How to Share Your Story Effectively and Start an Email List

Friends!

Are you ready to effectively share your story and start an email list as a podcaster? Here is the step-by-step plan for you to build visibility and capture leads!

Building an email list is easier than you think and super important. Owning your own leads is one of the smartest plays you can make early on in your online business.

Don’t fall prey to social media algorithms or ‘friend lists’ that could be gone overnight. Dig into building trust with your audience and helping them see you as an authority. Which in turn… leads them to your LIST!

I pray this blesses you!

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION:

(00:07)
Oh, my gosh, this is so crazy. Lady, friends. We have officially passed 100,000 downloads together on this podcast. I mean, my heart is exploding. I am beyond belief that this has grown into something that we can learn from and we can grow together. And God has blessed this show by bringing me each and every one of you. And I’m just sitting here in immense gratitude. Thank you. Thank you for being part of this sisterhood with me, for being one of my Lolas. I love you so much.

(02:04)
I am so excited. I am hanging out with my girl Angel McElhaney, and she has some amazing questions about the back office stuff, like all the setup. And I think this will be so valuable to all of you that are running a business online, but wondering like, but how do I set up all the things to make it work? If you wanna connect with Angel after this quick Q and A, you can head over to her Instagram. I will link it in the show notes for you. Hey Angel. Hey Stef. So my first question is how to frame a personal story so that it serves your mission and isn’t too much while still giving all the info and telling a story.

(04:12)
So I think when you really want to start out with a brand, any step one, any episode one, any post number one is, why am I doing this? Right? What is the story behind the brand? And the first thing that I think you wanna do is get it all out. So it’s sitting behind that microphone or sitting behind that keyboard and typing everything that way it’s out of your body. And you can look at it objectively, at least for me, that step one. The second step then is to look at that and say, if I was on the other side of this, what are the most heavy hitting pieces of this story?

(04:49)
What are the pieces of this story that like gut punch you, right? Keep those, you pull those out and move them into a separate word doc or you edit them so that, you know, these are the heavy hitting ones so you wanna cut out any fluffy stuff. Like, you know, if you’re sharing a story about like for you, you’re sharing a story about loss, for example, you’re gonna go through like the heart wrenching, the pieces of the story that were so difficult for you. But then maybe you kind of go off into a tangent about, yeah. And you know, for that whole week I just, I was hanging out at home. I was really lonely. I was feeling really dark and depressed.

(05:25)
Then like my friends came over and they were bringing casserole. Like if you find yourself going off into a black hole that doesn’t serve the audience, like effectively, emotionally in that moment, cut it out. Right? So you wanna keep to those hot sticky points that are gonna make them feel with you, make them understand what you went through. And then I would follow my formula, the ISTC formula from whatever episode that was in my podcast, where it takes you through share that hot story, that heavy hitting story, emotionally connect with your audience.

(06:03)
Then you go into why you shared that story with them. What’s in it for them. Why do they care as hard as that sounds or as harsh as that sounds, we have to make it resonate with that person listening. So why do they care? And then finally it’s how can they take away from that story? And again, I would try to get that story into a 30 minute episode if you’re podcasting, if you just can’t cut it into two separate episodes, part one and part two, so that it’s digestible, because you’re talking to the mama, Angel. So we know she’s busy, she doesn’t have an hour and we don’t wanna lose her halfway through that episode. So hopefully that helps you and gives you some clarity on that one.

(06:48)
Yeah, that was great, and then a second part to that is do you let this be a standalone episode or should you incorporate tangible tips? Which you totally already answered. Yay. So my next one is, is how did you combat self-doubt when you first started and did you already have a clear vision totally about what it, what your podcast was gonna be about? Or did you let that evolve? Okay. I definitely didn’t have a clear vision. I’ve talked to you guys about this before, where it was this Holy Spirit moment, like it was the most clear I’ve ever heard like divine direction. It was in a dream and it was start a podcast and I’m like, okay God, but what does that mean?

(07:32)
So totally was unclear Angel, but here’s what I knew. I knew the vague direction. Okay. I knew, okay. It’s definitely moms that are entrepreneurs. I know the online marketing space. I’m just gonna start there. And what I would do is every time I’d sit behind the mic, I would just pray like, God, please use me as your vessel. Give me the words, give me the direction, give me the women that need to hear this, help me speak to that. Help me help them with the gifts that you’ve given me.

(08:02)
And sometimes I just feel like I would open my mouth and the content would be there or I’d sit down with a pen and paper and say, what is my topic gonna be today? And it would be gifted to me. I’ve never sat there because I had to get myself out of the way. And this is the hardest part, I think Angel for us as women. And especially when we have so many things coming in, like so many ideas were good, and so many things. It was, I’m not in control of this project. God is. And so I’m gonna remove myself. I am not in control of this. I’m gonna let my mind go blank. I’m gonna open my heart and just say, speak through me and not over think it, what should I say? How should I say it? And it’s so hard.

