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Episode 10Apr 1, 2021· 20:37

Happy Birthday Bloggy Friends Show and 10 Lessons Learned From 10 Episodes

▸ Show notes from the creator
What’s up you guys! Famous Ashley Grant here, and I’m excited to welcome you to the birthday episode of this show. Yep! My bloggy friends show is officially 1 year old today. And, of course, I HAD to release this episode on April 1 because that’s when it started...April Fool’s Day. This is also the 10th episode of the show. Join me as I share 10 lessons learned from working on 10 episodes of the Bloggy Friends Show. More Show Notes From This Episode: What’s up my bloggy friends! I'm slowly updating the show notes for this and every episode of The Bloggy Friends Show. My new home base for all things Bloggy Friends can be found here: https://www.famousashleygrant.com/podcast/ Be sure to follow me on social:Facebook |Instagram |Twitter |LinkedIn
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About this episode
What’s up you guys! Famous Ashley Grant here, and I’m excited to welcome you to the birthday episode of this show. Yep! My bloggy friends show is officially 1 year old today. And, of course, I HAD to release this episode on April 1 because that’s when it started...April Fool’s Day. This is also the 10th episode of the show. Join me as I share 10 lessons learned from working on 10 episodes of the Bloggy Friends Show.…
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Show notes & timestamps
00:15Happy Birthday Bloggy Friends Show!
01:32How I got here and what I'm sharing in this episode
04:33Lesson 1 - The fear is still there
05:54Lesson 2 - You have to make a plan
07:13Lesson 3 - Equipment matters
10:49Lesson 4 - Batching is critical for consistency
11:45Lesson 5 - Repurposing is awesome
12:21Lesson 6 - I want a studio
13:36Lesson 7 - This is a lot of work
14:17Lesson 8 - I want to monetize
16:29Lesson 9 - I'm glad I committed to 10
17:24Lesson 10 - I've got a lot more work to do!
Full transcript
00:02
Welcome to the Bloggy Friends Show. What's up,
00:16
you guys? Famous Ashley Grant here, and I'm so
00:18
excited today to welcome you to the birthday
00:20
episode of this show. Yep, my Bloggy Friends
00:23
Show is officially a year old today. Woo! Of
00:28
course, I had to release this episode on April
00:30
1st because that's when this crazy thing started
00:33
is April Fool's Day. This is also the 10th episode
00:37
of the show. You know, it's kind of funny. I
00:39
had these lofty goals when I first started about
00:42
a year ago, and that was that I was going to
00:44
release an episode every single Friday. I was
00:47
going to go big or I was going to go home. And
00:49
then just like the rest of the world, I was told
00:52
to stay at home like a lot. And things got weird.
00:56
My business got busy. My life got hectic. And
00:59
then, like any sane person would do, I decided,
01:02
hey, why not uproot my life of 35 years living
01:04
in Florida and move to Kentucky in the dead of
01:07
winter? Because that's normal, right? Well, needless
01:11
to say, as I'm sure you can guess, a lot of my
01:13
goals for this show and my website and for my
01:15
life in general kind of took a backseat to everything
01:18
that was going on around me. And while I still
01:22
have huge dreams for my podcasting future, I
01:25
think I'm just going to start taking things one
01:27
step at a time and not put so much pressure on
01:29
myself. So in this birthday episode, what I wanted
01:32
to do is kind of share 10 lessons from working
01:35
on 10 podcast episodes. I don't know. 10's always
01:38
been a really cool number for me. On 10 -10 -10,
01:41
I started Tampa Bay Freebies, and that was like
01:43
my first venture into the blogging world where
01:46
I was doing something that was my own. And it
01:49
kind of took off. It did really well. and then
01:51
it got attacked by hackers and that really sucked
01:53
and I lost access to it. And, you know, I kind
01:57
of kept going though. I kept doing some sort
01:59
of blogging in some way, shape or form. And I've
02:02
been doing this for goodness. 2007 is when I
02:06
started doing the professional writing and 2009
02:09
