Episode 167

Growing your business with webinars and behind the scenes of a top business podcast with Nicole Baldinu

Are webinars still effective for growing a coaching or speaking business?

If you're thinking of using webinars, you'll want to get some insights from one of the founders of the amazing platform Webinar Ninja, Nicole Baldinu, and she's my guest on this episode of Podfluence.

We go behind the scenes of Webinar Ninja and also one of the top business podcasts in the world, $100 MBA with Omar Zenhom, Nicole's husband and business partner. Here's the link to the episode we discuss in the show: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-%24100-mba-show/id906218859?i=1000578374648

We discuss how important podcasting has been to their businesses, both as hosts and as guests. You'll want to know what Nicole says you'll catch with a podcast...

Nicole shares some of her journey to being an entrepreneur, having previously been a school teacher. We both had some things to say about moving from regular jobs into entrepreneurship and the challenges that come on that journey.

Nicole has her own show out with her best friend Kate Erickson, it's called 'Nicole and Kate can relate.' Do go check it out. You can also find out more about Webinar Ninja here: https://webinarninja.com/

Enjoying the content? Join me for the Podfluence Weekly newsletter HERE to get articles and show updates every week.

You are warmly invited to join other coaching & speaking professionals who are building their authority through podcasting in the Podfluencers Facebook Group and pick up your free download of The Complete Podcast Guest Superstar Framework

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Transcript
John Ball:

If you've ever wondered to yourself, who am I to be an entrepreneur,

John Ball:

a coach, a speaker, or a podcaster?

John Ball:

This episode shows that Even from a completely non-entrepreneurial

John Ball:

background, you can make that change.

John Ball:

This is Podfluence the show that helps you to grow your influence

John Ball:

and income with podcasts.

John Ball:

My name is John Ball and my mission is to help you as a self-employed business

John Ball:

coach or speaker to grow your influence and income now so that you can have

John Ball:

a continuously thriving business.

John Ball:

That said, if you are a personal brand, service-based solopreneur, this

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content can definitely help you too.

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Nicole Baldinu is not just one of the nicest people you

John Ball:

could ever hope to encounter.

John Ball:

She's also a founding partner of Webinar Ninja and the $100 MBA course and

John Ball:

podcast with her husband and co-founder Omar Ze nhom , one of the things I

John Ball:

was particularly interested to get into with Nicole was understanding

John Ball:

more about webinars and using them as a tool to grow your business.

John Ball:

Nicole shares with us some of the best practices and also some of the things

John Ball:

to avoid doing with your webinar.

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she also shares with us why you may want to consider starting your own

John Ball:

podcast, and certainly how her and Omar ended up starting the a hundred dollars

John Ball:

MBA and building that into one of the most downloaded podcasts in the world.

John Ball:

When we recorded this show, I was just coming back from, quite a long hiatus

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from not having recorded any episodes at all and just rebranded the show.

John Ball:

I say that in the hope that you might forgive me, that I was woefully

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under prepared for this interview.

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and the reason I put it out even at the risk of my own embarrassment

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is because Nicole is a high value guest, and she saved the day.

John Ball:

Even with a poor interviewer on this particular episode, you're

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gonna get a lot of value outta the conversation that I had with Nicole.

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So I tried to edit it to make it as cringe free as possible for you to listen

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to so that you get as much of the value that we talked about as you can get.

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That said, if you have your device, your hand right now, do me a solid

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and click the plus button on on Apple Podcast or Spotify or wherever you

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need to press on whichever listening platform you're using to subscribe to

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the show so that you can get weekly updates of Podfluence as they drop.

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For now, pop in your EarPods.

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Let's get started.

John Ball:

Welcome to the show and today on Podfluence, I am very happy to be

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joined by someone who has some, some serious expertise and, some interesting

John Ball:

business ventures that I am looking forward to talking about because they're

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all gonna be very relevant to you.

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If, if you are a coach and a speaker or if you have an expertise based

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personal brand business, this is definitely something you're gonna

John Ball:

be wanting to pay attention to.

John Ball:

So let me formally welcome to the show, Nicole Baldinu.

Nicole Baldinu:

Hey.

Nicole Baldinu:

Hi, Johnny.

John Ball:

Did, did I say your name right you?

Nicole Baldinu:

You did.

Nicole Baldinu:

I think I got really excited when I heard you say my name.

John Ball:

Right.

John Ball:

Look, I've really been looking forward to speaking to you, not just because you are

John Ball:

such a nice person and, and when we had a chat before, I thought you're so nice

John Ball:

and, and I'm really looking forward to having you on the show, but also because

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you are involved in some amazing business.

John Ball:

particularly fascinating to be that you have a, a webinar business.

John Ball:

It's a webinar ninja, is that right?

John Ball:

Correct.

John Ball:

Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu:

Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu:

And it's one of our bus.

John Ball:

Tell us a little bit more about the webinar business

John Ball:

and why you started that.

Nicole Baldinu:

I wasn't always in business.

Nicole Baldinu:

I actually started my career as a teacher, a high school teacher, and I did that

Nicole Baldinu:

for 12 years before going full-time into I'm gonna do something else.

Nicole Baldinu:

I don't know what that something else is gonna be.

Nicole Baldinu:

It turned out to.

Nicole Baldinu:

Entrepreneurship, which led to the a hundred dollars mba and

Nicole Baldinu:

then subsequently Webinar Ninja.

Nicole Baldinu:

That's really in, in, you know, a nutshell how that kind of trajectory led me to

Nicole Baldinu:

Webinar Ninja and I co-founded that with my husband and co-founder Omar.

Nicole Baldinu:

And really the way Webinar Ninja came about was quite early on.

Nicole Baldinu:

I mean, we're talking 2014 now, so it's, you know, at the time there weren't

Nicole Baldinu:

that many other solutions out there.

Nicole Baldinu:

Mm-hmm.

Nicole Baldinu:

, but we had already started the a hundred dollars mba, which

Nicole Baldinu:

at the time initially started.

Nicole Baldinu:

Business training and community for aspiring people to, learn the

Nicole Baldinu:

foundations of business, which I didn't have at that time, like 10 years ago.

Nicole Baldinu:

I did not know anything about business.

Nicole Baldinu:

And I, and I don't mind admitting that cuz I've learned a lot along the way and

Nicole Baldinu:

I'm still learning, but me too, right?

Nicole Baldinu:

Aren't we all?

Nicole Baldinu:

So we had the a hundred dollars mba.

Nicole Baldinu:

We were trying to get new members.

Nicole Baldinu:

So that membership was slowly growing and Omar started running webinars

Nicole Baldinu:

to teach business, to give little workshops and bring in new members

Nicole Baldinu:

to the a hundred dollars mba.

Nicole Baldinu:

And so as I said 2014, there weren't a lot of solutions out there.

Nicole Baldinu:

He's kind of frankensteining bits and pieces together to

Nicole Baldinu:

make it all work each week.

Nicole Baldinu:

And and it was really quite a headache to put those webinars together.

Nicole Baldinu:

So it was really early days.

Nicole Baldinu:

He had a little bit of coding and developing skills that, you know, so he

Nicole Baldinu:

was able to do it, but he thought there's gotta be like a better way to do this.

Nicole Baldinu:

So he did recruit just a freelance developer at the time to help him

Nicole Baldinu:

create a very minimal, viable version of that first version of Webinar Ninja.

Nicole Baldinu:

And when we were running those workshops, I he's teaching these workshops on

Nicole Baldinu:

this thing that he's put together.

Nicole Baldinu:

Somebody on the workshop asked, oh, what are you using to run this webinar?

Nicole Baldinu:

And he just said something, I slapped together.

Nicole Baldinu:

And then the subsequent question was, can I buy it?

John Ball:

Right, of course.

John Ball:

. So that, that makes Exactly.

John Ball:

Cause I think at the time, I mean I was doing webinars at that time

John Ball:

and I think pretty much the only horse in town was go to webinar.

John Ball:

I mean, it was like that, that, or pretty much nothing.

Nicole Baldinu:

The grandfather of the industry.

Nicole Baldinu:

Right.

John Ball:

We always refer to it . Yeah.

John Ball:

Yeah, yeah.

John Ball:

But you know, I, he had its limitations and I'm pretty sure it still does as well.

Nicole Baldinu:

Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu:

I think I haven't checked it out recently.

Nicole Baldinu:

But I mean, I don't want thing

John Ball:

to have changed

John Ball:

. Nicole Baldinu: One one.

John Ball:

I know, and one thing, you know, one thing that Ira and I have kind of abided

John Ball:

by and is that we know how hard it is to build a software, so it's right.

John Ball:

I don't wanna ever badmouth any other in the competition or cuz I just

John Ball:

know how incredibly difficult it is.

John Ball:

But yeah, I'm sure I actually don't even know if it still exists

John Ball:

, John Ball: so.

John Ball:

Oh, do you know it?

John Ball:

It's been so long, but there, there's I guess most people are kind of D Zoom.

John Ball:

I think they are still around.

John Ball:

I'm pretty sure I've been on some webinars with people who are still using them.

John Ball:

Yeah.

John Ball:

But.

