Podcast Audit: Inspired by Success with Linda Vo

Linda Vo

Niall: [00:00:00] Welcome to another episode of Smarter Podcasting with me, your host, Niall Mackay. I started my first podcast in 2019 just as a hobby, and it’s now [00:00:10] in the top 10 percent of podcasts worldwide and is on track to reach 100, 000 downloads this year. I started making my own podcast in 2019 [00:00:20] and then I transitioned into making podcasts for people around the world.

I’ve created over, I’ve helped work on over 40 podcasts, helped podcasts reach the top of the Apple [00:00:30] podcast charts and get millions of downloads. In this episode, I’m going to be doing one of my podcast. audits where I’ve listened to a podcast, I’ve written down my notes, and I’m [00:00:40] going to give feedback to the very brave host of that podcast.

Now this podcast is called the Inspired by Success podcast. My guest [00:00:50] today had, my guest today started the entrepreneurial journey from a high school dropout to a teen mom and is now the founder of GameGuys. She’s [00:01:00] overcome homelessness, addiction, and incarceration to become a successful business owner and start her own show The Inspired by Success podcast, which focuses on [00:01:10] resilience and features entrepreneurs and thought leaders.

My guest today, all the way from Sydney, Australia, is Linda Vo. Thank you very much for joining me today, Linda.[00:01:20]

Linda: Thank you for having me on now.

Niall: You are very, very welcome. I’m excited. You look scared there. Are you okay?

Linda: Yeah. I’m usually the one that’s interviewing people, [00:01:30] not being interviewed. So let’s do it anyway.

Niall: It’s a weird sensation when you flip it around, right? So what inspired you to start a podcast called [00:01:40] Inspired by Success?

Linda: I should have done it a while ago, actually. I’ve always wanted to create content and, um, share my journey, my entrepreneurial journey [00:01:50] and share the failures in business. And so, um, I don’t know what made me start. Oh yeah. Listening to my favorite podcasters, you know, I got inspired by them. I have my [00:02:00] favorites like Ed Milet, Leila Hamozy, Ryan Pineda, uh, Lewis Howes.

So I love them. And then that’s why I decided to create my own podcast because I [00:02:10] was inspired by theirs. And so I, Use mine as a mesh to learn and a mesh of all them, but I love it because I get to learn from all these entrepreneurs and hear their [00:02:20] stories and just share it with the world. So I wish I did it years and years ago, but it’s never too late to start.

Niall: No, never at all. And how long have you been publishing it for?[00:02:30]

Linda: Uh, I believe under a year. So yeah, about nine months. Actually, I have to go back to it, but yeah, less than a year.

Niall: [00:02:40] Relatively new. Well, while we start every one of these audits, I have a series of questions for you. So the first question is, what equipment do you [00:02:50] record with?

Linda: I, um, I just started with the basics equipment because I knew nothing and I had to just research it on my own. So I just use a [00:03:00] Yeti Nano mic and I use, uh, have lightings cause you know, you’ve got to always try to improve in the podcast game, so, um, Lighting is [00:03:10] a must, and I use, uh, tools such as Buzzsprout, and to film I use Riverside.

Niall: Nice. I was, uh, I recently [00:03:20] spoke at the PodFest conference in the Philippines and I got to meet Chris, Chris Mitsofs, who was promoting a book that he’d written. And, uh, I absolutely love the title and I love the theme. It’s [00:03:30] called Star Ugly. And then just try and improve as you go. And I 110 percent agree.

I started with a Blue Yeti microphone as well, actually [00:03:40] a Blue Yeti ice microphone, which broke within about six months. So I don’t recommend that brand or that microphone. Anyway, um, started in the front room, no, no [00:03:50] lighting, no equipment, no video. And now, you know, I just try and make my episodes 1 percent better every, every time I’m trying to improve it slightly to the point now that we have a studio.[00:04:00]

um, here in Saigon. That’s not where I am right now. I’m actually recording from home, but uh, the equipment is just improved all the time. If you are watching on YouTube, you’ll see I have a green screen behind [00:04:10] me, which to me is the coolest thing ever. I think that’s so awesome. And so when you’ll be watching this on YouTube, you’ll see some cool image of podcasting behind me, probably [00:04:20] using a Shure microphone and hopefully the quality is really good.

