The Ultimate Creative

Every once in a while I totally hit the wall with podcast content ideas and need to either ditch the topics I came up with a few months ago, or save them for a more strategic time like a product or course launch.

When I’m totally blocked, I always go back to my tried and true strategy to just sit down and write out 52 topics in about 30 minutes. They’re not all going to be great, heck, some might never see the light of day! But by writing down 52 very rapidly I can prove to myself that there is plenty to talk about!

How To Generate Podcast Content Ideas Quickly
Start with a notebook or a spreadsheet, whichever works best for you. Then, follow the prompts I list out in this episode to help you generate as many podcast content ideas as you can as quickly as you can:

• Activities - What types of hands-on activities can you guide your listeners through?
• Guests - Who have you been thinking about bringing on that could speak to a topic your listeners are asking about?
• Polls - This will help with your social media engagement as well, ask your audience a question using Instagram polls and see what the responses are.
• Case studies - Who have you served recently that could tell a great transformational story?
• Timely/topical - What’s going on in the world that you want to speak to? What are some industry changes that impact the work you do with your clients?
• Facebook or IG Lives - Download the recordings and share them as podcast episodes! Great for collabs!
• Webinars - Hold live webinars to generate leads, then repurpose the content for a podcast in a few weeks.
• Personal Growth Stories - Share some of the transformations you’ve experienced as a result of your work/business/life that will give your audience a sneak peek into your life (build that trust!)

Still stuck?
In my mini course “How To Start A Podcast” I’ve included bonus lessons with even more prompts to help you generate engaging podcast content ideas to fill up that content calendar quickly. Get instant access here: https://theultimatecreative.com/startapodcast

Links mentioned in this episode: Podcast Episode "Big Changes": https://theultimatecreative.com/big-changes/
Book a call with me: https://theultimatecreative.com/podcasting
Link to this episode: https://theultimatecreative.com/podcast-content-ideas/

How Podcasting For My Business Changed Everything

Back in March, I had to make some really important decisions about the future of The Ultimate Creative and how I wanted to be seen. I knew that I was totally done with being the “behind the scenes” person, and wanted more attention on myself to build my own dreams. I knew that I wanted to motivate people to accomplish their own dreams, and that I wanted to share what I had learned (the hard way) to help others. 

I knew I wanted a podcast for my business, and I knew exactly why I needed to start one - because I knew it would completely change my business.

Here are just a few of the ways podcasting for business has changed everything:

• Confidence
• Attracting the right clients
• More visibility
• More trust
• More fun!!!

Make sure you subscribe to Ultimate Podcast Marketing wherever you get your podcasts, and if you like the show and want to share a little love, please rate and review! Not only does it help other people JUST LIKE YOU find the show, it also makes me feel like a million bucks!

Interested in starting a podcast? Take my mini-course “How To Start A Podcast!” It’s your next step to totally changing your business!

https://theultimatecreative.com/startapodcast

Links mentioned in this episode:

Start A Podcast Mini Course: https://theultimatecreative.com/startapodcast
Episode 17: Attracting The Right Customers With Your Podcast: https://theultimatecreative.com/episode-17-attracting-the-right-customers-with-your-podcast/
Episode 10: Being Yourself On Your Podcast https://theultimatecreative.com/episode-10-being-yourself-on-your-podcast/

Today we’re talking about creating a productivity mindset for entrepreneurs with Lianne Kim, business coach and founder of the online community Mamas & Co. 

The Entrepreneurial Journey
Lianne began her entrepreneurial journey after many years in sales. After she became a mother, she felt a pull to connect with other mamapreneurs, to share business strategies, parenting while entrepreneur...ing help, or just to have a glass of wine! This quickly turned into Mamas & Co., which is now an international community of seriously cool business owners who also happen to be moms. 

