Note: this transcript was generated automatically. Its accuracy may vary.

[00:00:00] The first time that you say no, and then hold that no. And then remind the person lovingly that no, this isn’t gonna allow it. It gets easier the more that you do it. I really realized that I wasn’t lit up by the weight loss so much, and I never was actually, it was a weight loss mindset. Coach never cared what people ate or how they exercise.

[00:00:15] ’cause we all know what to do. We just don’t do it. And the reason so many of us don’t do it is because we have really poor boundaries. We say yes to everybody else all day and no to ourselves. And then wonder why we stay up late knee deep in Tim Tams watching Netflix with a inappropriate respect for sleep for tomorrow.

[00:00:28] This is our time that we. Are finally allowing ourselves to receive and not in a helpful, nourishing way. And it was not just linked to weight in so many areas of our life. So by actually modeling that, holding that, my whole life began to change. Hey, my name is Olivia Dusa. I’m dedicated to helping multi-passionate entrepreneurs turn their dreams into reality by building a career and a life they love and making a positive impact.

[00:00:53] In the world. I’m the podcast and social media manager, a singer songwriter, a kids music creator, a, [00:01:00] a wife and a mom. I’m the secret weapon behind many six and seven figure entrepreneurs helping them shine, line and call in the people they are here to serve. And now I’m here to help you. This podcast is here to help you learn and be inspired.

[00:01:15] You’ll learn about podcasting, lead generation, business, and all about the real life stories of people behind the businesses. Just like you think of it as a place to hang out with your like-minded business bestie who gets what it’s like. So grab a cup and hit subscribe so we can hang out. Again, this is Magnetic Pod, the podcast.

[00:01:34] I’m here and I’m ready to brave Miss me. I’ll stand on every stage. I’m available.

[00:01:51] Hello. Welcome to another episode of Magnetic Pod Today our guest is Suzanne Berg, an international mindset coach, author, and [00:02:00] speaker, and she also has a podcast called The Note Coach, which I just love that name. It put my attention, which is extremely binge-worthy and packed. Full of value. Suzanne helps over givers and people pleasers to learn to say no without feeling any guilt, and to become more confident in setting boundaries.

[00:02:17] She believes in normalizing the concept of setting boundaries and advocates for saying no more often. She’s a certified practitioner of N L P Neurolinguistic Programming and has a Bachelor of medical science with honors. She’s a certified. Sacred Deaths practitioner. We’ll get into that in the episode and an author of the book, the Beginning is Shit, an Unapologetic Weight Loss memoir.

[00:02:40] You’re so good with coming up with the names, I’ve gotta say, Suzanne, thank you. I receive that she lives in Sydney, Australia with her family and she shares her journey through her coaching, her speaking engagements, writing and her newsletter, as well as her podcast. So welcome. Thank you so much for having me.

[00:02:56] Absolute pleasure. I’ve been really enjoying binging on your podcast. [00:03:00] So how about we start about the fact that you were a clown once? I knew that was gonna come up on Olivia’s booking sheet. It is like, what’s some random fact or something that people don’t dunno about you so, I’m very shy. I am socially awkward and an introvert, which people don’t believe, but I shine online.

[00:03:17] But yes, my very first paid job was as a clown. What I didn’t tell you was I lasted exactly one day.

[00:03:27] So yes. For you, very exuberant clown, or did you just what? Tell me the story. How did this happen? So my. Father worked at a photo lab back before the age of digital where you drop your photos off for one hour photos and they had some promotions and they were like, we want people to hand out balloons. So my friend and I got paid.

[00:03:47] We dressed up, her mom did our makeup. And we handed out balloons to little kids and scared them as well as ourselves. And we were never asked back. That was that. [00:04:00] Uh, I can relate to that. My family had a photo developing place too. It was high pressure ’cause you had to get it out in an hour. And that was inside of a news agency.

[00:04:09] And I also was a shy child and I was mortified at the idea of having to sell papers. That’s how old I am. And so stand out going, Harold, and I just went, no, I’m not calling out for anybody. Yes, no. My kids don’t know the horror of things not being instant and having to wait and yeah, the pressure to get them out in an hour, it was kinda like pizza you used to be, if you’d order your pizza and it’s more than half an hour, it’s free.

[00:04:30] It was kinda like our thing, if you didn’t get your photos in an hour, it was free. And the pressure, it was very stressful for our family. Then we had a flood and it got destroyed and we got the money for it. We got rid of it. Anyway, I’d love to get a bit of a personal insight to you, so, okay. Tell us about your journey.

[00:04:44] How did you become the Nope. Coach and be all about setting boundaries? Oh, because I never had any, you teach what you most need to learn so that you can learn it. You actually, going way back, hence. The Bachelor of Medical Science. I was gonna be a doctor. I left that in fifth year to pursue personal training, which I did for a [00:05:00] while.

