This episode is going to be about my mistakes, podcasting, and what I’ve learned over these past 50 episodes!! I’ll be sharing several of my biggest lessons here and the additional lessons are going to be shared with these during my presentations at Venture Pop in New Orleans this September and Showit United in Phoenix this November!
What you’ll hear in this podcast:
- Fear
- Intuition
- Imperfection
- Preparation
- Relationships
- Teamwork
- Confidence
FEAR
As humans, we are so much stronger than we think we are. As a fear stricken individual, when I first started the podcast I had no idea I would be capable and courageous enough, but every time I did one thing that made me feel strong, it propelled me to do more. In the very beginning of the podcast recordings, I wanted to have good, strong guests with years of knowledge and experience, like Jasmine Star and Jose Villa. So Brad asked me at one point, why not ask those actual guests? I thought he was crazy and they would never say yes, but I mustered up the courage to ask..and they said YES!
If you have a goal that’s a little daunting, break it into actionable things that you can accomplish each week. Don’t hesitate to put yourself out there! Don’t let fear stop you from accomplishing your dreams and your goals!!
INTUITION
Once I booked those interviews, I was a wreck. I was literally laying on the floor at 2 in the morning crying to Brad because I’m not Guy Raz and I don’t know how to interview anyone. Brad changed my frame of mind. He asked me while I was sobbing through the tears to stop worrying about what I THINK I’m supposed to ask him and instead ask him what I want to ask him. “What would you want to know? That is what you should ask him” he said.
This was a more valuable lesson than I realized at the time, because I have a serious problem with asking others for advice rather than trusting my intuition, but throughout the course of this podcast I’ve really tried looking within to hear what things need to happen. The more I’m around successful artists, creatives and entrepreneurs the more I see the success in this ability to listen to who you are as a person to tell you what your art or business wants to be.
IMPERFECTION
One of the most revealing things about this podcast has been the realization that successful individuals still make mistakes. I’ve always assumed that once you reach “success” at the highest level, the mistakes go away. But that’s actually not true. This was driven home in Caroline Tran’s episode when she mentioned that when you do obtain success it’s not that you can no longer fall. In fact, you fall further off the ladder when you do fail!
Hearing these conversations and listening to these successful entrepreneurs share their mistakes was so humbling. We are all making mistakes whether they’re known to the public or behind the scenes.
PREPARATION
A few months ago, I interviewed Natalie Franke, and what happened following Natalie’s podcast recording is something that I’m beyond embarrassed about. And if the podcast wasn’t called Mistakes Make Magic maybe I’d handle this one differently or not even acknowledge that this all happened.
We had a really great hour-long recording where we talked about some really great stuff. In a rush to start the next recording, Brad cleared the SD card and put the file onto my desktop and we proceeded to record our next guest. We were still trying to learn our backup system, so I forgot to back up Natalie’s podcast on Catherine’s podcast. So four weeks later, I assumed it was already edited and on dropbox, so I deleted the only copy!
If you guys know anything about Natalie you know how wonderful it was to have her on the podcast. She is a BUSINESS and CREATIVE beast. The first time I watched her on video I was like WHOA. She’s incredible. She talks fast, she thinks fast and she is SMART. I was beyond honored that she would carve an hour out of her busy schedule to be a part of Mistakes Make Magic. And then this happens. I cried. Brad felt horrible. It was truly the worst thing that has happened on Mistakes Make Magic thus far. We downloaded a recovery program and let it run in the background of my computer for 3 days while we not so patiently waited to see if anything came of it but it didn’t. I sadly reached out to Natalie and she was completely understanding but it was a huge lesson for me.
RELATIONSHIPS
Life is all about relationships. Look at the person next to you. You literally have NO idea how this relationship will unfold in the future. This person could be your business partner, investor, or someone who pushes you into something big! You literally NEVER know. When you meet someone, do your best to give them your time and attention! You literally never know where this relationship will lead.
Be your authentic self and put yourself out there every change you can. Relationships make full circle and you never know how you can help someone or how they can help you.
TEAMWORK
After working out the logistics of what we both wanted out of the podcast, we discovered that Brad wanted a more behind the scenes role with audio and editing and I would be the interviewer. Even though it’s my voice you’re hearing, this is not a solo venture. Brad edits, Showit hosts my site and my office assistant Meredith (hi!) does the show notes. You listen. Guests get interviewed. This is all about a team of people coming together to make something work.
So often in entrepreneurship we see an individual brand, but 99% of the time, there is a team behind that brand. Even with my own personal brand, I have an editor, an office assistant, 3 or 4 second photographers, a film lab, a print lab, an accountant, a lawyer. Nothing can be done alone. Entrepreneurship is not a solo venture and I encourage you to quickly begin to establish your team! Don’t feel like everyone around you is doing all the things! 9 times out of 10 they have help and aren’t doing it alone.
CONFIDENCE
This year has been hard for me. The hardest ever. I have been challenged with depression, relationships changing, moving and trying to figure out who I am as a person. It’s super hard to not sit still and not just take life but to embrace life and to accept yourself. I feel like I am constantly evaluating myself against everyone and everything else. Their work is better. Their posts are more consistent. They are doing more, saying more. Being more. Stop! Just stop….
I am learning to quiet this voice and so should you. The entire purpose of this podcast was to show that no one is perfect. We all struggle, we all make mistakes but we have GOT to start embracing the imperfections of who we are and learn from the mistakes we are making.
I want you to take a moment to think of your best friend. What separates that person from the other fun relationships in your life? For me at least, it’s our ability to be imperfect. To be vulnerable and to show one another the parts of ourselves that are human and messed up. This has nothing to do with the podcast but this has to do with life. I want you to erase whatever everyone has told you about the way you should be or the way you should live. Instead I want you to think about the way that you want to be. Who YOU are. Be that. And forget the rest.
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