Free Content Strategies
Lianne shares her theories around free content and why it’s important to include this in a strategic sales funnel. By providing potential clients with content (like her podcast, The Business of Thinking Big) she’s creating a direct line in to what it’s like to work with her as a business coach. 

The Productivity Mindset
She also shares her favourite content productivity tips, and how to get more done by switching to podcasting! Her number one strategy? Batch recording and batch production.

Listen to the full episode to learn how she stays productive!

Links mentioned in this episode:
Lianne Kim’s Website: https://www.liannekim.com/Mamas & Co. Website: https://mamasandco.ca/
The Business Of Thinking Big Podcast: https://www.liannekim.com/blog
How To Be Productive Mini Course: https://mamasandco.ca/productive
Live With Purpose Planner: https://amzn.to/2DrnR9g

Start your own podcast!
Take my mini-course “How To Start A Podcast!” It’s your next step to attracting the right customers with your podcasts! https://theultimatecreative.com/startapodcast
Follow The Ultimate Creative on Instagram https://instagram.com/the_ultimatecreative

In this episode of Ultimate Podcast Marketing, Karen Craggs (the Oprah of Diversity & Inclusion) gives us actionable steps to begin incorporating equality into our businesses right now.

It’s important for me to say again, that equality is not a trend or a bandwagon that people should jump on and hop off whenever they feel like it. Equality is everybody’s responsibility, and I am certain that I have more work to do. 

I feel incredibly privileged to have met Karen a few months ago, when we started talking about what her podcast could look like, and I have learned so much from her since meeting her back in the spring! 

Karen’s work is what we need now, what we have always needed, and what we will continue to need as we all move towards global conscious equality, which is Karen’s vision for our future. I am thrilled to bring you this conversation Karen Craggs and I shared last Friday, and would love to know how you are bringing global conscious equality into your business!

Interested in starting a podcast? Take my mini-course “How To Start A Podcast!” It’s your next step to attracting the right customers with your podcasts!

Follow The Ultimate Creative on Instagram https://instagram.com/the_ultimatecreative
Read more: https://theultimatecreative.com/conscious-equality-karen-craggs

Links mentioned in this episode:
Karen’s programs: https://www.karencraggs.com/
Twitter: @KarenCraggs https://twitter.com/karencraggs
Instagram: Karen_Craggs https://instagram.com/karen_craggs

Since the dawn of podcasting, people have been hooked on making money with podcasts. Why? Everyone wants a return on the effort they put in of course! And if people can listen to your podcast for free, why wouldn’t you want to see some sort of return on your bottom line? 

Making money with podcasts is definitely possible, just ask Justin Decloux, co-host of The Important Cinema Club. How the podcast generates revenue is the real question.

How do you know if you can start making money with your podcast?

First, decide whether your podcast is part of your marketing mix that attracts people to your business, or if the content itself is the main revenue source.

Read full show notes at https://theultimatecreative.com/making-money-with-podcasts

Interested in starting a podcast? Take my mini-course “How To Start A Podcast!” It’s your next step to making money with podcasts!

Links mentioned in this episode:

The Business Of Thinking Big with Lianne Kim - https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-business-of-thinking-big/id1448374420
The Important Cinema Club - https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-important-cinema-club/id1067435576
Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/
Anchor.FM - https://help.anchor.fm/hc/en-us/articles/360018999351-Anchor-Sponsorships-Overview-
 Stitcher Revenue Share - https://medium.com/stitcher-blog/stitcher-revenue-sharing-8905eba5bda 
Gold Ninja Video - https://goldninjavideo.com/

If you’ve ever felt like “gosh I hate working with this client,” you’re not alone. It’s not uncommon to attract customers or client that are totally the wrong fit for you and your business, especially when you’re just getting started! So what can you do to start attracting the right customers, even before the sales call? Give them a taste of what it’s like to work with you.

First, Start A Podcast!

Obviously my favourite method to attract the right customers is through podcasting, because it gives potential clients an opportunity to engage with me before they click “book a discovery call.” They can decide for themselves if they like me, or if they don’t, just by listening to one episode. Heck, even a few minutes of an episode!

