Episode 74Aug 1, 2025· 43:56
Replay - Getting Media Attention for a Blog with Josh Elledge
About this episode
Let's chat about Getting Media Attention for a Blog. It's easier than you might think!
Josh's Links:
https://upmyinfluence.com/about/
https://twitter.com/joshelledge
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshelledge/
https://www.instagram.com/josh.elledge/
https://www.youtube.com/@UpMyInfluence/videos
More Show Notes From This Episode:
What’s up my bloggy friends! I'm slowly updating the show notes for this and every…
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Full transcript
00:03
The Bloggy Friends Show! We're so excited to
00:30
have you join us on this journey of sharing our
00:32
knowledge and experiences with you. Whether you're
00:34
a blogger, a content creator, or just someone
00:36
who's interested in learning more about the digital
00:38
world, we've got something for you. So grab your
00:41
notebook and a pen to take some notes or just
00:42
sit back and take in all the amazing information
00:44
and ideas we're about to share with you. Let's
00:47
get into it. But Josh, I'm so excited you could
00:50
be here today. Can you do us a favor and tell
00:52
us what you do? Well, first off... I'm, I am
00:56
a famous Ashley Grant fan boy. So that's, that's
00:59
my, I would say my, my absolute first, uh, you
01:02
know, love, uh, my first, uh, you know, priority
01:04
in life, uh, aside from that, uh, that we have
01:09
spent, we have spent, it has been many, many,
01:12
many years. I think we originally connected.
01:15
at a blogging conference and we've seen each
01:18
other at some podcasting conferences and so forth.
01:22
So what I do is we have a network, we've launched
01:28
over 200 podcasts, and we use those podcasts
01:32
to celebrate other people, to serve audiences,
01:36
and to provide the absolute best networking on
01:41
the planet for our clients. So where before what
01:46
they were trying to do for business development,
01:48
um, or attracting investors or influencers or
01:51
customers primarily, um, you know, I think historically
01:55
maybe they were trying lead gen tactics or marketing
01:58
and sales funnels and advertising and that stuff
02:02
is, uh, really doesn't work very well. And it's
02:06
especially today, especially if you're reaching
02:08
out to leaders. Legion is not appropriate for
02:12
leaders. It just isn't. If you come sliding into
02:14
my DMs, I'm going to market as spam. I'm going
02:17
to complain. And it's not anyone's fault. It's
02:21
just that marketers have really ruined that.
02:23
And so for great consultants, coaches, agency
02:27
owners, B2B service providers, you're going to
02:29
have to extend invitations. If you want to connect
02:32
and network with leaders, you're going to have
02:34
to extend appropriate invitations. And here's
02:38
a clue. If I get cold email and I was mentioning
02:42
to you, Ashley, like even in preparation for
02:44
this podcast, you say, well, I sent you the link.
02:47
I'm like, oh, sorry, I have a few inboxes. Most
02:50
of them are watched over by somebody else. And
02:53
then I've got one personal one that, you know,
02:56
I just use for like, you know, personal subscriptions
02:59
or whatever, you know, but occasionally a marketer
03:02
will find it. I don't know where it's listed.
03:04
Uh, and, um, there's only a few invitations to
03:07
get through an any, any inbox and those are speaking
03:10
invites, media invites, um, interview requests.
03:14
And that's about it. anything else that comes
03:16
in cold, it just goes to the dead letter office.
03:20
And that's just because it's just my mandate.
03:22
I don't have time to look at stuff. I'm a busy
03:26
guy. Our clients are busy. They're running their
03:32
companies. So if you want to engage with them,
03:35
again, you have to engage in a way that they
03:37
are open to truly provide an active service,
03:41
a la Bob Berg, the go -giver. And then from there,
03:44
you build an amazing relationship, do lots of
03:46
great work together, and grow, scale, and enjoy
03:51
consistent profitability month after month after
03:55
month. Which is what we all want now. So how
03:58
many podcasts did you say your company runs?
04:01
Well, so we've launched well over 200 at this
04:04
point. And that's really starting to ramp up
04:07
a little bit too, just simply because in the
04:09
B2B world, it's really tough. Sales is tough
04:12
these days. You're trying to sell into enterprise,
04:16
trying to get founders of SMB and mid -market
04:19
companies. What is currently out there does not
04:24
work. And unfortunately, I think a lot of the
04:27
advice is geared toward marketing to newbie entrepreneurs.
04:33
And that's inappropriate for legacy business
04:37
leaders. They're just, those are two completely
04:41
different personas. So I think we've gotten some
04:45
good attention, some good buzz in the right areas
04:47
and kind of the B2B sales world where we've been
04:50
able to do some really amazing work. I mean,
04:52
putting, you know, leading to amazing six and
04:55
seven figure sales transactions, you know, just
04:59
simply because you're leading in generosity,
05:02
leveraging platform and a little bit of authority.