[00:05:00] Then I decided to become a teacher, and I didn’t last long there. So anyway, I moved around a bit, ended up in coaching, had a personal weight journey, hence my book. The Beginning of Shit was a weight loss mindset coach for. Four or so years, and I transitioned my business from one-to-one coaching to a membership, which hamstringed my income.

[00:05:18] I’m nothing if not transparent, like I didn’t have very good boundaries. So a lot of my clients like, why would you pay one-to-one fees if you can get the same service for a fraction of the cost? So I didn’t anticipate a lot of my clients dropping back from one-to-one to the membership. Mm-hmm. And yeah, I still.

[00:05:33] Did Messenger coaching, I still followed up the emails. I didn’t have the boundaries. They’re not gonna be all blaming. It was me. And from there, a whole journey about saying no and being clear on the different values of the offers. And from that point, I ended up transitioning my entire business that way.

[00:05:48] Wow. So how did you learn that? How did you learn to say no? Because really listening to that story, resentment will build up and it’s not good for anybody. Exactly. Brene Brown says, choose [00:06:00] discomfort over resentment. So basically what happened was I realized a large part of the problem was me because I was the one who was continuing to say yes.

[00:06:08] And when people said, oh, you just this once or You don’t mind, do you? And I did mind. In the group. I didn’t point fingers at any one particular person. I did a Facebook Live, which I was shaking, and I basically said, this is what’s happened. What you allow will continue. Up until now, this is how it’s been going forward.

[00:06:25] This is how it will be. And let me just say, when you stop, people pleasing. Some people are not pleased to have pushed back and some people who were very unhappy and just holding that line. We understand working our physical body and building up our muscles. I came from a personal training and weight release background.

[00:06:41] You don’t go into the gym and walk straight up to the heavy end and expect to be able to lift those dumbbells. So the same with boundaries. The first time that you say no and then. Hold that. No. And then remind the person lovingly that no, this isn’t gonna allow it. It gets easier the more that you do it.

[00:06:55] I really realized that I wasn’t lit up by the weight loss so much and I never was actually, I was a weight loss [00:07:00] mindset coach never cared what people ate or how they exercise. ’cause we all know what to do. We just don’t do it. And the reason so many of us don’t do it is because we have really poor boundaries.

[00:07:07] We say yes to everybody else all day and no to ourselves. And then wonder why we stay up late knee deep in Tim Tams watching Netflix with a inappropriate respect for sleep for tomorrow. This is our time that we are finally allowing us. To receive and not in a helpful, nourishing way. And it was not just linked to weight in so many areas of our life.

[00:07:24] So by actually modeling that, holding that, my whole life began to change. Wow. Is this part of why you went on the weight loss journey? Can you tell me how that happened and what was the motivation? So in a very nutshell, my mom put me on my first diet when I was four to fit the flower girl dress for my sister’s wedding.

[00:07:42] Oh my God. Um, yes, we had a dress fitter come in and measure us all, and I’d always seen my mom and my sister suck in their belly when they try on stuff. So when the dress fitter was measuring me, I sucked in my belly. The fact that she didn’t notice, I find curious to this day. But anyway, so the rest came.

[00:07:56] It didn’t fit by far, and I’d like to think if it was my child, [00:08:00] we learn by doing that. I’d be like, let’s just pay and get this taken out. But my mom was, no, you’re going on a diet. So I four. Oh. Oh my goodness. So I had a lifelong, many decade journey with my weight going up and down. That’s why I ended up writing a book about it, because every book I’d read was always this before my life was terrible, after my life was amazing, and there was no up and down.

[00:08:19] I was like, surely I’m not the only one who’s had this rollercoaster thing. So I decided I was supposed to write the book because I lived it. That was my weight journey. And then when I started my own business, I found a lot of. Parallels between growing a business and losing weight. And then so they say what life’s lived forward and understood backwards.

[00:08:37] Whenever I’d gone on a diet, I’d forced myself to eat less and move more, and whatever my overgiving, my over consuming tendency would go from overeating to. Overworking or over shopping, overspending, like I was filling that void in me with other things. That’s when our boundaries and stuff is addressing that void head on, not masking it with [00:09:00] food or work.

[00:09:00] And some things are more socially acceptable, like overworking or over exercising. People are often applauded for those things, but anything done to excess is not healthy. And over exercising is how I ended up injuring my back. So it was like, why am I always overdoing things? Because I didn’t have an ability to say no without feeling mean.

[00:09:17] I dunno if I can swear on your show. Yes, you go right ahead. I say without feeling like a bitch. So yeah. Bitch is not a swear word. You can do better than that. Oh, I totally can. If you’ve listened to my show, you’ll hear. I love when people come on, they’re like, can I swear here? I’m like, have we met? So it sounds like in a way it wasn’t really a weight loss journey so much as a complete personal development.

