Podcasting for the Sports Curious to the Enthusiastic

Do you listen to sports podcasts regularly? If I know my audience like I think I do, you likely said, "No, not regularly." But after today's episode, I bet you're at least a little more curious about sports and podcasting.

Buckle up for a fun conversation with Amy Buchan Siegfried, half of the creative duo behind the Sports Curious podcast. As we navigate the twists and turns of Amy's transition from the corporate jungle into the bustling world of podcasting alongside her brother, she'll show us how to uncover the art of weaving sports banter into your everyday life. 

This chat highlights Amy's dedication to making sports talk accessible, blending it seamlessly with pop culture for those moments when you find the need to contribute more than a nod during a sports-centered chat. You'll hear how the siblings make it fun to target topics for their ideal listeners and the thought process behind choosing suitable topics for their show.

And if you need inspiration to "just keep podcasting," we've got you covered. Amy also started podcasting in 2018 and as two veteran podcasters who've been doing this for a while, we share how we've been able to stay in the game -- even when burnout lurks around the corner. We get honest about the unpredictable nature of podcasting, from impromptu parking lot interviews to strategizing growth without losing the soul of our passion project.

Whether you're a sports enthusiast or a newcomer looking to score points in your next friendly debate, this episode is your playbook to becoming as sports-savvy as you've always wanted.

Take the "What’s Your Hidden Content Talent?" quiz and find out if you're an Idea Innovator, Engagement Expert, Tech Whiz, or Brand Builder today! Go to krystalproffitt.com/quiz now.

Click the "Send Krystal a Text Message" link above to send us your questions, comments, and feedback on the show! (Pssst...we'll do giveaways in upcoming episodes so make sure you leave your name & podcast title.)

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Transcript

Krystal Proffitt: 0:01

Let's talk about sports. I know it sounds like a really random you're like Krystal okay, like that's a random topic, but I'll go with it. I am so excited about today's guest because not only is she, she's such a cool podcast and I cannot wait for you to hear all about her show and the fun things that she's doing sports or just wants, like the weekly highlights of something that's going on or that timely information that you would get on like a typical sports radio but in a really fun way. And I, whenever I got an email saying, hey, Krystal, I want to introduce you to my friend, Amy. I think that y'all would kick it off. So shout out, Amanda. We actually give her a shout out in the interview. She was totally right because Amy is someone who has just been. She was so much fun, so much fun to interview and I cannot wait for you to hear our entire conversation. She shares her whole journey of having a podcast for several years, podcasting with a sibling, which I think is really fun, and I loved hearing that dynamic but also the ebbs and flows of this industry, like what it was like to have a podcast during the beginning of COVID and how scary that was to have something that could be your livelihood. All of a sudden, you know your people aren't commuting anymore and what that was like, and it was just so incredible. So I cannot wait for you to meet Amy.

Krystal Proffitt: 1:50

So Amy Buchan Siegfried is someone that has more than a 20 year career and she's effectively managed with million managed to engage with millions of people to build confidence, connections and meaningful collaborations. So she went from corporate networking on a national stage to living and working abroad, to starting two successful companies, and her experience has honed her ability to become a master of small talk making a lasting impact. She is the CEO of her company called Last Night's Game, a corporate executive, chair of Irish Angels and an adjunct professor. Her message of creating confidence and conversation has reached audiences of over 5.5 million people in the last seven years alone. And she was so fun, like, can I just say that? Like, let's just you know like I love all her credentials, but at the end of the day, she was so much fun to talk to.

Krystal Proffitt: 2:53

So I hope you enjoy this conversation with Amy. Let's get right to it. Welcome to the Profit Podcast, where we teach you how to start, launch and market your content with confidence. I'm your host, Krystal Proffitt, and I'm so excited that you're here. Thanks for hanging out with me today, because if you've been trying to figure out the world of content creation, this is the show that will help be your time-saving shortcut. So let's get right to it, shall we All? Right, Proffitt Podcast listeners, we have a special guest on the show today, so welcome to the show, Amy. So happy to have you.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 3:30

Thank you, Krystal, for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Krystal Proffitt: 3:32

Yeah, this is so much fun so I always like to tell people how I get connected with the amazing guests that we have on the show. So we have to give Amanda a shout out, because Amanda McKinney, who's been on the show before she connected us via email. She was like I know both of you, ladies and you. You need to know each other. So here's a connection and so that's how we got Amy on the show. But why don't you tell us a little bit about your podcast and your journey? Um, we were chatting or before we started recording, I said what's so fun about this podcast is people can come on and really just indulge in their story and talk about the ups and the downs and all the other pieces that their audience may not care about too much, but it's something that maybe you've shared with other people that are just very close to you, but we love to hear all those stories. So tell us a little bit about your podcast, the name of it and how you came up with the idea.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 4:28

So hi, I'm Amy, co-host of the Sports Curious podcast, and the podcast came about. We have a company called Last Night's Game and we create confidence through sports conversation. Essentially, the podcast and our weekly newsletter is geared to give people who really don't care that much about sports an opportunity to chat about sports. We highlight sort of the pop culture side of sports that makes it very conversational. We always say, like you don't have to be an ESPN sideline reporter, you can communicate and create conversation then about starting with sports and then take it to whatever direction you want. And so the podcast itself. We were doing a newsletter that went out three times a week and the podcast itself. We were doing a newsletter that went out three times a week.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 5:07

And the podcast itself started because I had a girlfriend who said to me hey, my commute to work is really short, I have, the mornings are too rushed, I don't have time to read. Would you ever consider doing in a podcast? I'd love to listen to it. And then I had someone else say the same thing and someone else. I'm like, okay, let's, let's figure this out. So I will be very honest with you.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 5:25

