How She Had Time to Create an Online Course (While Pregnant with Baby #2!) with Cheyanne Cleyman

Hey Friend!

This conversation with Cheyanne Cleyman is full of great insight and contagious positivity and shines a light on how Cheyanne created her online course. We talk about how Cheyanne worked through Podcast to Profit to build her online business while being a toddler mom and pregnant with her second baby.

Cheyanne shares how she was able to create her online course and exponentially grow her downloads while navigating a second pregnancy, a marriage, a toddler, and working through Podcast to Profit. This is a great episode to see what it’s like to truly build a business using podcasting and what it looks like to take a serious investment in yourself and apply it.

Introducing Cheyanne and Her Online Course for Tired Mamas

Stef: Cheyanne, welcome to the podcast!

Cheyanne: I am so excited to be here and to talk to every single person listening. I am really honored.

Stef: You are one of those people whose spiritual gift is positivity. You walk into a room, and there is light. You bring this beautiful gift of joy to every place that you go, so I know that everyone is going to be blessed by your energy and your heart today. Tell us what your podcast is called and what you do.

Cheyanne: It took me some time to get here, but my podcast is called The Energized Mama. I can’t help but be positive. It is a spiritual gift of mine. It was through Podcast to Profit that I realized having a podcast called The Energized Mama was who I am. That’s who God called me to be. And I know that moms out there are exhausted. They’re overwhelmed. They tell me. And I feel it, too.

I’m a mom of littles myself. So, my mission is to help women truly become the moms that they want to be without sacrificing their energy. They want to have more time for themselves and their husbands and to live out those God-given dreams that they have, not waiting until after their kids are grown. It is about the present. The present is present, and that is really what I focus on in my podcast and online course and what I encourage mamas to do, all while offering them a strong sense of community and a sense that we are doing this together because I am in the same place as them.

She Was Losing Her Message and Herself in the Constant Pivot

Stef: I know that this endpoint is not where you started. Walk us through the evolution of your entry into the Stef Gass School and the pivoting and clarification that has happened for you during that journey.

Cheyanne: As much as I’m a positive person, I’m also the queen of the pivot. This has sometimes been good and has blessed me. At other times, I really feel that I have the flashy object syndrome. I’m a lover of so many things. Before I joined your program, I had done everything, including being a multicultural step-family coach, because that’s what my family and I are. My husband’s from Belgium. I’m American, and we have a blended family. We have a step-family. I’ve coached stepmoms. I’ve coached women through health and fitness goals.

Before I started your program, I had seen on social media how there were families out there whose ‘family’ was their brand, and they were selling that brand. I thought that with this fairy-tale blended life, I could sell this. But I found myself depleted trying to do that. I tried Facebook and Facebook ads. I tried Instagram reels. Not only was my message getting lost, I was also getting lost

I heard about you and your programs through a woman who is a stepfamily coach. Her reach and business had really started to grow, and I thought, ‘You are doing something different. What is that because I want some of that?’ She was so at peace about it. That was what was beautiful about it. I realized she wasn’t as stressed out as she used to be, and I was still stressed out!

So she told me about you! I already had a podcast, but it was my side project —just my passion. But she told me, ‘No, girl! This could be your whole enchilada! This could be the main funnel through which you stream your income.’ I was instantly intrigued.

Making Her Podcast the ‘Whole Enchilada’

Cheyanne: So I joined Podcast to Profit, which was my first Stef Gass program. When I joined the program, I was also moving into the third trimester of my pregnancy. So, instead of being busy nesting, I was busy building my online business. It was really important for me to stop this hamster wheel that I was on. I was over trying to make all these different businesses work. My husband had stopped working at one point so we could do our own business together, but because we had chased all the wrong things, he had to go back to work. And I just knew that I needed something that worked.

I jumped straight into Podcast to Profit. That is the way I do things. I go all in. It may be hard swimming and having to work to keep my head above water, but I am going to do it. Having listened to your show and how openly and honestly you talk about it, I knew I was going to have the support I needed to get through it. And I am honored to say that six months later, that is exactly what I got!

Pushed to Discover the Why of Her Podcast and Online Course

Stef: I am sure that there are many out there who wonder why podcasting could be the whole ‘enchilada’! Can you tell us what happened to you when you made that decision and jumped in? Why was this course different? What was it about Podcast to Profit that pushed you to this point of ultimate clarity?

Cheyanne: I love that you use the word push because that’s exactly what it was. It was no longer, “Here’s a whole lot of information, and now just go for it on your own.” And next week, you’ll get more information. I love that from the very beginning, you, first and foremost, had us set our intention. We had the opportunity to discover and own our why. 

