What Worked, What Didn’t: Our Top Three Podcasting Lessons of the Year

Brett Johnson [: 00:00:00

Welcome to the Circle Sessions featuring the Circle of Experts. Each week, one of the Circle of Experts joins me to talk about critical aspects of growing your podcast. The Circle of Experts are Yasmine Robles and Izzy Dadosky from Rebel Marketing, Tanisha English Amamoo of TJE Communications, and Don The idea Guy. I'm Brett Johnson, My Podcast Guy from Circle 270 Media Podcast Consultants. This week, Yasmine and Izzy are here. They work alongside clients to to design a website that's driven by strategy, looks amazing, and that you can use to grow your podcast and then in turn your business as well. Yasmine and Izzy, thanks for joining me today.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:00:39

Yeah, thank you for having us.

Brett Johnson [: 00:00:41

We wanted to wrap up this year. I think that's what this, this episode will basically do. We kind of came up with these last two episode topics in a previous episode, talking about number one. The one we did before was kind of letting go or what we're going to bring into the new year. And this one we want really focus on three lessons we learned this past year or I mean, whatever the, whatever time period, but three lessons we've learned and we kind of were looking at it as a year end review, kind of feel for ourselves. So Yasmine, I'm going to let you start. I know we kind of focused on three. So what was your first one?

Yasmine Robles [: 00:01:21

So one of them was trying to do big things on tiny timelines, basically. I like. And this goes back to maybe another episode that we just recorded. Izzy mentioned the Kiss method. And I tend to, especially in the beginning of the year, I think I was pushing a lot of goals. There's a lot of goals in our spreadsheets and, and we try to achieve them and they, you know, we, we. I learned the lesson of trying, making sure we keep things simple. So for me it's really the goal setting.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:01:58

Because if you have me do a goal setting sheet, I will put everything on there and I'll say, yeah, we can totally, we can totally finish that all in one quarter. Actually, we can probably fit that all in, in one month. And I almost did that. I'm so I'm pregnant. I'm due Thanksgiving week. And I almost did that for Q4 and Izzy was amazing. She was like, I think we should focus on the Kiss method. And I was like, oh, okay.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:02:26

Let me go back to my list of things that I still had to add to that, to that Google sheet and let's start like.

Brett Johnson [: 00:02:33

So Went right over your head, didn't it?

Izzy Dadosky [: 00:02:35

Exactly. Yeah. Well, it also turns into Me having to remind Yasmine that she's pregnant half the time because she'll send me an event and be like, we should go to this. I'm like, you're supposed to pop that week. We're not going to that.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:02:50

But see, I want to stay positive. And I'm like, well, I might have popped or might not have. We might be able to. Maybe it'll be right after the event. That event will be so great that I'll just have to like go to the hospital right after it.

Brett Johnson [: 00:03:04

Right. Oh my gosh. Wow. Wow. No, that's good. I love that. Izzy.

Izzy Dadosky [: 00:03:13

Yeah. For us to again with just like the rebrand and everything happening this year, we started to like really change a lot of things, which were all good. But I think one of the major things that we found was we were underpricing ourselves a lot and so finding out like what our price point should be. And also I. It's apparently a common thing for women owners too, to underprice yourself compared to like a male owned business. But so we took all those notes from different conferences or like books that we read and tried to implement it. And now I feel like we're at a good point with, you know, our packages and especially with the packages, like what are we including in? It was a big thing for us too. And it was changing a little bit every few months.

Izzy Dadosky [: 00:04:06

So I think now we have a good grasp on it. But it's. It was definitely a lesson to learn for sure.

Brett Johnson [: 00:04:11

Yeah. Yeah. And you don't know how far you can go with until you start asking.

Izzy Dadosky [: 00:04:15

Yeah.

Brett Johnson [: 00:04:17

I think a lot of businesses. But I agree, I hear that about women owned businesses a lot too. And I'm guilty of underpricing too. I mean, seriously. I mean, people kind of look at and those that I work within the industry kind of go. And it's not really for me under. It's. I just package it a little bit differently.

