live Q&A

Hi Friend!

In this LIVE Q&A session with my Podcast Pro University students, I answer some great questions like:

I’m dealing with imposter syndrome, how to feel worthy of what I’m teaching/selling?

How do I press record when I’m terrified?

Does affiliate marketing work from both sides?

How do I batch my podcast content?

Getting people to find you when you’re brand new?

If you’re a podcaster who wants to scale bigger by creating income and impact and bringing glory to God through your show, this is for you.

I pray this blesses you!

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION:

(00:00)
Welcome to another episode of the Mompreneur Mastermind show. In today’s episode, I am actually doing a live Q and A with my Podcast Pro University students over in our private membership community. And y’all they brought the fire. There are some amazing, amazing questions. I’m talking imposter syndrome, getting over your fears, the ABCs of affiliate marketing, both being an affiliate and having an affiliate program, how to batch, how to get people to find you and your show or your platform when you’re new, and so much more. You’re going to love this episode.

(01:29)
So we had some great Q and A’s come in. And so I’m going to jump in and answer some of your questions from the community. The first question is what is the best way to plan your month of podcasts and batching? Do you have a system that works with having two kiddos? That’s a good one. Do you have a system that works around your kids? Not really. Other than like nap time warrior over here, Landon is literally in his bed napping right now. And so that’s when I’m like, okay, hop on an activity.

(02:01)
So I guess my rule of thumb here is if you have an open crack in your day, or you know, that you have space in your week where you can actually get to work, make sure that you’re filling that with activity, which is, does this build my business, build my brand, bring me revenue, or light me up and bring me a bunch of joy? So I know that if I have time today, it’s going to my coaching clients and it’s going to my podcast or my students, right. I could be on Instagram, making a post right now. I could be on stories, but I’m not because that is not an activity that brings me revenue grows.

(02:39)
My business brings me public relations or is me meeting with clients or brings me joy. Okay. What do I do here? I try my best to stay about two weeks ahead of time when it comes to batching. And what I mean by that is I’ll take a look at my actual Excel file that you guys get inside Podcast Pro University, right? It has all of my podcasts mapped out that are coming up. So you guys, this is my spreadsheet and you get this inside of Podcast Pro University. Okay. And so what I can see is that, all right, what do I have here? I have a lot of stuff that’s been recorded. These are already coaching sessions that I have the release on. And so I space those out.

(03:23)
So I know that I can batch out those episodes because I already have them in my arsenal. Okay. And then what I do is I always leave space like every two or three episodes I leave space. The reason is because inspiration strikes guys moments like this strike, where you all ask me some really incredible questions. I know I need to leave room to plug those in. So one of the mistakes I made early on in my podcast was I would batch like months ahead of time. And I had no space to plug in something that was inspirational. So I ended up putting in these bonus episodes.

(03:59)
Now that’s fine, but you don’t need bonus episodes unless you’re just trying to drive downloads and traffic like for sponsorship reasons. So really what I do now is I leave space. And how do I batch? I actually batch content by sometimes wherever I am when inspiration strikes, I’ll just record, like whether it’s on my phone, whether I have an hour here at home or whatever it might be, I will batch out the content itself. Like I just free flow.

(04:27)
I’m getting in there, I’m rocking with an inspiration, with whatever I want to talk about. And then I save it. And I do not put in welcome to episode 50 because I don’t know where I want to use that episode. But I think it’s a great idea to have these episodes that you can use whenever you have an opening if that makes sense. So the secret is don’t batch in order, because that way you can spread things out. Life can get busy. You leave a couple of openings for yourself, for creative exploration or when inspiration strikes and you need to express, you’ve got an opening in your batching.

(05:02)
I hope that helps you guys on how do I batch and then how do I do it with kids? You guys nap time when my husband’s off, early morning, if necessary, like you gotta get gangster with your time. So next question. And that was from Aly McClain. Next question is Michelle Marie, who says, I need the ABCs of affiliates inside of her podcast. So she says, if I want to ask a guru to promote me, they get a special code. And then a portion of the profits. That’s the world I know nothing about, but what love to, okay.

(05:37)
So the ABC’s of affiliate, number one, find something you’re obsessed with a product, a service, a program, a mentor, a coach, find something that you’re already obsessed with. You’re using it all the time and it pairs with your niche. So it pairs with your audience, your avatar, okay. That’s step one. And then you go to that person, that website, that program and ask or Google, you know, affiliate program. Example, I use Thrive Cart as my checkout software. Okay, guys, I love it. It’s amazing. It upsells. It’s great. Like I could go on and on and you’d go buy it right now. Cause that’s how obsessed I am with it.