(08:44)
But when we let go of that, I believe that the content will be gifted to us. I believe that as we continue to show up for the mission we’ve been given, it’ll become more and more clear as we go. And so it really wasn’t until six months in that I was like, okay. And even today it feels more clear, but it’s been over a year. So it’s not clear. It’s not going to be clear. And if it is, you know, Hey get it girls. But for most people very confusing at first, like what is exactly the messaging, but that is not our responsibility to know, all our responsibility is to show up and start speaking our heart. And I believe that the clarity will come.

(09:30)
Thank you for that. And then, lastly is if you decide that you wanna do say a five to one interview show, how do you get people on early on? So I really love your Excel worksheet that you provide us in the Podcast Pro University. And I’d like to kind of plan ahead. And when you very first start, I know that you want to, like, you don’t have anything to basically benefit that other person. Did you kind of go with people that you already are or networking with now, or that maybe don’t already have a podcast?

(10:02)
So in the beginning I was like, I’m never gonna find anybody to interview. This is crazy. So I totally started with people. I already knew people that I was friends with on Instagram that I knew had a niche or a customer or a student that I had already worked with. Cause I felt like so nervous to pitch someone. I didn’t know. And it was great because I started, I never heard no. And I’m like, oh this is interesting. People want to be featured on podcasts. They were like, what? You want me to come on a podcast? And I had like, you know, 50 downloads, I’m sure. So the psychology of it is that you have to get to is that people want publicity. They want to be featured. They feel so excited when you ask them to come on your show.

(10:46)
It’s a great thing to practice on people you already know that you’re comfortable with, that you’re networking with. So I would start there. And when you pitch someone, don’t get crazy at first and like, you don’t have to come up with a fan email. I actually say yes, more often to people that voice text me directly through Instagram. They DM me. Hey Stef. I am literally obsessed with your show. I listen all the time. My favorite episode is number whatever I learn from it, I’ve grown from it. And I think I can add a ton of value to your show if I come on and talk about blank because that’s my expertise.

(11:23)
I haven’t heard you do an episode on that yet. Would you be open to it? That’s it. And they talk about why they love my show. They talk about what they’ve learned and then they talk about what’s the value they can bring to the show before they pitch me. And I’m way more apt to say yes to that than getting a, you know, fancy email about how amazing they are. Like I’ve gotten emails from people that are like, I have seven bajillion followers and I have a million likes on Instagram and I’m so amazing. And I’m like, no, because it didn’t, you didn’t come to me with care with, um, you didn’t come to me and tell me you even listened to my show.

(12:01)
So really be careful when you pitch people that you’re coming across from an authentic place, not just in a I’m so amazing. Not that you would, but this is for everyone listening, you know, come at them with heart and with authenticity and just be normal about it. And I think you’ll have so many more yeses and here’s the other thing don’t be afraid to guest up. And what I mean by that is Angel for you find people in this area, look for a therapist that deals with loss, look for, you know, somebody else who has been through this that came to the other side, that you can have an open conversation with.

(12:37)
Think about an author of a book that helped you through this and go to them and say, I’ve been through loss and your resources helped me so immensely. Would you be willing to come on my show for a quick 30 minute interview? I know you could help so many people with your resources and just see what they say. I mean, you never know, right? Yes. I like that. Especially because it’s, how can you help your listener? So it takes it back to them. Yeah. Well, if we have time, where do you make your freebies and how do you? So I have actually signed up for the free trial to start an email list, because I know that’s really important and I kind of feel like I need that before I can launch so that I can build it.

(13:24)
I also feel like I need the freebie too. It’s all these steps in between. And I know that that might just be my brain, like thinking I need this and then I need this. Yeah. But even to just start loading it so people know when I launch, what, how do you go about making that? Okay. And we have 30 seconds. I’m gonna be fast. Okay. You definitely want to set up, but you could use MailChimp for free at first and then set up an email list. Absolutely. But you don’t have to do it before you launch. And then second step is create a landing page page or that freebie page and just say, Hey, you know, become an insider of the show.

(14:03)
Get first episodes, get tips from me in the future. You don’t have to have a freebie yet to get names into your email list. You can set that up through MailChimp or through get response, which is the email list. And then the next thing is later create a freebie in Canva, like you know, four steps to navigating loss and becoming and feeling happier for example. And then you link that up through that landing page and it delivers through email. I hope you loved that quick Q and A and that you took away some value to help in your own life and business. Sending you off with love and light. I will see you again tomorrow. XO XO, Stef.