December 8, 2023 • 41 mins
Michael Carlon my friend and host of the Uncorking a Story Podcast interviewed me to learn more about the "why?" behind becoming a podcaster. Learn more about what inspired me to start my podcast during this spirited conversation between me and Mike.
You can listen to Mike's podcast wherever you get your podcasts or on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/@Uncorkingastory
Connect with LauraEmail: lauramarie@desperateforadiagnosis.comWebsite: www.desperateforadiagnosis.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@desperateforadiagnosisFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/DesperateForADiagnosisPodcastLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/the-desperate-for-a-diagnosis-podcast/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:11):
Hello and welcome to Conversations In Depth, a
service of QRC, a Views magazine.
I'm your host, Mike Carlin, and today it's my pleasure to
introduce you to Laura Nozicka, who's going to talk to us about
how and why she started her podcast Desperate for a
Diagnosis. Before I do though, I just
wanted to share why we were so eager to cover podcasting on a
(00:31):
podcast. And I promise you, it's not just
to be meta. It's actually an interesting
area of interest for me. I started my own podcast back in
2011. I can't believe it's been that
long since I started. I'm forking a story, but lo and
behold, it has. I haven't gotten any older
though, and that was around the time when I was just breaking
(00:54):
out of working for an agency andgoing out on my own as an
independent moderator for the first time anyway.
And I thought it would be a great way.
Having a podcast would be a great way to showcase showcase,
not show cast showcase by moderating skills to prospective
clients. They always seem to want to
tape. They always used to say.
(01:15):
And maybe some of you remember this.
I'm sure some of you remember this.
Hey, can I see a tape of your work?
I mean, how many VHS tapes do you have in your basement of old
work? I still have a bunch in a box
and my wife keeps saying, Hey Mike, do you want all these
tapes now? Look, I don't have anything to
play them on anymore, but yeah, I want those tapes.
(01:36):
You never know. I mean, those are collector's
items and they they might wind up in the Mike Carlin Museum
someday, I don't know. But anyway, we did get tapes
back in those days. And it's funny.
I mean, DVDs were a thing in 2011, but I digress.
We had tapes and you know you just can't give the tape of of
(01:58):
the work you're doing from one client to another.
I don't know what why clients would even think that was
something that that would be even remotely acceptable because
I know my Pepsi client wouldn't want my Unilever client to see
what I was doing for them. So I had this podcast, I started
this podcast and I would say, hey, you want to hear an example
of me interviewing somebody listen to this episode.
(02:19):
And it worked. It worked out pretty well for
me. I was able to reduce my clients
concerns because that's what it's all about.
It's all about reducing their fear that they're making a bad
decision by going with you. And and the podcast served its
purpose well and then it didn't serve its purpose well at all
because I didn't need to do thatanymore.
(02:39):
I didn't need to show examples of my work.
I had a reputation, you know, I had positive word of mouth as
they say in the biz. So I I needed to pivot the
podcast. That's when I started to
interview authors because that'sanother passion area of mine is
is writing. So I'm corking a story is now
still appropriately named to feature conversations with with
(03:01):
best selling authors. But I wanted to find somebody in
our industry who had a similar path to mine it and pick her
brain a little bit on her journey into podcasting.
Because I'm fascinated by this. I I, you know, maybe you're the
same as me. I don't know.
You might think to yourself, gosh, if I didn't moderate
anymore, what could I do? How could I use these skills?
You know, of course you could facilitate meetings,
(03:22):
brainstorming sessions, things like that.
But I still love interviewing people.
So podcasting for me, Hey, look,if I can make a living
podcasting, I would. But I can't just yet.
Someday, someday. I think that'll happen.
But I wanted to talk to another moderator who felt the same way
as me. Dig into her journey, how she
started all that good stuff, so we could teach you fine members
(03:45):
of the QRCA who may want to start your own podcast what
you're about to get into. So without any further ado,
let's talk to Laura Nozika. Laura Nozika is a moderator from
Chicago who has a long career inhealthcare, which drives her
passion to elevate the healthcare experience Out of
(04:05):
Laura's own experience of spinning through the healthcare
revolving door and desperately trying to find a diagnosis for
symptoms that made no sense to most doctors or were simply
dismissed. She created Desperate for
Diagnosis Podcast, but that's not the full story, and we're
going to get that from her momentarily.
Laura is a market researcher andmoderator focusing on helping
healthcare organizations and pharmaceutical companies better
(04:27):
understand their patient perspective.
Welcome to Conversations in Depth, Lauren Ozeko.
Well. Thank you, Mr. Carlin.
That is probably the most creative introduction that I've
ever had. So thank you for that, that that
was lovely, nice. To see you.
It's nice to see you. And I'm gonna say the cliched
thing, which is hey, you said Mr. Carlin.
(04:49):
I gotta look around and see if my dad's here.
Hey, yo. Hey, hey.
But I do a good job sounding like I was remotely from
Chicago. That was more of a New York
accident. I.
Think a little bit. Well, there's a little, a little
overlap there. And over here you're either from
the north side or the South side, so over by there, so.
You're over by there. It's.
Close. It's close, yeah.
(05:10):
It's close. Well, I mean, we could talk
pleasantries all day, Laura, butI'm curious, where does your
journey as a podcaster begin? Well, actually, I need to blame
it all on you, Michael. Oh well, I will take none of
this credit or none of this blame.
Let me rephrase that. I will take all the credit, but
none of the blame. You are my podcaster mentor, did
(05:35):
you know that? Well, I'm learning something new
every day and I just learned that.
But but tell me a little bit more about that.
Tell me how great I am. How?
How great you are. Well, talk about talking
pleasantries all day long, Michael, we can do that.
But it's up to you. If you want me to boost your
ego, or if you want me to answeryour question, Mr. Moderator
(05:57):
Man, you tell me. Well, as a good moderator, I'll
make this less about me even though I want to, and make it
more about you. So let's start with your
journey, Laura. Well, and that's exactly what I
set out to do with with the podcast is to not make it about
me but about patients. As you said, I am a moderator
(06:20):
for a living and mainly in healthcare.
And so I have interviewed, I don't even know how many
hundreds anymore patients and physicians, but it's the patient
stories that really touched me. And often times I don't always
get to ask the questions that I would like to ask and things
(06:41):
that I'm really curious about and and those things that I
really want to dig into. And so I thought, I just have to
produce my own podcast so I can hear the stories and ask the
questions that that I want to ask.
Because it's certainly not unusual for me to hear from
patients talking about how theirsymptoms were dismissed by
(07:03):
physicians and how doctors mighthave said, oh, it's all in your
head, your tests are inconclusive, but still these
patients just feel horrible and took them a really long time to
get a diagnosis since some are even still looking.
And so I wanted to dive into that more, assuming that there's
more than one person out there that needs a question answered
(07:25):
and maybe podcast guests could could help other folks.
So that's why I started the podcast.
Yeah, I get it. And you know, I think
moderators, you know, most of usanyway, are highly empathetic
individuals. You know, meaning like when
we're talking to people, like wecan't help but make connections
with other people. And yeah, especially in
(07:45):
healthcare, you're hearing thesethese stories and and often
times you know, they're, they'revery sad and and it's like the
the empath in US wants to jump in and like give these people a
hug sometimes I think. And we just want to want to let
them know that they're being heard.
Of course if we go get too touchy feely you know those
people in in the backroom or thevirtual backroom are going to be
(08:07):
like hey can you get to the the next section of the discussion
guide and you know maybe not notyou know have the therapy
session that you're you're goingdown in the in the room.
So and so it sounds like you know part of desperate for a
diagnosis, part of the genesis of it is not just to indulge
that within you though to give yourself an an ability to to
(08:29):
make this connection with other people, but to really have it
serve as a tool for other patients who might be going
through this. So, so they don't feel so alone.
Do I understand that correctly? You you got it.
You got it, Mike. Yeah.