So yeah, I’m a hundred percent on board with, uh, just getting started with the equipment that you have and then continually improving. So [00:04:30] you use Riverside, you’ve got the Blue Yeti microphone, you’ve got lighting, which is awesome. How do you do your editing? What, what program do you use for editing and how do you do it?

Linda: [00:04:40] So I have, luckily I have a team, um, and, cause I have no time for editing, but, uh, they just use CapCut, simple as that. And, um, oh, Adobe Pre [00:04:50] one of them uses Adobe Premiere Pro as well, so, CapCut is the easiest and it’s a free tool. And Riverside is a great tool too because I get [00:05:00] all my shorts and it takes, it uses AI and it gets all the shorts from the long form.

And from there, they still have to edit it. And, um, yeah, it’s pretty basic. It’s not that hard. [00:05:10] And then they just add B roll and musics. So very simple. This day and age, anyone could do it. So there’s no excuses.

Niall: nice. And then what [00:05:20] is your podcast niche?

Linda: Okay. So the thing is, the podcast is like, Bye. It’s a bit different because it’s very broad in [00:05:30] general. I mean, it’s the topics that I like to learn about, which is business, finance, mindset, even spirituality. Um, and even health as well. So I [00:05:40] thought recently, uh, I watched a video of Alex Hamozy and he talked about niching down and I’ve always, the main thing was mainly to do with business.

So I’m starting to focus more on business [00:05:50] and, um, I love hearing stories how entrepreneurs built. their empires or the failures I had to go through in order to achieve success. So business [00:06:00] is the main topic that, um, I like to focus on. But yeah, as if you could go to my social media pages on Instagram, you’ll see, I’ve got, you know, different videos for different [00:06:10] topics, such as spirituality.

I think spirituality is really important. Um, finance, like there’s so many different topics that I love to learn about. So, um, Um, that’s, yeah, that’s [00:06:20] broad in, in terms of my Instagram page, but now I’m niching down into business.

Niall: Awesome. Perfect. So obviously, you know, podcasting is so popular now. [00:06:30] There’s around about 250, 000 podcasts published every week. What makes your podcast different than those ones?

Linda: I don’t [00:06:40] know, I guess the storytelling makes it unique and, um, I try to filter out the, the guests because I get a lot of people reaching out to me and yeah, I just wanna [00:06:50] make sure each episode I’ve had episodes where I’ve interviewed guests and I don’t even publish it sometimes. I mean, sorry, previous guests, but you know, it has to be a certain level.

Um, and I think [00:07:00] the questions have to be really. thought provoking questions. And I think what makes my podcast unique is me, I guess, every [00:07:10] podcast, you’re listening to the, like, when I listen to podcasts, I listen to that host because I like that host. And so if you connect with me, then you’ll listen to my, my episodes, I [00:07:20] guess.

I mean, everyone has their unique story and their unique way of doing their podcasts. And that’s why, you know, you, you build fans and followers that way, because. They’re listening to [00:07:30] you and the story and your guest as well, but how you, um, I don’t know the energy as well. Yeah, definitely have to bring the energy, but hopefully that’s why people listen to my podcast.[00:07:40]

Niall: That is absolutely perfect. I think that’s the best answer. And it took me, and it’s still, even to this day, it takes me a lot to understand that I am [00:07:50] on my podcast. Like I mentioned, I have my podcast, a Vietnam podcast. It took me the longest time and I still struggle with it. That the main point is me.

Like it’s weird to be like, [00:08:00] you know, cause even for my business, which is Seven Million Bikes podcast, if you go to my website, there’s pictures of me all over it. And I did not want that in the beginning and [00:08:10] as a business, and you obviously know this as well, being a business person, you have to think of your unique selling point, right?

And I cannot think of what really is the unique selling point of my [00:08:20] business because we do podcast editing and podcast consultations, and it’s really difficult to be different in that. And eventually I was like, I think I’m the unique selling point. Like, [00:08:30] because people want to work with me exactly what you said.

People like your energy. So it was the last thing you said there and you could tell you were reluctant to almost say it, but I think it’s totally normal. And I’m the same as well. And [00:08:40] that is 100 percent why people will listen to your podcast because they like you. And something that always sticks with me.

