Why Major Media is Investing in Podcasters | Episode 119

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Welcome to Seasoned Women, Serious Business, the podcast for entrepreneurs

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aged 45 to 75 and beyond who've changed lives, challenged status

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quo, who are wise enough to want more and gutsy enough to create it.

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Join me, your host, Isabel Alexander, a seasoned business owner, as I

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serve up the Knowledge and best practices for life and business,

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along with unfiltered wisdom from other women entrepreneurs and leaders.

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Whether you're looking to reignite your passion for your business,

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unlock new ones that build your legacy or simply shake your head at the

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folly of underestimating ourselves.

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You are in the right place.

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We're serious about business.

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And we're serious about loving the life that we've worked hard to create.

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Stay tuned and be part of a community built on collaboration and collective

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wisdom that dismisses old paradigms and celebrates vibrant women just like you

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and our limitless potential at every age.

Isabel: 00:01:26

Okay, let's take this away because this is a double or maybe

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even a triple award for me today to be having a conversation with my

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guest today, Jennifer Henczel and the three reasons why I think this is

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spectacular is that, she's a Canadian.

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She is a podcaster, and she shares my first and highest value, and that

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is lifting as she climbs, because Jennifer is supporting, encouraging,

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and celebrating other women like me and like you in creating podcasts, sharing

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their wisdom, sharing their passion, sharing everything so generously.

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So welcome to Seasoned Women.

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Serious business, Jennifer.

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And you are obviously just lightly seasoned, not as seasoned as I am,

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but no doubt at all that you are very spicy and quite delicious.

Jennifer: 00:02:30

Thank you so much for having me.

Isabel: 00:02:32

You're welcome.

Isabel: 00:02:33

Now, before we take it away, because I want everybody to have the benefit

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of hearing about your journey and this evolution to bring you to

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where we are today, I want a full disclosure and full celebration.

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This podcast is being recorded in the month that we are voting, it's a People's

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Choice Awards, Women in Podcasting Awards, and I have been nominated in the

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category of business, and so that's how I came to be aware of Jennifer and have

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the opportunity to invite her to my show.

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If it so happens that you are listening to this episode before October the 1st,

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and I hope that you are, and you will share it with your friends, please vote

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for Seasoned Women Serious Business in the Business category, and you're

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darn sure that you will find the link in all of our podcast show notes and

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in the YouTube description, because we're offering you this in all formats.

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All right.

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Jennifer, please wind back a little bit from today and tell me what did

Isabel: 00:03:49

you do in your life and how did it bring you to where you are today?

Jennifer: 00:03:55

Yeah, thank you again for having me.

Jennifer: 00:03:57

And I do hope people vote for your show because it's an amazing show.

Jennifer: 00:04:00

You're doing great work.

Jennifer: 00:04:01

Yeah.

Jennifer: 00:04:01

The thing is for many years, I was a part time entrepreneur, and I was working

Jennifer: 00:04:05

full time, so I had my business on the side, and it always seemed like success

Jennifer: 00:04:09

was just around the corner, I was always trying to turn it into my full time gig

Jennifer: 00:04:13

so that I could do my business full time.

Jennifer: 00:04:15

And then finally in 2012, I was able to break free and turn my side

Jennifer: 00:04:18

gig into my full time income and my full time business, and a big part

Jennifer: 00:04:22

of that was fine tuning my mindset and learning how to build thriving

Jennifer: 00:04:27

communities around my message.

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And how to leverage my message and expertise and turn that into extra income.

Jennifer: 00:04:33

One of the main things about that was the first thing I did

Jennifer: 00:04:37

was I had to build a community.

Jennifer: 00:04:38

My journey started, I was at work one day and I got a phone call

Jennifer: 00:04:41

that nobody wants to receive.

Jennifer: 00:04:42

It was a phone call from my husband's boss.

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He said my husband was in a really bad accident and I should

Jennifer: 00:04:47

come to the hospital right away.

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And I got there.

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I didn't even recognize him at first.

Jennifer: 00:04:52

He had been crushed by 12, 000 pounds of wood, at work.

Jennifer: 00:04:55

12, 000 pounds of wood.

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He was unrecognizable.

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He survived, thankfully.

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It was a really long recovery and it really blew up our lives.

Jennifer: 00:05:04

But it really made me think that I was tired of living not the way I wanted

Jennifer: 00:05:09

to, I wanted to start living and thriving in my passion and my purpose.

Jennifer: 00:05:15

And what, one of the things that really spoke to me, was his courage.

Jennifer: 00:05:18

He was so courageous through the whole thing and, had a long recovery

Jennifer: 00:05:22

and still has multiple injuries.

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But, one of the things that really struck me was the communities that he was

Jennifer: 00:05:28

involved with in before his accident now rallied around him and they would show up.

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He was a volunteer football coach, for example, and we would have football kids

Jennifer: 00:05:39

and other football coaches come along and go, we're here for you, coach Paul.

