Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Today's episode is going to be a good one. We have Stephanie Gass on our show today.
She is a Christian business and podcast coach, boundary boss, and seven-figure CEO.
She helps women grow their online businesses and make consistent income using podcasting.
She is a host of a top 20 globally ranked business podcast called Online Business
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for Christian Women, and Stephanie has helped thousands of women plan and launch
successful successful podcasts,
including Marketing Your Purpose, which are now top of funnel lead gen for their offers.
She has helped dozens of her students grow into six and seven figure businesses
completely fueled by their podcasts.
She believes it's possible to partner with God to create income and impact without
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sacrificing your family, faith, or buying into the social media hustle.
Amen to that. When Steph is not recording or meeting with students,
she can be found mountain biking with her husband and two boys,
eating new Mexican food, whipping up another oat milk latte,
or traveling with her family.
If you like what you hear from Steph today, I highly recommend checking out
(01:05):
her five-day live workshop, The Profitable Podcast Boot Camp,
where you'll learn how to grow your show and make income podcasting on March 4th through March 8th.
There are many ways to get involved with Steph's offerings, and if you miss the date, no worries.
We'll share all the links of how to get involved with Steph in our show notes.
(01:25):
Don't forget to mention that Austin from Marketing Your Purpose podcast sent
you. You won't be disappointed. Help me welcome Steph to the show.
Welcome to the Marketing Your Purpose podcast. I'm Austin, a marketing and PR
gal and small business owner passionate about enabling purpose-driven businesses
to be seen and heard through my purpose-given gifts.
(01:47):
If you're an entrepreneur, marketing leader, or work-from-home boss lady that's
tired of crafting campaigns and pitching stories that feel purposeless and in
need of a reminder of who you were purposely created to market for,
you're in the right place.
Inside this podcast, you'll find basic integrated marketing and PR tips that
break through the darkness, thoughtful plans to help you launch and sustain
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your purpose-built thing, encouragement and helping you live by your values
in and outside your workplace and much more.
So friend, if you're ready to drive more light into this world by simply marketing
your purpose, turn up the volume, grab your coffee and let's dig in.
Are you a seasoned Marketing Your Purpose podcast listener? If you've been around
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since our launch, thank you. If you're just finding us now, welcome.
My goal with each episode on this podcast is to leave you with practical marketing,
PR, busy life tips that encourage and inspire you in marketing your purpose.
If you've been following along since day one, my guess is this podcast is doing just that.
And as a minor thank you for the time it takes to produce each episode,
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I'd be so grateful if you left a written review on Apple Podcasts,
wherever you tune in and listen, sharing how this podcast has impacted your
life or purpose thus far.
Every additional review helps more people find out about this podcast and encourages
them to market their purpose.
Thank you in advance for those who leave a review. I can't wait to read them.
(03:12):
As a reminder, we love serving our clients within the PR and marketing space.
Whether you own a purpose-driven business that's been around for 10 plus years,
or you're just getting started, we love to encourage you and support you in your efforts.
Whether you're a do-it-yourself maven or an outsource queen, we can help you.
Whether you need help getting your vision into reality or a marketing PR coach
(03:36):
that helps you get to the next level in your credibility, exposure,
and sales, we are here to be with you on day one through year 10.
Let us enable and empower you to be seen and heard. Book a discovery call today
at plumbandparcel.com.
I am just so excited for today. This is a fabulous day because we have a special guest on the podcast.
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Her name is Stephanie Gass, and she has been such a pillar to this podcast.
She has changed the game for me, my business, and I am just so excited to have
her, for her to speak speak truth here to talk about her own business,
her journey, and how she has created a very successful business in less than
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two hours a week without social media doing her thing.
So Stephanie, welcome to the Marketing Your Purpose podcast.
Well, thank you so much for having me, Austin. I'm so grateful to be here. Yes.
And she has such a wealth of expertise in so many areas, online marketing.