So I love standup comedy and I used to [00:08:50] do standup comedy myself. I’ve kind of stopped right now. And one of my favorite comedians of all time is Bill Hicks. And one of his pieces of advice was just be yourself because there’s only you can [00:09:00] do that. That you,

and once you be, once you be yourself, you’ve got the market sewn up because nobody else can be you.

And I do that all the time with the podcast. I’m like, do I need to change this? Should I [00:09:10] sound like someone else? I listen to podcasts as well. I’m like, do I need to do this differently? And then I’m like, no, just. That takes zero effort to be yourself. Don’t try and be someone else. [00:09:20] And if people like that, they like that.

And if they don’t, they don’t. So, uh, I definitely agree with that. And I think it’s great. Yeah. Uh, having your guests, definitely. That’s really cool that you don’t put some [00:09:30] episodes out. I’ve actually never had to do that yet, but it’s been close. Uh, but that’s really good that you, you vet them that, that much as well.

Next

Linda: think, uh, oh, sorry, [00:09:40] going back on that because, um, if you want to have a high quality, and I heard Ryan Pineda talk about it on his show too, because if you want to have a high quality, show and you have guests that are coming on that [00:09:50] don’t give that energy or they just pitch too much and don’t add value, then it’s not going to add value to your listeners.

So definitely vet your guests beforehand is something [00:10:00] that I highly recommend.

Niall: Absolutely perfect. And what is the goal of your podcast for you?

Linda: I just want to impact [00:10:10] people and share my story and I just want to build a community as well. around people that have the same interest as me, because I’m always learning and I’m [00:10:20] always, I love self improving. So I just want to find that community and have that network. And the podcast is great because I’ve built all of the guests that I’ve had.

They’re amazing guests that I can connect [00:10:30] with and see as friends because we, you know, we build a connection. So, um, to be able to do that and the goal is to have it on a big, big platform. scale. My dream is to be like Lewis [00:10:40] Howes and have a million followers on YouTube because impacting people, um, and doing what you love, because this is what I love.

I’m doing it as a passion project for now, but [00:10:50] you know, it’s an investment into the future and hopefully I can inspire others as well and share stories that inspire people to make change, a positive change to the world. So yeah, [00:11:00] the goal is to just make a huge impact. on a scalable level.

Niall: Love it. And final question, what lessons or values do you want the listener to [00:11:10] come away with at the end of each episode?

Linda: It totally depends on each guest. I always leave it up into the guest’s hands. [00:11:20] And prior to that, I just make sure that I do enough research. And I just let it go as conversational as possible, but have the questions that would help my audience [00:11:30] come away with something. And it’s, I don’t know until the very end of each episode, but as long as the listeners feel that they’ve learned something [00:11:40] that can be used to improve and to succeed in their life, that’s the main thing.

Cause When I’m interviewing guests, I want to make sure that I’m learning and sharing like the questions [00:11:50] that I’m asking, I’m hoping that the listeners find those questions useful as well, just to improve my life and hopefully improve the listeners life. Even if it’s just one little piece of [00:12:00] advice, one nugget advice, as long as, Get something out.

One key takeaway out of it, whether that be from finance, spirituality, mindset, health. [00:12:10] As long as they take one key lesson. That’s all I’m happy with. So, and each guest is unique.

Niall: Well, I listened to your latest episode with Jen Peterson. [00:12:20] Patterson, sorry, Jen Patterson. And, uh, I definitely took some, some tips away from that. I thought that was like a really interesting episode. It was, uh, we, we can talk about the content a bit later, but in terms of content, [00:12:30] yeah, it was super helpful.

So just going back over some of the questions we talked about there. I mean, I think you already know this. It’s amazing that you’ve, you’ve recognized this already in terms of niching down [00:12:40] and it’s just a common, a common thing that I’ve thought about. See with many podcasts is especially in the similar industry or the similar content that you’re doing.

They want to do spirituality, [00:12:50] business, health, and you’ve already recognized that it becomes too broad. And if you really want to be known for one thing, I would suggest choosing one thing, which it seems like you [00:13:00] already have, which is business. But at the end of the day, it’s just, that’s the best, that’s the advice that people give.