05:04
Yeah. And I mean, you kind of hit the nail on
05:07
the head with something that you said. You said
05:08
a lot of the things nowadays, the advice they
05:10
give is to newbie marketers. And unfortunately,
05:13
the sad thing is a lot of it's wrong. I was just
05:15
in a class a couple of days ago and I won't name
05:18
names to protect the guilty. but basically they
05:21
were saying the old adage of spray and pray to
05:25
get sponsorship deals for bloggers and you know
05:27
she was she was doing this whole class and it
05:29
was it was a lovely presentation she's a lovely
05:31
woman but the whole presentation was okay get
05:34
yourself a database and then every single day
05:36
i want you to cold pitch everyone and that's
05:38
not working anymore if you want real sponsorships
05:41
real relationships, then that kind of thing is
05:45
going to get you maybe a free blender, but you're
05:49
not going to get the money, which is what we're
05:51
all looking for. And even though we're not supposed
05:54
to say we're looking for the money, come on,
05:55
we all need to get paid. And Ashley, there's
05:59
something to be said for our sustainability in
06:06
our activity. Listen, if for whatever reason,
06:10
you were born with a personality where you can
06:13
just cold sell at people for eight hours a day.
06:17
God bless you. I, you know, and, you know, I
06:20
have to deal with all the rejection and the people
06:23
being a little bit annoyed and You're just going
06:25
to close, close, close, baby. You know, you're
06:27
like straight out of the movie, Glenn Gary, Glenn
06:29
Ross. If that's you, God bless you. I don't know
06:32
too many people like that. In fact, I would say
06:34
that that's that that's a very unique kind of
06:36
persona. Most people actually, I think are like
06:39
you and I. We love what we do. Sales and marketing.
06:45
is I think historically I think a lot of us who
06:49
are very thoughtful and you know about the impact
06:51
that we want to have in the world sometimes we
06:53
look at it as almost like a necessary evil or
06:57
you know the activity we're doing is not exactly
07:00
consistent but what we don't want to do is become
07:03
those hardcore salespeople we just we want to
07:06
build authentic relationships with our dream
07:08
ideal people we want to serve the world do good
07:10
bring value build relationships and that should
07:15
be able to grow our business. So that's what
07:17
you can do. But again, you're going to have to
07:21
relax a little bit because you also have to look
07:22
at the the way the psychological is. I just I
07:26
want to just you get into psychological better
07:29
like way of why people buy. But again, I just
07:32
want to make sure that I'm kind of massaging
07:34
this idea of unsustainable activity. That's no
07:40
business that I want to run. I'm okay with doing
07:42
some uncomfortable activity for short periods
07:45
of time, but not, Ashley, not when it violates
07:49
my values. I'm not going to do it. And cold pitch
07:52
spamming people, selling it to people like I
07:55
described earlier, I'm just not going to do it.
07:57
I would rather go get a job. And I don't want
07:59
to get a job. So that tells you how much I don't
08:01
want to do, you know, cold selling and, you know,
08:04
be that annoying, hide in the shadows, lurk in
08:07
the shadows, total creeper behavior. And unfortunately,
08:10
I see a lot of good business leaders who are
08:13
being bamboozled by gurus telling them that that's
08:16
just what it takes to build a business. No, it's
08:19
not. No, it's not. That's not what classy leaders
08:21
do. They don't do that stuff. That's so true.
08:24
And, you know, one of the things that I like
08:26
about the fact that you've kind of changed how
08:28
it goes is, you know, not only are you getting
08:32
in touch with the people who are the decision
08:33
makers whenever you're inviting them to, let's
08:35
say, be on a podcast, you also are getting amazing
08:38
opportunities for media. And so that's kind of
08:41
what I wanted to bring you on for is You know,
08:43
a lot of the bloggers that I talk to, they're
08:44
all trying to figure out, how do I get the word
08:46
out? How do I get people to give a damn about
08:47
my, about my blog? And you have, I mean, your
08:51
roots are in the blogging business and you got
08:53
11 billion media appearances. So let's kind of
08:57
walk things back to how we got to here to where
09:00
you were getting on the media. And then it eventually
09:02
led to podcast guesting. Out of the game. Well,
09:07
yeah, $11 billion is about it's an estimation.
09:11
It's somewhere between $10 billion and $12 billion.
09:18
No, I've used that number. I use that number
09:21
because I'm a huge leverage fan. Do you remember
09:23
that show? Oh, a huge what? Leverage fan the
09:27
the show leverage. Do you remember that show?
09:29
No, no, okay, Timothy Hutton and oh god, and
09:32
I'm gonna forget all their names Beth Rysker
09:34
and Christian Kane and all those people so a
09:40
la Carteson in episode one says this guy was
09:44
worth like $11 billion. When he said that, I
09:46
was like, that's really funny. And I'm the girl,
09:49
I'm obsessed with the pilot episodes of every
09:51
show I get obsessed with. I love the pilot episodes.
09:55
So I watched the pilot episode more than any
09:57
of the other episodes of the series. So I watched
09:59
that episode, must have been 200 times. Oh my
10:03
goodness. Every time he would say $11 billion,
10:05
I would crack up. I started saying it, and now
10:07
it's like in my DNA, I just, $11 billion. So
10:12
that's where that little thing is from. But anyway,
10:16
so yeah, you've had a lot of media appearances.
10:18
And yeah, but your original blog that got you
10:20
all that attention was St. Angel Angel. Yeah.