Jennifer: 00:05:42

And that just really warmed my heart.

Jennifer: 00:05:44

It made me realize that I was missing that in the business world, that camaraderie.

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And so I invited other business owners to lunch one day.

Jennifer: 00:05:54

I wasn't very organized with it back then.

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I just was like, Hey, any business owners who wants to join me for lunch?

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To my surprise, 50 business owners showed up to the lunch and the little

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room I had reserved was overflowing.

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And to my surprise, of course, I wasn't the only one that was feeling isolated.

Jennifer: 00:06:10

That's the thing, I had become stuck.

Jennifer: 00:06:12

I had become isolated and stuck.

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So I recognized that much at that point at least.

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And that one meeting turned into a group and that group turned into a full network,

Jennifer: 00:06:21

and I had multiple chapters all throughout my region in different cities every week.

Jennifer: 00:06:27

I ended up doing over 600 events in the time I had that network,

Jennifer: 00:06:32

big and small events, we'd have conferences and things like that too.

Jennifer: 00:06:34

With the platform I had created, I also helped my husband go from an injured

Jennifer: 00:06:38

miil worker to an international speaker.

Jennifer: 00:06:39

He wrote a book about our story that I published, and then he

Jennifer: 00:06:42

did a TED talk called Silencing Stigma Through Storytelling.

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So now we both specialize in storytelling.

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His story was a big piece of his recovery and building a

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community around that story.

Jennifer: 00:06:53

So we really experienced that firsthand in our own personal life,

Jennifer: 00:06:56

and then in the network I created.

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Since then I've created several other thriving communities.

Isabel: 00:07:01

I'm blown away!

Isabel: 00:07:03

I'm blown away, and now even more honored to have you here to share some of this

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story, because that's truly inspiring.

Isabel: 00:07:13

I'm so connected with you on the fact that we do tend to function very much

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in isolation and in silos, particularly as small business owners, so bravo!

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I didn't know about this part of your journey, but it makes complete sense

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now; to where we are here today, and I'm very glad to hear that your husband

Isabel: 00:07:39

triumphed over something that was Wow.

Jennifer: 00:07:45

That's interesting that you say that.

Jennifer: 00:07:46

The book is called Crushed Alive, A Story of Tragedy to Triumph

Jennifer: 00:07:51

so yeah.

Jennifer: 00:07:52

It was, it's amazing.

Jennifer: 00:07:53

I found out one of the things I really had to fine tune was my mindset

Jennifer: 00:07:57

and I found out that you can't grow a community unless you learn how

Jennifer: 00:08:00

to become part of a community and for anything to work you need to

Jennifer: 00:08:03

build a community around it, right?

Jennifer: 00:08:05

And you need to build your circle of support around yourself because

Jennifer: 00:08:08

it's not going to build itself and people will show up if you show up.

Jennifer: 00:08:13

And you need to show up as yourself because, you need to put yourself

Jennifer: 00:08:17

in the position of experiencing the value of being connected and supported

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and being part of a community.

Jennifer: 00:08:24

And, the myth that the one who teaches the most, the one who builds the most

Jennifer: 00:08:27

brilliant website, the one who, hustles the most to exhaustion is the one that

Jennifer: 00:08:31

makes most money, but that's not true.

Jennifer: 00:08:33

It's not true.

Jennifer: 00:08:34

I found out, like you said, I was trying to do everything on my own island,

Jennifer: 00:08:37

hustle alone, hustle myself to death.

Jennifer: 00:08:40

I really was injuring myself, my physical body and my mental

Jennifer: 00:08:44

body, it just was not good.

Jennifer: 00:08:46

And I learned that when you are operating in your passion and

Jennifer: 00:08:49

purpose, It makes a huge difference.

Jennifer: 00:08:51

It really opens doors instead of closing doors, because

Jennifer: 00:08:55

that's why I was stuck before.

Jennifer: 00:08:57

So that mindset, that change in thinking of community and how community is

Jennifer: 00:09:02

and what role that plays in my life, which it plays a huge role in our

Jennifer: 00:09:06

life now, really changed everything.

Isabel: 00:09:08

Yeah, there's I think what comes out of what you're saying for me is,

Isabel: 00:09:12

thinking back to my similar journey, is that it creates energy instead of

Isabel: 00:09:18

depleting your energy in those situations, so if you're building the community

Isabel: 00:09:25

that also wants to support you, which apparently you are very good at doing.

Jennifer: 00:09:34

I love it.

Jennifer: 00:09:34

I love communities.

Jennifer: 00:09:35

I love connecting with people.

Jennifer: 00:09:37

So now I've created the Women in Podcasting Network and I created

Jennifer: 00:09:40

that because I wanted to connect with other women podcasters.

Jennifer: 00:09:42

So it's a total joy for me.

