Welcome to another episode of Podcasting 101 with Rachael

This week, Sarah McDowell and Tazmin Suleman hosts of the SEO Mindset podcast join me to chat about their journey as podcasters.

Sarah and Tazmin offer up their top tips and advice that they learned along the way!

We talk about editing, community, being your authentic self as a podcaster, fitting it all into your schedule, some of their challenges and sponsorship.

Key takeaways are:

• Don't over-edit your episodes
• Be yourself!
• Be kind to yourself (we are often our own biggest critic)
• Be sure who your audience is
• Knowing what your processes are

One of their biggest tips is to just try it! You'll soon find out if you love it or hate it.

About my guests

Sarah McDowell and Tazmin Suleman are hosts of The SEO Mindset Podcast.

Giving actionable personal growth and career development tips to SEO professionals, so they can optimise their career and not just the algorithms.

Podcast Website

Connect with Sarah

Connect with Tazmin

If you have any questions or would like some help with your podcast, book a podcast enquiry call.

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If you enjoyed the episode, I'd love it if you could leave me a review.

You can leave one here

Thanks so much!

I'd love to connect with you on social!

You can find me on:

LinkedIn | Website

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Rachael Botfield: 00:00:05

Hi there and welcome to this week's episode.

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:08

And today I have not one, but two podcast hosts with me.

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:12

I have Tasmin and Sarah from the SEO Mindset podcast.

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:17

Hi guys.

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:17

I'm really pleased that you're here today to share your

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:20

experiences around your podcast.

Sarah McDowell: 00:00:23

Thank you.

Sarah McDowell: 00:00:24

Thank you very much for having us.

Sarah McDowell: 00:00:26

Tasmin, sorry, I could, I could see that you were wanting to interject.

Sarah McDowell: 00:00:31

No,

Tazmin Suleman: 00:00:31

I'm being on best behavior.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:00:32

Hello, everybody.

Sarah McDowell: 00:00:36

Never true.

Sarah McDowell: 00:00:37

Never true.

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:40

So I wanted Tasmin and Sarah to come along and share

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:43

their experiences about their podcast so that you, the listener, get to...

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:48

You know, have that real insight into what it's actually like

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:51

running and managing your podcast.

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:54

Because obviously sometimes what you imagine it's like is completely different

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:59

when you're actually in the thick of it.

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:02

So first I just like you guys to introduce your podcast and tell us

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:06

a little bit about how you came to, decide to do the SEO Mindset podcast.

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:12

. Sarah McDowell: Wonderful.

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:13

So I will do the spiel.

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:15

I'll do the what they call it, the elevator pitch, the sales

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:18

pitch, and I will then hand over to Tazmin about why we started it.

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:24

So.

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:25

Yes, the SEO mindset.

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:26

So we are a weekly podcast with new episodes that go out every Thursday.

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:32

And what we aim to do with our podcast is each week we delve into a really important

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:39

topic and we share actionable tips and strategies that listeners can implement

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:46

that will help with their personal growth.

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:50

And career development.

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:52

So our tagline is so you can optimize your career and not just the

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:58

algorithms because yeah, like, wow.

Rachael Botfield: 00:02:01

Yeah, you have an algorithm yourself, don't you?

Rachael Botfield: 00:02:03

But it's a mixture.

Rachael Botfield: 00:02:04

So me and Tazmin will jump on together and we'll delve into topics, just us two,

Rachael Botfield: 00:02:11

and then we invite guests on as well.

Rachael Botfield: 00:02:15

So yeah, we've been going for over a year now, which is really exciting.

Rachael Botfield: 00:02:19

I didn't, I think Tazmin, did you count up the episodes, like.

Rachael Botfield: 00:02:23

At one point we have like 70 or quite, yeah, but anyway

Rachael Botfield: 00:02:29

Tazmin, why did we start it?

Rachael Botfield: 00:02:31

I'll let you answer that one.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:02:34

I think what Sarah and I were keen to do was create a space

Tazmin Suleman: 00:02:36

where we could have open and honest conversations about career growth.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:02:40

But also talk about the pitfalls that people are going through, such as

Tazmin Suleman: 00:02:45

exhaustion, burnout, stress anxiousness, and they seem to be almost like going

Tazmin Suleman: 00:02:51

hand in hand with career growth, and we're very keen to, A, recognize

Tazmin Suleman: 00:02:56

that You, that person's not alone.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:02:58

Often when you're in that space, you feel like you're the only one going through it.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:03:01

So to create community around that and give actionable tips on how to manage

Tazmin Suleman: 00:03:07

that, because when you don't have those tactics, it just gets bigger and bigger.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:03:12

So that's what we're keen to do, you know, facilitate career growth,

Tazmin Suleman: 00:03:16

personal growth, but holistically keeping an eye on mental health as well.

Sarah McDowell: 00:03:22

And just to add two things to that, like so me and Tazmin are

Sarah McDowell: 00:03:26

part of a wonderful community, Women in Tech, SEO which founded by Areej Abu Ali.

Sarah McDowell: 00:03:32

And when we were having conversations with people in that community.

Sarah McDowell: 00:03:37

These kind of topics would come up, so we're like, ah, and also there's

Sarah McDowell: 00:03:42

lots of wonderful SEO podcasts out there that tell you how to do SEO.

Sarah McDowell: 00:03:49

But there wasn't one that was specifically talking about these kind of subjects,

Sarah McDowell: 00:03:53

which are just as important as, okay, how do I rank number one, right these

Sarah McDowell: 00:03:58

kinds of topics and the things that me and Tazmin sort of delve into

Sarah McDowell: 00:04:02

are just as important as well, so.

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:05

Absolutely.

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:05

Those type of topics are very important and Would resonate and do resonate with

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:11

not just, you know, people within your industry, but across, you know, all jobs.

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:16

I've listened to your podcast.

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:17

I'm not in SEO, but I really can resonate with the themes

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:21

that you were talking about.

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:22

One of your episodes, you were talking about a win jar.

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:24

I have a win tin.

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:25

I've started one.

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:27

So I love that.

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:28

And I listened I listened to your one about quiet quitting

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:31

and loud quitting and.

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:33

That was so interesting because I had a completely different

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:36

understanding of what I thought it was.

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:38

So that was really, really interesting to me.

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:41

So is your main target audience people based in the SEO industry?

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:45

Is that who you kind of were thinking of when you, when you did this?

Sarah McDowell: 00:04:48

Yeah.

Sarah McDowell: 00:04:49

Well, this, this is something that.

Sarah McDowell: 00:04:50

Me and Tazmin always talk about it was the reason that it started and it's

Sarah McDowell: 00:04:55

called the SEO mindset was because our audience, it made sense to kind

Sarah McDowell: 00:04:59

of focus on the SEO industry because there is an argument, isn't there?

Sarah McDowell: 00:05:03

Like if you try and go too broad.

Sarah McDowell: 00:05:07

Compared to like niching and targeting down, like sometimes it's better

Sarah McDowell: 00:05:10

to really target down because it's less competitive and all of that.