is when I started blogging. 2011 is when I started
02:12
going pro. And it's kind of crazy how far things
02:15
have come. But the truth is, I can't believe
02:18
that this is the 10th episode of this show. Like,
02:22
I can't even fathom the fact that at this point,
02:24
I've released 10 episodes of my bloggy friend
02:26
show when it feels like just yesterday was April
02:29
1st. And yet at the same time, it also feels
02:31
like that was 10 years ago. Am I alone in this
02:34
coronavirus? How many people have said that March
02:38
2020 was 14 years ago whenever it's really only
02:41
been a year? It's insane. But yeah, so the crazy
02:47
thing is that I have wanted to do this show or
02:49
some form of the bloggy show for years. I've
02:52
been talking about it since I bought the domain
02:54
in October 2016. And I've been talking about
02:57
that idea even longer than that. In fact, when
03:00
I was working on an article for GoDaddy, I just
03:03
kind of, said the phrase bloggy friends after
03:06
I went to my very first blogging conference at
03:09
BlogHer Chicago. And I was like, oh my goodness,
03:12
I want more bloggy friends. And I kind of kept
03:14
saying that, that I wanted more bloggy friends.
03:17
And so I bought the domain and then it sat dormant
03:20
for a long time. And then even whenever I did
03:23
start posting to it, I didn't even keep up with
03:25
it regularly because, I don't know, life happens.
03:29
So I announced my master plans for the website
03:31
in March 2017. And then I posted 30 conference
03:35
must -haves for your next blogging conference
03:37
in 2018. And then I think I only posted like
03:40
three times in 2019. And you can check out the
03:42
post if you're interested at bloggyfriends .com.
03:45
Anyway, all the while I have maintained a vision
03:48
for this website and for this space. And I wanted
03:51
it to be a place to talk about life as a blogger,
03:53
spotlight people that are in the content creation
03:55
industry, and kind of showcase blogging vendors.
03:58
basically share all the news of the blogosphere.
04:01
And the crazy thing is what held me back for
04:03
so long was fear. And I said it. It plagued me.
04:06
It plagued me and kept me from doing anything
04:09
fun with this website and finally launching a
04:11
podcast. And now that I finally have launched,
04:14
guess what? I'm still scared. I still have a
04:17
lot of fear around this. And even though I've
04:19
posted show notes and as blog posts for the last,
04:22
you know, nine episodes and 10 now, including
04:24
this one, let's dive into the lessons that I
04:27
have learned in this last year. And maybe you
04:29
can glean something from it. And if not, well,
04:32
hopefully you'll still be entertained and maybe
04:34
learn something. So let's get into it. 10 lessons
04:37
learned from releasing 10 podcast episodes. And
04:41
I already said the first one, and that is that
04:43
the fear still exists. Every single time I sit
04:46
down with this microphone and I hit record, I
04:49
still get scared. I sweat bullets the whole time
04:51
while I'm recording. And then I get even more
04:53
scared when I hit publish and have to share it.
04:57
You know, that's actually one of the bad things
04:59
about being scared is that whenever you post
05:01
something and then you kind of don't want to
05:03
tell anyone about it, it's like you start doing
05:05
all these different things and you're, you know,
05:07
like, oh, you know, I was working on this assignment
05:09
and this assignment. But, and by the way, I also
05:11
have this podcast if you kind of want to listen
05:13
to it, but I haven't really promoted it much
05:15
because I'm still scared. And, you know, they
05:19
say that's normal. And even Ruth Suckup from...
05:23
Live Well, Spend Less, and the Elite Blogging
05:25
Academy, she wrote a book called Do It Scared.
05:28
And I totally get it now. I totally get why even
05:31
when you're scared, you should keep going. Because
05:33
if you keep putting out something, even though
05:36
you're afraid, you know, it won't change the
05:39
fact that you're afraid, but you'll kind of feel
05:41
a little bit better about it. And hopefully...