Jennifer: 00:09:45

It's an absolute joy for me to meet with you and to go on interviews

Jennifer: 00:09:48

and to meet other women podcasters.

Isabel: 00:09:50

All right.

Isabel: 00:09:51

I was very keen to talk about this because I love doing this and this

Isabel: 00:09:58

has been a journey since COVID.

Isabel: 00:10:01

I hadn't thought of myself being a podcaster or a YouTuber, but

Isabel: 00:10:06

my strength is communication.

Isabel: 00:10:08

According to the Gallup StrengthsFinder, that's my number one.

Isabel: 00:10:12

So Duh, it doesn't seem as a surprise now, right?

Isabel: 00:10:17

And I grew up in the era of television shows and talk shows.

Isabel: 00:10:21

So I always had a bit of a fantasy about this, but to be able to have this

Isabel: 00:10:26

virtual platform and create my own show and do it my way, authentically is wow!

Isabel: 00:10:36

It's an advantage today to have this technology, right?

Jennifer: 00:10:41

Absolutely.

Jennifer: 00:10:41

It's easier now more than ever.

Jennifer: 00:10:43

I actually studied, you won't believe this Isabel, but I studied podcasting for 10

Jennifer: 00:10:47

years before I started my first podcast.

Isabel: 00:10:49

No way.

Isabel: 00:10:50

Yeah,

Jennifer: 00:10:51

for 10 years.

Jennifer: 00:10:52

Whenever I have a student go, "Oh, I've been studying for a year or

Jennifer: 00:10:54

two and I still haven't done it."

Jennifer: 00:10:56

I'm like, Hey, I've got beat!.

Jennifer: 00:10:57

Can tell you the technology now is so amazing and simple, if someone

Jennifer: 00:11:02

has a message, I highly recommend it.

Jennifer: 00:11:04

I really believe that podcasting is going to become bigger and bigger

Jennifer: 00:11:07

because every community is going to have a podcast and every podcast is

Jennifer: 00:11:11

going to build a community around it.

Jennifer: 00:11:12

And it's just going to grow and grow.

Jennifer: 00:11:13

All the media companies are still investing in podcasting.

Isabel: 00:11:18

What a marvelous idea to think it will be the way that people can

Isabel: 00:11:21

be reconnected again, because I think generally in society and certainly in

Isabel: 00:11:26

families, we've rather than being the close knit nuclear families, because of

Isabel: 00:11:32

mobility now in our lives, we've become these disparate, extended families.

Isabel: 00:11:38

Not knowing my neighbors like I did when I grew up as a kid, you just touched on

Isabel: 00:11:43

a great idea that why couldn't we have a podcast for our high school reunion?

Isabel: 00:11:48

Why couldn't we have a podcast for cooking grandma's recipes?

Isabel: 00:11:52

Whatever, it's all possible, right?

Jennifer: 00:11:54

Totally.

Jennifer: 00:11:55

Totally.

Isabel: 00:11:56

Love it.

Isabel: 00:11:57

Okay.

Isabel: 00:11:57

I haven't gone back to finish the series yet, but I caught one of your podcasts

Isabel: 00:12:01

where you were talking about Descript.

Isabel: 00:12:04

And I went, Oh my God, I must have done something right because

Isabel: 00:12:09

Jennifer's talking about it.

Isabel: 00:12:11

There is, there's a plethora of options, tools out there, and

Isabel: 00:12:16

I know that you provide some training and support and coaching.

Isabel: 00:12:20

Is that something you suggest to people to find their forum to learn which

Isabel: 00:12:25

products or which technologies to try?

Jennifer: 00:12:29

Yeah, things are moving so quickly.

Jennifer: 00:12:31

You really need to be around someone who's keeping up with the pace of

Jennifer: 00:12:34

things and knows what's working or what's not working, or even sometimes

Jennifer: 00:12:38

when I haven't tried something yet, I'll be honest about that.

Jennifer: 00:12:41

I'll say, I'm trying this tomorrow.

Jennifer: 00:12:43

I just want to let everybody know about it.

Jennifer: 00:12:44

You might want to check it out now while it's still fresh and things like that.

Jennifer: 00:12:48

I'll let people know where I'm at with it.

Jennifer: 00:12:49

You don't have to be an expert in a whole bunch of technology

Jennifer: 00:12:52

before you start podcasting.

Jennifer: 00:12:54

It's just a matter of having a message and just start recording with what you have.

Jennifer: 00:12:57

I've probably had six or seven different mics.

Jennifer: 00:13:00

I just kept changing them or upgrading, I started with a less expensive one.

Jennifer: 00:13:04

I went up to really expensive ones.

Jennifer: 00:13:06

And now I'm back down to this one, for example, this is called a HyperX.

Jennifer: 00:13:09

It's actually a gaming mic, but I love it.

Jennifer: 00:13:12

I love it even better than the really expensive mics that I have.

