Intro 00:00:00 Welcome to the Creative Agency Success Show, the go to resource for agency owners looking to scale their business. Join us every week to stay ahead of the curve and position your agency for future success.
Jaime 00:00:15 Hello everybody! It is time to introduce our guest, Julie Frey. I assume Hannah had an amazing interview with Julie because this is one of the beauties of working from home was getting ready to do a podcast. I told my whole family to be quiet, turned the light on in my office to make sure people knew not to come in, and my father-in-law was here trying to fix our refrigerator, and he decided to turn the electricity off to the house. so, a little podcast I just cut out completely and I'm no longer there. So, we let Hannah finish the interview. But, Hannah, fun interview?
Hannah 00:00:45 Yeah, Jamie, it was a fun interview. It really was. Yeah. I mean, your electricity went out in the middle of it. Yeah.
Hannah 00:00:54 Okay. But, yeah, it was a great interview. Julie is the founder of your expert guest, which is a podcast hosting like connecting people with podcast guests and things of that nature, which we've used her services in the past. So, it was really cool to hear what her intent was and the story behind her, how she got started in business. And just the genesis of what even brought her into this space was really cool to hear from her. So yeah, we had a great time on the Hannah show talking to Julie in this episode. So yeah, it's kind of sexy.
Jaime 00:01:29 I don't get to do interviews together too often, so I was looking forward to being able to work with Hannah. So, I'm kind of upset. I wasn't there for the whole interview, but I'm sure he did an awesome job, and I'll have to listen to this one. Hello everybody. Welcome to today's. I'm going to call it the Meta podcast because it is a podcast. I'm so very excited to have this episode as a guest.
Jaime 00:01:48 So we're joined by Julie Fry, who helps, helps people have great lineups for their podcasts. And she's obviously sent a ton of guests our way. So, we're excited to talk about podcasts. But before we get to Julie, we're also joined by Hannah Hood, one of our awesome CFOs here. So welcome to the show, Hannah.
Hannah 00:02:03 Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here and I'm excited to talk to you, Julie, because as the co-host of the on that show, obviously I have a very, new, I guess, passion for podcasting. And so, I'm really excited to hear from you and hear about the benefits of it, because I've already seen the benefits of it, even for us, and like our mission and what we're driving to do. So, I'm excited for you to tell our audience about how it could benefit them too.
Julie 00:02:30 I love it, I love it. Well, congratulations. And yeah, that's a wonderful show. We've checked it out on behalf of some of our clients, too.
Hannah 00:02:38 Oh, awesome. That's exciting to hear.
Julie 00:02:40 Yeah.
Jaime 00:02:41 Luckily, you're saying that to Hannah. Hannah doesn't have as big a head as Jodi because she's still taking and still taking the drive. But Jodi would have been like, oh, man. Oh, yeah.
Julie 00:02:47 Yeah, I know, ten years.
Hannah 00:02:49 He'd be like, do you want my autograph now? Or like, that's what he would say. Yes.
Jaime 00:02:56 So, I want you to start off by telling us a little bit about yourself, your background, and kind of how you got to where you are today.
Julie 00:03:02 Yeah, for sure. So, my company is called Your Expert Guest, and we are a podcast guest booking agency for business owners, thought leaders and authors. So, we work with people that are really trying to expand their network, establish credibility, and get in front of new audiences by being podcast guests. We also do content repurposing as well. So, pulling kind of the best nuggets from those interviews and then repurposing them into blog posts, audiogram, social media posts, Instagram Reels and short videos.
Julie 00:03:38 So how I got into this is I prior to this company owned a women's networking organization, and it was specifically for women that were balancing motherhood and entrepreneurship. So, I found that there was kind of a unique space in the networking and live events space, to accommodate our needs. And I started that when my kids were three and five. So, we did live events, online events and an annual conference. And as my kids started getting older and I started to kind of have the desire to do something a little different, I decided to put that business for sale in 2019, and the sale finalized in January of 2020. So going back and remembering what life was like back then, we were just at the very early stages of hearing about this, this virus that was, you know, kind of going on but not affecting the US yet. And come March, I was talking to a number of my friends who are speakers, and they were really getting stressed about the fact that live events were being canceled.