[00:09:35] Journey. Yes, but it started off through weight, and I think for many people, whatever they’re in is, it could be losing weight, it could be growing a business, it could be whatever. It’s never the presenting problem because most of us know what to do with weight loss. You to eat less and move more, that somehow you’re getting in your way with business.

[00:09:51] Putting yourself out there and the uncomfortableness of people saying no to you. A lot of the stuff that’s not really the block, it’s something else. And for me and for [00:10:00] many of the people I work with, it is that boundary thing. Knowing when’s enough’s enough and knowing that it’s okay to say yes to you, people pleasing, doesn’t pay at all, especially in the long run.

[00:10:10] And yeah, to actually take that time and know I have done this and that, that is the end rather than being at it all the time. Right. So have you found that basically putting yourself first, more often, Naturally resulted in making better choices and therefore losing weight. Is that how it worked for you?

[00:10:26] Well, I think of it like this. We understand giving and receiving are paired, like inhaling and exhale, and you can’t have one without the other. If you go to a door that’s pushed, the other side will be pull. There’s forward and back. Many of us become over givers because, They’re like, I’m not overgiving, I’m just generous.

[00:10:42] But overgiving is paired with over-consuming. So if all day you don’t do anything for you, you’re just like, in the morning, I’m running around after my kids and getting their lunches made and getting ’em off to school, and then I’m working my job or working as an entrepreneur and I’m responsive to emails and texts, and I’m always the person and then your body’s [00:11:00] screaming.

[00:11:00] Can we do a stretch or can we get up from our desk? School, like some people I work with, they don’t even take a toilet break. They’re always overdoing overgiving all day long. Then in the evening, that push without a pull, that giving without receiving, it needs a pair. So the overconsuming starts usually binge watching a show or binge eating or binge scrolling or playing Candy Crush or whatever.

[00:11:21] That over consuming happens to balance out the overgiving you do all day. So when you put yourself first, when you’re like, can you do this? No. Or no thanks or not right now. Like I love it when people say, what are you doing right now? Nothing. And then they start giving me things to do and I’m like, no, no, I’m not saying I’m available to do all this stuff.

[00:11:38] I am doing nothing. That’s it. The end. So by taking little pockets of time for yourself during a day, have a cup of tea and drink it while it’s hot. Do some stretches. Get up from your desk and walk around. Sit in the sun for five minutes, get some vitamin D, and actually do those things during the day.

[00:11:55] Then at the end of the day, you’re not over exhausted. Overextended. ’cause what do we do when we take a break? [00:12:00] Most of us go to our email. That’s not a break. It’s simply switching activities. It’s going from your to-do list to someone else’s ’cause chances are there’s gonna be all these messages. From people who want your attention, and then that’s not actually a break at all.

[00:12:11] So taking those little pockets of time for yourself during the day and guarding them like a dragon, hordes it’s treasure so that then you don’t need to fill up on crap and social media and too much TV at night because you’ve not overdrawn yourself. I love that. I love that you could quote that tricky.

[00:12:26] Your email is not a. Break, it’s going to somebody else’s to-do list. That’s true. I mean, I’ve scrolled and ended up and seeing there’s some message of something I’ve gotta deal with for work now. I know that’s there and I was just about to go to sleep. So we’re so hyper connected now, because sometimes too, if people don’t respond to your email, then they’ll dmm you or then they’ll message you again like.

[00:12:43] Pet peeve is someone who sends me a message, can see that it’s red and then just sends me a question mark and I’m, you’re not actually getting me my, it’s rude. Makes you scared to open the message, doesn’t it? It’s like they’ll see it and sometimes you’ve opened it. You, you might have a kid around you or just got your hands full or in the middle of [00:13:00] cooking or something.

[00:13:00] You don’t necessarily have the ability to even read it. It just shows like you’ve read it ’cause it was opened. Yeah. Or if your kids have your phone and they’re playing with it or watching YouTube and it comes in and they click on it. They click out. You might not have legitimately seen it because the kids left you on red.

[00:13:14] Alright, so do you wanna tell me a bit about these trainings you’ve done? I’ve heard of N L P and that sounds amazing. What, what are the tools that you’ve got? So NLP is, if anyone who’s not familiar with it and you’re a linguistic programming, the easiest way I can think of describing it is imagine you like a computer, you have hardware and you need upgrading.

[00:13:32] So it’s basically about putting in new drivers or installing new things so that you can handle stuff quicker and easier. So it’s about mindset. A lot of people hear it and freak out because N L P used for bad is when you’re watching an infomercial or you’re at one of these training days and they’re like, get your credit card out and run to the back of the room.

