Why Yes, I Did Rebrand Again!

Text Michele

Host Michele Kus shares the story behind rebranding her podcast twice in one week, revealing how a spontaneous conversation with Bill Vanderbush led to the perfect podcast name that was always waiting to happen. Welcome to Today's Kus Word!

Check out Bill Vanderbush's podcast & TV show here and Bill's discipleship group, The Table, here.

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Today’s Kus Word is spiritual growth with a touch of snark! Join author and spiritual formation prof, Michele Kus, as she serves up short, powerful teachings, immersive meditations, bold declarations, and f(reedom)-bombs to fuel your faith and get you laughing. #TodaysKusWord

*There is no actual cussing on Today's Kus Word. We keep it squeaky clean!

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Episode Transcript

Michele (00:00):
It's Friday, March 7th, and this is Today's Kus Word.
Welcome to Today's Kus Word,your weekday blast of
inspiration.
Join me, Michele Kus, everyMonday through Friday for some
piping hot faith bombs, freedombombs, fun bombs and Holy Spirit

(00:23):
fire bombs.
How many people can say thatthey rebranded their podcast
twice in one week?
Not many people can say that,but your girl can say that.
So some of you know, if you'vebeen following the show, that I
originally released this podcasta little over a year ago and

(00:47):
called it New CreationMeditations.
And then, earlier this week, onMonday, I re-released the
podcast with a brand new nameand brand new artwork and called
it Rise and Reign.
And I was so proud of that name.

(01:09):
And then, Monday night, afterthe very first episode dropped
with the new name Rise and Reign, I was on a Zoom call with my
mentorship group called theTable, and this group is run by
Bill Vanderbush.
And, as a side note, if you'renot following Bill Vanderbush's
podcast, what are you even doingwith your life?
This man spits revelation likea fire hose.

(01:33):
I have completely given uptrying to take notes in the
actual moment while we're on theZoom call because the
revelation and the teaching andthe insights and the theological
bombs this man is dropping arejust coming in fast and furious.
So I can't keep up, so I justsoak it in while he's talking

(01:57):
and then I go back and listen tothe recording later and
actually take notes.
But I digress.
But no, seriously, go find BillVanderbush, follow his podcast
and his socials and jump in thetable because it's really fun.
Anyway, we get on this callMonday night and he says to me
Michele, do you really pronounceyour last name, cuss?

(02:21):
To which I replied yes, Bill, Ireally pronounce my last name,
cuss.
To which he replied you have tocall your podcast The Kus Word.
And I said it's funny youmentioned that because I just
rebranded the podcast to Riseand Reign and there was someone

(02:42):
else on the call that actuallyfound the podcast and was
holding up their phone to thescreen so everyone could see the
podcast artwork.
And he's like no, no, no, no,it has to be The Kus Word.
If your last name is Kus, yourpodcast can't be called anything
else.
You have to use your name.

(03:03):
And he goes.
And I want to be on a podcastcalled The Kus Word.
In fact he's like now I want tochange my name and all these
people on the call startedgiving me all these really fun
ideas, like you could do aseries of F-bombs like freedom
and fun and faith, and I don'tknow.

(03:25):
He listed like 20 F-words rightthere on the spot and then
someone else said, yeah, youcould do 21 Days of Kus Words.
And so Bill's like you know,you all need to come back next
week with a bunch of marketingideas for Michele's Kus Word
podcast.
And the funny thing is Ialready use the hashtag Today's
Kus Word.
I've used that hashtag on a lotof my posts for probably a

(03:49):
decade now at least, so it'spretty well established.
So I always wanted to call thispodcast something with my last
name, Kus, just because it'skind of irreverent and it's kind
of ironic because it'sobviously all about faith and
our relationship with God.

(04:09):
So it kind of kills all of thereligiosity in the room, right,
if you're using a play on theword cuss?
And I never ended up using myname in the podcast title
because I did this podcastcoaching course, this was years

(04:32):
ago and they said your podcastname needs to be.
It needs to clearly convey whatyour show is about, and I
thought, well, the only thingthat that name clearly conveys
is that there's swearinginvolved, and I didn't really
want to send that message.
So I never used my name in thepodcast title, but I always kind

(04:54):
of wanted to, and so after ourZoom call on Monday night, I got
back on my computer and startedmaking.
I started toying around withsome new podcast art and
thinking about what if I justrebranded it to The Kus Word, or
Today's Kus Word, which is thehashtag that I've been using for

(05:16):
years already?
So I played around with it for awhile, I talked to my husband
about it a little bit, I thoughtabout it, I kind of
experimented and put a samplingof the new podcast art on my
Instagram story and thought whatdo you guys think?
I put like a little poll onthere, and then I thought you
know what?
What did I say on Monday?

(05:38):
This is supposed to be fun andnot a job, so I'm just going to
do it, and if only four peoplelisten to the show, who cares
anyway?
So welcome to the newlyrebranded rebranded Today's Kus
Word.
Sometimes you just need oneperson to give you permission to

(05:58):
do the thing that you wanted todo anyway, right?
So this is for you, Bill.
Thanks so much for the kick inthe pants and thank you for
joining me for story time today.
I'll see you again next time onToday's Kus Word.
Have a great weekend.