5 Lessons For Your Business From 100 Episodes

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I have hit 100 episodes of the Coffee and Converse Podcast.

It’s been a real mile marker for my podcast journey because it’s seen a mark of longevity which is rare in podcast circles. 

So to celebrate it, I wanted to share with you five things that having a podcast has taught me that you can use in your business.

The one I didn’t want to learn

Podcasting has taught me consistency.

This is the lesson that I didn't want to learn, that I didn't want to believe because it felt so hard to me. Consistency doesn't necessarily mean you're always on, but it means that people can rely on you too.

For years, had ideas for blogs or started blogs, built the rough framework for blogs but struggled to complete them. I get in my head about it. My writing sounds formal thanks to years in corporate. And it's not an enjoyable process for me. I don't want to sit down and do it.

But I like to talk so podcasting seemed like a natural fit.

Having the same framework, I'm more than happy to turn on a microphone, spill my thoughts, probably a lot more candidly than if I was editing myself when I was writing, and that can then get turned into a blog.

But I didn't start turning any of my podcasts into a blog format until about a month ago, because I just wanted to allow myself to enjoy this method of creating content.

I want to encourage you to step back and ask yourself what would feel like fun for you? What would feel like a natural fit for you? 

Don't get me wrong. There are parts of podcasting that I wish I didn't have to do.

I wish I didn't need to edit. 

I wish I didn't need to re-listen to episodes that I've just recorded.

But because I enjoy the actual podcasting, the talking, the interviewing, and the content that I put out, those other things feel easier.

Find what feels enjoyable to you because if you hate something, you're not going to do it. And it would be better for you to be consistent and something else that you were more comfortable with.

The one I needed to see in action

My second lesson from podcasting is one that I have always preached, but I don't think I have ever appreciated it as much as I have since I’ve had a podcast.

Your network is one of your biggest assets. 

When you're a fledgling podcast you spend a lot of time inviting people to get on your show rather than being pitched

In these hundred episodes, I have leaned hard into my network.

I've published 40 guest interviews of which only 2 were from cold pitches (after I hit 50 episodes)and another 2 were via introductions.  

The vast majority were people who were friends in real life, online business besties, or social media friends who were happy to support the show with zero evidence that they would get anything at all from the interview, other than supporting a friend.

I also have a running list of dream clients and I actively network to get to them. 

This is relationship building 101 and it doesn't make me manipulative or shady. I'm just building real relationships with people.

We live in this world where we're so excited by the reach of Instagram and the reach of Tiktok and the size of our email list that we have forgotten about genuine one-to-one conversations which can be so much more valuable because those are the people who are going to speak for you. They are going to build know like, and trust on your behalf

I have had to lean hard on my network and I have always known that they were there but this is the first time that I had a big ask for them and they showed up. They showed up because I have shown up for them.

So ask yourself:

• What does my network look like? 
• When's the last time I had a coffee chat with someone?
• When's the last time I asked someone how I could help them?

Because I promise you when you need them, you are going to want them to show up for you.

The one that felt so hard

New things will always be hard AF. 

Starting a podcast combines all the new things, new tech, new format, being new to interviewing, new lingo. I don't want to sugarcoat it. It would be very easy to never launch because there’s so much new stuff coming at you.

But like everything, it gets easier, and conquering that new thing makes the next new thing that little bit less scary and a little bit easier to try.

This may sound obvious but when was the last time you did something truly new? Not something that felt like an extension of something that you're already doing, but something that felt truly new because we don't do it very often?

And that's how we get stuck in those little comfort zones.

If you are in that season right now, if you are trying something new and it feels so hard and you feel like quitting and you’re wondering if anyone even cares about it, I get it.

Here’s what I put on a post-it that I try to live by when I'm in that season: how can I just do 1% more or 1% better? 

So rather than trying to strive for perfection and feeling like you're constantly falling short, how can you bring that goalpost in and just get a little bit better each time?

You need to do things that feel hard to show you that you can do more than you think.

The one that was joyful

The pendulum is swinging

When I started in business, it was all about hustle, masculine bro marketing, push, push, push. If you're not getting results, it's because you just didn't try hard enough. Just keep working at it and it'll come. There was no talk of luck. There was no talk of circumstance. 

When I decided to center my podcast around the complete opposite feeling, around building a business that's meant to support your life not become your whole life, I wondered if I would even get enough guests, let alone any listeners.

Even with a clear line in the sand that I didn't want scale and hustle to be part of the conversation on this podcast, I have found so many guests and so many listeners who have reached out to tell me that this is exactly how they want to build it. 

It has been a joy to watch the pendulum swing. It has been a joy to hear people tell me:

• they want to be able to travel
• they only want to work a four day week so they can have a 3 day weekend with the kids
• they've decided to permanently homeschool and now need to adjust their business
• that they’re pregnant and want to take three months maternity leave.

If you feel like that lone soul who just wants their business to pay the bills, not necessarily create world peace or make a bajillion dollars, I want you to know that there is a huge community out there that feels the same as you.

I want to invite you in to go binge listen to the past episodes, go follow any of my guests or me on social media. This is the stuff we're talking about. And there are more and more of us coming every day.

The one everyone needs

You need more boundaries than you think.

The only way to have the kind of business that supports your life instead of you living to build that business is to have boundaries. Maybe you’ve got great boundaries with my clients, but do you have good boundaries with yourself, with your family, with your friends, because everything is connected to your business because you are connected to your business.

I have a couple of boundaries for this podcast.

The first is I focus my platform, my podcast, on female voices. It began because I felt like female voices tend to speak more into the lifestyle element of your business than more masculine voices who are more about hustle, scale, and achievement. 

That's how it started but honestly, it developed into a community of amazing women who inspire me so I’ve kept it.

The second boundary is not inviting guests on the show who have a hustle and scale message. And if I'm not sure if a guest might veer into that category, I tell them up front that those are words I don't want to hear. They can swear to their heart's content. I just don't want to hear about hustle.

Now we are different people and because we're different people, our boundaries get to be different.

But the one common thread, the one thing I hear time and time again, is how everybody struggles to say no. So I ask every single guest who comes on to tell me what their lifestyle boundary is for their business.

I want this to show you and to show me that saying no is a good thing. 

It doesn't mean you don't care. 

It doesn't mean you're somehow failing. 

It means that you're being responsible for yourself and to everybody else in the situation. 

I think it's really interesting that of the 40 guests so far, no one has had the same boundary. There have been themes around family time, themes around personal time, themes around self-care, but the how and why people have their exact boundary still differs from person to person. 

So you can take inspiration and make it your own because your boundaries need to be as unique as your situation.

To celebrate 100 episodes, I have pulled together those 40 boundaries into The Big Book Of Business Boundaries.

Use it as permission for you to say no more in your business. 

Use it as inspiration for the next boundary that you could put in place in your business.

Use it to highlight to you an area where maybe you've been a little too loosey-goosey with the boundary that you do have.