[00:13:50] And part of you is like, I don’t wanna do this, but you’re handing over. That’s NLP use for bad. It’ll be used for good is getting you closer faster to the goals that you actually set for [00:14:00] yourself. And the other training I’ve done a lot, they’re my main ones, a certification called Sacred Depths through a lady called Joanna Linden Baum.

[00:14:06] She’s a trauma informed coach and words cannot describe that program. Working with Joanna, it’s like rewiring negative. Beliefs befriending your fears. A lot of us, we know that we have something we’re afraid of. And I don’t mean phobias though. I suppose you could use it on that, but I mean to say for imagine a lot of your listeners in business or starting a podcast or growing a podcast, fear of visibility or fear of trolls or something like that.

[00:14:28] The way we learn about it in sacred depths is we don’t wanna banish or eviscerate our fears. They have a place. Like in our house, a smoke detector has a place. The problem is sometimes, most of the time it goes off for burnt toast instead of a legitimate fire. So the coaching I do with people, is this a legitimate fear or is this some burnt toast that we just need to open a window for?

[00:14:51] And knowing that gives everything a place rather than trying to eviscerate or read ourselves as something that actually has a useful function when it’s working correctly. [00:15:00] That’s really interesting. Because we can’t push the negative stuff down, can we? It’s about knowing how to, I guess, hack it and see it and release it.

[00:15:08] Even the term releases, that’s a word you used for your weight loss too, as opposed to It’s a very deliberate choice, because I encourage everyone if you’re not driving or if it’s safe to do so to close your eyes. Think of losing something. We don’t have a good connotation with the term loss. If you think of losing your keys or your phone or your wallet or your kids in the shopping center, I have done that once.

[00:15:28] It was only a few minutes, longest few minutes of my life. You immediately feel like for me, I feel my belly clenching and my throat going dry, and like you feel like, oh. So you have subconscious wiring that loss is bad, loss is negative, and then you’re like, well, I wanna lose weight. The body doesn’t understand that being a good thing.

[00:15:45] So you can do work as N L P processes as processes you can do with a coach to unpack all that, or you can just change the word. So hence I say weight release because I no longer thank you for your service. Farewell rather than lose. And then unconsciously be trying to find again, because none of us actually care how much [00:16:00] we actually weigh.

[00:16:01] We do in the sense that we’ve got our value assigned to a number perhaps. But it’s actually a limitation of the English language. ’cause I noticed when I was learning a bit of Portuguese, ’cause that’s my background, they say, which is basically literally fat enough to get fatter or which is to get thinner.

[00:16:16] And they don’t have a word. The fact that we use weight is a limitation anyway, but, but there’s language fascinates me. ’cause when you think about it, gratitude is something a lot of people talk about and you should be grateful. Gratitude lists, gratitude practices, gratitude, diaries. I have a, personally, a very negative connotation with that word.

[00:16:32] ’cause growing up all I heard was you should be grateful. You should be grateful they’re starving children in Africa, you should be grateful. Other people have it worse than you. So is it little wonder? I don’t wanna sit down and write a gratitude list. However, when I changed out the word to appreciation, I can get behind that.

[00:16:46] I appreciate clean drinking water. I appreciate being invited to speak on a podcast. There’s so many things I appreciate, but gratitude is loaded. And I think when we unpack our own personal word, allergies, ’cause other people, they might have no issues with this. But it’s interesting. A lot of [00:17:00] people I work with, they have word allergy to hard work.

[00:17:02] I don’t hard work. Yes, I feel good, but I need to earn this. And if there’s pressure, if there’s loading with it, what can you swap it out for? That basically means the same thing, rather than spending dollars on coaching or therapy to unpack it. Actually, I’m interested to know. Is it easier for you? Does it get easier with practice?

[00:17:18] How do you say no in a way that doesn’t offend? It gets easier with practice. In the beginning, it feels uncomfortable and weird because you haven’t done it before, but it’s amazing how very few people give you the pushback, the stories you have in your head about what they must think or what you’re making it mean a lot of the time aren’t the reality.

[00:17:36] That is the case when you ask for a boundary to be set, and even if it is the worst case scenario happens. And you realize, actually it wasn’t that bad and I navigated through it. It reminds me of that meme, that gift that goes around. But did you die? Yeah, I asked for a raise or I asked if they could come earlier or I asked whatever and it wasn’t well received or whatever.

[00:17:56] But did you die? Well, no. And then because you’ve done it before, the next time it’s [00:18:00] easier. I remember the very first time someone asked me to teach in their group and I said, you know that I have a speaker’s fee. That would be a fee associated with that. And then, Realizing following that through to fruition.

[00:18:10] So if they said to me, no, they weren’t willing to pay that for me, it was, I’ll just buy that hour back for myself. Because when you’re teaching something, it’s not just an hour. There’s the preparation time, there’s the follow up afterwards, there’s all this stuff that goes into it. Are you willing to hold the flip side, the worst case scenario?