Because I'm always more curious about these people than I am
given time for in an interview. And certainly as as you know, we
(08:51):
have objectives that we need to fill.
There's a reason that this market research is being
conducted, but I wanted to go beyond the market research and
those objectives do allow patients to really tell their
stories and they want to tell their stories and they want to
help. They want to help other people
find treatments and diagnosis and just let other patients know
(09:13):
that they're not the only ones who are having this difficulty
in this journey as I refer to asthe healthcare revolving door
for for a lot of people. And so that curiosity that we
moderators tend to have be it healthcare or ice cream products
or cable or financial services whatever it might be, we still
(09:38):
are always looking looking for more.
So I wanted to to give an opportunity to patients to tell
their story, help others, but it's also certainly is not a one
sided podcast from the patient perspective.
I certainly have had opportunityto interview physicians as well
and that'll be the goal for for 2024 to to have some other
(10:03):
healthcare professionals on to talk about their perspectives.
As I like to say, I'd like to cover off both sides of the
bedside. Oh, that sounds nice.
Both sides of the bedside. And it sounds like you might
have a nice bedside manner, Laura.
I'm just going to point that out.
I do try, I do try, but that's that's what we moderators do to
make sure that we make people comfortable right off the bat
(10:26):
and build rapport in a really short amount of time.
And so there's there are some patients that have really stuck
with me from a moderator standpoint, but certainly
through through a pot, through the podcast that I started back
in in May. And these stories have really
stuck with me. And there have been patients
that I've actually thought aboutmonths after I had interviewed
(10:47):
them because their stories were so powerful and unfortunately
sad. And it's sometimes it's hard to
to shake that off, but some of them really, really stick with
me. So you mentioned starting the
podcast back in May. Is that when you first had the
idea for the podcast or what's you know, what's the lead up
(11:07):
time getting to May? When?
In other words, when did you first have this idea?
Hey, I want to start a podcast to when did you actually launch?
Well, since you're my podcast Yoda, like I think you know that
you and I, I talked about this Ithink back in the fall of last
(11:28):
year of 2022. And I had also run the idea by
some other research colleagues and many of them thought that
that there was certainly a a place for this type of podcast
to to further further the research if you will.
But really just to further my own curiosity about this patient
(11:50):
journey, because healthcare in this country really is, is a
problem and patients do have a hard time navigating and getting
what they need and it's it's incredibly frustrating.
So I did want to bring home thatthis, that you're whoever you
are. You're not the only one who's
experiencing this type of of journey.
(12:14):
Now you know, I I think about like all of all the moderators.
I know. I know a couple.
You know, one or two and and we all have we all have this like
similar skill set right, where we're really good at talking to
people and it seems like you know getting into podcasting is
is a natural extension of what it is we do for a living to make
(12:36):
money feed our families and you know afford you know whatever
lifestyles it is we have. And so, so like this, there's a
there's a big skill overlap though.
And I'm I'm imagining also that there are some other people
listening to this who might say to themselves, hey, I could do
that. You know, it's like the same
people who say, hey, I can writea book, I know how to write, I
(12:57):
can put words together. So I'm curious, what challenges
did you face? And this would be some
edification, you know, for for those sort of aspiring QRCA
podcasters out there. What What are some lessons you
learned while starting your showthat you could share with the
fine people who are listening tothis conversation right now?
(13:19):
Well, it certainly doesn't come without challenges.
And I think once I started getting into it, I did question
several times, do I really want to do this, do I really want to
do this from the standpoint of everyone thinks that you can
just get a microphone, plug it in and you're ready to go.
And I can certainly say that allmicrophones don't always work
(13:41):
either as we did our tech tech here today.
And so it it really being researcher I did I did a lot of
research I probably over researched and probably
overthought the whole thing and it and at some point in time I
just said just you just got to go and build it while you fly.
So it's you'll never it'll neverbe 100% fully baked.
(14:05):
It has evolved even since May, but certainly from learning what
equipment, what platform to use,trying to understand the the
cost behind all of it. So there's the cost of the
equipment, there's the cost of all these platforms.
And it's not just say whether you decide to use Zill or Squad
(14:25):
Cast or Riverside or any of those other ones.
I did a lot of research into that there's then there's the
editing and so then that's I think where people get really
challenged by I've got all theserecordings now what do I do with
and so that was a whole nother learning curve of two in the
morning nights trying to get it right and figure it out and some
(14:50):
things had to be re recorded andhow do you record an intro and
an outro and then how do you mash all that together and how
do you produce the video versus the audio And it was it really
was a high learning curve and I'm still learning and not
perfect and like I said it's it's evolving and and even down
to things like podcast cover artwork and how to get it on all
(15:14):
of the on all the platforms. So, and I don't even know how
the lingo, but I just, I just did it because it was either
either you know, shut it down completely or just go.
So I just decided to just go andthen of course there's trying to
find people to be guests on on the podcast so that there's that
whole other level of of effort and production.
(15:40):
I mean, so it's it's not, in other words, it's not just a
plug and play thing. It's not like you're going to
get a, you know, go to the storego to Best Buy, get a get ausb
microphone and and and then justplug it in and then start
interviewing people. There's a lot to consider.
There's pre production, there's production there's post
production. I think what's going to scare
(16:00):
most people honestly is post production, you know that notion
of hey, you know, I've got, you know, I've I've got I've got
these interviews recorded. Now, how do I do that intro?
How do I do that outro? You know, do I do I even plan
for commercial breaks if I want to monetize this somehow
commercially to, you know, what happens when the audio levels
(16:21):
between my guest and myself are different?
I mean, there's nothing more annoying than listening to a
podcast where you can hear the host really clearly, but the
guest seems like they're, you know, a mile away.
And then you know, especially ifyou're like, if you're like me
and you listen to your podcast when you're running, it's like
or or you're exercising or in your car and you're constantly
fiddling with the volume to try and hear what's being said.
(16:44):
So there is a lot to consider when putting together a podcast,
especially if you want to attract a sizable audience to
make your show worth it. And by worth it, I mean to make
sure that you're getting the exposure to the people you want
to get the exposure to as well as building that audience.
So again, if you do want to monetize it someday, you've got
(17:06):
to do that with, you know, a sizable number of people.
So it's it's not just, you know,there's a lot.
In other words, there's a lot oflearning by doing.
That that there is and there should be 0 expectation to make
any a penny. You'll be spending pennies and
hundreds of dollars initially. I hate to say it, depending on
(17:28):
what kind of equipment you get, what platforms you subscribe to,
everything's an app and a monthly subscription or annual
subscription etcetera and so. So there is certainly some level
of of commitment to it all. At this point I have no
expectations again of monetizinganything.
It's really a matter of getting the stories out there and
(17:52):
certainly having potential clients see Laura in action and
because that you know those interviews are are are owned by
the the client I don't own thoseand so those certainly hard
opportunities for me to show my skill and my style etcetera.
(18:14):
So it's certainly secondary to to getting out the story but
there's there's you know again there's no expectation about
making money but even my mother will say you know so you're
going to make money at this saidno mom this is really more of a
it's it can be an expensive hobby if if that's how you look
(18:35):
at it. But I wrote this for me is is
more of a calling and kind of a passion project and and wherever
it goes it it goes I I don't puta ton of pressure on myself but
I do have a goal to to produce and and push out a a podcast
once a week. There have been a little, a few
lulls just because I got really busy with work, thanks thank
(18:57):
goodness. But I got really busy with work
and and some personal things andsometimes I can't get one out a
week and of course you need to have that charm of of finding
guests and and and mining for guests that also fill the
mission of of your podcast. So, so there there's that as
(19:18):
well. So there are a lot of components
to putting it all together in that one hour, that 50 minutes
or however long it's going to be, even if it's 20 minutes.
So and there's there's so many other aspects to producing the
show and different angles, whichactually I I enjoy doing.
