Raise your teacups high as we toast to our 200th episode of Tea with Tina! Embark with me on a heartfelt stroll down memory lane, from the audio diary beginnings in the quiet of lockdown to the vibrant tapestry of topics we've since woven together. The show has been a dear friend, growing and changing, much like ourselves, with tales of health, personal passions, and the pulse of current events. You're not just listeners, you're confidants in conversations that have maintained their genuine, unedited essence. As we look forward, I'm thrilled to share plans for more frequent episodes, ensuring that our chats remain as cozy and inviting as ever—like a warm blanket of words in this ever-changing world.
And what a ride it has been, learning that the beauty of the unscripted moment can capture hearts just as Gene Wilder captured imaginations in Willy Wonka's fantastical factory. Shedding the polished veneer of video, I found a love for the organic ebb and flow of audio podcasting, where every laugh and thoughtful pause speaks volumes. This journey has taught us the value of seizing those lightning-strike ideas, transforming them into rich discussions for you to savor. For the bookworms amongst us, fear not; every episode is lovingly adapted into captivating blog posts, ensuring the Tea with Tina experience is always just a page away.
Raise your teacups high as we toast to our 200th episode of Tea with Tina! Embark with me on a heartfelt stroll down memory lane, from the audio diary beginnings in the quiet of lockdown to the vibrant tapestry of topics we've since woven together. The show has been a dear friend, growing and changing, much like ourselves, with tales of health, personal passions, and the pulse of current events. You're not just listeners, you're confidants in conversations that have maintained their genuine, unedited essence. As we look forward, I'm thrilled to share plans for more frequent episodes, ensuring that our chats remain as cozy and inviting as ever—like a warm blanket of words in this ever-changing world.
And what a ride it has been, learning that the beauty of the unscripted moment can capture hearts just as Gene Wilder captured imaginations in Willy Wonka's fantastical factory. Shedding the polished veneer of video, I found a love for the organic ebb and flow of audio podcasting, where every laugh and thoughtful pause speaks volumes. This journey has taught us the value of seizing those lightning-strike ideas, transforming them into rich discussions for you to savor. For the bookworms amongst us, fear not; every episode is lovingly adapted into captivating blog posts, ensuring the Tea with Tina experience is always just a page away.
Hello everyone and welcome to a very special episode of the Tea with Tina podcast. We are on episode 200. Yes, could you believe that For this podcast, I started it back in 2020, june 2020, actually kind of in the earliest phases of the vid or the pandemic, the pan-y, whatever you want to call it and you know I was at home. I moved across the state of Pennsylvania from Western PA to Eastern PA. I was feeling kind of lonely, even though I am naturally introverted, and I felt like a podcast was a great outlet for me and it became somewhat of a virtual diary. But I believe the Tea with Tina podcast has evolved over time and I would like to reflect on that experience so far and where I plan to take this podcast and some of the lessons that I've learned over recording 200 episodes. Alright, guys, so without further ado, let's dive in. Welcome to the Tea with Tina, your favorite podcast, where we talk all things health, fitness, lifestyle and maybe a little bit of tea gets spilled. We chat all about this in a super casual environment, so grab your beverage of choice, sit back, relax and enjoy. All right, everyone. So 200 episodes, that's a lot, I will say. I believe at first I was only releasing one episode a week, so at max I could have had like 52 episodes a year. Then I moved to twice a week, monday and Wednesday. And it was funny because, like I said before, the types of episodes I was producing I was definitely doing, you know, health and fitness related, but I was also playing around with pop culture, fun things that, like I enjoyed, I wanted to share. Like I did a top 10 like scariest movies, for a Halloween themed episode. If there's like the Free Brittany movement kind of funny looking back at it now, like where we're at but the hashtag Free Brittany movement, I did an episode on that. I did Gypsy Rose. So I was doing like some true crime kind of stuff. I was just playing around and doing whatever was fun at the time.