Julie 00:04:51 The world was starting to shut down. I still remember March 13th as the day that the school said, okay, we're closing for two weeks and all the parents are thinking, oh my gosh, two weeks. That's terrible. And so, there was just a lot of chaos going on at that time. And I was walking my dog one morning and listening to a podcast, as I always do. And I just had the thought, well, gosh, a lot of these friends of mine still need visibility for their business. They could speak on podcasts as guests, you know, a lot of podcasts or interview format. They're always looking for great guests. Maybe I could start a business, excuse me, where I could connect them to the podcast hosts. And that was really the genesis of this business starting. So, incorporated in May of 2020 and have grown organically ever since. And now we're a team of six, who work directly with our clients. So that's our story.
Hannah 00:05:51 I love hearing that there was beauty through Covid.
Hannah 00:05:54 Like, I love stories like this that, you know, Covid wasn't all bad. I think it told us a lot of things and really shaped like the world, obviously in many ways, but clearly it worked. for the good of your business. And I love to hear stories like that. I want to hear about the business owners that you've helped and just this push towards podcasting in general. Obviously, I'm going to be honest, like, I don't know that I'd thought about the connection to Covid, with podcasting and just the revolution that that really did happen in this space. I know I was at a marketing event, a few months ago, and there was a whole session on, like podcasting for your business and podcasting for brand awareness and establishing yourself as a thought leader through podcasting. What would you say? Like what are some like, I want to hear some success stories in that in terms of from some of the people who've come to you looking to establish themselves as such. And have gone and gotten over the fear of doing it and then seeing some benefit from that.
Julie 00:06:57 Yeah. So, we work with a lot of service providers. So, we've worked with a number of virtual CFOs, agency owners in the sense of either a marketing agency or agencies that provide services like executive virtual assistants. So, kind of a wide range of service providers and some product companies. but for the service businesses, most of us rely on referrals, right? For business. You know, we have some inbound, you know, we might do some outreach if we have a business development person. But a lot of service providers, their bread and butter are referrals. And so I always say that when you are guesting on podcasts, it's kind of taking your referral business and putting it on steroids, because you are getting this very unique and rare Our opportunity to spend 30 to 30 minutes to an hour with another business owner who has this network of listeners that already know and trust them. So, it's sort of a two for one, because you're getting in front of the listeners and you're building this great relationship with the host.
Julie 00:08:10 And I can talk a little bit about, you know, some things that we suggest to nurture that relationship. But that's the approach that we take with a lot of our clients is that it is an opportunity to really expand your referral network. So that's one of the key reasons why many of our clients have started working with us and continue to keep working with us, because it's the easiest marketing that you'll ever do. And it has such a long tail. We had a client who worked with us for about two years, and she was just mentioning to me the other day that, oh, a host that I interviewed with two years ago, just reached out to have a discovery call, and it looks like we're going to work together. So, it's planting all of these seeds all over the place. And then they come to harvest, sometimes right away, sometimes six months down the road, sometimes many years down the road. But because the show notes are also available online, you know, your episodes are discoverable forever.
Julie 00:09:15 So as long as the internet's around.
Hannah 00:09:19 I love that. And kind of like you said, the repurposing of the content, too, is like, that is so crucial. Like, we can take this short little snippet of what you said of this, like you're you may look at it as a guest and be like, man, I killed it with that answer. I'm going to use that part of my marketing and put that into the world. Like there's so many uses, and I just feel like it is just some of the best use of time from a marketing perspective, from getting your message out there like, it just it lives on, like you said, forever I used to work in insurance, and there was this whole concept of an agent who he, like, had a ton of speeches and a book and everything put out about how he solely built his business around referrals. Hands down, he never spent any marketing dollars anywhere else. He never bought any, list of people to call.
Hannah 00:10:12 Like none of that. He had truly only built his business around referrals. And I think that, to me, it just tells a story of how there is so much power in referral-based business between the know like and trust factor like, I'll love that you brought that up. Whenever people go on to podcasts, like you're already like tapping into their warm market by saying like, hey, like I trust this person. I want them to be on my show and have a conversation with me. I think you should, you know, potentially converse with them as well. Like, that is massive. So, I love that you brought that up. Yeah.