Brett Johnson [: 00:04:36

I put things together differently and in the long run it's comparable. But it's just, it looks different, that's all. But it's at the same time that comes down to time spent. You're worth it. And, and, and I think also looking at rebel marketing too, outside looking in, you're putting a lot of great content out there, showcasing that you guys are doing great stuff and you know what you're doing. And I think that elevates what you do and can ask for as well too. And I think that's a lesson for everyone, is that, you know, the more you tell the more you talk about, the more cachet you have, you know, in the community that, yeah, you're the go to's. And there's a price point to it.

Brett Johnson [: 00:05:16

It's a, it's. It's a convenience fee price point. Basically, you know, we did it all. It's all it is. That's all it is. Yeah, exactly. Less than I learned this year. I.

Brett Johnson [: 00:05:27

Outsourcing, expanding that it was. I thought it was going to be jumping in the Grand Canyon and it was just jumping over a crack in the sidewalk. The. The hard part of it was to find the right person and people to work with. That's the thing. So I'm still in that search of, you know, video editors, audio editors, that sort of thing, because I. To expand with what I want to do, I need to have that, that corral of them. That's the hardest part is to find one that I have some, some guardrails and some parameters I.

Brett Johnson [: 00:06:00

Of people who I want to work with, where they are, what they're doing. So that makes it harder. I just, I just don't want to necessarily. I want to outsource to somebody that I. It's in the same time zone as I am, same country that I am. I. It just. That's the way I want to work because I know there's this.

Brett Johnson [: 00:06:19

And I just, I. I think that's important because it's. It reflects on my business as well too. So. Yeah, what's your next one, Yasmine?

Yasmine Robles [: 00:06:29

So I had. Avoiding the money talk. So similar to what Izzy was mentioning. But it's. It's also money talk in different places. So yes, it is negotiating or like raising our prices, speaking to clients and just letting them know, hey, this is the price. And if you don't have that budget, there's other people that can do it for that budget and then come back and talk to us in six months, I guess. But it's also money talk.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:06:59

Now that Izzy's a partner, it doesn't feel like it's just myself. So sharing the, like, hey, this is what we spent. This is how much we made. This is. These are the leads that we won. What's coming down the pipeline? You know, what, what's our goal for next year? Because it really does help brainstorm. It helps bring another viewpoint in. And we only, we can only do so much with what we know and what with, you know, our history, our background, how comfortable we are raising our prices.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:07:32

But if, like, Izzy's there and I said, Izzy, we're going to Raise our prices. And then I turn around and I lower the price for one client. She can then hold me account and be like, why'd you do that?

Izzy Dadosky [: 00:07:44

How that works?

Brett Johnson [: 00:07:46

Yeah.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:07:46

So there's that accountability. Because I want to be nice. Right. But once there's somebody that. That you said, hey, we're going to raise our prices because we need to pay ourselves. There's. There's. Yeah, there's definitely more of a.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:07:59

I don't know, Accountability. There's a partnership. Yeah.

Brett Johnson [: 00:08:02

I love what. I think the accountability part. That's huge. Yeah, that's huge. Because we'll always downside down. Oh, I want. Yeah. Oh, they're so nice.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:08:10

Yeah.

Brett Johnson [: 00:08:11

Really? Yeah, I really want to work with them. Yeah, I get that they're many strapped. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, yeah, gotta stop, gotta stop. I agree. And accountability. I love that piece of that.

Brett Johnson [: 00:08:22

Of having having somebody, whether it's a partner like you and Izzy or somebody in your life that holds you accountable, that you have to explain why you did what you did, because it makes you explain to yourself, okay, I'm doing this and I'm okay with it. So don't yourself, don't ever complain about why am I spending so much, so much time on this. You agree to this, you know, sort of thing. Yeah, that's really. It's. That's huge. Yeah. Izzy, a number two for you.

Izzy Dadosky [: 00:08:52

This could be business or personal. It's like, you're not going to be liked by everybody. Yeah.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:09:00

Yes. We've learned that this year.

Izzy Dadosky [: 00:09:02

Yeah. So it's just like, either if it's a client and then they end up going to like somebody else who owns a marketing agency. It just might have not been the person for us. And I'm now seeing that too. It's like, oh, their personalities definitely do align more than if they were to sign with us. So I. That was kind of like an eye opener. But first I'm like, then I take it personally.