Jennifer: 00:13:15

Podcasting is one of those things you have to learn by doing it.

Jennifer: 00:13:18

And your first episode is never going to be as good as your 10th episode.

Jennifer: 00:13:21

So it's one of those things you have to take the leap and try it.

Isabel: 00:13:25

And get over your own bad self that, Oh my God,

Isabel: 00:13:28

somebody's going to laugh at me.

Isabel: 00:13:30

We talked about this, in the green room, my 70th birthday is coming up in two

Isabel: 00:13:35

weeks from this recording, and one of the things that I just so love about

Isabel: 00:13:41

this stage of my life, this age is I give way less fucks for so many things now.

Isabel: 00:13:48

And whether somebody is going to be making fun of me, laughing at me, criticizing,

Isabel: 00:13:54

critiquing me, it doesn't matter.

Isabel: 00:13:57

This is your mindset conversation you began with.

Isabel: 00:14:00

I am doing this because I think I have something that is valuable to share to

Isabel: 00:14:05

at least one other person out there.

Isabel: 00:14:08

And it's that person that I'm talking to, not all the other

Isabel: 00:14:12

people that aren't doing anything.

Isabel: 00:14:15

Okay, off my soapbox.

Isabel: 00:14:17

I love it.

Isabel: 00:14:17

We're jumping around a bit, but, that's because I'm so enthusiastic about

Isabel: 00:14:22

everything I could ask you to share.

Isabel: 00:14:24

Go back to more like the business side, the statistics side of podcasting.

Isabel: 00:14:30

When did podcasting become a real thing?

Jennifer: 00:14:35

It's really gone in different waves.

Jennifer: 00:14:37

So it started in about 2003, 2004, . There's a number of

Jennifer: 00:14:41

grandfathers of the industry all in 2005, 2006 that you can see.

Jennifer: 00:14:45

I started studying it around 2010 One of the larger celebrity podcasts,

Jennifer: 00:14:50

that kind of got people into listening to podcasts, was Marc Maron.

Jennifer: 00:14:53

That was in 2009, I think, 2008, 2009.

Jennifer: 00:14:57

All the ones you've heard of that are really well known,

Jennifer: 00:15:00

started up around that time.

Jennifer: 00:15:01

And then what really kicked it off in the teens was a series called Serial.

Jennifer: 00:15:09

Have you ever heard of that?

Jennifer: 00:15:10

It's a murder mystery type.

Jennifer: 00:15:12

It was one of the first, real crime drama type podcasts.

Jennifer: 00:15:16

And so that picked up again, all the podcasting numbers.

Jennifer: 00:15:20

And then, we've seen lots of waves since then, of course, the pandemic.

Jennifer: 00:15:23

So before the pandemic, there was a million podcasts.

Jennifer: 00:15:26

Four years into the pandemic, four million podcasts.

Jennifer: 00:15:29

So it quadrupled within three or four years, right?

Jennifer: 00:15:34

Now we're stabilizing out at 4 million.

Jennifer: 00:15:36

Not all of those are really active, but just to give you an idea,

Jennifer: 00:15:40

there's billions of websites.

Jennifer: 00:15:42

But only four million podcasts.

Jennifer: 00:15:45

There's a big opportunity still, right?

Isabel: 00:15:46

And then, and there's much more than four million or billion,

Isabel: 00:15:51

billion topics, interest areas, niches.

Isabel: 00:15:55

Languages, communities, et cetera, right?

Isabel: 00:15:59

So I know that is often a concern with people that I talk to that,

Isabel: 00:16:04

oh it's too late for me to start.

Isabel: 00:16:06

We've reached saturation.

Isabel: 00:16:09

How would you respond to that statement?

Isabel: 00:16:17

We will be right back after a brief message from our sponsors.

Isabel: 00:16:21

This episode of Seasoned Women, Serious Business is brought to you

Isabel: 00:16:26

by Crossroads Clarity Solution.

Isabel: 00:16:28

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Isabel: 00:16:32

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Isabel: 00:16:38

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Isabel: 00:16:58

Find out why it works at CrossroadsClaritySolution.

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com and don't waste another minute of your future.

Isabel: 00:17:10

As promised, we are back with this episode, because you

Isabel: 00:17:13

are wise enough to want more.

Jennifer: 00:17:17

How I would respond with it is; you need to have the courage to know

Jennifer: 00:17:20

that, your ideas alone are not enough.

Jennifer: 00:17:22

You need to take the leap.

Jennifer: 00:17:24

You need to take action.

Jennifer: 00:17:25

You need to take inspired action and at least try something.

Jennifer: 00:17:27

For my 50th birthday, I went skydiving I had never been skydiving

Jennifer: 00:17:31

before, but I thought I'm going to try it for my 50th birthday.

Jennifer: 00:17:35

And by the way, I love my fifties.