So I'm I'm still willing to keeppushing and and exploring these
(19:39):
other aspects of of podcasting. So I I do want to just go back
to a few things you said and andI think one one of the things
you said was really important which is hey you know don't
necessarily go into this thinking you're gonna make a ton
of money doing it. I, I tell the same thing to
authors. Right.
Don't don't write a book thinking you're going to get
rich because that just will not happen.
(20:00):
That is like you know one out ofa million authors are gonna like
really make a decent living by by writing books for a living.
Most of us cannot afford our lives and lifestyles just by by
writing books. Same thing I think is true for
podcasters. So don't go into it thinking,
OK, this is going to help me replace.
(20:21):
My moderating income because that's you know that's not going
to happen and I I don't want to bring anyone down here but but
just to have it as a passion project and to and to do it for
you know to to follow your own interest to help other people.
I think is is an is a valiant and and sort of selfless way to
(20:42):
think about it. It's it's almost a way of giving
back to other people and I thinkthat's that's reason enough to
do a show like the show you do. But I do want to challenge you
on something because I know the first video you put out and I
know you posted about your firstepisode on LinkedIn, you put it
up on YouTube. You actually did wind up getting
some good numbers on your very first episode.
(21:05):
And I know it was sort of a very, you know, it was very
emotional episode. It was somebody that we both
know in the market research industry.
Well, I think we met at a a, a quirks conference.
If I'm not it quirks in Chicago.But I mean, tell me, can you
just share like what? What, like that first episode
did numbers wise, Yeah. So just from a YouTube
(21:27):
perspective, I think that first episode, I think at this point
again that was in May. I think there's about 12-12
hundred views on on that one andit just, yeah, it it blew me, it
blew me away. Now I don't know if that was
beginner's luck or what, but that and that's just the thing.
Not all of them will reap the same amount of interest or views
(21:51):
or downloads or listen listens etcetera.
And that's a whole other thing too.
There's this whole level of analytics that's available and
you have to you can either take it super seriously or take it
with a grain of salt whatever. But just just the fact that it
it got so much traction and and certainly the the topic was yes
(22:12):
very emotional and my first guest is is highly highly well
known and and loved in the in the market research arena.
And so you know that that certainly worked to my
advantage. But it was such an important
story that and because I I felt what what he had to say and was
(22:34):
so passionate about it because it was in reference to his son
in a really a life or death situation that he was in.
And I wanted to help him get that story out.
And so that just was a catalyst to to keep going to think, well
who else can I help what's the next thing And so depends on
what really drives you. So for me it's it was OK what
(22:57):
else is out there, You know who else has the story.
Who else has advice to, to give to to other people who are in a
healthcare situation. And then I started exploring
talking with healthcare professionals.
You know, I think you and I haveboth interviewed the same
neurosurgeon. I had a gastroenterologist gone,
(23:20):
menopause specialist. I have yet to produce their
podcast and that's going to go out the door sometime next week.
But, but it just is kind of this, you know, I just kind of
got really excited about well, who else can I talk to.
And again I think for moderatorsthat's just, that's just
something that, that's in US. You know, how much more digging
can we do? What's that little nugget that
(23:42):
could help someone or you know, from the standpoint of our, our,
our clients, we think, well, what's that one thing that a
respondent might say that could drive a whole new solution at
the same time. So again, where this goes for
me, Mike, I'm not really sure, but it's certainly something
(24:02):
that I have a lot of passion forto to keep putting out and
evolving and just getting better.
Well, I mean again, not to not to make this all about numbers,
but you mentioned, you know, 1200 views on YouTube.
I just want to put that in perspective for a brand new
channel for a first episode for an hour plus long interview,
(24:24):
1200 views is pretty amazing. So I think that's something you
should be very proud of and thatthat that starts getting you
some subscribers. And you know unfortunately on
YouTube you need at least 1000 subscribers and X amount of
hours of of viewing every month to to make a little, you know, a
little a little cash from you. But but you're on your way to
(24:46):
doing that. And the other thing I'll say is,
you know, right now you're stillvery early in the game and as
you know as far as you know, podcasting goes.
So you may not know where it's going.
But I think about it and if I were, you know, if I, if I
didn't have a show and I'm thinking about putting a show
together, I'd think about it this way too, which is, you know
this, this show that you have this asset is, is just that,
(25:08):
it's one other asset in your arsenal.
So a client, you know coming to you might see a clip of
something you did on LinkedIn oron YouTube and and they might
say, hey, you know what, that, you know, I I I'd like to maybe
consider you know, getting a bidfrom this person.
Now that may not have happened yet, but you're still very early
(25:28):
on in the game for that. It's also a tool you can use for
your own personal marketing. You know, when you're doing your
outreach, when you're doing yourprospecting, you know, to be
able to say, hey, you know, I'm Lauren Ozika, I am a healthcare
moderator, among other things. You know, here is kind of my
(25:49):
here, here's my, here's my pitchto you.
And then, hey, if you want to know no more, yeah, check out my
YouTube channel. Desperate for a diagnosis.
And, you know, it's it's just something else.
And if somebody's trying to decide between you and someone
else, hey, this this person's a known commodity.
I've seen their work. That's how I started my show
back in 2011. You know, I had it.
(26:12):
I had you know when I first wentout on my own after leaving an
agency I had clients or prospective clients say, hey
look you sound good on paper butwe'd like to see an example of
your work. So send me a tape.
And I was, I was joking before before this call that hey, we
used to have tapes you know theywere VHS tape and and but you
can't you can't just do that right.
(26:33):
And you mentioned it before. You can't just share work you
did for you know one client to work you did with another.
So I I, I started sending peopleto the podcast and and for me
that worked. Now there are fewer podcasts in
2011 than there are in 2023. But I I do think the the
technique works as well. And now with, you know, with a
(26:54):
lot of AI out there that helps us with you know, finding video
clips and putting together our, our short, our shorts as they
call them in the biz in the industry on the socials as the
kids say, you know it is our marketing can can only get
better and better from from there.
Yeah, yeah, it's, it definitely is like you said, it's not just
(27:20):
a a plug and play by any means, but there have been plenty of
times where clients have said, do you have anything that you
could show me in terms of you inaction etcetera.
And I think the only stuff I have, the only videos I have are
of the capstone class or capstone.
(27:43):
You know, I don't even know how to explain it.
Capstone exercise if you will ofmoderating a focus group when I
went to to Burke Institute whichis worth 2 rounds of moderator
training and and then you you goyou fly and you've got 55
minutes with a a group that theyrecruited on whatever topic you
(28:04):
elected to to create your guide around etcetera and and you go
and so they they videoed that and then that was used as your
critique etcetera. But that's really all I have and
now since I've I'm out of Berkshire, I don't know 7-8
years now those are a little oldthey even they look a little
(28:25):
fuzzy at this point too older production techniques back then
and it's it's just nice to be able to say well I have a
podcast and what's been great about it too is that it's been a
conversation starter. It's it's it's I always I kind
of like to put it on the level of like my other hobby is you
(28:47):
know is is ballroom dance. And so I could talk about when I
wasn't working for myself and I was in corporate America and I'd
be at some networking thing and I would say, oh, I'm Lauren
Ozeika. I work for XYZ Healthcare System
or whatever healthcare organization I was working for.
Oh, and something I do for fun is ballroom dance.
I got everyone's attention on. I ballroom dance.
(29:10):
No one really cared what I did for a living.
So now when I say I have a podcast, I could, you know,
people kind of stop and say and tell me more, they're moderating
me because they if they want to learn more.
So it's just been interesting orpeople who have maybe never
engaged in any of my posts aboutthe podcast, whether it's been
(29:30):
on LinkedIn or Facebook, etcetera, they've come up right
out and said, oh, I see you havea podcast.
So it's kind of it's kind of interesting on who's watching
you, but you may not know. So, well, I think the only
logical next step for you is to create a podcast on ballroom
dancing, 'cause I think that would be that would be money, as
(29:52):
Vince Vaughn would say in Swingers.
That would be money, a podcast, and it's an audio only podcast,
so you don't see anybody dancing.