It took me about eight months to figure out how to put it together. Like I'm one of those people who just gets paralyzed by the fact of how do I put this? What kind of system gets it out to Apple and out to Spotify, like how does that work? And so I sort of dove into this downward spiral for a long time. I wish I had you at that point, because it would have made my life a lot easier. And I got to the point where I was. It was a couple months before my son was going to be born. I'm like I have To get my life together. I need to do this podcast, because if I don't do it now, and I'm not going to do it with a newborn and so I ended up hiring the intern from the co-working space that I I worked out of and said I will pay you your your 15 an hour, I think, is what she made at that point and buy you lunch. Could you spend two hours with me and walk me through how you do the podcast for the, the co-working space? And she did, and I was like, oh, that's it. Oh, okay, I can do that. And so it was just such a simple Aha, I just need someone do that. And so it was just such a simple aha, I just need someone to hold my hand through it. And so that's how the podcast was born and it has.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 6:32

It has modified and shifted as we, as we've gone along, and it's evolved. We've been at it for about five and a half probably about six years now, and so it's been. It's been a lot of fun and it's it's been interesting, right? I think you would say the same thing about podcasting. It's so interesting what's out there. I love listening to podcasts myself, and so I'm a total podcast nerd myself, and so it's really fun to observe and see how many, how people do this. It's great. And do you really, you know, edit a lot? Do you not edit a lot? How does that all work? Do you put music into all the things? And so it's really been fun to kind of create that. And I mean, when you start, it's usually small, so it's like why not give it a shot, right?

Krystal Proffitt: 7:10

Yeah, oh, my gosh, I love everything that you just said about really the journey and there's so many different ways that you could go with it. And what we like to say around here is like there's no rules and podcasts. If there's somebody that tells you you have to do it this way, that like run right, we don't believe in that because your life changes. Things evolve, Like you know, maybe you went from a solo only podcast and now you just want to do interviews and then you want to have a co-host and then you don't want to have a co-host and then you want to go four times a week down to just once a month. Like it is a total evolution of how you want to create content, but I love that you do have a co-host. So tell me about that process. Is that something that you had like from the beginning of you know? Is that just in your business? Is that in all of your content? How does that work?

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 7:57

Well, it's funny, and so originally when we started, we were once a week, I believe on a Wednesday, we would come out with a five minute podcast and it would be sort of a five things to know about whatever that topic was this week. And it was just me and I was sort of reading through our you know, I had my bullet points, would read through our content and that would be that. And it came down to I was with some friends, kind of a mastermind group that we have our little brain trust, and they said what I really love about last night's game is my co-founder is my brother, and they're like I love your banter together. Like when the two of you are on stuff together, it's really fun to see that back and forth. And so they go. I don't. They're like why don't you put them in your podcast? And also, maybe if you did it more times a week you might get some more traction. I read all these stories and algorithms and this and that and I was like, okay.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 8:45

So what we ended up doing was we realized our email list wasn't growing and when it was growing, it really wasn't our target market. It was a lot of our parents, friends who I love to death and that they all subscribe and they all love it and it's fantastic. But we thought, okay, how do we make this what we want for our market? And so we ended up getting rid of our Monday and Friday email newsletters and making them into short podcasts so they're about two to three minute podcast on a Monday, on a Friday, so it gives you what you need to talk about to go into your week, what you need for your weekend.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 9:15

And then we do have a longer form on Wednesdays. It's about 20, 22 minutes with Scott and I, and so the Monday and Friday are just me, and then that Wednesday is the two of us having a longer in-depth conversation. He is, I know, quite a bit about sports, but he is like the sports guru. You could ask him just about anything and he would pull that out. So it's really fun to have this conversation. We did one NFL play calling and it was all about how they call plays and all the idiosyncrasies and it was fantastic and I was the audience going wait. What has that happened? How?

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 9:49

does that happen, and it's just so fun to get to play that part of. I don't have to be the expert. I can ask all these questions, which I would normally do if it was the two of us together anyways. So our audience gets to be a part of that.

Krystal Proffitt: 10:01

So our audience gets to be a part of that. Oh, how fun. I mean, I'm sitting here, I'm thinking about doing a podcast with my brother. I've actually played around with the idea for many years and what always stops me is like I would kill him, like I, when it comes back to, I'm like, so does that ever have like the sibling, like rivalry, like pop up, or you're just like, oh my gosh, like we were supposed to meet, you know, 20 minutes ago and you're late and like like do you all have that dynamic of like somebody's super organized and together and the other one's like yeah, it's okay, like chill out, we'll, we'll figure it out? Do y'all have those dynamics?

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 10:33

Well, it's really funny. So we've worked together now for seven and a half years, so we've sort of figured out that who fits in what lane, and so that, I think, has been helpful. We're both pretty understanding, and one of the biggest challenges we have, though, is we have very much the same values, right. So when it comes to is this, what's a good idea, what's this, what's that yes, we're two different people who live in two different places in the world, all those things but we have very similar thought process. So, when it comes to getting creative for topics and things like that, that becomes challenging, because we think very similarly in so many ways, and so that has been very interesting, and so we usually have interns, and it's really great. I really encourage them to speak up, because that's that whole outside perspective, and so we've gone back and forth.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 11:21

I'm sure there's probably times where he's like, oh my gosh, my sister is a pain in the butt, and I'm sure there's probably times where he's like, oh my gosh, my sister is a pain in the butt, and I'm sure that I've thought that too, but I think we've really figured out our lanes, which I think has been really good. Once we figured out our lanes, that we're in and we've sort of we figured out how to work together and we know that you know, I know when he's like he's best in the morning evening podcast it's challenging for both of us. We're both a little tired, our brains aren't quite firing, and so we figured out how to make each other successful, and so that's been.

