June 27, 2024 • 18 mins
Join us on a linguistic adventure as I, Natalie Guzman, sit down with the indomitable Lindsay McMahon, the force of nature behind the All Ears English podcast phenomenon. Together, we unravel the fabric of language and its power to connect us all, stitching together tales of personal language struggles and the triumphs of human connection over grammatical perfection. We traverse the vibrant landscape of American English, delving into the show's evolution, from humble beginnings to a beacon for learners navigating the intricate terrains of test prep and business English. Lindsay's mantra, "connection, not perfection," echoes as a beacon of hope for language learners, while I reflect on the cultural tapestry woven by living in a bilingual household. With Lindsay's insights, we celebrate language as not just a means of communication, but as the very essence of our identity and culture.
As the conversation flows, we pull back the curtain to reveal the blueprint behind building a thriving podcast and business in the relentless digital era. My experience with All Ears English shines a spotlight on the steadfast dedication required to keep a podcast pulsing at the heart of a diverse business model. We unpack the magic of co-hosting, the artistry in content creation, and the invaluable contribution of behind-the-scenes maestros—from virtual assistants to contractors—who fuel our mission. Peek into the anatomy of our business model, spanning courses to licensing, and grasp the importance of nurturing the symbiotic relationship between our podcast and the expansive ventures we offer our audience. This episode isn't just a masterclass in podcasting—it's a treasure trove for the entrepreneur in all of us, brimming with wisdom and actionable insights.
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Reach out to Lindsay:
Website: allearsenglish.com
Facebook: All Ears English
LinkedIn: Lindsay McMahon
Instragram: @all_ears_english
TikTok: allearsenglish
Twitter: @AllEarsEnglish
YouTube: @AllEarsEnglishPodcast
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Virtual Antics podcast, where we
help entrepreneurs streamlinetheir business to six figures
and beyond.
These short, sweet and infopacked episodes will inspire,
educate and leave you feelingmotivated to take one more step
forward in your business.
So put down your never-endingto-do list, because in this
podcast, we are interviewing thebest of the best in the
entrepreneurial world as theyspill their secrets to success.
(00:23):
This podcast is sponsored byNandora, the all-in-one software
for entrepreneurs to grow theirbusiness, with unlimited
landing pages, automations,emails and text campaigns, and
so much more.
I'm your host, natalie Guzman.
Now let's get into it.
Hey guys, welcome back toVirtual Antics podcast.
As always, I'm your host,natalie Guzman.
I am so excited because I havea dynamite podcaster with me
(00:47):
today.
She is Lindsay McMahon.
She is the host of All EarsEnglish.
Her podcast is downloaded fourmillion times per month globally
and then ranked the best ofApple podcast categories in 2018
and 2019, as well as the numberone in US education language
courses.
Lindsay and her podcast hasbeen featured in podcast
(01:08):
magazine, language magazine andForbes.
Welcome Lindsay, how are youdoing today?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Thank you, natalie, I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Thanks for having me on your show so excited to have
you Absolutely love your podcastespecially.
I love languages.
I'm married to someone.
I speak a different languagethan me, so I think it's
absolutely amazing what you'redoing.
It's a little bit more aboutyour podcast and your business.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Happy to, happy to.
So we launched our podcast kindof in the early, early days of
podcasting in 2013.
And at the time I launched theshow with my co-host at that
time, who was also from Boston.
We were together in personpodcasting.
We had both traveled the worldquite a bit and taught English
as a second language in Japan.
I had taught in South America,new York City, and I said, hey,
(01:58):
I heard about this podcastingthing.
I was listening to a couple ofpersonal development shows and I
said what about a podcast forEnglish learners, for adults?
So we launched it and then abusiness grew around.
It Just kind of caught on.
From the start it was we had anice cover art.
We showed our faces on the show, which a lot of ESL teachers
were kind of trying to stay moreprofessional at the time,
(02:18):
whereas we wanted to be fun.
You know, we knew what we weredoing, but we wanted to have fun
on this show, right, and so itstood out and it's always been a
high ranking show, a successfulshow.
And then, over the years, welaunched another show around a
niche within ESL which is IELTS,a test prep show.
And then we launched a thirdshow last October business
(02:40):
English, so a business grewaround it.
Eventually, we built two apps,did some live events in Japan,
boston and New York City, andnow we sell online courses.
We do sponsorships with brands,we do licensing, and so our
business model has built, butit's all still with the podcast
in the center, because that'swhere we're able to spread our
(03:01):
message.
