Lessons from 200 podcast episodes

We made it to episode 200! 🎉 Can you believe it? 

In this special episode, we're taking a fun trip down memory lane, chatting about how this podcast started, and how far we've come. Whether you've been with us since day one or just joined the crew, THANK YOU. 

If you've ever wanted to start a podcast, grow a podcast or you're just curious to know what goes in BTS...this episode is for you! 

Here’s what’s happening:

💗  The Story So Far: How it all started, the ups, the downs, and everything in between.

💗  What We’ve Learned Over 200 episodes. Have you ever wanted to start a podcast and wondered what goes on BTS? We dish it all! 

💗  Favorite Moments: Let’s revisit some of those episodes you guys loved the most—remember our deep dive into NLP?

💗 What’s Next: A little teaser on what’s coming up next on the pod. Spoiler: It’s going to be awesome.

Again, thank you.  

This podcast isn’t just mine—it’s ours, and I’m so grateful to be on this journey with you. Seriously, I couldn’t have done this without you. Your support, messages, and love have made this journey so much fun. Here’s to the next 200 episodes!

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See you in the next episode! Tag me in your posts @iambreannamay

Round 2 of The Mind School Method is still open, but not for long! Grab your spot now—click here to enroll before it’s too late!

Transcript

Breanna Hunter: 0:00

Music.

Intro: 0:07

Welcome to the mind school, the classroom for your mind and soul, where we design our lives from the inside out. Here you will find a human first approach to life, business and relationships, to create freedom, growth and constant evolution through mindset, emotional intelligence, leadership and connection to self. I'm your host, Breanna may educator, CEO mindset and business mentor, and my mission is to teach the things we were never taught at school so that no dream is left on the pillow and no purpose left unfulfilled. Here, you can expect a lot of laughs and thought provoking conversations as we squeeze every drop of juice from this beautiful, precious, crazy thing called life.

