Listening To Yourself with Sarah Decker

Today I have with me Sarah Decker, Podcast Manager, teacher, wife, and mom.  She holds several music degrees including a Master's in Music Composition for the Screen and she's using those skills to edit, produce, and manage podcasts, like mine!

I'm a big believer in, "Put it out there, and it will happen." For me, I put it out there in a Facebook group that I have been wanting to start a podcast, and up popped Sarah with a solution.  For her, she put it out there that she wanted to use her music and audio skills to make a living and she found a coach that helped her find podcast management.

For years, Sarah has let imposer syndrome and poor self image plague her and keep her small and unhealthy.  In this episode we discuss the mindset shifts she has made in her career goals, health, and emotional state that allow her to move forward.


Contact Sarah:
Facebook: Subito Media
Facebook group: AMPLIFY Your Podcast
Website: subitomedia.com

Contact Magic:
Facebook: A Magical Life Podcast
Website: wholisticnaturalhealth.com.au

Transcript

Magic Barclay : 0:00

Welcome to A Magical Life: health, wealth and weight loss. I'm your host Magic Barclay, lead practitioner at Wholistic Natural Health Australia, and number one best selling author. In this podcast, I aim to give you practical tips on how to accelerate and sustain your health, increase your financial, spiritual and emotional wealth, and to look at something that haunts many of us needlessly: weight loss. In some episodes, I'll have guests available to give you even more tips, but in others, the floor is yours. Drop us a line at A Magical Life Podcast on Facebook and let me know what you would like to know more about. Now sit back and enjoy because it is time for you to create and truly discover a magical life. Welcome to A Magical Life Episode Two. I'm here with the lovely Sarah Decker from Subito Media. Now I did mention in the pilot that I had a podcast genius coming on and here she is. Welcome!

Subito Media : 1:13

Thank you for having me.

Magic Barclay : 1:15

Pleasure. So, a little bit about how we met, we met in a lovely new Facebook group. And I was mentioning in podcast 1, which was titled "When life gets in the way," that I put off doing my podcast because I didn't know how to edit it. And then up pops this lovely lady Sarah who goes, "I can do that". Thank you.

Subito Media : 1:42

You're welcome. I love doing that.

Magic Barclay : 1:45

Great!

Unknown Speaker : 1:45

If I could, I would, I would just mess with sounds on my computer all day long.

Magic Barclay : 1:49

Okay, let's put that out there. So tell us a little bit about yourself, Sarah.

Unknown Speaker : 1:55

Well, I am a wife and mom to an almost eight year old (don't tell her she's seven, she is almost eight). This is important. I have several music degrees. I started out with a bachelor's in music composition, and French horn performance double. And I had started before that with music education, figured out I didn't want to do that forever, and switched. And then by the end of my undergrad, I decided that I wanted to pursue composition and writing music. So then I went to Chicago, and got into the first class of music composition for the screen, Master of Fine Arts. And the end of that took us out to LA where we did a bunch of really awesome things. And then, because there were no jobs, I had to come home and I've been job hopping ever since. I just recently decided to pursue my music again. I've been teaching some, some public, public school music and in daycares, but I wanted to pursue the technical side of music the way we learned to in my Master's, and I landed on podcast management, and I really like it. It's a lot of fun.

Magic Barclay : 3:25

That's terrific. Well done you. So, lesson in life there. Few things were thrown at you and you just followed your passion. That is brilliant.

Subito Media : 3:37

I lost track for a while there. I was feeling like my skills weren't worth anything except for expensive student debt. But I know there's a lot of people out there feeling that same thing. But there's, there's a way. There is a way. It probably won't be the way you're looking for, but there's something. There's a way to turn it into a living.

Magic Barclay : 4:03

That's great. So what do you think spurred you on to turn that into a living? What was the intuition and the inner knowing?

