Want to Increase Your Visibility and Confidence? Listen to These Tips from Lyndsay Phillips

Christine Li  0:01  
Welcome back to the Make Time for Success podcast. This is episode number 106. 

Are you struggling to show up as the most powerful and confident version of yourself? If the answer is yes, I totally get it. I have totally been there. And my special guests today, Lyndsay Phillips is going to be the guest or for you. She's going to show you how she's moved from feeling petrified at times, to feeling prepared, consistent and confident in her presence and her expertise. And by the end of this episode, you're going to have several ideas to try out in your own life and business. Lyndsay is the CEO and Captain of Smooth Sailing Business Growth and the proud owner of Smooth Business Podcasting. She's grown a very successful content marketing agency. She's launched several podcasts, including those of her clients. And she has quickly learned through that work the true power of podcasting. She was completely skeptical at first about podcasting and she was very scared of putting herself out there. But she allowed her do it anyway attitude to get her through and it is really paid off for her. Her business has grown 60% each year consistently. And for me, Lyndsay is the queen of consistency. She's been featured on MSN, NBC and Fox, and she's been published in the Huffington Post. And she has guested on podcasts such as Johnny Lee Dumas is entrepreneurs on fire. She loves helping entrepreneurs build their authority and increase their visibility through the power of podcasting. With the help of her full service podcasting, and content marketing services. This woman is not only a delight, she's also just this organizational genius. We're going to learn so much from her today. Let's go listen to her now.

Hi, I'm Dr. Christine Li, and I'm a psychologist and a procrastination coach. I've helped 1000s of people move past procrastination and overwhelm so they can begin working to their potential. In this podcast, you're going to learn a powerful strategies for getting your mind, body and energy to work together so that you can focus on what's really important, and accomplish the goals you want to achieve. When you start living within your full power, you're going to see how being productive can be easy, and how you can create success on demand. Welcome to Make Time for Success podcast. 

Hi, my friends. Thank you for being here today. I am already incredibly excited for my guest today because I adore her. Her name is Lyndsey Phillips. And she had invited me onto her podcast a little while ago, her show was called Leverage Your Podcast and we had a great conversation. I so enjoyed getting to know her and her brain. And I'm very happy to welcome you here today. Thank you for being here, Lindsay.

Lyndsay Phillips  3:16  
Thank you for inviting me. Yeah, you were such a rockstar on my show. And not only did you help me, but you helped my audience. So yeah, so I can't wait to share those tips.

Christine Li  3:25  
Thank you so much. Okay. So Lyndsay's focus is podcast, excellence, podcast growth, and the business of podcasting. And I was just so impressed by how even she interacted with me, everything was organized, everything was easy to interact with. She's easy to interact with. So I wanted to bring Lindsay right on over to this show, so that she could describe how to get that kind of systematizing and organization into your life and your business. So Lyndsay, can you describe how you became the expert in this area?

Lyndsay Phillips  4:06  
For sure, I mean, my journey is crazy. But I'll go back only partway. So I used to have I just was a VA like virtual assistant. And then I grew that business to have a team under me. And then there was so much that I just didn't like to do and what I love to do. And then I morphed into content marketing, and was a content marketing agency. And I of course launched my own podcast I've had a few over the years. And I was petrified and it was so overwhelming. I was freaking out. But I just did it anyways, my coach told me do so I said okay, and as I started doing it, I noticed you know throughout the year, obviously it takes a while to kind of like gain that traction that everyone's like oh my god you're everywhere and like they just saw me in a Your front light, right? And people were coming to me as the expert. And so I really, like I knew it would help my business and gain exposure, but I didn't really fully understand the impact and it was huge. So I kept it up. And then I started doing it for some clients. And obviously, I created some systems in place for my own podcast. And then I started guesting on other shows, and then I created systems for that and was helping other clients do that. And I'm like, I love this. I need to do more of it. And obviously, it has grown so much, right Chrissy, like over the past five years. Yes. And so Mike, I'm going to niche down again, kind of scary, but I did it anyways. But of course, we are a little different in that we have a content marketing foundation. So we truly look at your content marketing strategy and your marketing strategy as a whole versus looking at your podcast as a silo. So yeah, haven't looked back ever since and then re launched a podcast called the leverage your podcast, which has been out since I guess about nine months now, eight months, I don't know where the time goes.