John Ball:

Yeah, I mean, certainly they don't have necessarily the functionality

John Ball:

that a lot of people might want or at least they didn't.

John Ball:

I couldn't say now.

John Ball:

It's been so long since I checked them out.

John Ball:

So what were the sort of things that you were able to do differently?

Nicole Baldinu:

I think we wanted to create as former teachers, so both er and

Nicole Baldinu:

I, were former high school teachers before we turned to full-time entrepreneurship.

Nicole Baldinu:

That interactive element that, the less of the one-sided, just, transmitting

Nicole Baldinu:

information and not getting anything back was something that, we wanted

Nicole Baldinu:

to replicate in the online space.

Nicole Baldinu:

Right.

Nicole Baldinu:

In having, Back and forth, whether it was a, an interactive chat, a way

Nicole Baldinu:

to ask questions, polls, all of that.

Nicole Baldinu:

So we're really looking at when building webinar ninja and all the

Nicole Baldinu:

different iterations of it, always looking to how can we maximize the

Nicole Baldinu:

interactivity and the engagement and the participation of people who are on there.

Nicole Baldinu:

Because, know, like really it kind of became this thing where, you

Nicole Baldinu:

know, a live webinar was the next best thing to an in-person event.

Nicole Baldinu:

And of course we saw, over the pandemic how critical these solutions became when

Nicole Baldinu:

people couldn't meet in-person anymore.

John Ball:

Yeah.

John Ball:

Yeah, definitely.

John Ball:

I think well, I mean, zoom has clearly increased in value during that time

John Ball:

and, uh, to a point where I know a lot of people still have some Zoom fatigue

John Ball:

from from the pandemic and stuff, but so many people were scrambling mm-hmm.

John Ball:

to transition their businesses.

John Ball:

Yes, online who had been mainly sort of in person, face-to-face

John Ball:

kind of things, and now suddenly had to have an online presence.

John Ball:

Now some people did that very swiftly.

John Ball:

And smoothly at best.

John Ball:

For some people it wasn't quite so easy.

John Ball:

Were you able to help some people make that kind of

John Ball:

transition with their business?

Nicole Baldinu:

That was what was really interesting and one of the challenges,

Nicole Baldinu:

to be honest, because we did end up having customers who were very new, were

Nicole Baldinu:

trying to make that swift transition and frankly, we were desperate to get

Nicole Baldinu:

their business and their services and their offerings online so that they

Nicole Baldinu:

could continue to keep the lights.

Nicole Baldinu:

So you were dealing with customers who again, were, they were used to

Nicole Baldinu:

maybe the zoom, the meeting aspect of Zoom with being able to see everyone

Nicole Baldinu:

versus, oh, this is different because this is more like a one to many stream.

Nicole Baldinu:

So you had to there was that element of education and getting people familiar

Nicole Baldinu:

with what's the difference between a meeting software and a webinar platform.

Nicole Baldinu:

So there was that aspect And, there was obviously those businesses that

Nicole Baldinu:

were very physical, karate studios, dance studios, fitness instructors

Nicole Baldinu:

that were trying to make their whole offering work with tools like ours.

Nicole Baldinu:

and some of those really struggled because they have so much

Nicole Baldinu:

feedback from, you the people that they're working with, obviously.

Nicole Baldinu:

And then there were some really interesting case studies and businesses

Nicole Baldinu:

that were very much in person.

Nicole Baldinu:

And I'm thinking of one in particular, Cass, who's runs a

Nicole Baldinu:

fashion styling, personal styling business next level wardrobe.

Nicole Baldinu:

she's a fashion consultant.

Nicole Baldinu:

She does in-person styling.

Nicole Baldinu:

She shops with her clients.

Nicole Baldinu:

And when everything's shut down, what was she going to do right?

Nicole Baldinu:

And it was really interesting to see her business evolve and her offering

Nicole Baldinu:

evolve when she started delivering webinars, teaching all the fundamentals

Nicole Baldinu:

of fashion and, styling and all of that.

Nicole Baldinu:

And then at the end, offering people to work more with her one-on-one

Nicole Baldinu:

and she was able to continue.

Nicole Baldinu:

And a lot of that A lot of her business still, depends on bringing in new

Nicole Baldinu:

people via webinars and, and continuing to serve people all over the world.

Nicole Baldinu:

So it's really, it's an interesting time.

Nicole Baldinu:

It was a really interesting time.

John Ball:

De definitely I know for me, I mean, I've been doing

John Ball:

webinars I think since around 2011, something like that.

John Ball:

So I, it wasn't a big transition for me.

John Ball:

It was out of something I was already doing.

Nicole Baldinu:

What were you, t what were you.

Nicole Baldinu:

Doing webinars.

Nicole Baldinu:

I mean, you could teach me like 2011.

Nicole Baldinu:

Wait a second.

Nicole Baldinu:

No.

Nicole Baldinu:

Who's the expert here?

Nicole Baldinu:

. John Ball: Well, I don't know if I

Nicole Baldinu:

is interesting, but and certainly experienced in delivering them.

Nicole Baldinu:

No, because I've worked with T Harv Eker since around that time.

Nicole Baldinu:

Okay.

Nicole Baldinu:

In, as an online coach and trainer with them they had me, so I was initially

Nicole Baldinu:

doing go to webinar stuff with them.

Nicole Baldinu:

and then we transitioned when the industry standard became a bit more like

Nicole Baldinu:

you should be seen on video and mm-hmm.

Nicole Baldinu:

We switched everything over to Zoom, but you know mm-hmm.

Nicole Baldinu:

, I had to learn, not just learn how to work with the technology, but also to

Nicole Baldinu:

be able to deliver in a way that was gonna be interesting and engaging.

Nicole Baldinu:

Uh, Especially with, if you know how someone who is quite passionate about

Nicole Baldinu:

what he does and he's very key in that his coaches and trainers have

Nicole Baldinu:

kind of passion and excitement with people as well.

Nicole Baldinu:

So yeah, there was some experience there, but I certainly still wouldn't

Nicole Baldinu:

call myself a webinar expert.

Nicole Baldinu:

I still learned so much about this subject from so many other people all the time and

Nicole Baldinu:

something Oh, yeah I'm the, I'm no expert.

Nicole Baldinu:

I'm just experienced . Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu:

That's just, that's the best I can say.

Nicole Baldinu:

makes you an expert to me.

Nicole Baldinu:

That's awesome.

Nicole Baldinu:

Yeah.

John Ball:

Ki kind of, kind of, but, but that brings me to an

John Ball:

interesting thing here because.

John Ball:

Delivering webinars, if we even call them webinars.

John Ball:

A lot of people now are saying, don't call them webinars because

John Ball:

people are sick of hearing webinars.

John Ball:

You, is that, have you come across that?

Nicole Baldinu:

Yeah, there's definitely like, a bit of, like we talked about

Nicole Baldinu:

before, a zoom fatigue or a cookie cutter approach that started to emerge.

Nicole Baldinu:

And so you feel like, okay, there, there has to be an evolution, there

Nicole Baldinu:

has to be an innovation in the industry because eventually a lot of

Nicole Baldinu:

these things can have a shelf life.

Nicole Baldinu:

they'll have to evolve into something that's.

Nicole Baldinu:

More interesting, more exciting, something new for audiences to consume.

Nicole Baldinu:

So definitely the use of the word webinar is interesting.

Nicole Baldinu:

And I find that too because we have users all over the world

Nicole Baldinu:

who speak different languages.

Nicole Baldinu:

It was interesting when they're wanting to customize their

Nicole Baldinu:

registration pages, their landing pages, they may wanna change the word.

Nicole Baldinu:

And it, it made so much sense.

Nicole Baldinu:

Like it's totally understandable.

Nicole Baldinu:

They're not everyone who's gonna understand this word.

Nicole Baldinu:

or then masterclass became a popular way of referring to these workshops.

Nicole Baldinu:

And I think just people adopt these different ways of, calling a workshop

Nicole Baldinu:

a lesson or an online presentation.

Nicole Baldinu:

I think whatever's on trend and whatever's kind of understandable.

Nicole Baldinu:

So I definitely saw that transition from webinar to masterclass recently happened

John Ball:

too, but, Yeah, I've seen a lot of more groups saying masterclass

John Ball:

or event or things like that.

John Ball:

. Yeah for sure.

John Ball:

And I get it.

John Ball:

Just, you know, in, when you're doing it in the industry, you want

John Ball:

to, you wanna call it a webinar, you wanna say, oh, it's, it's webinar.

John Ball:

But when you're titling it for marketing and stuff made, Be not

John Ball:

but I see plenty of people who still do that and it's not a problem.

John Ball:

So I'm not convinced it's such a big issue.

John Ball:

And some people, yeah, some people are claiming it to be like, I see

John Ball:

Pat Flynn for example, still using webinar and it's like, it doesn't

John Ball:

seem to affect his business.

John Ball:

So, and I think people will still look, look for the value there,

John Ball:

but how valuable are webinar?

John Ball:

For coaching and speaking businesses to be able to get additional business?

John Ball:

Or, I mean, what kind of uses are uh, do you see people

John Ball:

mainly going for with them now?