NOW. Let’s get into the real reason you’re here!

These are the steps I have taken to start attracting the right customers through my podcast:

• Step 1: Think back to your why. Give yourself some time to reflect on your goals and understand the motivations behind why you do what you do. 
• Step 2: Do an audience avatar exercise. If you’ve never done one of these, you can find lots of templates with a quick Google search, or you can do the exercise I’ve created in my free mini-course “How To Start A Podcast”
• Step 3: Be yourself. Give your listeners an opportunity to get to know the real you. Not the fake you with the weird voice you put on every time you go into “customer service” mode. WE ALL HAVE THAT WEIRD VOICE! Just be your normal self! If you’re being fake, you’ll attract the people that like fake you. And if you are not fake you, then you’re not going to like the leads that are coming your way. Right? Right.
• Step 4: Create An Experience. The experience is so important - think back to your audience avatar and really dig into what motivates them to set the tone for your podcast.
• Step 5: Close the lead. What does your audience NEED? But actually?

Make sure you subscribe to The Ultimate Creative Podcast wherever you get your podcasts, and if you like the show and want to share a little love, please rate and review! Not only does it help other people JUST LIKE YOU find the show, it also makes me feel like a million bucks!

Interested in starting a podcast? Take my mini-course “How To Start A Podcast!” It’s your next step to attracting the right customers with your podcasts! https://theultimatecreative.com/startapodcast

Links Mentioned In This Episode:
Episode 10: Being Yourself On Your Podcast - https://theultimatecreative.com/episode-10-being-yourself-on-your-podcast/
How To Start A Podcast Mini Course: https://theultimatecreative.com/startapodcast
The Mel Robbins Show - https://www.podbean.com/podcast-detail/xs4iw-a0b6c/The-Mel-Robbins-Show-Podcast
Episode 16: Being Yourself Consistently (On Video!) With Nia Lee - https://theultimatecreative.com/episode-16-being-yourself-consistently-on-video-with-nia-lee/

This week on The Ultimate Creative Podcast I had the absolute pleasure to interview Nia Lee from Socialee Savvy! She's a true entrepreneur, unafraid to take on challenges and try new things to see where they can take her next! And what I love most about her entrepreneurial spirit is her authenticity. 

“Are you getting this?”
I first came across Nia in this post on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/B-hlA5zD7rf/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

I mean, if you’re not instantly hooked on Nia’s content, you’re definitely confused about what great content is. 

"Video has always been a great way for me to be myself, be super personable, and get people to see my personality. The more consistent that you are with it, that's what sets people (and brands) apart."⁠

Nia’s authenticity shines through in her videos, which really is what everyone is striving to accomplish with their content. Plus, you really get to know her before even meeting her! This makes it incredibly easy for her to find clients that match her personality (like moi!)

"It's not even necessarily what's being filmed, it's not even the quality, it's, it's about consistency. It's about, your willing to show up as much as possible and getting people engaged in you. They really want to see if they can invest in you.”

It’s also about community.
Like a true entrepreneur, Nia saw an opportunity to start building out a community with a membership tool that came with her course builder, Podia. It was a natural fit for Nia to begin building out a membership that focuses on creating amazing video content, and because she already had a base of followers that LOVED her video content, the memberships started rolling in!

“The women who joined my accelerator were automatically in the membership. And then when I started promoting it just a little bit more... slowly but surely, it has become a continuation of the community.”

