🎉 200 Episodes! Is It Time to Burn It Down?

Jaclyn Mellone

Welcome to Go-to Gal episode number 200, two freaking hundred. As always, I say it like it is SOP that I’m your host, Jaclyn Mellone. And as you can tell, today’s episode is a big deal. At least I’m trying to make it a big deal. And not for you, although, I am here for you making it a big deal. But I’m honestly trying to make it a big deal for me. So, okay, I’m sure you have heard other podcasts where the host is celebrating 50 episodes, a hundred, 200, 500 a thousand, and all the milestones. And it is exciting. Here’s the thing. I have been at 200 episodes before. So with my first podcast, as you may or may not know, with All Up In Your Lady Business, we got to over 300, a little over 300 episodes. I’d have to look back to tell you precisely how many. But I feel like it was 311 or something. So I’ve already celebrated. My brain is like, we’ve already been there, done that. We’ve already celebrated 200 episodes. It’s really not that big of a deal, Jaclyn. You’ve already done this.

And well, factually accurate, but yes, I have hit that 200-episode milestone before. It is different and it is a big deal. And you know what? Consistency is something that I’m not really a fan of, and also not all that great at. And so, when I have something like this, I’m sharing this because whether you’re awesome at being consistent or you suck at it as I do, we got to take the time to celebrate and acknowledge these types of milestones. If you’re a podcaster, for sure. But if you’re a YouTuber or if you create on other platforms like blogging, whatever else you’re doing, yes, it’s great to have goals and celebrate milestones that are on results and about outcomes. But I also think that it’s great for us to celebrate the milestones, those mile markers along the way that are not based on the results, that are not celebrating the outcome of something, but that is celebrating the work, that is celebrating showing up, that are celebrating parts that maybe don’t get celebrated. And so that’s also why I’m like, okay, we’re doing an episode 200. Oh, we have so many amazing interviews coming up. It’s actually painful for me to wait because I’m like, I want to. I’ve actually been talking about many of the interviews coming up with my clients and students and like, it’s coming. But we talked about this, and what do you think? And I cannot wait to share them with you. So get ready for some amazing content in the coming weeks. But I felt like it was important for us to have this conversation. So as we celebrate episode 200 of the Go-To Gal Podcast, I want to share a few things with you. So at the time of this recording, I have an idea of what I want the title to be for this episode, but I don’t know if we’re actually going to go with it or not. But the idea in my head is to tease you a little bit with a title that’s like, should we burn it all down to the ground? I don’t know if that will actually be the title that we go with or not, but you may or may not be coming into this episode being like, is she quitting the podcast? This is a big deal. Doesn’t she teach on podcasting? How could that be? 

So, okay. One, no. If I did go with that title, I’m totally teasing you. I’m definitely not quitting the podcast. However, there is something in the air. And I know I have this feeling about maybe some certain social media platforms. I’ve been having conversations with clients about them stepping away from platforms that they have, or entire social platforms or businesses, a total pivot or rebrand. And it feels like there are just some of that energy in the air right now of, you are ready for a change. And whether that is just simplifying things or streamlining, or going in a totally different direction or the direction you feel pulled in, or whatever it is, I think there’s something going on right now with that. And so, one, I wanted to address that, that maybe you are thinking about quitting your podcast or shutting down your Instagram account, or quitting TikTok, if you’re on TikTok but probably not. I don’t know. Maybe you are on TikTok. Oh, so here’s the thing. Maybe you have a podcast, maybe you’re on another platform, maybe you’re thinking that you’re at that stage where you’re like, is it worth it? Should I keep publishing? Should I keep this YouTube channel? Should I keep this podcast going? And you might be evaluating those things. I think this time of year, just in general, I feel like there’s an energy out there of re-evaluation, and that is a good thing. Taking that time to be like, do I want to keep doing what I’m doing? Making that decision to either move forward or to not is the best possible thing you could do. So, one, if you are a podcaster or a creator on another platform, don’t feel guilty for having those thoughts. Recommit or don’t, all in or not in. Oh, being in that middle ground is just not fun. And I think your community can really feel that. 