Nicole Baldinu:

Yeah, I see that I, I suppose by thinking of our u custom, like

Nicole Baldinu:

our users directly they're wanting to.

Nicole Baldinu:

Get more clients attract more potential clients.

Nicole Baldinu:

So, being able to deliver something online on mass at scale like that and get, as

Nicole Baldinu:

as many people, opted in and interested as they can, is, definitely a very

Nicole Baldinu:

effective way to demonstrate what they know, how they can help build that trust.

Nicole Baldinu:

That, that kind, that trust that you really do

Nicole Baldinu:

get and see when it is a live webinar especially.

Nicole Baldinu:

So it.

Nicole Baldinu:

We've definitely seen coaches, be able to deliver and teach, what they

Nicole Baldinu:

know and give incredible value and leave people watching with that desire

Nicole Baldinu:

to learn more, want to have more.

Nicole Baldinu:

Exposure, direct contact, directly work with the person.

Nicole Baldinu:

So if they're done well, if they're that, and if that presentation is

Nicole Baldinu:

effective, then that's what you want.

Nicole Baldinu:

You, you can only cover so much in 45 minutes to an hour.

Nicole Baldinu:

And so that leaving that desire to continue the conversation

Nicole Baldinu:

further is, you know, done very effectively with a webinar.

John Ball:

Yeah.

John Ball:

So that does lead me to asking you what in your opinion, makes a good webinar?

Nicole Baldinu:

There's a lot of things.

Nicole Baldinu:

There's that participation, the same thing that would happen really on stage

Nicole Baldinu:

as well, if you were giving a talk on stage, asking for that feedback, asking

Nicole Baldinu:

for so quick participation, whether it's, the simple, the things that we

Nicole Baldinu:

know are pretty common in the space.

Nicole Baldinu:

Tell me where you're tuning in from.

Nicole Baldinu:

What's something that you're here to learn today?

Nicole Baldinu:

Like, why are you here today?

Nicole Baldinu:

Type in the chat.

Nicole Baldinu:

So that constant re-engagement and very, and what I see really good hosts do is ask

Nicole Baldinu:

very short questions and quick questions that just ex elicit a very rapid fire.

Nicole Baldinu:

Just type, you know, give me an emoji and you just see the chat blowing up

Nicole Baldinu:

with all these emojis when you know.

Nicole Baldinu:

They ask a very simple question.

Nicole Baldinu:

And so just that constant re-engagement with the, and being aware that because

Nicole Baldinu:

you are delivering, and you would know this from your experience, right?

Nicole Baldinu:

You are delivering content via a screen.

Nicole Baldinu:

Your energy has to be taken up a few notches.

Nicole Baldinu:

And so those kind of presentation skills come.

Nicole Baldinu:

Everything from like EF effective slides and you know,

Nicole Baldinu:

the visuals are on the screen.

Nicole Baldinu:

Again, same thing if you're in person.

Nicole Baldinu:

Being mindful of all of those ti all of those things is still really

Nicole Baldinu:

important in with the webinar.

John Ball:

I mean, uh, the story, a little story I'll share with you,

John Ball:

, that when I first started doing these webinars, and I'm saying about how

John Ball:

Harv likes to have passionate trainers, we have good energy so half, and his

John Ball:

partner, Michelle would listen to.

John Ball:

Calls they'd be on like some training webinars with me, and at

John Ball:

the end I'd get the feedback like, The energy's just not there yet.

John Ball:

It's just not there.

John Ball:

And, and I'm thinking, but I'm really, I'm really working on it.

John Ball:

I feel like I'm cranking enough.

John Ball:

. Yeah.

John Ball:

I feel like I'm really delivering a super energy level.

John Ball:

If I go much higher than this, I'm gonna blow people's brain barrier.

John Ball:

You know?

John Ball:

It's like, I, I didn't want, I was a bit concerned about that.

John Ball:

But you know, they're saying no, you have to get the energy higher.

John Ball:

You have to get the the excitement and the enthusiasm turn down, just add up more.

John Ball:

We wanna see that.

John Ball:

And if you can't, and if you can't do it, we will find someone who can.

John Ball:

Okay.

John Ball:

And.

John Ball:

. And so that sounds really harsh, but it was exactly what I needed to hear.

John Ball:

It is like, okay, this is not an option.

John Ball:

If I can't do it, I'm out.

John Ball:

Mm-hmm.

John Ball:

, so, uh, no.

John Ball:

So I have to, I have to make sure I can do this.

John Ball:

And so I really, really pushed myself to do it.

John Ball:

And yeah, it, it was absolutely right to say that because I, I think, bring

John Ball:

up a great point that the energy you have to bring is a little bit different.

John Ball:

Like even as a speaker, you have to bring a good energy, a high energy, But if you

John Ball:

come too high energy people are going to probably get bit turned off by it, right?

John Ball:

Yes.

John Ball:

We, we don't, yeah, we tend to find that a bit too, a bit overpowering.

John Ball:

Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu:

Yes, I agree with you there.

Nicole Baldinu:

And I definitely think, and I think I took this from teaching days as

Nicole Baldinu:

well, you know, there's that kind of modulation or you know, if, if

Nicole Baldinu:

you're al, if you're up here the whole time, like you said, it's exhausting.

Nicole Baldinu:

And when the energy's too low and it's continuous, that.

Nicole Baldinu:

That's a snooze fest.

Nicole Baldinu:

No one wants to hang around for that.

Nicole Baldinu:

So definitely being mindful of those moments in your presentation

Nicole Baldinu:

where you are much more high energy when you can bring it down.

Nicole Baldinu:

If it's something more serious or if you're sharing a personal story, maybe

Nicole Baldinu:

being a little bit vulnerable, just like in person that, the, the sentiment

Nicole Baldinu:

behind your voice is gonna change.

Nicole Baldinu:

And I think that variation, that variety needs to be

Nicole Baldinu:

present in a, in a presentation

John Ball:

as.

John Ball:

Yeah, I do think you have to bring some performance energy to, to these

John Ball:

things because there is a, because such a performance level to it.

John Ball:

I, I wonder what o other than maybe energy issues, what perhaps are some of

John Ball:

the pitfalls or mistakes that are quite common for people to make in going into

John Ball:

webinars, things like, and not being able to maybe get people on them or

John Ball:

not, not, uh, running them effectively.

John Ball:

What, what have you seen?

Nicole Baldinu:

I mean, Being, um, the title, like what the, what

Nicole Baldinu:

we refer to as like the promise.

Nicole Baldinu:

Being very clear on and, and creating a very effective title that really

Nicole Baldinu:

gives the person who's registering for that webinar a very clear indication

Nicole Baldinu:

of like, what am I signing up for?

Nicole Baldinu:

Because, you know, giving your email, giving up your time nowadays, you

Nicole Baldinu:

can't take that for granted anymore.

Nicole Baldinu:

Right?

Nicole Baldinu:

So they really need to know what's, what's in it for them.

Nicole Baldinu:

So I think a lot of the times, you know what, we spend a lot of

Nicole Baldinu:

time, I must spend a lot of time teaching is, you know, making sure.

Nicole Baldinu:

, whatever you promise, whatever that title is, you can actually accomplish

Nicole Baldinu:

that in that time of the webinar.

Nicole Baldinu:

It's, it's like when you're, I dunno if you've ever been on stage and you've

Nicole Baldinu:

seen a speaker just flick through slides and go, oh, I don't have time

Nicole Baldinu:

for that, don't have time for that.

Nicole Baldinu:

Like, that can be effective.

Nicole Baldinu:

That can be a sales technique or a reason for doing that, but really

Nicole Baldinu:

you, you want that timing to be right so that the person, the, the people

Nicole Baldinu:

watching and the people attending feel like, oh, I've really what I

Nicole Baldinu:

came, what I, what I showed up for.

Nicole Baldinu:

I got that.

Nicole Baldinu:

I got even more maybe through that AFI that, you know, rapport with

Nicole Baldinu:

the host, that interaction, that participation, they get a little

Nicole Baldinu:

bit more than what they expected.

Nicole Baldinu:

Um, so being really clear and what you can deliver in that time, and making sure

Nicole Baldinu:

that you do deliver and get that feedback.

Nicole Baldinu:

Like, did you guys get what you came for?

Nicole Baldinu:

Um, yeah, let me, let me know.

Nicole Baldinu:

I'd say that's one of the things, you know, and I think a lot of the times

Nicole Baldinu:

that I think I've been guilty of this, Maybe in your webinars as well where

Nicole Baldinu:

you wanna give as much value as possible and it's very overwhelming, right?

Nicole Baldinu:

Like we, it comes from a good place, right?

Nicole Baldinu:

Comes from a good place cuz you wanna share as much as you can.

Nicole Baldinu:

But being mindful, especially when someone's on the other

Nicole Baldinu:

side of a screen that.

Nicole Baldinu:

It's really only so much they can, listen to for, you know, a certain amount of time

Nicole Baldinu:

and you really want them to take action.

Nicole Baldinu:

So I think being mindful of like, what, what are they actually gonna do

Nicole Baldinu:

with the, the content that I've given them and being really clear on that.

