Transcript

Molly: What I have now is me, Molly. And this is The Next 100. And man, it’s really hard to not be super awkward in the beginning of these podcasts. Just bear with me. Feel free to make fun of me. Totally cool with that.

Now, I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about, like, content and how to provide value, and I feel like that’s kind of an overused statement, but it’s important, right? And, you know, being really important or really intentional about not. Acting as if I know it all right or sounding like I think I know it all, which I recognize sometimes. I do that. And so I’m working on that. But. Really? It would be inauthentic if I didn’t talk about the things that I actually did myself and worked in my business and the things that I like, believe in, subscribe to, and practiced and seen results with. And so it’s really about this journey that I’m on and you guys being on it with me and sharing stuff that’s worked and then going through some stuff that I’m going to see if it’s going to work and we’re going to figure it out together.

And I was spending a lot of time thinking about just life lately, right? Because some things have been really hard and some things have been really good and great. And my best friend was just here for, you know, two weeks and celebrated my birthday, which was really nice. He left two days ago. I’m kind of bummed about that. But, you know, he’ll be back. But I’m. It just reminded me, you know, this whole weekend, right? It was my birthday. And I had this party. I had a party at my house. And I’ve been living in this house for six months. Right. I moved to Costa Rica a year and a half ago, maybe like give or take a couple of months. And I lived at the beach and I made some really great friends and I love this apartment building. There is kind of like Melrose Place, like Costa Rica, but very wide, with a wide range of ages and people. But it was still just kind of that vibe and it was cool and I made really great friends there. Why? So I’m in contact with my neighbors in the building and just friends at the beach. And then I moved here to this house that you’re seeing in the background, beautiful hills behind me. Right. And I moved here six months ago, like, almost to the day, actually, and. I live in this community and I’ve made really amazing friends.

So I had a party on Saturday and like legit 45 people showed up. And I just don’t think I’ve ever had that many people happy to celebrate my birthday or celebrate my birthday with at all. And I mean, I’ve thrown parties. I threw parties for a living, but I never have. I don’t think I ever threw a birthday party, although I probably forgot if I did. But. It just reminded me, like, how important relationships are, right? Relationships are everything like that call from a girlfriend that can just make you feel whole again. You know, spending time with your friends and people who you feel like family to you and when you’re in a pinch and you need to borrow money, people that are successful that’ll step up and loan you money because they believe in you. Right? Because they give a shit about you and they believe in you and they see your value. Right? Like relationships, it’s always, you know, romantic relationships. I mean, the relationship with the people who work with you and for you and all of that, right? Everything always boils down to relationships. And God, I’m so grateful for the ones in my life. I mean, 45 people. MAN 43. I don’t know. I’m an exaggerator, you all know that. But still, there’s a whole lot of people and I just can’t even believe I’m so grateful for those relationships here in Costa Rica, so far from a place that I called home for 20 years. And I was sitting here thinking about like ran a podcast series about how podcasts can make your business money.

But, you know, I was like, well, where does this all begin? And you know, at the end of the day, like a branded podcast is about building relationships, right? Like I, you know, I joke, I’m not actually kidding about like we all work for like robots and it’s all about SEO and content is SEO, but really like branded podcasts are not just SEO. Like it really starts with the relationship, you know, and, and it is anything in terms of the relationship in life, it’s about the relationships you have in business is about the relationships you have. You know, when you start a new business, you know, just like if you start a new podcast, it’s all about your Rolodex, man. Yeah, and I’m old-fashioned. I say things like, Rolodex is all about your contact list. Whatever, you know, your DMS, right? Whose hands can you slide into? Who can you call? It’s always going to be about the relationship. You know, who is going to be you know, who the first people are going to be to support you are the people that you call in your network and you say, I need you to support me with my new business. Right? Is always going to be about relationships.

Always, always, always. And at the core. That’s what a branded podcast is. That is exactly the magic of a branded podcast. It’s about creating intentional relationships. And when you sit in front of a buddy like, you know, I say this all the time where the guest is more important than the audience. And that’s a little counterintuitive for a lot of people because everybody wants to be new and noteworthy and everybody wants to go get a bunch of people to rate your podcast so you show up. But at the end of the day, your podcast, depending on your business and I’m not saying all podcasts if you want to talk about murder mysteries and this isn’t relevant to you, but if you’re creating a brand podcast as a business development tool, then it is all about the relationships with the people who you do the podcast with, right? But the relationship isn’t just, I’m having you on my podcast. So now we have a relationship, right? That’s not how relationships work, man. We live in the age of consent. You got to take people out to dinner, right? So the podcast equivalent of that is interviewing them and introducing them. Do you guys do really well with that? With my first podcast and then I got, then I kind of slag and. And I didn’t develop the relationships that I did like in the early days of my podcast because I wasn’t putting the same amount of energy and attention. You know, like when you listen to and I’ve done this when you listen to podcasts, I say, Well, tell us your origin story. Now that’s my job.

