I was so excited to be invited to be a guest on the Second Act Success podcast for the second time! Yup, the second time. I recorded an episode almost a year ago with Shannon to talk about how I went from a career in advertising to a career in finance and by the time it was ready to release, I was already moving on to the next act in my career. Shannon was incredibly gracious when I admitted I basically wasted her time with the first recording and I got to come back to talk about my new passion: helping people become great podcast guests. In this episode, we discussed:
- how finding the right podcasts to appear on is essential to the success of your business.
- understanding your audience and build an avatar of your ideal target client.
- focusing on the value that you can bring to the show, rather than just trying to sell a product.
- tips on how to amplify your message through guesting on other people’s podcasts.
- how being a thought leader and using podcast content can be valuable in growing a business.
Thank you, Shannon, for having me as a guest on your show (again)!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOKDvkBJPA8
Transcript
Shannon Russell [00:00:00]:
Hey, my friend. Are you thinking about a second act? If you have a question about advancing your career or changing to a new one completely,
Shannon Russell [00:00:07]:
You can apply to be a guest on an upcoming episode during my career strategy sessions. Just head over to secondactsuccess.co/podcast or check out a link in the show notes below. Can’t wait to strategize your plan for second act success?
Sara Lohse [00:00:22]:
— going on a podcast and getting your ideas out there and speaking on topics that you are an expert in or passionate about that gets you into the conversation. Building trust and being a thought leader is so important. And by doing that in that public space, and also utilizing that content that’s been put out can be really, really valuable in growing a business.
Shannon Russell [00:00:49]:
Hey, you. Are you feeling stuck? Desperate for a career change or thinking of starting a business, but you’re just not sure how to make your first move. I’m television producer, turn career coach Shannon Russell, and this is the 2nd act success career podcast. This is where you will not only get the rear advice you’ve been craving, but you’ll get tips from career and business experts along with inspiration from others who have made a career to find second act success. Let’s get started. Listen up. It is time to use your outside voice. We will be talking about how you can amplify your message whether it’s in your career or in your business by guessing on other people’s podcasts. I will be speaking with podcasting expert, Sara Lohse. Sara’s here to explain how you can use your voice to help spread your message, grow your career, and expand your business. Let’s get to it.
Sara Lohse [00:01:45]:
Sara Lohse, I’m so glad to have you here on 2nd success. How are you? I’m good. I’m so happy to be here. Technically, be here again.
Shannon Russell [00:01:54]:
So for lay listeners, Sara and I have met each other for a while now, and she was actually recorded a podcast with me, gosh, in the summer. And now her whole business has changed, and we’re gonna be talking about something new, so we never aired that episode. but I’m so excited to be going along your journey with you.
Sara Lohse [00:02:15]:
I am happy to have you on my journey with me. You have been an amazing person to have in my corner. raw. And now that I’m on X Three, so — Really? Don’t worry. I have not outgrown you.
Shannon Russell [00:02:27]:
You you can yeah. or even more aligned now.
Sara Lohse [00:02:31]:
Absolutely.
Shannon Russell [00:02:32]:
So let’s start back in act 1. So you began your career in advertising.
Sara Lohse [00:02:38]:
Is that right? Yes. I was an advertising copywriter. It was back when I lived in Baltimore. Right out of college, started
Shannon Russell [00:02:45]:
Writing for a little boutique firm, then you made the move into working in marketing for a finance firm.
Sara Lohse [00:02:52]:
Yeah. They were actually one of my clients. when I was at the agency, and I don’t wanna say they stole me because I had already left, but they basically stole me. I went from being a copywriter and happy that being my client to becoming their director of marketing, and it was The first time I had been in house, I didn’t think I ever wanted to be in house, but, obviously, I didn’t think I’d ever wanna work in finance. because I thought a 401 k was a charity race at the time, but there it happened. I now know what a 401 k is. I can tell you all about it, but I would bore you. But, yeah, I ended up just going full time into personal finance and financial content creation and podcast production and all that fun stuff that I didn’t think I’d be able to do. in the finance position, but it was a lot of fun, and I was there for little under 3 years.
Shannon Russell [00:03:55]:
Okay. So this was a really big step for you. They must have really liked working with you as a copywriter to all of a sudden, move you from copywriter to director of getting because that’s a big leap, especially at such a young age. It was almost like graduate school for you in a sense.