Izzy Dadosky [: 00:09:27

But then I'm like, why am I taking it personally? Because it's not anything to do with me. It's just clearly, like, those two would have worked better together. And I mean, it's the same in real life. It's just like, I, like, sometimes focus too much on, like, oh, I don't know why this person, like, maybe doesn't like me or, like, am I doing something? But then I sit there, I'm like, I don't like people too. So why. Why am I getting caught up on, like, this one person when I clearly have, like, probably A whole list in my head where I'm sitting there and I'm like, oh, I don't like this person. Because it's like, it's counteractive. Because I'm sitting there questioning why this one person doesn't care.

Izzy Dadosky [: 00:10:07

It's like, I have a bunch of people who actually do like me, but why am I focused on this one person? So.

Brett Johnson [: 00:10:12

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's good. I love that. I love that. Yeah, exactly. My second one is lesson learned this year. Listen to what people tell you that they think you do. Let them come back and tell you, oh, so you do this. So you do this.

Brett Johnson [: 00:10:34

I. That's helping me move into next year with some rethinking. It's really helped a lot. And not that I was fighting it, because what I was hearing, it was not a jaw drop. Really? You think I do that? It wasn't that at all. It's that, okay, you've grown. This is what you do, and embrace.

Izzy Dadosky [: 00:10:54

It.

Brett Johnson [: 00:10:57

And use it to your advantage, because it was comfortable, it fits fine. It's. I may have actually been uncomfortable staying. The way I'm going was staying this past, you know, eight, nine years, I've grown. I'm doing a little bit differently. And I would have never thought in 10 years in the business that I would be rebranding in the next year. What I'm going to be doing again. What I'm doing is going to be the exact same thing.

Brett Johnson [: 00:11:19

It's just putting in a different hat on, that's all. And. And. And utilizing that branding. So just really listen to. Listen to what people tell. Listen to what they say that you do. And.

Brett Johnson [: 00:11:31

And make sure that that message is spot on then, too. I don't want the misinformation out there either. Is like, you know, oh, so you. You're a graphic artist. Design, huh? Okay. You know, it's like, no. Where did you get that? So what's your third one, Yasmine?

Yasmine Robles [: 00:11:48

I agree with you, Brett, that. Listen to how people describe what you do. And I. Because we've. We've done some of that, and so we understand. I've been in business for what it's like. We celebrated 11 years. And so I started off with just website design, but now we're full service.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:12:05

So listening to people over the past maybe two years, and that's. They only knew me. And they knew. They only knew me, number one. And they only knew us as website design. And so with that rebrand, we have been able to start shifting that. That story into, oh, they don't just do websites, they also do SEO. They can also help with social media, things like that.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:12:32

So I agree. Listen to how people describe what you do even in personal life. Right.

Brett Johnson [: 00:12:38

If. Oh, yeah.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:12:39

If people are like, you're kind of lazy, maybe if you like, if you keep jumping jobs and you keep saying that it's the co workers and this is like the fifth job and it's always a co workers. I don't know. There's a common denominator.

Brett Johnson [: 00:13:00

True, true.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:13:01

Yeah.

Brett Johnson [: 00:13:02

Yep.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:13:02

But the other item on my list was not firing fast enough. And that comes to. It doesn't matter if it's an employee, if it's a contractor, white label if it is, you know, just whomever it is that is helping is supposed to be helping with your business. I'm. I keep trying to give people chances and it's. Sometimes it's very frustrating.