It’s the advice I give. It doesn’t necessarily mean. That’s the only advice that can [00:13:10] work because, you know, people always talk about, people always ask me, one of the most common questions is how long should my episodes be? And it really doesn’t matter because the biggest [00:13:20] podcast in the world, Joe Rogan is three hours and doesn’t really have a niche either.

It kind of jumps all over the place and based on the guests. So that’s the biggest podcast in the world. [00:13:30] I’ve worked with podcasts that don’t have a specific niche and they still get so many downloads. The massive Patreon followers and you’re like, I remember I was working on one podcast and I was like, [00:13:40] everything they do, I would advise the opposite, but they are massive, so they know what they’re doing.

So it is all just advice, but I would advise. Definitely niching down. [00:13:50] So let’s get into your podcast. So I went through, as I said, the last episode, first of all, um, I absolutely love the hook at the beginning. So this is what we do as well when we are editing podcast [00:14:00] is we take, uh, about 30 seconds of just little clips, little sentences and put them at the beginning to hook the listener.

Um, so I was like, as soon as I saw that, I was like, [00:14:10] that’s really impressive. It was well made. So was that your idea or was that your editing team’s idea to

to do this? ,

Linda: I just follow who, like my favorite [00:14:20] podcasters and what they do. I’m like, ah, that’s good. I’m gonna do that. So I, I wish I’d done that a lot, a lot. Uh, at the beginning, but I’ve just started to do it and I think it just gives a teaser of what the [00:14:30] podcast is about and you want to hear more. So definitely recommend doing hooks if you can.

The,

Niall: interesting. So obviously I’m mostly [00:14:40] listening for audio quality because I’m a podcaster, but I do check the YouTube video because I do make YouTube videos as well. And so I could see that you have, and it’s so, it’s [00:14:50] so good for YouTube to have a hook, which I’ve learned recently as I’ve been doing more and more YouTube podcasts.

If 50 percent of your viewers are still watching after 30 [00:15:00] seconds, that’s typical on YouTube. Like YouTube tells you that information at the bottom if you go into the stats. So that blows me away. So, but it really shows you, you do need to grab [00:15:10] the listeners or the viewers attention in that first 30 seconds.

So that, so that was absolutely great. Um, The music isn’t too loud on top, so some podcasts I’ve listened to, like the music can [00:15:20] be really loud and it means you can’t hear the speakers, so the levels were good. I thought maybe the music could be a tiny bit quieter, but I’m really splitting hairs on that.

It was, but it was still, you could [00:15:30] hear, hear yourself doing the introduction. I did have a question, and maybe if you wait, you might not know this answer if you have a team, but was it sped up? Because it seemed really fast.[00:15:40]

Linda: which one, the intros

Niall: The end. The end. The intro part and in general at the beginning, it seemed to level out a bit, but in the beginning I was [00:15:50] listening to it and I was like, this just seems really fast. Does she talk this fast or is it, has it been sped up? I wasn’t sure.

Linda: I don’t think so. Uh, I generally do talk faster and [00:16:00] when I listen to podcasts, I’m listening to 1. 5 speed usually. No, yeah, 1. 25 at least. So maybe it’s just the way I think maybe I should be slowing it down, but I [00:16:10] think. Yeah, when I’m driving, I listen to fast cause I haven’t got much time. So, and that’s probably the way that I talk to fast.

Niall: Maybe then go back and [00:16:20] listen to that last one. I actually checked my app to see if I was listening to it sped up. I thought, have I, have I clicked a button and listened to it sped up? And then I looked and it was still one time [00:16:30] speed. And I was like, Oh no, it’s just really fast. So

Linda: Is that the intro or is that the intro or the hook?

Niall: It was the hook. And then the, then the intro as [00:16:40] well. Once the intro started, like the first couple of minutes, I was like, this seems really fast. I could imagine if the intro, the hook was sped up because you want to get, get people’s attention. But even after the [00:16:50] hook, I was like, this is, It’s quite fast, so it could be you speaking, or your team might have sped it up, so maybe just you can check on that.