Speaker 1:
And I think you know, podcasts do evolve, like people's lives, and that's what I love about them. I love that they're so casual but also so powerful. Like I can just hit record on my phone. I literally use voice memos. I'll talk about podcasts that have been a little bit as well, but I literally use voice memos on my phone and I just record and right now I'm in my robe. I just woke up not too long ago, I have my heating pad on my back because it's, you know, mother nature paid me a visit. But you know I'm not all glistened, glammed up and trying to, you know, put on this crazy production right, and that's what I love about podcasts, and even me as a listener.
Speaker 1:
I get so much value from listening to podcasts. Usually you hear me like about the habit stacking with podcasts. If you're not really doing this freaking, do this. Every time I'm walking, cleaning, doing dishes, doing something mindless, I literally put on a podcast and I absolutely love it.
Speaker 1:
I never watch podcasts on video because I know some people do, you know, video record them. I just listen and I absorb so much information. It motivates me, it puts me in the right headspace, simply from listening to people talk. And there's these people that I admire and look up to and you know you see them on Instagram, you see them on Facebook, whatever. You get like a three second snapshot into their life, even YouTube videos they're produced. You know Podcasts give you that deeper, intimate connection with somebody and it's almost like if you've never even met me in person and you're listening, if you've listened to a couple episodes, you may feel that we know each other and we have a connection because I'm talking to you, I'm talking with you, we're holding a conversation, and so podcasts are so intimate in that way and it gets. It's a chance to know somebody and dive deeper into certain topics and hear how they chat, and it's very casual and, like I said, I just feel like that's so powerful and I absolutely love it. I feel like podcasting is the new blogging. I've been working on repurposing my podcast episodes over onto my website, tinawylandfitnesscom, so I'll link the audio of the podcast, but I'll also have kind of like a blog post about the podcast episodes. So, depending on how you like to learn, if you like to listen, if you like to read, you know all the options are there for you. So we have that.
Speaker 1:
I don't know how I sidetracked into that, but we were talking about the different podcast episode types. Right, I was on once a week, then twice a week. It was kind of more like a mishmash of health and fitness and personal hobby type stuff, current events, and I was kind of listening to other podcasters and I would take things that I liked from their style and try to add it to mine, because I was in a period of discovery and, to be honest with you, I still feel like I'm in a period of discovery. 200 episodes, in the grand scheme of things, is not a lot. I actually know a lot of podcasters who are 1000 plus Like look at Joe Rogan. There are other podcasters as well and it's just like you have to put in the reps, and that is why, moving forward, I'm definitely going to have a base of at least two podcast episodes a week, but my focus has shifted. I am going to do two plus a week, up to five episodes a week, and I would say that their length is going to be anywhere from 10 to 45 minutes depending on the topic and what we're chatting about.
Speaker 1:
I will say I'm personally not a fan of really formal sciency kind of boring type podcasts where it's like hey, like it's almost like a lecture, like that's not my vibe. I like tactical but also like makes you think having a conversation with your friend type podcast. But I do want them to be impactful. So they're going to be centered around fitness and nutrition, but it's almost like getting a pep talk for me too. So there is going to be like a mindset emotional component to it, and I do.
Speaker 1:
I don't really want to plan. Like, I'll plan a little bit as far as my main topics. So I know what I'm making as far as Monday and Wednesday. But the impromptu ones, like I said, you're going to see those from me as things come up. Maybe I'm dealing with a certain client situation and I thought it would be helpful to share with you guys, or maybe I'm struggling with something or I see a topic and I think it'd be really good for you guys. That's when you're going to get those more impromptu episodes and I find that those are absolutely the best ones.