10:24
Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, so background. Look, my
10:28
background was really helpful because it gave
10:31
me the confidence that I could. I was a journalist
10:35
in the United States Navy. went to defense information
10:39
school where all of the journalists for all of
10:42
the branches of the service go to. One of the
10:45
guest lecturers who changed my life was a man
10:48
named Adrian Kronauer Which if you're familiar
10:52
with the movie Good Morning Vietnam He was he
10:55
was portrayed in that movie and it's kind of
10:58
loosely based on his his story Although he'll
11:02
tell you he's nowhere nearly as funny as Robin
11:05
Williams is in that movie But you know, he inspired
11:09
me about the sacred obligation. We have any time
11:13
we are serving audiences. I don't know that he
11:17
had any idea at the time that in the future,
11:21
maybe he did in the future, everyone would have
11:24
access to platform and you have limit limitless
11:29
opportunities to serve audiences. And in his
11:32
heart, you know, he, you know, his Kind of what
11:35
he would talk about is like, you have to be transparent.
11:38
You have to be authentic. You have to be truthful
11:41
and you have to put audience first in everything
11:43
that you do. Um, and if you'll do that, Then
11:47
audiences will trust you they'll know that you're
11:49
a safe place and and they'll rely upon you which
11:52
again was kind of part of this story So so that
11:55
was my background and then I was a broadcast
11:57
journalist in the United States Navy It was in
12:00
Hawaii for three years, you know running TV cameras
12:03
and doing TV segments for a farts our forces
12:08
radio television service Yeah, and then out of
12:11
that then I went to school for family science
12:14
because I wanted to be a love doctor on the radio
12:15
So that didn't really pan out because I got distracted
12:18
with internet development. Anyway, so launched
12:20
a bunch of companies. Some of them didn't work
12:23
out real well. Some of them really didn't work
12:25
out real well. But my seventh business venture,
12:28
Savings Angel, did all right. And here's what
12:31
happened is that it was a service where I'd help
12:35
you cut your grocery bill in half. Very, very
12:37
good. You can go there and check it out, but
12:39
it's just a blog today and not a very active
12:42
blog at that. I'll tell you the full story later.
12:45
Yeah. So I didn't have money for advertising.
12:48
So I reached out to local radio, TV, newspapers,
12:52
magazines, anywhere that had an audience at the
12:55
time. You know, really at that time, like blogs
12:58
were, I don't even know that that was a word.
13:01
Oh, I think it was. It was, but it just was.
13:03
you know, just kind of coming on the scene, really.
13:07
But so I went to traditional media. I don't have
13:09
any money, but I can produce a really good segment.
13:13
In some cases, we would rev share there. But,
13:16
you know, I just focused on providing incredible
13:19
value. I did not sell to that audience. You know,
13:22
my job was to provide so much value that people
13:25
would tune in, lean forward, listen, take action
13:28
on what I shared. And, you know, that radius,
13:31
I remember my first full on radio segment, I
13:36
was about ready to have my utilities cut off
13:39
because I didn't have money to pay my heat. And
13:41
this was, I want to say March, April in Michigan,
13:46
which is still winter. So, but yeah, I went into
13:50
the radio station, did my segment and I came
13:53
back and I earned Just in those first, we were
13:57
selling a $20 a month membership and just in
14:00
those $20 a month memberships, I earned enough
14:03
in that one radio segment to pay my heating bill.
14:07
Uh, and, and then, you know, that was recurring
14:10
money. So my, my, my, my, my income just went
14:13
up by like, you know, $400 a month just from
14:15
that one radio segment. I'm like, this is really
14:17
great. I should do this more often. Um, and so
14:21
yeah, that's so really it was because almost
14:23
like, you know, Richard Geer and officer and
14:25
gentlemen, I got nowhere else to go. I don't
14:26
have money for advertising. What do I do? So
14:28
Um, so yeah, so from that, that led to a lot
14:32
of TV, syndicated TV, syndicated radio. I've
14:36
been writing a syndicated newspaper column for
14:39
about 14 and a half years. I think getting on
14:42
15 years now. Um, and, um, you know, again, just
14:46
kind of focus on that. My persona was savings
14:48
angel. I'm the guy who can get you a deal hookup
14:51
or upgrade on anything in life. And that resonates.
14:55
It's a great. persona to be in the media. So
14:58
I just keep showing up and even today people
15:02
lost interest in coupons a number of years ago,
15:05
about eight years ago. So there was less interest
15:08
in how we solved that problem, but consumer skills
15:11
have always been wildly popular. So I've been
15:13
able to maintain my media relationships. I do
15:17
a lot of local TV here in Orlando. I'm going
15:21
in on Friday to my local CBS affiliate. And I
15:25
just, I love it. Even though I don't even...
15:27
Really make money on that side of it anymore
15:29
I do it because I absolutely just love serving
15:31
audiences in that way and I have a lot of compassion
15:33
For someone who absolutely needs to save money
15:36
Well, and one of the things that that struck
15:39
me with you is you also you're very good on camera
15:43
like you're very good at talking to audiences
15:45
and I This wasn't on the in the plan. But like
15:48
I said, this was gonna be a casual conversation
15:50
So what do you say to the person who's scared
15:52
to death to even be on camera and talk to the
15:54
media? That's normal. You're like everybody.
15:58
So first off, accept that what you are feeling
16:00
is that's what every single person feels. Unless
16:05
they have like some sort of a psychological disorder,
16:09
I would even call it. Most people are nervous.
16:13
because they want to do a good job, right? And
16:16
there's a lot of pressure that they put on themselves
16:18
and they're feeling insecure, like they might
16:21
not be good enough. Um, so already based on the
16:25
emotions that you're feeling, um, just know that
16:28
that audience, they want you to do a good job.