Izzy Dadosky [: 00:13:33

So.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:13:35

But back to the accountability piece. I think we've talked about it in this episode in a previous one where, like, having Izzy on board, having anybody else on board that has some of, I don't know, stake to your business, that has interest in the business, if you are constantly saying this particular person, whether it's a contract or whatever, has failed to deliver this thing that I have requested multiple times, like, Izzy would just be like, again, shouldn't we do something about that? Right. So that accountability piece is really helpful for me personally because I tend to say, well, maybe, maybe they're having a hard time and maybe they've been having a hard time since the beginning of the year and it is now October and they're still having a hard time meeting deadlines. I tend to give people that benefit of a doubt, but that's a detriment to business. I mean, even in personal life, you should try and get rid of those negative people or people that are just with you to what, Whether it's fine because they want your. I don't know how to put this nicely. So many people are going to come after me. In personal or in business people, I mean, everybody's kind of out for themselves, but if they are, if you're not receiving anything, not even, like, good vibes from them, if you can't even, like, go out for a coffee or tacos with them.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:15:00

If you see in your business that they're not meeting certain deadlines, I think it's time to cut ties and find someone who, who does fit.

Brett Johnson [: 00:15:09

Yeah. Yeah. Because it's only going to hurt, like you said, hurt yourself, hurt your business, you may end up losing clients over it as well too. And then, and then it just causes anxiety that, that you can't meet a deadline for a client because back end isn't getting it done. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It doesn't. It's. That's no good.

Brett Johnson [: 00:15:26

All the. And that, that, that. That person that you should fire, maybe they need to look at something, do something different. Maybe they just can't live on deadlines. Maybe that's not.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:15:35

That's.

Brett Johnson [: 00:15:35

They just can't do that. And it's, It's. You're doing them a favor by firing them. Honestly.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:15:40

Yeah. And it's doing them a favor is. Sometimes people are like, how is that doing them a favor? Doing them a favor in terms of giving constructive feedback as to why giving them just not saying, hey, we're going to cut ties with you. But it's like, hey, this is why we are going to cut ties. This is what I have. I personally have been feeling because it could. They might have experienced something different, what I personally have experienced. And they can take that feedback and roll with it.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:16:11

They can take that feedback, leave it, not care about it. But at least you did your part in trying to give them, you know, again, that constructive criticism and trying not to make it too personal.

Brett Johnson [: 00:16:25

Yeah, great. Yeah. Izzy, your final one.

Izzy Dadosky [: 00:16:30

I'm. It kind of relates. I'm gonna go with. My brain doesn't work the same way other people's brains work. And it's like. So for, like this year, it's dawned on me, oh, I have adhd. So this is great getting that figured out now. But it makes a lot of sense of what.

Izzy Dadosky [: 00:16:52

Why certain things in my brain were different versus other people's and how the way I operate. So it's like I was even talking to Yasmine this morning, where it was like I had no energy waking up this morning and I couldn't do anything. And I felt like I was just stuck where it's like, that's not going to be productive for me to work when I'm feeling that way. But then sometimes you'll catch me at night. And I would be working from. And Yasmine could back me up on this because she has my clockify. I would work from 8pm to like 2am because I was just like, I'm creative right now and this is the time that I can work. I don't know why that happens.

Izzy Dadosky [: 00:17:26

And sometimes I would wake up at 4am and then I would be like, okay, I'm ready to go. And I would go from 4am to like, I Don't even know what time. But it's like sometimes it doesn't just have to be the 9 to 5, but also it's like, at least I'm getting everything done that needs to be done. And I still show up to all the meetings that we need to go to. But I think it's just like a different change where it's just like I'm going to feed into that more where it's. If I. I don't want to waste my time and everybody else's time if I'm not getting anything done and certain time frame that's like considered normal. You know what I'm saying?

Brett Johnson [: 00:17:58

So. Yeah, yeah. Oh, go ahead, Go ahead, Go ahead.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:18:02

I was going to say, I think Brett, you mentioned it with, with that ebb and flow, just as a business owner, you get like, I have, I have kids, right. And then there's another one on the way. And my kids will have doctors only meet with you during the day. And they have music classes, which I wish I could do, but you know, my kids come first, I guess, when it comes to music classes. And so there's school activities and usually those are during the day. It's not after 5pm and so getting out of the mindset, it's hard. It's hard getting out of that mindset of I am a 9 to 5 person. But when it comes to where, you know, Izzy's a partner, we're a remote agency.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:18:45

We're located in Columbus, Ohio, but we're remote. Unless there's a meeting or something that we have to be there for or an event. I. You can definitely just go with the flow if you're feeling more creative. It's okay to break those boundaries, I guess those, those corporate rules. Because sometimes it is. Sometimes I get back online at 9pm and I'm just like really excited because mostly because everybody's back. Went back to sleep.