I wanted to take a little bit of a different approach with this episode. Because I was thinking about it and I’m like, okay, well, what am I going to talk about for episode 200? And I think for 100, I may have talked about the things that I learned or did. And so, I want to go the opposite direction for this one and tell you the three things that I avoided in order to get here, in order to get to this episode 200-mark. And these are things that if you’re looking to grow a platform over the long-term that you’re going to want to avoid as well. Now, that said, I’m also going to talk at the end a little bit about how do we evaluate if you should be leaving what you’re doing or stopping what you’re doing? I feel like having this conversation without including that would just be incomplete. So we’ll touch on that a little bit at the end, but first, let’s kick off with the three things I avoided on my way to episode 200.

All right, these three are in no particular order. So I’m just going to get started. The first thing that I have avoided and have really had to work hard at avoiding over these past 200 episodes, but I’ve been podcasting for a while. I’ve been podcasting since the fall of 2015. So this has been something essential for me to avoid during my entire podcasting journey. What is that? Boredom. Now, listen. I am motivated by fun. You probably have heard me talk about my posted note, fun is my fuel, right on my computer here. So I’m basically allergic to boredom. So yes, I have to avoid boredom with everything or else it doesn’t get done. But I will say when you have a platform that you’re committed to, and whether it’s a podcast or something else, and you’re talking about certain things or to a specific audience, it’s easy to get bored over time.

Because you’re like, I feel like I’m saying the same thing, or I feel like I’m talking to the same people, or whatever. It’s just like a lot of the same, and maybe for the people watching, it feels newer for Asher. Maybe you constantly have new people coming in and watching you, and so they don’t notice at all that it’s similar or the same. But for you, you might be bored, like really bored with what you’re doing. And I want to be honest with you. There have been times, not long periods of times, but there have been times where I caught myself getting to that place where I was like, ah, I have to record today or, oh, I got interviews today, which is so not like me. I get so excited about the interviews that I do. Especially it’s like, oh, I get to connect with these amazing humans and a lot of them are already known. And it’s like, yes, a chance to see my friends in chat, or someone new like, yes, we get to connect with someone new. So that’s something I always really look forward to. And for me to not be excited, that’s not a good thing. So why, what did that look like? And it’s those little moments of me listening to that uncomfortable, piton. And for me, it was like that pit in my stomach of like, oh, I don’t want to do this. But like, I should want to do it. I should. I love this. This is what I do. And so, instead of ignoring that or powering through it, I, during those times and there’s probably been, I’m not going to break down all of them, but there’s probably been three that come to mind over the years where I’ve had that feeling. And this is all for Go-To Gal. This is not even with All Up In Your Lady Business. It’s a whole nother story and totally with the same philosophy as that podcast. But with Go-To Gal, these were the times where I was like, you know what, okay, I’m getting rid of my question sheet and I’m just going to really be present in the conversation. Or even this year, you may have noticed a shift in the way the interviews happened. And that’s because even with me, even with me showing up at interviews without prescripted questions, it just being present and following my natural curiosity and letting the conversation go where it goes, I was still craving more from those conversations. And I realized that’s when I am talking with my friends that are often on the podcast, or with clients or mentors or meeting someone new that what’s different about that. Why am I so lit up and inspired and engaged and all the things about those conversations? And why am I not totally feeling that about some of the recent conversations happening on the podcast? And what I realized was, I was getting inspired for talking to the person. And there’s this little voice in my head that was like, well, they’re the guests. You don’t want to let them do all the talking. And so I would try not to share too much, or I would just be like, oh, I love that. Oh, that’s great. And side comments, but not really going deeper. Asking questions but did not contribute the way that I would normally contribute in a conversation. I felt that disconnect and that was making me feel not as fulfilled with that. I don’t know, bored might be a little bit dramatic, but I’m a little bit dramatic.