Speaker 1:
When I pre-plan, it's just it never, it never comes out the right way as when it's something relatable. And they always say the best way to learn is to teach. And if I learn something immediately or I am experiencing something, I immediately teach it to you guys and it allows you to learn and allows me to learn. So that's kind of where I'm going. Moving forward is the whole, as I said, more casual but also informative, less pressure to like pre-plan and have this script and sit down and have my phone set up and make it all like produced, like I'm not. No, we're doing it pure, raw and real messy action. Tina style and I love it and I think it's going to be great, and I think the podcast listeners also love that style. Okay, so now I'm just going to kind of talk about I did make some bullet points of what I wanted to talk about as far as lessons learned from 200 podcast episodes, so I'm going to start with what I was just saying before messy action. I preach this. This is a foundational concept within my business and what I teach clients Messy action.
Speaker 1:
What does messy action mean? Messy action means showing up imperfectly and doing things even when things feel messy. It feels like, oh my God, I'm not where I want to be, this is uncomfortable, but you do it anyways. That's what I consider to be messy action, because I am somebody who's a recovering perfectionist. I would be in that freeze mode. If it was not absolutely perfect, I would choose not to pursue it. But I have learned so much by stepping out of my comfort zone and doing the thing even when I'm tired, even when I'm not 100% ready, even when I feel like I suck at it, and that's messy action and I've done it in all areas of my life and you truly grow as an individual and I truly believe that you can't really accomplish anything without messy action. Even a great example of this is I'm always telling you guys that I'm listening to and reading about celebrity autobiographies. I also love learning about how things were made, particularly the really famous things. If you listen in on documentaries, what comes to mind is more so like movies and TV shows about how things are made. It's crazy what was done by accident or on the spot and ended up being amazing. That's more for the reason for messy action to exist and me to pursue messy action, because sometimes the best things come from messy action.
Speaker 1:
For instance, the one that I just saw was Gene Wilder Gene Wilder of the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, the only one that I acknowledge and the best. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, gene Wilder the Gene Wilder he was talking about in the scene where Wonka comes out from the factory. If you've ever watched the movie, this is a very iconic scene. He walks out from the factory. Everybody's kind of waiting there. He's been in hiding for years and he announced this competition with the chocolate bars and the golden tickets. He walks out with his cane and he hopples a little bit and he does the roll like the Somersault forward and he proposed that to the director and he said I will not film the movie unless I'm allowed to do that Somersault. The director's like, really, you're not going to do the movie. He said, yeah, I have to do it. He did it and it's like that's been a very iconic scene.
Speaker 1:
The director did not want to do it, the director did not plan it, but Gene insisted on doing it and he explained that it kind of made it feel like he was unpredictable Right, because you thought, oh, my god, this guy's hobbling, he's hurt, he's old. And then he does a front Somersault and you're like, oh man, this guy's maybe a little office rocker, he's a little crazy, he's unpredictable and it sets the tone for his emotions and mood throughout the movie. And there's countless, countless happenings of this. They filmed something. The shot that they think didn't work was the one that ended up being the best one. Something that they didn't think would be a big deal actually took off. There's so many examples of this and this is the reason why you should not focus on being perfect, because a lot of the times, perfect is the enemy of great Right. So I try to embody this in everything that I do Health and fitness just showing up in my life, and that has been a key factor in making this podcast go, because there's been many times through my thyroid journey, through my hormone journey, through the pandemic I did not want to sit down and record, and the fact that I created an environment that's more casual and not so high pressure has allowed me to continue to show up for you guys, even when times were tough, and just put in the work.
Speaker 1:
Okay, so that is number one. Lesson number two I learned that video is very time consuming and not the vibe right now. Okay, so I you know there's obviously been a big push for video in the social media space. We have reels, we have TikToks, we have YouTube videos and static posts. I mean, they definitely still have their place, depending on what you're talking about, and they can be impactful, but it's video is king and queen right now. Okay.