Our message is connection, notperfection, our vision, our
values, and it is also obviouslya lead generator at the top of
our funnel.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
So that is amazing and so cool.
We are a what is it called Duallanguage household, so English
and Spanish, and I still do notknow Spanish.
I can get by, but I reallylearned that how like amazing
languages are, and learned youknow my husband's Puerto Rican,
(03:34):
and then you have, we have a lotof friends that are Mexican and
so even though they both speakSpanish, they a lot of the words
are not the same and a lot ofthe slang is not the same.
So how do you kind of addressthat when in your podcast and
when you're trying to teachpeople English?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
It's a great question .
So we so our kind of angle onEnglish, is American English.
So we're very upfront with ouraudience.
We say this is what we know.
All of our co-hosts across allthree shows are American native
English speakers.
So we teach American English.
But we do a lot of guestinterviews, especially on the
bigger show, all Ears English.
Just in the last month I'veinterviewed three of my I guess
(04:13):
I would call them friends slashother ESL co-hosts, podcasters,
who are British.
I've interviewed people fromCanada on the show, england, all
other native English speakingcountries and also international
people on the show.
So you end up with a mix ofaccents that we talk about slang
, we compare cultures.
(04:34):
We really get into it.
It's really fun actually.
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
I was just thinking you know, I'm from Massachusetts
, so Boston is almost a wholeaccent itself.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Oh my gosh, I love.
I'm from New Hampshire, and soI grew up going to Mass all the
time.
I didn't know you're from there.
That's very cool, okay.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
I lived there till I was 20 and I lived towards two
areas.
I had divorced parents so I wasin Boston area but I was also
near kind of Connecticut inWestern Mass All right, I used
to go to Hampshire for summercamp, so that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
The Boston accent is so much fun.
We've had two or threeinterviews with people from
Boston and we have a blast withit.
It's just, it's great.
Oh, so much character.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Oh my gosh, it's so fun.
I love talking and when I talkwith my family I get a little
bit of the accent back.
I don't have that anymore.
But it's so much fun and just Ithink that's what you just said
character, right, that's one ofthe things I love about
languages is that everyone hastheir own culture and character
and like, oh, I just lovelistening to my in-law speak
(05:35):
Spanish.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
You know.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Sometimes I don't know what they're saying,
because oh, it's just, it's justso amazing.
I really really love languagesand it's crazy how many
different languages there are,right.
So how do you tackle?
You know you have a lot of yourlisteners are not just one
language, they're all differentlanguages trying to learn
English correct, correct,correct, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
So how do we handle that?
Yeah, good question.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
How do you do that?
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Good question.
So the level that we target isthe global professional right.
So they, in terms of, weconsider it the intermediate to
advanced level, right?
So these students, theselisteners, are already
potentially doing business inEnglish.
They're good enough to be doingthat in many cases, so they can
understand.
So it's full immersion, right?
(06:20):
I mean my co-host, aubrey, shecould run the podcast in French.
Right, she speaks Frenchfluently.
But that's not how we do it.
It's an immersion method and soit's all in English.
You definitely run intochallenges when it comes to
selling courses and copywriting,right, conversion stuff, which
we could talk about, if you want, around course sales.
(06:40):
But we do our best to be asvisual as we can in our
promotions and as clear in ourcopywriting as we can, which is
an ongoing challenge.
But, yeah, for the learning, Ithink it's good.
They need that at that level.
They want to feel like they'resitting in a cafe and listening
to a conversation between twonative English speakers, and so
that's what we give them.
Oh, that's super cool.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
I love that Because it's almost like do you kind of
tell stories as well, because Ifeel like I would learn really
well just by listening to astory.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Yeah you know, I just I'm collaborating in a few
weeks with someone whospecializes in her podcast is
also an ESL podcast but whatthey do is they bring on, they
kind of follow the moth.
You know the moth the moth,where people go up on stage and
share a story, that concept,yeah.
So they follow that concept, sothey have a storyteller.
(07:30):
I'm going to be on her showsharing one life story that I
have to tell and adding a lot ofvalue, and that is her entire
method.
So all ESL podcasters, I guess,have a different, as all
podcasters do have their ownformat.
There are a lot of directionsyou can take language learning
in.
For us it's a very fast paced,always two hosts, conversational
(07:52):
15 minute format, boom, boom,boom.
It's fun role plays.
We teach you something, there'sa takeaway, and then we focus
on our value, which is humanconnection, cause I think
there's something more tolearning a language than grammar
and vocabulary.
