Lessons Learned from Starting a Podcast

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[00:00:00] Welcome to the Fire Inside Her podcast, A safe space for leadership, self-care, and community. I'm your host Diane Schroeder, and it is my privilege to be your guide on the journey to authenticity.

[00:00:17] Oh my goodness. We did it. We finished a complete season of the fire inside her podcast and I am so grateful for all of you who have been with me from the start. And have supported this show and have shared it with your friends and family, and given me incredible feedback about this amazing journey. I wanted to hop on today for the 10th episode as a solo episode and just chat a little bit about what I've learned over this whole process of launching a podcast.

[00:00:55] For years I wanted to launch a podcast. I had several different ideas of what I wanted to talk about. And it largely depended on where I was at in my life. But I realized that creating a podcast about bad dating experiences probably wasn't the energy that I wanted to put out in the world. And what I really wanted to do was just create this community of badass women who really could lean into hearing stories and tips and understanding that we are not alone. And how important it is to be your authentic self. And while it's important and I believe necessary, it's not always easy. I realize that during my darkest days, during my struggles and bumps along my journey, for a lot of the darker times, I thought I was alone. And then I realized, I wasn't, I have the most amazing community of primarily badass women who loved me, and they saw me and they supported me at my worst and my best.

[00:02:10] This whole first season was introducing you to the people who have a seat at my table.

[00:02:16] What I've learned through the first season of hosting a podcast, the first lesson is that self-care needs to be intentional. You have to make yourself a priority because no one else will. In episode five, Dr. Colleen Foster talks about how she puts self-care and her priorities in her schedule. That's how she can find time to do it.

[00:02:45] And I think about my mom and listening to her journey in episode eight. She is this example of it's never too late to start taking care of yourself .

[00:02:54] I think a really important part of self-care also is doing the work. In my very first episode with Lisa Curtis, we talk a lot about shoring yourself up and doing the work internally. As in my opinion, the greatest gift of self-care you can do is really start healing your trauma and learning about who you are and what makes you tick, and quite honestly, finding that fire inside of you.

[00:03:24] Another really important part of self care is setting boundaries, and Mandy and Naomi talk about that in episode four. And it's really beautiful how they describe it.

[00:03:38] The second lesson I've learned about podcasting is through leadership and listening, being present, genuinely listening to people when they talk.

[00:03:52] So often we have this tendency to listen, but as we're listening, we're not really listening. We're Thinking about how we're going to respond or what we're going to say. I do this when I'm frustrated or when I'm having a passionate discussion with someone, I'm like, I'm not listening to you. I'm just getting ready to respond.

[00:04:16] So learning to genuinely listen and be present. And Trish, in episode seven talks about this a lot when we talk about culture and currency. Leading authentically. It's not always easy, but it's necessary, and it doesn't mean that you're not gonna have difficult conversations. Trisha and I also talk about this in episode two.

[00:04:43] It's about loving the people that you lead and caring about them so much that you're going to be willing to have a difficult conversation or give hard feedback at times. And really exposing yourself to be vulnerable and vulnerability is not easy. I know the importance of it and I know the benefits of being vulnerable, and I still struggle with it at times because it's just an exposure and it's not natural.

[00:05:14] Diane: I loved my episode and the conversation with Victoria, episode number three about being brave. And when she says that she lives a brave life, and just having that courage to be yourself and knowing what makes you feel good is so valuable when it comes to leading.

[00:05:37] Diane: I've learned the through line when I talked to a lot of my guests about leadership. It's about obviously being authentic and knowing your why at your core and what matters to you. And a great example of this is listening to Jan in episode nine, talk about her journey. And her leadership journey and just knowing who she is as a person and her, her humility and her presence.

[00:06:13] Diane: Lastly, what I've learned through this first season of podcasting is the importance of community. I knew how important community was, but I really embraced and felt the warm hug of community and how important relationships are. Relationships as far as who you sit at your table, who you can talk to, who you trust, who supports you.

[00:06:49] Diane: Trisha and I were talking and you know, I asked how she can do it all, and one of the things she said was she has a very supportive partner. That's absolutely correct. My life has gotten so much better when I focus on not only the community in my life, but my romantic partner, Josh. He and I share our story and it's just absolutely beautiful and it really, it is a game changer when the person you spend the most time with loves and supports you and has your back.

[00:07:24] Diane: Grace. The people in your community and who sit at your table should offer grace. One of the reasons I wanted to introduce my community in the first season of my podcast was because I knew they would give me grace when I was trying to figure out how to interview and what to talk about and the scheduling and all the backend logistics of creating a podcast. And every single one of my guests were so graceful. In fact, one of them who you'll get to meet next season; we recorded an entire episode and I didn't have my microphone on and I was mortified and she offered so much grace and was like, that's fine, we'll just record another time.

[00:08:15] Diane: Life is full of ups and downs and it's never, it's never smooth sailing. If it's smooth sailing for a while, it's gonna change and it's gonna be bumpy. And having a supportive community that surrounds you is so important and sharing your story within that community is healing and it's beautiful and it's magical.

[00:08:36] Diane: There are probably a million other lessons that I have learned from hosting a podcast, and I keep good notes and I try to write 'em all down, and yet it's still slightly overwhelming at times to think, here I am a podcast and you the community that has embraced the fire inside her podcast and listens every week and gives me feedback, it just fills my cup more than I could have even imagined.

[00:09:08] Diane: Part of taking this leap of faith and stepping out into the podcast world was, you know, the fear of, well, no one's gonna listen. And worrying that I was gonna screw it up. And the truth of the matter is, I have screwed it up. I have mixed up my words. I have said things that don't make sense, and I know that I am my worst critic.

[00:09:33] Diane: And yet every week you guys show up and you listen. And it makes me realize that this is needed and this community continues to grow and it fills my cup, and I'm so excited to continue releasing episodes every Wednesday. In fact, next season is already almost booked out completely. I've got so many incredible guests coming up that are outside of my circle, and.

[00:10:06] Diane: The most incredible stories of sharing and how each journey to authenticity is so unique and beautiful. I thank you again From the bottom of my heart. I always think about, the We can Do Hard Things podcast with Glennon, Abby, and sister, and every time I sit down in front of this microphone, I take a deep breath and I remind myself of that-

[00:10:32] Diane: we can do hard things and those hard things might be difficult conversations. Those hard things could be embracing your authentic self and making changes in your life that go against the norm or what society tells you is supposed to be. And it's just really beautiful that we are all in this together, in this incredible community.

[00:11:00] Diane: So thank you.

[00:11:01] Diane: Until next time. Remember, you are a badass and you are not alone.