When you are actively seeking your goals, the keys to get you there will reveal themselves. The deeper I have applied the techniques in this book I am continually shocked at how effective they truly are. Today is the day after I posted my first podcast. How that came to be and how I met what I believe will be a key player in my life is quite a story. I hope you enjoy hearing it as much as I enjoy sharing it.
About a month ago, I was sitting in the library working on my book. I had made a habit of going there to get good work done while Charlotte would go to Mom’s morning out at our local preschool. All our girls have attended this great school and Charlotte has grown and excelled there. Anyway, as I am sitting there working I notice a book sitting on a nearby shelf that is the History of Airbnb. I knew very little about this now quite large company and had been quite curious about the concept as I contemplated other business ideas of building vacation property and marketing them on Airbnb (again not having any prior knowledge or experience with them). So I check out and read the book despite having a huge backlog of books I had recently been adding to a comprehensive list that would ultimately become my library.
The story and founders were both fascinating. I found the book very compelling. When I went to their site, what I found so interesting was not the house rentals but rather the Experiences. If your not familiar, Airbnb experiences are anything from yoga classes in the park, dining with a celebrity chef, to photo shoots and even mini movie making!
I originally signed up think of creating my own experience like yoga on lake burton with the bed and breakfast concept, but then I found the answer to my prayer. A podcast start up class. Record, edit, and publish your own podcast. This was what I had been trying to get done for the last month and a half. I had my interviews done but was hung up with editing and polishing because I was using a friend of mine that had a lot on his plate already with his own podcast and music production business.
So I booked the appointment. It was in like 2 days. I was so pumped. But then the host said she couldn’t make that date and pushed back another 2 weeks! As it turns out, she had just decided to do this workshop and had only posted the day before I found it. (Secretly, I think she pushed back, because she wasn’t expecting such an immediate response). So as she got her act together, I was sitting here completely distraught, I pushed to meet sooner but we couldn’t work it out. And it was another blessing in disguise.
Again not wanting to wait, I dug into audio editing software. I actually found one use by reporters that would automatically download the files into all the necessary formats and publish to all the major site. But most importantly it taught me how to do my own editing.
But this didn’t work out the first time either. I started with audacity because it was free. But after editing and updating most of my episodes I realize that this free tool was not going to be the answer I thought it was. So all that work in audacity was in vain. But as it turned out I was able to save a lot of the edit work so at the end of the day, I had found the right software and the right tools to be even more prepared for my meeting with the podcaster.
Take away.
Just like my first podcast episode, be prepared. You can never be too prepared. Being prepared pulls the blinders back for new opportunities. I also learned to never be upset if someone pushes out an expected appointment or interview (which has happened a lot more than I expected). This just gives you more time to prepare.
So after exchanging emails and info, I started doing my research on the host to see what to expect (and how legitimate she really was). I was pleasantly surprised to see an lovely lady roughly my age. As I dug into her podcast and site, they were both fantastic. They were even in the same vein of what I hoped my to be. I was really impressed her meditation episodes and line of cbd products. The website https://www.motherhoodunstressed.com/ is great and her podcast interviews are engaging, compelling and quite frankly a ideal length (around 30 mins to an hour max).
So I show up and follow Liz to the local coffee shop. We dive right in and it is great to see how well prepared she is. Everything is on point and organized. She has forms to fill out for those who aren’t as prepared and don’t have the vision that I have. I blaze through the paperwork and we jump right in.
The first part that I noticed and loved about his experience is that we were executing. Acting. We were getting real work done. We set up a libsyn account and all the other step by step actions needed to publish.
I failed on getting my iTunes account set up beforehand despite her specific instructions to do so, so that prevented my podcast from publishing there. But by the end of our time, she’s recording me publishing my first episode. Just like that it was done. It was no where close to perfect ( I left off the podcast intro which was terrible anyway and never finished the post script) but it was done. It was out there. There was no turning back. Game on. And while I am certain I would have eventually gotten a podcast done and published, it never would have happened so quickly if it weren’t for Liz. She was so vital to getting me to the finish line. Or really more like the starting line. She has laid out the process. Now it’s up to me to follow it, and make it my own.
This all happened because of a silly book in a library. But I truly believe when you have a purpose and a vision, it doesn’t matter that you don’t know how to get there. If you keep asking and keep looking. The answer will come. The opportunities will arise.
“When the student is ready, the teacher will reveal himself”.
I am continually amazed that as I continue to ask, the answer come. But I have to stay focused, keep my eyes open and take advantage of everything that comes my way. Now that I have met Liz, I realize being around people like that will continue to present opportunities for me and I can see that people like her hold the keys that I am seeking. The 8 keys 2 great.
Nate G.