We over here at Plum and Parcel and the Marketing Your Purpose podcast talk
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about all about integrated marketing and PR and just looking at the whole ecosystem.
System, but I am just really excited to dive into some of your expertise around
podcasting because that is where I originally found out about you from a good
friend and through your courses.
I was one of the many to take your Podcast Pro University course,
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and I know you have lots of other offerings as well, but that is actually what
kicked off this podcast.
Oh my gosh. So grateful for being able to take the course and it has been super
pivotal to this business.
But also I've talked to you talked about you a lot here already.
So yeah, you are very welcome here.
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Such a full circle moment. I love that so much. You're just a testament to.
To starting, you know, to getting clear on what the heck you're supposed to do.
And then the willingness to start a podcast is never something that's super easy.
And so I'm just proud of you. I mean, look, this is so crazy. This is so cool.
No, it is a very full circle moment. So thank you for being here.
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And again, really excited for our listeners to learn more about you,
your business, how long you've been running it.
And yeah, just give us a little download on what you do. Yeah.
So I have been a full-time entrepreneur for 14, 15 years.
Before that, I was in corporate America, got laid off, such is the story,
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and decided I was going to try my hand at marketing, went into network marketing.
After five years, that fell apart.
I was in a really bad place as far as my mental capacity, my worthiness,
just all the stuff that comes with like, Like I have to be successful and I have to make this work.
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And all of those pieces kind of came to this boiling point in 2016.
And I call it my Britney Spears year where like, you know, she shaved her head
and she's like hitting the car with the umbrella.
Oh, yeah. That was me circa 2016. I had a newborn. I had a two and a half year
old and my life was in shambles.
And I, for myself, my faith is such a huge component of how I was able to rebuild my business.
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And so that year, I really turned to my faith as just a saving grace in how
to climb out of this black hole that I had created for myself.
And I started praying intentionally, like, how do I grow this business again? I had nothing left.
We had borrowed money from my kid's savings account to pay the bills.
I was, you know, drinking my feelings away and eating my feelings away and completely
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striving and hustling and lost in where I was supposed to go.
And that kind of all culminated in the next few years, me finding my way by
showing up, going live in these Facebook groups, had a baby on my hip. I was healing.
I was growing in my relationship with Christ, but the same exploring,
like, what am I called to do? Right. What is my purpose?
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As we ask here on this podcast, how do I glorify God with my giftings and make
it into an actual business that makes money and makes a difference and helps people?
And so I started getting these people, these women who had asked me,
Austin, Steph, do you coach?
And I'm like, I don't know, maybe. Sure. Let's hop on a call.
So we started coaching and that started to grow, but it was very, very slow.
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And so I was on Pinterest and I was blogging and I tried to be,
I tried to copy Sunner Leonard Ducey and start a YouTube channel.
Like who else didn't do that in 2017?
You know, like I was all over the place trying to figure out my way.
Well, in 2018, I had this truly prophetic dream and I heard God speak to me
in the dream, start a podcast.
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And if there's one thing I am, it is I'm going to be obedient to that.
Like that felt like a download. I'm going to move forward in that.
I plugged into my microphone. The podcast was called The Mompreneur Mastermind
Show back then because I didn't really have clarity on what I was doing other
than coaching women and helping them get clear on what their calling was.
That's what I had been doing.
And the podcast absolutely exploded.
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Within one year, I had a six-figure coaching business. Within two years,
it was a multi-six-figure business. I rebranded the podcast and now it's been
five and a half, five years, actually roughly five years.
And now the podcast is called online business for Christian women.
I've got a seven figure business and not to say that number to brag,
but to say like, oh my gosh, look what God can do when we get out of our own way.
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And we finally allow ourselves to simply be this voice in this market that we're
called to show up in and kind of bless and release the pressure of of what it
means to be successful, or what it means to hit a certain number, a certain rank.