Okay, so I was starting to get bored. And by listening to that and saying, you know what, I can make my own rules for my podcast. I’m allowed. Hopefully, if you listen, you also want to hear from me and a story that fits into the dialogue that we’re diving into. And so this year, we’ve really shifted and we tell our guests ahead of time. Sometimes they’re more on this path than others. I’m still navigating how exactly to do that with guests. But as a whole, I’ve been sharing more even during the interviews. And that has, I think, given them something more to bounce off of. It feels more like a real conversation which is exactly what I want, and hopefully, what you want too. It’s not this, oh, they have prescripted answers to questions and they just pop around the podcast and deliver on the same stories. What’s the point? And so I really look to give you something different here and to dive deeper, and maybe touch on things that are not brought up in other interviews and make it a real dialogue. I think it plays a big part in that. 

Number one, avoid boredom. I was going to say like the plague. I feel like, too soon, too soon, or doesn’t really, I don’t know. So avoid boredom. It doesn’t need a qualifier. Just avoid it. If you feel yourself getting bored with what you’re doing, think about what you can do to make it more fun, to get yourself re-engaged, to tap back into that inspiration that just natural flood of energy that you had when you first started doing it. Hopefully, what would it take to get you back there, to get your brain back engaged in that way? And I think when we show up with that kind of energy, I think our communities can feel it. There are certain things you just can’t fake. Maybe on other platforms, it’s easier to fake stuff. I felt like on a podcast, I don’t know. I have a terrible poker face. I probably also have a bad poker voice. I don’t know if that’s a thing. But I feel like you could tell. If I’m not myself, I feel like you could probably tell. Oh, and the listen, there were a lot of months this year that I was not myself. So you might be listening now and being like, oh, Jaclyn, you sound a little bit different. You sound a little bit more, I don’t know, goofy or loud or whatever. And yes, it’s because I am. Over the summer, I was really dragging. And so I had moments of feeling good, I had moments of happiness and excitement and enthusiasm. The whole problem was my energy was not there. And so it probably sounds different. I don’t try to mask that. But in general, I probably would be horrible because like I said, no poker voice here. Okay, basically, you got to avoid boredom because if you’re bored, your people are going to be bored and they’re going to check out, and then it’s just going to be this whole downward spiral. So where are you feeling bored in your business, and how can you inject some enthusiasm? 

Okay, number two. I spent way longer on that than I thought I was going to, but hello, I’m a Chatty Cathy, what can I say? Okay, number two. Oh, this should probably be number three, because this is like the biggest one that everyone gets hung up on, but it’s number two. So here it is. Data, the drama of the data. Now, everyone, all these business coaches, marketing people are out there telling you, look at the data, make data-driven decisions. And I don’t disagree. I think there’s a lot of times where we purely make emotional decisions, or we make decisions just in a vacuum and don’t involve the data in a way that we should have, in a way that we can really tap into that data and make much better decisions based on it. However, with some things and probably with most things, but I’m thinking right now about podcasts. But this, I think this conversation applies to more than just podcasts so I’m trying to make it apply to multiple platforms. But there’s another word that I’m thinking of. 

Yes, data is important. But sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in the, oh, in data at a context or in just, I don’t want to say vanity numbers because you may tell me like, listen, the number of downloads, that’s not a vanity number. That’s real like, how many people are listening? Yes, I don’t want to dispute that with you. But here’s the thing, growing a business and growing a podcast is not always, and I’m going to say probably rarely ever, linear. This is one of the biggest misconceptions in, I’m going to say our online business world, but probably just in the world. Oh, that’s my beep that the kids are getting off the bus soon. Luckily, I can see the bus enter the neighborhood so  I got some more time. But this I may need to record part two another time.  This will likely all be one episode, and you won’t know the difference because thanks to editing technology. However, a little behind the scenes there. 

Okay, so back to data. Oh, linear business, yes, okay. Here we are. I found, thank you, Jaclyn. Thank you timer. Got it. I know. Okay in business, people tell you like, oh, you’re at this level. And then next month, make more. And listen, I’m here for the best month ever whenever you want it. But sometimes there are months of the year that you’re going to make less. And sometimes there are years that you’re going to make less than the year before. And with a podcast, sometimes your listeners are going to go up, sometimes they’re going to go down. And if we let ourselves get caught up in that, in just the pure numbers of listeners, or if you’re looking at your Instagram account, the number of followers, or your email list, the number of subscribers. If you just look at those oversimplified top-line numbers,  sometimes you’re missing the magic of the context of the data.  And especially with something like a podcast that is such a powerful nurturing tool.

