The Communicate Influence Podcast

If you’re looking to create and launch an independent podcast of your own, or even if you’re just an animal lover, today’s episode is a must-listen! Tuning in, you’ll hear from the creator and host of The Animal Guide for Curious Humans Podcast, Maureen Armstrong, as she shares invaluable insights into what it’s like to plan, create, and launch an independent podcast show. 

Maureen is very  busy, but she still managed to fit in creation of a podcast show. A lawyer, Maureen is also York University Ombudsperson, Toronto, and Chair of the Board of Directors of world Animal Protection Canada. 

We discuss what motivated her to begin podcasting, how she approaches episode planning, and her passion for connecting with guests, as well as the value of finding technical support, tips for growing an audience, and so much more! We hope you’ll join us for this fascinating conversation with animal advocate and podcast host, Maureen Armstrong.

Key Points From This Episode:

• Insight into her inherent passion for animals and her decision to become a lawyer.
• Learn more about World Animal Protection Canada and Maureen’s role there.
• Maureen comments on animal welfare during the crisis in Ukraine.
• Why she chose podcasting as a platform to share practical information about animal welfare.
• Finding your niche; the value of researching other podcasts in the space you’re interested in.
• What you can expect from The Animal Guide for Curious Humans Podcast.
• The story behind the name of Maureen’s podcast and tips for deciding on a unique name.
• Maureen’s advice for artwork selection and deciding on the look and feel of your brand.
• More on the goals and objectives of her podcast and her vision for the future.
• The importance of viewing audience feedback as a learning experience.
• Insight into episode planning, which Maureen believes is the most difficult part of podcasting.
• Why she says that connecting with guests is the most rewarding part of podcasting.
• Advice for budding independent podcasters: find technical support and pivot as necessary.
• Some of the podcasts that Maureen loves to listen to herself.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Maureen Armstrong on LinkedIn

Maureen Armstrong on Twitter

Maureen Armstrong on Instagram

The Animal Guide for Curious Humans Podcast

World Animal Protection Canada

‘Animal welfare during the Ukraine crisis’

Freakonomics Podcasts

Animal Law Podcast

Ten Percent Happier Podcast

Communicate Influence

This week we continue our conversation with inspiring entrepreneur Mitch Callahan, CEO of the WooCommerce web development business Saucal.

Mitch shares how he and his business partner Dominik Sauter have grown Saucal in the last ten years. 

Both men are big proponents of remote work, because it gives people freedom. For Saucal, this means they've been able to hire from around the world and access a really large talent pool. 

Of course, remote teams bring their own challenges, so Mitch discusses how to manage a team when it's spread around around the world and across time zones. 

Mitch is a huge fan of storytelling and its power in brand building. He says that everyone launching a business today must really understand what makes them unique so that they can tell their story, carve out a niche, and work towards success.

We also explore:

• The importance of focus time and how to avoid distractions in the age of information overload. 
• How Saucal acquires client and how partnerships are really adding to the success of Saucal’s inbound marketing. 
• How to counter dark days and what to do when things feel overwhelming.

Two of the many books that have influenced Mitch's life are:

1. Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! by Robert T. Kiyosaki

2. Good To Great : Why Some Companies Make The Leap and Others Don't, Jim Collins

Mitch on LinkedIn.

Dom on LinkedIn.

Saucal on Twitter.

The podcast show mentioned in the midroll: The Animal Guide for Curious Humans. 

Mitchell Callahan had a decent career in finance in Toronto, but turned away from it, heading west to Calgary to start a business. In a matter of months, he was seriously broke and working long days, without much of a glimmer of a break.

Living in a small two-bedroom apartment with his business partner Dominik Sauter, Mitch was driven more by curiosity, tenacity, and hope than ambition. Meanwhile, he heard plenty of stories from friends who all know someone who’d  launched a business and . . . well, it had failed. 

This was Mitch’s life in 2012. Today, he is CEO of one of the most successful web development agencies in the world, Saucal. Dom, meanwhile, is Saucal’s CFO. Saucal specializes in WooCommerce for WordPress. They’ve worked for Amazon, Facebook, Salesforce, and a diverse range of eCommerce businesses large and small. 

How to move beyond fear, doubt

In this episode, Mitch shares his story and gives actionable tips on how to:

• Maintain focus
• Counter doubt
• Embrace fear
• Deal with negativity
• Take advantage of the right opportunities
• Not feel overwhelmed when you have a lot going on
• Be curious!

Mitch explains how travel is essential for his personal growth and explores his pre-Saucal career years in Toronto. His diverse experience and journey through life have laid the foundations for the company Saucal is today. 

Back in 2012, Mitch was just finishing off a role in finance and about to begin law school when Dom, a close friend from university days, told Mitch he was launching a web development business. “Want to join me?” asked Dom. 

To Mitch, this was a no brainer. Mitch knew that should the opportunity arise to be in business with Dom, the answer would be an unequivocal yes. 

Mitch recalls dark periods of doubt. He was mired in debt, to the point of trying to pay for lunch one day, only for his debit card to be rejected. 

Says Mitch: “I'll never forget when I applied for a third personal credit card, and got rejected. I knew that was a good thing, but at the time I was not sure how I'd get more money.

“Looking back though, I made some of my BEST decisions here. I bought bitcoin and Ethereum when they were super cheap. In my lowest moments, I was making my smartest decisions.”