Nicole Baldinu:

And sometimes I think it's just an information dump.

John Ball:

I think a lot of people go that way.

John Ball:

You know, I, I've . I've been in, in the Toastmasters organization for a

John Ball:

long time, and I not currently, but you know, from, for the, from my time

John Ball:

with them, it has been very valuable to to also do an opportunity to get the

John Ball:

help people who are developing their speaking and training skills as well.

John Ball:

Which, you learn so much yourself when you're helping other

John Ball:

people to do these things too.

John Ball:

And so you are getting developed by people who are higher level than you every.

John Ball:

. Everyone's lifting each other up there.

John Ball:

I love that environment.

John Ball:

And one of the things, one of the things I see so often with people, especially

John Ball:

newer speakers which they would likely do in webinars or podcasts, whatever is the

John Ball:

information dump is like, oh, they just wanna teach to share all this information.

John Ball:

They've done all this research.

John Ball:

It's like, so I'm gonna give you everything I researched like that.

John Ball:

That's great, but it's too much.

John Ball:

Yeah.

John Ball:

And, as Joe, we don't love that.

John Ball:

We don't just want information, information, information because

John Ball:

you won't remember it afterwards.

John Ball:

Mm-hmm.

John Ball:

, if you take, even if you take great notes, you probably won't

John Ball:

remember much of it afterwards.

John Ball:

And so you are right is such some simple bits of information, two

John Ball:

or three points delivered clearly.

John Ball:

Mm-hmm.

John Ball:

, and explained well with.

John Ball:

How, and some action to take afterwards.

John Ball:

And so people are clear on what to do with that information is far more valuable

John Ball:

than just a whole load of information that you can pick and choose from.

John Ball:

And so that's true in webinars.

John Ball:

It's true in podcasts, it's true in public speaking.

John Ball:

It's like just, it's just avoiding that desire to ote and to yes, over

John Ball:

teach and to be coaching and sharing everything, you know, and you can't

John Ball:

pass everything off all at once.

John Ball:

And nor.

John Ball:

Being effective is more important.

Nicole Baldinu:

Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu:

And sh and having and knowing there's that balance of showing

Nicole Baldinu:

them that you care, right?

Nicole Baldinu:

Like they're there for a reason.

Nicole Baldinu:

You're there to share something that they're really hungry for.

Nicole Baldinu:

They really wanna know.

Nicole Baldinu:

It's gonna help them overcome a problem, a challenge.

Nicole Baldinu:

Whatever it is.

Nicole Baldinu:

And so investing in that time, as as much as you wanna give, as much information

Nicole Baldinu:

as you can in actually showing that you are there to help and care, that's

Nicole Baldinu:

gonna create so much more of a, a rapport and, you know, a trust in the

Nicole Baldinu:

person who's delivering the content.

John Ball:

That I think is super important, and I'm glad you brought that

John Ball:

because we hear it over and over again.

John Ball:

It's been discussed on this show in its previous iteration, a number, a

John Ball:

number of times about how important it is to show that you care.

John Ball:

and there, there were a lot of people who were quite cynical of coaching

John Ball:

and motivational speaking and things that, because there have been people

John Ball:

in the industry and for a while there was quite a lot of them, who

John Ball:

we might call them, I mean, Mike Winnet calls them contrapreneurs.

John Ball:

Uh uh, we might.

John Ball:

We might call them sharks or whatever, but people who are, maybe they're

John Ball:

just in it for what they can get.

John Ball:

And they want your money and they don't really care about you.

John Ball:

And that's been very clear.

John Ball:

They have the slick sales.

John Ball:

They have the image, they have the videos with the private jets

John Ball:

and the Ferrari . Why Ralph?

John Ball:

Think of a few . Yeah.

John Ball:

But they don't care about you.

John Ball:

And, and what you see is what I see.

John Ball:

Far more people want to see that and feel that connection.

John Ball:

Mm-hmm.

John Ball:

with the people who are selling to them.

John Ball:

So whilst I don't think we've completely moved away from the people who are

John Ball:

more perhaps of themselves are more cynical about their approach to this.

John Ball:

Just getting money outta the people in the industry, the.

John Ball:

People who are really caring and showing that they care.

John Ball:

I see.

John Ball:

Doing much better now.

John Ball:

Yes.

John Ball:

And that, that's great to see . Yeah.

John Ball:

For, for me, that's great to see it.

John Ball:

Yeah.

John Ball:

I think for consumers as well, I the connection part is super important

John Ball:

and hopefully that carries out into other parts of our lives as well.

John Ball:

Yeah.

John Ball:

That would be nice to think that it does.

John Ball:

Ah,

Nicole Baldinu:

yeah.

Nicole Baldinu:

No, I, and you said the word connection a couple of times

Nicole Baldinu:

and what's interesting in, in.

Nicole Baldinu:

All the webinars that we've done and people showing up to them

Nicole Baldinu:

is that you see the same people showing up again and again.

Nicole Baldinu:

Right.

Nicole Baldinu:

And there's a reason why they're doing that.

Nicole Baldinu:

It's because, they're still, Working on that trust, they're still wanting

Nicole Baldinu:

a little bit more time to connect with you and to learn more, and to build

Nicole Baldinu:

that trust with the person who's on the other side selling or whatever.

Nicole Baldinu:

And so those moments of connection are really important to keep in mind

Nicole Baldinu:

as you're delivering your content.

John Ball:

Yeah.

John Ball:

The you, you mentioned something earlier and I do, I feel like I need to come

John Ball:

back to it because I'm pretty sure our listener will be, I maybe just

John Ball:

listening to this and Kim, is he just gonna leave that out on the table there

John Ball:

and not come back to it or mention it?

John Ball:

And he's not, he's gonna come back to it now.

John Ball:

The hundred dollars N b a tell, tell me a little bit about that.

Nicole Baldinu:

So, the a hundred dollars m v is now a podcast, the hundred dollars

Nicole Baldinu:

N v Show podcast, but it started out as a online business training and community.

Nicole Baldinu:

So, Done a little bit of a stint at Wharton Business School because he

Nicole Baldinu:

wanted to be a great entrepreneur.

Nicole Baldinu:

But his, on his marketing professor said, well, what are you doing here?

Nicole Baldinu:

You don't get an MBA to, to be an entrepreneur, you don't need it.

Nicole Baldinu:

And so he'd already had a lot of experience side hustling

Nicole Baldinu:

while he was in teaching.

Nicole Baldinu:

And so the a hundred dollars N B A came out of just, let's teach the fundamental.

Nicole Baldinu:

not me.

Nicole Baldinu:

He was teaching the fundamentals of business.

Nicole Baldinu:

At the time, I had no idea about business.

Nicole Baldinu:

I knew nothing about business.

Nicole Baldinu:

Let's teach the fundamentals of business for a hundred dollars, like make it

Nicole Baldinu:

really accessible so that people can just get started and specifically

Nicole Baldinu:

start an online business, but also had, just fundamental business advice.

Nicole Baldinu:

And so we created this community.

Nicole Baldinu:

At the time I had very rudimentary film skills and so I was shooting

Nicole Baldinu:

the videos, editing the videos and put, and they were up on the.

Nicole Baldinu:

And we ran that for a while before we launched a podcast with the same name.

Nicole Baldinu:

And now the podcast is the primary focus of the a hundred dollars MBA

Nicole Baldinu:

and published over 2000 episodes.

John Ball:

Oh, wow.

John Ball:

That is a lot of podcast episodes.

John Ball:

Yeah.

John Ball:

And, and so, It's the kind of thing I hear, I'm hearing that.

John Ball:

I'm thinking I wish I had known about that when I, when these kinds of

John Ball:

things when I started out in business.

John Ball:

Although maybe, I don't know if your podcast is around when I started out,

John Ball:

but but that's the kind of stuff I think.

John Ball:

Yeah.

John Ball:

I didn't know.

John Ball:

You don't know what you don't know.

John Ball:

Right.

John Ball:

And like yourself.

John Ball:

And I came from, I, I was a flight attendant for 12 years.

John Ball:

Wow.

John Ball:

So, you know, it's like, I, I did not come into the world of business

John Ball:

having the first clue about mm-hmm.

John Ball:

, how to run a business or anything like that.

John Ball:

And so it was a bumpy, a bumpy ride to say the least.

Nicole Baldinu:

No, you've used that one before, haven't you?

Nicole Baldinu:

That's a good one.

Nicole Baldinu:

I like that.

John Ball:

Was trying to put it in, in sort of terminology

John Ball:

that isn't too extreme.

John Ball:

But but yeah, definitely it was a challenging part to take.

John Ball:

And yeah, now I know that, at the time you think sometimes when you're

John Ball:

getting started out, you think you have to bootstrap everything.

John Ball:

You end up Scott having a blindfold on in a dark room and pointing a stick

John Ball:

to try and find the light switch.

Nicole Baldinu:

Yeah, . And like similar as a flight attendant.

Nicole Baldinu:

I would imagine it was similar to me being in teaching.

Nicole Baldinu:

You're surrounded by people in the.

Nicole Baldinu:

Job in the same career, right?