With a podcast, you have the ability to connect with your community in a much more intimate, long-form way than most other forms of content allow you. Most people aren’t going to watch hour-long videos every week of me, or maybe of you. Wherewith a podcast, we hang out together. I’m part of what you’re doing right now. You’re likely not sitting there staring at a wall, just listening to this episode. You’re multitasking. And as a podcaster, we get to be a part of that. So that’s really powerful. And sometimes that doesn’t directly translate to the listeners are always growing, or I see exactly how many people are coming every single month from the podcast onto my email list or buying something. Sometimes it’s not that tangible. However, taking a step back and giving more context, looking at the full picture, why are listeners going down? Maybe you don’t know. That’s okay. But maybe we give it a little time to figure out. Maybe you’re still figuring out what your show is really all about and who that target audience is.

So as you narrow down, some people are going to leave.  But then you’re going to find the right people. Maybe you can’t track how many leads you’re getting or sales you’re getting from the podcast. But if everyone who buys from you listens,  there’s something there. Or if the speaking opportunities you’re getting are referencing the podcast, or the media you’re getting,  or maybe just looking at who you get to interview and talk to on your show and how that is a really amazing, uncomparable networking tool to basically open up any door you want with another leader in your industry. So what are your goals and how can that podcast help support them? I’m jumping ahead here. But look beyond just the simple data to really look at everything in context and get the full picture before getting caught up in, oh, my numbers are down. My numbers are down, they shouldn’t be, or I want to be topping the charts and I’m not. I’m not ranking. I’m whatever, and getting all strung out on that, which is so easy to do.  I actually would rather take a step back and don’t even like, if you can, don’t even look at your stats for a little bit.  Look at these other things that are happening and select some of those that you want to use as that measurement for what success is, not the listeners, not the followers, not the subscribers. 

For me, avoiding the data has allowed me to grow. And that’s not because, and listen, I pay attention. I don’t want to say I totally avoid the data. But I don’t look at it every day or even every month, and there have been times where I haven’t looked at it for a lot longer than a month. Especially with Jessica and I, in the early days of our first podcast, we barely even looked at the data. And I think that’s what kept us focused on the things that mattered instead of, oh, we’re up a little, we’re down a little. And listen, I really want to enforce that the data doesn’t always have to be linear. You’re not always going to be growing.  This year, we were down numbers in late spring and summer, and now we’re up. And I don’t make any of that mean anything. I’m not like, oh, we’re doing the best ever right now. And over the summer, I wasn’t like, oh my God, everybody hates the podcast. It’s not like the numbers were that dramatic, but it’s easy to get caught up in that. So knowing that, at least for us, you guys tend to listen less than the summer and more this time of year. So I take that into account. And that’s the type of data, that’s the type of knowledge that I have had after doing this for so many years. If it’s your first year or two in podcasting, you may not know what those trends look like for your own audience. And they may be very different in the trends that I’m seeing with my audience. So when we get caught up in that, when we make it mean something that it doesn’t necessarily mean that’s what I’m getting at here. That’s what’s going to prevent you from being able to grow in the long run. 

Even at the beginning of Go-To Gal, I rebranded this feed and I anticipated a drop in numbers. There were a lot of changes going on. The new theme of the podcast and a more focused topic just with me, not a co-host. Oh, and even just the fact that I was changing the name and the cover art, people may not even recognize it in their players. All of those things contributed to us losing listeners at first. And I anticipated that. So I mentally prepared myself. But I think that energetically, that just set me up for a place of being detached from those numbers and being more focused on my vision for this show and you, and what you want, and what we’re creating that’s really helping in connecting with you the most. That’s what I care about,  not the details of the data. So it’s nuanced. It’s not like, dig your head in the sand and no one’s listening, and pretend that that’s not the case. But sometimes you have to do that for a period of time as you’re building your audience, as you’re building the right audience. And for me, those times were, yes, some of it is seasonal.  But other times where we’ve seen growth or dips,  it’s been times where it’s allowed me to refocus, recenter, refine,  and really get clear on who we’re creating for,  and what we’re creating, and how we can make it better.  And not make it mean anything about me or you or the show or podcasting, in general, or life in general. It’s easy to draw those grand conclusions sometimes when we get really caught up with it. 