It's just two people describing dancing on the podcast, like an
audio story about people ballroom dancing.
Well and there are there are stories and there's plenty of
drama and it's a it's definitelya a real thing but it but it has
(30:16):
it has been nice in terms of meeting new clients because if
you're if you are able to get out to the conferences it's
great. But some of us independents at
times don't always have the the budget to get out there and and
shake hands rub elbows however you'd like to reference that but
(30:37):
it's nice to be able then to it's nice.
That's right. That's right.
It's nice to be able to then kind of you know again show who
you are in action. It's not just some zoom meeting,
you know you've got that as kindof one more tool on the tool kit
as you said in terms of of of marketing.
(31:00):
You know I want to go back to toyour day's pre podcast because I
think the podcast is just one example of how innovative you
are as as a thinker and and I'vealways considered you to be like
a hustler because you you're always thinking of different
angles for things and I mean hustler in a good way not in
like. You know, there's a time for
(31:21):
everything, Mike. Come on.
Oh boy. So but but I mean I just can you
give a little back story as to how you fell into moderating in
the 1st place because you you know, you didn't come out of you
know, Riva as or or Burke as a you know, 20-30 year old
etcetera. You know, moderating wasn't
(31:42):
necessarily your intended careerpath.
So would you share with the audience just how you came into
the qualitative field? Well, first of all, who's to say
I'm still not 20 or 30? Come on, Michael.
I mean the. I mean, I I you look like you're
maybe 24. I've been told I need glasses,
but you look maybe 24. Nice.
(32:03):
Nice backing it up there, Mike. Nice backing it up.
Nice try. Nice try anyway.
Well, thank you for asking that 'cause it.
I'm told that it's in a unique story.
I don't really know why, but I've had other market research
folks say how did you get from where you were to to moderating.
I I don't think it's that much of A leap, but it's for others
(32:26):
it seems to be So I've spent a lot of my career in in
healthcare. Early on I was in hospitality, I
was in sales and marketing for restaurants and and hotels and
the industry can be a little wobbly.
And in my 20s I I did jump over to the healthcare, healthcare
(32:49):
sales and then worked for a lot of the healthcare systems here
in Chicago and in a marketing capacity and worked for other
companies, health related companies.
I worked in patient recruitment for clinical trials.
So it was all in a marketing, like I said marketing capacity,
but every job required the commissioning of market
(33:13):
research. So it certainly wasn't unusual
for me. But the first time I learned
about qualitative was the first healthcare marketing job I ever
had again was one of the healthcare systems here in
Chicago. And I saw this moderator
navigating this conversation at a facility, but navigating this
conversation with cancer patients.
(33:36):
And I've never seen anything like that before.
And I thought how, how does thishappen that there's this room
full of people, patients as we would refer to them in that
context, patients, cancer patients no less who have had
variety of different cancers. There's eight cancer patients in
a room and here's this stranger navigating this conversation.
(34:01):
And of course, there's a business objective behind it,
but I thought if that's a real job, I want to do that one day.
And I was just so fascinated by the fact that one person can
build a rapport so quickly with people, again, for the purposes
of a business objective to understand their journeys, to
(34:24):
make their lives better, easier,etcetera.
I think the objective was to understand why cancer patients
would travel to find a surgeon but they were willing to get
chemotherapy and radiation closeto home.
And I just I I don't know at thetime not knowing much about
(34:45):
qualitative it just it just blewmy mind that you could actually
talk to people in a room, strangers learn about their
journeys and make your business better, stronger, more
meaningful etcetera. And yes, of course the goal is
to to grow business but in a wayat least from a healthcare
standpoint is is helping people.And so that's that's how I
(35:07):
started learning about qualitative and and after that
every job, marketing job I ever had there was some aspect of
commissioning qualitative research in a variety of of
different ways. So it was just something that I
felt from the standpoint of between my personality and my my
curiosity about people in general.
(35:28):
I'd rather this is awkward for me, 'cause you're asking me the
questions, 'cause I don't reallyenjoy talking about myself that
much, but I'd rather learn aboutother people and and learn about
them. But but yeah, that's that's how
I I learned about what even qualitative was.
And over time I would talk to the moderators and say, so how
did you get into this? And they would, they would tell
(35:51):
me about their own journeys and what it took to be a moderator.
And I heard everything from you really need to be A.
You need to be a marketer. Mark people who are marketers do
really well in moderating 'causethen you understand the next
step. What's the strategy behind
what's happening next? Others have more of a you know
(36:13):
of a of a background in in research something maybe more
scientific if you will or psychology like like yourself.
But you also are you have the marketing background too.
So you know that's you just never know where you're going to
to fall in in life. And that's kind of how I look at
the podcast. I don't know where it'll go.
(36:33):
It could lead to something, could lead to nothing, out of
nothing but self satisfaction, but that I felt like I was doing
something. But but yeah, so it's it's funny
how how I moved into to moderating and when I decided
that leaving corporate America made sense, that's what I did,
and started networking. And luckily, after networking
(36:57):
for about a month, I had my first project moderating a
project on idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
And Oh no. Stop.
Stung up. Stop with that sexy talk.
I know, Yeah. But as as we wrap up here,
Laura, I want you to do something for me, which is can
we bridge your original career path of sort of hospitality and
(37:23):
life as a qualitative professional?
Where do you see the overlaps? Or another way of asking a
question would be what have you learned in the hospitality space
that translates well to life as a qualitative professional?
Well, a lot of what we do in research is about experience,
(37:46):
right. A lot of it comes down to
experiential type of understandings in in the
customer journey. So I learned a lot initially
about customer experience in in hospitality.
Again I was in in sales out of college and prior to that I
worked in, I was a Hostess in inone of the hotel restaurants.
(38:08):
I worked for the Hotel Sofitel and I also was the hotel
operator for the Hotel Sofitel. Back then they called us PBX
operators because we you know had to manage the whole you know
one ring, a Ding, A2 ring, a Ding, a type of type of systems
and we were programming wake up calls for people who needed wake
(38:30):
up calls and and it was in the voice of the pastry chef that
was waking you up in the morning.
It was all you know auto, auto program.
But anyway, so it really was really just from from the
standpoint of understanding of the customer experience which I
feel like that's that's what it comes down to is so much of the
market research that that we do.So it really gave me a broader
(38:55):
understanding of business and what what drives customer
loyalty perceptions, grand loyalty, etcetera.
And then I I got into the healthcare and people say how
did you become a healthcare marketer?
And I said trust me, you don't wake up with morning one morning
and say I think I want to be a healthcare marketer.
(39:15):
And I've heard that with market researchers that a lot of people
say that too. I didn't wake up one day and say
I want to be a a market researcher or a moderator.
You kind of just fall into it and that's that's how it
happened. That's my story.
That's your story and you're sticking to it.
Now that's a Jimmy Buffett song I just quoted, but a song that
(39:37):
you inadvertently mentioned would be operator by Jim Croce.
Well, look at that and only you would pick up on.
That because you're my well, that's, that's what I do.
That's what I do. Laura, as we wrap up, I want to
let our audience know. And I want you to let our
audience know. I'm going to ask you, this is
(39:58):
what I'm going to do. I'm going to be more polite
about it. Laura, will you please share
with our audience how they can find more about you and the
Desperate for Diagnosis Podcast?Well, I am certainly on LinkedIn
of course, and with regard to the podcast, I do have a podcast
website that was a whole other thing.
Trying to figure out podcast website and how that whole thing
(40:21):
works. But it's
www.desperatefordiagnosis.com orI could be reached at
laura.marie@desperateforadiagnosis.com.If anyone's interested in asking
any questions or if you have a story, I'd love to hear your
story as well. Well, we will put all of your
contact information there in ourshow notes so people can easily
(40:45):
just tap on whatever podcast listening service they're using
and and see how they can get in touch with you.