Jennifer: 00:17:36

So this was a great way to kick off my fifties.

Jennifer: 00:17:39

I think my fifties are my favorite decade so far, for sure.

Jennifer: 00:17:42

We can talk about that but I was, so I went skydiving, we went up

Jennifer: 00:17:45

in the plane, higher and higher.

Jennifer: 00:17:47

I was doing fine until the door opened and people just are rolling

Jennifer: 00:17:50

out and falling out and jumping out.

Jennifer: 00:17:52

You've probably been on lots of planes like I have, and I wasn't used

Jennifer: 00:17:55

to seeing that on a plane, right?

Jennifer: 00:17:57

So it was my turn and we nudged towards the door and then you have

Jennifer: 00:18:00

to stand on a little step on the outside of the plane on a step.

Jennifer: 00:18:05

And so you can see the curve of the earth and everything.

Jennifer: 00:18:07

And that was the only time really where I felt filled with

Jennifer: 00:18:10

fear; right before the leap.

Jennifer: 00:18:12

We took the leap and only for about three to five seconds.

Jennifer: 00:18:16

I don't know if you know this, but only for about three to five seconds, if it

Jennifer: 00:18:19

feels like falling, Oh, I'm falling.

Jennifer: 00:18:21

And I was probably hollering, but after that you take the position and you

Jennifer: 00:18:28

don't feel like you're falling at all.

Jennifer: 00:18:29

You feel like you're floating.

Isabel: 00:18:29

No, I didn't know this.

Jennifer: 00:18:33

Then the view became beautiful and I could see all the locations in my

Jennifer: 00:18:37

town and it was absolutely spectacular.

Jennifer: 00:18:39

It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

Jennifer: 00:18:41

We landed safely, but I use that in my life all the time now to

Jennifer: 00:18:46

remember if I get that feeling of fear, or I'm saying, "Should I do it?

Jennifer: 00:18:50

Shouldn't I do it?

Jennifer: 00:18:50

Or should I take the leap and have the courage to do this?"

Jennifer: 00:18:53

Yes, because it's always just the most frightening right before the leap.

Jennifer: 00:18:57

You take that leap.

Jennifer: 00:18:58

On the other side of that fear is a beautiful view.

Isabel: 00:19:01

Love the image that you have painted with that!

Isabel: 00:19:05

Not to be a spoiler alert for you, but I believe that we will have

Isabel: 00:19:12

this conversation in your 60s.

Isabel: 00:19:15

You will say it's the best decade ever because you have that attitude to make

Isabel: 00:19:20

it and like me on the cusp, the 99.

Isabel: 00:19:23

9 percent edge of beginning my 70s, I strongly believe

Isabel: 00:19:31

that's going to be even better.

Isabel: 00:19:32

It's going to top all the other decades before.

Isabel: 00:19:35

This is just so great, especially because now we, women, if we choose,

Isabel: 00:19:42

have these opportunities to grow and expand and influence in ways

Isabel: 00:19:47

we'd never thought of doing before.

Jennifer: 00:19:51

Totally.

Jennifer: 00:19:51

And you know that community part of sticking together in

Jennifer: 00:19:54

a rising tide lifts all boats.

Jennifer: 00:19:56

And, because a football community kind of inspired me to start my

Jennifer: 00:20:00

communities, I like to say, drop the hustle and join the huddle.

Jennifer: 00:20:04

That's going to help you through all of these things.

Jennifer: 00:20:06

That's going to help you when you want to take the leap to charge up

Jennifer: 00:20:10

a new idea or to anything you want to do in life, you're going to have

Jennifer: 00:20:14

that support system around you.

Isabel: 00:20:16

That's so fabulous.

Isabel: 00:20:18

So what do you think the ratio of male to female host podcasts is?

Jennifer: 00:20:28

You know what?

Jennifer: 00:20:28

I haven't looked up any stats lately.

Jennifer: 00:20:30

At one point it was just, mostly male.

Jennifer: 00:20:33

And of course now since the pandemic lots and lots of women have come on.

Jennifer: 00:20:36

So I'm not sure what the stats are.

Jennifer: 00:20:38

I know it's still not 50 50.

Jennifer: 00:20:40

It's still really overwhelmingly male dominated and so that's one of

Jennifer: 00:20:44

my purposes, one of my missions with Women In Podcasting is to raise our

Jennifer: 00:20:49

voice in the podcasting industry as well as globally and in general.

Isabel: 00:20:55

Thank you for doing that.

Isabel: 00:20:57

Because, there are occasions where we all just need a cheerleader with

Isabel: 00:21:02

a good boot to push us forward.

Isabel: 00:21:04

So that's really great.

Isabel: 00:21:06

And what areas do you see women are stepping out in podcasting?

Isabel: 00:21:12

What categories, I guess I'd say?

Jennifer: 00:21:15

Oh, I am so amazed!