(06:15)
I knew that thrive cart paired with my audience, my Lola. So I signed up for their affiliate. I get 50% of every sale. And I use that affiliate inside of some of the podcasts where I talk about maybe check out systems or upselling. I also have it on the resources portion of my website. Okay. So that’s simply what you do for affiliate for a product or company. Now it’s different. If you want someone to be an affiliate for you. So example this course Podcast Pro University that you guys are a part of has an affiliate program. If you were to take the course, you’re obsessed with the course, your audience would benefit from this course. So you have a market that would crave this course.

(07:19)
If it’s a person that you want to affiliate with, you first need to have a system set up. So if you guys have your courses through Teachable and you can use their affiliate, I use Thrive Cart’s affiliate program. Basically what that means is any of you that go sign up to be an affiliate. You can basically go through that program or that checkout system sign up as an affiliate. And then me, I offer blank amount of percentage to my affiliates for selling the course. Each of my affiliates gets a link that is directly created inside of Thrive cart or Teachable.

(08:08)
There’s lots of other places you guys can set up an affiliate, but that would be my recommendation would be to use Thrive Cart. I love it. It’s super easy. I mean, I have a huge affiliate as you guys know right now, and thousands and thousands of dollars automatically seamlessly paid out. Like it’s amazing. So if you want to run a large affiliate program, I highly recommend it. You can also use Teachable. If your courses are already there, you would then sign up with that. You get people signed up with your affiliate, explain to them how to market your programs or courses. Okay. And then whenever they sell one, they get a kickback or a percentage. If that makes sense.

(08:43)
I mean, that’s the technical side of affiliate. Whether it be you affiliate for someone else or they affiliate for you. And then the other component that Michelle asked is like, how do you actually build up a relationship with people and make sure it’s complimentary, and that you’re not like coming off kind of like a weirdy. So here’s what my rule of thumb is. I have natural people that I am obsessed with. You guys like give me some hearts if you’re like, I have people that I follow all their stuff. I go to their Instagram without needing to see it pop up. I love them. They’re like a mentor, like an arm’s length away mentor. Do you guys have that? I know that I do.

(09:22)
So when I think about who are the people that I strive to be like, and I strive to become, I then think about, okay, how can I start to network with this person? Cause you guys, everyone is just a human. Nobody is like, yes, we put them on a pedestal, but they’re not on a real pedestal. They’re real live human with wingding hair, with mom life, with kids. We have to stop this strange idea that people are untouchable because they’re not. So what I started to do is say, okay, if I want to strive to be like whoever or this person’s inspiring me right now, like Jasmine Star just launched a podcast.

(10:02)
I love the way that Jasmine coaches I’ve seen her live. Like I jam with Jasmine. Right? And you guys know, I already have a relationship with Angie Lee. Like there’s certain people that I have relationships with just because I started to show up for them in their community. Like you guys show up for me, I would drop them a love on Instagram, shoot them messages. Say, thank you for the content that they’re putting out, coming from a true place in my heart of like, you are helping my business and you are inspiring me on a daily basis.

(10:29)
Sometimes it was a year before they’re like, Oh, this chick is like always in my corner and replying back to me and like replying back to my DMS. Like the more you stay front of mind, the more you start to grow a relationship with someone. So think about if there was a friend that you wanted to make, let’s say at your church or Bible study, you wouldn’t like stare at her from afar and be like, Oh, she’s so cool. Like I want to be friends with Nancy. Nancy’s so cool. You’d be like, what up Nancy? Like I love your hair. Oh, I love that point you made in Bible study last Thursday. Do you want to grab coffee? I would love to take you out to coffee. Right?

(11:06)
Treat it the same way with influencers, with people that you want to grow rapport with. And I’m not saying that this always works, but regardless, thank them for inspiring you. Like that’s still a huge win. And then when you have kind of grown somewhat of an online relationship with somebody and they’re applying to you, right. And you feel like, okay, they’ve noticed that I care. That’s when I would voice DM them and be like, yo, what’s up. I have this thing. I have no idea if this is going to work for you, but I would love it. If my product, program or course, you know, wouldn’t be a fit with your audience.

(11:41)
If you’d be interested in doing an affiliate thing with me, here’s why I would love to give you free access. You can check it out, make sure you see an actual need for what you offer and then hit them up. Voice DM is my favorite way. I’m not all about like the fancy emails because I don’t read those. Do you guys read those? So that’s how I would go about that long answer.

(12:01)
I hope that was helpful to you guys. Be authentic. Love on people. Love will always get you far and play the long game. Like if you really want to be noticed by somebody be noticeable, okay. Put yourself out there. Don’t think of it in a place of what’s in it for me. Think of it in a place of like, I’m so grateful for this human and the work they’re doing here and tell them that.