And I will share with our audience that if you like this
interview, please like, rate andreview it on Apple Podcast or
wherever you get your podcast. And please, if you want to see
more or hear more of our QRCA podcast, go to qrcaviews.org and
(41:08):
click on the podcast tab. Laura, thank you so much for
dropping by conversations in depth and letting us reveal your
story. It was a pleasure, Mike, as
always, Mr. Carlin.
Hello and welcome to Conversations In Depth, a
service of QRC, a Views magazine.
I'm your host, Mike Carlin, and today it's my pleasure to
introduce you to Laura Nozicka, who's going to talk to us about
how and why she started her podcast Desperate for a
Diagnosis. Before I do though, I just
wanted to share why we were so eager to cover podcasting on a
(00:31):
podcast. And I promise you, it's not just
to be meta. It's actually an interesting
area of interest for me. I started my own podcast back in
2011. I can't believe it's been that
long since I started. I'm forking a story, but lo and
behold, it has. I haven't gotten any older
though, and that was around the time when I was just breaking
(00:54):
out of working for an agency andgoing out on my own as an
independent moderator for the first time anyway.
And I thought it would be a great way.
Having a podcast would be a great way to showcase showcase,
not show cast showcase by moderating skills to prospective
clients. They always seem to want to
tape. They always used to say.
(01:15):
And maybe some of you remember this.
I'm sure some of you remember this.
Hey, can I see a tape of your work?
I mean, how many VHS tapes do you have in your basement of old
work? I still have a bunch in a box
and my wife keeps saying, Hey Mike, do you want all these
tapes now? Look, I don't have anything to
play them on anymore, but yeah, I want those tapes.
(01:36):
You never know. I mean, those are collector's
items and they they might wind up in the Mike Carlin Museum
someday, I don't know. But anyway, we did get tapes
back in those days. And it's funny.
I mean, DVDs were a thing in 2011, but I digress.
We had tapes and you know you just can't give the tape of of
(01:58):
the work you're doing from one client to another.
I don't know what why clients would even think that was
something that that would be even remotely acceptable because
I know my Pepsi client wouldn't want my Unilever client to see
what I was doing for them. So I had this podcast, I started
this podcast and I would say, hey, you want to hear an example
of me interviewing somebody listen to this episode.
(02:19):
And it worked. It worked out pretty well for
me. I was able to reduce my clients
concerns because that's what it's all about.
It's all about reducing their fear that they're making a bad
decision by going with you. And and the podcast served its
purpose well and then it didn't serve its purpose well at all
because I didn't need to do thatanymore.
(02:39):
I didn't need to show examples of my work.
I had a reputation, you know, I had positive word of mouth as
they say in the biz. So I I needed to pivot the
podcast. That's when I started to
interview authors because that'sanother passion area of mine is
is writing. So I'm corking a story is now
still appropriately named to feature conversations with with
(03:01):
best selling authors. But I wanted to find somebody in
our industry who had a similar path to mine it and pick her
brain a little bit on her journey into podcasting.
Because I'm fascinated by this. I I, you know, maybe you're the
same as me. I don't know.
You might think to yourself, gosh, if I didn't moderate
anymore, what could I do? How could I use these skills?
You know, of course you could facilitate meetings,
(03:22):
brainstorming sessions, things like that.
But I still love interviewing people.
So podcasting for me, Hey, look,if I can make a living
podcasting, I would. But I can't just yet.
Someday, someday. I think that'll happen.
But I wanted to talk to another moderator who felt the same way
as me. Dig into her journey, how she
started all that good stuff, so we could teach you fine members
(03:45):
of the QRCA who may want to start your own podcast what
you're about to get into. So without any further ado,
let's talk to Laura Nozika. Laura Nozika is a moderator from
Chicago who has a long career inhealthcare, which drives her
passion to elevate the healthcare experience Out of
(04:05):
Laura's own experience of spinning through the healthcare
revolving door and desperately trying to find a diagnosis for
symptoms that made no sense to most doctors or were simply
dismissed. She created Desperate for
Diagnosis Podcast, but that's not the full story, and we're
going to get that from her momentarily.
Laura is a market researcher andmoderator focusing on helping
healthcare organizations and pharmaceutical companies better
(04:27):
understand their patient perspective.
Welcome to Conversations in Depth, Lauren Ozeko.
Well. Thank you, Mr. Carlin.
That is probably the most creative introduction that I've
ever had. So thank you for that, that that
was lovely, nice. To see you.
It's nice to see you. And I'm gonna say the cliched
thing, which is hey, you said Mr. Carlin.
(04:49):
I gotta look around and see if my dad's here.
Hey, yo. Hey, hey.
But I do a good job sounding like I was remotely from
Chicago. That was more of a New York
accident. I.
Think a little bit. Well, there's a little, a little
overlap there. And over here you're either from
the north side or the South side, so over by there, so.
You're over by there. It's.
Close. It's close, yeah.
(05:10):
It's close. Well, I mean, we could talk
pleasantries all day, Laura, butI'm curious, where does your
journey as a podcaster begin? Well, actually, I need to blame
it all on you, Michael. Oh well, I will take none of
this credit or none of this blame.
Let me rephrase that. I will take all the credit, but
none of the blame. You are my podcaster mentor, did
(05:35):
you know that? Well, I'm learning something new
every day and I just learned that.
But but tell me a little bit more about that.
Tell me how great I am. How?
How great you are. Well, talk about talking
pleasantries all day long, Michael, we can do that.
But it's up to you. If you want me to boost your
ego, or if you want me to answeryour question, Mr. Moderator
(05:57):
Man, you tell me. Well, as a good moderator, I'll
make this less about me even though I want to, and make it
more about you. So let's start with your
journey, Laura. Well, and that's exactly what I
set out to do with with the podcast is to not make it about
me but about patients. As you said, I am a moderator
(06:20):
for a living and mainly in healthcare.
And so I have interviewed, I don't even know how many
hundreds anymore patients and physicians, but it's the patient
stories that really touched me. And often times I don't always
get to ask the questions that I would like to ask and things
(06:41):
that I'm really curious about and and those things that I
really want to dig into. And so I thought, I just have to
produce my own podcast so I can hear the stories and ask the
questions that that I want to ask.
Because it's certainly not unusual for me to hear from
patients talking about how theirsymptoms were dismissed by
(07:03):
physicians and how doctors mighthave said, oh, it's all in your
head, your tests are inconclusive, but still these
patients just feel horrible and took them a really long time to
get a diagnosis since some are even still looking.
And so I wanted to dive into that more, assuming that there's
more than one person out there that needs a question answered
(07:25):
and maybe podcast guests could could help other folks.
So that's why I started the podcast.
Yeah, I get it. And you know, I think
moderators, you know, most of usanyway, are highly empathetic
individuals. You know, meaning like when
we're talking to people, like wecan't help but make connections
with other people. And yeah, especially in
(07:45):
healthcare, you're hearing thesethese stories and and often
times you know, they're, they'revery sad and and it's like the
the empath in US wants to jump in and like give these people a
hug sometimes I think. And we just want to want to let
them know that they're being heard.
Of course if we go get too touchy feely you know those
people in in the backroom or thevirtual backroom are going to be
(08:07):
like hey can you get to the the next section of the discussion
guide and you know maybe not notyou know have the therapy
session that you're you're goingdown in the in the room.
So and so it sounds like you know part of desperate for a
diagnosis, part of the genesis of it is not just to indulge
that within you though to give yourself an an ability to to
(08:29):
make this connection with other people, but to really have it
serve as a tool for other patients who might be going
through this. So, so they don't feel so alone.
Do I understand that correctly? You you got it.
You got it, Mike. Yeah.
Because I'm always more curious about these people than I am
given time for in an interview. And certainly as as you know, we
(08:51):
have objectives that we need to fill.
