Jess discusses how she first got started booking people on podcasts and how at the time, she was the only one sending out pitches. Margy and Jess also talk about what sets Interview Connections apart from all the other podcast booking agencies that are in existence today. To work with and learn more about us, visit InterviewConnections.com.

Jessica talks with Interview Connections client Arlene Cogen about working philanthropy into financial and estate planning and how to decide how much to give back. Click here to check out Arlene's book, Give to Live.

Live from FinCon Orlando 2018, Jess and Margy talk with John Lanza about teaching kids money sense. Congratulations on your raise, Nathan Rhodes. If you want to teach your kids about money, check out Money Mammals.

On today's episode, Jess and Margy explain why coaches and consultants are great candidates for being interviewed on podcasts.

Benefits of Podcast Interviews for Coaches/Consultants:

• This is a high end networking strategy! Each host who interviews you is a potential client. Before anyone hires a coach or a consultant, they need to trust that person and podcast interviews are a great way to build trust with people.
• Exposure for your business - The more you get interviewed on podcasts, the more well known you’ll be to your target market. For example, if you’re a coach for women entrepreneurs leaving corporate, we’ll book you on podcasts that that kind of female is listening to. When they see you popping up on a bunch of shows they like, they’re more likely to want to work with you.
• Search Engine Optimization - When you are interviewed on podcasts, you will get a link back to your website in the show notes. The more backlinks you have to your website, the higher up your site will be in Google search results.

How to get Coaching Clients from Interviews

1. Focus on the host - When we work with coaches and consultants at Interview Connections, we get super clear on who their ideal coaching client is, and we find shows that are hosted by that kind of person. Build a great relationship with the host and they’re the most likely person to want to hire you as a coach.
2. Create a community and invite listeners to join. In my experience and opinion, people hire coaches/consultants for the communities they have created. We became a coaching client of Ali Brown because she’s created a community of 7 figure women entrepreneurs and that is who we want to network with and learn from. Our client Heather Dominick has created the Highly Sensitive Entrepreneurs community and people become a coaching client of hers because they want to be around other HSEs. Heather has been a client for over a year and every month she sees people join her community who heard her on a podcast.
3. GIVE IT TIME - Be patient and manage your expectations. You need to stick with this strategy for at least 6 months to know if it’s working for you.

Click here to listen to Jessica's episode of Marketing Speak.

In this episode, Jess and Margy share some tips for getting a paid sponsorship for your podcast. Getting clear on your target audience, knowing what products or services your listeners need recommendations on, putting together a media kit about your show, and knowing how to price and structure packages are all things you can benefit from when seeking a sponsor. To order some really cute tops, visit CarlyJeanLosAngeles.com

This is an interview from the Journey to There podcast. Subscribe to their podcast on iTunes!

This episode was produced by Produce Your Podcast, a production company founded by today's guest, Traci Deforge. Traci talks about her business, business partner Russ, her own podcast (Journey to There), and how to grow your audience. To check out Traci's production services, click here.

Julie Ryan, an experienced entrepreneur with the business credentials to impress anyone, also has the ability to communicate with people and pets (both living and deceased). In this episode, she talks with Jess and Margy about her experiences getting booked on shows as an Interview Connections client and how she goes on podcasts to talk about "woo-woo" topics. 

It has been a busy few months at Interview Connections, but now that things are settling down, Jess and Margy are back on the air to talk about ROI and SEO. Here’s what they talk about in today’s episode:

• Data driven returns
• • SEO - Podcast episode about backlinks here
    
  • List building and specific landing pages
  • • Mark Walker’s podcast episode with us
      
  • Sales and new clients
  • • Tanya Conner-Green
      
    • Richard Chapo
      
    • Chris Dayley
      
  • Growing community
  • • Heather Dominick
      
• Relationship driven returns
• • Examples:
  • • Dave Sanderson
      
    • • Dave’s interview with us
        
    • Jim Palmer
• Check out our music video that we made after being mentioned in a Forbes article!

Cassi is leaving the Interview Connections team, so for her last episode of RTP, she and Alex talk with Kevin Bupp about what it's like being on both sides of the mic. Kevin discusses his experiences being a guest and a host, how he manages his time when it comes to podcasting, how important it is to be a guest expert, and how he has managed to develop such a successful show with zero marketing. 

Resources Mentioned:

Real Estate Investing for Cash Flow

We Know What You Did on Fear Street

Interview Connections client and business consultant Mariko Briley talks with Jess and Margy about how she has grown, automated, and generated leads for her coaching business, and gives advice on what you can do to grow your own.