16:31
Um, they, they, and when you, um, have genuine
16:36
emotions and feelings that's endearing. Like,
16:39
so I want you to know that everybody's rooting
16:42
for you in a good way. Like we, you're, you're
16:44
in, I mean, unless you're really like presenting
16:47
in front of a, you know, a very skeptical group
16:49
or audience or something like that, or you're
16:52
going to hit them with this sales pitch or something
16:54
like that. And it's going to make people hate
16:55
you. Um, generally if you're there to bring,
16:58
bring value and you keep asking yourself the
17:00
question, How can I increase the value of the
17:04
time that I have with this audience? What's the
17:06
most important stuff that I can share with them?
17:09
And all I have to do is just get that out. If
17:11
it's ugly, okay. Okay, so that's really important.
17:16
That's number one. Number two, it's not gonna
17:21
be pretty. um listen your first time on stage
17:24
your first time on tv your first time as a guest
17:27
on a podcast interview it's probably not going
17:30
to go awesome and that's okay it's not meant
17:32
to be awesome it's meant for you to get your
17:36
sea legs i was in the navy right and so you know
17:39
it's like if you're out boating like initially
17:41
whoa but then after a while you just like you
17:43
don't even notice the boat moving Right. And
17:46
that's, that's what it's like. So if you go back
17:49
and watch my very first TV segments, Ashley,
17:52
they're awful. If you go back and listen to about
17:55
any very active podcaster today, scroll all the
18:01
way back. And if they still have them live and
18:04
published, go back and listen to their first
18:07
podcast episodes. They're pretty bad. Um, you
18:11
and I both know and are friends with, um, um,
18:15
with Pat Flynn, and Pat was the one that really
18:20
inspired me to get into podcasting. I came across
18:23
his content and then I met him at a conference.
18:27
I think it was either FinCon or Social Media
18:28
Marketing World or one of those two. But I told
18:31
him, I said, Pat, one of the biggest things that
18:33
gave me confidence was listening to some of your
18:36
early podcasts because I could tell it was very
18:39
uncomfortable for you, but you did it anyway.
18:41
He goes, that's absolutely the case. There's
18:43
one point I'll never forget. I think it's like
18:45
episode one, two or three of Smart Passive Income.
18:48
I gets two or three, like, I don't know if he
18:51
meant to edit it out, but there's one point where
18:53
he's talking and he trips up on his words. And
18:56
then he goes. And then it kind of starts over
19:00
and it's in, it's in the audio. And I'm like,
19:03
I heard that. And I'm like, you know what? It's
19:06
going to be all right. It doesn't have to be
19:07
perfect. Go ahead. And unless you say something
19:10
offensive or it's like really bad, just leave
19:14
it in. Um, and just let people know that you're
19:17
doing your best here, right? And, um, but it's
19:20
endearing when someone can tell that, that you're
19:22
really trying and, and what, here's what happened.
19:25
Like, um, like I did improv comedy at sack, um,
19:28
comedy lab for a year. And, um, initially I was
19:32
so awful because I was so in my head. And one
19:35
thing that I learned, and this is another thing
19:37
to it. I highly recommend taking. some improv
19:41
classes because and the number one thing you
19:45
need to do is just learn how to get out of your
19:48
own head because in improv one of the biggest
19:51
skills you'll learn is to quiet that that inner
19:56
voice that says oh no don't say that that's dumb
19:58
Right? In improv, you just learn to go with it
20:02
one brick at a time, and then you get more comfortable
20:05
in your own skin in doing that. Now, the upper
20:10
levels of skill and talent and improv blows me
20:13
away. I am not very good at improv comedy, but
20:17
at least I learned the basic building blocks
20:20
of how to trust your partner, how to quiet your
20:26
brain and say, listen, whatever I'm going to
20:28
say, it's not going to be perfect. It's not going
20:30
to be pretty. It doesn't have to be. It just
20:32
needs to, I just need to show up. I love that
20:36
so much. And yeah, you were saying, um, you know,
20:39
listen to the first podcast. I always, I would
20:41
say go to the first YouTube video. Oh yeah. Cause
20:45
I could see them. Yeah. Oh yeah. You know, you
20:47
can see the discomfort that's all over their
20:50
face, the bad lighting, the Mr. Shane on their
20:53
shirt, like all things. And you are probably
20:56
seeing their third or fourth take. Yeah. Maybe
20:59
their 20th. Yeah. Oh, easily. And I have to say,
21:03
I'm just really glad that the first time I was
21:06
on the news that that footage has been erased
21:09
from America. I was because that's how the internet
21:12
works Ashley. It's gone never to be seen again.
21:15
I'm sure Yeah, but now with it what the internet
21:17
though now all of our stuff you can still find
21:20
it somewhere, but It's out there. This is like,
21:24
you know Way back when I was still a baby blogger
21:28
before I actually started a full -on blog I was
21:30
talking this t -shirt that I was trying to Get
21:33
out there because I wanted everyone to know about
21:35
the USF bulls and it was a full of bull shirt
21:38
Okay, and I made this decision that I was gonna
21:40
sell the shirt and half of the proceeds were
21:42
always gonna go to charity and so that's how
21:44
I ended up on the news had this bright red blush
21:47
on what the hell was I thinking like horrible
21:50
makeup like it was awful and Needless to say
21:53
I'm glad that didn't work out and that you You
21:58
know, but because you did that, you are now at
22:01
the level of comfort, Ashley, that you are now.