Subito Media : 4:12

Last summer, I fell into some website design projects for a local nonprofit. I started with my mom's church, which was also my daughter's school. She did first grade there. And I was also working there in the summer, at their day camp for kids. And I noticed somewhere, I think it must have been in the minutes, that they had allocated funds for a new website. And then I just kind of kept my ear to the ground. And I was, and I just asked them, "So who's doing the website?" and they say, "Well, we don't know. We haven't found anybody yet." I said, "Oh, well, I'll do it." "Okay." So I just kind of - that just kind of fell in my lap. And at that point, I realized that working for myself as an entrepreneur could be viable. It could actually work.

Magic Barclay : 5:13

And what does it feel like for you?

Unknown Speaker : 5:16

It was really confusing, and empowering because it's against everything that I've been fighting for, and that I was taught, like my whole life. You know, the whole, you gotta go to school and you gotta get your degree in something you can get a job in, and then you gotta stay in that job and you get the benefits and get the retirement and you get this and this, and - and you have to work harder to get farther. And none of that was working. And I knew it wasn't working, but I didn't know what else to do, until I found a way to work for myself, set my own price. And now I'm wishing I had asked for more, because there was no pushback whatsoever on the price I asked. So now I'm kind of kicking myself for that. And then I got another website design project from a referral after doing that one, and then I got into some entrepreneur groups on Facebook, to try and figure out if like, website design was where I really wanted to focus or if there was something that was better in line with the skills I already had, instead of trying to learn something new. I'm not a website designer, I had taken a few programming courses on and off throughout my life. So I was able to figure it out, but it's not really - you know, that's not my zone of genius. So I, I found a coach, and she helped me dig into what I'm really good at and what I really want to do. And because she's affluent herself, she knows of a lot of people who have podcasts who pay for it to be edited, and managed. So, we just set into that because I already have all the software, I know how to work with audio. I know how to write original music for these things. And it just sort of fell into place that way.

Magic Barclay : 7:20

Now, what I'm going to say is gonna sound a bit woowoo to the listeners, but I'm a big believer in "Put it out there and it will happen." I put it out there that I really wanted this podcast going, and you popped up. Seems like you put it out there to this coach. And all of a sudden, something that you wanted to do and passionate about popped up.

Subito Media : 7:43

Yeah, it's hard to get past that mindset piece.

Magic Barclay : 7:47

Yeah.

Subito Media : 7:48

Because I had that too. I'm like, Oh, that's just coincidence. Oh, nothing is this good. You know, it's too good to be true. It's not going to work out all those kinds of things. But as soon as I turned my thinking around, like, of course this is going to work.

Magic Barclay : 8:04

I love that, Sarah, that is great. So yeah, message out there to everyone. If you want something, put it out there. You never know who can help you get there. You never know what self inspiration you're going to get by just putting it out there. I did ask you, I send all my podcast guests the same three questions. I get really interesting answers back. And I did ask you, "What can your expertise do to accelerate health: emotional, spiritual, physical?" Now I absolutely love - I'm going to read out what you wrote here. I love it. And then I want you to explain it to the listeners. You said there's always something you can do with your passions to create the life you want. Don't dilute yourself to fit into the mold. Do you want to explain that a little bit to us?

Subito Media : 8:56

That goes on what I was saying before. That when I was going to college, I started out with music education, because that's what you do to make a living as an artist, you go be a teacher. You know, that's just what you do, because that's the job for artists.

Magic Barclay : 9:14

Yeah.

Subito Media : 9:14

And if you don't have that job, then you're destined to be a starving artist for your whole life. And I didn't want that. I tried to find a new way through schooling to do that, that wasn't just teaching in public school, and that didn't really work out either. But, what I kept doing was I kept listening to others when they were telling me that I couldn't make a living at this. You know, I was listening to them say that and it was digging deep into me that my skills are something that I'm good at and I enjoy, but no one's ever going to pay for it. Like, nobody wants this skill. It's great that I have it, but nobody wants it.

Magic Barclay : 10:03

Negative self talk going on there at the time.