05:44
you know create something cool and I haven't
05:47
created exactly what I want yet but I'm still
05:49
learning and anyone who's here on this journey
05:51
with me you're kind of getting to come along
05:53
in the passenger seat and we'll see what happens
05:58
next the second lesson I've learned from releasing
06:01
or working on 10 episodes is everyone was right
06:05
about the importance of making a plan Before
06:08
I recorded a single episode, I sat down and I
06:11
brainstormed a very rough layout of my vision
06:14
for the first like 40 episodes or so of this
06:16
show. And I even sat down and I wrote out all
06:19
the people I want to interview, even my dream
06:21
interviewees, like people that would probably
06:24
say no and have no idea who the heck this person
06:26
is, this crazy person who's calling herself famous
06:28
Ashley Grant. But yet I wanted to create a list
06:32
that was so insane that if I did get at least
06:35
one person on that list, it would be like, wow,
06:37
I've made it. Either way, I brainstormed a very
06:41
rough layout of the vision. And I did this even
06:44
though, in my mind, I had only committed to 10
06:47
episodes. Because whenever I first created the...
06:51
decision to go ahead and launch, even though
06:53
I was still scared. I was like, all right, I'm
06:55
going to just do 10. I'm just going to do 10.
06:56
And doing so helped me to know exactly what I
06:59
would talk about every single time I sat down
07:01
to record. And even though I still have to do
07:04
a lot of research and prepare for each episode,
07:07
the fact that I at least had a rough idea of
07:10
what the first like 40 episodes or whatever was
07:12
going to be, it made me feel at least a little
07:15
bit more confident to keep moving forward and
07:17
do something. So number three, the equipment
07:21
you have actually does matter. Believe it or
07:24
not, the first four episodes that I released
07:26
of this podcast, they were done with a gamer
07:28
headset. And a ghostwriting client of mine who
07:32
believes in me, they were nice enough to sponsor
07:34
the cost of a legit podcast microphone for me.
07:37
And it was a big win -win for both myself and
07:39
the client because I got a nifty podcasting microphone
07:42
for the Bloggy Friends show, and he got better
07:45
sounding quality on the episodes and videos that
07:47
I was recording for him. And I've been doing
07:50
YouTube and podcasts for this client outside
07:52
of the work I'm doing on this website and this
07:54
podcast for a while. And I got to tell you guys,
07:57
it's been a lot of fun learning different aspects
07:59
of the podcasting industry. Like I had no idea
08:02
that there's so many jobs in podcasting right
08:04
now. Did you know that there are? Like I didn't
08:08
even know this existed. Like I got hired this
08:10
year to write show notes for a podcast in the
08:12
running niche. I don't know anything about running,
08:14
but I've been writing a lot of stuff about running.
08:17
And I've been recording YouTube videos and then
08:19
stripping the audio to release his podcast episodes
08:22
for a podcast hosting company. And you can also
08:25
get work doing things like producing podcasts,
08:27
managing social media for podcasts, and even
08:30
being the voice of a podcast for different people
08:33
that run them. One of my bloggy friends, he actually
08:36
recently just hired a whole bunch of freelancers
08:38
to be the voice of his shows. He does all the
08:41
research. He does all the lineup of the guests.
08:43
He schedules the interviews. They just show up
08:48
and they do the interviews for the show and they're
08:50
the voice of the show. And then another freelancer
08:54
takes all that audio. They edit it. They add
08:56
in the intro, the outro, and voila, they have
08:59
an instant podcast. It's kind of crazy just how
09:01
much just in this last year that the podcasting
09:04
community has grown. It seems like it just keeps
09:07
blowing up. And it's kind of funny because I
09:09
remember back when blogging was still. kind of
09:13
new. And people started talking about the different
09:16
jobs that you could get with blogging. And it
09:17
was like, what? Like, it's just a person sitting
09:20
at their computer writing out their ideas. But
09:22
in 2014, whenever I started ghost blogging, I
09:25
was like, whoa, there really is a lot more things
09:27
you can do with a blog. And it's the same track
09:31
we're seeing with podcasting. And, you know,
09:33
some people are talking about now, like for podcasting
09:36
is video the way of the future. Maybe, maybe
09:38
not. But either way, it's kind of neat to see
09:41
just how much I don't know if it's the pandemic
09:44
or just the fact that people have had more time
09:46
to start working on their dream podcast, but...
