Episode 186: Why We’re Killing The Podcast

Business For Superheroes Podcast Transcription: Episode One Hundred And Eighty Six: Why We're Killing The Podcast

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*In an industry stuffed with marketing bullshit, empty promises and shiny-suited liars, one woman’s had enough. She knows what it’s like to have the wrong clients, no money and no time for fun, but she also knows how to fix it, and, on the Business For Superheroes Show, she promises to tell the down and dirty truth about business, sales and running away with the circus! Here’s your host: Vicky Fraser…*  

Vicky:  Hello, and welcome to the "Business for Superheroes" show, I'm Vicky Fraser, and this is my husband, Joe.

Joe: Hello.

Vicky:  Hello. Today, we're actually not drinking anything because Joe's just come home from Fight Night and I've just come home from trapeze training and then we had to go and lock the chickens away and have a wander and we just forgot, basically.

Joe: So here we are.

Vicky:  Yeah, here we are. So today, we're gonna be talking about why we are killing the podcast. Keep listening, dear listener and we'll reveal all. If you're watching the video version of this, I don't know what's going on with my hair but it's deeply disturbing. I don't like it. I don't like it, Joe. This is what happens when you go out training and then do a podcast straight afterwards.

Joe: And then just sit down for a podcast.

Vicky: Yeah. So Dingle update first 'cause we always do that, we have built a chicken palace and a massively over-engineered door latch for it with a giant knob that I found in a junk shop. I say we, Joe massively over-engineered a door latch.

Joe: Well, this knob has been knocking around the house for quite awhile and we needed a latch for the chicken house. I thought it was a beautiful serendipitous moment.

Vicky: And it is and it's ridiculously over-engineered and it's magnificent. And it's also made of oak, by the way. This is the fanciest chicken palace in the world. So that's really cool. I made jam successfully and then unsuccessfully. I've ordered more pectin so hopefully I'll be able to rescue my jam.

Joe:  So so far we've made elderflower jam--

Vicky: Elderberry jam.

Joe:  Elderberry jam, which is amazing and then blackberry jam, which is amazing.

Vicky: Oh my God, I opened a new jar of blackberry jam today 'cause I finished one and it's proper solid jelly.

Joe:  Mmm. And then we made damson soup.

Vicky:  I made damson soup. I think I overboiled it. I've got lots of advice from people who know much more about jam than me and your sister was very shocked by the fact that I wasn't using a thermometer and I was like, I did successful jam without a thermometer last week.

Joe:  I mean boiling's boiling, right?

Vicky: Yeah, I think so. Anyway, so if anyone's listening and they know about jam and if I really need a jam thermometer let me know and I will consider buying one. But you know what, people have been making jam for much longer than there have been thermometers.

Joe:  You would think.

Vicky:  I know. And so anyway, this is not, we're not turning into the jam podcast although we could. Hands up if anyone wants a jam podcast.

Joe:  Is there a jam podcast out there?

Vicky: There must be. There's a podcast on everything. Okay, so we're not actually killing the podcast dead, we're not, but we are giving it an identity reassignment. Should we explain?

Joe: I think you should.

Vicky:  I think we should. So in the next two or three podcast episodes, we will be reminding you of this at the beginning and end of the episode because at some point, it's gonna turn from the Business for Superheroes Show into the 1,000 Authors Show, I think.

Joe:  Really? You should really settled on a name.

Vicky: Yeah. It's gonna be called something cool.

Joe: And you're gonna need to know what that is.

Vicky:  Yes. So let us explain. For the past two years, I have been losing my way a little bit, I think, with my business and I got to the point where it was getting me down a bit, wasn't it? Not because I didn't like my clients or my Superheroes 'cause I love all of those people but because I didn't really know, I didn't really know where I was going or why I was going there and I didn't really want to be a copywriter anymore because I didn't love it. I mean I love the persuasion aspect of it and I love the psychology and that's all super important for running a business regardless of what your business is. I loved all that stuff. I didn't love the actual being a copywriter for hire part enough to become really great at it. And it wasn't -- Working on bitty projects, I found that very frustrating. And so I just felt like I was losing my way. I also failed to write a bunch of books that I had ideas for. I actually went all the way to Turkey for one and spent a week and did the grand total of 2,100 and something words which is basically a long blog post.

Joe:  It's about 20 minutes work for you normally, isn't it?

Vicky:  And then I came back from Turkey and then I wrote actually a lot of another book which I am gonna finish. I think I wrote like 58,000 words which is--

Joe: that's a book.

Vicky: It's a lot of work. And half wrote another book and blah, blah, blah and then we went on holiday to France last year, didn't we?