Okay, let’s move on to number three. The third thing that I had to avoid on our way to episode 200. So the third thing is avoiding, how do I want to say this? Avoid attempting perfection, because I can’t say avoiding perfection because that’s not possible. We know that. There was no scenario where I’m going to create something perfect or where you’re going to create. Perfect does not exist. So to say avoiding perfection, it means that that’s even on the table. So it’s avoiding the attempt at perfection, avoiding trying to be perfect. So what does that mean, what does that look like? Now, there are layers to this as with anything. And I think the one that people talk about the most, just not what I think that even matters the most, but I’m just going to say it first because it’s probably what you’re expecting. The one that people talk about the most is appearing to be perfect myself,  or even within the editing of my mess-ups or where I’m like, what was I going to say? And we leave that stuff in because, oh my gosh, if I tried to edit out every little, there would be no episode left. I don’t, as you can very much tell, I do not prescript these solo episodes so I don’t do a ton of them because I need to have enough space in my calendar. I need to have mental clarity, I need to have the quietness in the house to be able to just talk. I literally have on my white, technically it’s a pink board. On my dry-erase board on my wall, I literally have boredom, data, trying for perfection with little dashes. And those are my notes for the show. So I riff, and that’s how I like to create the best, but I also have to be in a certain frame of mind in order to do this and have it be somewhat coherent for you. 

And as I was saying, where was I going with this? But with the perfection. So some of it is in the show itself. And different shows are going to have different styles. And we certainly, don’t want to embarrass guests or have them feel uncomfortable about how we’re airing things, certainly if my dog is barking like crazy and being a big jerk. We edit that out because I don’t want your ears to have to go through that. But for the most part, if it’s not interfering with the experience of you listening,  or if it’s not a total like, oh, nope. We’re not like,  I said that total wrong way, and I’m going to resay it again.  We leave it in.  And that simplifies the editing process, but more importantly, I think it just creates a better connection. Where if it’s this very, some people edit out like their breaths. It’s like, oh my gosh. One, when you have those types of standards, yes, you can hire out. And we have, I don’t edit the podcasts myself. I have a production team that helps with that, that does that. But if you’re doing it yourself, oh my gosh, it’ll be forever. I let them edit for the most part. Maybe there are one or two episodes throughout the course of the year where we’re all, get in there and give some thoughts. I really trust their ear, I was going to say their eyes, but their ear to that. And for you, if you’re doing it for yourself, for someone else, if you’re trying to make it perfect, that’s going to hold you up. And the more roadblocks you have like that,  the harder it’s going to be to publish and to publish consistently. So that is one piece of it. There are so many elements to this of trying to be perfect. With your words, trying to be perfect. Again, it’s going to make it harder to create. If I scripted this all out and I would spend hours writing and rewriting the content, oh my gosh. 

Now, some of you may need that as podcasters and that’s fine. But even if you’re writing first, how can you give yourself a little bit more grace and not try to have that be perfect. I’m not recording and re-recording this content. There’s maybe an extra three to five minutes that you’re listening, that you’re not listening to out of this whole episode. So it’s not really taking me that much more time, is what I’m trying to say, than the time of the episode. If you are writing, how can you write it out in a way that is not taking you hours and hours? And I say this because if it’s taking you a long time trying to be perfect, that’s going to get in your way of publishing consistently. There’s going to come to a point in time and you’re like, I’m spending this many hours doing something and I’m not getting that return on it. And that’s because it’s a disproportionate amount of time, and this is for podcasting. But this goes for other things too. And believe me, I am very much a struggling, recovering perfectionist in many ways. I feel like the podcast is the easiest for me at this point. But I understand it in other ways, I really do. If this is you, I get it. And it’s something I need to constantly remind myself of. I feel like with the podcast, I’ve disconnected a bit, which is good, of the meeting the perfection. So I encourage you to find a way to do that if you are a second to that.