Brett Johnson [: 00:19:12

Yeah, right.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:19:13

And so the, the house is quiet, there's no meetings, and I can do the work. And sometimes it means like Sunday morning, like if there's a. My kids have a sleepover or something, luckily I don't have to like be there in the room with them and they're entertaining themselves with their friends so I can just do some work. That's the beauty, I think, of the flexibility. So it doesn't even have to be adhd. It could be like, you have a. I'll have a newborn soon. How does that fit into my ability to pay for sitters? And.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:19:45

And also like that kid's Gonna be waking up and, like, annoying me every, like, two to three hours. Right. So how going with that flow? And when do I get to be creative? When do I get to do solid work? Or when do I just show up to a meeting as presentable as I can and then turn around and just jot down some notes and then say, I'll come back to this when the sitter is in. Right. So it's, It's. That's the beauty of business. And I think people forget that. That being a business owner means you can create your own, I don't know, your own vibe.

Brett Johnson [: 00:20:23

Yeah.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:20:24

Your own schedule.

Brett Johnson [: 00:20:25

Yeah. And I think it changes. It depends on outside forces like you talked about in regards to family. Okay. You've got to squeeze this stuff in at certain times. That's just the way life's going to be. Or in Izzy's case, is understanding, like, you know what, my flight, my creative times may flow, may be different every day. Or you also realize, you know what? I am prime 10am to 2p.

Brett Johnson [: 00:20:46

That's when I rock. And I think it's one of those analyze. When do you really rock and roll with your stuff and use that time. Know that. Okay. 10 to 2 or 2 to 6 or 9 to 1 in the morning, whatever it might be. That's your time. Who cares when it is? You have found it.

Brett Johnson [: 00:21:04

And that's important to know because that's when it's the best time to get things done. Don't allow anything else to encroach into them.

Izzy Dadosky [: 00:21:11

Or.

Brett Johnson [: 00:21:12

Or just knowing yourself, knowing yourself. I think it's a combination of both. And getting where you want to go. Exactly. Yeah. My third one is lessons I learned. This year I went to a conference up in Cleveland, Content Entrepreneurs Expo. Haven't been to a conference forever, and I completely forgot how I missed going to those.

Brett Johnson [: 00:21:33

It was more of the networking than anything else. So it was great. It was fantastic. So I've got to do more. Be selective. Learning from your lessons of don't, don't pack it in every week, but really, you know, crank it up. So I learned a lot from. That was great.

Brett Johnson [: 00:21:47

So, yeah, super. Well, as we wrap it up, give me a call to action. What? What? Should they contact you for this in the next few weeks?

Yasmine Robles [: 00:21:58

Izzy, how can the people find us?

Izzy Dadosky [: 00:22:00

No, I did it last time.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:22:04

You can find us on. Well, if you want to stalk us, you can stalk us on LinkedIn, Izzy Tadowski and Yasmin Robles, and follow us there and connect with us, and maybe we might be having an internal competition on who is more popular. And then you can find us on our website, my rebelmarketing.com you can download our free workbook, my rebelmarketing.com checklist. And that is almost like a DIY marketing audit for your business. Yeah. Then I guess market like It's Hot is our podcast that Brett supports us with and that you can get a more of a dose of Izzy and I and some of my dad jokes, I guess. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Brett Johnson [: 00:22:51

Cool. Yeah, that sounds. That's good. Yeah. Don't miss an episode of that market like It's Hot. It's really good one too. Yeah, exactly. Or if you've learned a lesson this year that you need a podcast, go to my podcast.

Brett Johnson [: 00:23:01

I guess my podcast guy.com schedule a time. Let's talk. Probably going to bring in Rebel Marketing as well too, because you're going to need a website to support it and all social media around it in the marketing. So we're all together here helping you get where you need to get going. So thanks for joining me. You both appreciate it.

Yasmine Robles [: 00:23:19

Yeah, thank you, thank you.