Breanna Hunter: 1:00

Hello, welcome back to the mind school podcast. This is a little bit of a special one, because we are up to episode 200 which is crazy to think back on. And I was reflecting this morning on the lessons that I have learned from having a podcast for four years, I believe. And it's something that I've been talking about to quite a lot of my one on one clients, and many of them either want to podcast or they want to grow their podcast, and there's often so many hurdles and so many blocks. And I just thought I would share because this is something I've been doing for four years, and I have learned so many lessons, and I wanted to share them with you. But before I did that, I wanted to say a massive, massive thank you. This podcast is like my baby. It was actually the very first project that I ever created when I stepped away from teaching and I didn't even know how where it would go. I didn't really have a business. I wasn't sure where it was going, but I was that person, and that's, I think this is really helpful for someone like me, who you're a real creative you love speaking to people, you love learning, and you just don't know what to do with that. I was that person. So I went to university, and I was like, Well, I really love speaking, and I really love learning and talking to people and understanding stories. And so I did journalism, and I loved radio, but then I never wanted to work in radio because I didn't like the lifestyle. And then I was a teacher, but again, I didn't really like the system, but I loved all of these, like, creative things, and, like I said, learning, speaking to people, using creativity. And so I was like, You know what? Fuck it. And this was, like, I said, four years ago, I started to record a podcast, and I literally did it with a second hand computer. It was a $500 computer, a $100 microphone, and I sat on my lounge room floor, and I started doing this podcast, and over the last few years, it has done really well. I'm by no means a big dog. I'm by no means where I would like it to go, and I'm moving it to be but it has reached 200,000 people. It gets hundreds and hundreds or 1000s of downloads each episode, and I'm really proud of it, and I'm really, really grateful to you, the listener, whether you've been here for years and you've been supporting me since it was the Miss mindset podcast, or you're new here. I just want to say thank you, and I want to share some of my tips and my lessons for those of you who might want to start a podcast, but also for those of you who just want a few tips around building confidence and consistency and learning some things, some tips that will help you to speak in a way where people pay attention, and lots of other things I've learned along the way. So I've kind of broken these down into, like, the mindset of podcasting and then the strategy of podcasting. And so I want to start by saying, when I started this podcast, believe it or not, one of the projections that I hear all the time from clients and people and online is that, like, you're just so confident. You must have always been this way, and that's so interesting for me to reflect back on, because to one on one hand, yes, I always loved speaking. I always loved presenting. I did musical theater. I was a singer. I liked being on stages, like I said. I did radio. I loved it. However, on the other hand, when I started my podcast, I didn't tell a soul for like months. I was recording an episode every single week for a good six months before I even promoted it, before I told anyone about it, I would have about six or seven listens for every episode, and I can probably tell you exactly who they were. Thanks, mom. Thanks, Milka. I was just telling a couple friends and my mom, because I was so nervous, I had so many mindset hurdles to get through first. And the biggest one for me was actually, I was so scared of what my colleagues would think, because at the time, I was a teacher, and I didn't know any teachers that had a podcast, so I had all of that, like, Who are you to start a podcast? What are your colleagues going to think? What. You think you're like, all of that, the the doubt, the imposter syndrome, all of those things started. And so what I have found is that the podcast has been such a beautiful portal for me to meet my edges, for me to meet my limitations, for me to meet my insecurities. And for that reason, I always think it's a great idea for business owners, whether or not you're going to use a podcast to promote your business, whether or not whatever you're going to do, whatever the purpose of your podcast is, it's also a great mirror for you to get to know where your work is to do. So obviously, for me, I had to really do a lot of mindset work when I started my podcast to get over all of those things, and the podcast really was the place that helped me to do that. It was through creating a podcast every single week for four years that I no longer really cared what people think, because I learned to know what I think, I learned more about myself, and I became really almost unfazed by what others think. If they don't want to listen, they don't have to listen. And it was the podcast that helped me to become more confident. So again, confidence isn't something that you're born with. It's a skill that you create through time and through practice and through reps. And so I have 200 reps now on this podcast, and here is the lessons. The first one, it's all mindset podcasting, whether it's doing well or not, and how good you're feeling about it. And even in the day to day of like sitting down to record a podcast on the days that it's feeling hard for me, on the days that I go to hit record, and then I end up stopping and I walk away, and then I come back and