I let go of all of that and just decided I'm going to show up and bless people with what I know,
which is how to grow a business now through podcasting, monetize your podcast
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in a way that is glorifying to him, and do it consistently so that it's not
full of striving and hustling and that social media grind.
So that is what I do today. And just a small snippet of what came before that.
Because the what came before that is always so important to the where you ultimately land.
Yeah, that is, it's just so beautiful and powerful how you followed that prompting.
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And I feel like I have a very similar story with that.
So it's so relatable and so beautiful to see how you've leaned in and what the
fruit has, what fruit has come from that and the many, how many people you,
how many women you've impacted with this business.
I am super curious, when you started out, because you do talk a lot about running
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out of the social media game, getting out of that, because it is the showing up is hard.
In the beginning, did you use social media with your podcasting?
And also, what does that look like today?
Because I feel like that is, I feel like I feel that so deeply of the showing
up and not wanting to show up even in feeling that I have to or we have to.
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So yeah, how's that journey been with the podcasting, the social media?
Yeah. So before the podcast started, I was basically reliant 100% on social media.
And this was kind of in the time, I think before, like, I mean,
social media was super hot, right?
But Instagram had just like, I mean, everyone was like Instagram, Instagram, Instagram.
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It was kind of before like TikTok had hit the scene and all of that.
And so I had decided like Instagram is going to be the way to grow.
I thought it was. I heard the experts tell me so this must be the way.
So I, with a friend of mine partnered up and we were like, we're going to blow
this thing up on Instagram.
And so we started with like an hour a day and then we grew to two hours a day.
And within a couple of years, Austin, I was spending five to six hours a day
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on Instagram, liking people's stuff and leaving the comments and making reels
with my kids and the stories with my kids.
And I thought in my head, this is the way I'm going to grow this business because
it relates to this mom that I'm talking to.
And so she's going to see this and come over and convert. I mean,
I had grown the Instagram to like 30,000 followers with thousands of likes per her post.
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Hundreds and hundreds of people were watching my stories and I was absolutely burned out, drained.
And I started to be, and then the podcast started.
Now at that time, I still thought social media was a huge component to what we had created.
And like to give social media some credit, like it was the only way I was getting clients pre-podcast.
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But again, it was very slow, low, very inconsistent.
It was definitely not sustainable. Like the amount of time I had to spend at
five to six hours a day to get one client, the return on my time investment
was negative 5 billion, you know?
And like the yearning, yeah, like the yearning in my soul to be free was so intense.
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It was like, there's this moment I distinctly remember remember my older son
came to me and he was talking to me and I don't know, he was probably like three at the time.
He's like, mama, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, like all these things.
And I remember going in my head like, I can't listen to you.
I have to grab my phone so I can record you.
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And this like voice, like Holy Spirit spoke to me in that moment was like,
you want to not listen to your kids.
You can grab your phone to listen to your kid. Like gross.
Like, I mean, Holy Spirit didn't call me gross. But like I felt in the moment the shift.
I said, this is not it. I am not this mom.
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I am not it. I'm unavailable. I'm done. done.
And that mixed with a few other events in my life caused me to start getting
off of social media every weekend.
So I would delete the apps off of my iPhone, Instagram, and Facebook.
Those are the ones I was on.
And I felt a shift in my heart. I felt free.
I felt like I could be present with my kids. I started to forget where my phone
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would be all weekend. And it was like these chains had broken.
And I told my community about it. I told the people on the podcast.
And so this was was about probably a year into podcasting and my audience started to do it.
They're like, we've been deleting apps on the weekends. This is crazy. This is amazing.
And so I started to feel like there's more here and I didn't really know what.
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So I was, you know, for me praying on it and figuring out what that next step was.
And something with my church or somebody was like, I'm going to do a fast, right?
Fast for the new year, fast for Lent or whatever it was.
I don't don't distinctly remember, but I said, I'm going to get off of Instagram,
like fully off. I'm going to not just the weekends.