Also, on the hook, was there [00:17:00] like a audio filter over it to make it sound different? Cause it, it, I think it was like, it was uh, stylistic to maybe change the way it [00:17:10] sounded a little bit, but I found it a little bit weird, it was Uh, I don’t know how to describe it, and I don’t know if you know, but was there like some sort of audio filter over the hook?

Linda: I’m not sure, [00:17:20] actually, I’ll find out because, um, we use, um, there’s a, a tool in Riverside that’s magic audio and I press that for the whole interview. [00:17:30] So that should apply for even the hooks as well, but I’ll find

Niall: don’t know about

Linda: one. No.

Niall: It might be the magic audio, but I thought the intro [00:17:40] was really good. Um, so It was, it shared exactly what the show was about. We’re going to have a deep dive into the minds of entrepreneurs and it told people exactly what the show, what the [00:17:50] show did. Uh, it said get ready to be inspired.

So it told the listener exactly what they’re going to get from it. So I thought that introduction to the show was good, but there was one [00:18:00] glaring, glaring thing that was missing. You didn’t introduce yourself at all. In the beginning of a podcast, you want to introduce obviously who you are, But why [00:18:10] are you the person to guide the listener to the goal?

So you have a great goal for your podcast that you want people to achieve. You want to make sure that they understand. And like we talked about, you are the [00:18:20] selling point. You are why people come back to every episode. You want to make sure you explain why are you the guide? So you obviously have an amazing bio.

You can easily tell [00:18:30] people, why are you the person to give them business tips? Why are you the person to. Share this episode. It would be like if I had a DIY podcast, but I’ve never done DIY in my life. People would be like, why would I [00:18:40] listen to this guy? So yeah, I had to go back a couple of times. I was like, Oh, you haven’t even introduced you.

You don’t say your name at all. Nevermind. Say, uh, [00:18:50] say

your credentials. So if you listen to the start of, go back to the beginning of this episode, I just do it very, very briefly. I just say, my name is Niall Mackay. I’ve had a podcast since [00:19:00] 2019. Now I make podcasts all over the world. Very quickly, just explain to people why should you listen to me and why am I doing this podcast audit?

So that would be a big thing. I would do that. [00:19:10] And even though it can become repetitive and I, I, I think about this often and I don’t know if it’s a hundred percent right. I say a, a similar thing on every episode, [00:19:20] even with my Vietnam podcast. I say, you know, I’ve lived in Vietnam for eight years, blah, blah, blah.

Tell people why. Why should they listen to me talk about Vietnam as a foreigner especially? But the [00:19:30] way I treat every episode is if somebody’s listening for the first time. Because we like to think as podcasters, and I used to think this, that everyone is listening to every one of my episodes. They can’t wait for a new [00:19:40] episode to come out.

But in reality, people are finding your podcast and then they’re scanning through all the past episodes and they’ll be like, Oh, there’s one I want to hear about. And then they click on that and they listen [00:19:50] to it because your episodes are not like a story, right? You don’t need to listen to 10. You can go back and listen to any episode at any time.

So I like to think of. I treat [00:20:00] every listener as listening for the first time. We like to think as podcasters, people know who we are. They might not. And that’s why every episode I’ll just do a quick [00:20:10] introduction. And if you listen to like broadcast radio, which I love as well, they repeat things all the time.

My favorite radio show I’ve been listening to for 10 years, and they still do the same thing every single day. And I [00:20:20] still absolutely love it. So I think it’s just, I always look to broadcast radio because podcasting and radio is different, but I look at what they do. and like you said as well, try and copy what the best do [00:20:30] as well.

Um,

Linda: what I like though? But, um, I was, that’s interesting that you mentioned that because, um, I was actually thinking of removing the intro and just getting straight from the [00:20:40] hook to the guest intro to cut, like, just so that the retention is higher because that’s what the main, you know, the main podcasters do, [00:20:50] but they’ve got their millions of subscribers, so maybe everyone knows them.

So what are your thoughts on that? So definitely keep the, the, the name part and a little bit of why they should listen. Is [00:21:00] that what you’re thinking?