This is an episode to SAVE!⁠
She is truly inspirational especially if you're thinking about working on your video presence and don't know where to start. ⁠Truly, I spent 2 hours with her and she completely changed my capacity to produce videos to elevate my brand!⁠⁠

"We live in a world where everybody's out here doing something. As human beings, we're always looking for touch points. We're always looking for ways to relate to people. We're always looking for ways to be somebody's friend, or buy from someone. Video has been such an integral part of building that touchpoint.⁠”

Links mentioned in this episode:
Socialee Media Agency: https://www.socialeesavvy.com/
Podia: https://www.podia.com/
Episode 10: Being Yourself On Your Podcast: https://theultimatecreative.com/episode-10-being-yourself-on-your-podcast/
Nia’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/socialeemediagency/
Work With Nia: https://www.socialeesavvy.com/services 
Socialee Membership/Accelerator: https://www.socialeesavvy.com/accelerator-membership

In this episode I give you my entire framework for content planning. Yeah! The whole thing! WOO!

Goals & Strategy
You know me, everything starts with a goal. Right now my goal is to relaunch Podcast Rocket in the first week of September, and get 100 registrations for my course. So my content is going to be extremely focused on sharing valuable information for anyone who is considering starting a podcast right now.

When planning your content, consider the campaigns and activities you’ll be running throughout the year and do your best to tie your content closely to those activities strategically. It’s fine to include some topics that are timely or that are maybe more off the cuff and less relevant, but the more time you spend thinking about what your audience is actually going to want, the easier it will be for you connect with them in a meaningful way.

Also consider that planning your content in advance (i.e. quarterly instead of monthly, or even weekly! eek!) will allow you to produce polished content consistently. There’s nothing worse than editing your podcasts and videos the night before they’re supposed to come out. Trust me, I know this one all too well.

Spreadsheets
You can create your spreadsheet annually, quarterly, monthly or weekly. I like to plan quarterly so that I can take a more strategic approach to everything I produce so that it all points to one goal in a shorter amount of time.TopicsNow that you have your strategy laid out and your spreadsheet framework built, you can start listing topics that will support your strategy. Use my free mini-course “How To Start A Podcast” https://theultimatecreative.com/startapodcast/ to generate a list of topics in 30 minutes. 

You can use this for any type of content, blogs, videos, podcasts, heck - even IG Lives!

Staying Organized and Consistent
Once my content is roughly laid out in my spreadsheet, I will add it to a tool called StoryChief (which I am using right now to type out this blog) using the content calendar. This way, I can see at a glance whether I need to add/remove or adjust my content schedule to fit different timelines.

Production Schedule
Make it! Keep it! Stick with it! I always bulk write/record/edit my blogs/podcasts/videos because it’s just SO much easier to stay in that headspace for one day a month than it is to try to be excited about it multiple times a week. 

That works for me, you might prefer to record weekly instead! But keep that schedule consistent so that you’re not stuck without content at the last minute. It’s a slippery slope to skip a week here or there!

In this episode of The Ultimate Creative Podcast I chat with performer and comedian Alicia Carrick from Toronto. After making the decision to move to Toronto to pursue comedy, Alicia realized that she had been moving further and further away from her goals without really noticing.

And that’s when she decided to make a change.

She signed up to take improv classes at Second City (which is where I met her! Yay!) and joined the comedy troupe Weird Town which performed sketch and improv all over the city, and produced comedy web series. In the summer of 2019, she auditioned for the Second City Conservatory program and was granted a place on her first try - which is largely unheard of! 

But right around then, her health took a turn, which ultimately forced her to take stock of what was really important in her life. Not only was it now essential for her to focus on getting better, but it was also crucial to choose the activities that made her feel good - because she didn’t have the capacity to pursue every opportunity anymore. 

Through all of this, Alicia maintained an amazingly positive attitude that had a ripple effect across everything she was involved in.

“Looking back, I'm like, thank God for it, because [it] just really cemented the fact that I need to prioritize me and my own self care. And so that became the era of saying no to things that I don't really care to do.”

Alicia started vocalizing her needs more both at her day job and with her comedy, choosing to work with people that were on a similar trajectory to her that she felt she could really connect with. Through daily journaling and practicing yoga, she began to realize that she was choosing to only surround herself with the things that made her feel good, making it much easier to say goodbye to the things that didn’t anymore. 