I'm going to get off for 30 days. I need to know if Instagram is actually generating
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revenue for my company or not.
Is this the reason that we're getting leads or is it the podcast?
I didn't have tracking or any of those things yet. I was like messy still getting
my life together and my business.
And so we deleted Instagram as a company. I think I had one or two two team members at this point.
And I said, no one's to post over there or go there at all.
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I took a bunch of metrics day one, and then I got off, deleted it. It was completely gone.
And for the first few days, I would say that was the hardest few days because
it truly proves to you your addiction.
The awareness around the addiction often doesn't happen until the source is taken away.
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And then you go, oh crap, like I actually had a problem.
And you didn't realize you had a problem until you can't get your hands on the fix.
That's exactly what happened for me, which made me even more leery about my
usage, knowing like, this is something I can't control.
I can't not click the thing. I can't not touch my phone. Like we have a problem.
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So I got off for the 30 days. Within about a week.
I felt so good. I was clear-headed. I kid you not. I was sleeping better.
My relationship with my husband was better. I had time to work out. I had time to read a book.
All these hours became available in my life.
And I went, okay, if this is not impacting the money and the downloads and the
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leads, why do I have it? And I started to ask myself these questions.
Anyway, 30 days comes and goes, everything grew, Austin, the numbers,
the downloads, the revenue, everything.
And I went, I can't go back. I'm going to stay off for six more months. Let's go.
Stayed off Instagram for six more months. And we did have a Facebook group.
So we had Facebook. I had it still as a company because that's where we host
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like our community groups for our courses and stuff.
But like actively posting and then Instagram was non-existent.
Like we didn't go there at all.
And I wasn't anywhere else. So I was basically free of social media. you.
Within six months, we went from a couple hundred K revenue business,
past half a million dollar business.
The team exploded, the downloads, everything. I got speaking engagements.
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I'm talking everything absolutely blew up. And this is with an Instagram that was pretty busted.
I didn't even touch it or fix it or anything at this time.
I just left and it was nuts. And so that's kind of what it looked like.
And actually, so now like I never went back.
It's now been two years and we did just do an Instagram refresh where it looks
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like a business card now because that thing was so old. It was so crusty.
So now it looks like a business card, but nobody post like we don't post there.
I don't go there. I don't use it for my personal usage.
I don't use Facebook for my personal like scrolling. Like it's not on my phone.
They're not on my phone at all. My team, if they have to post something,
will go through the business suite or whatever.
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Like I'm free from it. That's what it looks like today.
That is absolutely amazing. And fun fact is that we are doing a similar experience
experiment right now with not being on social media.
Yes, for Lent is what kind of propelled it to happen.
Oh my gosh. Oh, you're just speaking so deeply to that addiction piece. It's just so...
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It's so much of how addicted we are to it in those first few days.
And I want to say like, just very quickly, anybody listening and you're feeling,
I don't know what you might be feeling right now, maybe shameful or embarrassment
or even upset, please know that.
This is not our fault, right? Like it's our fault to continue to perpetuate
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this if we realize and feel the conviction, like I wanna change something or
I'm being called to shift this behavior. Now it's our responsibility.
But the point to where we all are and to you even Austin, the highest paid engineers and scientists.
And whatever else they are in the entire world world are working together on
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these platforms to keep us fixated, obsessed,
and addicted because it drives their ad revenue, right? It drives these vehicles.
And so it's a power that's so much greater than us just being like, oh, crap.
I don't know why I can't stop going on this app. Because you can't.
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Because it's one of the greatest addiction mechanisms in the entire world,
the dopamine hit that we get every time we click and scroll and comment and like, it's massive.
It's scientifically proven to hold you captive.
And the only way we break an addiction is by the awareness that we need to,
the actions to take to try, and then the consistency and the discipline to stay
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free of that thing. And of course, prayer.
And those are the only ways that we find freedom from our addictions and we stay away from them.
