3 Lessons For Your Business From 3 Years Of Consistency (Part 1 of 3)

TRANSCRIPT AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED [00:00:00] Hey, Hey, this week I'm doing something a little bit different because it's coffee and Columbus is birthday week. Coffee and combis turns three on Friday, the 1st of September. And that's a little startling to me because I can still remember what it felt like to push, publish on that very first episode. Like it was yesterday. But because three years is pretty significant in an industry where most podcasts fade after 10 episodes. I wanted to share some lessons that I've learned over these three years. And because coffee and calm versus turning three. I'm releasing three episodes. We're three different tips for three different listeners. Oh, you might want to listen to all of them. So I've got three lessons for potential podcast guests. Three lessons for business owners and three lessons for podcast is. This episode is for my business owners. Three years is a lifetime in a business, right? We know how many pivots happen, how many changes happen, how we grow over time. So having something that's been in my business for three years has taught me some pretty significant lessons. And I want to share three of those with you today the first is that consistency sucks. I know it probably not what you were hoping to hear. If you've been listening for a while, you'll know that I started my podcast because I am. Terrible at blogging. I'm not terrible at writing. I'm not terrible at coming up with the ideas. I'm just really terrible at hitting the publish button. I think some of it comes from my corporate background where everything felt like it really needed to be perfect and it needed to be the exact right word so that the person couldn't say no. And it was just a lot of pressure when you put something in writing in that space. So I started podcasting because it was easy for me to have a conversation about business. It was easy for me to show my personality in a conversation. Versus getting all formal and thus year two for wince force. The blogging created for me. So I chose something that I felt like I could be consistent at. And Diane. We're on 225 ish episodes, some [00:02:00] solo, some guests. Across three years. I've had maybe a couple of weeks here and there where we've done a replay. But otherwise consistently week after week after week. At 8:00 AM UK time on a Thursday, a new episode goes live. The thing that I want you to know about that consistency. Is that it's hard. I think people have been sold this myth that if we can just find a way to be consistent, somehow being consistent will be easier. Yes, the how becomes easier. Yes, it's easier for me to turn on a mic and speak for 10 minutes than it was two years ago or heaven forbid three years ago. The how of the consistency is easier. But the actual consistency. Is not necessarily easier. There were still weeks where I struggled to put on an episode where I struggled to find the words to explain the thing that I'm saying. Where I struggle with the fact that even though I've just finished and I've put a new episode live, there's another one waiting for me next week. Consistency is great for visibility. And for making sure that your people know when they can expect you to show up. The method of being consistent. Is great for you knowing exactly what you need to do in that moment to be consistent. But it's not the be all and end all solution to all of your problems and I think the problem is is that then even when people are consistent, They're like, why is this so hard? I must be doing it wrong. Let me try something else. So I want you to understand that even when you're striving for consistency in the easiest way possible in the way that feels really good to you. They're still going to be parts that feel really hard. And that you don't want to do some weeks that you don't want to be consistent at. What consistency gives you is the muscle. So that even when you don't want to be consistent, you show up. That's what it gives you. It brings you back to the table. When all you want to do is burn everything down. [00:04:00] So, yes. I find the thing that works for you. Find the thing that allows you to be consistent, but don't expect that that's going to make the process all rainbows and unicorns and cupcakes for the rest of time. My second lesson for business owners is that it's okay to get bored. We all get bored with our business, with projects, with offers. With marketing channels, we all get bored. Just don't burn anything down when you're bored. So for me, my favorite part of podcasting is the actual podcasting. So when I'm here like this talking to you, Or when I'm interviewing a guest and we're going deep into a topic together, that's the part of podcasting that I love. What's less fun for me is. All the stuff behind the scenes that gets that conversation into your ear holes. Every week I get to do this really exciting interview or this really exciting solo show. And then I have to edit it. And I like to edit it myself because I like to make sure that you're only getting the like high value parts. Of the episode. And I want to make sure that my guests are getting shown in the best light possible. So I really liked to do that myself. But it means. Listening to the show multiple times over. It's not exactly the most exciting part of the podcast. It's