In the first year or so, Mitch and Dom had little to show for their doggedness. In year two, something shifted. And on a deeper level both men always knew a day would come when the grind would pay off and they’d make money, build a team, and have the lifestyles they wanted. 

Saucal’s team is spread around the world. As a fully remote company, they hire globally and so can - as Dom says - pick the best of the best. Mitch and his family have just moved from Toronto to Portugal, Dom is based in Calgary.

Mitch wasn’t raised in a business culture and it was only after working for the government and then in finance in Toronto that he yearned for the freedom, challenge, and responsibility that having his own business would bring. 

Mitch’s story is inspiring! If you don’t come from a business background and want to be in business, or have just launched a company and feel overwhelmed with challenges, this story will persuade you that it’s worthwhile and possible!

Find Mitch at Saucal and LinkedIn.

Here's the link to the podcast show I mentioned in the intro! The Animal Guide For Curious Humans.

How to create a podcast show from a weekly roundtable meeting was first published via Podmotion.co https://podmotion.co and proved a hit. So the team at Communicate Influence felt that listeners would appreciate hearing the episode. Here it is!

The episode features Rob Finlay, commercial real estate (CRE) owner, operator, and expert. Rob is a thought leader, podcaster, and CEO of Thirty Capital, a provider of services and solutions to commercial real estate firms.

Turning a weekly meeting into a podcast

Rob’s podcast, Commercial Real Estate Capital Markets Report, launched in April after he talked to a friend about a regular weekly call he has with his team of senior traders. The friend asked Rob if he could listen in to the call, and that’s when Rob realized it might be a good idea to turn the weekly roundtable discussion into a podcast show. 

Each roundtable episode discusses treasury rates, short-term rates, and everything related to debt and debt optimization for commercial real estate. Each episode helps CRE professionals determine if it is time to refinance, borrow, or what kind of action they should take to optimize or leverage their debt.

Before the podcast show launched, the weekly call took place and Rob and his team absorbed all the information shared during the roundtable, and shared it with callers if they thought it was relevant or important.

Encourage diverse discussion

Rob appreciates the diverse opinions that his analysts present in each episode. They are at a senior level, so of course they are opinionated. This discussion makes for a very animated conversation about how the capital markets could evolve in the coming, days, weeks, and months. 

Even though the meeting is now a podcast, it still has a informality about it, and listeners feel that they are right there in the meeting with Rob and his team.  They’ve been able to find the sweat spot where the informal collegial chat is absent, but it’s not super formal.

Experiment with your podcast show!

Rob encourages podcasters to learn and experiment as they go, and to not be afraid of the ever-evolving process. Feedback is crucial, as is room for growth.

He says the best thing about doing the show is the feedback and suggestions they are receiving from the listener. They are getting questions as well as feedback, and aim to answer them in the show. They questions also play a role in shaping the content of upcoming shows.

In this episode Rob also discusses:

• Figuring out how to slightly tweak the meeting format so it could be recorded
• Working with a consultant to launch a show
• How the new show has transformed Thirty Capital’s lead generation and marketing
• How much his team is enjoying being involved in the show
• Equipment used for the show
• Setting up measurable goals and expectations for a podcast show.

Find Rob on LinkedIn, Twitter, and at Thirty Capital. 

Carl and host Sheelagh Caygill conducted their podcast interview with Carl's Rumble Studio, an asynchronous recording platform that allows users to record and publish audio content at lightening speed!

Carl explains that there are various movements, such as the Open Voice Network, which is sharing and defining standards for voice tech across many industries. 

Content discovery

In the comms and marketing world, one of the most obvious examples is content and content discovery through voice search.

"More and more content is being found through voice search as users ask their smart speakers or phones for whatever they are looking for," explains Carl.

"Companies are optimizing their web content for Google Assistant and the other smart speakers so that it's surfaced as a voice search."

Content can include pages created and optimized for voice which are then synthesized by the text-to-speech engine, and then read out through a smart speaker. It can also be actual audio content that a brand creates, such as a podcast or micro-cast, which is then returned by Google. 

There are now interactive voice response systems (IDR) with natural language understanding, and also call analysis. New technology is even able to transform heavy accents so that they are more easily understandable to customers.

Smart speakers are also being used by marketers for branding campaigns. Carl cites the example of Skilled Creative in the US, which is working with Meredith Corporation to produce custom voice tech apps for branding campaigns. 

Proceed with caution

Carl says that agencies wanting to get into voice tech should do a lot of research first, because developing voice tech is not like building a website. Consider working with an agency, or if you want to train your staff, look to an organization such as the Conversation Design Institute, for which Carl has a discount link on his Voice Tech podcast website: Conversation Design Institute.

You can also use free tools like Voice Flow, but don't under-estimate the amount of work voice tech creation can take, because it's a complex and time-consuming.

Carl says that a minimum, comms and marketing pros should educate themselves about voice tech, and that means reading, listening to podcasts, and asking questions. Use the hashtag #voicefirst on Twitter for questions and conversations. 

Voice tech isn't a flash in the pan and it isn't going away. It's going to change the way we interact with all the devices around us. It behooves you to know what's coming up.

You can find Carl on Twitter and LinkedIn, and be sure to listen to his Voice Tech podcast!