Sara Lohse [00:04:13]:
It was a lot, I guess, kind of baptism by fire. I had been writing for the CEO for, I think, about a year and a half. By the time I left the agency, and he just loved my writing so much. I was able to help him develop his own voice and right in a way that it was hard to tell if I wrote it or he did, which was really valuable to him and saved him a lot of time and helped him do a lot more content creation and thought leadership. They ended up being a really valuable relationship between the two of us, and when I ended up taking the job, I had already moved to Texas from Baltimore, and they had never had a remote employee before. It was basically against their rules. to work remote. And I was like, I’m in Texas. I’m not coming back. So they gave me, I think, a 6 month trial. I was about 6 months away from the end of my lease. And after 6 months, if it didn’t work out, they would find someone new, or I’d have to move. But I was the interim marketing manager. with a 6 month trial, and by the 3rd month I was director of marketing.
Shannon Russell [00:05:20]:
Incredible. And so you’re doing that. You’re learning all about financial world, which you, like you said, you knew nothing of. So how did you start to learn? Was it just from writing the copy and really in your day to day that you learned about the financial world because it’s gotta be hard to right about it and direct the marketing if you don’t know a lot about it.
Sara Lohse [00:05:44]:
Yeah. It was definitely a challenge at first, but I had been writing for him for about a year and a half, so we covered so many different topics. And then I was also helping with the podcast while I was at the agency. We’re now in season 5 and just having to listen to the show and put all the content together. There was just a lot that I acted we learned. I didn’t set out to learn about finance, but when you write about it that often, it’s hard not to learn something. One of the things I learned first was how little I knew. And then I also figured out how little everybody else knew. Not in the firm, they’re geniuses, but just in my regular life and all of the people that I know, like my generation as a whole, there’s so little financial literacy So seeing that, it made me wanna learn more so that I could teach more. So my focus became just creating financial literacy materials, and by creating it, I got to learn it. And by the time I’ve been doing it for about 2 years. I had learned so much, but I also felt a little bit like a fraud because I’m teaching this content without having any formal education. So I actually went back and got an accreditation, and I’m now an accredited financial counselor. So I can work with people 1 on 1 and help them figure out their money stories and why they make their decisions around money and all that fun stuff.
Shannon Russell [00:07:07]:
I love that so much. And that’s so incredible because you can help educate your peers. You can educate your family members who might not know a lot about this. And then on top of that, it’s the podcast that you had with him as well, which is Don’t retire, graduate. Did you know anything about podcasts at that time?
Sara Lohse [00:07:27]:
No. The only podcast I’d ever listened to was a Harry Potter comedy podcast, and then a couple, like, true crime podcasts. So I really knew nothing, and I started just basic work on it, some of the writing, and I started getting more and more involved. so I ended up becoming the executive producer. And now I guess another podcast. I help him guess another podcast, and I just came so ingrained in the world that it I ended up finding a love for it, so I started act 3.
Shannon Russell [00:08:06]:
When did you start getting the idea to launch your own business and really go full force with it?
Sara Lohse [00:08:15]:
I had been thinking about it for a while. So when as I was working full time for the firm, I was also a marketing consultant for other finance financial advising firms, and that was in full with full support of the firm. I had actually helped create a consultancy firm with the CEO and one of the other employees there. So we were doing this kind of on the side, and it was actually the CEO’s suggestion of, like, why don’t you just do this full time? The consulting, he’s if you wanna leave the firm and go full time into consulting, just let me know, and I’ll become your biggest client. So he gave me the idea, but I was scared. Of course, I was 27, I had just I was getting to the end of the building process for my first house, and I had all this going on. So I was like, I’ll keep that in the back of my mind. And I just realized one day that I am not cut out to be a financial professional. It’s just not who I am and I wasn’t finding as much joy in it anymore. I love the creation and the teaching of financial concepts and all of that, but I didn’t love kind of the world that I was in just because I felt like it wasn’t giving me the opportunity to be as creative as I wanted to be because it’s finance. It’s regulated. It’s a little buttoned up. and I was pretending to also be like that. I was minimizing my creativity and I still loved what I was doing, but I knew that I could do more. So when I launched my company, I almost launched it as a passion project because I’m still doing the financial marketing consulting and still loving it, but being able to also do my own thing gives me my creative outlet. So I think being able to be creative on the side makes me better at what I’m doing on the finance side because I’m happier. And when you’re happy with what you’re doing, you do a better job at it. So now being able to do both, I get the best of both worlds. and I’m just so excited to see where it goes.