Krystal Proffitt: 13:33

It's a learning process, but it's definitely become a lot easier. Yeah, and that's so interesting because you know you. You talk about the two. The two of you played different, different but similar roles, right Like you're both kind of each other's audiences, or maybe one of you is the subject matter expert for something and the other one is just there to learn.

Krystal Proffitt: 13:50

So, how has that really evolved for you and is that something that you've always had in mind for your audience? Like, tell me, like specifically like, who is your audience? Is it someone that's kind of curious about sports? Is it someone that's a fanatic? And they are just like they just want to agree with you? You know you have those people that are like yes, that's correct, Like we love this, Like they're just your biggest cheerleaders. Who is your ideal audience for your podcast?

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 14:14

Well, it's really interesting. So our ideal audience or audience for our podcast tends to be women, but we do have a small portion of that which are men who don't follow sports but need that sports conversation. As we all know, that's sort of a main conversation point for men. So I actually had one guy who said hey, I listen every time. I make sure I listen every time before I go to the barbershop because I want to be prepared, because that's all anybody talks about in there, and so it's really interesting to see how that has evolved.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 14:43

And when we really started last night's game back a couple, quite a few years ago, we weren't quite as fine tuned, we didn't quite have that audience nailed down and it really took us making our sort of target markets and making personas for our market. That really allows us to say and we've named them after our friends and I'll say Does Lisa really care about this? And I'd probably be like and Scott, I'll be like no, lisa doesn't care. I'm like no, lisa doesn't care about that. And so it's really fun to how we've done that. And it's also fun because Scott loves to be behind the scenes. He is not in front of the camera person. And so when we had this conversation at lunch over with my brain trust and they said, well, you think you can get him to be on camera, and I'm like, well, you know what? We're sure as heck going to try, so let's just get him comfortable.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 15:29

And so it is funny to watch him evolve. I think that's like something that's really cool for me to see is in his day job. He doesn't get to do a lot of that, and so it's fun to see this piece of him come out and he's really funny. And so I actually, when I edit the podcast, I can tell what my laugh looks like, because every episode there's at least two or three times where it's just like my cackle laughing because he's so entertaining, and so it's been really fun to piece that all together. But yeah, it's, it's an evolution. And there's days where he's the expert and there's there's days where I teach him things. When we talked about fashionable athletes, he was like what's a? What's a? What's a Birkin bag, what's this, what's that? And like I've got you. You normally teach me things, I've got you here. So it's.

Krystal Proffitt: 16:13

it's kind of it's been fun. That's funny. Yeah, pull up a seat Like you're just. You're just going to be taking all the information in today. I love that so much. Well, I want to go back to the beginning, because one thing that the audience loves to hear on the podcast is really those origin stories of when you first got started, because I think that it can feel so isolating when you're just getting started.

Krystal Proffitt: 16:36

I mean your. Your story earlier was a great example of like oh my God, this feels so overwhelming. And then you had someone show you how to podcast. You're like wait, that's it. I think that that's really what it feels like before you start recording yourself. So do you have any kind of cautionary tales or lessons learned? For whenever you first sat down with a microphone for the very first time, like what happened? What did that look like for you?

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 16:59

Well, it's really funny. So I think one of the things that you hear when you start a podcast is you've got to be in this padded room and somebody some people I know record in their shower and all these. They had all these like scenarios, right. So I used to record in my closet and I didn't do video because I was terrified of what video would look like, because I was in my closet on the floor Speaking into my clothing, and so it's funny how that's evolved. And I'm sure obviously technology has evolved too. You have things like Riverside that really do a great job of evening out your audio. But how much you really get to explore and let your personality come through where I think before it was very much.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 17:39

I don't know if I thought I was NPR I'm not sure what I had going on but I think that there's this huge piece of personality and for us we aren't perfect, and I think that's a huge soapbox for me as a woman leader is we're not perfect. We can't do it all. I can't make my child a five-course meal and do all the things that I'm doing. It just doesn't work that way, and so sometimes we have. He wrote in his Mother's Day thing the other day that his favorite thing that I make is cereal.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 18:08

So I sort of just to me that's our podcast. It's personable, we're going to make mistakes, we're going to you know, someone might sneeze, granted, I'm going to try to edit all that out, but those things happen. And so I think that there is this opportunity for me and that's how I run the podcast. It's not perfectly edited, everything is not perfect, and so for me that is really critical and that's something I had to own, because I had people say, oh well, you know, not that it's raw, but they really prefer things very, very edited and that's how they would run their podcast and like that's great, that's your podcast, that's not mine. We pride ourselves on being available and ready with information as it needs to be, and we're firing right. When you're in sports, you can't pre-record.

Krystal Proffitt: 18:55

Yeah.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 18:55

You're doing things really up to the minute that it happens, and so there are some days where it's likem and I'm pulling things together for a Monday, and so that's just the way it works, and so it's fun to piece it together. It's fun. The challenge I mean the beauty of what we do too is it can be done anywhere. I throw this microphone in my suitcase and it goes all over the world with me and you record when you can record and you make it happen. And, like you said, it's not necessarily a padded room, it might be a hotel room underneath a blanket. I've done that, like I've done all the things.

Krystal Proffitt: 19:30

So, which I think is really, you know, a fun perspective when you've been doing it for so long, because you do find yourself in these unique situations where I mean I've recorded in my car waiting for my son to finish his orthodontist appointment, because I was like I have no other pockets of time today.

Krystal Proffitt: 19:51

This is the only one. Here we go and I think it's so much more fun, and especially as a listener of a lot of podcasts that also do that, I think that switch and dynamic of like just the traditional, like beautiful background set up with perfect sound, like to have that jolt of like y'all this is raw, like this is totally different. The audience will actually tell me like I love that I. I there's one specific episode that I was at my parents' house and there were roosters crowing in the background and I was like shut up, stupid roosters. You know, I'm like, oh, I was like yeah, I was like, what are you doing?