22:03
And I wish there were a, you know, it's like
22:06
learning to swim, right? The only, I mean, you
22:08
can watch YouTube videos about it. You can, you
22:11
know, you can listen to podcasts about swimming.
22:14
You can watch TV shows. You can read about it.
22:17
But at some point, the only way that you're really
22:20
going to learn to swim is you're just going to
22:22
have to jump in the water. And it's going to
22:24
be very uncomfortable when you're in the deep
22:26
end for the first time. But that's the way to
22:29
learn. We all know that, right? Just like riding
22:31
a bike. Activity knowledge is 10 times more powerful
22:35
than learned knowledge. And so you're just going
22:39
to have to get it out of the way. You know, even
22:40
something as silly like taking a cruise with,
22:44
you know, you're going to make mistakes the first
22:46
time you take a cruise. That's normal. I mean
22:49
unless you really I mean you could really study
22:51
this up, but just give yourself Ashley I love
22:53
the term, you know giving ourselves grace to
22:56
make mistakes And without those mistakes you
22:59
don't gain the wisdom the reason that you are
23:02
who you are today is largely the culmination
23:05
of all of your experiences in life and your relationships
23:08
and you know things that you've figured out and
23:10
if you can learn ten times faster by doing this
23:12
stuff rather than just learning about the stuff
23:15
Then you know that just makes you a more powerful
23:18
person so you can have a greater impact on the
23:21
world. So let's bring that back to how we can
23:25
use all of that in promoting our blogs. What
23:28
would be your first recommendation to someone
23:30
who already has a blog? Maybe they don't have
23:33
enough content yet, but they're working on it.
23:35
Where should they begin with getting my name
23:40
out there into the media? Okay. Well, let's even
23:43
just address, I think, an important question
23:46
of why. Why would I bother with the media? That's
23:49
not a big audience. Okay. So here's why you do
23:53
this. Right. And I've done media consulting for
23:56
some really, you know, a lot of people in my
24:00
life, a lot of, um, a lot of professionals, a
24:02
lot of very, very, um, successful, wealthy individuals.
24:06
Um, you know, and so we've advised on why, what
24:09
they talk about, what they say, why, how they
24:11
say it, you know, how they show up their body
24:13
language, all this. Okay. Well, why go through
24:15
all this effort? Okay. Especially when you consider
24:19
that audiences of a TikTok are a thousand times
24:24
greater in some cases. Why would you bother with
24:27
media? Well, it's because there are more benefits
24:31
to traditional media than just eyeballs, right?
24:35
And the primary benefit, it's like, why when
24:39
Tony Robbins comes on stage, does he show clips
24:41
of him on CNBC? Like his audience in the room
24:46
is bigger than, you know, what's in that CNBC
24:49
viewing audience. So the reason he does it is
24:52
because it is authority. It's an authority indicator.
24:56
Right. And so, um, if, if your goal is to build
25:00
up your blog, to get a lot of eyeballs, to make
25:03
a big impact in the world, your, um, brand associated
25:09
with being, you know, being a media brand. is
25:12
going to earn the trust of your readers. So if
25:16
you're a food blogger and you've gone in and
25:19
you've got video on your website, on your blog
25:22
of you going in and doing cooking segments on
25:25
your local TV segment or your local TV station,
25:29
as opposed to going to an identical blog and
25:32
there's no authority indicators there, how would
25:37
you rate you know, the, Oh, do I follow this
25:42
person or do I follow this person? And generally,
25:44
again, those authority indicators are going to
25:47
are going to earn the respect and attention of
25:51
new audiences. So a lot of times, actually, people
25:56
think about like when they look at media, They
25:58
think about the main, they think about the big
26:00
prize of being exposed to a bunch of new audience
26:04
and somehow that then that's going to make them
26:06
a bunch of riches. All right. I'm going to tell
26:08
you right now that TV radio for sure. Um, but
26:13
you know, newspaper, uh, you know, like news
26:16
being quoted in the news, like those are pretty
26:19
fickle audiences. Like they're just seeing you
26:21
for the first time. Um, expect to not be blown
26:25
away. by the response that you get now unless
26:28
and i've done you know national stuff and i've
26:31
certainly done some some pretty big major market
26:33
stuff like if you get the big big big stuff yeah
26:36
it can be a game changer for sure um but which
26:40
i think the bigger prize is the accumulation
26:42
of you just starting to get seen here and there
26:46
use that but okay what you do this is really
26:49
important If you go and you do a local TV segment
26:53
or you're quoted in the news and you're like,
26:55
ha ha, my work is done. Now let the money come
26:59
rolling in. OK, you're you've only done about
27:02
a third of the work. Because if that yeah, yeah,
27:06
yeah. The greater value you're going to get is
27:08
is going to come from what you do with that.
27:12
So you have to get a recording, a copy of that
27:17
TV segment. If we're talking about TV. You need
27:19
to capture that in every way conceivable. Don't
27:23
rely on somebody else to record it for you. You
27:26
record it, capture it, and get it embedded, get
27:29
it on YouTube, or get it wherever you can. Sometimes
27:32
you have to look at rights and stuff like that,
27:34
but you want to capture that as best as you can,
27:37
and you want to make that incredibly visible.
