Podcast Conference Season Is Almost Over

Now What?

Announcements:

Upcoming In-person Workshop:

How to Get Brand Partnerships that Pay: Cost $97 (Purchase deadline this Friday, September 15, 2023)

• When: Saturday, September 23, 2023 10:00 am MTN/12:00 pm EST

  • via Zoom

I offered the following in-person workshop in June and am excited to bring it back. If you’re thinking about working brands and are wondering:

• How to strategize and how to design a compelling pitch to a brand

• How to position your personal brand’s content so that it’s attractive to future brand partners

• What to consider when pitching your compensation

• What deliverables you should offer

• What to expect from a brand partnership and more

Secure your spot today!

I’ve finished rebranding this project and am very happy about how things are going with Creators Getting Paid (Podcasters Getting Paid is umbrellaed in that project). I’m loving the additional opportunities to have expanded conversations related to monetizing online brands and being able to share what other creators are doing.

It is crazy to think that almost 3 weeks have passed since Podcast Movement was in my home town of Denver. I have shared a link to my review of Podcast Movement. But I wanted everyone to pull up a chair for a very real conversation about the value of conferences and how they can impact your brand and your goals…as well as what to look out for just in case you’re feeling stuck.

Review of Podcast Movement

You Attended Your Favorite Conference-Now What?

I love attending conferences.

They are some of my favorite spaces to spend time in. Why?

• You’re surrounded by people who are in alignment with your goals and aspirations.

• It’s an opportunity to learn new strategies.

• It’s a chance to get inspired.

• You get to meet your idols (those folks that you geek out about)

• If a conference is in a solid city you get to enjoy somewhere new to you or just revisit a favorite place.

With all of those compelling reasons for attendance why then have I begun to question how I attend conferences and the amount of time spent on attending them? In fact, about 4 or 5 years ago I began to approach conference attendance differently.

• I started alternating the years that I attended a conference. In fact, last year I didn’t attend Podcast Movement so I knew that I would attend in 2023.

• It was important for me to evaluate my goals as they related to my podcast, overall online brand and conference attendance.

• Each year I capped my conference attendance to 5 events a year.

It was becoming clear that things just weren’t working. I made a decision at the end of 2022 and I’m here to tell you about it and double-down on the decision.

I’m Not Attending Conferences in 2024

If I love conferences why have I decided not to attend any (in the US) in 2024? Well, it ended up being a really easy decision.

• What I’m currently focused on for my podcasting brand does not require constant event attendance. Instead it requires time, focus and action.

  • Recoding content

  • Releasing episodes

  • Marketing

  • Growing Creators Getting Paid

• I have met so many amazing people at the many events that I’ve attended! But meeting people and actually knowing folks are two completely different sides of the same coin. At this point, it’s my preference is to spend more time deepening the connections that I’ve already made (even with regular acquaintances)

  • How do I do this?

    • Meet people as they come through my town throughout the year.

    • Support their work and shout them out.

    • Make developing deeper connections with other podcasters (and creators) a non-negotiable priority that I focus on throughout the year.

• Even though I’m my own boss-I have only so much time in the year for travel-I personally like to prioritize slow travel and don’t particularly enjoy super quick trips in and out of different cities.

  • Real talk-I want to travel overseas and I decided that I could attend US based conferences or see my grandma more here in the States plus overseas travel. It became clear to me that spending more time with my grandma (who lives in the Midwest) and finally getting back into overseas travel was more aligned with my goals.

I’m in a Season of Building (So, I’m Getting Quiet)

As we build out our brands, systems and related projects there are different stages to the process.

• Deciding on your idea

• Trying to figure out who it’s for

• Starting

• Stopping

• Starting and continuing the project.

• Pivoting and reworking things.

• Building momentum

• Backsliding

• Pivoting

• Building Momentum (Again)-I am here

Many podcasters are afraid of the moment when you’re building in silence because for several years now the trend in online content creation has been to build in public.

What does it mean to build in quiet?

There’s a point in everyone’s creative business journey when they don’t tell people what they’re working on-they just quietly do the work. For me, that time is right now.

• Setting a non-negotiable goal or goals.

  • I’m rebuilding my passive income streams in my brand. This means that I’m creating content that grows passive income. Including building out and growing this newsletter.

  • Do you have non-negotiable goals right now that you’re focusing on?

• Doubling-down on all actions that move you towards achieving that goal.

• Avoiding distractions that will keep you from achieving your goal. Conferences are a place where I find new inspiration, ideas and distractions.

• Doing the hard work-It’s not sexy. Not all of what I do for my brand is “fun” It’s actual hard work that I put time and energy into.

• Ignoring social media-Yep. I said what I said. Unless social media is helping you achieve the goals that you’ve set for yourself-it’s a huge distraction.

  • If Tik-Tok isn’t moving the needle for you right now and it stresses you out-why are you on that platform? Are the people that you’re trying to serve there? If they are maybe you need to pay for a book, a coaching hour, etc. from someone who is killing it on Tik-Tok

  • The comment I just made about Tik-Tok could be the same for:

    • Facebook

    • Twitter

    • Threads

    • Instagram

    • Pinterest (Search Engine)

    • Spoutible

    • Reddit

    • Discord

What About FOMO?

I don’t have it. Seriously, I just don’t because the connections I’ve made are real connections that are being nurtured throughout the year. I even vacation with my friends in the online content creation industry (we’re going to Puerto Rico this winter) go to happy hours/hiking or roam around with folks who are here in town and even go skiing with them.

As podcasters we can’t lose sight of that as we attend one or more of the many podcasting events out there.

• Podfest

• Podcast Movement

• Afros and Audio

• Africa Podcast Day

• She Podcasts

• Radio Days Europe

And the many other podcast focused conferences. And, if you’re like me, you probably attend other conferences in different spaces.

What Will I Do Instead?

In addition to A LOT of hard work

Now that I’ve freed up a heck of a lot of time because I’ve eliminated here are some of the events and activities that I’m thinking about enjoying.

• Visit my grandma more!

• More overseas travel (this could include attending overseas conferences) These countries are on my short-list for solo travel.

  • Iceland

  • Tanzania

  • Namibia

  • Scotland

  • Ireland

  • Mexico City

  • Bogata

• Spend 5 weeks in New York City-It’s clear that I don’t want to live there permanently. But, I would love to have a 5-7 week living experience from mid-August through mid-September. What would I do?

  • Attend the Black Podcasters Association picnic in Brooklyn.

  • Attending the US Tennis Open

  • Go to New York Fashion Week

  • Leverage media opportunities.

• Take my mom to Paris-I used to live in Paris and it’s where she would like to go.

365 Days

If you visit Denver make sure to reach out to me next year. Other than that remember making deep connections happens all year long. I’m looking forward to my last two events of 2023-one in Winter Park, Colorado and the final event is FinCon. If you’re a creator in the personal finance space-it’s a massive event for those folks and this year it’s being held in New Orleans.

See you there!

Michelle