Krystal Proffitt: 20:20

Like I thought I got it before everybody. I didn't get up for everybody and I had more people message me about that, saying I love it when you go to your parents' house and we can hear the roosters, it's just so fun. So have you had your audience tell you that there's a specific style or dynamic or a certain thing that you do that they're like, oh man, those are just golden nuggets for them?

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 20:43

Well, I think it goes back to the two of us being on things together. I think everyone really appreciates the brevity of the Monday and Friday. That there's just like it's a quick in and out. You can listen to it. If you're on one and a half times, you're out in one and a half minutes. So there is that piece to it. But I think it goes back to the raw, unedited sort of let's keep the laughs in, let's keep the snort that comes when you're laughing, like let's keep all those.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 21:42

And it's really funny, when you were talking about your rooster episode, there was a podcast I was a guest on and it was a really big podcast and for some reason our time zones on scheduling were off and I was at a doctor's appointment and I get a text that says making sure you're going to be on in 10 minutes. I know we've had some issues with time zones and I was like, oh my gosh, I'm like on the doctor's office for I don't know shot or something, I have no idea. But I was like I have to go, this is a really big deal. And so I panicked, right, what do you do?

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 22:23

You get in the car and I drove to the corner of a shopping center where it was kind of quiet Hopefully I wouldn't have too many people drive by and I was like, okay, like fix up a face, like attempt to like open the sunroofs to get some good lighting, and it was like that was the whole. It actually worked so perfectly into how this podcast works and it was about busy working moms and it was like I'm in a corner of a shopping center in my car, panicked, I'm watching a school out this window and I'm staring at an olive garden, like it was just and it fit the mold so well. And I was so panicked because it was a big deal and I was like I need this to be perfect, I need to be in my nice settings.

Krystal Proffitt: 23:01

Oh my gosh, I love that so much. So thank you for sharing that story here, because I think that, because it can be isolating, you know if people aren't in a community of podcasters, like they just think that they're the only ones that have these situations or these weird, quirky things that happen.

Krystal Proffitt: 23:18

And I'm like no, that happened to all of us and that just means that you're officially a podcaster. Once something like that happens to you and you just make it happen and you go on about your business and you just keep showing up and keep showing up.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 23:30

That's right, but.

Krystal Proffitt: 23:31

I want to switch gears a little bit from you know talking to kind of that beginner mindset and just getting your show off the ground to now. You've been doing this for several years and one of the main questions I get is about growth and monetization and you know how can we reach more people. So have you really found a strategy that's helped you connect with more listeners or had more growth in your show?

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 23:55

It's challenging and I'll tell you, everyone I talk to you know, looking at your numbers, right, and you've probably talked about this ad nauseum, but I feel like there's not a great reporting tool. That's one of the biggest challenges I find in podcasts. I also find that you really never know what everybody else is doing. It's sort of like talking about salaries, right. Everyone's like, oh, I don't know how to talk about it, and so I think that's the biggest challenge, because you're like well, that person says they have 10,000 downloads an episode and that one is, you know, 100,000. Like, where do I fit? This looks weird. These numbers don't seem right. I get all these notes from people who are listening, and so I do find that that is really challenging from the reporting standpoint. Is what that looks like?

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 24:37

I have found the most success in truly making the relationships. I haven't had a lot of success on going on the different platforms for advertising. I haven't had a lot of success on going on the different platforms for advertising that kind of stuff. And also for me it's a control thing maybe, but I kind of want to control what's on my podcast. I think that's to me important. I want to make sure that it fits with our mission as a business.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 25:00

For us it's very much. We really try to keep our head high when it comes to sports. We really do try to step away from some of the bad news stories, people that paint people in a bad light. That's not what we really want to do, and so we really do try to stick to that positivity. And so you know, we really do try to keep that brand. And so, for me, not using one of those platforms we tried didn't really have great success, and so I found that the partnerships with friends, with businesses, whatever that might look like those tend to be the best.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 25:31

I've done a couple of platforms to be a podcast guest. That's helped a lot to grow things as well. So I think it's just that organic to be. It's not fast, it's not easy, but it seems to be where you get people and they stay, versus a contest or something you know type of thing where they get there but then they leave, and so you really want to me it's so important to do the right thing. That might take longer and build that audience over a longer course of time, because they stay and they love you and they stick with you as a person as a podcast, versus a flash in the pan, if you will.

Krystal Proffitt: 26:09

Yeah, A hundred percent. You know, I, I started, you know and I'm. What year did you like officially launch your podcast in?

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 26:16

2018?.

Krystal Proffitt: 26:17

Okay, so we're like same boat and it was around that time when everybody was still so focused on like getting in the Apple charts, like whatever you have to do to get on the Apple charts cause, then your show will be featured, and like that was the like, the only goal for every podcast was like just get a new and noteworthy and your show will absolutely take off.

Krystal Proffitt: 26:39

And then the more I got connected to industry experts and they were like well, my show was in new and noteworthy and I had this huge spike and then I crashed and burned. And so it's exactly what you're talking about, that mentality of having this flood of people come in and then all of a sudden they're like wait, this isn't what I thought it was or this is a different host.

Krystal Proffitt: 27:01

You know, like, all all the reasons why people leave and you know, one of the things that I always think about is, like, well, how can you get people to stay? And this is a question you know that I would pose to you and really anybody listening to this is, if you were to get a million new subscribers tomorrow, is your content ready for that kind of influx? You know, like, do you have that foundation laid? So how long do you say, like that took for you to kind of figure out Cause there's a lot of people listening that maybe have just launched and they're like they're still on shaky ground. They're like the foundation isn't like don't step over there Like there's, there's boards and there's nails still poking out. You know I'm still trying to figure this out. How long until you actually felt confident in what you were creating was working?