Nicole Baldinu:

And so when as soon as you step into entrepreneurship, you realize, oh,

Nicole Baldinu:

I need to actually meet different people, talk to different people,

Nicole Baldinu:

have different conversations, and then you realize, that, oh, it's through

Nicole Baldinu:

them that I can learn so much from.

Nicole Baldinu:

But you don't have that experience when you're coming from, a career like.

Nicole Baldinu:

A flight attendant or teaching

John Ball:

r Really, really you don't, but I do think, the world

John Ball:

generally doesn't seem to set people up for entrepreneurship anyway.

John Ball:

Yeah.

John Ball:

And so most of us are almost conditioned to go into the kinds

John Ball:

of roles that, that we did.

John Ball:

Mm-hmm.

John Ball:

, thing you ha you're supposed to get a job.

John Ball:

You should know if your skills are with customers and people do customer

John Ball:

service or if your skills are in teaching and you work well with

John Ball:

young people going into teaching.

John Ball:

You know, it is all those kinds of things.

John Ball:

Like you, you have to find your box to fit into mm-hmm.

John Ball:

In the working environment, but that you don't really hear that many people

John Ball:

talking about actually starting your own business as a way to secure your future.

John Ball:

That's always like, oh, that's risky, and that's.

John Ball:

The, the begin, but I, no, I think people if Covid has taught us anything

John Ball:

is that no job is secure , right?

John Ball:

No.

John Ball:

Nobody has that sort of job for life or security that you can hope for.

John Ball:

And I realized that quite early on with the, my job in the airline industry.

John Ball:

The opportunity was being taken away.

John Ball:

As things were being restructured in the business.

John Ball:

Everything was all about cost saving and.

John Ball:

Whilst I got to the point where it's time to go.

John Ball:

It, it's really time to go.

John Ball:

And now I'm glad I did, but I just wish I'd been more prepared for it.

John Ball:

May maybe you feel the same thing, or maybe that's part of where.

John Ball:

Hundred dollars n b came from for you as to yeah, you just need to know this stuff.

Nicole Baldinu:

Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu:

I just, I, I laugh at the fact that I, at myself when, and in 2012 when I'm

Nicole Baldinu:

seeing Omar create blog posts for the a hundred man, like, what's a blog post?

Nicole Baldinu:

What's the blog like?

Nicole Baldinu:

I was just completely removed from this world of business and.

Nicole Baldinu:

I think what I ended up, the small stint when I transitioned out of teaching, I

Nicole Baldinu:

went through film school, very short stint at film school, picked up some skills,

Nicole Baldinu:

started freelancing as a videographer, and then pretty much, nine months later

Nicole Baldinu:

I was already working with Imar and Will building the a hundred dollars mba.

Nicole Baldinu:

But I just learned in that time that what the confidence that it gave me

Nicole Baldinu:

was that I, when I joined, when I went to film school, I didn't even

Nicole Baldinu:

know how to use a camera really.

Nicole Baldinu:

I didn't know all the fancy settings.

Nicole Baldinu:

Aperture and all of that stuff that I learned, I had no idea.

Nicole Baldinu:

Like I started at zero and I saw that very quickly.

Nicole Baldinu:

Like in four weeks I was able to learn, a solid amount to get me started, to get

Nicole Baldinu:

me start starting to work with clients.

Nicole Baldinu:

And that just really gave you the confidence that in, short amount

Nicole Baldinu:

of time, you could pick up the skills that you need and you can

Nicole Baldinu:

start applying them right away.

Nicole Baldinu:

You.

Nicole Baldinu:

Make, a mess of everything that you do for the first time.

Nicole Baldinu:

Like my first work was just embarrassing, but I proved I got better and I

Nicole Baldinu:

applied that philosophy and that mindset as my mindset developed in,

Nicole Baldinu:

throughout the entrepreneurship journey.

Nicole Baldinu:

And yeah, within 10, 10 years on still around it's

Nicole Baldinu:

, John Ball: which in itself

Nicole Baldinu:

Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu:

Many people do not go that long in their business.

Nicole Baldinu:

So it's a testament to what you've been doing.

Nicole Baldinu:

How much or how important has the podcast been as part of that business success?

Nicole Baldinu:

It's been huge.

Nicole Baldinu:

. It's been huge.

Nicole Baldinu:

I think what I've also realized through the podcast and what I saw

Nicole Baldinu:

that Omar was trying to do was really building an audience is incredible.

Nicole Baldinu:

It's an incredible.

Nicole Baldinu:

Asset to have so that you can then continue to, create more service a

Nicole Baldinu:

product and offering that, people who were already committed to you have trust,

Nicole Baldinu:

in you would, might be willing to buy.

Nicole Baldinu:

So, the podcast, was launched in 2014.

Nicole Baldinu:

We were very fortunate.

Nicole Baldinu:

To be awarded, best of iTunes that year.

Nicole Baldinu:

So that was a, a huge accomplishment.

Nicole Baldinu:

Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu:

And that set us up for, okay this, because there was a failed podcast before that.

Nicole Baldinu:

So , we'd learn some hard, we learned some hard lessons before that one.

Nicole Baldinu:

But when, the a hundred R N B A really took off, it had legs.

Nicole Baldinu:

We realized, okay, this is working.

Nicole Baldinu:

This, we found, our voice and we found something that really works.

Nicole Baldinu:

That opened up, the opportunities for not just revenue and sponsorship,

Nicole Baldinu:

but speaking engagements.

Nicole Baldinu:

It's a huge marketing channel for Webinar Ninja, sharing stories, webinar

Nicole Baldinu:

Ninja gives a lot of content, to, to share on the podcast, but it also

Nicole Baldinu:

brings customers to webinar as well.

Nicole Baldinu:

So

John Ball:

That's great.

John Ball:

I love that.

John Ball:

I mean, I don't.

John Ball:

I'm not necessarily the current person says like everyone who

John Ball:

is sort of a coach or speaker or trainer should have a podcast, but.

John Ball:

I mean, , I feel, I feel like they should.

John Ball:

I think it's a good thing to have because one, one of the things that

John Ball:

I see, and, and I get people actually contacting me about this as well

John Ball:

which is that I'm always welcome to contact from people as well.

John Ball:

Just if anyone's thinking, oh, can we contact John or Nicole?

John Ball:

Like, yeah, you can reach out to us.

John Ball:

We may people, we'll, we'll fit it.

John Ball:

So I've had people contact me about that.

John Ball:

They're trying to be on all these different channels.

John Ball:

They're trying to do all.

John Ball:

Have content everywhere because that's what they think they're supposed to do

John Ball:

and I think part of it is, Part of it is they see some of the bigger players

John Ball:

doing that and don't necessarily realize that there's a whole team of people

John Ball:

usually who are doing that and they've had to build up to that they haven't

John Ball:

just started necessarily with that.

John Ball:

But also, There are some people out there who are teaching that

John Ball:

they need to be everywhere and be churning it out all the time as well.

John Ball:

And I do think it's a recipe for burnout for most people.

John Ball:

Yes.

John Ball:

And if not burnout, at least just disappointment.

John Ball:

And sending them to quitting earlier.

John Ball:

Yeah.

John Ball:

If you're trying to do too much, what do you think?

John Ball:

What would be your advice to people in that situation?

Nicole Baldinu:

Yeah, that's such a good, like, I've been

Nicole Baldinu:

thinking about this a lot because.

Nicole Baldinu:

I've been thinking about how I've been, I have a very much a love

Nicole Baldinu:

hate relationship with social media.

Nicole Baldinu:

. I feel like it's this, one of these, like, it's this necessary evil.

Nicole Baldinu:

It's a necessary

John Ball:

evil.

John Ball:

Yes.

John Ball:

Right?

Nicole Baldinu:

and, and I was reminded of it the other day when I was talking

Nicole Baldinu:

to Kate on the podcast actually, and she said, oh, you guys have done so well.

Nicole Baldinu:

I always remember that you just thought, social media's not our thing.

Nicole Baldinu:

We're not doing.

Nicole Baldinu:

and, and it's true, like we, when we launched the podcast, it was because

Nicole Baldinu:

we really believed in the medium.

Nicole Baldinu:

Like we saw people have, had success.

Nicole Baldinu:

But we also saw this is a great, it's a bit more long form.

Nicole Baldinu:

It's a way to really deliver and.

Nicole Baldinu:

Give a lot of value and connect with an audience, connect with the

Nicole Baldinu:

listener in a very intimate way.

Nicole Baldinu:

And so we just really fell in love.

Nicole Baldinu:

I'm with you when you say everyone should have a podcast, right?

Nicole Baldinu:

Because it is such a great medium.

Nicole Baldinu:

And then, but it takes time, right?

Nicole Baldinu:

It takes a long time to to be consistent.

Nicole Baldinu:

It takes that commitment.

Nicole Baldinu:

A lot of people do give up early.

Nicole Baldinu:

And so I think what I'm, what I see now, like what I've seen you.

Nicole Baldinu:

All the social media platforms that have come out and all the different

Nicole Baldinu:

ways to connect with your audience.

Nicole Baldinu:

I almost feel like that influencer model is almost trying to cut through

Nicole Baldinu:

and fast track or shortcut to what is something that takes quite a

Nicole Baldinu:

long time and actually takes a lot.