[00:18:24] So say you have a client that you set a boundary with and then your mind’s going, they might leave or they might not work with me again. That may be true, but then that opens up a spot for a more aligned client to come in and fit that spot, who is maybe less energy and effort and work. On your part and that you’re a better fit to work together.

[00:18:40] Saying no, setting boundaries doesn’t make either of you wrong. This is not really a fit. So I look at price increases and things that I’ve done where I’ve been like, the brain goes to worst case scenario. No one’s ever gonna sign up with you again. Everyone thinks you’re only in it for the money or whatever, but instead of abolishing those thoughts, spending a few moments to unpacking them, is this really true?

[00:18:58] What do you think when people. [00:19:00] Their prices. I had a massage recently. I get a massage about once a month. I love that. I’ll own that privilege. Mm-hmm. And they said to me, we’ve put our prices up. And I was like, oh, okay. Fair enough. When I went to pay, they put their prices up by $5. I was like, that barely warrants a mention to me.

[00:19:14] I’m not saying I have all the money in the world to throw around, but I could see them breathing deep and eyes going everywhere, and I put my price up and it’s like it’s $5. So to me that’s cool. No worries at all, but I imagine other people would have a different reaction. But you don’t have to have the massage if you don’t wanna set aside the dollars.

[00:19:29] You can use those funds elsewhere. And knowing that there’s a client at every price point and a critic at every price point, even free, I run free trainings and people are like, oh, the time doesn’t work for me. In the beginning, I would change times or I’d do this. Now I’m like, cool. Well, if you wanna work with me, when works best for you, cha-ching, but takes a while to get to that spot.

[00:19:47] Yeah, that’s right. And usually being paralyzed by the thought, the fear is worse than the actual thing happening and dealing with it. It’s the stories we run through our heads that it’s really fascinating, isn’t it? The [00:20:00] stories we run in our head, run the programs, and I guess that’s why these tools that you’ve developed or learned, but also developed from your learned experience are really, really important.

[00:20:08] For me, the biggest one that always brings me back is if it is a price increase or if it is something that someone’s asked me about that I’m happy to do, but actually is a paid service and I worry about the pushback or whatever. I don’t. Say it to them, but I remind myself I can buy that hour back for myself.

[00:20:22] So if somebody wants to pick my brain and I send them a link for a session, oh, I don’t wanna hire you. I just wanna pick your brain. I don’t know you from Adam. You’re not entitled to my time. And I think you don’t have to say that, but just knowing that I don’t need to do this. I can spend that time with my kids or with my family, or cleaning my house or sitting in the sun or whatever, but we don’t have to do these things.

[00:20:44] It always gives me back some freedom. I’d rather have that time myself and invest that in me than have someone else ask me something. Especially when it’s really clear, like when you’re early in business and you don’t have any clients or anything. Sure. Say yes to all the opportunities, but when you get along and your time is shorter, [00:21:00] then being a bit more mindful of it, if people message me and go, I wanna ask you about, someone messaged me other day on Instagram, can I ask you about your business or something?

[00:21:06] And I wrote back and said, sure, just let me know where I haven’t been clear on my website, my podcast, or is it a question about working with me? And they just didn’t respond. I said, do you do discovery calls, by the way? I do. They are very deliberately difficult to find because I want. People too, have had a bit of a look at my stuff.

[00:21:23] I do discovery calls and I love how you worded that. I don’t do sales calls as such because I want them to have read my website, be familiar with the way that I work, and what are your questions rather than, so like different people run their businesses like you do you is my philosophy. Mm-hmm. And I want people to have had a little bit of effort and go, okay, I wanna know about working together further.

[00:21:43] Not. The banner or the hero of my website is jump on a call. I’m not interested in all that because for me, if they need to be led from the very first time that we connect, we’re not gonna work well together. ’cause I work with self-led people, so Yes, you, you do do them. You have to have a little bit of work to find where the link is.

[00:21:59] That’s [00:22:00] interesting. Yeah, because along the way I’ve realized, I’ve put in a bit a few qualifying things in finding out if they’ve checked the pricing and stuff. ’cause I don’t expect people to sign up from a discovery call. But I have sometimes been a little bit surprised when on the call they’ll say straight up that they’ve got.

[00:22:14] Budget and they can’t afford anything. It’s interesting. I did do one last week, so they went through all the stuff to find it, which was great. One of the pre-qualifying questions is, do you realize that this will be investment of time, energy, and money? And they said yes. And then we had the call and I gave them the options and then they messaged back and said, I don’t have the money.