Jennifer: 00:21:17

I've seen every kind of category you can imagine.

Jennifer: 00:21:20

I am just amazed.

Jennifer: 00:21:21

I'm always surprised at the new niches that I hear.

Jennifer: 00:21:24

There's no end to ideas.

Jennifer: 00:21:26

You can take any niche and niche down or, create it, make it your own.

Jennifer: 00:21:31

And it is thrilling to me how creative women are, how what we're seeing come out

Jennifer: 00:21:35

of podcast now is just incredible, and I'm not just talking about quality alone.

Jennifer: 00:21:40

I'm talking about the ideas that are being ignited are astounding.

Jennifer: 00:21:45

My breath is taken away every day with what I'm seeing.

Jennifer: 00:21:48

It's just incredible!

Jennifer: 00:21:49

It's all about tapping into your passion and that's all about clarity.

Jennifer: 00:21:52

When we have clarity about ourselves and what our passion is, then we can

Jennifer: 00:21:57

help others in the world that have similar problems that we've encountered,

Jennifer: 00:22:01

or they need to overcome something.

Jennifer: 00:22:04

When you put your passion into the world, that becomes your purpose because

Jennifer: 00:22:07

you're putting action on your passion.

Jennifer: 00:22:09

You've taken the bold leap.

Jennifer: 00:22:11

That's the thing, that's what all of us women podcasters have in common.

Jennifer: 00:22:14

We've taken the bold leap to use our voices.

Jennifer: 00:22:17

and to get out there and express our message and share

Jennifer: 00:22:20

our message with the world.

Jennifer: 00:22:21

And that, to me, that's just incredible.

Jennifer: 00:22:23

I just I adore that.

Isabel: 00:22:26

I agree with you.

Isabel: 00:22:27

It excites me every day and it gives me a lot of confidence that the world

Isabel: 00:22:32

will become a better and better place.

Isabel: 00:22:34

Because again, what we talked about earlier, you're not in isolation, nor

Isabel: 00:22:39

are you being fed a orchestrated filtered story by some media outlet who has an

Isabel: 00:22:47

agenda based on sponsors or whatever.

Isabel: 00:22:50

That's the other thing about the rise of independent podcasters is that we tell

Isabel: 00:22:57

our unfiltered version of the truth.

Isabel: 00:23:00

It may not be everybody's truth, but it's our truth and that's where

Isabel: 00:23:04

you're attracting the community that shares that feeling with you, right?

Jennifer: 00:23:08

Totally, yes.

Isabel: 00:23:10

Maybe this is an unfair question, but I'm going to

Isabel: 00:23:12

put you on the spot anyway.

Isabel: 00:23:14

Is there an area of podcasting, let me say a category or a topic of podcasting

Isabel: 00:23:21

that you go, darn, we really need this, but I haven't found a woman

Isabel: 00:23:26

who wants to lean into that yet?

Jennifer: 00:23:30

There's not a lot of people teaching how to monetize.

Jennifer: 00:23:32

When I started Women in Podcasting Network, I specialize in monetizing

Jennifer: 00:23:37

and in ways other than sponsorship.

Jennifer: 00:23:39

I found that was lacking.

Jennifer: 00:23:40

That is a very specific slice of it, right?

Jennifer: 00:23:43

When I started my Women in Podcasting membership, I had 100

Jennifer: 00:23:47

members within the first 10 days And because there's such a need.

Jennifer: 00:23:52

There's lots of people out there teaching podcasting.

Jennifer: 00:23:54

I actually, if someone's wanting hands on, I've done, a master class on how to start

Jennifer: 00:23:59

and I know the things of how to start, but if someone really wants hand holding

Jennifer: 00:24:02

and step by step tutorials and things, I refer people to my coach for starting.

Jennifer: 00:24:07

But for monetizing, I've helped thousands and thousands of people through my

Jennifer: 00:24:12

programs, through my tools and templates to monetize and to grow their podcast.

Isabel: 00:24:17

Thank you for that, because having been at this now for more than

Isabel: 00:24:23

three years, I fully understand why Podfade is such a big thing, because

Isabel: 00:24:29

it does require an investment of not only time, but money to deliver a

Isabel: 00:24:36

podcast of quality and consistency.

Isabel: 00:24:40

Background you may know more because you're a fellow Canadian, but I

Isabel: 00:24:44

was one of Canada's top 100 women business owners for multiple years.

Isabel: 00:24:49

And so I have this very pragmatic side of me.

Isabel: 00:24:53

The other side is the passion and the enthusiasm, but nothing can continue

Isabel: 00:24:59

if it's not sustainable financially.

Isabel: 00:25:03

And certainly, It's also not sustainable if you are feeling stressed and

Isabel: 00:25:08

drained financially, that takes away your passion for doing it.

Isabel: 00:25:13

I really, what you're offering is extremely valuable.