(12:25)
All right, next one Angel says, imposter syndrome is huge for me right now. How to get podcast swaps when you’re dealing with imposter syndrome and find people who are near or just above where you are? And Angel also says, she’s a self-taught photographer. She knows how to conquer photography, but she’s kind of pivoting into coaching and putting out content, which is new for her. So you guys, imposter syndrome is nothing more than being afraid of the unknown. That’s all it is. It’s I’m doing something new that I’m not comfortable with, that I don’t already know and have the answers to. And so it feels uncomfortable for me.

(13:02)
I want you guys to know that it is 100000000% normal. It is expected. And if you don’t have discomfort and growing pains, why are you here? Right? Like what is the point of growing forward and excelling and pushing yourself and getting uncomfortable. You can’t overcome anything because then what’s the end result. Well, that was easy. Still sitting here, feeling like that was easy, like could have done that in my sleep versus like, dang, that was hard and super uncomfortable. And that made me want to cry and give up and hide under a rock and everything was confusing yet. Here I sit and I freaking did it and I overcame and maybe I stumbled and maybe it was hard, but I still freaking did it.

(13:46)
Now I get to feel so excited and proud of myself and you’ve set a new baseline. So every time you guys conquer something, that’s uncomfortable. That’s here, you move up. And now you’re going to conquer that next thing that’s here. Right? So you have to go through discomfort and imposter syndrome is simply looking at someone else that’s already done what you want to do. And it’s so it seems impossible. But guess what? That person was sitting where you sit weren’t they, and in order for them to get there, they had to go through it. And they probably looked at somebody bigger than where they are and said, dang it, I’m not good enough. I’m not ready for this.

(14:27)
So whoever you’re looking at going, I’m an imposter of that human and that person’s like, got it going on. And I’ll never be that way. They felt that way too, but they were brave enough to push through it. They were strong enough to be willing to figure it out, and they were just brave enough to take the leap. Okay. So that’s just a little tough love for that, work through it. Like stand up, push through it, keep going, fail your way forward. You guys, nobody ever stood up and just made it. We all had to go through this is scary and daunting and I’m not good enough. And can I, and when I, and should I, and well like, just go, just go. There’s my answer to that one. Okay. Was that okay?

(15:13)
You guys I hope that wasn’t harsh, but it’s like, you just have to go. It’s never going to be comfortable. None of this is comfortable. Starting a podcast, starting coaching, creating a course, trying to grow and like nobody cares and nobody’s liking your stuff and nobody’s watching your stories. Like I just posted a post today, it’s a post that I had originally created about like six months ago. So seven years as an entrepreneur back seven years ago, I had like a hundred people in my community. Like my mom and my friends, I had 12 average likes per post. Okay. And now it’s been seven years, which is insane. Oh my gosh. Now it’s been seven years and the absolute craziest thing I have over 100,000 women in my community, the show is 110,000 downloads.

(16:07)
There’s a hundred of you in the course, like seven years, put yourself in that seat and say, but what if seven years ago I would have said, but this is uncomfortable. There’s only 12 people that give a crap about the stuff I’m putting into the world. Well guess what? 12 people turned into a hundred people turn into a thousand people turn into 10,000 people, turned into 50,000 people, turned into a hundred thousand people guys. So compound growth starts with discomfort. So keep going, push through it. Don’t give up. Don’t hide, go, go, go. All right.

(16:46)
Tricia asks how to get past the fear of recording. So Tricia, you just click record. I know, I know. You’re like, but what’s the worst that can happen. You gotta rerecord it. You gotta edit it. Right. It’s the same talk I just gave of just do it. You know, there was a time where I was so terrified of public speaking, that I would have like panic attacks and get super sweaty and like kind of pee my pants all at the same time, blackout.

(17:13)
I had no idea what I said, but I had to cause I was a leader in this huge organization that I was in back when I was doing network marketing. And I just had to keep standing up. My voice kept shaking and blacking out and saying dumb stuff. And wondering if anybody caught it, that my voice was shaking, losing my breath.

(17:36)
I was always losing my breath up there and would be hyperventilating. Like it was stupid, embarrassing, but I kept doing it. And around the six month mark, it went away. It went away and I could stand up and could talk. And I broke through and now I’m podcaster and I’m a coach and I can do lives for you guys. Okay. And so do it, do it and do it and do it until next one. Susan says, how can you get people to find your blog that is brand new. Okay. So how to get people to find you when you’re brand new, really important would be SEO. And that means titling things where they’re searchable.

(18:16)
So what would your avatar be searching for in Facebook search bars, in Google search, in the podcast, little thing at the top, right? Use those keywords. Make sure that your channel art and your blog graphics. I hope that you’re using Pinterest. You guys, please go listen to my Pinterest episode, I am telling you, it is like the best day spent of your life to figure out Pinterest, get Tailwind, get Pinterest, get a VA to do some graphics for you. It’s so easy. You don’t need like a big fancy course. You just need a Pinterest account and some group boards. That’s it. Do it. I swear. You’ll get so much traffic from Pinterest. That’s a great way to grow.