Shannon Russell [00:10:25]:
Yeah. It seems just so perfectly fit for you and for you to be able to just take everything you’ve learned and now branch it out into other areas with more creativity. So tell us about this business and what you’re doing day to day? I launched favorite daughter media.
Sara Lohse [00:10:43]:
My goal with it is just to help other entrepreneurs, other business owners. I call it, use their outside voice, but it’s actually focused on podcast guesting. I have worked with these different systems that I’ve seen a lot of success with in lead generation and audience growth and business growth all within the podcasting kinda universe. And I really thought that would be a great basis for a company, but in promoting using podcast guesting as a marketing strategy. I also felt dirty about it because I’m a podcast producer myself. And when someone comes on our show and treats it like a free 30 minute ad for their business, I don’t wanna release that. That’s not fun. That’s not giving value to the listeners. That’s not giving value to us as a show. I think there are 3 participants and a podcast, the host, the guest, and the listener, and it should be a win for all three to be a good episode. When I decided to launch the company, I wanted my focus to be on helping people be a great guest and helping them figure out What is my story? What’s the value in my experience? As it relates to what I do as a professional versus here’s what I do as a professional. So talking about the experience, there’s more value there because there’s no information, really, that you can share that can’t just be Googled. But what you can’t Google is how your life has shaped the way that you think about it and the way that you experience it. So I really wanna help people make that change to here’s what I do to more of here’s how I do something and why so that they can be a more valuable guest. And then I also help them build the lead generation funnels so that they still can grow their business in a strategic way by taking that conversation offline and not having the sales pitch in the episode instead
Shannon Russell [00:12:44]:
just, hey, if you wanna learn more, Here’s where you can go, and I help them build that system out and create that content. And you’re right. I think as a podcast producer, you’re always thinking about the value that you’re giving to your audience. So if listeners are starting a second act in a new field or opening a business, how can being
Sara Lohse [00:13:03]:
a podcast guest actually help. I think it can work in a lot of different ways. The way that I try to focus on is thought leadership. and going on a podcast and getting your ideas out there and speaking on topics that you are an expert in or passionate about It just gets those ideas into the world, and it gets you into the conversation because these conversations are happening all over. So how do you put yourself into that conversation. And another thing with podcast guesting that people don’t really understand is, oh, this person will have me on their podcast. Perfect. Okay. But does that podcast match your audience? Does that podcast match what you’re doing? I’ve gone on podcasts that have nothing to do with what I’m doing, but I went on them for fun because I’m friends with the host, and we just wanted to laugh together. And that’s totally fine, but that’s not part of my business strategy. That’s just the, hey. This is a fun thing to do. So understanding how you can find podcasts that really do mirror your audience and who you’re trying to reach. and how you can frame your message so that it’s valuable to the listener, shares your insights, positions you as an expert. And, really, the focus should be on building trust. So when you go on to a podcast and you’re sharing this great information, you’re leading with value and stories, you’re not leading with the sales pitch. Right. You’re building trust. Because if I walked up to you on the street and said, hi. Do you wanna buy this from me? you would walk away. And if you didn’t, I would judge you. But if we stood there for half an hour and just had a great conversation and found things that we connect on, And then I said, hey. This is something that I do. I would love to tell you more about it. You’d be more likely to be like, oh, let’s have that conversation. 2. So I think building trust and being a thought leader is so important. And by doing that in that public space, and also utilizing that content that’s been put out can be really, really valuable in growing a business.
Shannon Russell [00:15:12]:
That’s just such a great idea for people who are building a business and have never thought about this before. Let’s talk about some of the places where you can find podcast a guest on. What would you recommend to someone who’s listening who wants to be a podcast guest, and they feel like they have something to add?
Sara Lohse [00:15:30]:
Yeah. I think finding shows can be the easy part. I think once you have your message and you figured out your strategy and everything. The first step is, of course, knowing your audience, building, like, your little avatar of who your ideal target audience is, your target client, and then looking into shows that match that audience. There’s websites that help you do it. Pod Match is a great one. There’s podcast guesting agencies that will pitch for you. interview connections is one that I’ve used. They’re great. And but then there’s just also this the boot shopping, the I heard this pop — cast. It matches my audience. I went to their website. I found their email address, and I sent a pitch. You can get on a podcast just by sending an email or sending a message on social media, you just have to know how to pitch yourself, which is another thing that some people struggle with. Because they’re if you pitch, hey. I’m I had a new book out. I would love to sell it to your audience. Can I come on your show? No. Thanks. But if you pitch with I just wrote a book on this, and I have a really unique way of doing this, and I would love to share these steps of how someone can do it, would you mind me sharing that with your audience? I think there’s a lot of value here because of y z. So something like that focuses on that value in what you’re bringing to the show versus like, hi. I wanna sell this. Can I have some ad space? It’s just so much more valuable, and that’s gonna get the host more likely to say yes versus just sales pitch.