Speaker 1:
So naturally I wanted to play around with video and I said well, I can record myself doing my podcast. I mean, that's not really too much effort, I just set my phone up, go through my podcast, I don't really have to edit anything, just trim it up a little bit and then post it on YouTube. Maybe somebody wants to watch it. So I did start recording it and I just found that it became too time consuming. You have to prop your phone up and get the lighting set up. I have to drag out my ring light. I got to set up my table and chair in front of my plant wall. Make sure my notes are up.
Speaker 1:
I found that when I'm in front of the camera you have to kind of hold yourself a certain way, because one you have to get ready, make yourself look video ready, make sure you're making eye contact. Sometimes I lose my train of thought and pause the recording, and it's a lot harder to do this with video for editing purposes. So I try to do it all in one shot. So, and then there's the uploading of the video. If it's a 40 minute video, it takes forever to upload to YouTube and it's time consuming and it was just a lot, a lot of unnecessariness that was kind of holding me back from producing good quality podcasts that were casual. I've noticed the video ones were more scripted because I felt like I was being watched on that camera and it's like I had if I would lose my train of thought and I couldn't be as natural as when I'm just speaking into my phone, like I am with you guys right now.
Speaker 1:
Also, I have two different microphones. I love my little lapel style microphone for like talking videos and workout videos so people can hear me and it doesn't seem like far away. But I found that for podcasting and I have a little podcast mic. I just don't like the audio quality, like the phone. My phone has been top notch audio quality for me. I don't record under a blanket, so it might not be completely sound proof or completely perfect, but the quality is good enough for me. So yeah, video's not the vibe right now. I could see in the future if maybe I had things a lot more streamlined, my business was grown, maybe I had a team and I could hire out to make things a little bit easier where I wouldn't have to do as much on that end. But we're not anywhere near that right now and it's not super important. So that is where we're at with the video. Number three I love impromptu chats.
Speaker 1:
Yes, as I was kind of saying before, if I think of something, I do this with my notes as well, and I think you should too, if you think of something, an idea, a thought a cool recipe. Someone said something you don't wanna forget it. I open up my notes app and I write it down, because if I tell the age old story of telling myself that I will remember it later, just like I'm gonna get gas tomorrow morning, like it's a lie, it is a lie. You will forget it. As much as I wanna remember that, I will remember it, I don't. So I write things down. Or if I have a thought that's really good and I'm in my element, I will record a podcast episode. It was kind of funny.
Speaker 1:
I was mad because I was in the middle of a workout the other day and I did have a pretty good kind of motivational chat and kind of pep talk for my clients, because just something came up and I was a potential client said something that really got me thinking and I wanted to record it and I was like, well, I'll get it after my workout. But I wasn't in the same zone, so what I was going to say didn't just come out the same way. So I was like, dang it, I can't. I can't record it because I'm not in the same energy. So that was pretty much like thrown to the wind. So I found that a lot of stuff. If you catch it in the moment, it's a lot more powerful, which is why I'm kind of transitioning to this structure with the Tea with Tina, podcast.
Speaker 1:
Okay, number four I don't like overly planning. Yeah, I've been this way because in the social media space they're like plan out a month's worth of content, pre script, all of your captions, do all of this and it's just like. That's never been me. I have never been one Like I am all about having like a general framework to fall back on, because you do need some sort of structure when it comes to workouts, meals, you know life in general. Obviously you need a structure, but I've just found that to spend all that time planning, things just change so much.
Speaker 1:
By the time I end up wanting to post something, by the time I end up wanting to eat something or do something, my mind changes and everybody's different. So this may not be you, but even with my workouts, like I do follow a workout program, but I actually will look at it the day of and there may be a couple like it, mainly the accessory movements. If I'm not in the mood to do something or not feeling something, I'll swap it out with something and that's fine. People can do that with my own workouts. Like that I program for them like that's no issue, as long as you're hitting the same muscle group. You can do that same thing with meals. That's why I never meal prep for longer than two to three days at a time, because it'll feel like I want to eat something. And then the day comes and I'm like, no, if I have one more day of this, I'm going to throw up. And the same thing comes with podcast episodes and social media posts, because I've done it, I've written out things ahead of time, and then when it comes time to post it, I'm like this kind of sucks, like I don't want to post this, it's the, it doesn't hit the same. So I try to kind of plan just enough, but also keep up in real time so things feel fresh and you know I keep that energy behind what I'm posting and things don't become generic right. So that's a big thing.