If that's why we're here, thenit's not for me, right, it's for
the human connection.
So we bring that across forevery episode.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
And I feel like you definitely learn a language
better when you're focusing onthat connection, like I know for
me, right?
I kind of learned Spanish justby being in a room with my
in-laws, who all spoke Spanisharound me, and then I was able
to get the pronunciation betterthan I ever could in Spanish
class back in high school.
So one of the common questions Iget is like people will start
(08:33):
talking to me in Spanish becausethey'll hear me maybe say a
very basic command to mychildren in Spanish.
My accent is so on pointbecause I was listening to them.
They're like I speak Spanish,but I mean you turned this into
yeah, gradually went into abusiness, which is amazing.
I love those type of businessesand so tell us about your
(08:56):
course and like kind of whatit's about and how you guys help
people.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah, I mean we have multiple courses.
We have kind of a suite ofcourses at this point, right.
So we've been in business for10 years and direct sales to
listeners, to individuals, isone way that we drive revenue
for sure.
So we have an IELTS course,which is a test.
I don't know if you've heard ofthe IELTS exam International
English Language Testing System.
(09:21):
It's a test which, if you wantto immigrate from, let's say,
for example, japan to the UK toget that visa, you need to take
this test, or to get the jobwhich gets you the visa.
There's a test involved, and sowe prep them for that.
My employee, jessica, one of theco-hosts on IELTS Energy, was
an examiner in that test forlike 15 years and so she knows
(09:42):
it extremely well, and so webuilt a course around that.
And then we built a businessEnglish course which is done
really well for our audience.
We built another course, whichwas actually a road trip I took
in 2016 around the country.
I took my camera andinterviewed people everywhere.
It was incredible, an adventure.
It's an adventure course.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
So, yeah, we've done all kinds of things here that is
so cool and I love that,because I was on a podcast
recently and they talked aboutthe two different types of
businesses.
You're either doing somethingyou love and it gradually turns
into a business, which is kindof sounds like what you guys
said, or you get like me, I waskind of thrust into a position
where I had to make money fromhome and so I was kind of thrust
(10:25):
into a situation.
So I love hearing stories aboutthat type of scenario and how
you've kind of gradually builtthis and it kind of shows you
that you know a lot of times,entrepreneurs, we quit things
within one to two years.
Right, we see it all the timewith fellow entrepreneurs and if
you just keep going, you knowthrough the hard times, let it
gradually grow.
Don't worry about doingeverything right now and right
(10:46):
there, and it can.
I feel like that's how you guyshave been really sustainable.
Would you agree?
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Yeah, absolutely.
I think that's a reallyimportant point, natalie, I
think an additional piece ofthat keeping going oh, having
both feet in fully in right Forme there wasn't really a lot of
other options.
I'm not going to go get acorporate job, right.
I had another business at thetime.
It was my another consultingcompany.
I had like really a one to onetraining, language training
(11:13):
company, but that was phasingout and this was real really
where my heart was.
But I think an important pieceis consistency.
So, being all in and if youtell your audience just within
podcasting, we actually publishfour days a week on all ears
English, which I know soundsinsane, but we have set up a
system where we can do it.
It makes sense, it works.
(11:34):
But we've never missed a singlefour day of the week.
We've never missed a single.
There's never been a Mondaythat all ears English has not
published since we launched in2013.
That's 10 years.
Or a Tuesday, or a Wednesday,or a Thursday.
I mean, that is that's kind ofthe kind of consistency that you
need in a way.
(11:54):
Yeah, this is what we'retalking about here.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Yeah, and I think utilizing a team you know, or
even a partner, is really,really beneficial.
Like you have a co-host, do youhave a team as well?
That kind of helps you on theback end things.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Oh yeah, I wouldn't.
I just wouldn't have made itthis far without a team, right,
first of all, I would have beenbored just talking to myself on
the podcast, and so having thatco-host is amazing.
It's chemistry, it's connection, it's authenticity.
And then, on the support side,we have a nice team of VA's,
virtual assistants, we havecontractors that have helped us
(12:28):
build our apps and help us withour transcripts, and you know,
we just had our team sync lastweek, and just updating everyone
on what's happening in thebusiness and feeling that we're
doing this together is a gamechanger for me.
I mean, some people are able todo it on their own, as a solo
preneuer, which is great.
That's another business model,but I don't think I could have
done it.
Yeah, yeah me either.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
I think part of like sustainability, too, is like
relying on other people.