Shannon Russell [00:17:06]:
Hey there, my friend. Shannon here just popping in quickly because I’m wondering, is this episode getting you thinking? Are you starting to come up with ideas for your second act? Maybe it’s changing careers, writing a book, starting a business, Whatever it is, I am here to help. You can book a free discovery call with me so that we can chat about your next steps. So head over to 2ndactsuccess.coforward/coaching. Now let’s get back to the episode. So how can listeners work with you? What exactly if they wanna work with favorite daughter and media? How can you help them? get on to podcasts or be a better podcast guest.
Sara Lohse [00:17:45]:
So I have a few different offerings, but it really starts with a coaching session. and I have a 5 step process for being a great podcast guest. Step 1 is figuring out what your story is. Step 2 is figuring out the value there. and how that value can be given to others. And then creating your lead generation system, building the trust when you go on the shows and then taking that conversation offline. So really starting that lead gen funnel. I teach them how to use that system, and the best practice is for being a great guest and really honing their messaging. their presentation and all of that. Once we figure out what that lead magnet should be and what that lead generation funnel should be, I can either send them on their way, and they can do it themselves. Anyone can do it. Sometimes they just need a little bit of help. So if they want that help, I’m happy that do that for them. or just give them the tools that they need to do it themselves. And then a new option that I just launched, and I’m really excited about it. It’s with in partnership with a great company called Red Hat Media, led by Larry Roberts. He’s a great friend of mine. and he is going to bring you on to do a practice episode. He is an amazing podcast host. So he will record an episode with you interviewing you, letting you give your call to action, send people to that funnel. You just get that file. You can use that on your social media to promote whatever it is that you’re sharing. You can use that as a media reel to help you get booked on other shows, and you can just use that as experience. Because the first time you guess on a podcast, is a really high stress — Yeah. — situation, but being able to have your first podcast guesting interview be actually offline but still treated with the same professionalism and still given the same production value as a real episode. I think can have so much value for somebody who’s just getting into this. It’s one of those things that being a guest on a podcast is great, but it’s easier to get booked if you have experience. It’s that vicious cycle of, like, how you can’t get an internship if you don’t have experience, but the internship is meant to give you experience. Yep. So I just really wanted to find a way that we can cut through that and give that experience to people who need it. One of the things that I’m very particular with my business is I only wanna work with business owners and entrepreneurs who are focusing on something positive. If they’re helping someone do something or they’re mission driven doing something good in the world, then I’m happy to give them all of these tools that I have. I’m happy to teach them how to do it themselves. I just want to — increase those positive conversations and sparking that great change in the communities. So anyone that is doing something good I am happy to give you all the experience and the tools that you need.
Shannon Russell [00:20:38]:
And that’s so nice, Sara. And you have a an incredible tool that I wanna make sure that I tell to our listeners. It’s your free ebook that 50 ways to generate leads. I downloaded it, and it’s incredible. There’s so many great ideas on there. I will link to that in the show notes as well. Like, you wanna say too that you don’t have to have a podcast to be a podcast guest. If you have a podcast, then that’s great. And maybe there’s an opportunity to trade podcast guessing interviews. But if not, you do not need to have a podcast to be a podcast guest.
Sara Lohse [00:21:13]:
You don’t. However, having a podcast makes it easier to get booked on shows because you have a proven experienced, and they can see how you are as a speaker and how you present your information, and they can get to know you. So that’s one of the reasons as well that I wanted to do this practice guesting episode offering so that if you don’t have a podcast, you’re not starting from complete scratch. So you still have something to prove that you do have that value that they’re looking for because it’s all about collaboration. I want to help people succeed. I wanna succeed together. So I’m really excited to see what can happen with that.
Shannon Russell [00:21:52]:
Alright. It’s time for our 5 fast queues of the week. Here we go. Name one thing that these different chapters in your life have taught you. Can I name 2? Yes, please.