But this goes beyond that too. Sometimes you haven’t even started a podcast yet because you’re like, I don’t have a perfect idea or the perfect photo for the cover art, or the perfect place to record. I don’t have a studio. I record in to my office, I’m very fortunate and grateful for my office. But my office is the room that I say, if we were grownups, it would be the dining room. But it’s got bay windows, this is certainly not the best sound environment. I don’t even have doors. There are doorways. Someday, I’ll get doors for the room. But I don’t want to right now. So I record when no one’s home other than Lou, and hope he behaves. And that’s that. Sometimes the people are mowing the lawn out the window, and I hope you guys can’t hear, but it is what it is. So if you’re trying to wait for that perfect scenario, that perfect environment, that perfect place to record, that can hold you up. Even the show itself. So for our first podcast, I keep referencing All Up In Your Lady Business, but hey, I’ve been podcasting a long time and it’s hard to talk about these first 200 without talking about, I guess my first 300+ episodes.

For that show, 300+ episodes, we did not do intros. So we had a prerecorded introduction, and then we would just start the show because we just couldn’t get it together to do intros. It was hard enough to align our two calendars to do the episodes, and we just wouldn’t do an intro. And when we had a guest, we just didn’t do it. And so we just said, you know what, we’re going to stop feeling bad or trying to get this on our calendar and stressing out, and we’re just going to not do them. And it made things so much easier. And people still listened, and the show still grew. So yes, I do intros now. But as you’ve noticed, I don’t have a prescripted little jingle intro in the beginning. It’s a little ridiculous, I totally should. In the beginning, I wasn’t sure what I wanted it to be. Now, I pretty much know what I want it to be. I just haven’t done it yet. But that doesn’t stop me from publishing. I’m not like, ah, the podcast on hiatus. We need a real intro or let me not publish this show. It was important to me that when we stopped one that I started Go-To Gal right after, and I could have tried to make it perfect and held off on that. Or I probably could have created something perfect and published it, but I just didn’t. And so we just went with it, and then here we go. It’s fine. So someday, I’ll have one and that’ll be great too. And for those of you that are new, you’ll get like a little oh, okay. That’s what the show is all about. Sure, it would help. The best thing to do would be to do that. But we don’t have that, and that’s okay. And that’s what I’m trying to say here is that all of those things that you’re lining up that are either keeping you from getting started, keeping you from keeping going, keeping you from inviting the guests you want to invite. Oh, I need to have all this stuff perfect first, all of that, that’s what’s holding you back. It’s holding you back. So embrace the imperfect leaps and embrace the not trying to be perfect,  and keep going. And for me, that has been absolutely critical to keep things going. And I’ve shared that like, especially it was just last year and a half, I’ve had a lot of emotional ups and downs, and being able to show up in those moments and perfectly has been very freeing and has absolutely contributed to that consistency and longevity.

Okay, so to wrap this all up, I felt like it would be irresponsible to just talk about, oh, these are the things that I avoided to keep going for 200 episodes without acknowledging the fact that maybe you have a podcast or YouTube channel or an Instagram account or a Facebook group or a blog or some other platform that you’re evaluating, or you should be evaluating whether you should keep doing it or not. And maybe the answer is to keep doing it, maybe the answer is to not keep doing it. So while these three tips on what to avoid to keep going are really powerful and they’ve helped me a lot, and have got me through those times where maybe someone else would have stepped away or would’ve gotten scared or over-thought it, or whatever it was. But when it comes to you and your business, I want to make sure that I’m cautious with how I’m using this platform.  And that I’m not irresponsibly giving advice like, yes,  push through, keep going no matter what, because that’s just not the case. There are legitimate times where it’s time to step away or rebrand or pivot or just burn it all to the ground. And I’ve been there for all of them. I’ve seen most of my clients go through all of them too. So I wanted to give you some pointers. 