Resources Mentioned:

Mariko Briley

Costantino's Venda Ravioli

Tanya Conner-Green has been a client of ours for six months and has already made back 8x what she has invested with us, and she received this ROI before her interviews went live. In this episode, she tells Alex and Nathan how she made that happen and what she does to always make sure she's the best guest she can be.

Resources Mentioned

How We Hustle Podcast

Whole Hearted Business Coach

Erica Mandy had a career in broadcast journalism when she decided to leave it all behind to start her own podcast news network, the NewsWorthy. In this episode, she talks with Alex and Cassi about what inspired her to start podcasting and what marketing strategies she's implementing that are rapidly growing the popularity of her show. And if you're thinking about podcasting or are new to the medium, Erica gives great advice on how to get your show going. 

Resources Mentioned:

the NewsWorthy

Womensplaining

Fan of the Band

We Know What You Did on Fear Street

Nik Hawks and Lee Selman (Paleo Treats co-founders, power couple, and Interview Connections clients) talk with Margy and Alex about the benefits they’ve seen from being guest experts, what makes a great interview from the guests perspective, and how they don’t get tired of retelling the same stories over and over again on multiple podcasts. They also offer some international travel suggestions, including a recommendation of a trek in Patagonia.

Resources Mentioned:

Paleo Treats

Donate to the Companion Animal Foundation

Spark Shipping founder, podcaster, and Interview Connections client Charles Palleschi talks with Jess and Cassi about the trials and tribulations of starting a podcast, what he’s learning about eCommerce from his guests, and what he’s getting out of being a guest expert. Also, the Interview Connections team loves snacks; specifically, ants on a log.

Resources Mentioned:

Spark Shipping

The Business of eCommerce

Womensplaining

We Know What You Did on Fear Street

Fan of the Band

The Interview Connections team consumes a lot of seltzer water and longtime Rock the Podcast listener/ first-time guest, Brett Jarman, joins Jess and Margy on today’s episode. Brett talks about authority marketing, how to leverage podcasts and content marketing to grow your business, and why he loves listening to RTP.

Resources Mentioned:

Brett Jarman

Womensplaining

Polar Seltzer

Jess and Margy answer some questions written in by someone who is thinking of doing podcast interviews to grow their business and their brand. This episode covers the things you should consider if you're thinking of becoming a guest expert. Podcasting might not be the right approach for some people, but for others, it can be a perfect way to accomplish the business growth goals that you've set for yourself. 

Jess' How to Interview panel at PodFest Orlando was full of tips from podcast hosts Tyler Sheff, Erica Mandy, and Dr. Ryan Gray. In this episode, you'll hear some common mistakes interviewers make, how to get through to non-responsive guests, whether or not to have pre-calls, and more!

Resources Mentioned:

Tyler Sheff's Cash Flow Guys

Erica Mandy's the Newsworthy

Dr. Ryan Gray's Med School HQ

Womensplaining

Fan of the Band

Coming to you from Jess' Guest Etiquette panel at PodFest Orlando, seasoned guest experts and Interview Connections clients Damion Lupo, Jennifer Briney, and Tom Tate discuss everything from sending care packages to show hosts to the best method for hiding a sneeze on air; everything you need to know about becoming the best podcast guest possible.

Resources Mentioned:

Podfest Multimedia Expo

Damion Lupo

Jennifer Briney's Congression Dish

Tom Tate's Ask Me About Email Marketing

How are your fears holding you back?

Over the last several years, every time someone approached me about offering business consulting, I rolled my eyes. My dad, my business partner and multiple clients and prospects have told me I should start consulting entrepreneurs.

While it’s a huge part of what we do with our clients at Interview Connections (we spend their first month entirely on strategizing and consulting), I was afraid to offer business consulting as a stand alone service. I felt like if people said no, they would be rejecting me personally.

I’ve had a breakthrough in realizing how my fear of rejection has been holding me back from doing the things I want to do, and more importantly from providing value to my fellow entrepreneurs.

My first employee and now business partner, Margy and I have been working together over the past two years and have accomplished incredible success in the restructuring of Interview Connections by streamlining operations, increasing revenue and building an amazing team.

I started Interview Connections in 2013 and made six figures in the first year. Our revenue doubled in 2015, and again in 2016. We closed 2017 at just under a half million in revenue and standing here at the beginning of 2018, we are on track for our biggest year ever.

Since launching Interview Connections in 2013, we’ve booked over 10,000 interviews and are the most well known booking agency in the podcasting industry to date.

