Unlocking Opportunities for Moms in the Podcasting World with Podcast Expert Amanda Bennett
“We have this kind of autopilot of connecting with people who are like us, people who do what we do… and I think that's great for certain things, but you also need to get into spaces where you're the only one who does what you do. You are the only one – and that is especially important when it comes to pitching yourself to be a guest on podcasts.”
In this episode of Strategy Snacks, I’m joined by Amanda Bennet, podcast guesting strategist who helps mom podcasters grow their audience and impact with intentional collabs, fresh ideas, and encouragement in community. She shares some of her expertise and top tips when it comes to finding aligned shows to pitch yourself on so that you can receive maximum return! And as always, you’ll hear some of her favorite business wins and lessons learned along the way.
Topics:
How two years of podcasting was the catalyst for Amanda to start her own business as a podcast guest expert
One of Amanda’s favorite business wins that has impacted her the most and that she loves to celebrate (plus the value of celebrating small wins)
Knowing when to intentionally invest in your business and the lessons that Amanda learned through this process
The four principles that Amanda focuses on when she finds aligned podcasts to pitch her clients on
Episode Resources:
- Marisa Corcoran on Instagram: @mtoni
- Listen to 4:12 Referral Redux
For more from Amanda, be sure to:
- Follow her on Instagram @gotchamama
For more, make sure to:
- Follow me on Instagram @frenchie.ferenczi
-
Snack Drop with Amanda Bennett
[00:00:00] Hello, hello and welcome back to Strategy Snacks. I'm Frenchy Frenzy, and today I am joined by Amanda Bennett, who is like the ultimate podcast expert in so many ways. So I am so glad she's here to share her genius with us. Amanda, thank you for being here. I would love for you to tell our listeners a little bit about yourself.
Thank you so much for allowing me to be here. Frenchie. I feel like a rock star just because I know you are amazing and all these people that have been on your show already are absolutely incredible. I am a podcast guesting strategist for mom entrepreneurs who want to grow their audience, grow their thought leadership through being a guest on Aligned podcast.
And after two years of having my own podcast, I saw and really experienced for myself and saw other people too. The power of relationships you can build and grow through podcasting. [00:01:00] And I'm super passionate about sharing the messages and voices specifically of moms because I truly believe that the world is a better place when there's more stories of moms, more knowledge of moms.
I mean, we're smart, but the world is a better place when there's more of that out there. And so I wanna help other moms to be able to do that and I mean, grow a business, right? So, mm-hmm. Make some money, make some impact. So that's why I do what I do. I love it. I love it. Yes. And I'm fully aligned as a mom with the mom messaging, and I just, I also love the idea, right?
Of what? Having your own business, having your own voice, having your own channel can actually unlock for moms. And especially in a social setting and where there's just so little structural support. So fully aligned. Love it. So let's dive into our first question. What is one of your favorite business wins or kind of moments that you like to celebrate?
Yeah, I. I'm gonna tell you one that I feel like has been the most impactful [00:02:00] so far, and it seems really maybe minor, but in, in my mind, there was a huge shift that happened when I sold my very first done for you pitching package. And it was a, it's a high ticket item. It's a offer that I had been working on for a while, but I had been.
In the entrepreneurial space. I say that with air quotes for at least a year or so. And then just to that point, had had a bunch of ideas and tried things. I had my podcast, but nothing. That was making significant amount of money where I felt like I could really start a business. And there was a lot of people in my personal world who were kind of doubters or would be like, oh, that's a fun little project, little hobby.
And you, yes. You know what I'm feeling there. And my intention all along was to grow a business. I came from corporate, and that mindset can be really [00:03:00] ingrained about working for other people. And I know you know what I'm talking about. And so when I tried to jump into working for myself, it was this huge amount of self-doubt about could I really run a business?
Could I really make enough money to support myself or really even to pay daycare? You know? Right. I mean, Right. So when I find, when I sold that first package and saw that money show up in my banking account a shift happened and I was like, yes. Even if I don't make a million dollars, I prove to myself that I can do this.
Yeah, I love that. And I like how you, prefaced it as minor. I don't think that's minor at all. Right. Like I, I actually think that there's. So much value in acknowledging the small moments that like propel us forward. Because I actually think it's a lot of times just the small things that give us that nudge that really lead to the bigger things.
And yes, to your point, right? Like you see that money come in and it's this [00:04:00] instant moment of okay, there's something here. There's a power to this. So kind of switching themes a little bit, talk to us. What was one of the hardest business lessons that you had to learn along the way? Oh, Frenchie.
So many. We don't have enough time for the lessons I've learned so far. But I will mention this one because it jumps out to me and I feel like maybe it's one that's not talked about as much in the entrepreneurial space, and that is knowing when and how to invest intentionally in your business.
I recently, within the past, Or so made a significant to me investment that for my business and I didn't have a really clear understanding before I hit that, typed in my credit card and hit submit about what I really wanted to get out of it and what kind of support I actually needed in that phase of my business growth.
[00:05:00] And I had, within a week I had that buyer's remorse like, oh crap. What have I done? Why am I doing this? And now I have to try to make my investment back and it did not feel good. However, I will say with a little bit of encouragement from your friend and my mentor, Marissa. Marissa Corcoran, fabulous, amazing.