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 27:50

So I actually wanna go back. I'll answer that in just a second. But it's really interesting because you lived the life that we did, where things were going great and then COVID hit and people stopped commuting and all of a sudden you looked at your numbers and went oh my gosh, what happened and how to recover those, because the commute still is not the same and so we still feel the effects of that lack of commute and it's so interesting on how that shifted. I mean, it was one of those like one week it was great. Two weeks later, all of a sudden then you looked at numbers and went what happened? And it's just, it's really fascinating and you just, I find like A, you have to stay the course, and I think that is.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 28:29

It's easy to get frustrated. Maybe you put on an episode that doesn't get a lot of traction and you're like, okay, well noted, it could be multiple things. Right, it could be. The timing of your topic isn't great. It could be. I mean, like summer is really challenging, right, right around Christmas. People aren't listening, and so those kinds of areas are more challenging, and so it's like it could be the topic, it could be the timing of the topic. There could be a lot of things, and I think really just knowing sort of your mission and your North Star and sticking to that.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 28:58

And if anybody tells you their podcast doesn't have nails and boards sticking out of it, I don't care if you have a million followers and a million downloads per episode. They also, too, are sort of piecing together stuff together with duct tape. So let's not pretend that we're not all going. Okay, crap, it's June, we don't have Olympics yet. We have like, we're just in baseball. What are we going to talk about this week? And sometimes it comes down to the day of going you know what, let's pull this one out, let's make this one happen.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 29:24

And so I think anyone who tells you otherwise is probably kind of full of it, because I do think we all struggle in our own ways. I do think we all struggle and I do think there's going to be times where you're frustrated. There's times where you feel defeated, and if you didn't, you aren't putting yourself out there, right? I do think that part of that challenge and part of the exciting part about a podcast is you really do get that feedback quite quickly, and so if you try something and it doesn't work, move on. It's one episode, two episodes, move on.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 29:56

And if you need to make a shift, as you sort of said in the beginning, like if you need to make a shift, make a shift. If you feel that you're only going to be sustainable if you go to once a month or you're only going to be. I have a friend who takes a summer break and she just needs that and that is so important for her and it doesn't overall, it doesn't kill her right? Her podcast is still there, it still has plenty of episodes, she's on her fourth season and so that's what she needs to be sustainable. And if that's what you need to be sustainable, do it. That's my perspective.

Krystal Proffitt: 30:28

Oh, it's such great advice because I mean, we've been in this industry long enough to see people come and, unfortunately, people go, and so I'm so curious like have you ever been close to burnout and do you have any advice for someone that's? Maybe that's what they're struggling with right now. They haven't posted in a while and they're like I don't know if I can come back to it.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 30:49

Oh, burnout, I think is is, is absolute, is absolutely. I mean, when you're putting yourself out there and you're having to create content and trying to think, like other people, that there is a there is a burnout factor. And I think that applies to any, any role, any position. But I would say that my biggest thing, and the biggest thing that Scott and I do with last night's game, is consistency is key. It's not always going to be perfect, but consistency is key. I mean, that was one big thing for us during COVID. There were no live sports happening, and so we were really sort of scraping to put together a three times a week at that point it was three times a week newsletter, right, with really interesting things, and so did it get frustrating? Sure, but it was sort of one of those. Like you know, the world's not in a good place. So let's just do our best to find the positive stories and make this the best we can. And so I would say that to your podcast if you're burnt out, take a break, take a walk around the block, whatever you need, but also listen to other podcasts for inspiration. I think that is.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 31:49

I'm a big Mel Robbins fan and I'm constantly in awe on how much content she creates, but I also know she has a team right. So just give yourself a little credit. We can't compare ourselves all the time to you know, it's like startups that I work with. You can't compare yourself to Mark Zuckerberg, because that's a whole different animal. There are very few Mark Zuckerbergs. There are a lot of people doing amazing things that are not Mark Zuckerberg, and so I it's one of those. Like, take inspiration from those people, but don't necessarily hold yourself to that standard. Like, give yourself a little bit of a break. It's okay and it's okay to have an episode. That's like I said, maybe not great, it's okay to. It's okay and it's.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 32:32

You know, what I like to do too sometimes is, when you're burnout, use your social media. Use your podcast as an opportunity to say what do you want to hear, what do you want to talk about, what's on your mind? And it could be. You know, you do a podcast about helping people start their podcast and someone might reply to you about I need more recipes for dinner, and you're like okay, well, maybe I can twist that to. I need to find someone who has a cooking podcast, whatever that might be.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 32:54

And so it's like take that information in and don't be afraid to speak. Break that third wall and speak directly to your audience, because it is such a huge piece of who you are, because they love you as the podcast host. So give that opportunity for them to also communicate with you, and sometimes that does help the burnout. Sometimes it's just more frustrating, and it is, I hate to say, but it is what it is. It is part of what we do and we all get burnt out, even if it's podcasting or parenting or, you know, going to work at a bank every day. We have those times and just know that that's part of the evolution of you as a human.

Krystal Proffitt: 33:34

Yeah, and I'll just add, like a quick antidote on that I thought it was about a year ago that I was approaching burnout and I thought it was for my content. But then and I love that you mentioned Mel Robbins it was because I was listening to too much of my own industry. Like I was just constantly this influx, like it was just a steady stream of information about like how to grow your online business and how to do this and be, you know, incredible, and it was all like business, like self-improvement, all that. And then I was like where's the comedy stuff that I started with? And so I just scrapped all of that. And then I just went like so hard on all of my favorite podcasts that I listened to before I ever started podcasting and I really haven't gone back to the version I was before because I think that that's what it was.

