One hundred. One hundred episodes of the How I Do Content Podcast. 

One hundred episodes of me sitting down at the microphone, hitting record, and sharing what’s hot on my heart, hoping that it resonates with you.

Here we are today – 2 years, over 20,000 downloads, 47 magical guests later, and hitting record on episode 100.

To celebrate, I’m handing over the mic to my extra special guest host – someone who played a BIG role in my decision to start this podcast – my magical friend Bec Cuzzillo.

We had some truly wonderful questions submitted by the amazing wizarding community that I’m sharing with you today.

My Biggest Lessons In Business –
From Startup to Success

12 of my biggest takeaways from 4 years in business

1. A podcast is an impactful marketing tool.

100 episodes in, it’s pretty clear that I enjoy this podcasting thing. Podcasts are versatile and, with a little bit of content wizardry thrown in, the perfect way to help grow your business.

The 3 best things about podcasts for small businesses:

1. Content repurposing

My regular listeners will know that podcasting is my favourite way to create content because of one thing: repurposing.   The amount of juice you can squeeze from one single podcasting episode is truly mind-blowing.

I started a podcast at a point in my business where I was (like so many people) sick of social media. I was sick of pouring my heart and soul into creating content for socials without seeing any meaningful results. I knew that I wanted to consistently be putting my content out into the world, and so I knew it needed to be on my terms (not old mate Mark Zuckerberg’s).

2. Community building.

I always create podcast content with my target audience and ideal client in mind. I mean, I love the process of creating the episodes, but ultimately it comes back to how I can help my clients and community.  

• What does my audience need to know? 
• What are they struggling with? 
• What value can I provide? 

It always comes back to my community and what they most need. I never wanted to create something for the sake of it, and I believe that if you put the needs of your clients and community at the centre of everything you create, it’s going to be successful no matter what.

3. Brand visibility & business growth.

Alongside growing my community, podcasting has been incredible for increasing brand visibility. It’s another channel to build omnipresence and help potential customers find me and then ultimately buy from me. Because, let’s not beat around the bush, at the end of the day, we’re in business to make money, and there ain’t no shame in that!

I will say that podcasting is a more time-consuming process than other forms of content creation. But, let’s be honest: if it’s a choice between recording Instagram reels or recording a podcast – I know which one I’m gonna choose. Every. Single. Time.

2. Taking action helps counteract imposter syndrome.

When I was asked if I experience imposter syndrome in producing my podcast, my answer is “100%, yes”! I would feel super nervous, especially when I first started my podcast.

I think it’s highly unlikely that business owners never experience any level of imposter syndrome, and I am no exception.

When I first started creating my podcast I would think “who am I to have a podcast?”  

But again, it came back to what my community needed and wanting to serve them which had more pull than the bullshit stories I was telling myself. I made it my mission to channel my energy into creating valuable content instead. I committed to just doing the damn thing as best as I could, without overthinking it.  

I spend time preparing each episode so that I know I’m producing the best content I can, and setting myself up for success. This looks like doing my research beforehand, finding out what my community wants to learn from guests as well as scripting my solo episodes. This helps me to stay on track when recording, but also serves in having extra content to repurpose.

Look for evidence that you are enough.

On the rare occasion I’ve missed the release date of a podcast episode, I’ve had people reach out to tell me they noticed or were looking forward to tuning in. Receiving feedback from listeners that I’m their fave podcast or that they look forward to episodes dropping is so helpful in counteracting the imposter syndrome, too. Reminding myself that there are people out there who love what I do helps make it easier to show up.

3. Support should be non-negotiable in business.

I’ve worked with the same business coach since day 1 (Bec & I are OG Swifites). Even though I didn’t have a paying client, I knew that running a business was going to be hard work. Recognising that I know myself really well, I leant fully into trusting my foresight to know that having a good coach was going to get me through tough periods.

Part of this is also knowing that I can’t physically do it all myself. If I wanted to create sustainable success, I needed to call in support.

I have a small team who help me with a whole range of day-to-day tasks. Having help creates more space for me to feel expansive and inspired, and ultimately grow my business more.

4. Self-trust is a superpower.

On that note of knowing myself well… I didn’t start my business until I was 34. I used to wish that I’d started when I was much younger. But, on reflection, it was definitely a blessing to have a stack of worldly experience under my belt before becoming my own boss.

Having had the time to truly get to understand and know myself, identify my values and connect with my deeper ‘why’ has been pivotal in my success. It takes a helluva lot of self-trust, courage and resilience to build a thriving business, and I don’t know if 20-something me would have had the same level of self-knowledge and trust that is needed to stay on track and get through challenging times.

5. Content is Queen.

Obvs. I bang on about it all the time, so it’s no surprise that it gets a mention here. People won’t know about your business or how you can help them if you don’t tell them.

Content goes hand-in-hand with selling because we’re in business to help our clients, but also to make sales. Having a clever content strategy is what helps us reach more people, have more impact, make more money and spend more time doing the things that light us the fuck up.

6. Being a business owner means making a lot of decisions.

If I could outsource any part of my business, it would be making decisions. As an entrepreneur, you make a LOT of different decisions every single day. Come 6pm some days, I literally don’t have a single decision left in me.

This is why having a business coach has been so helpful because they are there to help me through that process. It highlights for me the importance of having long-term support. Working with the same coach means they get to know you really well, and you can trust the advice they provide.  

7. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. 

“The scary news is, you’re on your own now.
The good news is, you’re on your own now…”
— Taylor Swift

I came into business fully aware that it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park every day. I was under no illusions that it was going to be $100K days straight-up. But even knowing this, I didn’t truly understand what it meant to be fully on my own.

Being your own boss means you’re in charge. All the time.   

You’re going to have to make a lot of uncomfortable decisions, have a lot of uncomfortable conversations, and do a lot of things that feel stretchy AF. Staying grounded in your values and your deeper why, and staying true to your vision, is all good in theory but can be really fucking tough in the moment.

At the end of the day, I get to decide what I do every day which is awesome. But, on the flip side, some days I wish I had someone making the decisions and telling me what to do. It’s a trade-off, but even on my worst days, I would still never consider working for someone else again.

8. A successful business won’t happen overnight.

Social media can often make it seem that business owners are seeing overnight success. I guarantee you, behind every ‘overnight success’ you see, there is a whole lotta blood, sweat and tears to get them to that point.

I’ve worked behind the scenes of many successful, BIG businesses and you better believe, they are always working hard. And they’re working not only in their businesses but on their marketing strategies, systems and mindset. Constantly. They definitely aren’t sitting back in Bali sippin’ cocktails, while the cash rolls in – that’s for sure.

9. There’s no one-size-fits-all marketing strategy that works.

As someone who has worked with a lot of different businesses, I can tell you for certain – everything works. There is no ONE right way to do business that is better than any other. It really grinds my gears when people create click-bait headlines bagging out marketing strategies they didn’t use.

It isn’t a one-size-fits-all in business, that’s the beauty of it. It’s about choosing what is going to be the best fit for your own business and unique circumstances.  

10. Continuing to work with done-for-you clients is a secret weapon.

I eat strategy for breakfast, I love it that much.

In 4 years of business, I’ve experienced working with a variety of different industries across an even bigger range of content projects. From launches to content strategy and coaching, both in my programs and inside other coaching masterminds, I’ve seen it all.

I just can’t get enough of working on content strategy, and still have a handful of done-for-you clients. This means I’m ‘on the tools’ working inside my clients’ businesses every week. It keeps my industry knowledge up-to-date and sharpens my skills so I can better support my clients with their businesses, too. 

11. Being authentic in business leads to an authentic (and fulfilling) life.

I spent a lot of my early twenties kind of wishing my life away. Hanging out for the weekends and not truly enjoying every day.

Now I look at what I’ve created in my life and business, and I feel pretty stoked about everything that’s going on. Growing up in a small country town, I just knew I wasn’t going to be that person that married a farmer and had a bunch of kids. It just wasn’t for me.  

I feel like I get to celebrate parts of myself every day. Things that I love, like travel, dogs, Harry Potter, and the fact that I’m a massive introvert. Not only have I been able to share these aspects of myself through my business, but it’s also what sets me apart from other brands and helps attract my ideal clients. It’s who I am, and I get to be my most authentic self at work and in life, every single day. And that’s pretty fucking awesome if you ask me.

12. Take time to reflect and celebrate how far you’ve come.

I find it so helpful to reflect on and celebrate all the wins along the way in business.

Especially not just the money wins. Making money in business is great, yes. I love money (don’t we all!). But there are so many different things you can celebrate. Things like stepping out of your comfort zone to strike up a convo, or having a dream guest say yes to coming on your podcast. 

Let’s face it, sometimes in business the cash flow sucks, and so it’s so important to have other stuff that’s gonna inspire and motivate you. 

I should mention, this is coming from someone who used to really struggle to celebrate myself and my wins. So trust me when I say I totally get how hard it can feel. So, if I’m saying “celebrate yourself” – you know it’s something worth doing.

More fun stuff…

All the fun didn’t stop here in our 100th podcast extravaganza – tune in to the rest of the episode to find out things like the 5 people I’d invite to dinner, what I’d be doing if money wasn’t an option (hint: dogs, wine & friends), and more!

A huge thank you again to one of my original biz besties, Bec, for interviewing me for this milestone episode.

Let me officially introduce you to Bec Cuzzillo

Bec is a Spiritual Business Coach for spiritual women who want to build abundant, heart-led, sustainable businesses – businesses that truly set their souls on fire.

But she’s so much more than that to me.

Bec & I have been in the same mastermind container for the past 4 years. We are the OG Swift Masterminders & OG Swift Inner Circlers with our business coach Ellie Swift – that’s how we first connected.

And, in 2020, I started working with Bec as her virtual assistant / OBM / content assistant. During that time she launched her podcast Feminine Fire, and working with her on that gave me the confidence to start this podcast.

Even though we took a small break, I couldn’t resist going back to support Bec with her podcast and launch content – which makes her one of only a couple of done-for-you content + copy clients I have.

So when it came time to decide who should be my guest host for Episode 100 – it was pretty obvious.

Bec is not only one of my biz besties, but she’s also one of my best friends, so it feels special to share this episode with her.

So let’s do this!

Connect with Bec Cuzzillo

• Follow Bec on Instagram at http://www.instagram.com/bec.cuzzillo 
• Listen to the Feminine Fire Podcast https://www.beccuzzillo.com/blog 
• Discover your Goddess Business Archetype https://www.beccuzzillo.com/quiz 
• Find out more at https://www.beccuzzillo.com

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