09:50
podcasting is really blowing up. Whenever I went
09:53
to podcast movement in 2019, there were still,
09:56
I think, just around a million podcasts that
09:59
were out. And now that number is almost 2 million.
10:02
And that's insane that, you know, it's blown
10:04
up that much. There are celebrities doing it.
10:06
We've got Obama has his own podcast. We've got
10:08
Michelle Obama has her own podcast. And there's
10:11
all kinds of exclusive podcasts that are on Spotify
10:14
and things like that. And it's kind of wild to
10:17
just see how it keeps you know, growing up. But
10:22
anyway, that was a long -winded way to say that
10:24
your equipment actually does matter. Who knew?
10:27
You can get free editing software and you can
10:30
use the computer that you already have, but you
10:32
really have to have a good microphone. And personally,
10:35
I've been using the Blue Yeti microphone and
10:37
I honestly cannot imagine going back to a gamer
10:40
headset now that I've heard the difference in
10:42
the audio quality. I still use a gamer headset
10:44
for like listening to it, but in terms of for
10:47
the actual recording of the audio. I love my
10:49
blue Yeti. It's absolutely awesome. All right.
10:54
So number four, the fourth thing I have learned
10:56
in working on 10 episodes is that batching is
10:59
critical for consistency. And I got to say, I
11:02
regret not recording all 10 episodes at once
11:04
or at least five, at least five, because if I
11:08
had done that and scheduled them for release,
11:09
maybe then I would have been. you know, a little
11:12
more consistent. Like I keep like I keep telling
11:14
people that you got to be consistent. And I'm
11:17
really bad about being consistent. And it's why
11:20
when it came time to release my fifth episode,
11:22
I actually didn't have one that week. And then
11:24
a family situation took away from my time took
11:27
me away from the office. And when I plan to record
11:30
I couldn't make up the time, and next thing I
11:32
knew, my self -designated release date came and
11:35
left, and then life got weird again, and it became
11:38
far too easy to just keep pushing off week to
11:41
week, you know, and then all of a sudden it was
11:42
month to month, and suddenly any momentum I could
11:45
have gained immediately disappeared. The fifth
11:49
thing I've learned is that I do love this medium
11:51
and repurposing content. It's been a lot of fun
11:54
already. It's great that I can just speak and
11:57
bam, I've got content. Then I transcribe my episodes
12:00
and they become my blog posts. They become my
12:02
social media updates and I can use the text to
12:05
create short video clips too. And I've only done
12:08
the blog posts so far and a couple of social
12:11
media updates here and there using my own show
12:13
notes. But I really like the idea of being able
12:16
to sit down and research and record one thing
12:18
that has the potential to yield content for multiple
12:21
platforms. I think that's really cool. The sixth
12:25
thing I've learned is that I really do want to
12:28
build a designated podcasting and video space
12:31
in my home. I will say this. I am sitting here
12:35
right now at my kitchen table in my dining room.