[00:22:31] And it’s funny ’cause I’m very clear on my prices everywhere. I believe in price transparency each to their own. If you don’t have your web. Prices up, that’s okay for you. But my prices is very clear, so there’s probably something else there, which I could explore if they wanted to. But for me, if they really wanna do it, they will.

[00:22:44] And if they’re not, they’ll find an excuse. So I’m like, cool. Next. Alright. And your podcast by the way, are you still doing it daily? Yeah, I’ve got a hundred days challenge and today I think it’s either day as we’re recording this is either day 84 or day 85. So when I get to a hundred, I’m pretty sure I’m gonna extend it out to 365 ’cause [00:23:00] I’m really enjoying it.

[00:23:00] Fantastic. Fantastic. What do you enjoy about my podcast is funny. I know you teach about podcasting and stuff, so it’s probably gonna fly in the face. And everyone listening, I love you. Do you? I love, there are no rules. No, there are no rules. So I have no jingle. I have no show notes. I have no call to action.

[00:23:14] Literally, I have a spreadsheet with a list of topics that interest me. I look through it and I go, oh, which one do I feel like talking about today? And I hit record. And then if I have a guest on and I know that you’ll be coming on, excuse me. Fabulous. If we’ve got an idea, I know I’ve followed them or I’m familiar with them, I’ll.

[00:23:30] Load it by them, but I just hit record. ’cause I find a lot of the gems come out in the prerecord and then you try and get to the episode and you can’t find the magic again. And I keep it short, five to 15 minutes. And I figure if people wanna listen to more, they can pick up previous day’s episode or listen to it again.

[00:23:44] For me it’s that that little gem and that. Action step that you take and actually do. Because how many of us listen to so many things? We pay a lot of attention. And then we go, oh, nothing in my life’s changing this personal development. This is no good. But we’ve got no intention behind it. Hmm. So why are [00:24:00] you listening to a episode?

[00:24:01] Why are you reading a book? Why are you turning up for a training? What are you hoping to receive? Because then you put your brain like your reticular activating system out to look for that. And then what can you apply? Because if you spend five minutes, Listening to my podcast and then 10 minutes taking an action.

[00:24:14] I think that’s so much more fabulous than listening to something for an hour and not actually doing anything. Love it. I basically share what I’ve learned from what works for me, what works for clients, and what I observe, but I also always add there’s no one solution. There’s these ways that if you need a bit of guidance, But absolutely, there’s no one way to do it.

[00:24:32] And I think getting your energy behind and believing in your way of doing it and feeling really positive about it is really, really important. And the other thing I like about it being daily is some days I feel like shit, but because of commitment to doing it, you get to see the whole full gamut of life.

[00:24:47] I think so many people online, they only share the highlight reel. Mm-hmm. And then we feel like, oh, I just can’t get my shit together. I wish I was like them. Yeah. Whereas with the Daily Show, I did an episode recently where I was like, I just didn’t wanna record this today. And it would’ve been so easy [00:25:00] just to skip.

[00:25:00] One day, what’s one day gonna do? But for me, as soon as I go, oh, today won’t hurt. I know. That’s my tell. It’s the beginning of the end. So then I talk about that, and I think there’s something about that that is missing a lot from the world where we only show the good angles and the good lighting and everything.

[00:25:16] Yeah. I do love when people reveal the ups and the downs and the reality of it. So how can people, Find you if they wanna work with you or wanna follow you. First place to find me is my website. It’s suzanne kohlberg.com, S U Z a double N E C U L B e r g. You’ll see about my program. If you dig around and you wanna have a discovery call, you’ll find it.

[00:25:39] And if you click on podcast, there’s a link to the Nope Coach there, which is my daily show. I absolutely love that. And if you want a bit of fun, sign up for my newsletters. They are unique content that I don’t share anywhere else and I deliberately don’t do a freebie checklist. Some ethical bribe. You sign up for my emails ’cause they’re cool.

[00:25:57] Love it. Okay. Thank you so much. [00:26:00] Thank you for having me. So what were your key takeaways from today? Did it raise any questions? What would you like to know more about? Let me know. You can contact me via social media or email. I don’t care which way you use. Just reach out to me. I’d love to chat with you.

[00:26:15] And remember, you can get access to lots of free podcast resources that will help you get started or help you improve your podcast@libbymusicmedia.com slash. Freebies, hit subscribe ’cause I wanna see you again. But for now, go forth. Be the awesome person you are. Live the life you want to live and have fun.

[00:26:35] You’ve got this. See you next time. Show.[00:27:00]

Note: this transcript was generated automatically. Its accuracy may vary.

[00:00:00] Think of your podcast as a tool that works for you. It’s an excuse to meet people you wanna meet. It’s long form content to feed all your social media platforms to repurpose till the cows come home. Like I keep saying, it is where you can create content that serves your ideal client, that gets them to binge and fall in love with you.