There's a reason that this market research is being
conducted, but I wanted to go beyond the market research and
those objectives do allow patients to really tell their
stories and they want to tell their stories and they want to
help. They want to help other people
find treatments and diagnosis and just let other patients know
(09:13):
that they're not the only ones who are having this difficulty
in this journey as I refer to asthe healthcare revolving door
for for a lot of people. And so that curiosity that we
moderators tend to have be it healthcare or ice cream products
or cable or financial services whatever it might be, we still
(09:38):
are always looking looking for more.
So I wanted to to give an opportunity to patients to tell
their story, help others, but it's also certainly is not a one
sided podcast from the patient perspective.
I certainly have had opportunityto interview physicians as well
and that'll be the goal for for 2024 to to have some other
(10:03):
healthcare professionals on to talk about their perspectives.
As I like to say, I'd like to cover off both sides of the
bedside. Oh, that sounds nice.
Both sides of the bedside. And it sounds like you might
have a nice bedside manner, Laura.
I'm just going to point that out.
I do try, I do try, but that's that's what we moderators do to
make sure that we make people comfortable right off the bat
(10:26):
and build rapport in a really short amount of time.
And so there's there are some patients that have really stuck
with me from a moderator standpoint, but certainly
through through a pot, through the podcast that I started back
in in May. And these stories have really
stuck with me. And there have been patients
that I've actually thought aboutmonths after I had interviewed
(10:47):
them because their stories were so powerful and unfortunately
sad. And it's sometimes it's hard to
to shake that off, but some of them really, really stick with
me. So you mentioned starting the
podcast back in May. Is that when you first had the
idea for the podcast or what's you know, what's the lead up
(11:07):
time getting to May? When?
In other words, when did you first have this idea?
Hey, I want to start a podcast to when did you actually launch?
Well, since you're my podcast Yoda, like I think you know that
you and I, I talked about this Ithink back in the fall of last
(11:28):
year of 2022. And I had also run the idea by
some other research colleagues and many of them thought that
that there was certainly a a place for this type of podcast
to to further further the research if you will.
But really just to further my own curiosity about this patient
(11:50):
journey, because healthcare in this country really is, is a
problem and patients do have a hard time navigating and getting
what they need and it's it's incredibly frustrating.
So I did want to bring home thatthis, that you're whoever you
are. You're not the only one who's
experiencing this type of of journey.
(12:14):
Now you know, I I think about like all of all the moderators.
I know. I know a couple.
You know, one or two and and we all have we all have this like
similar skill set right, where we're really good at talking to
people and it seems like you know getting into podcasting is
is a natural extension of what it is we do for a living to make
(12:36):
money feed our families and you know afford you know whatever
lifestyles it is we have. And so, so like this, there's a
there's a big skill overlap though.
And I'm I'm imagining also that there are some other people
listening to this who might say to themselves, hey, I could do
that. You know, it's like the same
people who say, hey, I can writea book, I know how to write, I
(12:57):
can put words together. So I'm curious, what challenges
did you face? And this would be some
edification, you know, for for those sort of aspiring QRCA
podcasters out there. What What are some lessons you
learned while starting your showthat you could share with the
fine people who are listening tothis conversation right now?
(13:19):
Well, it certainly doesn't come without challenges.
And I think once I started getting into it, I did question
several times, do I really want to do this, do I really want to
do this from the standpoint of everyone thinks that you can
just get a microphone, plug it in and you're ready to go.
And I can certainly say that allmicrophones don't always work
(13:41):
either as we did our tech tech here today.
And so it it really being researcher I did I did a lot of
research I probably over researched and probably
overthought the whole thing and it and at some point in time I
just said just you just got to go and build it while you fly.
So it's you'll never it'll neverbe 100% fully baked.
(14:05):
It has evolved even since May, but certainly from learning what
equipment, what platform to use,trying to understand the the
cost behind all of it. So there's the cost of the
equipment, there's the cost of all these platforms.
And it's not just say whether you decide to use Zill or Squad
(14:25):
Cast or Riverside or any of those other ones.
I did a lot of research into that there's then there's the
editing and so then that's I think where people get really
challenged by I've got all theserecordings now what do I do with
and so that was a whole nother learning curve of two in the
morning nights trying to get it right and figure it out and some
(14:50):
things had to be re recorded andhow do you record an intro and
an outro and then how do you mash all that together and how
do you produce the video versus the audio And it was it really
was a high learning curve and I'm still learning and not
perfect and like I said it's it's evolving and and even down
to things like podcast cover artwork and how to get it on all
(15:14):
of the on all the platforms. So, and I don't even know how
the lingo, but I just, I just did it because it was either
either you know, shut it down completely or just go.
So I just decided to just go andthen of course there's trying to
find people to be guests on on the podcast so that there's that
whole other level of of effort and production.
(15:40):
I mean, so it's it's not, in other words, it's not just a
plug and play thing. It's not like you're going to
get a, you know, go to the storego to Best Buy, get a get ausb
microphone and and and then justplug it in and then start
interviewing people. There's a lot to consider.
There's pre production, there's production there's post
production. I think what's going to scare
(16:00):
most people honestly is post production, you know that notion
of hey, you know, I've got, you know, I've I've got I've got
these interviews recorded. Now, how do I do that intro?
How do I do that outro? You know, do I do I even plan
for commercial breaks if I want to monetize this somehow
commercially to, you know, what happens when the audio levels
(16:21):
between my guest and myself are different?
I mean, there's nothing more annoying than listening to a
podcast where you can hear the host really clearly, but the
guest seems like they're, you know, a mile away.
And then you know, especially ifyou're like, if you're like me
and you listen to your podcast when you're running, it's like
or or you're exercising or in your car and you're constantly
fiddling with the volume to try and hear what's being said.
(16:44):
So there is a lot to consider when putting together a podcast,
especially if you want to attract a sizable audience to
make your show worth it. And by worth it, I mean to make
sure that you're getting the exposure to the people you want
to get the exposure to as well as building that audience.
So again, if you do want to monetize it someday, you've got
(17:06):
to do that with, you know, a sizable number of people.
So it's it's not just, you know,there's a lot.
In other words, there's a lot oflearning by doing.
That that there is and there should be 0 expectation to make
any a penny. You'll be spending pennies and
hundreds of dollars initially. I hate to say it, depending on
(17:28):
what kind of equipment you get, what platforms you subscribe to,
everything's an app and a monthly subscription or annual
subscription etcetera and so. So there is certainly some level
of of commitment to it all. At this point I have no
expectations again of monetizinganything.
It's really a matter of getting the stories out there and
(17:52):
certainly having potential clients see Laura in action and
because that you know those interviews are are are owned by
the the client I don't own thoseand so those certainly hard
opportunities for me to show my skill and my style etcetera.
(18:14):
So it's certainly secondary to to getting out the story but
there's there's you know again there's no expectation about
making money but even my mother will say you know so you're
going to make money at this saidno mom this is really more of a
it's it can be an expensive hobby if if that's how you look
(18:35):
at it. But I wrote this for me is is
more of a calling and kind of a passion project and and wherever
it goes it it goes I I don't puta ton of pressure on myself but
I do have a goal to to produce and and push out a a podcast
once a week. There have been a little, a few
lulls just because I got really busy with work, thanks thank
(18:57):
goodness. But I got really busy with work
and and some personal things andsometimes I can't get one out a
week and of course you need to have that charm of of finding
guests and and and mining for guests that also fill the
mission of of your podcast. So, so there there's that as
(19:18):
well. So there are a lot of components
to putting it all together in that one hour, that 50 minutes
or however long it's going to be, even if it's 20 minutes.
So and there's there's so many other aspects to producing the
show and different angles, whichactually I I enjoy doing.
So I'm I'm still willing to keeppushing and and exploring these
(19:39):
other aspects of of podcasting. So I I do want to just go back
to a few things you said and andI think one one of the things
you said was really important which is hey you know don't
necessarily go into this thinking you're gonna make a ton
of money doing it. I, I tell the same thing to
authors. Right.
Don't don't write a book thinking you're going to get
rich because that just will not happen.
(20:00):
That is like you know one out ofa million authors are gonna like
really make a decent living by by writing books for a living.