Niall: about, I mean, I look to like the diary of a CEO and things like this, and, but he’s got on like the biggest guests. Everyone knows who they are, you know what I [00:21:10] mean? Everyone knows who he is. So the, but I think if you go back, I can’t remember off the top of my head, I’m pretty sure diary of a CEO, he will have a very short like introduction [00:21:20] of who he is.

and maybe his past successes. I’m not 100 percent sure. As I said, it’s all just advice and you could do completely the opposite to what I say and it’s [00:21:30] still going to be super successful. But that’s, this is what I think when I do it. Um, you got a really good introduction of the guest as well. exactly what I do as well.

And what [00:21:40] I did for you, you just had a short list of her achievements in almost bullet points. And then you gave her name, which is, so that’s the same style that I do is I will give the [00:21:50] bullet points. That’s what I did for you of your achievements. And then I give your name. It’s just a really nice way of doing an introduction.

Audio

So that was great as well. You did that. Um, And the guest audio was actually not [00:22:00] too bad because sometimes it’s the guest audio, which you probably maybe know as well, can be absolutely terrible. They record it on the laptop. I’ve had guests, or I’ve been editing a podcast where the guest was [00:22:10] outside, so all you could hear was the wind and the noise, and so the guest audio was good, so that was great.

But there was some background noise at times, like [00:22:20] for example, if you go to three minutes and 45 seconds, it sounded like someone was talking in the background. I don’t know if that was from your side or from her side, but it was a couple of times throughout it. There was some background noise, [00:22:30] almost like somebody talking.

Um, yeah, so maybe just check out that. And as I said, I’m not a YouTube expert. I do podcast audios, but I did look at your [00:22:40] YouTube video and I do make more and more YouTube videos. My, my little tip for that, for that would be make the video more dynamic because it was just the two of you with a template around [00:22:50] it and it didn’t change for the 47 minutes or have a long, how long was the episode?

Yeah, 48 minutes. I would try and make it a bit more dynamic. So if you go back and well, when this [00:23:00] episode comes out, you can check it or you can look at my previous episodes. I will filter the camera angle through just being on one person on two people. It may just be on me. We’ll move the [00:23:10] camera angle.

And I don’t have a hard rule on this, but every maybe up to one or two minutes, maybe every 30 seconds change the angle because it can be a lot. It’s very unlikely that someone’s going to [00:23:20] sit for 48 minutes and just stare at a video of two people never moving. So that’s just a little tip in terms of editing. [00:23:30] Oh, and in terms of that background noise as well, I would advise wearing headphones. It helps block out all the noise and helps block out all the background noise as well. So that’s why I’m wearing headphones as well. [00:23:40] What I did notice, and again, audio quality is mostly what I’m looking at. It was quite echoey at times.

And now looking at your microphone and hearing your [00:23:50] microphone, I’m pretty sure you’re using a condenser microphone. That’s right, isn’t it? The blue, the. Blue Yeti you’re using right now is a condenser microphone.

So condenser [00:24:00] microphones pick up the whole room. Uh, I’m using a dynamic microphone right now and a dynamic microphone only picks up the sound that’s right in front of it.

So I actually recorded an [00:24:10] episode last week where I had construction going on above me and I couldn’t believe I was like, Oh my goodness. It started right at the end of the recording. But then when I did the, when I [00:24:20] got to the audio, you actually couldn’t hear it because. This microphone is only picking up the sound here, not the sound of the whole room, so it really helps increase the quality of the [00:24:30] audio massively.

Um, now I also, what I do is I use a program called Descript, which has something similar to the Magic Audio, it’s called Studio [00:24:40] Sound. Um, The problem with using something like the magic audio, like you said, you just click it and set it and forget it almost, and [00:24:50] AI is incredible, but AI still needs a human touch massively, you could hear throughout the whole episode that that magic audio was on.

I wasn’t sure if you were using studio sound or not. [00:25:00] There was times where it actually made the audio quality almost worse.

Linda: Oh, wow.

Niall: It doesn’t do well with laughter. Studio sound is similar as well. [00:25:10] It kind of makes laughter sound a bit weird, I guess. And so, even though you had that magic audio on, it didn’t There was times where it [00:25:20] made it sound worse, I thought.

Linda: Good feedback. I didn’t know. Yeah. I’m going to look into getting a dynamic mic as well.