[00:00:19] Hey, my name is Olivia Deza. I’m dedicated to helping multi-passionate entrepreneurs turn their dreams into reality by building a career and a life they love and making a positive impact in the world. I’m a podcast and social media manager, a singer songwriter, a kids’ music creator, a faha, a wife, and a mom.

[00:00:40] Secret weapon behind many six and seven figure entrepreneurs helping them shine, line and call in the people they are here to serve. And now I’m here to help you. This podcast is here to help you learn and be inspired. You’ll learn about podcasting, lead generation, business, and all about the real life stories of people behind the businesses.

[00:00:59] Just like [00:01:00] you think of it as a place to hang out with your like-minded business bestie who gets what it’s like. So grab a cup and hit subscribe so we can hang out. Again, this is Magnetic Quad, the podcast I,

[00:01:19] I.

[00:01:28] So you wanna know how you can make money from your podcast? You wanna know how you can get more downloads so you can get sponsorship. So I’ve got good news and bad news. First, the bad news, it’s not bad news, but the bad news is there’s no overnight magic pill that’ll make your podcast explode overnight unless you’ve got stacks of money behind you.

[00:01:48] Okay? Growing your podcast, unless you’ve got a deal with Spotify like your Mega Markle or something, and the rest of us, it takes time. You have to consistently create the content, market [00:02:00] it, get it out there, do some podcast guesting, cut up the video and put it out in TikTok and YouTube and all of the things to draw the listenership and grow it.

[00:02:09] So that takes time. It’s worthwhile and it’s an asset that keeps working for you long after you’ve put the effort in and can keep making you money. But that part takes time. So if you are wanting to meet sponsorship criteria to be able to just click on and something like, Inside Pobe or whichever platform you’re on, that allows advertising, that may take a little while, but the good news is that’s not the only way to make money and that you don’t even need to have a huge listener base to be making money from your podcast.

[00:02:39] Let’s get into it. So it all comes back into thinking about your business and the podcast fits within the business. So what are your goals overall? What are you trying to achieve and how can the podcast help you to do that? It is part of your marketing strategy. And it’s part of your networking and making relationships, strategy [00:03:00] relationships are a key way of getting business.

[00:03:03] So podcasting can help with both of that. What you wanna do is reverse engineer. I keep thinking of examples that are actual clients that I don’t wanna give away that I’m talking about them. So let’s think of hypotheticals. That’s why I keep talking about my own experience, basically for me, If I want to create a podcast, I wanna get in front of entrepreneurs.

[00:03:22] I am often in front of entrepreneurs who are making a life on their own terms, interested in working on their terms with time freedom. Doing something that has a positive impact on the world, will make them money do good in the world, and something that they’re passionate about. I make content designed for those people.

[00:03:41] Often the people we design content for and are our niche are really us. I’m creating a content a lot of the time for people like me. That’s another reason why I’ll share personal details about what’s happening in my life and that kind of thing to a point, because it calls out the people that can relate to me.

[00:03:57] Cause I’m not gonna be for everybody. But it [00:04:00] calls out the people that can relate to me, what I’m like, and waves a flag. So who are your people and what do they need to know about? The other thing is, what we need to get to is the fact that from a marketing point of view, there are three pillars, right? So you’ve got attraction, nurturing, and conversion.

[00:04:16] You create the content to attract them. And to warm them up. How they know it’s for them is when you are speaking to them in words that relate to them. Do some research about who your target is, and that can include things like going back through emails from your clients, from clients and prospective clients.

[00:04:34] And you could keep a file somewhere in a notion tab or in a Google document. It’s an example of your client voice. Some reasons why they need your services problem that they’re having, the frustrations that they’re having. You can look at Facebook groups, whether you have your own Facebook group with your own community in it, or people that are in your niche, and notice what they’re saying, what they’re saying they need help with.

[00:04:59] [00:05:00] And keep a little record somewhere, and you can use this as a record of your client’s actual voice. So obviously you’re not gonna copy and paste someone’s private words. All over your social media or your marketing, but then when you do create content, you are speaking to those actual things and that they care about and you’re helping them.

[00:05:16] So that’s one way you can attract them. But it’s not all about pain points and problems and things relating directly to. The product and service, you might include some content that you know attracts the ideal person that is your ideal client. So you might also know that they care a lot about world environment or for me.

[00:05:35] I know that a lot of my clients, entrepreneurs, and a lot of entrepreneurs happen to be neurodiverse. Not all of them. So if you’re talking about topics that relate to them or if it’s time management and managing, having kids at home, but you know, issues that maybe even aren’t directly related to the product and services, but that can become part of what attracts them and what nurtures them and helps them to get to know you.