Christine Li  6:09  
Okay, beautiful. So I hear a number of things. One is that you just kept going forward, and you kept getting closer and closer to what came most easily to you. And most was thrilling, too. Is that correct?

Lyndsay Phillips  6:27  
Yeah, absolutely. I wanted to keep doing more of what I loved and what I was good at and what I was getting results from, and removing the things from my business and what I did personally, so that I actually enjoyed what I did. And yeah, you have to learn the hard way sometimes and you you tweak and you can't create a perfect thing right out of the gate.

Christine Li  6:52  
That's a piece of wisdom, everyone. Okay. The second thing that I noted was the first thing which was use the word petrified when it came to launching the podcast, even though I think you're such a natural at it. Can you describe what that entailed for you? What kinds of fears did you have? And how did you overcome them?

Lyndsay Phillips  7:15  
Yeah, for me, I sort of felt like, and we actually talked about this on on the podcast episode you were on. It's like, the horrible feeling of not doing and like procrastinating, like, I just felt crappy about myself, I'm not taking action. I'm not, you know, putting myself out there like all my other peers. And so I just felt crappy about myself. And I'm like, but I had this fear of like doing a podcast. What if no one listens. And like, I don't want to see myself, I don't want to hear myself. And like interviewing other people scared the bejesus out of me. I was like, what if I ask stupid questions or like, will I be prepared or, you know, they're more professional than I am like, I felt like a little fish in a big pond. You know what I mean? It's unnerving. And then just that fear was less than me feeling crappy about myself. So I just and I was backed up by like, my mastermind, and my coach. So I'm like, Okay, I've got support, right. And they were talking me up. And so I just did it anyways. And I knew that the first bunch of episodes, were going to be horrendous. They weren't going to be my best work. And it's like, I just had to get over that and just keep doing it. And then after a while, you know, you listen back and you're like, Okay, that was horrible. What can I do differently? Or even like the systems, you feel like you're bringing your head against a wall, or you're like, just, it feels chaotic? And I'm like, okay, what can I do to simplify and make this less painful on myself? And so you just kind of learn as you go.

Christine Li  8:51  
Okay, beautiful. And I want everyone to go listen to Lindsay's podcast leverages not the first few episodes, not the first few episodes, but I have a feeling Lindsay's being really hard on herself too. And I'm glad she has become much more comfortable with the format of podcasting. She was just terrific. Could you talk about how to develop systems to take care of yourself because speaking about myself, I'm someone who's a natural overcomplicated. So I will add more steps before I take them away. And I get the new product or the new system before I even master the old one. It's that kind of Treadmill. And I would love to get off that system myself. So what tips do you have? How does this come naturally to you? What parts of you are inclined to just get organized and get simplified?

Lyndsay Phillips  9:50  
Yeah, I mean, I'm very type A, and I like to be organized. And I don't like having all the thoughts and the lists floating around in my head. It Like, you wake up in the middle of the night. So I'm like, I need to get down on paper. Eventually, obviously my business, I got a project management system. I've used Basecamp. I've tried Trello. I use teamworks because I do have a team, and they track their time. So I find a project management tool is absolutely key, and one that you can create like task lists. So like a group of tasks, and it's a template. So then every time you have a new episode, thing, you just duplicate that template, rejigged some of the details, and then that way, you know, you're not missing something, it's already in the template. The other thing, when I started out is that I kind of think of thing, things in buckets and timelines. So like, the first set of tasks have to do with booking a guest, you know, so like, I have to put tasks literally in my calendar, or in my task list of like, look for new guests, because otherwise, all of a sudden, you're like, Oh, snap, I don't have a guest for next week. So you have to like create those tasks for yourself, to hold yourself accountable. And then I also advocate for using automation tools. So I use Calendly, to book the podcast guest. And that just a makes your life so much easier. So then I only prefer to do interviews, let's say, in the afternoons on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, I don't want to do interviews on Mondays and Fridays, I can do, you know, protect my time. And so I can set those boundaries up right away. And then you can automate. So when a guest fills out the form, they're giving me their bio, their headshots some of the questions ahead of time, so that I don't have to do the back and forth, I don't have to search for that stuff myself, it's automatically done. And reminders go out to the guest, here's when to join me, here's what you need to know. So again, they have all the information they need. I have all the information that I need, and my team. And then so that's like, one piece of the puzzle to kind of like just automate and like, make it easy on yourself and less back and forth.