(19:00)
Make sure that your channel art is bomb dot com. Please. You guys, please. It grabs attention. It’s clear. What is this podcast about? Like you have two seconds to grab people’s attention. Same with the blog. So spend the money and make sure that your channel art is so dang good. It’s crisp, clear. It’s obvious what it is, and it’s not too busy. It doesn’t look like your six year old made it. Okay. Believe me. My first channel art, it was so funny. Please go look at it in the group and laugh. Okay. I did it because you have to get started. But as soon as I could, I upgraded my channel art because the two seconds you have to grab someone’s attention is make or break. How else?

(19:41)
Word of mouth. Ask the people that love you to share it for you to post it in their stories. Tara is asking if you’re trying to get people to see your content and resonate with it, should you start a Facebook group and post your content in there? So Tara, I wouldn’t start a Facebook group. If you’re trying to get more visibility, I would post in existing Facebook groups and post free stuff, free tips, free content, right? It’s serve, serve, serve. People are going to go. Who’s this chick with her amazing ideas. Like they’re going to come over to your Facebook page and they’re going to see who you are and see that you’re on a podcast and come listen to you.

(20:18)
Then Daniella said, I use Ale, my graphic designer. She’s awesome. Absolutely. You guys, if you need a recommendation, let me know. Ale can hook you up for sure. She’s actually in this group. So you can tag her in this group as well. Okay. So how else can we get people to find our blog? Consistency, because if you put out great stuff into the world, people are like, Ooh, that was so good. Great content. I learned a lot. I’m coming back and you’re not there for another month. They’re not coming back again. Think about how do you consume? I go to my favorite podcasts, my favorite, I don’t do blogs, but I used to.

(20:52)
So I go to favorite podcasts and if they don’t have something new up well, next, right, aren’t you the same way? So consistent dedication, great content, SEO. Pinterest is amazing. Don’t recommend doing Facebook ads, really for anybody new. I’d wait until you have disposable income in your business to do ads because it takes thousands of dollars to test. So people always ask me that. Should I do Facebook ads? Probably not yet. Okay. Unless you are really profitable in your business and you’re ready to just list, build, and you have expendable income to test. I would do Pinterest and I would just get out there.

(21:27)
Facebook groups, posting on Instagram stories has more visibility than the feed with people that already know you. So you might toy with doing a lot of posts on the feed and using some hashtag strategy. Y’all know I’m over Instagram at the moment. So take that with a grain of salt, Facebook groups. So in Pinterest, for sure, networking, asking people who care about you. If you know anybody, that’s kind of like bigger in your space, you could do podcast swaps with them, or even in your space or blog swaps with other people to gain visibility from their audience. That’s a great way to start to grow. And then it’s a lot of faith and trust that God will send you the people that need you, praying over your business.

(22:08)
There’s an amazing book called The Circle Maker where it talks about like the power of prayer over the work you’re trying to do in the world and how God can put his pinky finger, He could breathe on your project and blow it up for you, right? Especially when you’re in line with what he’s asking you to do. So I love that book. Highly recommend it, a lot of faith, consistency and dedication as well, and not giving up on your dream. That’s how people can find you. They’re going to know this person is relentless. And when I had 12 likes on my posts, there were still the women. Some of them are still with me right now that work with me with coaching or whatever, like people that find you and love you and resonate with you.

(22:45)
Don’t care about how big you are. They don’t care, they hear you and love you and they can feel your authenticity. They know you’re in it for the long run. And they’ll talk about you and a bunch of moms and ladies like blabbing their gums. That is huge for organic growth. All right. I hope that you guys love this live Q and A, keep the questions coming and I’m happy to answer them at least once a week for you. I’m so excited and proud of all of you guys for getting out there, being here. Like you’re creating podcasts. You guys are so amazing. And just leaping, even though it’s scary, like I’m super proud of you guys. So keep going.

(23:27)
If there’s anything that you’re just super afraid of, I encourage you to push through it. I just pray over each of you and lift you up, that you have courage that you have God’s grace underneath you. And He carries you through the next step, that you believe in yourself enough to know that you are worthy of putting your voice into the world and that God may gift you the words that you need and the strength that you need to have that confidence just come through as you record your content. Cause I believe in you guys so fiercely and I’m here for you. So I will see you guys later. I hope you have a great Monday and I’ll see you soon. Bye.

(24:02)
Oh my goodness. Y’all believe it or not. Podcast Pro University is literally live in the world and there are already students and people launching their podcast left and right. And I’m blown away at the responses I’ve had to this course. Do I have you considering starting your own podcast by now? I sure hope so. I wanted you to know that I put together a 45 minute live training webinar that you can come and learn more. Figure out if podcasting might be right for you at www.startapodcastquiz.com.