Sarah McDowell: 00:05:14

But yeah, like I hear all the time that other people that

Sarah McDowell: 00:05:18

aren't in the SEO industry listen to our episodes and it's great.

Sarah McDowell: 00:05:22

And I mean, I get that the topics that we talk about, it's not just

Sarah McDowell: 00:05:26

in the SEO industry, like loads of people suffer with anxiety,

Sarah McDowell: 00:05:29

imposter syndrome time management, I suppose the only thing is that.

Sarah McDowell: 00:05:34

We give examples from the SEO industry.

Sarah McDowell: 00:05:39

Do you know what I mean?

Sarah McDowell: 00:05:40

So when we want to sort of give like real life examples or

Sarah McDowell: 00:05:43

like, yeah, and stuff like that.

Sarah McDowell: 00:05:46

I don't know what you would say on that Tazmin.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:05:49

Same.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:05:49

And I think although it's some of the examples around, for example,

Tazmin Suleman: 00:05:54

presenting, now that's not specific to SEO, that could be in any.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:05:58

Any industry, it's just that that's the space that we come from and especially,

Tazmin Suleman: 00:06:03

you know, frequenting Brighton SEO , you know, that's that the focal point.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:06:09

But with any mental health advice the tips and the techniques

Tazmin Suleman: 00:06:14

could resonate with many people.

Sarah McDowell: 00:06:16

And that's, and that's a good point.

Sarah McDowell: 00:06:18

Sorry to go off on a bit of a tangent is something that we do.

Sarah McDowell: 00:06:21

So there's a big conference in Brighton called Brighton SEO.

Sarah McDowell: 00:06:25

Well, thousands of SEO, I always want to say SEO nerds, but, you

Sarah McDowell: 00:06:30

know, SEO professionals, there we go.

Sarah McDowell: 00:06:33

Load thousands of SEO professionals will flock to Brighton and it's a

Sarah McDowell: 00:06:37

conference over a couple of days.

Sarah McDowell: 00:06:39

So something that we've been doing, we've done it twice, I

Sarah McDowell: 00:06:41

think, haven't we Tazmin, where.

Sarah McDowell: 00:06:43

We'll do a live podcast, so that's really fun.

Sarah McDowell: 00:06:47

So we make an event of it.

Sarah McDowell: 00:06:49

So rather than recording in our bedrooms, we, we record in front of

Sarah McDowell: 00:06:54

an audience, which is really fun.

Sarah McDowell: 00:06:55

But obviously the idea is that most of the people that will be at that live.

Sarah McDowell: 00:07:01

Podcast are people from the SEO community because they're there to watch Brighton.

Sarah McDowell: 00:07:06

They're there for Brighton SEO, but we equally, it's a funny thing because we

Sarah McDowell: 00:07:11

have people who attend who are in Brighton because they live there or what have you.

Sarah McDowell: 00:07:16

So

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:18

I think you're right.

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:18

I think it's good to have, you know, you're within that industry yourself.

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:22

So it makes sense to be focusing on the SEO industry and you're right.

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:26

And if you are too broad, then you run the risk of not appealing to.

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:31

Anyone at all.

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:32

Once it was, are they saying your marketing as well, isn't it?

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:34

You know, you need to focus and niche down the more that and other people

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:37

will naturally find you, but having that, that's your experience as well.

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:42

Both of you, isn't it, you know, within that industry.

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:45

So it's great to talk from that place with your experience.

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:51

How have you found like all the production and.

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:55

recording side of things.

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:57

You, I know Sarah that you're this is your fourth podcast, so you're

Rachael Botfield: 00:08:00

no, you're not a newbie to podcast.

Rachael Botfield: 00:08:02

Tazmin, have you done any of the podcasts before this one or is this your

Rachael Botfield: 00:08:06

kind of first foray into podcasting?

Tazmin Suleman: 00:08:09

Very, very much my first.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:08:11

And so nervous.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:08:12

I remember the first time Sarah and I recorded, I was very tense, bear

Tazmin Suleman: 00:08:18

in mind that we started recording in the March and then we didn't actually

Tazmin Suleman: 00:08:22

meet in person until September.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:08:24

So that added a layer of complexity to, to the interaction.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:08:28

But I find that as time has gone by, you can sort of like sink

Tazmin Suleman: 00:08:34

into the role much better and feel more at ease when you're speaking.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:08:38

But I would, I'd recommend it to anyone, even for the boost of confidence you get.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:08:43

At least it's a certain skillset and that skillset then carries

Tazmin Suleman: 00:08:47

into other areas as well.

Sarah McDowell: 00:08:50

Yeah.

Sarah McDowell: 00:08:50

And just to add, I think lots of people , so if we're specifically

Sarah McDowell: 00:08:56

talking about people who want to start a podcast and they're a little bit

Sarah McDowell: 00:08:59

nervous because it's the unknown or they let the fear get in the way, but.

Sarah McDowell: 00:09:06

Nine times out of the 10, every time that I've done something

Sarah McDowell: 00:09:10

new, it's always the fear that's much worse than the actual doing.

Sarah McDowell: 00:09:15

And at the end of the day, you've got to try stuff and you'll either like it.

Sarah McDowell: 00:09:19

Or you hate it and if you don't like it, just don't do it again.

Sarah McDowell: 00:09:22

Right.

Sarah McDowell: 00:09:23

You know, no one's forcing you to carry on with a podcast, but also I think I

Sarah McDowell: 00:09:29

understand that it can be overwhelming because you're like, Oh crikey, like how

Sarah McDowell: 00:09:33

do I record, what equipment do I need?

Sarah McDowell: 00:09:35

How do I go about this?

Sarah McDowell: 00:09:36

Like where, how do I distribute it and stuff?

Sarah McDowell: 00:09:39

So I get that that's overwhelming.

Sarah McDowell: 00:09:41

So not just the speaking side, like Tazman said, but there's also the.

Sarah McDowell: 00:09:47

The logistics of like actually like producing a podcast, but you just get

Sarah McDowell: 00:09:52

better and you learn and you pick stuff up and I've been podcasting for four

Sarah McDowell: 00:09:59

years, I think four or five years.

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:01

And.

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:02

I've managed to streamline and get much quicker at the podcast, podcasting

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:07

process, just because I'm picking up new skills and I'm trying new things.

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:11

And yeah, like I remember back in the day I used to spend hours editing

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:17

a podcast, like literally every breath, every filler word, every and

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:21

I was just like, do you know what?

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:22

It's actually taken me hours to edit and I was like, let me, let me like cut

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:29

myself a bit of slack and you know what, listeners didn't like, I didn't lose

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:33

listeners because the audio is still there and like podcast, I'm going off

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:38

on a bit of a tangent now, aren't I?

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:39

But podcasts can be conversational.

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:42

They're chatty.

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:43

They are laid back and yes, edit out any.

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:47

big boo boos.

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:48

And I love how Tasmin always calls them boo boos.