easy for me to think when I'm in that. Okay. I need to edit another show. Okay. I've listened to this. Part of the podcast four times over already. There were 20 other things that I would rather be doing in that moment in time. To think, oh, I don't know if this is worth it. In that moment where I'm doing the part of the process, that isn't fun. That's when I most want to burn it to the ground. And that makes sense, right. Well, then I'll have a really interesting idea for a podcast episode or I'll do a great interview with a guest that I can't wait to share. And in that moment, I can't wait for the next one. And this happens in our business as well. Right. We're super amped about the delivery that we do to our clients and maybe. The selling is [00:06:00] just so hard. Or vice versa, so I want you to ask yourself, first of all, what is your business need? So look at the data, look at the ROI. What is that telling you on a rational level? And then I want you to look at. What are you as the CEO need from this? And that's really saying to yourself, Kim, in this board moment. Or this less exciting moment or this hard moment when I want to burn it all down. What is hard or unexciting about it? And then I want you to, when you're in that moment, on the other side, when you're super excited, About the piece that you're doing. I want you to ask yourself what you get from it. There. You're going to be better doing this in the moment than trying to remember the emotion. And then you can weigh up. Well, actually, this is so exciting to me that I'm prepared to do this. So for me, I love. The podcast. I love the final product. I love the final product more than. I find the editing. To be less than exciting sometimes. I also know that if I got to a point where that wasn't the case, I can think about outsourcing the editing at the moment. I like the control. But I know that I have another option. But there was no time that I want to burn the podcast down more. Then the very first time I hit play. In an editing session. So that's my second lesson for the business owners. Don't burn it down when you're bored. My third lesson is that your networking should be strategic. So one of the great side effects of having a podcast is that you get to meet a lot of people. You get to have a really intimate conversation with them. For usually half an hour to an hour or asking them all sorts of questions about them. It's a great grounding for a relationship. However we are all really super duper busy. And so it's very easy to. Mean to reach out to that person or mean to. Drop them a note or mean to share something of theirs on social media and to get swept away. And now it's three weeks later and you haven't answered that last message that they gave them. For me, my podcast has been such [00:08:00] great training for. Staying connected to people in my network. It gives me a great end for an introduction. Would you like to be on my podcast? already I'm offering something in the relationship. It allows me to get to know them while we chat about the topic and what the interview might be like on the interview. I then get to spend time with them. I get to Austin loads of questions about themselves. After the interview, there's an opportunity to talk to them. About when the episode's going to go live. There's an opportunity when it does go live to connect with them again, because you're sharing it on social you're tagging name. You're chatting to them. Lots of backwards and forwards. So you've had this great buildup of a relationship, lots of networking capital built up in there. But in order for you to maintain that, All that relationship capital that you've just built up. You need to have a strategy. To stay connected. For me, I host regular networking events for my guests, where they get to meet each other. They get to be on each other's shows. We get to keep that relationship flowing. So I keep talking to them on a regular basis. If you aren't going to networking events, if you are guesting on people's podcasts, if you are interacting with other humans in the business space and networking is important to you, you need to be thinking through how you manage that strategically. Otherwise those people that you thought you had this great time with at this one networking event. R is distant from you as the person that you went to high school with and you sliding into their DMS is as uncomfortable as that friend from high school is sliding in to sell you essential oils. So networking is about strategy. People think it's only about relationships but you have to nurture those relationships. And that requires time and planning and thinking. Which is strategy. Okay. So my business owner is three lessons from you. Um, three years of podcasting. Consistency is much easier when you get it right. but can still suck. Second. It's okay to get bored. Just don't burn anything down while you are [00:10:00] bored. And third networking is a skill that takes strategy. You have to give it the time and energy that it needs to be successful. So I hope my hard learned lessons over three years have added some value to you and coffee and converse this birthday week. You have to have, I would love to hear from you in my DMS on Instagram, I'm at Diane under school mayor. I'll put the link in the show notes, please slide into my DMS. Tell me which one land, if you I'd love to carry on the conversation.