After growing Interview Connections virtually with a staff of 1099 contractors booking interviews, Margy and I realized that an independant remote team was not a strong enough foundation to take the business to 7 figures while delivering an elite level of service. We took a risk and made a huge change by replacing our remote team of contractors with an inhouse team of W2 employees in a 2300 sq ft building. Interview Connections now has 7 full time employees (with health and dental insurance!) and is operating more profitably than ever before.

We made the shift from a virtual business to a company locally run and operated because we knew what this would make possible for our future: empowerment, joy and the magic of having it all (we’re typing this email from a train on a Monday afternoon while our staff is in the office serving our clients!).

Margy and I are officially launching our consulting business today with 20 VIP days available! We want to help our fellow entrepreneurs achieve their biggest goals this year and experience the kind of fun and joy we have together growing Interview Connections.

Will you be our first client?

Sincerely,

Jessica Rhodes and Margy Feldhuhn

Co-Owners of Interview Connections

Jess and Alex talk with Dave Claffey, who is the communications and PR manager at Realty Shares. Dave discusses the importance of having multiple people from different departments of the same company be guests on podcasts, as well as his softball prowess, and experiences with company sports teams.

Resources Mentioned:

Dave Claffey

Realty Shares

Womensplaining

Fan of the Band

On today’s episode, Jess and Cassi interview an Interview Connections client, Willard Barth, and he teaches them a lot about themselves and how to better understand their co-workers and employees.

1. What topic resonates the most on the podcast interviews you’ve been doing lately?

a. Willard recently released a book called “The Anatomy of Transformation.”

b. People seem to mostly be focusing on his interesting personal journey: Willard lost one of his legs to bone cancer when he was a child, had to overcome a drug and alcohol addiction, and has even been in prison.

2. What was your time like on Broadway?

a. He released a CD almost twenty years ago and had a 17-year friendship with Les Paul.

b. Willard shared the stage with Les Paul over one hundred times.

3. What’s the connection between your life as a creative/performer and your life as a business consultant?

a. When you’re a business consultant, you need to come up with creative solutions to solve problems.

b. When he was writing and performing, people would get an escape for either a few minutes or a few hours, but now he’s giving people a life-long result with what he’s doing for them.

4. How can I create a more streamlined, but still personalized, sales process?

a. Have you identified your sales process map? Capture what’s in your head (each individual step) and get it down on paper.

b. Write down what you can automate or delegate out to someone else and what steps you personally need to be involved in.

c. Think of what you can improve upon the most to make your sales process even more effective.

5. How do you motivate and incentivize a small team when each person is motivated by different things?

a. Willard doesn’t believe in motivation because it’s short-term, but he believes in influence. If you really want to consistently inspire someone to take action, find out what inspires them.

b. Six human needs: significance, certainty, uncertainty, love, connection, growth, and contribution.

c. Understand what human needs most inspire someone through their personality profile and direct them in such a way where their needs will be fulfilled.

6. How do you identify what specific needs motivate someone?

a. Ask them quality questions that will teach you something about how they succeed, how they feel in certain situations, and what makes them feel fulfilled.

b. When you understand what motivates someone and feed it back to them, they feel like they want to take action and be involved.

7. Why are personal transformations so critical to business success?

a. After Willard meets with his team to lay out a 90-day plan, he tells them that the person they currently are will never achieve those goals because if they were capable of achieving those goals, they already would have.

b. A small/mid-size business is a complete and total reflection of the person who owns it.

c. In order to become a better leader, you need to become a better communicator and a better delegator.

d. Many people don’t recognize the areas that they aren’t strong in and therefore don’t delegate those aspects of their business to someone else on their team who is the best equipped to handle it.

e. Fears and limiting belief systems keep us from becoming successful. If you want to grow your business, you need to grow, face, and transform areas that have been limiting you all of your life.

8. Are the six human needs mentioned in your book?

a. Willard does talk about the six human needs in his book.

b. The original idea, the Six Human Needs Psychology, was developed by Tony Robbins.

9. DISC Personality Profile:

a. Each quadrant of DISC will house members of your team and areas of your business.

b. D- dominance. I- influence. S- steadiness, C- compliance.

c. A lot of companies have the right people, but they have them working in the wrong quadrant. Once you understand someone’s personality profile, you can move them to the right part of the company and better understand what influences them.

Resources Mentioned:

Connect with Willard

Willard’s Book

Womensplaining

We Know What You Did on Fear Street

Fan of the Band