12:38
And what I really want is an actual studio. I
12:42
think that'd be really neat to have. And although
12:44
I've released a handful of my one image videos
12:47
of my podcast, I want to actually film myself
12:50
on video for YouTube. I think that'd be a lot
12:52
of fun to create different types of videos that
12:54
are related to blogging and the platform. And
12:57
I've learned a lot over this past year. And I
12:59
know I have a better chance of getting more viewers
13:01
on my episode. if they're visual and audio instead
13:04
of just audio. And while it's clear that YouTube
13:07
is a visual platform, many people have convinced
13:10
me that one image videos were all I needed to
13:13
repurpose my content from podcasts or excuse
13:15
me, as a podcast on YouTube. And I see now that
13:19
I would much prefer to have my face on camera
13:21
so the audience can see me and hear me. And I
13:25
confess this makes me go back to lesson number
13:27
one, that the fear is there. And I confess this
13:29
has me so nervous, but I feel like it'll be better
13:32
for the ultimate goals of my show, my show, my
13:35
show and my website. Number seven, podcasting
13:40
is a lot of work. Yet another thing people were
13:43
right about, they kept telling me podcasting
13:46
is not something you just do on a whim. It's
13:48
another big reason I kept putting off recording
13:50
new episodes, scheduling out several hours to
13:53
write out what I want to say, record and then
13:55
edit and then post. It's just like blogging.
13:58
It's a lot of time and it's a lot of energy and
14:00
it all, you know, goes into something that you
14:02
may or may not get paid for. And I'm working
14:06
a lot more with my husband now in my business
14:08
and we're discussing plans for things like, you
14:10
know, outsourcing and batching. and coming up
14:12
with better systems and processes. But for now,
14:15
like I said earlier, we're taking things one
14:17
step at a time. Number eight, I want to monetize
14:22
my efforts. All right, this goes back to lesson
14:25
number seven. This is a lot of work. And I don't
14:27
know about you, but if I'm going to put a lot
14:29
of effort into something, I don't want it to
14:30
just be a hobby unless I'm, you know. Like, okay,
14:34
crafting. I love crafting and I don't want to
14:36
necessarily monetize that. But something like
14:39
this that's supposed to be part of my business,
14:41
I want to figure out how I can make this into
14:43
something that's a successful venture that I
14:45
can keep doing and keep working on, but actually
14:48
monetize it. I'm not quite sure what I mean by
14:51
this yet. Like, I don't know how I would monetize
14:53
it. But in order for it to make sense to keep
14:56
producing episodes, I've got to find some sort
14:58
of a monetization plan to put in place. I'm journaling
15:01
and I'm dreaming and planning what the best steps
15:03
for me will be to take. But who knows? I might
15:06
just plan or I might just pull all the current
15:09
content down at some point and start all over
15:11
again. I'm not really sure what I'm going to
15:12
do. But I know that I need to make a certain
15:16
amount of money in my business for podcasting
15:18
to make sense in my overall plans. In fact, I
15:20
know several of my blogging friends have completely
15:22
stopped podcasting for that very reason. They
15:25
couldn't figure out how to make it make sense
15:27
in terms of ROI in their businesses. start. Other
15:32
people are doubling down on podcasting simply
15:34
because they're figuring out how to use it to
15:36
make more money. One of my bloggy friends, he's
15:38
doing something that I think is pretty brilliant.
15:40
He's using every podcast he produces as his means
15:44
to find new clients. So what he'll do is he only
15:48
interviews CEOs. Like that's his big shtick is
15:51
he interviews CEOs. So he goes and he finds a
15:54
way to get in touch with the CEOs of all these
15:56
big companies that he wants to work with. And
15:58
by coming to them with a... I interview you instead
16:02
of a cold pitch, it gives him a foot in the door
16:05
to possibly get another client out of it, which
16:07
I think is kind of cool. And this could just
16:10
mean turning this podcast into an experimental
16:12
research lab for coming up with better blog content.
16:15
Or it could be a lead generator for my own day
16:18
job as a ghost blogger. I figure at this point
16:20
anything's possible and I'm not rolling anything
16:22
out, but I'm just going to try to figure out
16:25
how I can monetize my podcasting journey as I
16:28
go along. Number nine. I'm glad I committed to
16:32
10 so I would just launch already. So the fear
16:36
held me back for years. I've said that a couple
16:38
times now. And committing to just 10 episodes
16:41
felt a lot less scary than saying, oh, I'm going
16:43
to be a lifelong podcaster. In my mind, I thought
16:47
of it as an experiment and it calmed the fears
16:49
just enough to get started. And I accepted that
16:52
I might hate the first 10 episodes and that if
16:54
they sucked, I could just move on knowing it
16:56
was simply an experiment. So what I would encourage
16:58
you to do is if you're thinking about starting
17:00
your own pod, podcast, commit to a small number.