Subito Media : 10:06

Oh, yeah, for years. Years. So then I just kept taking whatever job I could get getting a new certification for each one. I did end up going back and finishing my music education degree, so I have a teaching certificate. And I will be teaching again in the fall. But I'm happier with that arrangement than I was previously. What I ended up having to do was look at my skills differently, look at different ways that they can be used, that aren't in the same path as I would have expected. Because with my Master's in music composition for the screen, we expected at the end of that, when we had our internships, that some of that would turn into jobs, like at the studios out in LA. Those of us who worked at the studios, none of us got jobs.

Magic Barclay : 11:02

Wow.

Subito Media : 11:02

Those of us who worked directly with composers not expecting to get jobs, just wanting the experience of working with composers, most of them are still working with them now 12 years later, and I'm seeing their names in the credits. We expected that those of us with an internship at the studios would turn into like a studio internship job, just, you know, because you're already in the door, and that's where the jobs are. But that's not how it works at all.

Magic Barclay : 11:32

Mmm, interesting.

Subito Media : 11:34

Yeah, it was, it was very strange. So then, in trying to pursue that career, that specific career, it ended up being that you had to know the right people, which is cliche, I know. But you have to know the right people who can recommend you to people who have projects, and you have to do a bunch of work for free to build up your portfolio so that you have something to show when you're doing your networking. And I just never was able to dedicate the time it was going to take to build up my portfolio to be able to have something to show.

Magic Barclay : 12:09

Yeah.

Subito Media : 12:10

So what I had to do, and my coach Kat helped me through this, is I had to release my expectation that my degree could only be used one way. That I have these skills, but we can use them in another way that is fulfilling a need somewhere else. Somewhere that I didn't see. So if you can get yourself a good coach, do it, cuz she like, completely blew my mind, but it was so worth it. Because I never would have ever thought that I could do podcast management. It just never would have occurred to me.

Magic Barclay : 12:45

And I think a lot of people don't realize what a coach can do. They're not there to tell you how to live your life. They're there to help you uncover what you already know, but might just be missing,

Subito Media : 13:01

Right. They're there to hold you accountable when you know you're going to do something they're going to check up on you.

Magic Barclay : 13:09

Yeah, I do that with some of my clients, actually get them to text me every day, an intention. And if they miss a day, for 60 days, they have to start again. And it just keeps momentum going. Okay, this is actually what I want my life. I have to make it happen.

Subito Media : 13:24

Mm hmm.

Magic Barclay : 13:25

And you said about not diluting yourself to fit into the mold?

Subito Media : 13:28

Yeah, I feel like I'm diluting myself by going in with more teaching. Like, I like teaching. I like having a music classroom. I like working with kids. But it's not where my true skills are. It's not where my heart is, really. So I feel like I'm kind of watering myself down to fit the expectation that, Oh, I'm a musician. I should go be a music teacher.

Magic Barclay : 13:56

And you know what? Women especially we do this in all parts of our life. We do it as partners, as mothers as, as professionals. We do it socially, we lose sight of who we are. It's just it's one of those nurturing characteristics that are innate in us. But we let it count against us. All too often.

Subito Media : 14:21

Yes.

Magic Barclay : 14:22

Wow. Cool. So my next question to you was, what are your top three tips to create wealth, personal, financial and emotional? And I think you got out of this question by saying you were struggling with this, but you've just told us so much about your emotional wealth and how you've grown that to start doing podcast managing. What other tips would you have about creating wealth?

Subito Media : 14:50

The biggest thing I've had to fix with my own mindset, and mindset is 100% what's getting in my way,

Magic Barclay : 14:59

Right.

Subito Media : 14:59

It's Just in my head, the number one thing that I had to do, which is very hard to do, especially for women, is when you announce that you've done something, whether or not you're proud of it, there's always this little sentence at the end that says, "It may not sound like much, but..." or, "It's little but... or, "They're not paying me yet, but..."