Isabel: 00:25:18

And for anybody who's listening, if you're got a podcast or you're

Isabel: 00:25:22

thinking about getting a podcast, for God's sakes, be realistic about this.

Isabel: 00:25:29

Set it up with the end in mind that this is going to be rewarding,

Isabel: 00:25:33

if not financially, at least it's not going to be causing you stress

Isabel: 00:25:38

and sacrificing on the other end.

Jennifer: 00:25:41

Totally.

Jennifer: 00:25:42

I totally agree.

Isabel: 00:25:43

Tell me, you're looking back on this path that you've

Isabel: 00:25:47

taken, is there anything else that you would say, I wish somebody

Isabel: 00:25:51

told me that sooner in my journey?

Jennifer: 00:25:54

Yeah, there's a few things.

Jennifer: 00:25:55

When I was going to networking and things like, when I was still stuck in that part

Jennifer: 00:25:59

time gig, I would say things like, Oh, I can do marketing or I can do training.

Jennifer: 00:26:04

What kind of marketing or training do you want?

Jennifer: 00:26:06

Here's a whole list of things.

Jennifer: 00:26:08

That's not how to go about it.

Jennifer: 00:26:10

I don't doubt when people say they have lots and lots of experience for sure.

Jennifer: 00:26:14

I had lots of experience.

Jennifer: 00:26:16

It's not about that.

Jennifer: 00:26:16

It's not about telling everybody everything.

Jennifer: 00:26:19

It's about solving one problem.

Jennifer: 00:26:22

You get your foot in the door, you explain the solution, how you're going

Jennifer: 00:26:25

to solve just that one thing, and then you'll have an opportunity to, explore

Jennifer: 00:26:30

it and help the person explore the depth of your services that you can provide.

Jennifer: 00:26:35

But you need to just solve one solution.

Jennifer: 00:26:37

And I've seen Thousands now, thousands and thousands of introductions through

Jennifer: 00:26:42

my business network, which was all entrepreneurs, men and women, and

Jennifer: 00:26:46

then through the other communities like Women in Podcasting that I've

Jennifer: 00:26:48

created, I've seen thousands of introductions, elevator pitches.

Jennifer: 00:26:52

And the mistake people make is when they mention more than one thing,

Jennifer: 00:26:56

the people that mentioned one thing, Get lots of people lined up

Jennifer: 00:27:00

to talk to them afterwards, right?

Jennifer: 00:27:01

But the people that say, Oh, I can do this.

Jennifer: 00:27:04

And then I can do that.

Jennifer: 00:27:05

And then I can do this.

Jennifer: 00:27:06

A lot of times I'll be thinking, Oh, that first thing is amazing.

Jennifer: 00:27:08

But then they'll mention five things and I've lost what that person's about.

Jennifer: 00:27:13

It's not that you're narrowing yourself to that one thing.

Jennifer: 00:27:16

It's just that you're attracting people into your world.

Jennifer: 00:27:19

And then you can introduce them to the other things that you may have to offer.

Isabel: 00:27:22

Excellent.

Isabel: 00:27:23

That is a really laser focused point.

Isabel: 00:27:27

As part of the invitation to the show, I asked my guests to be prepared

Isabel: 00:27:32

to share a pearl of wisdom, which I like to share with my audience

Isabel: 00:27:36

and on my social media platforms.

Isabel: 00:27:38

I was very impressed with yours, which I'm now looking for in my notes,

Isabel: 00:27:43

it had to do with building bridges.

Isabel: 00:27:45

So I'll have you share that yourself correctly, but there's

Isabel: 00:27:49

another one that you just shared a brilliant pearl of wisdom.

Isabel: 00:27:52

And that is to really be very crystal clear about that one solution that you

Isabel: 00:27:58

provide when you introduce yourself.

Jennifer: 00:28:02

Yeah, know your audience and create that avatar.

Jennifer: 00:28:05

Sit down, spend the time.

Jennifer: 00:28:06

I've done training for a government funded entrepreneurial type place where people

Jennifer: 00:28:12

go through entrepreneurial courses and so I'll go in and teach once in a while.

Jennifer: 00:28:15

One of the main things, people want to always skip that

Jennifer: 00:28:17

step of creating the avatar.

Jennifer: 00:28:19

It's difficult because you might not know exactly the person but

Jennifer: 00:28:23

you can generalize at first and you'll get better and better at it.

Jennifer: 00:28:26

No companies know it.

Jennifer: 00:28:27

That's why people spend millions, billions on advertising because

Jennifer: 00:28:31

they don't know a hundred percent, but you can know somewhat.

Jennifer: 00:28:34

Create that avatar of who your ideal client is and then just serve them.

Jennifer: 00:28:39

Serve that one person!

Isabel: 00:28:40

Do you think that it's connected perhaps to fear of missing

Isabel: 00:28:46

out , something or not being enough?