Nicole Baldinu:

Creating a podcast takes a lot of thought.

Nicole Baldinu:

It takes time.

Nicole Baldinu:

There's a whole process behind it, and there's not to discourage anyone, but

Nicole Baldinu:

I think the product you get in the, at the end, It is, it's quite special.

Nicole Baldinu:

And I, I don't know what it's like to go on a Facebook Live

Nicole Baldinu:

or turn, or an Instagram live.

Nicole Baldinu:

I'm sure that, has a lot of value as well.

Nicole Baldinu:

But I think there is that pressure of trying to be everywhere, and it's

Nicole Baldinu:

just like, why don't you just choose one, two mediums that you know you

Nicole Baldinu:

really wanna double down on and really get traction there before you start.

Nicole Baldinu:

When you, when you get traction, when you have the budget, you can bring on a team.

Nicole Baldinu:

You can bring on the team to

John Ball:

help you exactly that.

John Ball:

Yeah, exactly that.

John Ball:

I, I was chatting to somebody just yesterday who who was said to me,

John Ball:

He's talking about podcasting.

John Ball:

And he's saying that, oh, I said, what you been doing?

John Ball:

He said, I've been doing all these lives and stuff, and said, yeah, I

John Ball:

did that to you, but I wasn't really getting any much traction with it.

John Ball:

Like people saying, oh, go live all the time and you'll

John Ball:

get builders, huge audience.

John Ball:

And I was like, I'm sorry it didn't.

John Ball:

No, it did not happen for me.

John Ball:

Uh, and this guy's saying yes, same for me.

John Ball:

I'm going, going live at the time and feel like it's a lot of pumped energy into it

John Ball:

and it's also kind of lost afterwards.

John Ball:

And there's, the thing is like people are generally not gonna go back and watch your

John Ball:

old lives on replay, , on social media.

John Ball:

No, possibly, unless it's really valuable information, they're probably

John Ball:

not gonna watch replace at all.

John Ball:

Yeah.

John Ball:

But podcasts are a bit different.

John Ball:

Mm-hmm.

John Ball:

, if somebody fi, if you find a podcast you like, let's say you go and check out a

John Ball:

hundred dollar B eight which you should do, if you're listening to this, you

John Ball:

should definitely go and check that out.

John Ball:

And you listen to somebody, you think, oh, this is really good.

John Ball:

I like this.

John Ball:

The chances are you're gonna start going through the whole catalog of Yeah.

John Ball:

2000 episodes and say, oh, these, oh yeah.

John Ball:

I should listen to that one as well.

John Ball:

I should listen to that one.

John Ball:

So you will go through the back catalog?

John Ball:

Mm-hmm.

John Ball:

, the content is ever.

John Ball:

And that that is that even YouTube channels don't really have that

John Ball:

to the same way that podcasts.

John Ball:

Right.

John Ball:

I was, one of the things that I think is so valuable about it is

John Ball:

like the, the energy you're putting in, it's not a one-time deal.

John Ball:

It's not a, if they're not there, nobody's generally listening to it live anyway.

John Ball:

Not that many people still are doing live podcasts.

John Ball:

Right.

John Ball:

And, and I'm still not sure that's really going to become a thing, but.

John Ball:

We'll see.

Nicole Baldinu:

We'll see.

Nicole Baldinu:

We saw what happened at the clubhouse, right?

Nicole Baldinu:

That concept.

Nicole Baldinu:

. John Ball: Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu:

But we'll also TWI Twitter are kind of going down that path

Nicole Baldinu:

now with the spaces and stuff.

Nicole Baldinu:

But, but I also know that they're moving into a sort of podcast thing

Nicole Baldinu:

as well, so they're gonna have.

Nicole Baldinu:

Both.

Nicole Baldinu:

Mm-hmm.

Nicole Baldinu:

. But I do think, some people have been saying pod live podcasting

Nicole Baldinu:

is gonna be a big thing.

Nicole Baldinu:

I don't think that, I think the technology isn't quite there yet.

Nicole Baldinu:

And I think no you're so, you're certainly an exception to this,

Nicole Baldinu:

but some guests are not so reliable

Nicole Baldinu:

So, and when I've done some live shows before, people sometimes show up.

Nicole Baldinu:

. Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu:

And yeah, and like life happens.

Nicole Baldinu:

Sometimes just can't help this stuff.

Nicole Baldinu:

And so that's one of the reasons why I think live podcasting.

Nicole Baldinu:

Mm.

Nicole Baldinu:

No.

Nicole Baldinu:

But as a format, you have your, you have all your content out there.

Nicole Baldinu:

People can come back and say, oh, maybe something similar with blog,

Nicole Baldinu:

oh, I checked out this episode.

Nicole Baldinu:

However long ago, and it was, it was so good.

Nicole Baldinu:

Or you can even refer back to your old episodes like, oh, if you

Nicole Baldinu:

wanna know more about this, check out episode 66 where I talk about.

Nicole Baldinu:

Whatever, that, that's such a good tool to have and your effort, your

Nicole Baldinu:

energy is repurposed and Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu:

And still available to people.

Nicole Baldinu:

I dunno.

Nicole Baldinu:

I

Nicole Baldinu:

like that.

Nicole Baldinu:

Uh, I, no, I agree with you and you, and you mentioned

Nicole Baldinu:

when you said the noise, you know that when you're on social and alive, like.

Nicole Baldinu:

. It just, all that content can just get just caught up in this noise.

Nicole Baldinu:

It's super distracting and people are just jumping, oh, I got a notification now.

Nicole Baldinu:

I got a message now.

Nicole Baldinu:

Oh, hang on.

Nicole Baldinu:

What was that?

Nicole Baldinu:

Oh, I've got an event to go to.

Nicole Baldinu:

Wait, when did that , where were they before?

Nicole Baldinu:

But they don't even remember.

Nicole Baldinu:

I mean, they knew that happened to me, so it's interesting like with podcasting and

Nicole Baldinu:

I guess if we take it back to webinars too, cuz it's one of the questions we

Nicole Baldinu:

would always get asked or you stream to Facebook, why not do just a Facebook Live?

Nicole Baldinu:

What's the difference?

Nicole Baldinu:

And it's like, it's that attention, it's that very focused, localized attention.

Nicole Baldinu:

I'm not somewhere else, you know where I can.

Nicole Baldinu:

See other things and be distracted by other things.

Nicole Baldinu:

My attention is here in this place, whether it's on that podcast episode in

Nicole Baldinu:

my ears, or whether I'm just watching a webinar, watching a live workshop.

Nicole Baldinu:

And I think that's a big, a big advantage to these formats.

John Ball:

Yeah, and I think it's one of the, it is one of the things that

John Ball:

people struggle with a lot is presence and so, the interview podcast like this

John Ball:

is quite is quite an intimate scenario of it's a one-to-one conversation.

John Ball:

Yeah.

John Ball:

And whilst we are speaking, there's no one actually listening to us just

John Ball:

yet, but people who are listening to it people who are hearing our voices now are

John Ball:

listening to a conversation that was had.

John Ball:

A while ago, . That's just the surreal is, but when you're having the

John Ball:

conversation, you're there, you are.

John Ball:

Yes.

John Ball:

In the conversa, hopefully you're in the conversation.

John Ball:

You're not thinking about everything else that's going on for

John Ball:

public speaking or for webinars.

John Ball:

There's bit moving bits and pieces around.

John Ball:

Yes.

John Ball:

There, there's, there is stuff that can distract you if you're not careful.

John Ball:

And so you do have to get into that presence and be focused on what you're

John Ball:

delivering, who you're delivering it for.

John Ball:

Think about your.

John Ball:

Get out your head, be there, be present, and I think it's easier

John Ball:

to do in this sort of format.

John Ball:

Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu:

We're big fans.

Nicole Baldinu:

In case anyone didn't realize, big fans of podcasting

Nicole Baldinu:

. John Ball: But I want to,

Nicole Baldinu:

What, what are the things, what one of the things that I kind of preach and

Nicole Baldinu:

the Podfluence is all about, is being a guest on other people's podcasts

Nicole Baldinu:

which you very kindly or come agree to come and be a guest on this show.

Nicole Baldinu:

What value does that have for you as a professional?

Nicole Baldinu:

A lot.

Nicole Baldinu:

But the first thing I think about is a, it's something that my friend

Nicole Baldinu:

said, Michelle, on her podcast, that podcasting is a friend catcher.

Nicole Baldinu:

And I don't know if she paid a forward from someone else where she

Nicole Baldinu:

heard that, but I do feel that these opportunities to connect and have

Nicole Baldinu:

these conversations can result in friendships lifelong friendships.

Nicole Baldinu:

We're friends now, right?

Nicole Baldinu:

Johnny?

Nicole Baldinu:

I'm putting, I'm putting you, I'm putting you on this spot.

John Ball:

I'm.

John Ball:

No.

John Ball:

Yeah, I'm, I'm happy to be put on that spot.

John Ball:

Yeah.

John Ball:

I certainly feel that we are, we've connected, we, there's, you know, we've

John Ball:

even we've even kind of said, said the same words at the same time at some point.