I do think that making this decision in a vacuum is probably not a good idea, depending on what it is. I realize that I’m a verbal processor, and not everybody is a verbal processor. And I also don’t want you to, this is a personal decision. Even if you were my client right now, or even if you are my client or a student, I’m not going to tell you to shut it down. You need to stop doing that platform. I’m probably not going to say that. In 99.9% of cases, I would not say that because this really comes down to a personal decision. There’s no one right or wrong answer. I do certainly have questions that I would ask you to help you make the best decision for you. And I want to give you some of those now, so you can start to navigate this. But I don’t want you to be influenced by other people. I also feel like sometimes it helps to have this conversation with your coach, with a coach, with a friend, with your mastermind, with someone just so you’re not doing it entirely by yourself. But also maybe go into those conversations and say, I don’t want you to make this decision for me, but I would love good questions to help me make the best decision for me. So if you are going, I do encourage you to talk to someone else or multiple someone else’s about this if you are evaluating. But you might need to guide the conversation because some people think that making that decision for you is what you’re looking for and is helpful. And I really don’t advise that. 

Okay, so some questions. To start the questions off, I would say, let’s zoom out. The big question, what are your goals? What are your goals? What are your business goals for this coming year? What are they for three years, five years? I don’t expect you to have really specific goals for three years and five years, but having some idea of the direction of your business after the next year, I think is important to keep in context when making these decisions. So what is it that you are working towards? What are those goals? And then once you know what that is,  how is this platform, just going to use the word platform here because it applies to all of these,  how is this platform supporting those goals? Think about it, write it out, journal on it. What are all the ways that it is currently supporting those goals? Now, here’s where you get a little bit creative. What are the ways that it could be supporting those roles?   Those are goals, I said, roles. What are the ways that it could be supporting those goals?  So sometimes, we’re using a platform and we’re underutilizing it. So let’s say, for a podcaster,  you might want to use your podcast to sell your courses or your coaching.  But maybe all of your episodes are interviews and your audience is not really getting a chance to get to know you and your expertise. So maybe it’s not supporting your goals in terms of bringing in those clients, but it could be if you were creating different types of content. Or if your goal is to bring on affiliate partners for your products, product services, maybe right now, it’s not. But, hmm, how could you be leveraging your podcast to do that? Maybe looking at who your guests are and if they could be potential affiliate partners. Or is your audience in that bucket, how can you be creating content or inviting them to participate in that if that’s part of your goals? And maybe it doesn’t work. That’s okay too. But I do want you to look beyond just the current situation because sometimes we have a platform that doesn’t feel like it’s working for us. But there’s something we could be doing to get it working. So I want to push you to be like, okay, well, how is it actually supporting your goals? And then take it to that next step of, how could it be supporting your goals? Then I have Susie Moore in my head with her most recent bug. Oh, let it be easy. And let’s embrace some of that philosophy. So how could it be easier? And to tie this back into what we were talking about earlier, maybe if you want to be a little bit harsher with yourself, but sometimes we need to pull stuff out of us in a different way, how are you making it hard?  How are you trying to be perfect and making it harder? So I think that’s a good area to look at. Okay, how could this be simpler, or on the flip side, how am I making it hard? Because sometimes our brain doesn’t think in one way or the other. I don’t know how I’m making it harder, I don’t know how to make it simpler, but it can come up with the opposite. So ask yourself that from both perspectives of how, because there is likely a way that you can simplify the process. Just like I was talking about with my last podcast, how we didn’t have, I was talking about not my last podcast episode, but literally, in the All Up In Your Lady Business Podcasts, we didn’t do intros. We did not do an intro at all for all episodes which are a little bit silly and could be a missed opportunity, but we just didn’t do it. So sometimes it’s like, what everybody does, or I feel like I need to have it, but do you? Is there a way to make it simpler? What is the hard part? How can you maybe eliminate that or delegate it, or just simplify it?

 So really digging in there because a lot of times we’re doing things and we’re feeling like they’re heavier, we’re burned out from doing them because we are making them too hard. We’re holding ourselves,  and the process and everything to just a standard that is just really freaking heavy. So how can you simplify that? And then, oh, last but not least, my personal favorite of these questions is, actually, it’s not the last question but how could it be more fun? Is it fun?  How could it be more fun?  For me, I’m motivated by fun. So maybe this one isn’t as important to you. But I think that even if you’re not motivated by fun, you still probably like things that are fun. You have to like fun. Are there people listening that don’t like fun? I don’t know. I just highly doubt that. So even if fun is not your primary motivator, you probably are going to enjoy something more if it’s fun. So is it fun? How could it be more fun? Think about that. How could you infuse fun into it? Takes a little bit of creativity there, but I think that’s an important question to weigh in on. 