Talking over each other

Niall: I would 100 percent [00:25:30] the, the audio quality will be massive, absolutely massive. But in terms of one of the things I always look out for, right, which you guys didn’t do, which was amazing, was talking over each other. [00:25:40] That’s one of my biggest bugbears. And I advise people on that before I even start recording, which I didn’t do with you because you were also a podcast host and I’d heard your episodes.

I knew I didn’t need to do it with you. But [00:25:50] one of the. Biggest frustrating things for me is when people talk over each other, they don’t let the other person finish the thoughts or the sentence and they already start jumping in and talking. And the other thing that you don’t [00:26:00] do, which is amazing, and you’re not even doing it right now, is when someone’s talking and when we have a normal conversation, it’s really normal to be like, uh, uh, uh, yeah, yeah, uh, [00:26:10] yeah, yeah.

And to be honest, it’s normally me that does it. I did one of my first episodes and when I went to edit it, All you could hear was me in the background going like, Ah, Mm, Uh huh. And I was like, [00:26:20] shut up, Niall. You don’t do that, which is amazing. Um, and I have to consciously not do it because I think it really detracts from the quality of the podcast when you have these two competing [00:26:30] voices.

So throughout the whole episode, I don’t think you did it once, which was, which is amazing.

Linda: Oh, that’s good. Yeah. Cause I’m trying to listen in. So when you have a good [00:26:40] listening ear, you gotta be mindful of that, making your own noises as well. But I do usually go, wow. Like if it’s something interesting that they’ve said, I wait till afterwards and I’m like, wow, you know, that was [00:26:50] powerful, but yeah.

Thank you.

Niall: no. And I noticed you did that. you waited till they finished talking until they re until you reacted.

Linda: on a second. Sorry. Sorry. I [00:27:00] had to do this. Yep.

Niall: That’s all right. Yeah, I noticed that you waited until they finished talking to react. So that was really great. That was really great. So you definitely like you delivered the value that [00:27:10] you promised in the beginning of the episode. You told people what they were going to get. Your guest did that personally, like I love the content.

I thought it was super useful, especially the bit about she talked about how you pay [00:27:20] yourself, which as a business owner myself, was. That’s something I have to think about all the time as well. Um, but my biggest, biggest tip would be, I wanted to hear [00:27:30] more from you. I would have inserted yourself in your own knowledge.

Into the podcast. I think it would have been really interesting to have had more of a back and forth or when she [00:27:40] gave a tip for you to then give your advice as well. Because, uh, the, throughout the whole episode, you actually don’t say very much at all. You had some great questions and you sparked it. And I [00:27:50] can only listen to one episode.

I don’t know if it’s just this guest. It was a really great talker cause she was, but I would have loved to have had more from you again, going all the way back to the beginning about the [00:28:00] podcast is about you and it’s your selling point. You didn’t introduce yourself, as I said, and then you just gave her the whole episode and she just ran with it and you didn’t insert [00:28:10] really any of your own knowledge, which you obviously have, um, and there’s a guy I follow, Adam Shibley, I don’t know if you follow him, he’s been on this show, he does the podcasting [00:28:20] business school, he talks about the podcasting business for, for your podcast to sell yourself essentially, because that’s what he talks about.

And that’s what I think you should be doing with your podcast. You should be selling your services. [00:28:30] He says the content, 70 percent of it should come from you. Now, obviously doing an interview episode, it’s hard to do 70%. He talks about doing it over the Over the course of your [00:28:40] whole podcast. So he says doing solo episodes, cause that’s obviously a hundred percent.

You should balance it out because your listeners, your viewers, they want to come and hear from you. So now I mix [00:28:50] it up with a, with solo episodes like this, sorry, interview episodes like this. I’ll also do solo episodes as well. So that someone comes to my podcast. They know they’re getting the knowledge and [00:29:00] the expertise from me and not just from the guests.

So that, that would be my biggest tip was. Put yourself into it more, not just your guest.

Linda: [00:29:10] I like that. I’ll do that. Yeah.

Niall: And your, your outro was great as well. Um, you told people subscribe, follow all that good stuff. This is one of the [00:29:20] most difficult pieces of advice and one of the most difficult things to do. I would not give the guest. A call to action, because I think your podcast, you’re spending all the money on it.