Magic Barclay : 15:25

That is part of what we call the imposter syndrome. So, yeah, many, many people suffer from the imposter syndrome, my hand's up in the air right now. And that is where we have that underlying voice going, "Yeah, but you're really not doing this yet." Or, you know, "You shouldn't go and and chase what you want. Because, you know, you've got to have some steady income. I mean, you know, you're being a bit of an imposter to yourself thinking you're all that." And we all have that imposter syndrome. It's how you allow that to influence you is really the key, as you said, with your mindset.

Subito Media : 16:08

Yeah, I've been doing a lot of mindset work trying to get over that. Learning how to just stop before that sentence comes out. You're not giving it any credibility whatsoever.

Magic Barclay : 16:22

Right? That is great. And we also talk about weight loss on this podcast. Now, I said in the pilot, that weight loss is a symptom. It's a label, but it's something that we quite often struggle with. And you said that you've yo-yoed with your weight. What was the turning point there for you?

Subito Media : 16:51

I think I've always had self image issues. My mom dieted all through my childhood and I watched it. We were, you know, we drank only skim milk for a while, she was on South Beach diet for a while, she did slimfast, she tried everything. And she convinced me that I needed to do Jenny Craig when I was in high school and looking back, I did not need that. I was 150 pounds when we started and for a high schooler, okay, that's a little heavy. I got down to 135 and I felt great but I think that kind of set me up for you know, even when I'm young and still growing, I should still be smaller. So for a long time, I - I struggled with that and trying to not hate myself at the same time. Because, I don't know if it's the genetics or what but you know, the the weight just likes to stick on my whole family. There's, there's nobody in my blood relatives that are thin, except for my aunt. And she's, I think she's been working on it her whole life.

Magic Barclay : 18:09

Right.

Subito Media : 18:10

Very, very active and the rest of us are just, we're just heavy. We're heavy people.

Magic Barclay : 18:16

Right.

Subito Media : 18:17

So when I was pregnant with my daughter, I gained too much weight, apparently. And the doctor was, like, jabbing about it as she was stitching me up after birth.

Magic Barclay : 18:32

Wow. That's nasty.

Subito Media : 18:34

Like don't gain so much weight next time as she's stitching me up,

Magic Barclay : 18:38

Great bedside manner there!

Subito Media : 18:41

And it just made me so mad. And especially because, you know, within three or four weeks, all of that weight came off because it was all just baby and water.

Magic Barclay : 18:51

Yeah.

Subito Media : 18:52

It was too much according to you know, how much I should have gained, but there was a lot of swelling and it all came right off and I was able Get back into my jeans.

Magic Barclay : 19:01

Yeah.

Subito Media : 19:02

So I just wanted to rub that in the doctors say like, excuse me.

Magic Barclay : 19:07

Can you notice my jeans? Look how great I look!

Subito Media : 19:10

Right?

Magic Barclay : 19:12

Love it.

Subito Media : 19:13

But yeah, after that I did pretty good when I was staying home with my daughter. I had some exercise plans now cooking good meals. But then when I went back to work, my first job back was delivering mail. And it was extremely stressful for the first two months or so, because I had to learn the routes. And if you don't get back to the post office by this certain time, then the outgoing mail you've collected doesn't get on the truck and it doesn't go out and you're in big trouble.

Magic Barclay : 19:48

Wow. So our posties in Australia are very lucky they just have to deliver, they don't have to collect.

Subito Media : 19:55

That would be easier. Because of the stress, the first couple of weeks, I didn't even have time to take a lunch break because I was just running and running and running and running. And I went from being home and exercising a little bit to all of a sudden walking five miles a day at a fast clip, carrying heavy packages and not eating lunch. So my metabolism just tanked. I immediately gained 15 pounds of leg muscle just from all that and my milk dried up because I was trying - I was nursing her before I went back to work but my milk dried up immediately. I wasn't even able to pump. Ever since then, like I - I tried to exercise some more, but I just would get so mad at myself for letting it get this far. The scale that we had was the same one I had when I was growing up. And it finally broke.

Magic Barclay : 20:53

Yay!