You also told us to buckle up because it’s going to be fast. I loved that about this course. I have been in programs where I was sitting on my thumbs and not getting the support I needed. In Podcast to Profit, we had our weekly touch points with you, these beautiful core sessions with you, and with the other men and women in the program. On top of that, we had the office hours session, so we had two live contact sessions with real people!

Support, God, and Friendships on the Journey

Cheyanne: I also loved the fact that you prayed over every session. This made a huge difference for me as a Christian woman. We have both worked with non-Christian people, but having that extra God piece was amazing. I feel called to my mission, so I wanted someone with whom I could have that understanding. You have infiltrated this throughout your entire program. I loved that, and it was something that had been missing in the past.

That support came from you and the God piece that you keep at the center of the program, so in the third trimester of my pregnancy, I was able to get through your course and build my own online course. Alongside this were the special friendships and bonds that I created with other Christian women who are still a part of my life. The program was a blessing for my business, but it was also a blessing for my soul, and marrying the two together has been such a blessing!

Birthing Her Son and Her Online Course

Cheyanne: I knew when I started the program that I was going to be giving birth in three months, but I wanted to give birth in two months. I wanted to give birth to my son, but I also wanted to give birth to my business, which was actually a business and not just a passion project. This was not something that I was just trying to make work but was going to be something that I knew could create passive income for my family during a time when I wanted to be hands-off.

My first son was born in the middle of Corona. After his birth, I felt the chaos of the hamster wheel. If I wasn’t there, if I wasn’t present, I wasn’t going to make money or gain a following. I felt so overwhelmed but with my second baby, this program really set me up to be able to go into the postpartum season and fully focus on my baby. I could do this knowing that my other baby would be all set up to grow and flow with everything that Podcast to Profit has set it up to do.

Stef: It sounds like having that live support was pivotal for you. I know you always brought the fire questions to the spotlight. I always tell students to be the squeaky wheel. Bring the question, and you’ll probably get an answer. So you did that, and you took this course seriously, and you ended up with The Energized Mama.

Choose Your Hard – You Can Wait to Hit Your Online Business Goals or Jump Right in Right Now

Stef: One of the things people really struggle with is the question of whether they will have time to do this program. You have to make a decision. You’re either going to grow your business and go on a sprint, doing the things that matter now. Or you’re going to do it later, or you’re not going to do it at all. You only have three choices. Why did you choose to do it in one of the busiest periods of your life instead of waiting on that, and how did you make that work?

Cheyanne: I have to add that I also have a teenager because my husband’s daughter lives with us full-time. And we’d also been planning our immigration to the States, so if anyone had excuses about why not to do it, it was me. I don’t put myself on a pedestal, but I share more of these details to show you that if you’re really feeling like you don’t have enough time, I’ve been there. I thought that, too, and I definitely have had very overwhelming things on my schedule.

But what it really came down to was one of my favorite quotes: choose your hard. It’s going to be hard, no matter what. It’s going to be hard for you to spend another three or six months not hitting your business goals. Or let’s put some muscle to it and get it done.

I had these goals whether I was in Podcast to Profit or not. But I knew that Podcast to Profit was actually going to get me to the finish line and then, of course, set me up for the next race. Stef, you helped us with this so much. You helped us sift through the busy stuff and get to where we were going rather than wasting time trying to figure it out myself.

Podcast to Profit Is Going to Save You Time

Cheyanne: That is actually the big thing. Podcast to Profit is actually going to be a time saver. You are not going to have enough time to worry about whether you should be doing something or not. And you are going to feel so good because you are going to know that it is working, that you are moving forward rather than treading water in the middle of the sea. Podcast to Profit actually gets you to your destination. Stef, you help us set the right goals along the way. You are like our GPS coordinates, and Podcast to Profit gives us the direct path to get there rather than all the extra turns and the ‘recalculating’ that would go on without it!

Stef: So you are going to put time in here, but it is not additional time; it’s redirected time. And it is going to save time instead of wasting it on other things that don’t move the needle. I love that!

My end goal for you all is to blow up your podcast, increase your downloads and rank, and actually start making money and becoming profitable. Then, you can play around with the other things you want to do. However, profitability and making an impact on the things you are called to do are the number one goals. So, if we use Cheyanne’s analogy, I think the question is, do you want the coordinates to reach that goal?

Her Podcast Became a Business, and She Became a Businesswoman

Stef: Cheyanne, tell us what happened to you as a result of the program.

Cheyanne: I came in with a passion project, and through the program, I finally saw this podcast as a business. I saw myself as a businesswoman. That is so powerful, mamas, when you can actually look in the mirror and say to yourself, ‘I’m a businesswoman. I am worthy of this. This is something God put in my heart.’ That was a huge shift.

There were some tangible results as well. When I came into the program, I was podcasting, and there were crickets out there! I first started a podcast called Mom’s Matte, where I talked about all the tips I was learning for moms behind the scenes that nobody was sharing.