27:42
Because if I see that you're a regular fixture
27:44
on TV, my opinion of you goes up. And actually
27:50
when people say, Oh, I don't trust the media.
27:52
I know everyone says that it's not true. We,
27:55
we trust the authority through that association.
28:00
We, we, uh, you know, you might hate Fox news.
28:03
Um, and a lot of people do, and a lot of people
28:05
love it. Um, but regardless of your political
28:07
leanings, if you're seen on Fox news, I'm sorry,
28:11
but that is a, that is a big feather in your
28:14
cap from an perceived authority perspective.
28:17
So, um, so yeah, so that's why we do it. So repurposing
28:21
it and actually with today's AI tools, there's
28:24
no excuse. If you are on a podcast, if you are
28:29
doing a YouTube co -lab, for example, collaboration
28:33
with someone, if you are seen and heard on a,
28:36
you know, TikTok that gets in front of a bunch
28:38
of people like Those don't have the authority.
28:41
There's never the authority cache, the traditional
28:43
media, but there's other great visibility. But
28:46
everything you do should always be, listen, this
28:49
is really important to my content creator friends
28:51
out there. Everything you do should always be
28:53
recorded. You need to be like the Beatles. You
28:56
need to just record everything you do and then
29:00
use, get great, a great team together. You know,
29:05
start with one VA. Who knows how to use the AI
29:08
repurposing tools, right? If they, if you don't
29:11
even have money for that, just start using some
29:14
tools. Um, there's so many tools that are popping
29:16
into, I'd hate to, you know, recommend, um, you
29:20
know, because they, they change every day, but
29:22
certainly. You know, take that content, repurpose
29:26
it into 2030 pieces of content, put it in the
29:29
jukebox and share it. and keep sharing it and
29:32
keep sharing it in lots of different places,
29:34
share it everywhere. So like actually this one
29:37
conversation that knew what I are doing, I can
29:40
easily turn this into 25 social media pieces
29:43
of social media content. I hope to get a recording
29:46
and I hope to promote you and let's, you know,
29:48
let's. You know, let's take this work that we're
29:50
doing and make sure that it's seen everywhere.
29:52
It's so cheap and easy to do today. It used to
29:55
cost thousands of dollars to an agency to, to,
29:58
you know, kind of get it. Well, you know, really
29:59
do, really do some great repurposing work. Yeah.
30:02
Not anymore. Yeah. Anyone can repurpose now.
30:05
Which is kind of awesome because like you can
30:06
spend $30 on like an AI thing for a month and
30:10
it'll take, like I was learning yesterday about
30:12
one, I can't remember the name of it right now,
30:13
but I'll put it in the show notes when I, when
30:15
I find it. But it'll take a 45 minute interview
30:17
and it'll chop it up into verticals. It'll top
30:21
it up into like TikToks and Instagrams and you
30:23
know, little shorts and things like that. And
30:25
it's like, this is prime time. If you're trying
30:28
to get your name out there, just, just riff on
30:31
the, on the mic for like 15 minutes and who knows
30:34
what you could create. Yeah. Yeah, that's absolutely.
30:37
So I think another time, you know, here's another
30:39
advantage to being interviewed or being in the
30:42
media is it solves that blinking cursor thing.
30:45
right? And so now, here's another hack, right?
30:50
Even if, you know, so it's nice when somebody's
30:54
asking you the questions, because that makes
30:55
it easy. You just have to answer the questions,
30:57
basically. If you need to produce original content
31:01
and you don't have anybody else to ask you the
31:03
questions, just go to ChatGPT and say, you know,
31:07
give it plenty of pre -prompts so it has the
31:10
right context, and then say, Give me 10 questions
31:12
to prompt me for, you know, social media content.
31:15
And it will, and it'll be, and it's awesome.
31:18
And so, yeah, if you're not doing that right
31:20
now, I mean, again, you're not competing. This
31:24
was, I think someone from either Google or Facebook,
31:27
I forget who it was. So forgive me for my lack
31:30
of details on this, but they, you know, the quote
31:32
was basically, you're not competing against AI.
31:35
You're competing against all the other marketers
31:38
and business leaders who are already using it.
31:41
And if you're not, you're being left behind.
31:43
So you've got to get on it. Not to put any pressure
31:46
on you, but your ability to impact audiences
31:51
is going to directly correlate with your impact
31:55
in the world and your ability to grow and scale
31:57
revenue. You know every time you and I talk you
32:00
remind me of all the things that I'm not doing
32:01
enough of Here's the good news, right? Here's
32:07
the good news. The good news is you don't have
32:09
to do everything I would say pick one thing and
32:14
And just do the just do that one and and you're
32:17
gonna hear shiny it listen if you're hearing
32:18
shiny object stuff for me I'm telling you need
32:20
to spend all the time and get on TV. There's
32:22
a lot of other stuff that you could do but my
32:26
my recommendation would be, don't try to be a
32:29
jack of all trades, obsess on one thing and be
32:32
the best in the world at that one thing. Right?
32:35
So, um, I've done as a podcaster now I've been
32:39
on somewhere between three and 400 podcasts as
32:43
a guest. And then I've also recorded about 2000
32:47
episodes as a host. Um, But that's my, yeah,
32:52
you're right. But I share that in like, there
32:55
were people that were like, oh, podcaster, huh?