Subito Media : 20:53

And I just never replaced it. I still don't have a sale. I never replaced it. But ever since then I've been the exact same weight every time I go into the doctor.

Magic Barclay : 21:05

Yeah, so stress really is like, the killer for for gaining weight. The more you stress about it, the more stress you have in your life, the heavier you are going to get. I mean, it's absolutely astounding why people just don't address the stress first,

Subito Media : 21:26

Right. Because wanting to be down to a certain size is adding stress. You know, the more I worried about it, the more I gained, the more I would try harder to lose, I'd get a little bit down, I'd plateau and then I'd get mad at myself and stress out some more, and then I'd gain more back than I had in the first place.

Magic Barclay : 21:48

Yeah. So what would you say is more important: the number on the scale of your weight or how you feel?

Subito Media : 21:55

Absolutely how you feel.

Magic Barclay : 21:57

Yeah.

Subito Media : 21:58

Number on the scale doesn't really mean anything? Because it doesn't account for muscle density. It doesn't account for your height. It doesn't account for an inflammatory issue, that's not fat.

Magic Barclay : 22:15

Yeah.

Subito Media : 22:16

But just inflammation in the body. It doesn't account for any of those things. So, the scale is a liar.

Magic Barclay : 22:22

Yeah, yeah, definitely. And something took me a long time to learn was when people judge you for your weight, again, they have no idea what's internally going on for you. And listening to the peanut gallery about your weight is the most stupidest thing you could do. You have to listen to yourself.

Subito Media : 22:46

Right. And I had to learn to trust myself.

Magic Barclay : 22:50

For sure. Well, Sarah, it's been fascinating talking to you! One thing that the listeners could maybe take away from this, whether it's following your intuition, your career dream or just listening to yourself, what would be your - your pearl of wisdom?

Subito Media : 23:10

Listen to your body, because if you feel like you're getting drained and burnt out and worn out, you are and you need to rest. And if that means saying no to some things, if that means taking more naps, if that means planning your meals better, whatever it is, listen to what your body is telling you.

Magic Barclay : 23:37

That is great. Now Sarah, people can find you at Subito Media that's s u b i t o media, on Facebook and on Instagram. You have a Facebook group called 'Amplify Your Podcast' and you have a freebie. Tell us about the freebie.

Subito Media : 23:58

I am a freebie junkie, I will freely admit that right now. If there's a freebie or a free webinar, or a free consultation call, sign me up.

Magic Barclay : 24:15

Love it.

Subito Media : 24:17

Because I have consumed so many freebies, I decided to put my own together to bring together more of the gold tips for getting your podcast started. So my freebie is a podcast launch workbook. And just today, I guess it was about six hours ago now. I went live on my personal page and I shared it to my business page Subito Media and into my facebook group walking through that workbook.

Magic Barclay : 24:54

I love it. Now that workbook is at bit dot L y so Bitly slash poddy p o Double D y workbook. Thank you Sarah from Subito Media, amazing woman and I'm very proud to say my podcast manager. I love it!

Subito Media : 25:13

I'm so excited!

Magic Barclay : 25:14

Yay. And thank you again for your time. I know there's a bit of a time difference. Sarah and I have been playing with the time differences and trying to work out where we are and what day it is, that sort of thing, so thank you very much for for coming on today. And wishing you all the best with some the podcast management and chasing your dreams.

Subito Media : 25:41

Thank you very much.

Magic Barclay : 25:43

My pleasure. Thanks again, Sarah for coming. Now everyone. If you listen on for Episode Three, I have another fabulous guest Karen coming up. And Karen will be teaching us in Episode Three about Being a female entrepreneur. Now go forth and create your magical life. Thanks, everyone. Thanks for listening today. Please subscribe to hear future episodes, leave a review, and share this podcast. You can follow us on Facebook at a magical life podcast or at wholistic natural health Australia that's wholistic with a W. You can find us on Instagram at wholistic natural health or at WWW dot wholistic natural health.com.au. That's where you access all sorts of articles, freebies, and more.