Most of us cannot afford our lives and lifestyles just by by
writing books. Same thing I think is true for
podcasters. So don't go into it thinking,
OK, this is going to help me replace.
(20:21):
My moderating income because that's you know that's not going
to happen and I I don't want to bring anyone down here but but
just to have it as a passion project and to and to do it for
you know to to follow your own interest to help other people.
I think is is an is a valiant and and sort of selfless way to
(20:42):
think about it. It's it's almost a way of giving
back to other people and I thinkthat's that's reason enough to
do a show like the show you do. But I do want to challenge you
on something because I know the first video you put out and I
know you posted about your firstepisode on LinkedIn, you put it
up on YouTube. You actually did wind up getting
some good numbers on your very first episode.
(21:05):
And I know it was sort of a very, you know, it was very
emotional episode. It was somebody that we both
know in the market research industry.
Well, I think we met at a a, a quirks conference.
If I'm not it quirks in Chicago.But I mean, tell me, can you
just share like what? What, like that first episode
did numbers wise, Yeah. So just from a YouTube
(21:27):
perspective, I think that first episode, I think at this point
again that was in May. I think there's about 12-12
hundred views on on that one andit just, yeah, it it blew me, it
blew me away. Now I don't know if that was
beginner's luck or what, but that and that's just the thing.
Not all of them will reap the same amount of interest or views
(21:51):
or downloads or listen listens etcetera.
And that's a whole other thing too.
There's this whole level of analytics that's available and
you have to you can either take it super seriously or take it
with a grain of salt whatever. But just just the fact that it
it got so much traction and and certainly the the topic was yes
(22:12):
very emotional and my first guest is is highly highly well
known and and loved in the in the market research arena.
And so you know that that certainly worked to my
advantage. But it was such an important
story that and because I I felt what what he had to say and was
(22:34):
so passionate about it because it was in reference to his son
in a really a life or death situation that he was in.
And I wanted to help him get that story out.
And so that just was a catalyst to to keep going to think, well
who else can I help what's the next thing And so depends on
what really drives you. So for me it's it was OK what
(22:57):
else is out there, You know who else has the story.
Who else has advice to, to give to to other people who are in a
healthcare situation. And then I started exploring
talking with healthcare professionals.
You know, I think you and I haveboth interviewed the same
neurosurgeon. I had a gastroenterologist gone,
(23:20):
menopause specialist. I have yet to produce their
podcast and that's going to go out the door sometime next week.
But, but it just is kind of this, you know, I just kind of
got really excited about well, who else can I talk to.
And again I think for moderatorsthat's just, that's just
something that, that's in US. You know, how much more digging
can we do? What's that little nugget that
(23:42):
could help someone or you know, from the standpoint of our, our,
our clients, we think, well, what's that one thing that a
respondent might say that could drive a whole new solution at
the same time. So again, where this goes for
me, Mike, I'm not really sure, but it's certainly something
(24:02):
that I have a lot of passion forto to keep putting out and
evolving and just getting better.
Well, I mean again, not to not to make this all about numbers,
but you mentioned, you know, 1200 views on YouTube.
I just want to put that in perspective for a brand new
channel for a first episode for an hour plus long interview,
(24:24):
1200 views is pretty amazing. So I think that's something you
should be very proud of and thatthat that starts getting you
some subscribers. And you know unfortunately on
YouTube you need at least 1000 subscribers and X amount of
hours of of viewing every month to to make a little, you know, a
little a little cash from you. But but you're on your way to
(24:46):
doing that. And the other thing I'll say is,
you know, right now you're stillvery early in the game and as
you know as far as you know, podcasting goes.
So you may not know where it's going.
But I think about it and if I were, you know, if I, if I
didn't have a show and I'm thinking about putting a show
together, I'd think about it this way too, which is, you know
this, this show that you have this asset is, is just that,
(25:08):
it's one other asset in your arsenal.
So a client, you know coming to you might see a clip of
something you did on LinkedIn oron YouTube and and they might
say, hey, you know what, that, you know, I I I'd like to maybe
consider you know, getting a bidfrom this person.
Now that may not have happened yet, but you're still very early
(25:28):
on in the game for that. It's also a tool you can use for
your own personal marketing. You know, when you're doing your
outreach, when you're doing yourprospecting, you know, to be
able to say, hey, you know, I'm Lauren Ozika, I am a healthcare
moderator, among other things. You know, here is kind of my
(25:49):
here, here's my, here's my pitchto you.
And then, hey, if you want to know no more, yeah, check out my
YouTube channel. Desperate for a diagnosis.
And, you know, it's it's just something else.
And if somebody's trying to decide between you and someone
else, hey, this this person's a known commodity.
I've seen their work. That's how I started my show
back in 2011. You know, I had it.
(26:12):
I had you know when I first wentout on my own after leaving an
agency I had clients or prospective clients say, hey
look you sound good on paper butwe'd like to see an example of
your work. So send me a tape.
And I was, I was joking before before this call that hey, we
used to have tapes you know theywere VHS tape and and but you
can't you can't just do that right.
(26:33):
And you mentioned it before. You can't just share work you
did for you know one client to work you did with another.
So I I, I started sending peopleto the podcast and and for me
that worked. Now there are fewer podcasts in
2011 than there are in 2023. But I I do think the the
technique works as well. And now with, you know, with a
(26:54):
lot of AI out there that helps us with you know, finding video
clips and putting together our, our short, our shorts as they
call them in the biz in the industry on the socials as the
kids say, you know it is our marketing can can only get
better and better from from there.
Yeah, yeah, it's, it definitely is like you said, it's not just
(27:20):
a a plug and play by any means, but there have been plenty of
times where clients have said, do you have anything that you
could show me in terms of you inaction etcetera.
And I think the only stuff I have, the only videos I have are
of the capstone class or capstone.
(27:43):
You know, I don't even know how to explain it.
Capstone exercise if you will ofmoderating a focus group when I
went to to Burke Institute whichis worth 2 rounds of moderator
training and and then you you goyou fly and you've got 55
minutes with a a group that theyrecruited on whatever topic you
(28:04):
elected to to create your guide around etcetera and and you go
and so they they videoed that and then that was used as your
critique etcetera. But that's really all I have and
now since I've I'm out of Berkshire, I don't know 7-8
years now those are a little oldthey even they look a little
(28:25):
fuzzy at this point too older production techniques back then
and it's it's just nice to be able to say well I have a
podcast and what's been great about it too is that it's been a
conversation starter. It's it's it's I always I kind
of like to put it on the level of like my other hobby is you
(28:47):
know is is ballroom dance. And so I could talk about when I
wasn't working for myself and I was in corporate America and I'd
be at some networking thing and I would say, oh, I'm Lauren
Ozeika. I work for XYZ Healthcare System
or whatever healthcare organization I was working for.
Oh, and something I do for fun is ballroom dance.
I got everyone's attention on. I ballroom dance.
(29:10):
No one really cared what I did for a living.
So now when I say I have a podcast, I could, you know,
people kind of stop and say and tell me more, they're moderating
me because they if they want to learn more.
So it's just been interesting orpeople who have maybe never
engaged in any of my posts aboutthe podcast, whether it's been
(29:30):
on LinkedIn or Facebook, etcetera, they've come up right
out and said, oh, I see you havea podcast.
So it's kind of it's kind of interesting on who's watching
you, but you may not know. So, well, I think the only
logical next step for you is to create a podcast on ballroom
dancing, 'cause I think that would be that would be money, as
(29:52):
Vince Vaughn would say in Swingers.
That would be money, a podcast, and it's an audio only podcast,
so you don't see anybody dancing.
It's just two people describing dancing on the podcast, like an
audio story about people ballroom dancing.
Well and there are there are stories and there's plenty of
drama and it's a it's definitelya a real thing but it but it has
(30:16):
it has been nice in terms of meeting new clients because if
you're if you are able to get out to the conferences it's
great. But some of us independents at
times don't always have the the budget to get out there and and
shake hands rub elbows however you'd like to reference that but
(30:37):
it's nice to be able then to it's nice.