Isabel: 00:28:49

Is that it?

Isabel: 00:28:50

So we're trying to jam as much as possible in, but if you are very

Isabel: 00:28:56

clear on your purpose, then you can be clear on your introduction.

Jennifer: 00:29:03

Absolutely.

Jennifer: 00:29:04

Yep.

Jennifer: 00:29:04

That's exactly, I remember feeling that way.

Jennifer: 00:29:06

Totally.

Isabel: 00:29:07

And I've felt that way every time I started something new.

Isabel: 00:29:11

I've had multiple businesses and I've run other people's businesses and I work with

Isabel: 00:29:16

other clients, but it's the same thing.

Isabel: 00:29:18

It's " oh yeah, but maybe that's the favorite puppy."

Isabel: 00:29:22

right?

Isabel: 00:29:22

So how do you send the others off to camp while you invest your time in that?

Isabel: 00:29:28

All right, I wanted to go double back because I feel badly

Isabel: 00:29:30

about your Pearl of Wisdom.

Isabel: 00:29:33

I'm going to just pop back here into my notes because it is such a good one.

Isabel: 00:29:39

And I loved it because you say that this is your birthday

Isabel: 00:29:44

wish that you post every year.

Isabel: 00:29:48

"Build Bridges, Not Walls."

Isabel: 00:29:52

I truly identified with that because my first podcast was named for my life's

Isabel: 00:29:59

mantra, which is Lift As You Climb.

Isabel: 00:30:03

Those bridges are that form of helping people get to their destination.

Isabel: 00:30:10

Before I let you go this time ,And I'll underline that point this time,

Isabel: 00:30:14

I'd love to hear about the experience and the outcomes and celebrate the

Isabel: 00:30:20

winners of Women in Podcasting Awards.

Isabel: 00:30:23

And I would like to hear more about how you figured out the ways that you

Isabel: 00:30:30

support other women to really grow and flourish in podcasting and just in

Isabel: 00:30:35

confidence and in their own businesses.

Isabel: 00:30:39

I'd love to end with one fun fact.

Isabel: 00:30:43

You are a very Public Person but there must be something we might

Isabel: 00:30:47

not find easily about you on Google.

Isabel: 00:30:53

What would that be?

Jennifer: 00:30:54

Oh yeah, I think one thing is; I was an Extra when I was

Jennifer: 00:30:58

younger, in the movies and TV shows.

Jennifer: 00:31:01

I didn't have ambitions to be an actor.

Jennifer: 00:31:02

It was literally just extra work.

Jennifer: 00:31:04

I was on 21 Jump Street, MacGyver, a bunch of things like that in the early nineties.

Jennifer: 00:31:10

And then my kids became extras and they've done extra work.

Jennifer: 00:31:13

They've done way more extra work than me throughout the years.

Jennifer: 00:31:16

That's not their main thing either.

Jennifer: 00:31:17

My daughter is an actor, but does background work too.

Jennifer: 00:31:20

And yeah, so we're a background Family!

Isabel: 00:31:24

That is so cool!

Isabel: 00:31:25

Now you see I would not have guessed that!

Jennifer: 00:31:28

If you ever look at old 21 Jump Street, and you see someone with

Jennifer: 00:31:32

giant blonde hair, it could be me.

Jennifer: 00:31:35

There's lots in there, but one of them could be me.

Isabel: 00:31:37

All right, Jennifer, thank you so very much for taking this time with me

Isabel: 00:31:42

and warming up my birthday celebration.

Isabel: 00:31:47

I truly wish every woman who has been nominated for Podcasting Awards, absolute

Isabel: 00:31:55

highest and best outcome and keep on delivering messages out there to us all.

Isabel: 00:32:03

I look forward to talking to you soon.

Jennifer: 00:32:06

Thank you so much.

Isabel: 00:32:07

Bye bye.

Isabel: 00:32:14

Thank you for spending your time with us today on Seasoned Women, Serious Business.

Isabel: 00:32:19

We really value you and are thrilled to be part of your journey.

Isabel: 00:32:23

If you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe to the channel and then share it

Isabel: 00:32:28

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Isabel: 00:32:32

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Isabel: 00:32:37

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Isabel: 00:32:42

Now, if you'd like to share your wisdom or become a co host or a

Isabel: 00:32:46

show sponsor, please reach out to me at hello at theencorecatalyst.

Isabel: 00:32:51

com or visit our website, seasonedwomenseriousbusiness.

Isabel: 00:32:57

com.

Isabel: 00:32:59

Also, I'd appreciate it if you submit questions and suggestions for future

Isabel: 00:33:04

topics and guest experts to interview.

Isabel: 00:33:08

Let's lift as we climb, magnify our impact, and create more

Isabel: 00:33:13

for ourselves and others.

Isabel: 00:33:16

Until next time, keep thriving, keep vibing, and keep living your legacy.