I try again. And that still happens, like that still happens, guys, but what I have found is that that is always there to teach me something about what's actually going on. It's a mindset thing. It'll always be okay. You're trying to sound a certain way, or you're trying to present to something that you're not, or you're trying you don't even know what you're saying. You haven't really got your thoughts together, or whatever it is. But it's always mindset. And so like I said, Let the podcast, if you're going to start one, be a portal for your personal growth and get your mindset right. Get a mindset coach work. Learn about how to be more confident. Learn how to change your mind, learn how to change your programs. Because if you want to have a successful podcast, if you want to have a consistent podcast, if you want to be able to speak so that people pay attention. You actually need to be pretty confident, and you need to sort your mindset. Your mindset is literally the number one thing that is going to be the determinant for whether you show up or whether you do two episodes, get scared and run away. So everything is mindset, the second lesson, or the piece of advice I would give, start before you're ready. Please, for the love of God, just start before you're ready. If I waited until I had the perfect equipment, until I had the perfect branding, until I understood how to use videos, until I understood algorithms, until I understood all those things, I literally would never start. And it actually takes a long time to improve your strategies, to improve your styles, to find your style, to get a brand voice to understand what your audience loves and what you love talking about. And so if you wait, you are wasting time. There's a really good quote. What is it? The best time to plant a tree is 10,000 years ago, or 10 years ago? The second best time to plant a tree is now. That's the same with podcasting. Don't wait till you're ready. Start now. Start messy. Like I said, I started on my lounge room floor with a $100 microphone, which I can link in the show notes if you want to start on a budget, and a $500 second hand computer and without many upgrades, my podcast grew to hundreds of 1000s of downloads without any fancy stuff. And now I'm so glad I started back then, because now I get to evolve. Now I get to come to podcast studios and record now I have a video editor, but I needed to get some reps in, some skills in. And I'm so glad that I just started the third tip that I would say. And again, this is more of a mindset thing. So often I speak to clients and people in the DMS and just people in the business world or the podcasting and content world, and they're so scared of asking people to come on their podcast, they're so scared of even pitching themselves to go on a podcast. And my advice to you is to just ask, in fact, ask for the ones that you're most afraid of. I was so surprised, especially in the first year or two, I was actually just so like, yeah, I loved it, like there were people that I perceived as, you know, big dogs, really successful people, and I didn't see them as anything above me. And I think that's always helped. I've never really put anyone on a pedestal. I've always just been quite honest and quite open to just reaching out on the DMS and being like, hey, I have genuinely followed you for quite a long time, and I love everything you're about. Would you like to come on my podcast? And I was so pleasantly surprised by how many people you know, successful people, who had really busy schedules and successful businesses and big audiences. They all said, Yes. I mean. No, they didn't all say yes. I definitely got a couple rejections. And I remember one rejection actually, come to think of it, I need to reach out to him again, because he did say to come back and I will, and I will, but I digress. Ask, just ask the people. And to give you a little, an extra bit here, an extra bit of inspiration here, it was literally only two weeks ago, and I shared on the podcast a couple months ago. I have big dreams for this podcast, I really do, and so I'm starting to up level the production, and we've got new team on and all of these things, because I love talking to people. I love teaching all the things. But it was a couple weeks ago I was sitting in a cafe and I thought, fuck it. That was literally, this is the inspirational quote of today's episode, fuck it. Hit the fuck it button. And go for those guests that you're like, they're too big for me. Go for the publications where you're like, Holy shit, that would be wild. Go for the big things. Go for them, because every time you do that, I swear to God, and this is Woo. But something changes in your energy. And I had my moment a couple weeks ago where I literally hit the fuck it button and I reached out. I sent about 16 emails, a few DMS, to big podcasts that either I would love those people to come onto this podcast, or I would love to be a guest on theirs. And I just started reaching out. I just started pitching. And it was like, I literally just went, fuck it. I'm going big. I'm signaling to the universe that I just want some cool guests. And I got mostly rejected. I literally got mostly rejected. I went for, like, the best podcast in the world, the biggest news publications, all of it. But then something happened. I did hear back from one of the best podcasts in the in Australia. I did get featured in the news. They did write an article about me in the West Australia, or the Perth now, and it was like something changed. And so my other my third piece of advice for you, if you have a podcast, or whatever it is, and you are too scared to ask people know that they are actually usually like they're doing what they love, they would be honored to come