Christine Li  12:19  
Okay, wonderful. A lot of these things I kind of think I have and a lot of these things I know I could boost in my own practice. Yeah, we

Lyndsay Phillips  12:31  
shift to expand if you want and kind of go into the production end of things, if that helps.

Christine Li  12:37  
Thank you for that offer. I think it was headed in the direction of confidence. Because I think it's universal, that podcasters. And anyone who is doing a public facing move, is going to have some sort of crisis of confidence. And I'm wondering what you tell your clients who might be delaying? Or who might be thinking they're not good enough, or they're not professional enough? Or nobody's going to listen? What do you now tell people?

Lyndsay Phillips  13:11  
I always ask them questions like, so for me, obviously, my area of expertise is podcasting. So for I don't know, an accountant, let's say obviously, they know taxes, and they know, you know, bookkeeping and what have you. So it's like, how confident are you about what you do? Like, you know, if they talk to a client, and they, you know, their books are a hot mess. Can you speak confidently to them to fix it? Or do you know, the right questions to ask about getting their information for taxes? It's like, Oh, absolutely. I know my stuff. I've done years of school, you know, I have had clients for 20 years, I know it inside out. Perfect. Then when you're podcasting, you need to exude that confidence that you know your stuff. And if you feel like jittery or like whatever, which I can so I always prepare. I can't wing it. Some people can and they do it beautifully. I would freak out. So I Yes, I get questions from my guests. But I always like I look at the blogs that they write because sometimes I'm like, ooh, that piece of information is hot. And I will actually take that link so that I can ask about a piece of that information. Or I look at other podcasts that they've been on. So I'm like, Ooh, she talked about that during this interview. That sounds interesting. So then I'm like, I get my head wrapped around it. And then I naturally want to know about these things. And if I have a list of possible questions, then I feel prepared. And then honestly, even just that, even if I don't ask any of those questions, which sometimes I don't I do I feel like calmer. And then when I step into the conversation, that I'm just like, whoa, and ask some questions. And we just kind of go with the flow. I have some thoughts in my mind that I want to cover, but I make it natural. So I find that really helps level me out. So that I feel like a more confident interview are. And when it comes to being interviewed, I always like to know ahead of time, now that I've done it for so long. I'm like, I can just go with the flow. It's not a big deal. But for those that are new to podcast, guesting, it might be prudent to be really clear with the host, what is it that you want to talk about? What topic here are my questions, and if you have topics that interview questions ahead of time that you give the host, you've already set yourself up for success, because you've given them a framework to talk about things that you know, you're already confident about. So you feel stepping into that podcast, oh, they're gonna ask me about this topic. Easy peasy. And once you do a few of them, and it's the same talk, it just like, rolls off your tongue, you know what I mean? So I find those things help. I do

Christine Li  16:13  
thank you for that. I love the core kernel in there that you want to start with your confidence up, that you want to get the support, you want to get the information together, the preparation will help to keep that confidence level high. Yeah, but that you don't want to, you want to try to avoid feeling overly nervous, overly petrified, I guess, and you want to feel ready, and that you want to have your energy shine through on the podcast that you want to convey your expertise. And I think that's a fantastic piece of advice. And I think we play ourselves down a lot. I will say the generic way. But I do think that happens a lot, especially when we're nervous. Well, keep myself small, maybe people won't actually listen or won't actually look. And I think the way to have impact, as you've stated, is to actually keep the ball rolling, keep showing up, keep offering to be a guest on a podcast or on a lecture stage. Wherever your own range is expand that and show up as the expert it will be okay.