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:50

Like, so, sorry, I'm sharing this now just because it warms my heart, but when Tasmin

Sarah McDowell: 00:10:56

records podcasts with her guests and she gives me the notes, so then I know what

Sarah McDowell: 00:11:01

I'm editing, she'll be like, no boo boos.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:11:04

It's a technical term, I'm sure it is.

Rachael Botfield: 00:11:07

Yeah, I would agree that, you know, the more you get into

Rachael Botfield: 00:11:10

it and the more experience that you get.

Rachael Botfield: 00:11:13

You know, you, you do streamline things.

Rachael Botfield: 00:11:15

And I think one of the most important things, if you really would like

Rachael Botfield: 00:11:18

to start a podcast is just to.

Rachael Botfield: 00:11:20

Try it, just do it.

Rachael Botfield: 00:11:21

And like you said, if you don't like it or it's not for you, then you'll

Rachael Botfield: 00:11:24

quickly find that out rather than always wondering, whether you want to do it.

Sarah McDowell: 00:11:30

There's lots of free tools.

Sarah McDowell: 00:11:31

I mean, the one bit of equipment that I would recommend is a microphone.

Sarah McDowell: 00:11:37

Do you know what I mean?

Sarah McDowell: 00:11:37

Like the quality of your audio matters and headphones help as well.

Sarah McDowell: 00:11:43

But most of us already own headphones, don't we?

Sarah McDowell: 00:11:47

So yeah, like as long as you've got a microphone, you've got an idea of what

Sarah McDowell: 00:11:51

you're talking about and you figured out a way of recording, like what tool you're

Sarah McDowell: 00:11:57

going to use, again, there's loads out there that are free, some that you have

Sarah McDowell: 00:12:01

to pay for, but you just got to do it.

Sarah McDowell: 00:12:04

But I think Tazmin would agree.

Sarah McDowell: 00:12:06

And yourself, Rachael, that like, if you compare the first ever

Sarah McDowell: 00:12:10

podcast episode that you ever recorded to what you're doing now,

Sarah McDowell: 00:12:15

you're 10 times better, aren't you?

Rachael Botfield: 00:12:18

Yeah, absolutely.

Rachael Botfield: 00:12:19

, I felt much the same as you Tazmin when I first started I had a

Rachael Botfield: 00:12:22

different podcast I did about virtual assistants and I was so nervous.

Rachael Botfield: 00:12:28

I thought it was just on my own as well, so I had guests.

Rachael Botfield: 00:12:30

So, and I used to think about when I was chatting to people as like some

Rachael Botfield: 00:12:34

big interview, you know, hold on a minute, this is not journalism,

Rachael Botfield: 00:12:38

you know, serious stuff, that's how I kind of had it in my head.

Rachael Botfield: 00:12:41

So having, like, the conversation was really, you know, took

Rachael Botfield: 00:12:44

me a while to get into that.

Rachael Botfield: 00:12:46

Do you feel it took you a bit of time, Tazmin, to get into you know, get

Rachael Botfield: 00:12:50

used to the kind of conversations and having different guests on and things?

Tazmin Suleman: 00:12:54

I think one, one of the good things is the first

Tazmin Suleman: 00:12:57

podcast we recorded together was about the differences between

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:00

a fixed and growth mindset.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:02

And I had 10 points to go through.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:04

And the first one recorded, I was like, you know, this is the news at 10

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:08

type of and at number one, it's very serious, but we, we were chatting.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:14

So we couldn't get through all 10.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:15

I think we did five.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:17

And straight away, Sarah said, right, this is going really well.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:20

Why don't we just jump on again and record the next five?

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:24

And that put me at ease because it straight away gave me that validation

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:28

that it's going well enough that a seasoned podcaster is saying, go ahead.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:33

So that was one thing I wanted to say.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:35

The other thing, going back to what you said, Sarah, that the first podcast

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:39

you record is going to be way worse than you do now, accept that the first

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:44

five, 10 are not going to be great.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:47

It's fine, first of all, get through them as quick as possible.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:50

Get through them.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:52

I'm a lot more comfortable with guests now and I'm a lot more I

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:56

allow myself to choose the guests.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:13:59

So there is a vibe where there, there is a connection.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:14:03

You build a connection over, you know, whether it's messaging or more and more.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:14:08

Sarah and I, when we meet people at conferences and we really enjoy their

Tazmin Suleman: 00:14:12

talk, we invite them on straight away.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:14:14

See.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:14:15

We'd love to hear, you know, our listeners to hear about that.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:14:18

It's like you say, it's just bedding yourself into that role and allowing

Tazmin Suleman: 00:14:22

yourself to wear the hat of, I am a podcaster with everything that brings.

Sarah McDowell: 00:14:28

And something that I would like to say as well is I

Sarah McDowell: 00:14:31

can't stress enough how important being your true authentic self is.

Sarah McDowell: 00:14:38

So, because at the end of the day, You want your audience to relate

Sarah McDowell: 00:14:44

to you and relate to what you're talking about and your shows.

Sarah McDowell: 00:14:47

So , if you're trying to put on this.

Sarah McDowell: 00:14:52

person that you think that you should, because that's what a podcaster is, that

Sarah McDowell: 00:14:56

it's going to be much better if you're just yourself and you have a laugh

Sarah McDowell: 00:14:59

and a joke and you can be at ease.

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:01

I mean, if you can, and maybe start in a podcast, maybe you can

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:07

reach out to a friend because.

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:10

My first ever podcast that I ever did was SEO SAS and I did that with a good

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:16

friend of mine and one of the reviews that we've got is like, ah, it's like,

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:20

you guys have been friends forever.

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:21

There's like a chemistry between you.

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:23

And it's like, well, because we have, do you know what I mean?

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:25

So I think, but that was really quite special between me and Tazmin

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:29

because like, even though we didn't meet in person for a very long time,

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:34

there was this chemistry that was.

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:36

Being built through the screen and yeah, like obviously you

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:41

can't always, you can't get to the bottom of why chemistry happens.

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:46

Chemistry is chemistry, right?

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:48

But you'll click with some people, won't you?

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:50

And with guests, like you'll have some guests that will come on and you click

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:54

instantly and the chat's really good and it's like, Ooh, and then you have

Sarah McDowell: 00:15:58

other times where like, yeah, it's still as good, but it's not as chatty.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:04

it's the same.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:05

Yeah.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:05

When you meet people in real life, isn't it?

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:07

Sometimes you do just click with people and you really, really get on.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:10

And then, you know, so don't be disheartened if you're doing, you know,

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:16

feeling a bit awkward to start with.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:18

I love that you said about feeling, you know, being your authentic self.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:21

Cause I think I had that impression that, you know, have to be this interviewer to

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:27

you know, answer all the right questions and get to the heart of the matter.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:29

It's like, well, I'm really just doing a podcast about what it's like.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:32

My first one was about being a virtual assistant and their journey.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:35

And that's, it's not that type of podcast, not a news podcast.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:39

So I think you have those ideas in your head that it has to be a certain way.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:44

I think listening to trying to listen to maybe other podcasts that are similar

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:50

to what you want to do or in your area.