John Ball:

No, that's rapport.

John Ball:

That, that that stuff doesn't come easy.

John Ball:

But yeah, absolutely.

John Ball:

But you realize people are gonna be, people f who are listening to this

John Ball:

are gonna be going, yeah, I heard Nicole bne on this podcast say that

John Ball:

podcasts are friend catchers and so you are gonna get . I'm gonna get

John Ball:

attribute the attribution for that

Nicole Baldinu:

now.

Nicole Baldinu:

Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu:

No, I, no, again, I don't know who came up with it, but I think, I

Nicole Baldinu:

thought it was, it's a good one.

Nicole Baldinu:

I like that.

Nicole Baldinu:

It's a good one.

Nicole Baldinu:

I think.

Nicole Baldinu:

Again I really believe that communication is, one of those skills that everybody

Nicole Baldinu:

should be working and refining that it can help us in, our personal

Nicole Baldinu:

lives, in our professional lives.

Nicole Baldinu:

And I do see that exercising the muscle of speaking, communicating con, having

Nicole Baldinu:

a conversation sharing a message.

Nicole Baldinu:

All of that.

Nicole Baldinu:

You can, you get to do this, you get to have this opportunity every

Nicole Baldinu:

single time that you show up.

Nicole Baldinu:

And you get to share your message.

Nicole Baldinu:

You get to give back.

Nicole Baldinu:

There's collaborations that come out of, podcasting.

Nicole Baldinu:

Being on each other's shows all of that.

Nicole Baldinu:

So there's, yeah, there's a tremendous benefit to being on a guest.

John Ball:

Do you feel that there are things you've had to learn about

John Ball:

being a podcast guest that would maybe be a bit different to being a

John Ball:

webinar presenter or a podcast host?

Nicole Baldinu:

Hmm.

Nicole Baldinu:

I think being mindful of the energy, being mindful of the, I wanna say, I'm

Nicole Baldinu:

very sensitive or aware of ambience.

Nicole Baldinu:

I feel like there's an ambience that's created in, even though it's not a

Nicole Baldinu:

physical, tangible ambience because we're on, you know, different parts in different

Nicole Baldinu:

parts of the world and all of that.

Nicole Baldinu:

But being mindful and aware and slotting yourself into.

Nicole Baldinu:

The tone of the podcast I think is important cuz it could be very jarring.

Nicole Baldinu:

Your listeners are used to you, they come back for you.

Nicole Baldinu:

Yeah, they come back for the guests that you interview, but they come

Nicole Baldinu:

back to hear you and there's a tone, there's a vibe that's created.

Nicole Baldinu:

And so being mindful of that, I think is important.

Nicole Baldinu:

Doesn't mean you have to change who you are or speak in a different way.

Nicole Baldinu:

But I think being mindful of that is something that I've

Nicole Baldinu:

recognized with podcasts.

Nicole Baldinu:

You match each other's energy in some ways.

Nicole Baldinu:

I don't know if you relate to that at all.

John Ball:

I, no, I absolutely do.

John Ball:

And one of, one of the things that It's always interesting to me.

John Ball:

Sometimes there are conversations where the rapport clicks in straight away and

John Ball:

it goes really well right from the start.

John Ball:

Sometimes it doesn't click at all, which is rarer.

John Ball:

I think that's a bit rarer for me.

John Ball:

I've only maybe had that once or twice.

John Ball:

And I probably haven't published these episodes to be honest.

John Ball:

We'll never know.

John Ball:

, you'll never know.

John Ball:

So, but more commonly, the rapport kind of clicks in halfway through

John Ball:

or two thirds into the conversation.

John Ball:

And so sometimes it's the last pipe, I think, oh man, I don't

John Ball:

want to end this conversation now because it's really into a flow.

John Ball:

Yes.

John Ball:

I just have that style of show like I, I.

John Ball:

Roughly what I want to speak to you like I, I pretty much knew

John Ball:

there, there were things that I wanted to speak to you about today.

John Ball:

But we've talked about, a few things.

John Ball:

But I like to give myself the space to like, no, I want to go wherever I feel

John Ball:

that I need to go here because I want it to be a natural conversation rather than

John Ball:

a prepared interview show, which I know some people do, and that's great as well.

John Ball:

Horses for courses, but this is my style and it works well for me.

John Ball:

But there is that risk of sometimes the rapport takes a while to yes, to build up,

John Ball:

mm-hmm.

John Ball:

And still get people saying, oh, is podcasting a thing?

John Ball:

Is it really gonna last?

John Ball:

Is it kind of die is like far from it.

John Ball:

It's really only just getting started, in my opinion.

Nicole Baldinu:

Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu:

Oh, I agree.

Nicole Baldinu:

I agree.

Nicole Baldinu:

You're right.

Nicole Baldinu:

And I think the con, the type of show as well, as a guest, I.

Nicole Baldinu:

Always make sure that I listen because I, not only do I wanna know what your,

Nicole Baldinu:

you are after, what your audience is expecting because that consistency,

Nicole Baldinu:

I think is I, is important as well.

Nicole Baldinu:

so I always make time to listen and listen to different episodes

Nicole Baldinu:

so that I can be familiar.

Nicole Baldinu:

I c I could be prepared as well.

Nicole Baldinu:

You're right there.

Nicole Baldinu:

I've noticed that in a conversation type podcast even if it is an interview,

Nicole Baldinu:

but it kind of flows more like an open conversation, it does take a

Nicole Baldinu:

while to warm up, and that that juicy meany stuff usually ends up being

Nicole Baldinu:

at the end because people Yes, each the we're more relaxed we're more

Nicole Baldinu:

comfortable, we found a bit of a flow.

Nicole Baldinu:

So yeah, I can relate to that.

Nicole Baldinu:

Yeah.

John Ball:

feel, I feel.

John Ball:

Confident enough to be able to ask, because I don't think this is gonna

John Ball:

be the answer, but what has been your, perhaps your worst experience?

John Ball:

Either as a podcast guest or as a host?

John Ball:

You don't have to name names, just we'll keep it anonymous.

John Ball:

No,

Nicole Baldinu:

that's okay.

Nicole Baldinu:

Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu:

I won't name names.

Nicole Baldinu:

I.

Nicole Baldinu:

And I think this might come with experience, but I think earlier on I did.

Nicole Baldinu:

I'm the type of person, I don't like to phone things in.

Nicole Baldinu:

I like to shop, I like to be prepared.

Nicole Baldinu:

I like to be organized.

Nicole Baldinu:

It's just the way I am.

Nicole Baldinu:

It's the way I operate.

Nicole Baldinu:

And so I think in earlier, Experiences that I had as a guest

Nicole Baldinu:

when I didn't have any information really as to what I was going to

Nicole Baldinu:

be, what we were gonna talk about.

Nicole Baldinu:

Perhaps it was even a new show.

Nicole Baldinu:

So there wasn't much that I could, feed off and understand like

Nicole Baldinu:

what the audience needs, what the host is looking for, all of that.

Nicole Baldinu:

I.

Nicole Baldinu:

Did have experiences where, you know the host would just say, just show up.

Nicole Baldinu:

Just be yourself.

Nicole Baldinu:

You're gonna be awesome.

Nicole Baldinu:

And I really didn't feel like I did the conversation, the interview justice,

Nicole Baldinu:

because I could have been just that little bit more prepared had I had

Nicole Baldinu:

the opportunity been available to me.

Nicole Baldinu:

And I'm not, I don't wanna blame the host.

Nicole Baldinu:

because that's, that's not really what I'm trying to say, but I do think, the

Nicole Baldinu:

fact that you go into, taking the time to do pre-interviews, all of that,

Nicole Baldinu:

some people might say, oh, really?

Nicole Baldinu:

Why?

Nicole Baldinu:

I'm a professional, I can just show up.

Nicole Baldinu:

I know how to, I've done this a million times.

Nicole Baldinu:

Yeah, I okay that sometimes.

Nicole Baldinu:

But there's so much that comes from, you mentioned, just we already have

Nicole Baldinu:

a connection, which can make this conversation go so much better.

Nicole Baldinu:

And I'd say the same thing.

Nicole Baldinu:

, just giving the guest a bit of preparation these are the

Nicole Baldinu:

things I'd like to talk about.

Nicole Baldinu:

This is what I see that you can, this is where I see you can add value.

Nicole Baldinu:

This is where I see you've got, some things that my audience can benefit from.

Nicole Baldinu:

And just that little bit of a heads up,

Nicole Baldinu:

. John Ball: I, I feel that's

Nicole Baldinu:

that in the pre-interview and recap.

Nicole Baldinu:

As we did before, before we start talking.

Nicole Baldinu:

Just and, but that, this is why I said I don't like to be too

Nicole Baldinu:

rigid on the content because sometimes I'll just hear something.

Nicole Baldinu:

I think we definitely need to talk about that.

Nicole Baldinu:

Or I want to go a bit deeper into this, or that could be a bit of a rabbit hole.

Nicole Baldinu:

Let's step into it and see and we can pull back if we need to.

Nicole Baldinu:

But, I like to have that flexibility and I think it makes

Nicole Baldinu:

for a more interesting listen.