Speaker 1:
The next thing is I had to niche down. As I mentioned in the beginning, I really was just kind of thrown spaghetti at the wall. I was I was more so documenting my life and I was, like you know, chatting about things, which a lot was going on, especially with, like, my Hashimoto's diagnosis. I was going on and off birth control. We were dealing with the pandemic moving. I was telling some stories like how me and my husband met. You know, different experiences, things going on in my business, and as much as I love sharing those and I'll probably continue to share that if they're relevant I wanted to keep it more so about health and fitness.
Speaker 1:
You know, if you're someone new who doesn't know me, when you look at a podcast episode, I want you to be able to want to click on that. So the topics have become more meant for the listener and not necessarily somebody who's a close friend of mine. Right, I want new people coming in because, like, some new person isn't going to be like, wow, I want to know how Tina met her husband, like, maybe, but I don't know, you know. So that's why I wanted to be helpful information for really anybody coming in. And of course, there'll be definitely personal things sprinkled throughout, but niching down, you know, getting a little bit more particular, has been a big one.
Speaker 1:
And then the last one I have written down here is frequency and consistency is key, and this does tie in with the messy action. But with a podcast, especially you, just you can't be inconsistent with it and I do take pride in being pretty consistent. For the most part, I do batch record. So I will say I do batch record, which is funny because we're just talking about like recording in the moment, but for some reason, like batch recording for podcasts, I'd say about two, usually about two weeks at a time, maybe a little bit more. That feels okay to me. It doesn't feel like, oh, I'm like planning so far out. I think it's because I'm recording it in real time and I can get my thoughts out. Maybe I don't know, but I do love to batch record. So I keep consistent, especially if, like, I have a trip coming up or whatever.
Speaker 1:
It's pretty easy for me to schedule things out ahead of time and it feels authentic to me but showing up consistently because people look forward to those episodes. I know I look forward to episodes and you kind of like forget and you're like where'd that person go if you don't see them for a week or two? Because you're like man, I was looking forward to their episode. And there is somebody that I follow right now that posts five days a week with their podcast episodes and they have a range anywhere from 10 minutes like 50 minutes or an hour, and I binge them. They have over 1000 podcast episodes and I freaking, binge them and if I enjoy that, I definitely want to bring that to you guys. So that's kind of the vibe that I'm going for. I want you to look forward to my podcast and want to binge it like every single day. So we're going to aim for around five episodes a week. Hopefully we can work up to that.
Speaker 1:
I am batch recording some today and that should be really exciting. I'm kind of excited about that because there are some people that I do love and there's one girl that I really love and she does really authentic, chill podcast episodes but they're very like deep and you learn a lot, and she'll do them for a little bit and then I won't see her for like three months and I'm like what the heck? And it sucks, because you like when she does put out stuff, it's really really good and you just want it all the time and it sucks. So I don't want you to feel that way. Okay, but yeah. So I think that would wrap up the lessons that I've learned over 200 podcast episodes. I'll pop back in maybe around three, four, 500 episodes, right? I'll probably reach those milestones a little quicker now that I'm updating the frequency of my podcast.
Speaker 1:
So, with that being said, though, thank you for being here. I wonder if you've been here since the beginning. Shoot me a message. If you've been here since episode one, day one, I would love to know. You can message me over on Instagram at TinaWylandFit, if you are not already a follower of the podcast. Wherever you're listening, be sure to follow so you never miss an episode again. And yes, I just had a brain fart. My brain just like stopped working for a second. But I was just going to say have a great rest of your week and we will chat soon, guys. Bye for now.