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:52

So I know a lot of people who listen to this podcast, you know, are women and have

Rachael Botfield: 00:16:57

their own businesses and, you know, listen to some of the podcasts that other women

Rachael Botfield: 00:17:00

are doing and then get like a sense of, you know, not to copy or, you know, to, to

Rachael Botfield: 00:17:06

feel like you have to do it in that way, but just to get, you know, a whole mix of

Rachael Botfield: 00:17:10

what people are doing and different things so that you can, you know, find your

Rachael Botfield: 00:17:14

way into how you would like to do yours.

Rachael Botfield: 00:17:18

A hundred percent.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:17:19

One last thing.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:17:20

Don't feel that you have to be a perfectionist, I think and feel

Tazmin Suleman: 00:17:24

like you've gotta stop and start.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:17:26

Today I was recording with somebody and I couldn't say 20, I still can't say it.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:17:31

2007.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:17:32

I could not say 2007, I was going 2 0 0 7 and she, she

Tazmin Suleman: 00:17:38

laughed and she corrected me Now.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:17:41

A few months ago, a year ago, I would have been mortified, stopped it, started again.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:17:47

And I thought, it doesn't matter.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:17:49

Does it really matter?

Sarah McDowell: 00:17:50

No, but then again, like it's about authentic, your help,

Sarah McDowell: 00:17:54

you're helping build this connection.

Sarah McDowell: 00:17:56

And like, if that guest laughed at it, then our listeners

Sarah McDowell: 00:18:00

are going to laugh at it.

Sarah McDowell: 00:18:01

And also.

Sarah McDowell: 00:18:02

You've got to be careful as well, because if you edit your audio too much,

Sarah McDowell: 00:18:06

because you want perfection, it actually won't end up flowing as nicely anyway.

Sarah McDowell: 00:18:10

Do I mean?

Rachael Botfield: 00:18:13

Yeah, it takes, it does sometimes take the

Rachael Botfield: 00:18:16

conversation, conversationalist bit out of it, if I can say that word.

Rachael Botfield: 00:18:21

I, I used to edit a lot more heavily than I do now.

Rachael Botfield: 00:18:24

I do get conscious of how many ums or so words that I say, but I've now kind of.

Rachael Botfield: 00:18:31

Got over some of those things, because I know I often say it when

Rachael Botfield: 00:18:35

I'm trying to think of something or think of a response and that is what

Rachael Botfield: 00:18:39

actually happens in real life as well.

Rachael Botfield: 00:18:40

But you know, we don't all have everything ready, queued up to

Rachael Botfield: 00:18:43

go and say everything perfectly.

Rachael Botfield: 00:18:45

So I think that it's kind of important as well to.

Rachael Botfield: 00:18:49

Show, you know, we are all human and getting, I can't think how to word

Rachael Botfield: 00:18:57

what I want to say, like saying about perfectionists and no one does something,

Rachael Botfield: 00:19:02

what, what we think is perfect.

Sarah McDowell: 00:19:05

Yeah, and also, sorry to interject, but is it like an idea that

Sarah McDowell: 00:19:09

like you are always going to be your own biggest critic at the end of the day?

Sarah McDowell: 00:19:14

And when you listen, like loads of people don't like listen back

Sarah McDowell: 00:19:18

to themselves because you're like, Oh, I could have said that better.

Sarah McDowell: 00:19:20

Oh, I'm saying and like too much, but like, cut yourself some slack,

Sarah McDowell: 00:19:26

cut, like, be kind to yourself.

Sarah McDowell: 00:19:28

Something that I'm going off on a tangent, but something that I try

Sarah McDowell: 00:19:31

and do nowadays is if I wouldn't say something to a friend or family

Sarah McDowell: 00:19:36

member, I try and not say it to myself.

Rachael Botfield: 00:19:40

Yes, that is.

Rachael Botfield: 00:19:41

That's a good way to think about it because we are so awful to

Rachael Botfield: 00:19:45

ourselves and half of the things we do say to ourselves, we wouldn't say

Rachael Botfield: 00:19:47

that to anyone else to their face.

Sarah McDowell: 00:19:49

Exactly, exactly.

Sarah McDowell: 00:19:51

And I think like, if someone if I reached out and was like, oh, this

Sarah McDowell: 00:19:54

podcast episode, oh, like, and started.

Sarah McDowell: 00:19:58

Worrying, they'll be like my cheerleader and be like, you are on a podcast.

Sarah McDowell: 00:20:02

You said all this stuff.

Sarah McDowell: 00:20:03

You were amazing.

Sarah McDowell: 00:20:04

So what?

Sarah McDowell: 00:20:04

Like, so just try and do that for yourself, I suppose.

Sarah McDowell: 00:20:07

Yeah.

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:08

And I think you do get used to, I, you know, is always

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:12

sometimes a bit cringeless listening back to yourself, but it's cause

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:15

you don't hear yourself the same way as you hear yourself in your head.

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:18

But I've got, now that I've been listening to myself, podcasting and

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:22

stuff for the last couple of years, I've actually got a lot more used to my voice.

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:26

And.

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:27

Although sometimes I think it's a little bit cringe, but a lot of the time, it's

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:32

just, a lot of it just sounds like me now.

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:34

So I think you, you do get over that aspect the longer that you do something

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:39

because you're just so used to hearing your voice when you're editing and

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:42

listening back to the episode and things.

Sarah McDowell: 00:20:44

And also it is horrible listening back to

Sarah McDowell: 00:20:46

yourself, but by listening back to yourself, you can improve as well.

Sarah McDowell: 00:20:52

Do you know what I mean?

Sarah McDowell: 00:20:53

Like, so yeah

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:57

so I just wanted to talk a little bit about the

Rachael Botfield: 00:20:59

community around your podcast.

Rachael Botfield: 00:21:02

I know that you have, cause I want to, also wanted to congratulate on

Rachael Botfield: 00:21:06

your sponsorship for this season for Wix, which I think is really awesome.

Rachael Botfield: 00:21:11

And I think after talking to Sarah about how your sponsorship came

Rachael Botfield: 00:21:15

about as well, I think you've got like a really good community behind

Rachael Botfield: 00:21:18

your podcast, a lot of people, you know, listening and supporting you.

Rachael Botfield: 00:21:23

And so how do you feel about your community and how you interact with them?

Sarah McDowell: 00:21:31

Very good question.

Sarah McDowell: 00:21:32

Tazmin, do you want to tackle it or?

Tazmin Suleman: 00:21:36

So in terms of when you meet people face, face to face, for

Tazmin Suleman: 00:21:39

example, at, at conferences, it's really warming when they'll come up to you and

Tazmin Suleman: 00:21:43

say, you know, I'd listen to this podcast, and that particular one resonated.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:21:48

You feel that, you feel good because you're, you're doing something

Tazmin Suleman: 00:21:51

right, because if they are benefiting from it, which is the ultimate aim.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:21:56

And I think it's mainly at conferences that we, we get to, to see them, but

Tazmin Suleman: 00:22:00

then equally people will message me.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:22:04

But I would, Sarah, I'd quite like more of interaction with them.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:22:08

We've talked about having an SEO mindset day.