Lyndsay Phillips  17:30  
I agree. And for me, it's like if I take action, even if the action is not perfect. If I'm taking action, I feel better about myself. And then I'm like, Yes, I did it. Even if it wasn't fantastic, or my best work. It just I don't know, there's something psychologically I feel like where it just makes you feel good, and it can become addictive.

Christine Li  17:51  
It's way better than staying petrified I will as well. Yes. All right, let's move on to the topic of consistency. Lindsay kindly prepared me for that topic before we press record. And she indicated the reality that many podcasters have difficulty remaining consistent with the release of their episode. And I think that does affect the attention of the audience. Because oftentimes, the audience is looking for a regular download of a new episode weekly or twice a week, whatever rhythm they're in. Can you give us a sense of the importance of consistency, and some tips our audience about how to stay consistent?

Lyndsay Phillips  18:40  
You bet. I mean, I've interviewed people like from Lipson and blueberry on my show, and they have their hosts of all of these podcasts. And so they have years, and like millions of podcast data behind them, right. And they've seen that there's many podcasts that do 10 episodes, and then they stop and they give up, or those that are not consistent, don't play out long term. And so it is proven statistically, from those hosts, again, so much data, that podcasts that are consistent weekly, and stick through it will grow will gain more downloads will get a bigger audience and then obviously if done right, gain leads and business from it. And so when podcasters be like, Oh, I've done it a while I'm gonna just do it every two weeks. You will lose that momentum. And any loyal podcast listeners that you have will fill the gap with another podcast and move on. I guarantee it and it has been proven time and time again. So it is absolutely crucial but there are things that you can do I don't know if you want me to step into This, but there are things that you can do to help you be more consistent.

Christine Li  20:05  
Yes, I would love for you to say a few words about that. I'm curious selfishly, and I'm listening just broadly, in terms of just, you know, making your own life easier when it comes to your work, whether you're a podcaster or not. There are ways that if you just think like five inches to the left five inches to the right, you can streamline, you can simplify, you can automate. So I want to hear what you have to say.

Lyndsay Phillips  20:29  
Yeah, absolutely. You bet. So for my podcast, and every other podcast that I produce, we have a spreadsheet. And it's all like the podcasts that have already, you know, been recorded, those that are recorded and not quite published yet, and those that are upcoming. So I always see what the schedule is. And then I always make sure that I'm four weeks out, so that I never go week to week to week, because for me, I panic. I don't like that feeling. And so therefore, as well, I'm like, Oh, I'm good for this month. But next month, I don't have any bookings yet. So that's where I set up scheduled time on my calendar, I need to you know, whether you've got a podcast guest booking service, whether you go to pod match, whether you just reach out to people, you know, on LinkedIn, whatever it may be, that you are taking those steps to, and a part of it's a numbers game, right? Some people just don't get back to you in time, you know, ask 10 people, and then you can book them out, so that you're always ahead. And then when you've booked those interviews, you're committed. Like, you know what I mean, you have to do it, I don't. So that helps clearly. But also, again, using that project management system, that I have the templated list of tasks. So like, once it's recorded, myself included in my team, bing, bing, bing, there's a bunch of tasks that need to get done, to get the show notes to do the artwork to do you know, create the audio grabs the videos, whatever that may be. And then I know that timewise on my due dates, okay, it's going to go live on this date, I need to get this done beforehand, I've got that those tasks set up. So that my team and myself, it doesn't like the day before, oh, my God, it's going live tomorrow, I have to scramble, and try to get this done. I don't have time, I'll only do two posts, I'll do the rest later this week, you know, full Well, that's not going to happen. If you have tasks set up ahead of time. And it's all like the timeline is automated, and you're on a specific schedule. And you're also working ahead of time to give yourself that you know, a buffer, then you will always get the task done, you will always have the social media prepared. And then you can you know, give it to your guests and everyone's happy.

Christine Li  22:57  
I love it. Okay, I'm thinking I love hearing about the systems. But I wonder where are the feelings in there somehow? This is a psychologist, I guess in me in terms of what if I don't want to pay attention to this? What if I want to just like, take the easy route? What do you say to that healing state? Or what do you say to the resistance?