Joe: Mmhmm.

Vicky:  And after two days, I was in tears and wanting to come home. Do you remember? Do you remember I was saying that, "I've got too much to do and I don't like any of it and I just want to go home and daa" and I didn't know how to relax and you were like, "sit down, have a beer, chill the fuck out." And while I was on that holiday, we were talking about all sorts of things, weren't we, and finally came to the conclusion that what I love to do was write books and help business owners write books and so that is what I am doing. I found my way in a field in France.

Joe:  Nice.

Vicky: Yeah. So yeah you may have noticed a few gaps in the podcast, by the way as well because we have had a few weeks where we just haven't put any podcasts out. So I've been like ah, "listen to these reissued ones." And it's not because I'm lazy.

Joe:  'Cause you're not lazy.

Vicky: Well I am lazy, everyone's lazy but that's not why there've been gaps. There have been gaps because it's really a struggle to create anything you're not feeling it, if you're not 100% sure why you're doing it and where you're going and for me, I felt like Business for Superheroes we had done like 100, this is episode 186.

Joe:  That's insane.

Vicky:  That's a lot of episodes. And I just felt like we were churning over old stuff and I wasn't sure why because there are plenty of other marketing podcasts out there and--

Joe:  Some of them are all right. Some of them are pretty good.

Vicky:  Well, none of them are as good as ours, clearly.

Joe:  Obviously, obviously, five stars.

Vicky:  I issue an apology to every other podcast out there for that horrific slur. So yeah, my problem was motivation and going in the wrong direction, I think. And it was, I dunno if that was your problem as well. You've just kind of do what you're told--

Joe:  I just do what I'm told. You say come here, sit down, we're doing a podcast and I come here and I sit down and then we do a podcast. If you don't say we're doing a podcast, then we don't do a podcast.

Vicky: No, that's true.

Joe:  I'm the sidekick in this gig.

Vicky:  No, you're the reason everyone listens to it. Look, it's really difficult if you're trying to do stuff and you feel like you're going in the wrong direction. So what I would like you to take away from part one of this podcast, 'cause this is part one, is, like part one of this episode, yeah, what I would like you to take away from this is have a think about what you're doing and think about your short, medium and long term goals. It's really important to revisit them every now and then because they might have changed. Mine did. Mine changed a couple of years ago, they changed and now I'm going in the right direction which is helping business owners write and publish really high quality books, not just the kind of book you can bang out in a weekend. There are people out there who will help you do that and more power to their elbows or whatever the phrase is but I want you to write an amazing book that's worthy of you and your business and your clients. And that's the direction that I'm going in. I'm really, I give a lot of shits about that. And so I'm now really motivated because I feel like I need to change the podcast to go in the same direction as my goals, you know?

Joe:  People may have noticed a little bit of that sort of book-based direction over the last few weeks.

Vicky: Yeah and that doesn't mean that if you have no intention of writing a book, I mean I will wear you down, but if you have no intention of writing a book right now, that doesn't mean that you won't get value out of these podcasts because I'm still gonna be talking about marketing and running a business--

Joe:  Psychology and why people buy and all that kinds of stuff.

Vicky:  'Cause it is all bloody relevant, whether you're writing a book or not, which you should be. By the way, there's a book that can help you with that that you can preorder at www.moxiebooks.co.uk/preorderthebook #rupaulsdragrace. So yeah, you need to have a purpose. I think that's really important. You need to have a purpose to write a book, to run a business, to feel motivated to do stuff. And that's what I've really been struggling with. So that's the first part of the explanation as to why we're rebranding the podcast.

Joe:  Cool.

Vicky: I feel like we should put a little bit of a jingle in to break up the parts.

Joe:  You sing and I'll do the prefix. Part two, part two.

Vicky:  That was amazingly professional. So part two, we're rebranding the Business for Superheroes Show into, we really have not been drinking, we're rebranding it and part of the reason we're doing that is because it needs to fit in with my new book and my new website which is moxiebooks.co.uk and my new book which is called How the Hell Do You Write a Book and it's available to preorder now from my website. I'm really excited about it. The thing is I am really, really, really, really excited about it and--

Joe:  It actually exists.

Vicky:  It does exist.

Joe:  It's actually a book.

Vicky:  That's the proof copy and you can see, there are post-its in it because I'm correcting things, proofing but yeah, I'm really ridiculously, I'm super proud of this book. I'm ridiculously excited about it. I can't wait for as many people as possible to read it.

Joe:  It's a good book.