Sara Lohse [00:22:04]:
Okay. The first one is if you are not embarrassed, you haven’t learned enough. Anyone who talks to me about wanting to start something that they’ve never done before, whether it’s a podcast or a business especially with the podcast because it’s so public, they’re worried about the quality and that they’re not going to be great right off the bat. and they should be worried about that because they won’t be. But the more you do it, the better you get. So whether you start now or you put it off another 2 years, waiting to be perfect, you’re gonna look back at your first episode and be completely embarrassed. So you might as well get the embarrassment out of the way. And that’s true with anything you do if you don’t look back a year from now and feel like, oh, I could have done that a lot better now. and you’re not a little bit embarrassed, you haven’t grown enough. I’m a professional writer. I’ve been published many places, and I look back on things that I published your or 2 years ago, and I’m like, oh, they let me publish that? Okay. I guess it was good, but I could have done that so much better now. because I’ve grown, and I’ve improved as a writer. So that’s one of it is just welcome the embarrassment. It just means you’re you’re doing better now. And then the other one is fail big. Don’t be afraid to fail at something because it’s going to teach you everything you need to know. If you’re going to fail, little failures don’t teach you as much as the big ones, so you might as well just fail big. Go all out. put everything you have into whatever it is you wanna do. And if you fail at it, you will learn so much.
Shannon Russell [00:23:35]:
and you’ll be so happy you did it. Would you recommend taking a leap into a big life change to your best friend?
Sara Lohse [00:23:41]:
I would recommend it. I would just recommend they do it. in a way that is smart. I waited to start my business until I knew I had the support of clients who would take the journey with me until I had already closed on my mortgage so they couldn’t take my house back. Basically, until I had a little bit of a safety net, And do you have to do it that way? No. Leaps of faith have gone really well for a lot of people. I have anxiety. That was not gonna be the way I did it. But If it means a lot to you and if it ignites your soul and sparks your curiosity and makes you just excited, do it. Do it,
Shannon Russell [00:24:20]:
but do it smart. What is one piece of advice that you would give to someone who is starting their second act today?
Sara Lohse [00:24:27]:
If you find something that you feel like you have infinite energy for and just excites you every day, that’s what you’re meant to be doing. And that feeling of, okay, but one day, I’ll do this. That’s never gonna go away unless you actually take the leap and do it. Yeah. So my piece of advice is find the thing that really does ignite your soul and spark that curiosity and give you a great reason to get out of bed every day and make that your focus. So what does your next chapter look like? I wanna continue growing my business. I wanna continue creating. I wanna create something that is really great and really impactful.
Shannon Russell [00:25:06]:
And I just wanna continue being excited about what I’m doing. I think you’re gonna be so sick successful at this business. It is so needed, and your advice, and your experience is so valuable. So I’m gonna hope that you stick with this for a very long time.
Sara Lohse [00:25:21]:
I will definitely try to. That is the plan. So I’m excited to see what opens, and I am so glad I have you in my corner as I do it. You do.
Shannon Russell [00:25:32]:
So last question, where can our audience connect with you? Where can they find you?
Sara Lohse [00:25:36]:
You can find me all over social media or on my website at favorite daughtermedia.com. My podcast is there. My free e book is there. all of my social media, my email address, everything. So please check it out. I have a blog that I write as my diary, so it’s very personal and fun, and there’s just some great insights into telling your own story and the value that you can find there. So I would love for you guys to go check it out and send me a message. Let me know what you think and what I can do better because I’m sure there’s something.
Shannon Russell [00:26:12]:
This was great, Sara. Thank you so much for sharing all of this, and I will link to everything in the show notes. And I hope that if anyone is listening and they are it in guesting on podcasts to reach out to Sara because she has so many interesting ways to get you and your business and your boys heard. through podcasting. So thank you so much, Sara. I’m so happy to know you and to get to go along this journey and watch you grow this amazing business of yours.
Sara Lohse [00:26:39]:
Thank you so much.
Shannon Russell [00:26:41]:
Sara, thank you for encouraging all of us to use the power of podcasting to help grow our careers and build our businesses. If you wanna connect with Sara and learn more about her company, head over to favorite daughtermedia.com. I wanna thank you for spending some time with me today. I will be back with more episodes of the 2nd act success career podcast soon. In the meantime, head over to Apple Podcasts and leave me a review. I love to hear what you think of the show, and I might share it in an upcoming episode. Make it a great day, and I will talk to you soon. Thank you for joining us. I hope you found some gems of inspiration and some takeaways to help you on your path to 2nd act success. To view show notes from this episode, visit secondactsuccess.co. Before you go, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss a single episode. Reviews only take a few moments and they really do mean so much. Thank you again for listening. I’m Shannon Russell, and this is second act success.