On a podcast, there’s this beautiful thing that happens where you feel like you can let your guard down. You can just be you. You can let your freak flag fly a lot. This is your thing. This is your business, and you get to do it with what you want.

With Podcast to Profit, I finally navigated the space properly. I learned about keywords, SEO, avatars, and speaking to the right person. And I went from having maybe 400 downloads over a two-year period to where I am right now at the 3,000 download mark. It is at such an exponential rate in such a small amount of time.

The Path to Her Online Course Was Laid for Her – She Just Had to Walk It

Cheyanne: And there are many other things that go beyond the downloads. I have people join me every week in my Facebook group. One of the things that I really wanted to do was to build a course, but it seemed too overwhelming. Now, not only do I have my podcast set up for success and ready to grow continually, but I also have my profitable product ready to go. Actually, I had that done by the time I gave birth!

I know I would not have been able to do that had I not had the guidance and continued sharpening during course elements, like office hours. This all seemed impossible in a season when you are usually laid up and think you can barely move. And here I was, accomplishing these goals that you might think you could only achieve when your kids are at school. But, Stef, you laid the path for me. All I had to do was walk it.

Stef: And you reached goals that you would have hit only in five years’ time so much quicker. You crushed your download number in six months. You have done what you did four times in six months in two years.

She Can Stop Pursuing Clients and Can Be More Present With Her Family

Stef: I’m curious whether, with the downloads and the super fans that you have, there is a shift in leads coming to you rather than you having to go out and find people to buy your course.

Cheyanne: I feel like I can finally stop dating! I can stop pursuing it. I still have social media. It’s a great way to stay connected to my family and friends. When I see new followers, I do reach out and say hi and thanks for the follow. When I ask them how they found me, almost everyone has recently been through the podcast. Before, the people who listened to my podcast were my mum and my grandmother, and others were surprised to hear I even had a podcast. Now people are asking when the next episode is coming out! 

I feel more prepared than ever. I actually have to hold myself back. But this season, I really wanted it to be a season where I could nest in and enjoy this baby time. I could be the mom and the businesswoman I want to be. Podcast to Profit has really allowed me to finally have these two come together.

Stef: One thing I noted you saying earlier was that you saw your friend at peace in growing. I thought that for those reading this, this might be the best message they can get from this conversation. There is a peaceful way for you to grow a business that allows you to drop into this season of motherhood. With this model, yes, it takes time and effort, but it’s going to be so worth it!

Cheyanne, to wrap up, do you have any advice for anybody who is on the fence about the program? And then where can everybody come and listen to The Energized Mama Podcast and connect with you?

Cheyanne’s Advice: Just Do It!!!

Cheyanne: Without sounding too clichéd and stealing a very famous phrase, good old Nike said it best. Just do it. You will not regret it. I guarantee what you’re doing right now is exhausting you more and not giving you that peace that you want. Maybe you’re feeling alone. I know that this mom’s journey can be very isolating and overwhelming, let alone running a business or a podcast.

You want to surround yourself with the right people, with people who uplift you and encourage you in this path that you are walking in. Sometimes, it’s not your family, unfortunately. And sometimes, it’s not the people that are in your circle of influence. In Podcast to Profit, you are going to find the people who are going to love you as a mom and as a woman. And they’re going to love you as a business owner, too. You’re going to be able to speak the same language with someone.

Feel Peace While Building Your Online Course and Business

Cheyanne: You’re finally going to feel peace there. You will have people who encourage you, hold you accountable, and keep you thinking positively and aligned with where God is leading you. You are going to have people pray for you, and I hope to also be one of them. On that note, if you would like me to be one of those people, I’d be totally honored.

You can find me on any of the major podcast platforms under The Energized Mama. You can find me on Instagram as well. And if you are looking for a community of women who just love you for who you are and will let you break down in the middle of the night, I have a community that truly has women from all over the globe. So, if you’re up at night, feeding your baby, and you just need to let it all out, come check us out! That will connect you to our private group right there on Facebook.

Stef: Thank you so much, my friend, for coming and sharing your heart today. I’m going to be cheering for your continued success.

Cheyanne: Thank you, Stef. I’m giving each and every one of you huge hugs from Belgium, wherever you are in the world. And again, just do it. You won’t regret it!

Looking For Help Building Your Online Business?

Has Cheyanne’s story inspired you to start a podcast or to transform your passion project into a thriving, peaceful online business? I would love to help you on that journey.

If you have a podcast and want to see it grow, check out my six-month group coaching program, Podcast to Profit. If you don’t have a podcast or you’re curious what Podcast to Profit is all about, check out my Profitable Podcast Bootcamp to learn more!

I pray this blesses you!

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