17:03
Like one of the things that I would recommend
17:04
is if you're going to go with a podcast host
17:06
that's free or at least free for your first episode,
17:09
just commit to one. Just try one. Now that's
17:12
not to say that you should go out and buy a bunch
17:13
of equipment if you're only going to release
17:14
one episode, but just give it a try and see what
17:17
you think about it. And if you like it, keep
17:19
going. And if not, well, it only costs you a
17:21
little bit of time. Number 10 and the most important
17:25
crazy lesson that I have learned in working on
17:29
these 10 episodes is I've got a lot more work
17:31
to do to make my visions for my business and
17:33
my life a reality. I've got a lot more work cut
17:35
out for myself. And like I said, I'm journaling.
17:38
I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming about the future and
17:40
trying to figure out where I want to go from
17:42
here. So I'm publicly committing to 10 more episodes
17:45
right now because if I don't do it, I won't do
17:48
it. Though I've not moved as fast as I want to,
17:51
I can see the potential here for something great.
17:54
And you know those moments where you kind of
17:55
feel like you've been working towards something?
17:58
I'm in that space right now, and I'm really not
18:01
sure where all this is taking me, but I'm hopeful
18:03
and I'm excited for the future, wherever it's
18:06
going. So there you have it. That is my... The
18:10
big 10 lessons that I have learned from working
18:12
on 10 episodes of the Bloggy Friends show. I
18:15
can't believe that it's already been a full year.
18:17
It's been a whirlwind of a year. I mean, not
18:19
just for me, but for everyone. And I've learned
18:21
a lot. And I know I've got a lot more to learn.
18:24
And I'm grateful to everyone who has said kind
18:26
things about the show. The feedback I've been
18:28
given, even though I haven't released that many
18:30
episodes, I really appreciate all the comments,
18:32
the messages. It's all been so special to me.
18:35
And I love how amazing. the podcasting community
18:37
is. And I'm also grateful to places like rss
18:41
.com podcasting for the content they share about
18:43
how to start a podcast. I highly recommend their
18:46
blog if you're looking for some solid podcasting
18:48
advice. And if you need a podcasting host, I've
18:51
personally been a subscriber of theirs for a
18:53
year now, and I can't say enough great things
18:55
about them. And they're one of the people that
18:57
you can actually start your podcast for free.
19:00
You can release your first episode completely
19:02
free without even giving them your credit card
19:04
information. And then after you release your
19:07
first episode, if you do want to release a second
19:09
one, then it's only like $99 a year after that.
19:11
Or if you're a student or a teacher with a .edu
19:13
email address, you can actually get half off
19:16
of those fees. And RSS also has plans for nonprofit
19:19
organizations. Now, they aren't paying me to
19:22
say any of this, but in full disclosure, no FCC
19:24
violations here. I am a brand ambassador for
19:26
them. And I love that their mission is to give
19:28
every podcaster a voice. And I love working with
19:31
them. And I think they're the best option for
19:32
anyone who's thinking about starting a podcast.
19:35
Okay, so that was a lot. But I look forward to
19:38
releasing even more episodes and coming up with
19:40
more ideas and sharing more of what I'm learning
19:42
here with you. In the meantime, you can always
19:44
find me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and
19:47
more as Famous Ashley Grant. And I am a LinkedIn
19:50
open networker. So if you want to add me there,
19:52
I'd be happy to have more bloggy friends on my
19:54
miscellaneous platforms. So let's be bloggy friends.
19:58
I would love to connect with you. Until the next
20:00
episode, may your page views be high and your
20:03
bounce rate be low.