[00:05:57] The other thing is don’t waste your [00:06:00] podcast giving away wonderful life-changing information that they’re all getting for free. Actually, Don’t be scared to put a little call to action in there. You can either record it straight into your podcast or you can use dynamic content, which is why I love buzzsprout.

[00:06:13] I’ll put a link to Buzzsprout in the show notes. I might get like a cup of coffee or something if you use my link. I think we could both get an Amazon card actually, so let’s do that. But with Buzzsprout, there’s no eligibility requirement. You can go ahead and put dynamic content. What on earth is dynamic content?

[00:06:27] If you haven’t heard of that, you can insert an ad into your podcast, either beginning, middle, or end, and you can update it, and you can take it out and change it for something else, and it’s not into the podcast forever.

[00:06:42] You can put things like how that you’re giving away freebie. People can opt in and then you get their email address and you can promote whatever product or special or thing that you’ve got going in there. So yeah, that comes under conversion. But the other thing you can do, there’s other ways to convert.

[00:06:57] It might be that if you [00:07:00] have. A tribe happening. If you have people that you are building a following and love being connected, then you could set up a Patreon, you could set up a membership, you could do merchandise. I’ve got a client who I think should, and I hope she does do merchandise because she’s got a great name and a great community who very much feel part of that community.

[00:07:18] The other way to monetize is by affiliate links. So if someone is on your podcast and they have a book, you could put a link to the book. In your description, and it can be an Amazon affiliate link, so you get a little bit from that. Basically, the thing to remember with podcasting is that you are growing up an audience and converting them to get them on your email list.

[00:07:39] Then you can let them know what your offers are and what the things are, the services and the stuff that you provide. You give them value, but you also let them know what you’ve got to offer and you do it to help them for some reason, and I find it a little bit. Baffling. There are people that I see who talk about pain points, like it’s something skeezy and manipulative and [00:08:00] bad and I don’t understand unless you mal intentioned person and no one that I deal with is then what’s the problem?

[00:08:09] Basically, if you have a business, you were there to solve a problem. You talk about the problem someone has, that’s what a pain point is. You let them know that you can help them with the problem and the problem will go away. Well, what’s the problem with that? I don’t see a problem. Okay. The other way that you can monetize your podcast is through using it as a tool for networking.

[00:08:27] For example, if you wanna sell children’s books and you’re an author for children’s books, You might start having librarians on your podcast, librarians from schools, librarians from anywhere. You might wanna talk to bookshop owners, and you might have an excuse to put them on your podcast. And if they’re getting something out of it because they’re getting to promote themselves, then you’re not having to.

[00:08:49] Pitch them. You’re not having to say, Hey, I got a book. Will you sell my book? But you can expand your network, uh, and you can speak to publishers, you can speak to anyone that [00:09:00] it might be strategic for you to know. Think of your podcast as a tool that works for you. It’s an excuse to meet people you wanna meet.

[00:09:06] It’s long form content to feed all your social media platforms to repurpose till the cows come home, like I keep saying. And it is where you can create content that serves your ideal client, that gets them to be. Binge and fall in love with you. The other thing I wanna say is that you can use in your content is to address objections.

[00:09:26] If someone would buy from you, but they’re worried about X, Y, Z, and you can use this. If anyone ever asks you if you’re in a sales situation or whatever, and they’ve gone, will I get return on investment working with you? Who are the other people you’ve helped get results? They might say, will this help in my situation?

[00:09:44] That’s about this. Whatever questions people ask you or fears or worries or reservations, people might have criticisms anything potentially negative or a bit scary. That might be a question that’s asked you or that they’re wondering, and don’t ask you if [00:10:00] you can determine what those are. Marketing is brilliant for this, so instead of potentially feeling like a deer in the headlights when you’re asked these questions on a sales call, you can have already addressed all of those objections and proven yourself.

[00:10:14] In your marketing. By the time people call you, they’ve had all those fears and everything Allied, because you have already said that, answered those fears and objections and reservations in your marketing content. So that’s another way that makes you money because you are getting closer to the sale when you deal with all those issues.

[00:10:30] Okay, in wonderful A D H D fashion, I think I meandered all over the place, but hopefully you got all my points. I’m gonna leave it there. Let me know if you’ve got any questions and anything you wanna know more about. And you can contact me@livemusicmedia.com and I will see you next time. Bye. So what were your key takeaways from today?

[00:10:50] Did it raise any questions? What would you like to know more about? Let me know. You can contact me via social media or email. I don’t care. Which way you use. Just reach out [00:11:00] to me. I’d love to chat with you. And remember, you can get access to lots of free podcast resources that’ll help you get started or help you improve your podcast@livemusicmedia.com slash freebies.

[00:11:13] Hit subscribe cuz I wanna see you again, but for now. Go forth. Be the awesome person you are. Live the life you want to live and have fun. You’ve got this. See you next time.