32:57
You really need to spend all your time in clubhouse.
33:00
And I'm like, maybe, but you know what? I'm kind
33:03
of locked and loaded here. Let me know how that
33:05
goes. If I miss an opportunity, okay. I'm okay
33:08
with that. Let me know it goes two, three months
33:10
from now. And sure enough, you know, those people
33:13
didn't come back to return and report. So I don't
33:16
get shiny. Like if I find, if you find something
33:19
that's working and even if it's not like blowing
33:22
the doors off or whatever, but it's, it's consistently
33:25
performing and working stick with it. You know,
33:29
every, every YouTuber that, that I've had the
33:31
opportunity to build relationships with, um,
33:33
kind of goes through the very same life cycle.
33:36
They start off. Nobody's watching and they keep
33:39
showing up and they keep showing up and they
33:41
keep showing up their their quality gets better
33:44
Because they keep showing up and then eventually
33:47
four months eight months two years later If they
33:52
show up consistently YouTube rewards them Yeah,
33:56
well as long as your content is In demand from
34:00
from yet YouTube audience. So that's how to do
34:03
it today Well, and one of the things that you
34:06
said is every single opportunity you have to
34:09
get in the media That basically you need to make
34:12
sure you're recording it now One of the things
34:14
I love about you that you have done is you have
34:17
a media page that is phenomenal on your website
34:20
So I feel like this is kind of you know to kind
34:23
of wrap it all up all those things that you're
34:26
doing You need to put them in one place to show
34:28
your proof, your social proof, that you can use
34:31
for your audience for authority, but then you
34:33
can also take that to sponsors and say, look
34:35
at all these amazing things I've done. This is
34:37
why you need me. Oh, yeah. Listen, right now,
34:42
brands are always looking for micro influencers.
34:45
Serve a unique audience, you know, niche into,
34:49
you know, if you only produce content for pregnant
34:53
moms, great. be the best in the world at producing
34:57
content for pregnant moms, because guess what?
35:01
There is a really great business model ahead
35:04
for you, you know, from, you know, everyone that
35:09
wants to market to expectant mothers, right?
35:12
So build that audience. and then start reaching
35:15
out to those brands and saying, I love your product.
35:19
Listen, if you'd ever be interested in doing
35:21
content together, I would love to work with you
35:24
in some way. Um, now my recommendation is if
35:28
you're early stage, see if you can't do some
35:30
stuff on trade initially, just to kind of get
35:32
the momentum going. Um, and then just, you know,
35:35
you just work on that. Right. And, um, or You
35:39
know, and find ways that you can talk about products
35:41
and services in a way that's honoring of your
35:44
audience. So you don't want to be shelling because
35:46
people can tell when you're just, yeah, you're
35:48
getting paid for that influencer stuff. So you
35:50
got to be very authentic and upfront and honest
35:52
with people about how you do that. But there's
35:56
there's a lot of business to be done from brands
35:58
that want to connect with great micro influencers.
36:01
Actually, I think you've been to FinCon FinCon.
36:04
No, I haven't been yet. I want to go so bad for
36:07
a sponsor. Yeah, so I share that. FinCon is a
36:10
great conference. It's for money nerds. Man,
36:14
I'll tell you, if you produce, and that's my
36:16
background, right, so personal finance content,
36:18
that sort of thing, there are so many brands
36:22
that want to give you money to talk about them.
36:26
You just have to come up with a way that, again,
36:28
honors your audience. But there's a lot of opportunity.
36:31
There's so many verticals. But again, my recommendation
36:35
would be to become the best in the world at a
36:38
very, very nichey thing. Um, there's a book,
36:40
uh, I remember back in the day called now discover
36:42
your strengths. And again, the premise there
36:44
is you don't want to be a jack of all trades.
36:47
You want to be at the best in the world, a very
36:49
particular, very nichey aspect of the game or,
36:52
you know, particular industry. You don't want
36:55
to be a general life coach. You want to be a
36:58
burnout coach for women, uh, in their forties,
37:01
uh, who, you know, are blah, blah, blah, blah,
37:04
right. And come up and that's There's no one
37:07
on the planet that's better than you. Ashley,
37:09
for what we do, leveraging platform and generosity
37:12
for B2B sales, particularly if we're thinking
37:15
about platform like podcasts, there's nobody
37:17
on the planet who is at my level at this very
37:23
nichey nerdy thing. I'm pretty unremarkable at
37:27
99 .9999 % of the stuff on the planet, but this
37:31
one thing I feel like I don't know that there's
37:36
anybody who has my level of experience and results
37:40
from this thing because we've just obsessed on
37:43
it for years and years and years and years and
37:44
years. Yeah, and you have so much amazing content
37:49
about how to be a podcast guest and how to leverage
37:52
that into so much more. So speaking of which,
37:55
where can people find you online? Yeah, so a
37:58
couple things. I am always looking... for great
38:03
podcast guests. I have, you know, I've got getting
38:07
on 1600 episodes for the thoughtful entrepreneur.
38:10
It's a daily show. Also, you know, in particular,
38:14
any time I can get female business leaders, you
38:17
know, if you've been in business for any length
38:19
of time, you have decent like you've got some
38:21
success to speak of and you're high authority
38:24
in what you do, I would love to feature you.