onto your podcast to talk more. I've often been surprised, actually, when people have reached out to me to ask me to come on their podcast, that they often do it in this sort of timid, oh, I know you're really busy. Like, it's a new podcast, blah, blah, blah. And I'm genuinely like, mate, I fucking love talking about mindset and shadow work and all the things get me on. Like, this is what I let I literally love to do this. And so it's a privilege and an honor to be asked on somebody's podcast. And I just want you to know that there's people out there who genuinely just love what they do, and they will talk to anyone until they're dead. They want to do this until they die. And I'm one of those people. And so anyone who asks me on their podcast, I'm always saying yes, always, because I just love it, and so don't hold back. Ask the people. The fourth thing, which kind of really ties into all of these mindset lessons and tips, is that you need to confront the things you're most afraid of. And this is kind of going into a little bit of shadow work, but you will have one particular flavor of fear. You will have something that you are particularly scared that people might say about you, you will have one thing that is like your big fucking shadow, and that's the thing you need to confront. You need to go to your darkest place, to the place you're most insecure, to the thing that you most want to hide from the world and you would never want the world to see. And you need to own that, because if you don't own your shadow, your shadow owns you. And this is Shadow Work, again, a different episode. I will link more episodes if you're interested in that. But for now, go into the cave where you are cave that you are avoiding. What is the thing that you would be horrified for people to say about you when I'm working with clients and they're like, I don't want to I'm scared. I'm scared to show up because blah, we always go deeper. What exactly could they say about you that would fucking hurt? What is it? What is the thing that they would say that would hurt you, or that I'm dumb or that I'm annoying or that I'm stupid, whatever it is, figure out what your shadow is, what you're ashamed of, what you're trying to hide from others, from the world, from yourself. Own that thing, own it. And to give you an example, I used to hold a lot of shame around how much I love speaking. I used to hold a lot of weird energy because i The truth is, I actually love being in front of a microphone. I do. I love it. And I used to get called a show pony, and that came with a little bit of like, oh, that doesn't sound nice. That doesn't sound great, and I had to sort of do a bit of work to be like, You know what I actually fucking AM, and that's okay if people want to call me all sorts of things and say things about me, that's okay. I'm here doing what I love, and I've just got to trust that other people can go and do what they love, and if they want to say things about me, it's really a reflection of them, and it's none of them, and it's none of my business. If you're going to be mean or nasty, I just don't care anymore. And that, again, it's all mindset work. But the point of that one is find the thing that you're afraid people will say and own it. Release your shame. Do some work. Work with someone. Get rid of that particular thing that you're running away from, because if you keep running away from it, eventually it will just own you. It will. Up in so many ways, and it won't feel good. The last one is a bit of a mindset, but a little bit of a strategy thing for if you are wanting to run a podcast, speak to lots of people, show up on your socials, often we make it about ourselves. What are people going to think about me? What are they going to say? Are they going to call me this? Are they going to call me that? I want you to remind yourself of this quote, which will help you to become one of the most charismatic people in the room and a really great and a highly skilled interviewer. The most interesting person in the room is the most interested person in the room. People want to feel seen and heard. So if you were interviewing somebody else, it's not about you, it's about you, holding space and being interested in your guest, and remembering too that people aren't worried about you, they're worried about themselves. Be interested in others. If you have a podcast, speak to others. Know that it's for others. It's about impact. It's about entertainment, or it's about teaching people or creating some sort of influence and impact in the world, make it about other people. And if you are interviewing people, and again, this might come up if you've got somebody on the other side of the mic where they're a big name, and therefore you feel intimidated, or you feel not good enough, or all of your own stuff comes up. Remember, it's not about you, it's about the guest. It's about the person you're speaking to. The most interesting person in the room is the most interested person in the room. Keep that in mind if you're going to have a podcast and you're going to have lots of different guests. So those are sort of mindset ones. I want to move into a little bit of strategy, and some strategy things that I've learned along the way that might help you if you want to have a podcast, and these things I've obviously learned over time through just doing so, don't wait again. Don't wait. Start doing Firstly, if you're going to have a podcast, get very clear on why you want a podcast and who it's for. When I say, Why do you want a podcast, this is because it's going to really influence the way that you structure episodes, how long they go for the branding, the music, all of that. And also it's going to impact point two, which I'll get to, which is about, is