Lyndsay Phillips  23:22  
Yeah, there is resistance sometimes believe you may. But I also like to check things off my list. And when you have a project management tool, you see and you're like, here's what I need to do today, here's what I need to do this week. Like you wouldn't want your team to shirk their tasks. And just if I don't feel like doing it, I'm not going to do it, like it's not gonna wash. And you know, you do all the tasks that you need to do for your clients, and you take that seriously. And abide by your due dates have quality work on are your appointments, your business is no different. You have to honor yourself, your own business and your own appointments and your own tasks. And if you stop marketing, you are naturally going to lose momentum, that engagement with people leads and clients you need to keep it going. People think it's a nice to have, but it's a need to have.

Christine Li  24:24  
You're so wise and you state these things so clearly, and it works, right. If you implement a system, you show up as a confident expert who's prepared, organized and has social media to support them. You're definitely going to grow.

Lyndsay Phillips  24:42  
Yeah, absolutely. And if you're like if it's not your bag, or you're like you really because some people are like not good at math, some people are not good at project management. Some people are not good at creating graphics, whatever that may be. You can have you know your team hold you accountable, like touch base and give you updates or be like, hey, Lindsay, I have to send the guest all this stuff, you know, on Friday Is everything ready. And so you can put little systems in place to hold yourself accountable using your team or your business partner, or if you have a project manager to say, hey, Christine, like all this, and this is done, you've done this awesome, only these two things are missing, and you're like, Oh snap, and then you're like, Okay, I'm gonna mark that on my calendar to do that in the morning. So if you have someone as well, that's even kind of like dotting the I's and crossing the t's for you, and just kind of like being your, you know, right hand or second glance, then it just, it's like a backup, right?

Christine Li  25:48  
I love this, Lindsey, thank you for giving us a sense of what being organized, it's like, I want to thank you personally, I think it's just really interesting to just use your tools, but also use the tools to support you in bringing out what you have to say, and to make sure that you don't shrink into invisibility and that you really make use of your time that you're not freaking out, when you're just about to get on camera on stage or in front of the mic, that you actually have a way to support yourself, and your feelings that you can make yourself shine. So I really want to thank you for being that person, to me and to all the clients that you work with. And now to our audience as well. Could you share with us how our audience can stay in touch with you work with you, whatever else you want to share?

Lyndsay Phillips  26:49  
For sure. So they can go to smoothie business growth.com. And if they go to the Resources page, I have a ton of resources to kind of get organize or produce and leverage their podcast. But really, I just want people to know that you're worthy. You think about your favorite client that raves about you all the time or is like so grateful to you. I had a testimonial yesterday from one of my clients a video. And I also got an audio from a second client that were just like, I'm so grateful and what have you. And I'm like, that made my day. And so especially when it was a chaotic week, and I was just like, you know when that happens, remember it and just know that you have value for them. Therefore, you're going to have value for all those people out there that don't yet know You.

Christine Li  27:42  
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Thank you, Lyndsay. You're the best. I love you. I love you to pieces. Here. Love you, too. Thank you so much. Appreciate you. Oh, thank you so much. I appreciate you too. Thank you for being on the show and sharing who you are, what you know and what you do with us. Today. Everyone. Have a wonderful rest of the day. Thank you for listening to my chat with Lindsey. It's been wonderful. I will see you next week Thursday when the next episode drops. If you would please take a minute or two and leave a review and rating for the show. I would appreciate that so much. As you know, from my chat with Lindsey, we want this podcast to grow and for the word to keep getting out to people who need this kind of support. Alright everyone, I'll see you soon. 

Thank you for listening to this episode of the Make Time for Success podcast. If you enjoyed what you've heard, you can subscribe to make sure you get notified of upcoming episodes. You can also visit our website maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com for past episodes, show notes and all the resources we mentioned on the show. Feel free to connect with me over on Instagram too. You can find me there under the name procrastination coach. Send me a DM and let me know what your thoughts are about the episodes you've been listening to. And let me know any topics that you might like me to talk about on the show. I'd love to hear all about how you're making time for success. We'll talk to you soon

Transcribed by https://otter.ai