Nicole Baldinu:

Maybe you see this as well, but a lot of shows just well, we're just gonna

Nicole Baldinu:

talk about anything with anyone and cover all the subjects under the sun.

Nicole Baldinu:

And it's like, then nobody's gonna listen to your show.

Nicole Baldinu:

. Sorry.

Nicole Baldinu:

But yeah they're.

Nicole Baldinu:

You have to be pretty specific these days and Yes.

Nicole Baldinu:

With, without that, like something like the hundred dollars MBA is

Nicole Baldinu:

a very specific kind of thing for people like you, you pretty much

Nicole Baldinu:

know what you're gonna be getting.

Nicole Baldinu:

Yes.

Nicole Baldinu:

And that has to be the case.

Nicole Baldinu:

It's like you got, if you call it the, you called your show the Nicole Baloo show

Nicole Baldinu:

what's, uh, Nick?

John Ball:

Yeah, yeah.

John Ball:

Or if I call it the John Ball Show I do people know who we are?

John Ball:

Really that well, yeah.

John Ball:

Uh, No.

John Ball:

That's not gonna pull people in.

John Ball:

But, Podfluence or hundred or B kind of gives you an idea.

John Ball:

Yes.

John Ball:

You pretty much.

John Ball:

What you're gonna be getting into before you've listened to it.

John Ball:

And so long as the content that gets delivered in those things relates to

John Ball:

that and it is within that sort of niche, people will keep coming back

Nicole Baldinu:

for it.

Nicole Baldinu:

Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu:

Yeah, a hundred percent.

Nicole Baldinu:

And I was gonna say like, it is definitely format dependent.

Nicole Baldinu:

So what the way you show up as a guest or as a host depends on your format.

Nicole Baldinu:

And if you're very clear about your format.

Nicole Baldinu:

That will generally go well.

Nicole Baldinu:

But you know, with something like the a hundred dollars MBA show the format is

Nicole Baldinu:

so different in the sense that it's a lesson and that consistency of delivering

Nicole Baldinu:

that lesson, that short format, no fluff, no backs, stories, just here

Nicole Baldinu:

is what you're going to learn today.

Nicole Baldinu:

And it's a very specific topic with actionable advice.

Nicole Baldinu:

If we, if Omar didn't deliver the.

Nicole Baldinu:

Consistent format and the same and de and pretty much keep

Nicole Baldinu:

his, be good for his word.

Nicole Baldinu:

This is the promise that, they're tuning in for then.

Nicole Baldinu:

Yeah, the show wouldn't be successful because I think podcast, this has really

Nicole Baldinu:

come to depend on that consistency.

Nicole Baldinu:

It's just like your favorite TV show.

Nicole Baldinu:

You know what you're gonna expect, every time you tune in.

John Ball:

Absolutely is.

John Ball:

Is there a recent episode that you think our listeners

John Ball:

should here, should check out?

Nicole Baldinu:

we've started what he started to do recently, we

Nicole Baldinu:

used to have a format again, it's eight, eight years now since 2014.

Nicole Baldinu:

We would alternate on a Monday with a must read and a guest teacher episode.

Nicole Baldinu:

We've recently started to introduce actually having that guest teacher be an

Nicole Baldinu:

interview where Omar interviews A guest and recently he interviewed Aman Alad,

Nicole Baldinu:

who used to be the c e O of AppSumo.

Nicole Baldinu:

That conversation is super interesting super, super interesting.

Nicole Baldinu:

So you want, you wanna check that one out?

Nicole Baldinu:

Oh,

John Ball:

I, I'm gonna check that out.

John Ball:

Yeah.

John Ball:

Yeah.

John Ball:

I'm very familiar with AppSumo and there, that sounds like

John Ball:

that's gonna be fascinating.

John Ball:

And for people who are maybe thinking.

John Ball:

Webinars and I want to know a bit more about Webinar Ninja.

John Ball:

What's the best way for them to learn about that?

Nicole Baldinu:

They can head over to webinar ninja.com.

Nicole Baldinu:

We have blogs Omar runs, we run a Twice a month a webinar

Nicole Baldinu:

for anyone who's interested.

Nicole Baldinu:

It's a free workshop.

Nicole Baldinu:

You get to see, the app in action.

Nicole Baldinu:

You get some content, you get a lesson there as well on how

Nicole Baldinu:

to deliver a great webinar.

Nicole Baldinu:

So we definitely have a lot of content over at webinar ninja.com.

Nicole Baldinu:

We've recently, we launched a community earlier this year, which is, has

Nicole Baldinu:

been really fun, really exciting.

Nicole Baldinu:

We've got an amazing community manager, Jenny.

Nicole Baldinu:

She does an awesome job.

Nicole Baldinu:

So people who end up do signing sign.

Nicole Baldinu:

Join the community and they get to share best practices and just give each other

Nicole Baldinu:

feedback on all that fun webinar stuff.

Nicole Baldinu:

So, yeah.

John Ball:

Yeah.

John Ball:

Great.

John Ball:

Well, look, I'm gonna, I'm gonna make sure there's a link to the episode

John Ball:

you mentioned in the show notes for people to go and check out listen to

John Ball:

that interview but also, The link to Webinar Ninja and to, for people who

John Ball:

may want to reach out to you and go and contact you personally, that's all

John Ball:

gonna be in the show notes for people.

John Ball:

If there was you mentioned action and importance of action earlier.

John Ball:

If there's one action you would like people to take from this

John Ball:

call today, what would that be?

John Ball:

Start a podcast.

John Ball:

A podcast.

John Ball:

I like that.

John Ball:

. Oh yeah.

John Ball:

I, I can actually, I can certainly go along with.

John Ball:

Is there anything you wish you had known at the start of your journey

John Ball:

that if you could go back and tell yourself that you had like just, uh, one

John Ball:

sentence or a couple of words just to sort of say, wish I wish I could send

John Ball:

this message back in time to myself?

Nicole Baldinu:

You often know more than you think.

Nicole Baldinu:

When that imposter syndrome creeps up and there's that constant

Nicole Baldinu:

self-doubt and lack of confidence.

Nicole Baldinu:

Oh, I don't know enough.

Nicole Baldinu:

I'm not good enough.

Nicole Baldinu:

What do I.

Nicole Baldinu:

Just give yourself the benefit of the doubt you might surprise yourself.

John Ball:

Wonderful.

John Ball:

Nicole, it's been, it's been a real pleasure chatting to you.

John Ball:

You are absolute delight.

John Ball:

You've been very generous with your time and your information and and

John Ball:

certainly I feel like I've made a friend and I'm glad you do too.

John Ball:

So, uh, you are welcome on the show anytime you would like

John Ball:

to come back yourself and.

John Ball:

And, uh, and I look forward to staying connected with you and

John Ball:

I, and I will certainly do that through the podcast as well.

John Ball:

And I hope people listening to this will do the same.

John Ball:

Nicole, thank you for coming and being a guest on Pod

Nicole Baldinu:

Tour.

Nicole Baldinu:

Thank you so much, Johnny.

Nicole Baldinu:

I had a really great time.

Nicole Baldinu:

Thank you.

John Ball:

Thanks for tuning in, and I hope you got some great value after

John Ball:

this episode and that it wasn't too cringe listening to me struggling to

John Ball:

get through that as an interviewer.

John Ball:

So if you've ever wondered how to make webinars part of your business growth

John Ball:

strategy and what it takes to grow a top podcast that hopefully you got

John Ball:

some great notes outta today's call.

John Ball:

Now you can check out Webinar Ninja and the $100 MBA from the links

John Ball:

in the show notes, and also give Nicole's new podcast a listen as well.

John Ball:

I wanna encourage you as well to come and get your free podcast guest checklist

John Ball:

when you subscribe to the Podfluence Weekly newsletter in the show notes.

John Ball:

Just so you know, if you subscribe through LinkedIn, there's no free

John Ball:

download there, but if you do shoot me a message, I'll send you something else

John Ball:

very cool.

John Ball:

Instead.

John Ball:

Now of course you can subscribe in both, if you'd like to do that, but you

John Ball:

might see a bit of duplication there.

John Ball:

And for anyone who's tuning in for the first time after having heard me

John Ball:

speaking on a panel at Pod Fest this year.

John Ball:

I appreciate you covering and checking out the show and hope

John Ball:

you'll come and join us next time.

John Ball:

For now, though, all the remains for me to say is wherever you're

John Ball:

going, whatever you're doing, have an amazing rest of good day.

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About the Podcast

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Podfluence
The podcast that helps business coaches build influence and income with podcasts

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About your host

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John Ball

From international flight attendant to international coach and trainer. Then on to podcaster and persuasion expert, it's been quite the journey for John. Now the author of the book Podfluence: how to build professional authority with podcasts, and host of the Podfluence podcast (formerly Speaking Influence) with over 150 episodes and over 10,000 downloads John is now focused on helping business coaches and speakers to build a following and grow your lead flow and charisma. You can now also listen to John on The Coaching Clinic podcast with his good friend and colleague Angie Besignano and the Try To Stand Up podcast where John is on a journey to become funnier on the stage and in his communication.