Vicky: Thank you. Thank you. And yeah, I've been interviewing a couple of my 1,000 authors today and they were just lovely, they made me cry. So yeah, the old website for Business for Superheros doesn't fit my new brand, my new look and feel, and the direction I want my business to go in. It's not completely off brand but it's not part of, it doesn't do what it says on the tin anymore. Was that a sentence?

Joe:  Mostly.

Vicky: Okay, cool. So current listeners, you current listeners, I love you so much and I want to keep all five of you because--

Joe:  Hi Veggard!

Vicky: Because the new direction is it won't exclude you. It'll just fit more closely with what I want to achieve and how I want to help people and like I said, even if you have no intention of writing a book of your own for your business right now, I will wear you down. You will one day--

Joe: Write that book.

Vicky:  Write that book because it is a good thing for you to do. It's good for positioning, all the good stuff that we will talk more about in coming episodes. But if you're listening now and you're thinking oh, I don't know if this show's still gonna be relevant to me, then it's still gonna have Joe.

Joe:  Same show.

Vicky:  It's gonna be the same show, it's just gonna have a different name and it will be more book and publishing focused. But it will be relevant to you so please stay. We would really like you to stay because we really like you and the current show also, even though I love you guys who listen now, it's not going to bring in exactly the kinds of new listeners I want to attract, the people who are gonna be immediate ideal customers for me. I'm gonna wear you lot down, that's fine, but new people who come in, I want them to be people who are actively either trying to write a book or want to write a book--

Joe:  Thinking about writing a book.

Vicky:  Thinking about writing a book, have written a book or want to write their next one, or do better, all of those types of people. I want business owners who are specifically interested in writing and self publishing and using their own book to grow their businesses. So that's reason number two why we're rebranding.

Joe:  Okay.

Vicky:  So yeah, keep listening. Part three.

Joe:  Okay. Part three, part three, part three.

Vicky:  I feel like this is gonna get one star from people.

Joe:  Five stars.

Vicky:  Please don't give us one star. So Joe, why should people keep listening?

Joe:  Why you should keep listening? It's all still about marketing, it's about writing, it's about small business, it's about psychology, it's about why people buy, it's about how to persuade people. It's about all of the good stuff that we've been talking about all along.

Vicky:  Yeah, it is. It's still gonna be relevant, it's still gonna be totally hilarious. There will still be stories from the tiny sheep, stories from the Dingle, there will still be purring from Whiskey who by the way, is sitting on my knee right now. Should we show the listeners? Whiskey, Would you like to go on the podcast? Say hello.

Joe:  Whiskey says no.

Vicky:  This is good radio.

Joe:  Good radio.

Vicky:  Yeah, Whiskey says no, she's saying no, no paparazzi. So yeah, so do you know anyone who is thinking of writing a book or has written a book or is writing a book right now and needs help with writing the book, with marketing the book, with using it to grow their business?

Joe:  There were too many books in that sentence.

Vicky:  There can never be too many books, Joe.

Joe:  Many books.

Vicky:  Yeah, do you know anyone who needs help with expert positioning and growing their business ethically to the size they want? Tell people about this podcast. This is what I want. There's lots of podcasts about writing a book. I don't know if there are any specifically about writing a business book. I should probably do a little bit of competitive research.

Joe:  Probably should.

Vicky: I mean I have been doing competitive research. I haven't found any yet that are specifically geared towards writing a business book. I listen to quite a lot though.

Joe: If the listeners find any out there, then let us know what they are and then give them a one star review.

Vicky: No, don't, do not do that. Oh my God, Joe.

Joe:  Don't do that, don't do that, don't do that.

Vicky: No, I'm really actually outraged by that. If you're listening to the audio version and not the video, imagine that I'm making a giant O with my face. I'm actually shocked and disgusted.

Joe: Give them five stars.

Vicky: Yeah, well if they're good, give them five stars.

Joe:  Review them honestly, jeepers.

Vicky:  But give us five stars. So yeah, the new podcast is going to look, I think it's not gonna look that much different from the old one, I guess. It's got a new icon which Julia Brown from Brown Owl Design, hi Julia, has made beautifully. It's fantastic, I love it. I haven't told her yet. There's gonna be a new podcast page on the website with loads of downloadable resources and fun stuff. There's gonna be new music, there's gonna be full video episodes available, like this one.

Joe: All of them.

Vicky: All of them, well not for past ones but for new ones, yeah.

Joe:  Okay.

Vicky:  And there's gonna be one guest interview per month, at least one every two months. I would like to get one guest every month. I should stop making promises now. It'll be really ace and I'm deeply excited because it's gonna be a little bit more structured, probably no less chaotic but a little bit more structured.