“I just can't fall into, this or lose time in life, dictated by something I can't really control. What I can control is my stress level, and being, or stage performing, all of that is a stress relief. Everybody needs their creative outlet. It becomes medicine at that point. And so if you don't take your medicine, you're going to revert back. So I just made changes because I don't want to lose time anymore. Comedy has been a bit of a life saver.”

By prioritizing her own needs, she set an example for the people around her to do the same. 

SO, with that, I hope you enjoy this episode and that you take some inspiration away from Alicia’s story! Choosing to keep a positive attitude and choosing to stick with things that make you feel good are possible when you are able to do so and have the capacity! Try some of the things that Alicia suggests, like journaling, yoga or comedy if you’re feeling a little stuck right now and need a bit of a boost to start moving forward!

Links mentioned in this episode: https://bigchickenergysketch.comhttps://weirdtowncomedy.com
https://www.secondcity.com/courses/toronto/general-information/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Mouth_(TV_series)

In this episode I talk about how my business has changed and evolved over the last two years, and how I was able to make big decisions that affected my business and my life while adapting to new changes.

Morning Routine:
Morning routine is so essential for making big positive changes in your life that can go and expand all over the place, not in just your community in your business, but globally. Mel Robbins (The 5 Second Rule, Take Control Of Your Life) recommends that instead of hitting the snooze button, you just have to get up and be a whiny baby about how early you’re up. But only for the first couple of days, because she says by then, you will get over it.

So I’ve been waking up earlier than normal for the last week and I am getting SO MUCH MORE DONE. This small step to adjust my morning routine has shown tangible results in one week. I mean - you can see the transcript below... that wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t get up at 7:00 AM. 

The Classic Pros and Cons List:
I love making a pros and cons list because it helps me to organize all of the thoughts that are in my head. Oftentimes if I feel like there's just so much happening, it get stuck in “analysis paralysis.” But when I write down specifics on what I like and what I don't like, it makes it a lot easier to make decisions based on evidence.Be realistic with your pros and cons list and be strict with yourself. If you're making stuff up just for the sake of making it up, then maybe it doesn't belong on the pros and cons list. Get really clear and really refine that list down.

Financial Stability:
Another thing you might want to consider when you're deciding to do something new or make a really big change, is financial stability.

Are you able to float yourself for a long period of time if you are deciding to leave your full time job to start your own business? Most people will tell you that it makes more sense to work on building up the business while you working a full time job, and then transition into your business full time, Because it's going to be easier for you to actually sustain this business going forward.

Long-term Vision vs. Short-term Ideas:
I am like a classic short term idea person because my ADHD brain just operates like that. It's just, it's very like, what's next what's happening, let's execute, let's get it done, the end.

Think about whether it's going to serve you longterm or short term, and which one is going to serve the whole long vision.

Taking The First Step:
If you’re serious about change, you need to take at least one step today to do make it happen. Commit to one thing. And, BONUS, tell me what that thing is! I’ll help hold you accountable!

Links mentioned in this episode:
Take Control Of Your Life by Mel Robbins - https://amzn.to/37wnzc0
The 5 Second Rule by Mel Robbins - https://amzn.to/3cZe9qM
Impossible Horror - https://impossiblehorror.com
Steal This Onboarding Questionnaire - https://theultimatecreative.com/steal-this-onboarding-questionnaire/
Sunk Cost Fallacy - https://www.behavioraleconomics.com/resources/mini-encyclopedia-of-be/sunk-cost-fallacy/
You Are A Badass by Jen Sincero - https://amzn.to/2N0oCI3
You Need A Clear Mission Statement - https://theultimatecreative.com/you-need-a-clear-mission-statement/

Don’t forget, if you liked this episode and want to hear more, leave a review on your favourite podcast app! It helps more people like you find the show, and it helps me to create more content that’s helpful for you!