this strategic? Is this a strategic part of a business plan? Is this there to monetize, or is it a passion project? Is it there because you just genuinely love talking and learning. Is it there for entertainment? Is it there because it's a side hobby that's actually going to impact the way you plan things and so many different things? So just get really clear on what actually is it for? Is it a business endeavor or not at all? Is it that you're building a personal brand that you want to monetize or not at all? Is it simply because you love media, then great. It's just going to impact lots of other choices you make down the line. So that's the first thing. The second thing is, and this is something that I have journeyed with, to be quite honest, it's been quite a a real introspect. I do a lot of introspection about this, because what I have found is that I really like speaking about things when it feels alive, when it feels present, when it feels like I'm lit up by something, and because of that, I never really liked to plan and to have too much strategy and to record too far ahead. However, this is the nuance to this conversation. If you're starting a podcast and you don't have a team. You don't have a big business that you're trying to run. Your goals are really to just get consistent, to build your mindset, to have some personal growth, to have a bit of fun. And it's really just you and your producing, your editing, you're recording, you're you're wearing all the hats you kind of can do it a bit on the fly. Wait until you're inspired. Do things in the energy. Do things because it feels really current for you, and therefore you're really excited, and that can be really powerful. Some of my most downloaded episodes are completely spontaneous. I remember one time, and this is just how much I really love to be in the energy, rather than in the planning. I remember I took my laptop, and this is a reminder to anyone who wants to start a podcast who's a bit of a perfectionist and needs it to be a certain way and needs to have the lighting and needs to have it looking good and La, la, la, la, la, my podcast was getting 1000s of downloads, and that was at a time when I was literally living on a bicycle, living on a bicycle guys, and I had My podcast in one of my panniers, and a pannier, for those who don't know, because I didn't either a pan here is literally just bag that is attached to a bike. I had my microphone just chucked into the back of my bicycle. I was cycling from Amsterdam to the other side of Europe. I was doing 5000 kilometers on a bike every day, and there was one episode where I just got lit up. I'd been riding all day, and cycling is really a place of inspiration for me. So that's another little tip on the side. Find your place where you get your inspiration. For me, it's cycling, running. I get so many ideas. So obviously I'm riding hundreds of Ks, 100k every day, and had all these ideas for my podcast, so I would just rock up to a hostel rock. Well, actually, we never stayed at all. Still, that's probably going back to my 20s, but we would rock up at a hotel, and I would literally just hit record in an Airbnb or at a hotel, grab my podcast mic and record it in like a little cupboard or a small room where the sound was good and I'd be lit up. There was one episode where I was just urging people to start living because we've only got a really small amount of time, and we had this horrible reminder when we're in Europe about how short life can be and we don't know what's going to happen. And I was just lit up, and I was like, please go and live. Go and do what you want to do. If you're not enjoying your time, you're not going to enjoy your life. And I was revved up, and that podcast went off, and it was not planned, and I was in the energy, and it was not perfect. I was literally in some Airbnb, I think, in Italy, and it went off. And so there's two pieces to this. It's important that you are lit up. It's important that you're in the energy. And if you're beginning a podcast and you don't have a team, and they're not waiting for you, and they're trying to plan their lives, you do get the pleasure of being a little bit more spontaneous, of doing a little bit more on the fly, however, over the years, and more specifically, in the last six months, what I have found is my business has grown as my podcast has grown, and as I have plans to grow my podcast to a lot larger audience and on a bigger scale, I can't be as in the energy as spontaneous, because that's not fair to my team. I have a video editor waiting for me. I have an assistant waiting for me, and so if I just do things on the fly, it actually isn't as fair on them, and it creates more stress for me. So there is a balance between strategy and planning and batching episodes, which honestly for me, has been a game changer. When I batch episodes, I will record three or four at once in one session, and then I'm done for the month, and I can move back on to the other tasks for me that are important to you know, take me towards my goals. But this is where you get to use your discernment. Where are you at on your journey? Do you have a team waiting for you, or is it just up to you? And can you play between the two energies? If you have a plan and a structure and you batch your content at the top of the month. So that's another piece of advice in terms of strategy. If you wait till the start of the month and you plan the next four episodes, if you're doing one a week, you really should be able to get that done in one day. That's amazing. Then you can go back to doing your other tasks, if that's what's important to you. And the beautiful thing about using this technique is that you've got episodes up your sleeve ready to go, and if you happen