Joe: And less chaotic.

Vicky: We should probably look at getting some actual music but we can go dingle, dingle in between sections rather than just meander from section to section and yeah. So yeah, what's the takeaway? The takeaway, I think, is that we're changing but not so much that you'll hate us and oh, you can ask us anything. That's the other thing that I'm gonna do. I'm gonna set up, and I'm totally stealing this from Seth Godin, because he's--

Joe:  Hi Seth.

Vicky:  If only, because he's amazing. And he has a podcast called Akimbo which is great, you should go and listen to it, and if you want to ask him a question, you can go onto the Akimbo website and record your question, like voice record it. I am gonna be offering the same service because I really like the idea of people actually asking the questions and then me being able to play them and answer, so it's like a conversation. So that'll be one thing you can do. We really, really want you to keep asking, ask us questions about books and marketing and growing a business and writing and all that good stuff and we'll keep answering them. And they'll be a form, if you don't want to speak, they'll be a form that you can just write into as well. And I think the main takeaway that I want people to think about is sit down this week, this is your homework, sit down this week and look at your goals, look at your long term goals. Where do you think you might like to be in 10 years time? You might not even know because it's a long way away, I don't know, but I do have a vague idea of the direction in want to go in and what I want to achieve. What are your five year goals, your three year goals, your one year goal? Where would you like to be in a year's time? Revisit them because they might've changed. It's really, really important that if they've changed, you don't want to be working towards a goal that isn't relevant to you anymore.

Joe:  Are the actions that you're taking bringing you to your current goal?

Vicky:  And if they're not, you need to question why you're doing them and maybe stop doing them and do something else instead. Everything that you do I think should either be really loads of fun or it should move you towards your goal, preferably both.

Joe:  I suppose that in my mind in a practical sense there could be a third reason for doing it and that this is that's where loads of money comes from. That kind of pays the bills but it's not really your mission, it's not really what you want to be doing.

Vicky:  I've let go of quite a hefty amount of money in the last year because yes, I could've carried on doing it and I could've carried on making the same money that I was but it was sucking the life out of me. It was quite literally sucking the life out of me. You remember what it was like before we went to France? And it's just not worth it, it really isn't and I know that what I'm doing now will ultimately make me far more money because it's aligned with where I want to be, what I want to do, and how I feel like I can help people. And that for me, it's like yes, you've got to pay the bills but as long as you're paying the bills, you've got to give yourself space to do what makes you feel alive, you know?

Joe:  Sure.

Vicky: So I think that's that. Okay, so next week, we're gonna be talk, what are we gonna be talking about next week?

Joe:  Purple. Last week, we said we were gonna talk about purple and we haven't.

Vicky:  Ah yeah, next week, we're gonna talk about purple but we're also gonna talk about why writer's block isn't a real thing. Controversial! So yes, we will be back next week shaking things up and making people angry.

Joe:  Still on this podcast?

Vicky:  It'll probably still be called the Business for Superheros Show.

Joe:  But at some point, it's gonna change. Are we gonna run two podcasts concurrently for a little bit and persuade people to change over?

Vicky:  No, because this one is gonna become the other one. So I don't lose all of my stats.

Joe: Oh, okay. So people who are subscribed to this will be subscribed to that?

Vicky: Yes, if they want to be. I may be lying.

Joe:  How does this work?

Vicky:  If I am, feel free to add voicemail on me explaining why I'm a lupine. So yeah, my book is having some final illustrations done, I'm getting the, well, I've got the proof copy, I'm going through it. You can preorder it now. Please preorder it. I'm really, really proud of it and if you don't enjoy it, if you don't feel that it's really valuable, I will give you your money back and you can keep the book. But go and preorder it. If you preorder it at moxiebooks.co.uk/preorder the book, you get a five pound discount for preordering it. And when I launch it officially, it'll be full price so make the most of it, save the fiver. And there's also all sorts of goodies, resources and all sorts of goodies that you can available to get you started before the book arrives. And the book itself will be arriving and launched properly in the first couple of weeks of October.

Joe:  Cool.

Vicky:  Yeah. If you've listened to every episode, email me with your postal address, and I will send you a special, silly, super fun gift. That's gonna stay the same 'cause I've got loads of them. And if you like this podcast, please go and subscribe via iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave us a review, five stars and share it. If you know somebody who will like it, send them a link at moxiebooks.co.uk/podcast.

Joe:  Nice.

Vicky:  Yeah. Thank you so much for listening, as always. I really hope you stick around, it's gonna be exciting and fun and yeah, we'll be back same time next week. Bye.

Joe: Bye.

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