And this may look different for all of you. Maybe you're not called to this at all, and that's okay.
But if you are, can you start with the weekends?
Can you start with deleting the apps off your phone at 3 o'clock every day?
Give yourself a stepping stone to what might be possible for you in the future.
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Okay, sorry. Go ahead, Austin. Yeah.
No, thank you for that little bit of reminder encouragement because,
yeah, it's definitely it's baby steps, right?
But to get off the social media downfall, let's talk some exciting as far as
the podcasting, the perks of it.
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I mean, obviously, there was so much good that came from stepping away from
social media, directing your attention to podcasting.
What are the benefits of podcasting? beyond obviously not having to show up every day.
Oh, gosh. The benefits of podcasting are far and wide, starting with the fact
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that I don't have to have makeup on my face.
I don't have to get dressed that day. Not like as in naked, but as in like comfies,
you know, like you're wearing comfies all day. Oh, yeah. I love it.
The other piece for me is the evergreen. So when I record a podcast episode
and I say something like, three steps to get started in podcasting, and I do that episode,
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and I do that episode in 30 minutes or less, and I post it and I'm done,
that episode is going to continue to work for me for years and years and years
to come because of the way that I titled the episode, because of the way that
I marketed inside the episode,
because of the content that's around like the show notes and all the pieces.
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It is an evergreen lead generating machine. And as you compound your podcast
episodes over time, I now have, five years later, 700 episodes.
That is 700 pieces of content working for me all across the internet.
When someone goes and searches for how to make money podcasting,
should I start a podcast?
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Or how do I build a business online? Or I'm a Christian entrepreneur,
I don't know where to start.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. My stuff is coming up. They're listening to the
show. And here's my favorite part. They deeply connect with me in a short amount of time.
So when somebody comes and listens to an episode, they're not scrolling.
They're not trying to get the next dopamine hit. They're doing something else.
Laundry, working out, picking up their kids. And they're listening.
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I have your full attention-ish when you listen to me on a podcast.
Like, sure, you're multitasking, but you're listening to me.
Where else can we capture attention anymore?
It's almost impossible. possible. So to be able to connect with someone on a
10, 15, 20-minute episode allows me to go deep with people very quickly,
which ultimately creates a lot of conversion.
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Right from the podcast, we make sales from our podcast every single day.
Reason number 372 that I love podcasting.
And so for someone that's like, oh my gosh, this sounds perfect.
I just need to get into to podcasting right now. This is my next step.
What should they do? How should they do that? Yeah.
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Well, I think the first step is to figure out what you're trying to do.
One of the mistakes I see people make when they want to start a podcast is like,
okay, I'm going to go broad.
So I'm going to talk about homesteading and decluttering my closet and working
out and fitness and starting a business.
I can talk about everything. This is going to be be great.
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And I remind my students like, hey, pump the brakes.
While we can talk about everything, the fastest way to grow and make a difference
is to figure out the thing, the one core gifting that you have,
whether it be vocational or spiritual gifting that you have,
the trials you've walked through.
We've got to figure out this core calling over your life or this core thing
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that you know you're meant to teach other people and niche all the way into
that. and that's what we podcast about.
So if you can do some homework, if you guys are like, I don't know where to
start with podcasting. One, it's what is my podcast gonna teach?
What is it gonna be about? And who's it gonna be for?
And challenge yourself to get to one core thing that you wanna teach one specific person.
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Now you have some clarity on what the podcast will be.
The second step is of course to go figure out the steps, which I have a workshop
that you guys can come watch, watch podcastforgrowth.com.
And it talks about what are the actual steps to starting a podcast.
I think that's the easy part. The people get hung up on the tech or the software, the equipment.
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That stuff is actually pretty simple. But the strategy that comes also inside
of that workshop, I'll talk about it a bit, but it's... You got to have a podcast
that's going to actually convert and that's going to land for people.