Sarah McDowell: 00:22:14

Yeah, I mean, so a big thing is your community, isn't it?

Sarah McDowell: 00:22:20

So I think first things first to build like a loyal, like fans and

Sarah McDowell: 00:22:25

community around your podcast.

Sarah McDowell: 00:22:28

First, you need to be really sure who your audience is.

Sarah McDowell: 00:22:31

Cause then you can make sure that you're always speaking with them.

Sarah McDowell: 00:22:35

But I think.

Sarah McDowell: 00:22:36

Me and Tazmin are quite conscious of, like, if we meet someone in conference,

Sarah McDowell: 00:22:41

a conference face to face, and they'll come and talk to us, we'll, we'll

Sarah McDowell: 00:22:45

talk back to them or they'll reach out to us online as well, through

Sarah McDowell: 00:22:49

like emails or on social media.

Sarah McDowell: 00:22:52

I think.

Sarah McDowell: 00:22:53

It also helps because me and Tazmin have our own personal, following

Sarah McDowell: 00:22:57

and, and, and things like that.

Sarah McDowell: 00:22:59

And that links towards the podcast as well, the live podcast as well.

Sarah McDowell: 00:23:03

So when people can come and physically see like an event like that, I

Sarah McDowell: 00:23:10

suppose it's a hard one, isn't it?

Sarah McDowell: 00:23:11

But I think.

Sarah McDowell: 00:23:12

This whole thing of like how we've developed this community is sticking

Sarah McDowell: 00:23:16

to, this is why we're doing it.

Sarah McDowell: 00:23:18

This is our audience.

Sarah McDowell: 00:23:19

This is me and Tazmin authentically.

Sarah McDowell: 00:23:22

It's the guests that we get on.

Sarah McDowell: 00:23:24

It's the sharing and getting the.

Sarah McDowell: 00:23:26

episodes out there, it's the collaborations that we do as well.

Sarah McDowell: 00:23:30

So obviously with the live podcast, that's a collaboration with a good friend

Sarah McDowell: 00:23:33

of ours Jack Search Candor podcast.

Sarah McDowell: 00:23:37

But we've also done other collaborations opinionated, SEO opinions and stuff.

Sarah McDowell: 00:23:40

So I suppose it's about identifying who you can work with and yeah,

Sarah McDowell: 00:23:47

just making sure that you are given time to your community.

Sarah McDowell: 00:23:51

I don't know if that's a wishy washy answer, but

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:54

no, no, that's great.

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:55

It's something that I would like to build more around my podcast and

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:01

some of you listening might know that Sarah and I have started our own

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:04

podcast community, which is kind of separate to our podcasts more as a,

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:09

podcast, podcasting as a, as a whole.

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:11

So lots of different types of podcasts and people wanting to start one.

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:15

And just coming to talk about getting help and support and just

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:18

chatting about podcasts really.

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:20

But it's something that the more and more that I interact with people and speak

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:25

to people within our podcast community, that it reminds me about how important.

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:32

Community can make you feel and how heard that you can feel you know, around

Rachael Botfield: 00:24:37

whatever it is you're looking for.

Sarah McDowell: 00:24:39

Something that me and Tazmin we've spoke about and

Sarah McDowell: 00:24:42

plan to do more is like giving shout outs on our, on our podcast.

Sarah McDowell: 00:24:47

So we, so we already do that in the sense of with every guest that comes

Sarah McDowell: 00:24:51

on, we're like, shout out someone doing awesome stuff in the community

Sarah McDowell: 00:24:55

and we'll give them a bit of love and then, then we tag them and stuff.

Sarah McDowell: 00:24:58

But there's more ways that we can do more like with donations and

Sarah McDowell: 00:25:02

tips, having a shout out or like.

Sarah McDowell: 00:25:05

When people say stuff to us.

Sarah McDowell: 00:25:07

So yeah, I dunno, like, yeah, it's a tricky one.

Sarah McDowell: 00:25:12

Like, building a community is hard, but it is important because once you've got

Sarah McDowell: 00:25:17

your loyal super fans as we were, yeah.

Sarah McDowell: 00:25:20

Like, they'll help share your stuff.

Sarah McDowell: 00:25:22

And that's something that we do as well, isn't it, Tazmin?

Sarah McDowell: 00:25:24

Like in our podcast episodes, we ask people to share it with

Sarah McDowell: 00:25:28

their friends and family as well.

Sarah McDowell: 00:25:29

Mm-hmm.

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:30

I think that the referrals and sharing it with friends

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:33

and family and people that you know is, is one of the best ways to get your

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:37

podcast kind of in front of new people.

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:39

If I ever meet anybody that has a podcast, I always kind of like

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:42

immediately go and add it in my app so I can go and listen to it.

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:46

And then if I like it, I do.

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:48

Definitely recommend it around.

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:51

So, you know, all for the different types of promotion and people that

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:55

we can, we can do for our podcast.

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:57

I still think the best type of one is that referral.

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:00

Cause you've got that kind of stamp of approval from that other

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:04

person that's listened to you and thought, Oh, this is really great.

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:07

I know who else would like it.

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:09

So yeah, that's, I love that.

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:11

And it must be, must be quite an experience doing a live podcast as well.

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:15

And then having the chance to meet some of those people in real life as well,

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:19

because it's, you know, increasingly in our virtual world, especially since COVID,

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:24

you know, we're all doing this online.

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:26

It's really nice to have that.

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:28

In face to face interaction as well.

Rachael Botfield: 00:26:31

Do you think that helps bore you up for your episodes?

Tazmin Suleman: 00:26:34

I think something that Sarah said earlier really ties into this,

Tazmin Suleman: 00:26:37

which is about being authentically you.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:26:39

So when then you have that live podcast, for example, you turn up as you and

Tazmin Suleman: 00:26:44

you sound like you were on the podcast itself when Sarah and I speak a lot.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:26:50

So when we speak, I will say, you know, this is the coaching business and also

Tazmin Suleman: 00:26:54

co host of the SEO mindset podcast.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:26:57

And what I'm saying also then links in, so your branding, the

Tazmin Suleman: 00:27:02

podcast branding, it all fits.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:27:06

And then that makes it easier for people to trust you.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:27:10

And that then goes into the building of the community.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:27:13

If you're not turning up as you, then you're not going to

Tazmin Suleman: 00:27:16

be able to build that community.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:27:19

What do you think, Sarah?

Sarah McDowell: 00:27:20

Yeah, definitely.

Sarah McDowell: 00:27:22

And it's like remembering to actually follow up with people as well.