And then once you’ve gone through those, and again, this is not an extensive list. But this is going to give you perspective on the current situation, how it’s currently helping, how it could support more, how it could be easier, how it could be more enjoyable for you to do. And ultimately, I think my last question here for you to ask yourself would be to do a gut check of, do you want to be doing it? Is this something that you feel like you have to do, or is this something that you really want to do? And most of the time, if you really don’t want to do something, you don’t have to do it for the success of your business. So if there is something that you really feel that gut check of, this is not for me, this is not what I want to be doing, this is not how I want to be spending my time, this feels out of alignment.  Doing that thing with that energy is not going to get you where you want to go. There is another way, there’s a better way that’s going to feel good. So without even knowing what it is that we’re evaluating of yours, I know this. So after you’ve gone through those questions, just coming back to. I think it’s important to ask those other questions first because sometimes your gut check is based on the way that you’re currently viewing the situation, which could be limited. So you could be seeing it as only being done a certain way. And so you’re judging that gut check on a way that is harder or a way that does not include these other opportunities that could really be supporting your goals. 

So go through those other questions first, and then come back to this gut check of, is this what I want? Do I want to be doing this? And if you’re probably not to navigate your gut check is a whole nother episode, but you’re having a hard time deciphering, my quick advice there would be, think of something that is an easy yes for you. Something that is like a yes, I want to be doing this. I want to be investing my time and think of something that’s hard, no.  And then check in with yourself of where and how you feel that, hell yes and the hard no.  And then come back to the gut check of this platform and see where it lands. And it might not feel exactly like either one, but see which one it’s closer on and go from there. And if not, if you don’t have that answer right away, then maybe you just plant the seed of that, and wait and see in days and weeks to come, if you get more clarity around it. Sometimes we don’t have to force the decision if it doesn’t feel like the right time, or if it feels like too much. But I felt like we needed to talk about this. If we’re going to talk about, oh, episode 200, avoid all these things. Also, maybe it doesn’t, maybe you’re not. This isn’t the thing for you to get to an X number with. Or maybe it is. And if it is, then I really hope that this episode and these things that I avoided help you navigate that emotional roller coaster of growing a platform online, whether it’s a podcast or any other platform. And if nothing else, I hope these questions at the end help you to either decide that, yes, I’m all in on this, or figure out the thing that you’re putting energy into is just not where you want to be spending your time and energy and making the decision to stop, making the decision to shut it down or to pivot. Because I don’t want you to just aimlessly do things. I want you to be intentionally deciding things because that type of energy is what’s going to help you grow. It’s what’s going to help you show up in the best possible way. And it’s going to help with everything. I could just stay here all day and blah, blah, blah. But it’s going to help, just trust me.

You want to be in the driver’s seat and actively making decisions, and not just like, well, I decided three years ago to have this podcast, so I’m just going to do it forever. And listen, I love, I am obsessed with the podcasting platform. But maybe it’s time for a pivot in your podcast. Maybe it’s time for a new podcast, or maybe this is just not the season for you to podcast. All of those things can be true for different people at different times. So I don’t want you to feel like you made a decision at some point to have an Instagram account, and now you just have to post on Instagram for the end of time. You are the boss. You get to make those decisions.

All right, I’m off of my high horse, but go do some reflection, make some decisions and get ready to end this year and kick off the next one with just whole new energy of whatever you’re doing, you are doing it because you’re doing it with focus and intention and excitement. And you’re pouring yourself into it, and you are showing up and you are proud. You are darn proud of yourself for showing up. And you’re helping other people.  Gosh, I’m just ranting today on this, but I don’t know. I know that there’s many times that I needed to hear this. So if it’s you, if it’s you that needed to hear this, I’m glad you’re here. If you know someone else who needs to hear this message, go send them this episode so they can listen to it. And that’s it for today. Thanks so much for being here.