Julie 00:10:44 And I think that because a lot of people are starting to feel the social media marketing in a lot of ways because of algorithm changes, it is just not as reliable as it used to be for many people that relied on either ads or organic posts for their business visibility. And that's another unique thing that we find with a lot of our clients is that they don't really like being on social media.
Julie 00:11:10 so this is a great way for them to kind of still be doing the marketing activities that you need to do and, and kind of cut that piece out. And if they want, you know, we're happy to take an interview like this and create ten pieces of content for them so that they can have somebody on their team post for them, and they don't have to touch it or think of the ideas of what to post.
Hannah 00:11:31 I know when I was coming into podcasting, though, it's the little intimidating at first. Like I had a ton of imposter syndrome coming into this. I'm like, I am not a podcast host. Like, I am not qualified to do this. Like that was a big thing for me to overcome. So, speaking to somebody who, you know, they may recognize the need for this in their business and see the benefit of it, but also like have that just stage fright even like, what would you say to that person who just needs that extra push to actually do it?
Julie 00:12:04 That's such a good point because I think everybody, no matter how much experience you have speaking, still has a little bit of anxiety before they step on a stage or get in front of a mic.
Julie 00:12:18 so the one well, there's two things really that I say to people is whether you're a host or a guest is, it's just a conversation. So right now, you and I are having a conversation. There's, you know, nobody's judging us on what we look like. Maybe they will when they watch the live stream. I don't know, but just to remember that you're just having a conversation with one other person or two if, depending on if there's more than one host, and then if you have a business and people are buying your products or services, then you have something valuable to share. You know you have a way to help other professionals or other business owners. So, by going either on interviews or hosting a podcast to share your own thought leadership, you're actually doing a really great service. By sharing your knowledge and your expertise and reaching more people with it. So, trying to play that game with your mind when it starts giving you all the negative thoughts and feeling the imposter syndrome is to try to shift your mindset and remember that you're actually helping people by getting out there.
Hannah 00:13:33 I love that it really is the mind game because then once I get in the conversations, I'm like, oh, this really isn't so bad. Like, it really. It has been a lot of fun, but it really has, like, my mind was my own worst. Yeah. I'm beginning.
Julie 00:13:46 I'm a big fan of keeping a document with customer testimonials or nice things people have said about you or your wins and looking at that from time to time. And so if it helps to look at that before you get on the mic, just to remember that you're really awesome and you have a lot of great expertise to share, then that also can help you, you know, anything you can do to kind of show your mind that those negative thoughts are not needed.
Hannah 00:14:16 That's right. The power of affirmation. Like you just got to lean into that and know, and I love that you brought up that. You just must remember that, like, you have value to give the world.
Hannah 00:14:25 And if you're a business owner, a thought leader, like clearly you believe that to some capacity. So, you've just got to convince yourself that, like, it's worth getting out there and having conversations about because you just never know who you're going to reach. And I think initially I went into podcasting thinking like, oh, we might reach like handful of people and like, that would be great. And it has just been amazing to me that every single week I have people reaching out to me on LinkedIn saying, hey, I found your show. Like, this has been really awesome. Like it's been so cool, like getting to connect with you. You know they are. I'd love to connect with you here on LinkedIn. Like it's been just mind blowing to me. So, if I'm thinking and I'm just doing that for like from a professional development perspective, like so if I'm doing that as a business owner and thinking of that reach like that is incredibly, incredibly valuable. have you seen, especially speaking to business owners, have you seen them not just for themselves, but also lean on other people in their team to start to develop them as thought leaders, for their organization? Or is it just primarily business owners?
Julie 00:15:28 We've definitely seen both, depending on the size of the organization.
Julie 00:15:32 So, for smaller companies, it usually is the CEO. But in larger organizations, they have tapped their C-suite to go on podcasts. It helps spread the load as far as the time commitment. We also had a really interesting organization that we worked with, Moms and Science, and they had all of their different scientists go on podcast to share about their mission. So, it can look a lot of different ways depending on how your organization is set up. They were a nonprofit. So, it was just a lot easier to kind of tap into everyone, to go out there and, and, and share.
Hannah 00:16:14 I think speaking to our business owners that might be listening, like, it might be worth even asking, like, you never know who might be on your team, might want to just dive into podcasting. Like, who knows who could be on your team with that hidden potential just to go out there and be the mouthpiece for your organization and really be a champion for you? in that like, obviously encourage a business owner, like to do it, like, you know, to get over like I said, that stage fright in it.