38:27
So now to become a guest on the podcast, really
38:30
easy to have a simple application process and
38:33
then we'll get you into the mix. So that website
38:35
that you want to go to, so you can make sure,
38:38
because again, I have a pretty big, we have over
38:40
100 ,000 at this point on social media. So I'd
38:43
love to promote you far and wide, but that website
38:46
is www .upmyinfluence .com. So www .upmyinfluence
38:56
.com. And when you click on, when you go there,
38:59
you're going to see a button that's going to
39:01
say podcast, click on that button. And then you'll
39:03
see where we've got that. Hey, we're looking
39:05
for guests. And so you can click on that. So
39:07
that's number one. Number two, um, is I've gone
39:10
through, I would love to teach more about what
39:12
is working right now, but more importantly, what
39:15
are your peers already doing that? You know,
39:19
while you're, you know, picking your nose in
39:20
the DMS, um, you know, you've got, you know,
39:24
true business leaders. who have unlimited amounts
39:27
of business to do, and that's because they're
39:29
networking like leaders do. Stop with the selling.
39:33
Stop with the creepy lurking in the shadows kind
39:36
of stuff. You don't need to do that anymore.
39:38
You don't need to. Also, if you're B2B, I question
39:42
how much money you really need to spend in advertising
39:44
unless it's a different model, right? So you
39:47
could end up potentially saving yourself a lot
39:48
of money by, again, leading with a little bit
39:51
more generosity. So I do a free class with kind
39:53
of the audio equivalent. It's like an audio.
39:56
book, kind of put to some slides and stuff. And
39:59
I'll teach you step by step by step, exactly
40:01
how this works. And again, exactly what true
40:04
business leaders, collaboratively minded, you
40:07
know, generous in their heart and wildly successful.
40:12
I'll break down and tell you exactly what they
40:13
have already been doing. Um, while these gurus
40:16
are just trying to sell you into another program
40:18
that like kind of the stuff you're talking about
40:20
Ashley. No, thank you. I'd rather build my business
40:23
with class. I love that so much. And I have to
40:28
tell you, I've still been trying to get to that
40:29
revenue number that I know you want for some
40:32
of your guests. Yeah. And again, that free class
40:34
is at MyInfluence .com as well. And it's right
40:38
up there. I'd love to have you watch it. I'm
40:40
not going to sell you on anything. I mean, if
40:42
you're an adult, if you like what I do and you
40:45
can afford what I do, then we'll figure it out.
40:47
You know, if it's not that stage yet, it's okay.
40:50
You'll get there. We all do. Just stay in the
40:52
game. And honestly, and the big thing that's
40:55
coming through for me is I feel like every blogger
40:57
also needs a podcast. Yeah. There's a lot of
41:01
benefits there. I mean, because again, you can
41:02
record one thing and unlike Ashley, if you want
41:05
it to, I mean, you've probably have a good four
41:07
blog articles just based on the content. I don't
41:10
hide. I'm thrilled to help produce that for you
41:13
with you. Um, and it will make sure you get a
41:16
copy. Take the transcripts, feed it into chat.
41:20
GPT. Um, don't publish what chat GPD gives you.
41:23
I mean, to work on it, personalize it. Put your
41:27
own stories in there. Don't just spit out AI
41:31
content. That's, again, Google knows what you're
41:35
doing. Even, you know, people claim, oh, no,
41:38
no, no. Yeah, yeah, Google. You're not going
41:40
to outsmart. Don't try to outsmart Google. Just
41:44
work with Google. Be Google's best friend. and
41:48
just follow everything they tell you to do, best
41:50
practices, and so your AI content though will
41:53
at least get the ball rolling and give you something
41:56
that you can work with and become masterful at
42:00
copy editing. and working in stories and humanizing
42:04
and personalizing it. You know, pre -prompts
42:08
are really, really important. I mentioned this
42:11
earlier in tools like ChatGPT so that you tell
42:15
it exactly what the deal is. Yeah, because the
42:19
more information you give it, the better product
42:20
it can give you. I love it so much. There's been
42:23
a lot of golden nuggets that you've shared in
42:25
this. And I just want to say thank you so much
42:26
for taking your time to chat with me. And I can't
42:30
wait to see how the end product of this episode
42:32
turns out. Because I know that a lot of the things
42:34
you've said, people need to hear. They may not
42:36
want to, but they need to. Yeah. Well, listen,
42:39
we all want to celebrate you. I mean, if your
42:41
goal truly is to make an impact in the world,
42:44
then it is going to require some challenges to
42:49
your imposter syndrome. Everybody's got it. And
42:52
if you don't, you're not normal. And that's okay.
42:56
Like everybody show up scared. Do it scared.
43:00
And then keep doing it even when you're doing
43:03
it bored. So do it bored. I mean, that's atomic
43:06
habits right there. Do it scared at the beginning,
43:08
then do it bored to become a champion. Ah, good
43:12
stuff. Well, thank you again for being here.
43:14
Thank you, Ashley. So great being here. Well,
43:20
my bloggy friends, I hope you enjoyed all the
43:21
insights our guests had to share with you. To
43:23
get the show notes for this and all episodes,
43:25
go over to famousashleygrant .com backslash podcast.
43:29
And until next time, may your page views be high
43:31
and your bounce rate be low.
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