You’ve [00:29:30] set it all up. Your call to action should be directing people back to whatever you want them to do. So whether it’s follow on social media, get in touch with you. I think you’ve, we’ve [00:29:40] already given the guest. The platform to speak, they already know the name, it’s in the title to then have them say, Oh, go and tell people where you can follow them and blah, blah, blah.

[00:29:50] Like I do that on my Vietnam podcast because I don’t make any money from it. It’s just a hobby. If you’re doing a podcast to support your business, which I think. Yours is and what it absolutely should be doing. You want to [00:30:00] take ownership of that and it can be really awkward ’cause we invite guests on saying, you know, come and promote yourself, or blah, blah, blah.

But at the end of the day, you’ve already given them the platform to [00:30:10] speak for 45 minutes. There’s probably gonna be a link in the show notes, but you don’t need to promote that. The one call to action should be what you want people to do, which for you, maybe go to your website or follow on [00:30:20] social media.

So I would. Always have just one call to action, and I would make that call to action support your business goals. So it’s difficult because we want to [00:30:30] promote the guests as well But I feel like we’re already doing that just by having them on so that would be a big piece of advice I looked at your show notes as well You follow almost the exact same template that we do on our [00:30:40] show notes for everyone as well.

So the show notes were great Titling was great. You didn’t use numbers in your episodes That’s something I always look at as well if people use numbers when you don’t need them I wouldn’t advise on that so you don’t do that [00:30:50] Um, but yeah overall It was unbelievable, great content, really useful. You delivered on what you said.

I think in terms of the audio quality, there’s definitely a few [00:31:00] things that I would improve on in terms of audio quality, because for me, audio quality is the most important thing. And I won’t listen to a podcast if they don’t have good audio quality. [00:31:10] And there was, I’ve absolutely forgot, sorry, the biggest piece of feedback that actually, when I was talking about, Um, the tunneling on that magic audio [00:31:20] throughout the whole episode, there was like static feedback.

And again, I don’t know if that’s other episodes. I thought it was maybe my headphones, but I listened on two different sets of headphones to [00:31:30] hear, to make sure it wasn’t the headphones. There was like static noise throughout the whole episode, which I think comes from the magic audio, because when you’re using a [00:31:40] condenser microphone, it’s picking up the whole room. And the magic audio doesn’t do the best with that. So studio sound, which is similar to magic audio, works really well [00:31:50] with a dynamic microphone. Like right now I’m in a big living room. The audio quality should be terrible, but I’m using a dynamic microphone, so it’s picking up good sound. And then when I turn on the studio sound, which [00:32:00] is same as magic audio, it’s going to cut out all that background.

But if you use the magic audio on a condenser microphone or if she was using EarPods, I think, when I saw in the video, [00:32:10] the Magic Audio is not the best, or Studio Sound as well, doesn’t do the best. You have to give it the best quality audio in the beginning and then it will do the rest. So go back and check that [00:32:20] out.

Um, there’s a few things I would definitely, you could definitely do to improve the audio quality because the content is great. But as I said, I don’t, I don’t analyze the content cause that’s not my, [00:32:30] it’s not my content, but it was great.

Linda: Thank you. I like that. I’ve written a lot of notes. So, um, very, very useful. I love having feedback to improve.

Niall: [00:32:40] You are very welcome. So thank you very much for putting your podcast up as well for an audit. Cause I know it can be scary as well. And some people don’t like feedback as well, but, uh, no, thank you very much for being a [00:32:50] guest and thank you for sharing your podcast. So Linda, this has been awesome. Have an amazing day.

As I said, my name is Niall Mackay. This is Smarter Podcasting. Please go follow, [00:33:00] subscribe, do all of that good things. The best thing that you can do is if you’re a podcaster and you like this episode and you’ve found it valuable. Please share it with another podcaster. It’s one [00:33:10] of the best things that you can do.

And obviously you can go to my website, sevenmillionbikes. com and you can book a free consultation with me there. And if you have a podcast and you want it to be [00:33:20] audited as well, then get in touch with me and I will be more than happy to do that. So thank you very much for tuning into this episode of Smarter Podcasting.

Thank you very much, Linda, for being a guest. [00:33:30] Have an amazing day.

Linda: You too. Thank you so much.

Niall: Cheers.