Hannah 00:16:40 But, I mean, I'm an accountant like.
Julie 00:16:44 All we gotta do. You're doing it. I want you to say I'm an accountant. The accountants I know are all super cool. They clearly, clearly, we're super cool over here. That's so, so true.
Hannah 00:16:58 I whenever I was growing up, I always said I wanted to be Katie Couric. And so, whenever Joey came to me about this idea for our podcast, he was like, hey, you know, I'm thinking about this. Like, what do you think? Like, would you be interested in co-hosting? I'm like, yes, absolutely. Like, I get to live out this just dream of being that this, you know, anchor of some, you know, now it's a podcast channeling you.
Julie 00:17:25 Inner Katie Couric. That's exactly right.
Hannah 00:17:27 I get to channel my inner Katie Couric. So, I just say that to say, like, you never know who's on your team who just might, you know, be in the background working on something that might love to do podcast.
Hannah 00:17:37 That's a.
Julie 00:17:37 Good point. And you're helping develop them professionally. You're keeping them excited about what they're doing because they're getting to try something new. And maybe if it's something that they've considered before, they get to exercise that muscle. So, what a great way to kind of spread the opportunity around to other team members.
Hannah 00:17:57 That's exactly right. And then I've we actually had a conversation with somebody on one of our podcasts just talking about branding and how that is an opportunity for people within your organization and yourself to really develop your own brand and communicate your own brand, like outside from the organization in terms of what you're actually selling or doing or promoting, developing yourself as a brand and some the argument was that some business owners might be intimidated by that and thinking like, oh, I'm going to help this person develop their own brand. I'm going to give them this voice and this mouthpiece, and then they're going to leave. But I think what I found in especially observing other people who do it is like, no, you're actually like creating retention in that because they're a champion for your brand, like they're dedicated to your brand in that way.
Hannah 00:18:43 So again, just trying to pose the argument that it's worth exploring that for business owners in in multiple, multiple facets.
Julie 00:18:52 Yeah, I actually was just listening to an episode of this podcast that was about LinkedIn thought leadership, and that was the exact same discussion. Is that fear of, well, if your employees are developing their own personal brands and thought leadership, isn't that you know more of a reason for them to be poached away or leave. But it's the same thing. I think that when people feel invested in their company's mission and vision, they're more likely to feel engaged and involved and a part of it like having some ownership. So, I think that this is another great way to do that is through podcasting.
Hannah 00:19:31 I love that, Julie, I want you to tell our listeners, like, what is working with you look like what does a typical engagement look like in the relationship with your clients?
Julie 00:19:41 Client? Yeah. For most of our clients, we do. It's done for you. Podcast guest booking.
Julie 00:19:46 And so we start with a deep dive, understanding the client. What's the why behind what they're doing? What are their goals in terms of what they want? What messages do they want to get out there? and through that we develop a media kit for them that's on brand. We develop the strategy of what shows they are going to go on, what genres, what will they be talking about? and start to develop that list. And then our account managers then do the outreach and the follow ups, because oftentimes it does take multiple follow ups to either get a yes no, you know, maybe later from the hosts and then, we get them booked. We also prep them for each interview by giving them a backgrounder on each podcast. And then we provide the host with all the details about the guests. So, all of the administrative work that goes along with guesting. We take care of that for them. and then we monitor for when their episodes go live. Once they do, we again, we can take some of that content.
Julie 00:20:52 chop it up into those bite sized pieces and, and get that to them for, for more visibility. So, we usually work with people for at least six months. because as you have probably found, podcasting is a bit of a long-term game. So, by giving it at least that amount of time, then we can start to see what genres of podcasts or what interview topics are really resonating and where are they seeing the ROI? Where are they seeing more email signups for their list, or more discovery calls getting booked
Hannah 00:21:24 I think I really take it for granted the administrative pace of podcasting, because obviously we've engaged and work with y'all. We have Ruxin on our team who really is the mouthpiece for us and deals with that. Like we just get to show up.
Julie 00:21:41 Which is exactly how I think it should be. But it is not that way for a lot of people. There are a number of shows where the host does it all, which is, you know, about ten hours a week per episode.