Krystal Proffitt: 34:23

It wasn't burnout from my own content. I thought that's what it was. It wasn't burnout from my own content. I thought that's what it was. It was actually burnout from the industry. And I'm so curious because, especially with sports, like I actually just want to know more about your podcast when it comes to sports Cause I'm thinking like, well, do y'all cover any and all sports Like is it pickleball too, and cricket, and like all the, all the ones that may not get as much airtime here in the U? S, but it's still things that can kind of fill those gaps, like you were saying, like in between seasons, like how does that work for you? And you know, I don't know anything else to add to that.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 34:57

Yeah, it's actually really good. And I want to say too, on your part, where, like listening to too much, I've gone through I was feeling that way on social right. I was feeling like I'm not doing enough. I'm watching these coaches, I'm watching this and that, and I finally stopped following those people. I unfollowed them and said this isn't making me happy, I'm not learning anything from these, like I'm learning things from these people, but I'm actually feeling worse about myself so I'm just going to stop. And it was just, I think, like you, I was like I'm just going to stop, I can't, I'm not feeding my soul and I'm grumpy and I feel like I'm unsuccessful. And Scott would probably tell you if he was on here. He's like oh yeah, I see when she does too much of that, because she comes in raging with new ideas and we got to fix this and do this and why are we spending money on this?

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 35:40

But going back to the sports question, you know it was really important for us to research and see what was out there and there are so many podcasts that are just basketball based or whatever that might be, and we really strive to be that one-off podcast and the name of the podcast is Sports Curious, and that's truly what we're aiming for. And we've partnered with other podcasts who do sports and sometimes, because they're extra sporty, I'm like let's promote your episode about the NBA playoffs. We're not diving as deep as you are, so if someone wants to know more, you're the right person for that, and so for us, it's having that mission of really creating that confidence and conversation through sports. End of story. And so we do. We have people who, when lacrosse really started to pick up about five, six years ago, I had a lot of people reach out and say I don't know anything about lacrosse, but my child's playing it, can you help me? And so we did episodes on lacrosse. We've done I have a dear friend who lives in Australia and we've done episodes on cricket and we didn't.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 36:41

We've did a two-part series on pickleball, because we love pickleball so much and it's finding those fun quirky things about pickleball and my brother plays pickleball and so it was great for me to say, like, what the heck is this? I don't understand. So we do, we fill the void. We'll talk about the Olympics, but we'll also talk about Oscar-nominated sports movies and things like that. So there's an opportunity for something for everyone.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 37:05

It's kind of how I look at it, and when there's times it makes sense to engage and inform you know, start of an NFL season or start of the college football season, those are big opportunities for us, but at Super Bowl, especially Kentucky Derby, but it's also a great opportunity in the off time to give people little nuggets of something to talk about and peaceful right, like when you come down, it's like being with your friends and chatting and having a good time.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 37:35

And so you know, don't let yourself get too down. If you do get to a spot where you're feeling a bit burnt out, Like you said, shift what's going on around you. What does that look like? Is it reorganize your office? Is it change what you listen to, whatever that might be, change what you eat for breakfast? But it's also, yeah, what is the content you're consuming around you that might inspire you versus inform you, if that makes sense, and sometimes that inspiration you know I'm a big SmartList podcast fan too, so it's like what makes me laugh Because at the end of the day, life is too serious and listening to NPR back up with SmartList is probably a great way to affect the day.

Krystal Proffitt: 38:10

Yeah Well, it's so funny because you know, if you are listening to this podcast and you've never listened to smart list, you don't even have to go listen to a full episode.

Krystal Proffitt: 38:20

Just go listen to their intro and I promise you will feel so much more organized in everything that you're doing with your podcast, cause I mean, that's really like I leave that podcast motivated, cause I'm like, oh yeah, they have no idea, like they genuinely still don't know what they're doing. They've been doing this for four years and they're just showing up and having fun.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 38:39

That's what it's about for them, and I'm like it's incredible and it's so inspiring.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 38:45

Yeah, I was actually telling someone the other day. For those who are not familiar with it, it's Jason Bateman, sean Hayes and Will Arnett and they literally have a surprise guest that comes on every time and it was Mark Cuban was the one I really enjoyed because two of them I don't like. One of them really didn't know who Mark Cuban was and they, like they really had no idea and Mark Cuban's the owner of the Dallas Mavericks or was, and he made all his money through to tech and. But it was just funny because they're like, well, how did you make your money? And they're asking all these questions that you know you and I would show up being informed with our whole page of notes right.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 39:21

Which I just love, because those are questions that people are probably thinking. Who are listening? If they have them? Your listeners have them too, and so it was so fun to listen to that and, like you said, realize that they're not coming in a hundred percent prepared either, and so it really is a good laugh, for at least from my perspective, yeah.

Krystal Proffitt: 39:43

A hundred percent. I love that show. It makes me so happy. I actually need to catch up on this week's episode, like I'm. I'm excited and and this is one thing you know that I love to talk about the perspective of creating content and being a podcaster but also consuming it, because it really helps to get in that mind frame, because then you can imagine what your audience is doing, like that anticipation that's building.

Krystal Proffitt: 40:36

So, you know you've mentioned the Olympics a few times. Are there any other like really big things that you are looking ahead for the rest of the year that you're that you like personally you're so excited to chat about? Or you just get really giddy when you know seasonally because I mean what you're doing is seasonal which is so fun, because, I mean, you get to change it up from time to time, but is there anything that you're just like? Oh my gosh, I cannot wait for that to come this year.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 41:00

You know, one of the funniest ones we do is the hot dog eating contest for 4th of July, and it always does really well, because it is just like there is nothing more American than a hot dog eating contest.