Sarah McDowell: 00:27:25

So if you meet someone and you click and you get on and things like give

Sarah McDowell: 00:27:32

the, like, follow them on social media and like interact with them and stuff,

Sarah McDowell: 00:27:35

or make sure that like you follow up with like a new podcast episode that

Sarah McDowell: 00:27:40

you've launched and stuff like that.

Sarah McDowell: 00:27:42

But I think.

Sarah McDowell: 00:27:43

There's a lot that we've, lots of different things that have fed into how

Sarah McDowell: 00:27:49

we've built a community up around it.

Sarah McDowell: 00:27:52

And yeah, like I love doing the live podcast because it's

Sarah McDowell: 00:27:57

a chance, it's something fun.

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:00

Oh, and also, so most of the times, like there's no interaction on a podcast.

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:06

It's always like one sided.

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:08

So what's super lovely when we do a live podcast is that we have

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:12

a Q and A session at the end.

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:14

But I don't know why we call it Q and A because.

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:17

We get questions, but people are just sharing their own

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:20

experiences, aren't they?

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:22

It has been like, they want to be part of the conversation.

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:25

And that's really lovely as well, because then that becomes part of the podcast.

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:30

And then when that gets put on our feed and then someone else listens

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:34

to it, and then they're like, Oh, okay, I'm going to be in Brighton SEO.

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:37

I want to be part of this because we're all about creating a safe space where

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:42

you can talk about these things that.

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:44

a bit taboo, well it shouldn't be taboo, but do you know what I mean?

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:48

That don't often get spoken about.

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:50

Yeah, yeah.

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:51

And it's, and it just feeds into this idea that we're creating a

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:54

space, safe space, come and talk.

Sarah McDowell: 00:28:56

So the topic so far that we've covered is anxiety at conferences

Sarah McDowell: 00:29:01

and energy levels at conferences.

Sarah McDowell: 00:29:03

And each time, like the end of the podcast is just.

Sarah McDowell: 00:29:07

Everyone's sharing.

Sarah McDowell: 00:29:08

Everyone talking and it's lovely, isn't it, Tazmin?

Tazmin Suleman: 00:29:11

It is really nice, and that's what I suppose then

Tazmin Suleman: 00:29:14

again, it builds into that community.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:29:16

They're not just being talked at.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:29:18

They're part of it and they make it what it is, which is beautiful.

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:24

It just sounds like a really great experience.

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:27

It is nice to have that.

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:28

You know, other communication with them, like say sometimes when you're

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:31

recording them you're talking out there.

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:34

So to have that input and have people share their experiences, it's, it's

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:39

refreshing to have, and I think podcasts are great, a great medium for that,

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:44

for creating a safe space for people to talk about vulnerable things and things

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:49

that are bothering them in their mind.

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:50

And like you say, taboo, as much as everyone says it's okay, you know,

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:55

people still feel like they can't share those kinds of experiences.

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:58

So it's great that you're providing a place for people to do that.

Rachael Botfield: 00:30:04

So.

Rachael Botfield: 00:30:05

I'm just thinking what else I wanted to ask, I did want to talk about, just

Rachael Botfield: 00:30:10

ask a little quickly about the kind of, because I know you both do this podcast

Rachael Botfield: 00:30:15

on the side, it's not your day job.

Rachael Botfield: 00:30:17

So how do you find fitting all the interviews and editing

Rachael Botfield: 00:30:21

and all those kinds of things?

Rachael Botfield: 00:30:23

Fitting it in to your very busy schedules.

Sarah McDowell: 00:30:28

Who, do you want to go first, Tazmin?

Tazmin Suleman: 00:30:30

Yeah, so I've, I've found that it's better for

Tazmin Suleman: 00:30:33

me to do the bulk of my recording on, on one or two days a week.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:30:37

So I allocate like a podcast.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:30:40

Today it's been a podcast day.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:30:41

It's the third one I'm recording.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:30:43

Oh.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:30:45

Partly because.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:30:47

On Tuesdays, I have the house to myself in general.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:30:50

So it makes it easier not to have people coming in and out of the room, but then

Tazmin Suleman: 00:30:54

you're also in that head space as well.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:30:57

I find chopping and changing harder.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:30:59

I prefer it like this, but as with most things, when you batch things up.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:31:05

It becomes smoother.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:31:07

So recording will be on one day.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:31:09

Tomorrow I'm going to be doing some presenting.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:31:12

So it'll be a lot of prep and the presenting and then Thursdays

Tazmin Suleman: 00:31:16

I generally will either have coaching or one to one coaching.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:31:21

So it just makes it easier to streamline things.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:31:25

The episodes that Sarah and I.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:31:27

Record together, they're a little bit more random.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:31:30

It's trying to squeeze those in, in her schedule and my schedule.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:31:33

But when, when we have them, we say we'll only talk for like half

Tazmin Suleman: 00:31:37

an hour and 45 minutes, but we don't, it's, we're very chatty.

Sarah McDowell: 00:31:42

But I think, I think that's how I'd answer that question

Sarah McDowell: 00:31:47

is it doesn't feel like a job for me.

Sarah McDowell: 00:31:50

Do you know what I mean?

Sarah McDowell: 00:31:51

Like it's a hobby, like going what, what do people do for hobby?

Sarah McDowell: 00:31:55

Going to the cinema going out for dinner, going to the gym.

Sarah McDowell: 00:31:59

Like I really enjoy podcasting.

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:03

So like when there's an evening that me and Tasman have set aside

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:09

to record a podcast, I really look forward to that because we record

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:12

a couple of podcasts, but then we have a little chit chat as well.

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:15

Sort of thing.

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:15

So I think for me.

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:17

Because it doesn't feel like a job.

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:20

It doesn't feel like, oh, I'm half to, when am I gonna fit this schedule in?

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:24

And also it doesn't take me long to edit and publish a podcast episode now because

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:31

I've really streamlined my processes.

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:33

So I know that yeah, so I allocate time once a week for that to happen.

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:39

Something that me and Tazmin.

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:41

Do struggle with is the promotion side, because you can always be promoted.

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:45

There's never, I've done too much promotion.

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:47

Do you know what I mean?

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:50

a challenge that we're doing at the moment because like, I mean, it's a

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:55

good thing to have because like with all the other bits of like when in a

Sarah McDowell: 00:32:58

podcast, like you've got, you've got to.

Sarah McDowell: 00:33:02

plan your episodes, you've got to record your episodes, you've got to edit your

Sarah McDowell: 00:33:04

pod episodes, you've got to get it out there, you've got to promote it.

Sarah McDowell: 00:33:08

There's also the other side of the sponsorships like, and things

Sarah McDowell: 00:33:12

now, and it's all wonderful stuff.

Sarah McDowell: 00:33:15

But as, as a podcast.

Sarah McDowell: 00:33:17

Gets bigger, that is a hobby.

Sarah McDowell: 00:33:19

I suppose that's the bit that's a bit tricky because it then has to be

Sarah McDowell: 00:33:24

like, Oh, it's a hobby, but I'm having to kind of manage it as a business.

Sarah McDowell: 00:33:28

And I know that Tazmin might feel a little bit different because.