That's right. That's right.
It's nice to be able to then kind of you know again show who
you are in action. It's not just some zoom meeting,
you know you've got that as kindof one more tool on the tool kit
as you said in terms of of of marketing.
(31:00):
You know I want to go back to toyour day's pre podcast because I
think the podcast is just one example of how innovative you
are as as a thinker and and I'vealways considered you to be like
a hustler because you you're always thinking of different
angles for things and I mean hustler in a good way not in
like. You know, there's a time for
(31:21):
everything, Mike. Come on.
Oh boy. So but but I mean I just can you
give a little back story as to how you fell into moderating in
the 1st place because you you know, you didn't come out of you
know, Riva as or or Burke as a you know, 20-30 year old
etcetera. You know, moderating wasn't
(31:42):
necessarily your intended careerpath.
So would you share with the audience just how you came into
the qualitative field? Well, first of all, who's to say
I'm still not 20 or 30? Come on, Michael.
I mean the. I mean, I I you look like you're
maybe 24. I've been told I need glasses,
but you look maybe 24. Nice.
(32:03):
Nice backing it up there, Mike. Nice backing it up.
Nice try. Nice try anyway.
Well, thank you for asking that 'cause it.
I'm told that it's in a unique story.
I don't really know why, but I've had other market research
folks say how did you get from where you were to to moderating.
I I don't think it's that much of A leap, but it's for others
(32:26):
it seems to be So I've spent a lot of my career in in
healthcare. Early on I was in hospitality, I
was in sales and marketing for restaurants and and hotels and
the industry can be a little wobbly.
And in my 20s I I did jump over to the healthcare, healthcare
(32:49):
sales and then worked for a lot of the healthcare systems here
in Chicago and in a marketing capacity and worked for other
companies, health related companies.
I worked in patient recruitment for clinical trials.
So it was all in a marketing, like I said marketing capacity,
but every job required the commissioning of market
(33:13):
research. So it certainly wasn't unusual
for me. But the first time I learned
about qualitative was the first healthcare marketing job I ever
had again was one of the healthcare systems here in
Chicago. And I saw this moderator
navigating this conversation at a facility, but navigating this
conversation with cancer patients.
(33:36):
And I've never seen anything like that before.
And I thought how, how does thishappen that there's this room
full of people, patients as we would refer to them in that
context, patients, cancer patients no less who have had
variety of different cancers. There's eight cancer patients in
a room and here's this stranger navigating this conversation.
(34:01):
And of course, there's a business objective behind it,
but I thought if that's a real job, I want to do that one day.
And I was just so fascinated by the fact that one person can
build a rapport so quickly with people, again, for the purposes
of a business objective to understand their journeys, to
(34:24):
make their lives better, easier,etcetera.
I think the objective was to understand why cancer patients
would travel to find a surgeon but they were willing to get
chemotherapy and radiation closeto home.
And I just I I don't know at thetime not knowing much about
(34:45):
qualitative it just it just blewmy mind that you could actually
talk to people in a room, strangers learn about their
journeys and make your business better, stronger, more
meaningful etcetera. And yes, of course the goal is
to to grow business but in a wayat least from a healthcare
standpoint is is helping people.And so that's that's how I
(35:07):
started learning about qualitative and and after that
every job, marketing job I ever had there was some aspect of
commissioning qualitative research in a variety of of
different ways. So it was just something that I
felt from the standpoint of between my personality and my my
curiosity about people in general.
(35:28):
I'd rather this is awkward for me, 'cause you're asking me the
questions, 'cause I don't reallyenjoy talking about myself that
much, but I'd rather learn aboutother people and and learn about
them. But but yeah, that's that's how
I I learned about what even qualitative was.
And over time I would talk to the moderators and say, so how
did you get into this? And they would, they would tell
(35:51):
me about their own journeys and what it took to be a moderator.
And I heard everything from you really need to be A.
You need to be a marketer. Mark people who are marketers do
really well in moderating 'causethen you understand the next
step. What's the strategy behind
what's happening next? Others have more of a you know
(36:13):
of a of a background in in research something maybe more
scientific if you will or psychology like like yourself.
But you also are you have the marketing background too.
So you know that's you just never know where you're going to
to fall in in life. And that's kind of how I look at
the podcast. I don't know where it'll go.
(36:33):
It could lead to something, could lead to nothing, out of
nothing but self satisfaction, but that I felt like I was doing
something. But but yeah, so it's it's funny
how how I moved into to moderating and when I decided
that leaving corporate America made sense, that's what I did,
and started networking. And luckily, after networking
(36:57):
for about a month, I had my first project moderating a
project on idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
And Oh no. Stop.
Stung up. Stop with that sexy talk.
I know, Yeah. But as as we wrap up here,
Laura, I want you to do something for me, which is can
we bridge your original career path of sort of hospitality and
(37:23):
life as a qualitative professional?
Where do you see the overlaps? Or another way of asking a
question would be what have you learned in the hospitality space
that translates well to life as a qualitative professional?
Well, a lot of what we do in research is about experience,
(37:46):
right. A lot of it comes down to
experiential type of understandings in in the
customer journey. So I learned a lot initially
about customer experience in in hospitality.
Again I was in in sales out of college and prior to that I
worked in, I was a Hostess in inone of the hotel restaurants.
(38:08):
I worked for the Hotel Sofitel and I also was the hotel
operator for the Hotel Sofitel. Back then they called us PBX
operators because we you know had to manage the whole you know
one ring, a Ding, A2 ring, a Ding, a type of type of systems
and we were programming wake up calls for people who needed wake
(38:30):
up calls and and it was in the voice of the pastry chef that
was waking you up in the morning.
It was all you know auto, auto program.
But anyway, so it really was really just from from the
standpoint of understanding of the customer experience which I
feel like that's that's what it comes down to is so much of the
market research that that we do.So it really gave me a broader
(38:55):
understanding of business and what what drives customer
loyalty perceptions, grand loyalty, etcetera.
And then I I got into the healthcare and people say how
did you become a healthcare marketer?
And I said trust me, you don't wake up with morning one morning
and say I think I want to be a healthcare marketer.
(39:15):
And I've heard that with market researchers that a lot of people
say that too. I didn't wake up one day and say
I want to be a a market researcher or a moderator.
You kind of just fall into it and that's that's how it
happened. That's my story.
That's your story and you're sticking to it.
Now that's a Jimmy Buffett song I just quoted, but a song that
(39:37):
you inadvertently mentioned would be operator by Jim Croce.
Well, look at that and only you would pick up on.
That because you're my well, that's, that's what I do.
That's what I do. Laura, as we wrap up, I want to
let our audience know. And I want you to let our
audience know. I'm going to ask you, this is
(39:58):
what I'm going to do. I'm going to be more polite
about it. Laura, will you please share
with our audience how they can find more about you and the
Desperate for Diagnosis Podcast?Well, I am certainly on LinkedIn
of course, and with regard to the podcast, I do have a podcast
website that was a whole other thing.
Trying to figure out podcast website and how that whole thing
(40:21):
works. But it's
www.desperatefordiagnosis.com orI could be reached at
laura.marie@desperateforadiagnosis.com.If anyone's interested in asking
any questions or if you have a story, I'd love to hear your
story as well. Well, we will put all of your
contact information there in ourshow notes so people can easily
(40:45):
just tap on whatever podcast listening service they're using
and and see how they can get in touch with you.
And I will share with our audience that if you like this
interview, please like, rate andreview it on Apple Podcast or
wherever you get your podcast. And please, if you want to see
more or hear more of our QRCA podcast, go to qrcaviews.org and
(41:08):
click on the podcast tab. Laura, thank you so much for
dropping by conversations in depth and letting us reveal your
story. It was a pleasure, Mike, as
always, Mr. Carlin.
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