Krystal Proffitt: 41:10

A hundred percent.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 41:11

And it's just had so many weird, quirky things about it. And that's where we live, like. We live in the weird and quirky because I want you to remember something like a Roman incident is what they call people throwing up from their hot dogs, and so it's like those kinds of things I want you to think about because they're funny. And so you know, fourth of July is always great for us. Obviously, the Olympics will be really big this year and you know, then we roll into football season and football season is a huge opportunity for us to pick up new people. I mean, we really have this huge growth and influx of fans with Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey, and it's this huge opportunity to we look at as an opportunity to inform and teach, but also give those nuggets to entertain.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 41:56

I find that the best thing about sports is it's a great way to start a conversation, but you can go into a multitude of topics food, travel, I don't know, let's see what else. Food travel seems to be the easiest ones to pull out of there, and so it's so much fun to fashion pop culture. It's so fun to be able to give people those nuggets to get started and then it can turn into okay, great, you like the Cubs, what do you? Where do you like to go in Chicago? And all these different things. Because I am to the audience, because, while I love sports, I couldn't tell you who played in the 1972 World Series, right, and so sometimes I'm grasping for straws too to piece it all together, and so it's sort of a product of that podcast and of the information that we relay as well.

Krystal Proffitt: 42:43

Well, this may be a sacrilegious question to ask, then, but do you have a favorite sport? What is your favorite sport to watch?

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 42:50

It's really interesting. So I I my career started in major league baseball and so I spent eight years in baseball and I used to. I love baseball, don't get me wrong, but it's so fun. I have a. I live in a football household, okay, and so we do watch a lot of football. We've really enjoyed being from Las Vegas. I've really enjoyed the Vegas Golden Knights, so I've enjoyed picking up hockey as a sport that I never watched as a kid. So it's fun to see.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 43:14

And I've really, really enjoyed watching the WNBA, watching women's sports evolve. My son is five and we watched so much Women's March Madness basketball In fact my brother went to we watched so much women's March madness basketball yeah, in fact he were, he, my. My brother went to the final four for women's basketball and my son has been walking around in his final four t-shirt that he bought him and he's just like this is my Caitlin Clark t-shirt. Oh, I love it. And so it's really fun to see.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 43:38

Like I really like watching the evolution of all of these things. And I remember when SportsCenter first featured a WNBA game as the first story of SportsCenter and I called my brother. I'm like, oh my gosh, I just watched a WNBA highlight as the first thing on ESPN, on SportsCenter, and so it's been fun to watch that and so I would say football is a mainstay in our house. But it is fun to start adding in those other layers of we really enjoy watching WNBA and hockey and some of these other layers of all kinds of random sports, dog surfing which comes out, you know, sometimes in the summer, and so you know, we sort of pick up all the idiosyncrasies and all the oddities that we can find.

Krystal Proffitt: 44:21

Oh my gosh. Well, everyone's going to have to go check out sports. Curious, because I am so curious about this hot dog eating contest. I want the scoop, I want the full. I don't know if I could watch the whole thing, cause I have tried to watch them before and I'm like I don't think I could do it, but I could listen to it as long as there's no like audible, like clips from the thing. Like we're good.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 44:41

Well, it's fun. It's fun Barbecue banter for 4th of July, right.

Krystal Proffitt: 44:44

Yeah, a hundred percent. A hundred percent, like I mean, and I love the idea of it being, you know, at the end of the day, even if it's just talking points for a conversation you're going to have with your friends or your loved ones, like being able I don't know if you, you know watch friends, but I love the episode where Joey gets like the Z and the or no, it was the V and the encyclopedia set. That was the only one that he could afford and then all of a sudden he knew all the things about volcano and like you know all these things. And I feel like that's how this could be, like you could just show up and you like know all the details about this, the hot dog eating contest or rugby or lacrosse or whatever it is. That is so much fun, so everyone has to go check out Sports Curious.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 45:24

Thank you, I appreciate it.

Krystal Proffitt: 45:25

Especially with the Olympics coming up.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 45:26

I know so many good things and we like to do things like the Olympics. I think we already have queued up like what do people, where do people, store their medals? What do Olympians do in their day job? So we've kind of queued up some of those ideas and we've started brainstorming about that, because, yes, you'll want to learn about the Olympics, but the Olympics are a month long, so let's talk about other things that you can share.

Krystal Proffitt: 45:46

That content oh, that's going to be so much fun. Well, Amy, this has been incredible. Like I feel like I've learned so much already and I haven't even listened to all that you have to offer on your podcast. So I'm absolutely going to start listening on a regular basis. But I have three rapid fire questions to wrap up this interview today. So are you up for those? Of course, Okay, All right. The first one is what piece of advice would you give to a brand new podcaster or content creator?

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 46:16

Just do it. If just do it, if you start with a logo that's kind of pieced together from Fiverr, whatever that is, just get started and you can refine as you go along and you build your audience.

Krystal Proffitt: 46:28

That's awesome and it was a great Nike reference, you know, just of course. Okay, my next one's a two part question. So what is a dream podcast you would love to be on and who is your dream podcast guest you would love to interview?

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 46:46

Oh man, that's a good one, I would say I think, just because we talked about it, and I would just love the banter Smart List is definitely high on that list. I love a good banter. Working in a male-dominated industry for most of my career, it's fun to just jump in there and be like that and have good jokes and guest. Oh my gosh, be like that and have good jokes and Guest oh my gosh. It would probably be a tie between.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 47:15

I think Gwyneth Paltrow would be interesting, because I've loved how she's taken her acting career and turned it into Goop and this whole game changer of what Goop is. And I would probably say, growing up I wanted to be Katie Couric and so I wanted to be on the Today Show. Obviously, I am not Last time I checked and so I would love to have her on. Or maybe Savannah Guthrie, because I think what they do is so interesting in how you show up. I mean, talk about burnout, right, You're covering an election and then you're showing up the next morning at 3am and you're having to be perky and all the things at 3am, and you're having to be perky and all the things, and so I think it'd be a very interesting perspective to talk about them as an individual and what their day to day and their life looks like, versus just the sort of fame of being that person we see in the morning.