Sarah McDowell: 00:33:32

Would you argue that this is part of your business?

Sarah McDowell: 00:33:34

I don't know, like, or is it like a hobby?

Tazmin Suleman: 00:33:38

So it started off as a hobby, but as things have sort of

Tazmin Suleman: 00:33:41

merged together, I would definitely say this is part of my business.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:33:45

This is one of my products as it were.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:33:48

But it.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:33:49

For me, and then that's why I think the batching for me works

Tazmin Suleman: 00:33:53

because I'm focusing on this.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:33:56

I recorded a really good episode with somebody today about how to have a

Tazmin Suleman: 00:34:01

thriving business and not get burnt out.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:34:04

And one of the things she was saying there was, document your

Tazmin Suleman: 00:34:07

processes, even if it's just you.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:34:10

So, for example, on the promotional side, in my head, I'm better clued on about,

Tazmin Suleman: 00:34:18

Oh, I've recorded a podcast today, and I'm going to put it in my stories to say it's

Tazmin Suleman: 00:34:23

going to come out in a few weeks time.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:34:26

And then what am I going to do?

Tazmin Suleman: 00:34:28

And then what am I going to do?

Tazmin Suleman: 00:34:29

And it's about having that process.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:34:32

So talk about it, record it, tell everyone.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:34:37

You know, have it published, tell everyone, so that when you do find

Tazmin Suleman: 00:34:41

that it is getting bigger and you need someone to take over that,

Tazmin Suleman: 00:34:45

that process is already documented.

Rachael Botfield: 00:34:49

That's a great tip because you can't really outsource it

Rachael Botfield: 00:34:52

if you don't understand and know the process yourself because you can't.

Rachael Botfield: 00:34:56

you know, need to be able to have that detail to explain someone else

Rachael Botfield: 00:34:59

who can take on that part for you.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:35:03

And part of the, part of the company that does a bit

Tazmin Suleman: 00:35:06

more of my social media now, I get them to talk about the podcast, but

Tazmin Suleman: 00:35:10

again, it's not just handing it over.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:35:13

It's saying, right, when it's Sarah and myself recording, then you

Tazmin Suleman: 00:35:16

need to tag Sarah when it's Sarah.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:35:19

And when it's me and a guest, you tag the guest, but you also tag Sarah.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:35:24

And it's making sure that you're setting the standard for how

Tazmin Suleman: 00:35:28

you're going to promote it.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:35:29

But we're learning, aren't we, Sarah, as we go along.

Sarah McDowell: 00:35:33

Yeah.

Sarah McDowell: 00:35:34

And I think we've come so far and talking about the win jar, right.

Sarah McDowell: 00:35:39

Celebrating our wins, because we can all get to a place where we reach

Sarah McDowell: 00:35:43

a goal or a target that we want to, and then we are onto the next one.

Sarah McDowell: 00:35:46

But actually, if I reflect back on like everything that we've done so far,

Sarah McDowell: 00:35:50

like the podcast, when did we start?

Sarah McDowell: 00:35:52

March.

Sarah McDowell: 00:35:53

March.

Sarah McDowell: 00:35:53

Yeah.

Sarah McDowell: 00:35:53

So it's a year and March, April, may, June, July was, yeah.

Sarah McDowell: 00:35:57

So we just count on my hands.

Sarah McDowell: 00:35:58

So year and a half, that's exactly what I was . Year and a half.

Sarah McDowell: 00:36:01

But in that year and a half, We have like, we've done live podcasts, we've

Sarah McDowell: 00:36:07

managed to do co labs with other people.

Sarah McDowell: 00:36:09

We've had so many fantastic guests come on.

Sarah McDowell: 00:36:12

We've had companies that want to be a sponsor.

Sarah McDowell: 00:36:17

Do you know what I mean?

Rachael Botfield: 00:36:17

Yes, of course.

Rachael Botfield: 00:36:18

Yes.

Rachael Botfield: 00:36:18

We mentioned that at the beginning about, after you said this, you have to tell us a

Rachael Botfield: 00:36:22

little bit more about, about your sponsor.

Sarah McDowell: 00:36:24

What it's like we got mentioned, so search engine

Sarah McDowell: 00:36:27

journal is really popular for in SEO industry news, so it's like,

Sarah McDowell: 00:36:33

yeah, so like get lots of traffic and.

Sarah McDowell: 00:36:36

They mentioned us as one of the best SEO podcast and we were number

Sarah McDowell: 00:36:40

two and number one was the Search Engine Journal podcast and stuff.

Sarah McDowell: 00:36:45

So, do you know what I mean?

Sarah McDowell: 00:36:46

And when I think back to all the successes that we've had cause you

Sarah McDowell: 00:36:49

can be like, compare yourself to other podcasts and what they're doing.

Sarah McDowell: 00:36:53

We also like doubled our listeners, didn't we?

Sarah McDowell: 00:36:58

So when I look back and actually think, crikey, like we were doing all right.

Sarah McDowell: 00:37:03

Yeah,

Tazmin Suleman: 00:37:04

we should, we should do some merchandise.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:37:06

We should get an SEO mindset.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:37:08

win jar.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:09

Yes, you should.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:11

You totally should do merch.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:13

My client and my friend, Hannah is just doing some, she's

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:16

got some merch sorted out.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:17

I think it's really awesome.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:19

So you definitely should.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:22

They don't.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:22

Mine's just got a flowery tin I had some hand cream in at the moment.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:29

Oh, that's awesome.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:29

So yeah, tell us a little bit about your sponsor.

Rachael Botfield: 00:37:31

Because I think this is really fantastic for you guys.

Sarah McDowell: 00:37:35

Great question.

Sarah McDowell: 00:37:37

It's, it's a bit of a weird one, isn't it Tazmin?

Sarah McDowell: 00:37:40

Because actually they reached out to us.

Sarah McDowell: 00:37:43

So, which is bonkers if I think about it.

Sarah McDowell: 00:37:47

So.

Sarah McDowell: 00:37:48

What happened was I have a contact at Wix my friend called Mordy and I don't

Sarah McDowell: 00:37:56

really know how we got on each other's radar, but there was a bit of, I went on.

Sarah McDowell: 00:38:01

His podcast, he came on my podcast he also asked for input on this

Sarah McDowell: 00:38:06

article he was putting together on the Wix website about podcast SEO.

Sarah McDowell: 00:38:10

So we kind of knew each other and, oh, and he asked me to

Sarah McDowell: 00:38:15

host a Twitter chat and things.

Sarah McDowell: 00:38:16

So there was a bit of back and forth.

Sarah McDowell: 00:38:19

So obviously we knew about each other.

Sarah McDowell: 00:38:22

But the actual sponsorship email completely came out of the blue really

Sarah McDowell: 00:38:26

cause we didn't reach out to them.

Sarah McDowell: 00:38:28

And I randomly got an email from Mordy one day and he CC'd in a guy called Guy and.