I should say. This is Molly’s origin story and this is where she was born. This is what you did, and this is the impact she’s had on her community. And how much of a badass is you because you did this, this, and this, and this, and this? Hey, thanks for joining us today, Molly. Welcome. And then the guest is going to go, Holy shit, man, that was amazing. Thank you so much. That’s how you build relationships. You know, how you build the next phase of the relationship is by making great content, you know, and making an episode graphic. That was a nice picture of them on a cool background and looks really nice. Like, Wow, who does want to put a picture of himself up on her own LinkedIn that they didn’t make right? It gives them credibility. Make a quote graphic. You know, they can put it on their LinkedIn again. More importantly, reach out to them, hey, dude. Hey, Molly, your podcast is coming out in three weeks. Here are a couple of graphics that we made. You know, this is where the video is going to be. We’re going to have a blog on our website about it. I’ll tell you on LinkedIn, let me know, you know. And then when the podcast comes out, you tag them on all those things and then you follow up with them. Hey, Molly, thanks for coming on my podcast.

Listen, I was really hoping you would speak at my next event or I was wondering, you know, I noticed that you really maybe could use a branded podcast in your life, or maybe you could use the services that I offer. And I was wondering if maybe I could get 15 minutes of your time to talk to you about that. Maybe you would find my services valuable, or maybe you would consider, you know, sending my information to somebody else. But nine times out of ten, if you really do a great job with our podcast, you’re not even going to have to ask that. But you still need to create the runway. You still need to follow up with them just like anything, right? I mean, I’ve sent out a bunch of proposals. I got them all on board right now. And I’ve been a mastermind. And my accountability this week was to nudge all those people. And I haven’t done it. So I need to drag my own, my own team. I don’t think that I need to take my own medicine, as they say. But, you know, you want to create a relationship. You want to create, you know, create the runway. Because just like everything else, my dog is out here tearing up my shoes and being a general little man. But it’s all about that relationship and creating that runway.

And what I’ve really found is that you know, in my business and in my world, I really like my clients, like I legit like them. And I have clients who are like, I don’t even know if they’re friends or clients anymore because they’re legitimately a little bit of both or like equally both. And I love that. And I, I value those relationships, you know, just like I value the people who came to my birthday on Saturday to celebrate me, right? We made those amazing foods and my neighbors got together, and I was just so grateful for those relationships. And you just never know where those are going to go. And I think we just all got consumed by this idea of like, get in front of people, create content constantly, break the algorithm, oh, man, nurture the relationships, create intentional relationships, you know, value the ones that you have, right? Because we’re always looking for more and more and more and more and more. But what about the ones that you already have? You know, what about reaching out to them, checking in on them, and maybe nurture the relationships a little bit more?

So, you know, really this is a combination of really just dialing in on branded podcasts as a business development tool. And really it’s about nurturing relationships. And so the other part of this podcast is just really just a whole ton of gratitude because I never thought in my life that, you know, moving to another country and six months later I’d have so many people that like care about me, and celebrate my existence. And we’re here to do that with me. And so, man, relationships are important, and it’s not always about getting a sale. It’s not about that at all. It’s about being a human and existing with other humans and showing up and creating relationships. Because, you know, I don’t know about you, but in my business, I don’t need a hundred new clients, you know, and one relationship like Mr. Michael Aiken and Link Strategic Partners. I had him on my podcast like three years ago and now he is like a friend of mine. You know, he will text me and say, I love you, happy birthday. I hope everything is good. He really means that. Or just I love you. He’ll just ramble. I mean, you know, this is a man who’s married and has a kid and he’s like the most honorable person in the entire world. He’s just such a good person. And he started out as somebody who I just really looked up to because I dig his work, had him on my podcast, and now we have this great relationship because I took time to get to know him because I was genuinely curious. And now he throws me all kinds of business. And even if he’s not, he just checks in on me. And I’m so grateful for that relationship because I legit think he’s probably the nicest person in the entire world. Like the work, he links strategic partners and likes 5000 fastest-growing companies. And like he’s like a. Mission-based company is a for-profit business.

I mean, I could go on and on. He works with seniors and foster kids. Like the dude is legit, like the best person in the whole world, you know? And I’m so grateful to call him a friend of mine and a client. And even if he never sent me another ounce of business, I was still super grateful to know him. And so I think beyond business and beyond numbers and beyond closing the deal, curate intentional relationships in your life from your podcast or your friendships to tell you everything, right? Do you know? So that’s the lesson I’m getting, right? I don’t want to say You should do this. I’m going to say I’m going to do this, you know, because it’s a good reminder for me about how important those things are and how grateful I am for them. So that’s enough for today. No book report, because, again, I think we got enough information here and I’m going to circle back with some more laws, leadership, you know, tidbits as I find them. And maybe this is one of them. So thank you for spending some time with me today. I’ve been getting some new downloads, shout out to the Jazz Busters and all the Women Editor podcasts or women podcast editors out there who have been showing me love and the shoutouts on Facebook. I really appreciate you. Honestly and truly. And I’m not even tripping. I definitely looked at my speaker and my downloads went out because you also like to shout out to Jazz Busters and all the amazing people in there. Becca, you rock for Sherpas. Yeah.

So thank you. And yeah, man, I hope you guys all have a fantastic week. You know, I’m looking forward to building some new relationships with you, right? Because I know there’s I know some people out here listening, so let me know, man. That’s it. I hope you all have a great week and I’ll see you at the next one. Thank you for tuning in to the next 100 sponsored by Heartcast Media. We are a digital media creative agency focusing on branding, marketing, strategy, and amplification for personal branding to podcasting. We’ve got you covered and to continue this conversation, join me on Instagram. My personal account is @mollydruland and of course, you can also find us at Heartcast Media. That’s where the really good stuff is going down. So join me there. Let’s continue the conversation. And until next week. Have a good one.