Krystal Proffitt: 47:56

Yeah, that's great. Oh, those are awesome. Okay, and my last question is do you consider yourself a perfectionist?

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 48:08

you consider yourself a perfectionist. No, I would like to pretend I am. I think that life has humbled me enough at this stage that I, you know, this morning everyone's getting ready for school and my husband tracks water all the way in the house. I'm like, could you have just wiped your shoes off? Like, at the end of the day, you think that what the spot on the floor is really going to destroy my life? Like it's just one of those, like you have to roll with life what life's give you. I think having kids definitely humbles you to know that you can't be perfect and your schedule is not your own and all of those things. But um, I I think perfect is is really a facade what we present. It's painful to present that you're perfect because it's too hard. There's enough going on in life and there's enough stress in life that be who you are, be genuine, be honest and be authentic, and people are going to love you who you are. They're not going to love you because you're perfect.

Krystal Proffitt: 48:57

Oh, that's so good, that's so good. And I actually I have a random question that just popped into my head because you mentioned cereal earlier. I'm like maybe we'll have to add this to our rapid fire questions, but if your podcast was a cereal, what? Kind of cereal, would it be?

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 49:13

Oh, I like this. Oh gosh, maybe it's a toss up. We have this one in our house. It's like sunshine, sunrise, something or other. It could be that right. It's got a little bit of everything in it, like a kicks type thing and a cornflake type thing. It could be something like that. Or maybe, oh gosh, I feel like it could be like Lucky Charms. We've got these like little nuggets of the good stuff that you're really floating, for there's a bunch of noise, a bunch of like things that don't taste like marshmallows, but there's these little nuggets that you're going to find in your lucky charms, that are just those gems that you want to take with you.

Krystal Proffitt: 49:51

Oh, that's so good, we're adding that.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 49:53

So I think it's a great one.

Krystal Proffitt: 49:54

This is. This is like we're going to dedicate this to Amy. She's officially added another question to our rapid fire questions like dedicate Thank your son today for the cereal.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 50:05

Well, you'll have to tell your guys to walk down the cereal aisle before you record with me. I'm not going to tell you why, but just stroll down the cereal aisle first.

Krystal Proffitt: 50:11

Yes, exactly, exactly, have something in there and people are gonna be like what? I don't eat cereal, like I, you know, I just eat this and I'm like, oh, come on guys, like it's just fun, it's just fun.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 50:21

Just pull something out, cheerios, whatever.

Krystal Proffitt: 50:23

Exactly. Well, this has been so fun, Amy. Let us know where everybody can connect with you and learn more about you know Last Night's Game and all the other fun things that you're doing.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 50:34

Thank you. Lastnightsgamecom is our website. We are the Sports Curious Podcast. We are on all major platforms and, of course, we are on social media. At Last Night's Game Awesome and of course we are on social media at Last Night's Game Awesome.

Krystal Proffitt: 50:44

Well, thank you so much for coming on the show today.

Amy Buchan Siegfried: 50:46

Thank, you for having me. I'm so happy to be here. Thank you.

Krystal Proffitt: 50:49

I told you that conversation was going to be fun and I wasn't wrong, was I? Was I? That was so much. Are you curious about sports? I wish I would have taken a poll from before the interview started to now and asked you are you sports curious? Do you even want to know about sports? Because let me tell you, like just in this brief conversation with her, I was like, oh my gosh, like I'm genuinely curious about this because I've been in sports, I've been an athlete, I've been around sports forever like my whole life.

Krystal Proffitt: 51:22

But there's still some things that I'm like I don't understand how all that works. Like last year, I know that in the NFL they changed some rules and things were different for the Super Bowl and all that, and I really didn't know what they were and, honestly, I didn't care too much about it until all of a sudden it was you know over time. And then it's like wait, what's actually happening? I don't understand what's going on. So it would have been fun to have a resource like Amy and sports curious to listen to, to understand these things better. Or, like I'm for sure going to be listening for the Olympics, because I love the summer Olympics. I think they're so much fun.

Krystal Proffitt: 52:02

Sand volleyball is my sport. It is the sport I love to watch. Like I still remember who was it. It was Misty May trainer and, oh my gosh, I'm totally blanking on the other name but they what. I could not stop watching them as a you know former volleyball player myself. I love it, I love watching this and so I'm going to be watching. I love watching swimming and diving and gymnastics and all those things. And, of course, we all need to listen around the 4th of July for the hot dog eating contest, because that was fascinating to me, so fascinating.

Krystal Proffitt: 52:37

So go check out Amy's podcast. If you enjoyed our interview today, I know that the banter on their show is just going to make you smile and just make you I don't know like it was so fun. It was so fun. It's just like the theme of today's episode was have some fun. And if you are like Amy and I talked about you're getting burned out listening to all the industry information, all the industry podcasts then listen to something fun, and that is exactly what her show is meant to be it's to be educational and to something fun, and that is exactly what her show is meant to be it's to be educational and to be fun, and I want you to go check it out, but if you're brand new to this show, it's the first time you've checked it out make sure you hit that follow or subscribe button wherever you are listening, so you get tips, strategies that we share here on the podcast every single week. But that's all I have for you today. So, as always, remember, keep it up. We all have to start somewhere.