Sarah McDowell: 00:38:37

Guy looked after partnerships and sponsorships and Mordy was like, Oh,

Sarah McDowell: 00:38:42

I'd like to introduce you to Guy.

Sarah McDowell: 00:38:44

Basically, can we pay you to say nice stuff?

Sarah McDowell: 00:38:47

And I think Mordy, even in the email was like, kudos, Sarah.

Sarah McDowell: 00:38:52

I didn't even.

Sarah McDowell: 00:38:54

mention to Guy about the SEO mindset, this has come from them.

Sarah McDowell: 00:38:57

So I don't really know how that came about really, so.

Rachael Botfield: 00:39:02

Well, that's fantastic anyway.

Rachael Botfield: 00:39:05

Great for your podcast and brilliant just to show that you.

Rachael Botfield: 00:39:11

Reaching people and you're able to get your message and who you are doing

Rachael Botfield: 00:39:17

this podcast for, that you're, you're getting out there and to those people

Rachael Botfield: 00:39:20

and people are recognizing that.

Rachael Botfield: 00:39:22

So that's a fantastic achievement.

Sarah McDowell: 00:39:23

I think that's it, isn't it?

Sarah McDowell: 00:39:25

It's maybe we got on their radar because of all the, like, because

Sarah McDowell: 00:39:29

you've got to put yourself out there at the end of the day, haven't you?

Sarah McDowell: 00:39:31

And I think also because.

Sarah McDowell: 00:39:34

We offer something that's different to other SEO, awesome SEO podcasts

Sarah McDowell: 00:39:41

out there, but we're different because we just focus on the soft skills.

Sarah McDowell: 00:39:45

Like there's lots of elements really.

Sarah McDowell: 00:39:47

I mean, Tazmin, what did you think about it when I was

Sarah McDowell: 00:39:49

like, Wix wants to sponsor us?

Tazmin Suleman: 00:39:51

When I told my family, they too thought Wix, the hardware

Tazmin Suleman: 00:39:55

store, apart from one niece who said, why would a hardware store be

Tazmin Suleman: 00:40:00

sponsoring Auntie Tazmin's podcast?

Tazmin Suleman: 00:40:02

It's obviously the website people.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:40:07

Oh, little smart cookie.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:40:09

Oh, she is smart cookie.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:40:10

And they're going, no, of course not the websites.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:40:13

She's right.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:40:15

But I was telling Sarah that I know somebody I have a

Tazmin Suleman: 00:40:18

contact at the hardware Wix.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:40:20

So one day maybe we have the SEO Mindset Podcast sponsored by Wix and Wix.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:40:26

That's goal.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:40:26

That would be great.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:40:27

20, 24 goals there, you right.

Rachael Botfield: 00:40:31

You definitely have the the merch at Wix as well, can't you?

Rachael Botfield: 00:40:35

We hit the nail on the head with our podcast.

Rachael Botfield: 00:40:37

Yay!

Sarah McDowell: 00:40:39

So, Tazmin doesn't need any more ideas, like, yeah, like, not,

Sarah McDowell: 00:40:44

yeah, I mean, it's wonderful Tazmin, idea, idea lady, but it's like, Tazmin's

Sarah McDowell: 00:40:51

like, oh, wouldn't it be great if we did,

Tazmin Suleman: 00:40:56

if I have to stop now.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:40:57

I thought, oh, it'd be great if I wrote, like, an e book on the top 20

Tazmin Suleman: 00:41:01

episodes of the SEO Mindset Podcast with tips from so and so and so

Tazmin Suleman: 00:41:06

and so and so and so and so and so.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:41:10

I'll just do that at the weekend, yeah.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:41:13

Yeah,

Rachael Botfield: 00:41:14

just flash it out there.

Sarah McDowell: 00:41:15

Don't you wish sometimes when an idea comes to your head, you could

Sarah McDowell: 00:41:20

just click your finger and say it's done?

Sarah McDowell: 00:41:22

Well,

Rachael Botfield: 00:41:23

that would be so much easier.

Rachael Botfield: 00:41:25

Yeah.

Rachael Botfield: 00:41:27

Well, thank you so much for coming on and talking to us.

Rachael Botfield: 00:41:30

You've obviously got great chemistry and I have listened to your episodes as well.

Rachael Botfield: 00:41:34

So I really do.

Rachael Botfield: 00:41:35

Enjoy your episodes and I would encourage my listeners to click on

Rachael Botfield: 00:41:39

the links in the show notes that I will leave for the SEO Mindset Podcast.

Rachael Botfield: 00:41:44

I don't know if you have any final thoughts you'd like to leave us with.

Rachael Botfield: 00:41:47

You've offered some brilliant advice and tips throughout the episode.

Rachael Botfield: 00:41:50

I don't know if either of you or both of you would like to leave our,

Rachael Botfield: 00:41:54

leave my listeners with something.

Sarah McDowell: 00:41:55

We could both do one.

Sarah McDowell: 00:41:57

My quick one is stop overthinking, just do it.

Sarah McDowell: 00:42:01

The next thing that you want to try, just stop overthinking it,

Sarah McDowell: 00:42:06

find out what you need to do to get it done and just give it a go.

Sarah McDowell: 00:42:10

And I'll relate back to what I said earlier.

Sarah McDowell: 00:42:13

Two things are going to happen, you're going to love it,

Sarah McDowell: 00:42:16

or you're going to hate it.

Sarah McDowell: 00:42:17

You might not even hate it.

Sarah McDowell: 00:42:18

It might be a mild, do you know what?

Sarah McDowell: 00:42:20

That was a bit meh.

Sarah McDowell: 00:42:22

Just don't do it again.

Sarah McDowell: 00:42:23

But how do you know that you've got to try stuff?

Sarah McDowell: 00:42:29

Otherwise you don't know the stuff that you're going to excel at.

Sarah McDowell: 00:42:32

So stop overthinking, is what I would say.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:42:36

For me, I would say, be yourself, have fun and own

Tazmin Suleman: 00:42:43

the title that you are a podcaster and don't, don't shy away from it.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:42:49

So recently our newest addition to the family, four month little

Tazmin Suleman: 00:42:54

Eli and Sabir was, my daughter was saying, he's going to go to nursery

Tazmin Suleman: 00:42:59

and look at the other kids and say.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:43:01

Your granny doesn't have a podcast.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:43:03

My granny has a podcast because he won't know any different.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:43:10

So, so own it because you are taking a step out of your comfort zone.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:43:16

You are putting value out there.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:43:18

And you're growing.

Tazmin Suleman: 00:43:19

So own that.

Sarah McDowell: 00:43:22

Yeah.

Sarah McDowell: 00:43:23

Just have fun.

Sarah McDowell: 00:43:24

Just have fun.

Sarah McDowell: 00:43:25

I love that.

Rachael Botfield: 00:43:26

Well, brilliant.

Rachael Botfield: 00:43:27

Thank you so much, both of you.

Rachael Botfield: 00:43:29

And to everyone, thank you for listening and we'll catch you next time.