to be really inspired, you can still pick up the mic and drop an extra episode. You absolutely can. And that's where you get to play with energy and strategy, but also use that discernment about what works for you and your goals. So that's number two, strategy and energy planning and spontaneous. There's magic in both third one, and this is more of a speaking thing and just more of a personal preference for me, I don't write scripts for podcasts. It actually makes me Yuck, and I can hear it when people on podcasts have a script and it sounds unnatural. And I just believe that the world is craving more authenticity. The world wants a little bit more of the raw, the authentic. And reading a script, unless you're very, very, very talented at it, it can sound robotic. It can just sound off. And for me, I find that I actually get into more of a flow if I simply have dot points. So for me personally, I would just put dot points. What are the main things you want to say? Have a couple dot points. As you can see, I'm looking off to this or if you're on YouTube, you can see, if you're listening on the podcast, you can't see, but I have my laptop in front of me right now. I'm looking off to the side every now and then, but it's literally just dot points. The rest I'm riffing, right? So that's just for me, a personal preference. I wouldn't go crazy with writing a script, and I've noticed a lot of podcasts that have a very scripted host, it just sounds a bit robotic. So that's the other thing. Now, the other thing is that it's important if you're going to have a podcast, and again, use your discernment for depending on what your podcast is for. It is important. And this is a lesson that I have learned the hard way, and this is just an honest piece of advice that I can share openly and hope that you can do differently. You have to move with the times. You just have to move with the times. And I did not do that. I got complacent, and I wasn't putting my podcast on YouTube. I wasn't recording, I wasn't having high quality video editing, and so many podcasters flooded the market, and my stats were impacted. My statistics actually went backwards, and I do believe that's because I did not go ahead with the times. And I wasn't, you know, getting on YouTube and creating high quality reels and shorts and tiktoks and all of the things and you do, in some regard, need to move with the times, especially if your podcast is intended to get you know on the charts and get big guests, and it's a big goal of yours to have a well performing podcast, you kind of do need to move with the times, and don't let that stop you from starting. Just start. Start messy, start with all the fancy stuff, but move with the times because. You just have to these days, you have to. People get bored really quickly. And there's always new thing, new ways to do things. So as you can tell, I have finally, finally decided to move with the times. And you can see now this is on YouTube. We've got a new video editor on my team, and we are moving with the times, because honestly, I was happy recording in my PJs at home. That's the honest truth, and sometimes I probably still will, so you can have a bit of both. You can do what works for you, but just know that if you're wanting to make a pod your podcast a really popular, well, charter thing, you're going to have to move with the times. Don't get complacent now. Final thing, and this is more of a speaking strategy I have found when I speak to the microphone or to the camera, as though I am speaking to someone I know and love, if I imagine. And I do know a lot of the people who listen to this podcast, and I know that they love me and support me, and I know that they are rooting for me behind the scenes, and when I picture them, and I want to just help them and give them some information. And I feel like my podcast this microphone, is just me talking to my friends. I'm so much more able to just show up as me. I'm so much more able to just talk exactly how I talk. This podcast is literally just me talking to friends. And if you have this idea that it's this serious thing, and everyone who's listening is like, it just doesn't feel good. And so think of somebody, either somebody who you know listens to your podcast, or your mum or your best friend or your partner, imagine that you're just talking to them. Just imagine that it's them in front of you, and it takes so much pressure away, and you start showing up authentically, and you don't mind so much if you stumble over your words, or you say um or like a lot, whatever, your friend loves you anyway. Your friends love you anyway. And that's how you call in those people who will listen to your podcast because they love you for who you are. And so those are my lessons from 200 podcast episodes, I hope they help you either to start a podcast or to start speaking and showing up more confidently on your socials or online. Please let me know if this helped, if you are starting a podcast and this has inspired you or helped you, please let me know. Share it and Subscribe if you're watching on YouTube, and then I will be back next week. And thank you for listening,

Intro: 27:23

thank you for tuning in to the mind school podcast. It is a massive intention of mine to continue to grow this show, because the more the show grows, the better the guests get. And I know that is going to be so powerful for you listening. So if I could ask this massive favor, it would mean the world if you could please leave a review, hit the Follow button, or leave a rating on Spotify, so that we can continue to grow this show and bring you the juiciest, most thought provoking and expansive conversations through incredible guests. Thank you so much for tuning in. I'll see you next week. You.