She. May remember that there's, there are a couple reasons why you would invest, like intentionally investment investing in your business. Could be for cash, it could be for community, and it could be for a specific connection. And so even though I did not, I. Meet what I thought my expectations were not met of what I went into thinking.
I did get something else out of that that I didn't expect, which was great, but I would not recommend doing that. There's no silver bullet, there's no, oh, I'm gonna make this investment and all of a sudden, something's gonna click and I'm gonna [00:06:00] make those 10, 10 k months. Yeah. So I just, I had to take a moment for myself and really go, okay, Amanda.
Before you make another big investment in your business, you really need to understand what do you need, what kind of support do you need right now? Yeah. Yeah. I, oh my gosh, preaching to the choir. But one of the core kind of lessons in the bootcamp that I run is all about investing wisely because.
I think just in the online space, everyone is so focused right? On selling what they sell, that not a lot of people actually wanna have the conversation of figuring out like whether or not this is the right investment for you right now. Right. And it's a really tricky thing, but I feel so strongly about empowering people to learn how to do that.
And yes. And I love that you were able to reframe it, right? Rather than just like, Be like, I totally effed up and this is my, my mistake. And here we go. Like actually being [00:07:00] like, okay, but what can I get out of it? But there's that moment of disappointment when you just realize it's not instantly what you expected or it's not the return that you necessarily wanted, or it's harder to measure or all of those things.
So thank you for sharing that. Yes. And especially because. Money has emotions attached to it. We, everybody has their money stuff and I'll, I mean, it comes up for me and that, so when, when you expect that as a return and that doesn't happen, there's a whole cascade of mindset things you have to deal with.
Totally. Totally, totally. All right. Well, what is one strategy snack that you want to share with our listeners? Yeah, I. So this actually relates to your episode about referral redo, which I love by the way. Super snackable episode. So go back if you have not listened to that, listen to that one. But you talk about connecting, like we have this kind of autopilot of connecting with people who are like us.
People who [00:08:00] do what we do. If we're a life coach, we get in this group with other life coaches and if we're, whatever that is. And I think that's great for certain things, but you also need to get into spaces where you're the only one who does what you do. You are the only one.
And that is especially important when it comes to pitching yourself to be a guest on podcasts. Because one of the biggest roadblocks can, challenges that I hear a lot, people come to me and they say, well, I don't know how to find the right podcast to pitch to be on. First thing I would say is to understand like what it means when I say aligned podcast.
So there's four things. They have your ideal client already listening to the podcast they host in the show have some overlapping values with you. You don't have to be exactly everything, but have some overlapping values. They help the audience in a different way than you do, and the topics they talk [00:09:00] about.
Speaking topics in your of expertise, so best. To pitch, obviously, first of all, you wanna have a solid strategy, and that's the first thing I do with all my clients is we walk through that so you have a foundation, you know exactly where to go from there. But then you also wanna get into diverse groups.
You wanna be around people who you compliment. And there is a place, like I said, for being in the room with other people like you, but it's gonna benefit you the most. In this situation to find people not like you. And I share this because it's a fun way to help you conceptualize why is I love the Fab Five from Queer Eye.
Do you know? Yes. Talking about, okay. Of course, yes. Which one's your favorite? Ooh. I think Tan is my favorite. Okay. Love Tan. I'm a big Anton fan myself. But it's, [00:10:00] if you think about Queer Eye, There are five different experts there. Yeah. Right. Everybody has their own area. They're all helping the same person make a transformation each one in a different way.
So that is what you need to do. If you're tan France, you need to find your Antony. You need to find your carmo. You need to get your gang together and find your Fab five, because that is going to then multiply everybody's success. Yeah, so when you're doing that, I got a, so a kind of a real life situation that'll help you bring it back to practical real life is that's what I did when I sold that first pitching package.
So it wasn't, I didn't pitch myself to be on a podcast, but it was a collaboration that I had reached out to a podcast manager that I knew through my podcasting world, and I knew that her clients were podcasters who were already spending money to outsource. Things for their podcast [00:11:00] that I knew that guesting was a great way to, to grow your own podcast and build connections with other hosts in the space.
I knew that we had similar values as business owners and I knew that she was not pitching, she didn't have pitching as one of her services. So I reached out to her and she referred that first client to me that I sold to. So that is the ideal situation you want.
I love that. That is, yes, that is spot on. And I feel like this applies to all areas of life. Like we just need, we need our Fab five no matter what. Yeah. But I think it's such a good and easy way to, to think about it is like, what does collaboration look like? And it's like everyone has this same end goal, right?
Shared goal. But brings different skills and nuance to the table. Yeah. Amazing, amazing. Well, Amanda, I have loved getting to have this conversation with you. I would love for you to just share a little bit more where can people find you, follow you, and connect with you? Yeah, so do this for me.
New friend [00:12:00] listening. Go to Instagram and dmm me at Gotcha mama. And mention strategy snacks. And I will send you a podcast. I know that could be aligned for you to pitch to. Oh, yes. That is gold. Yeah. So I might ask you some questions, but you gotta connect with me on Instagram and we'll make that happen.
You can also find me at my website, obviously. Gotcha. mama.com. So that's where I tend to hang out. Either, either of those places you can find me. Amazing. Amazing. Amanda, thank you so much. To everybody listening, thank you for listening. Make sure that you connect with Amanda dm, her strategy snacks so that you can get all sorts of insights and insider tips.
And we'll be back with more soon. Bye.