48. SHOW REBRAND: Welcome to Podcasting for Solopreneurs!

New podcast name!! Curious about what it means for you and the future of the show? In this episode, I’m diving deep into the reasons behind the transition from "Podcasting for Introverts" to "Podcasting for Solopreneurs." Tune in to find out what this change means for you!

This episode was produced by me, The Podcast Teacher! Contact me at Hello@ThePodcastTeacher.com.

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Transcript

Hey. Hey. And welcome to podcasting for solopreneurs. Yep. The show has a new name. And in this episode, I'm going to explain all about why I changed it and what it means for the podcast moving forward. This episode is going to be about me and my journey a bit more than my usual content. This is partly because I feel like you deserve a detailed explanation for the change and a peek behind the curtain.

And I think that you're likely to see yourself in my story at 1 or more points, and therefore, can learn from my experience. While I typically like to serve the value to you as the listener up on a silver platter, it's a bit more woven in today. Before we start, I want to assure you right away that if you are not a solopreneur, you're still welcome here and will still find value. Keep listening for more details about what's changing and what's not. Okay. So why did I change the name of the podcast? Well, let's rewind to 1 year ago when I was first creating the podcast. I knew that I was going to make a podcast about podcasting and share my expertise. I knew that I wanted the title of the show to start with the word podcasting for search engine optimization.

Because if you just search the word podcast with no ing, you get a mishmash of results because half the podcasters out there put the word podcast into their titles even when it's not a podcast about podcasting. And this is a challenge that's unique to my situation. I just wanted to clarify that because I didn't want you to think that you need to use the -ing version of your keyword. Anyway, I knew I wanted the name of my show to start with the word podcasting. Beyond that, I went round and round trying to figure out the rest of the name. How could I differentiate myself from other podcasts about podcasting? How could I make it clear who I was talking to? What wasn't yet taken? That was a big one. I literally spent weeks, probably closer to months, stumped by the name. And this is a very common struggle.

I see this with my students and clients all the time. I always encourage them to put some time, effort, and strategy into it, but ultimately, to pick something that's good enough for now to get started and remember that they can always change it. So I took my own advice. I came up with podcasting for introverts. And while I didn't feel like it 100% hit the mark, it was good enough to allow me to move forward and launch my show. Maybe you have a similar experience. This is me reinforcing the idea that it's okay if you didn't get it perfect right out of the gate. I certainly didn't, and it's going to be okay.

I should also back up a step and say that my business, before even adding the podcast, has always been focused on supporting podcasters who use their podcast as a marketing tool for their business. I knew that. My business coach knew that. But we overlooked the importance of calling out my target audience within my messaging. When I launched podcasting for introverts, I did so with the intention of attracting introverted business owners. After a few months of the podcast being live, I realized that I was attracting a lot of people who were podcasting as a passion project or a hobby. Their podcasts were entertainment or storytelling based versus information based. And while I wasn't trying to attract them to my podcast, it wasn't a bad thing.

I met many wonderful folks, and largely, I was able to help them with their struggles. So I welcomed these non business owner podcasters with open arms and began to include them in the audience that I was planning content for. The other important piece of information to this story is that at the time I started the podcast, I was 80% focused on helping aspiring podcasters start their shows. If you go back and look at my first episodes, they're all very targeted to someone just starting on their journey. As my business grew and students graduated from my signature program, Podcast Startup Academy, I started to get more and more questions about how to grow and monetize a podcast once it was started. I felt like this was much needed information. And if I'm being honest, I felt like I was starting to run out of easy to think of content about starting a podcast. I could have and probably should have dug in deeper and found ways to expand my content about the early stages.

There's always more to dive into. But I took the bright and shiny alternative path and started to incorporate content about growing and monetizing a podcast. Working with Adam Scheible and becoming a certified podcast growth coach earlier this year took me even further down that path. So somehow, I went from the intention of talking to business owners about starting a podcast to talking to business owners and hobbyists about starting, growing, and monetizing podcasts. I went into more detail about why this was a problem in last week's full episode about the importance of identifying your ideal listener. Go check that out if you want the full story. Here and now, I'm just going to say that it was a problem. So after some spiraling, some self doubt, and long conversations with the sounding boards in my life, I went back to the basics.

I really felt called to support small online business owners like myself who are using a podcast as a marketing tool for their business. A popular term for this type of person is solopreneur, short for solo entrepreneur. Some solopreneurs have a little support. Maybe they have a VA that works by the hour, a few folks on call to bring in for specialized projects or busy seasons, or maybe a spouse that helps with tech support or customer service. But largely, they are a one person show. That's me. So I'm intimately familiar with the struggles and desires of this group. This is where my passion lies.

And ultimately, as a solopreneur, I'm running a business. Yes. I feel good about providing value to you on my podcast, and the show is a marketing tool for me. The goal is for a certain percentage of you to know, like, and trust me enough that you will enroll in my programs or hire me as your podcast coach. For the growth of my business, I need to be speaking to my ideal client. So I'm rebranding the show to Podcasting for Solopreneurs to make it abundantly clear that this is who I'm talking to. And while I'll throw in a dash of info about launching from time to time, I'm primarily talking to the current podcaster who wants to grow their show and turn listeners into clients. Again, check out last week's full episode for more info on why it's essential to have just one clear listener profile.

The purpose of changing the show title is to attract new listeners moving forward. If you're already here, I'd love for you to stay. My content is not changing. So if you have found value here with the recent episodes about podcast growth, you'll continue to do so. The content isn't changing. It's just my messaging and framing of the content that's shifting. If you found me because you were attracted to the introverts part of my title, please know that I'm still an introvert. I'm still going to struggle with overthinking and perfectionism.

I'm still going to have social anxiety and need a nap after peopling. That's still the lens through which I experience the world, and it will continue to shape my content moving forward. It's just not the name of the show anymore. That's all. There's one last part of this process that I want to share with you, and that is that this wasn't an easy decision. And I don't know if it's the right one. Only time will tell. My podcast has been growing a lot recently.

I've been applying my knowledge about how to grow a podcast to my own show, and it's been working. My downloads have doubled over the past few months, and I'm just about to hit 10,000 total downloads, which is amazing for only being 10 months into this journey. And so there was definitely a part of me that thought, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But the more I sat with the decision, the more I felt like now was the right time to do this. It's going to be easier to pivot and course correct now rather than when I'm much farther down the road. So I'm taking the leap. I have no idea what's going to happen. My plan could backfire.

My podcast's growth could stop. You all could unsubscribe and never tune in again. I might need to change the name of my show again in another year. I hope not, but I truly don't know. I don't have a crystal ball. I do know that this feels like the right move. I do know that I've looked at this logically and that the strategy is solid. But my brain is still crowded with the what if negative outcomes.

So I'm channeling my inner Mel Robbins and asking, what if it all works out? What if this is the change that's going to explode the growth of my podcast and business? I invite you to stick around and find out along with me. Thanks for listening. Until next time. Happy podcasting.