There's a lot of components that go into that. So one clarity on what it's going
to be about to the how, which you guys are welcome to come check out the workshop.
(25:04):
And then three is to click that publish button.
It's to go because, and everybody has a different personality.
I am a bulldozer. So I'm like, I started a podcast yesterday.
It's like a hot mess, you know, versus some of my friends who are,
I planned and I planned and I created and I planned and then I revisited and
then I recorded for 37 hours.
And like, But you have to kind of bridge the gap between.
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So whichever one of the spectrum that you fall in, like, let's get this thing
launched to the best of your ability, knowing the first episode that you do,
it's not going to be great. And that's OK.
The first time you launch your show, is there room for growth?
A thousand percent. Will you
optimize your podcast in the next 12 to 24 months? Well, I sure hope so.
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But we have to start in order to learn what could be better.
So that's the final thing is like, you've got to start and know it'll become clear over time.
Yep. I relate to that so hard around knowing you just got to go,
but there will be a lot of refining as you go.
And I, that's to this day, so many of your resources, so many of your episodes,
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I'm like, yep, still need to take that into account.
Oh, yep. That was not great. Let's fix that.
So it doesn't end. I mean, it doesn't end when you take, take the first step.
There's so many resources you have for anyone on the podcasting journey. So yeah, feel free.
Tell us us a little more about the Podcast for Growth workshop that's coming up. Yeah, sure.
(26:34):
So you guys can come hang out with me on the podcast, which is on my business for Christian women.
Or like I mentioned, I do have a free workshop podcast for growth and it's 40
minutes and it takes you through the steps of podcasting and how it actually
works to generate money.
I think that's the confusing part for people like, oh, I'm willing to podcast,
but my end result needs to be profiting, which great. Like I'm here for that. I really am.
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And I believe that so much much good can come from you finding a way to grow
your business that feels peaceful, that feels easier, that feels systemized and simplified.
Knowing you can let go of these other channels and other methods that don't
serve you, that don't bring you joy, light you up, and create addiction in your
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life, steal time away from your family.
I'm not here for it. And I think if there's another way, it's my absolute responsibility
to show you that and then to let you decide if that's for you.
So that's what I do in the workshop. Again, that's podcastforgrowth.com.
We'll also link to it in our show notes. But Steph, thank you so much.
(27:42):
I'm just in a, I don't even know how long it's been, 25 minutes. So powerful.
So, so good. So helpful. I really know that our listeners will be encouraged
by just how purposeful and intentional intentional you are,
how you've stepped into God's calling for your life, and just the many blessings
and fruit that have come from owning your purpose.
(28:03):
So thank you so much for being here today and for speaking your truth.
You are so welcome. Thank you for having me, friend, and we'll see you soon.
What's up, new friend? I'm Steph Gass. I know you just heard a little a little
bit about me, but I wanted to personally come on and invite you to the Profitable Podcast Bootcamp.
(28:24):
This is a five-day challenge, so to speak, for those of you who are interested
in podcasting or who already have a podcast and you wanna know how a.
Grow an audience or make money online. I promise you it's so worth your time.
And this one hour per day live challenge is going to give you everything you
(28:45):
need to know about why podcasting works, how to make money from a podcast,
how to make sales really easy, and so much more. We're giving away swag, door prizes.
We even have scholarships to my courses and programs valued you to over $10,000.
So we just wanted to come on and invite you to be part of this challenge.
(29:07):
Head right now over to stephaniegass.com slash bootcamp.
That's stephaniegass.com slash bootcamp and get registered right away.
You'll get entered to win free swag. And the best part of all is you're going
to learn how podcasting can potentially be a way for you to truly grow,
make an impact and income in an online business and allow you to have that freedom
(29:31):
and that fruit of not feeling like you are tied to social media 24 seven or
having to do a hundred different things to figure out a way to be successful for the kingdom of God.
This is going to lay all of those pieces out for you in alignment with your.
Music.