Julie 00:21:55 and then if you are engaging in your own guest placement, you know, you have to fill out the forms, you must listen to the show. Obviously, we suggest that our clients also listen to the show. But, you know, we try to take as much away from the kind of busy work so that they can just show up and have a great conversation.
Hannah 00:22:14 I love that, I love that you take the guesswork out of it in terms of trying to figure that out, because just especially as a business owner, you know, and especially creative agency owners, like time is money like that equates to a billable hour or to something to capacity that you just have to look at it as that tradeoff is you're not going to be spending time on that administrative stuff. You're essentially going to delegate that to you all, which I love that you could take care of that, for them. So, I don't know if our listeners have noticed, but Jamie dropped off.
Julie 00:22:45 Some money, and.
Julie 00:22:49 And you're doing an amazing job.
Hannah 00:22:53 He did send.
Hannah 00:22:53 Me a message and say that, his power went completely out, so he was like.
Julie 00:22:58 Oh, probably because of the heat. Right.
Hannah 00:23:00 Yeah, I.
Hannah 00:23:01 Know, it's crazy. It's so, so crazy. So, we could just wrap it up ourselves, but I'm going to take Jamie's note in switching our conversation now to something totally different, totally out there, because we want to learn more, a little bit more about you, Julie, and hear about you. But since it is so hot and since it's summertime, my question to you is what has been your favorite vacation?
Julie 00:23:25 Ooh, that's a good one. I will say pre kids, when I was in my 20s, I went to Turkey by myself for three weeks and it was amazing. And it was, I think, a big confidence booster because navigating a country where the culture is so different and, you know, kind of doing it on your own, maybe feel like if I did that, I could do anything.
Julie 00:23:53 So that was probably my favorite pre kids. And since we've had kids, you know, last year we went to Sunriver, which is in central Oregon, and I went there a lot growing up. It's a great place in the summer mountain bike, float the river. and they have a cute little village. And then in the winter, there's a, you know, ski, really world class ski area there. So, we just had a lot of fun last year, so that's maybe because it's the most recent one I can think of, but, you know, that was that was a stellar vacation.
Hannah 00:24:28 I love that in Saint. For me, I think for me, with my kids, like ours was our last summer vacation because my kids know they're 13, ten and eight. So, this was like a really great age to take them on a vacation. Like we did a cruise. We went to Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel and it was just great. They were just at such a great age to enjoy the trip.
Hannah 00:24:50 All in all, all the excursions that we did. So, I agree, it's probably because it's so fresh for me, but if it's going to be hot, I want to be somewhere tropical. So, was this me getting summer?
Hannah 00:25:01 Yeah.
Hannah 00:25:02 In the summer.
Hannah 00:25:03 Time for me? Yeah
Julie 00:25:05 For me. Anytime I'm near water. Water is my happy place. so that's kind of key for me. Whenever we go somewhere that's more relaxing rather than, like, a city visits.
Hannah 00:25:16 That's exactly right. Well, Julie, thank you so much for coming on and chatting with me for most of this show. So, I appreciate that very, very much. And it was so great talking with you. If our listeners want to connect with you outside of the show, what's the best way for them to do that?
Julie 00:25:31 Yes. our website is your expert guest, dot Com. And if they are interested in learning more about podcast guesting, we do have a checklist of what to do before, during and after your interview to be the best guest possible and you can grab that at your expert guest.
Julie 00:25:50 Com forward slash checklist.
Hannah 00:25:53 I love that.
Hannah 00:25:54 Again, thank you so much. And I'm so totally glad to put a face to the company that I know that we've been using in the background for a long time now, so I appreciate that so much. And thanks for them.
Hannah 00:26:06 Show, Julie.
Julie 00:26:07 Yes, it was really nice chatting with you too, Jamie. I mean, Hannah, sorry.
Hannah 00:26:11 I can't edit that. You just said.
Julie 00:26:15 Jamie. It's always in my head. but. Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.
Hannah 00:26:20 You bet. All right.
Julie 00:26:22 Bye.
Outro 00:26:23 Enjoy this podcast? Visit our website Summit Connect to get more tips and strategies for achieving business success. We're here to be a resource in this ever-changing industry.
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