So we do episodes twice a week,monday and Friday, and all I do
is I just show up, look prettyand I get to talk with the
awesome guests.
Right, I hand that off to myteam and then they basically do
everything else from there.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
So I hand off.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Oh my gosh, it's such a nice feeling and to have like
a team.
You know that we all work sowell together and communicate
well with one another.
It's just such a relief andthere's such a huge help.
I actually had an assistantfind a dentist for me.
I don't know if you know, butFlorida finding a dentist for
kids is almost impossible.
I didn't know that, oh it is sohard to find a pediatric dentist
(13:33):
in Florida, especially whenthat takes your insurance.
They're very rare and so we dohave to drive an hour away.
But they found one for me andso I was able to, like post all
over social media how amazingshe is and she felt so loved and
I just wanted her to know.
Like I didn't have to do that,I didn't have to call these
places and look at the reviews,look at the pictures to see if
they have like a playroom right,because a lot of times the
(13:57):
fluoro happens.
They say they take kids andthey shop for the appointment
and they're like no, we don'thave equipment for your kids.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Oh, they're in the waiting room, right, right,
right Right, so I'm like lookfor a waiting room that's geared
towards kids and the pictures,and that's how you know it's a
pediatric dentist Interesting,so that's very next level.
I can really admire thatgetting a team to help you with
personal tasks as well, whichfrees you up to focus on your
work.
Right, I'm not doing that yetI'm.
I'm still kind of scramblingaround calling my dentist doing
(14:25):
my things, have not assignedpersonal tasks yet, but I just
make sense, make sense.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Yeah, and you could.
You know, even if you dooverseas or a US space, it's
really not that costly.
I absolutely love her.
She's absolutely amazing, andit was because we move, so I do
this every.
We move every two years, so Ialways get an assistant for that
time when I move.
There's not much year roundwork, but she does other things
for us too.
She's a multitasker, she'samazing.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
So I mean the truth, like there, you know your team
is, it's the engine behind thebusiness, Right, I just had a
conversation with with myvirtual assistant last night and
I said you know, I soappreciate it, because sometimes
I forget that you and the otherteammates, they're the engine
behind the business running.
Like, why do things not blow up?
It's because you guys areyou're, you're consistent,
(15:10):
You're getting it done, and itlets me free up my mind to focus
on other things.
It's incredible.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Yeah, and it's.
It's really cool because I getthe focus on the things that
really I'm passionate about orthat I'm really great at, and
I'm great at like problemsolving and sometimes that can
be really time.
You know, time tanker and it'sjust having a team that I can
rely on and be like can you guyshelp me with this or that?
Oh, it's amazing and they'rethe absolute best.
I will always shut out ormarketing mavens.
(15:37):
They're awesome, so tell usmore about so you talked about.
You have your podcast.
That's kind of your leadgeneration and we got your
courses that would you considerthat your main offer?
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Yeah, I mean I think there are kind of four ways that
all those English makes money,right.
So we do courses, we dolicensing and we're getting into
the B2B space, meaning businessto business.
So working with companies,working with business platforms
that would then have companieson the other side, like
marketplaces, does that makesense?
So we're selling our products,putting our products on these
(16:09):
B2B marketplaces, and thencompanies are coming and buying
it from the marketplace.
Our apps are also monetized, soour apps just have a premium
subscription option.
So an Android, ios app and thenyeah, I mean that's pretty so
courses, licensing and thensponsorships for our podcast.
So that's the other piece thatwe've really gone into in the
(16:31):
last year and a half or so.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
That's super cool.
I always say I read this booklike a really long time ago.
It says millionaires alwayshave a minimum of seven streams
of income.
You've kind of built thatwithin your business, so so, so
smart.
I absolutely love that and it'slike almost like a freedom in
it too.
Like, especially, you have theapp, which I would assume is
kind of past the income.
You probably have to do someupdates and such to it.
(16:55):
Yeah, like we have a softwareand it's just been a game
changer for our business.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
It's huge.
You know, I do a lot ofmastermind groups with people in
my space, other ESL coursecreators, and I see 100% focus
on course building.
I'm like, yes, courses are agreat way to build a business,
but when you have a course, abusiness that's 100% based on
sales of a course scary to me.
(17:21):
I'm always obsessing overdiversifying, maybe too much,
but it just feels like one'sgoing to drop.
You know, like podcast adrevenue is probably going to
drop in 2024.
I realize that.
So we're going to ramp upcourse sales.
Right, there's always leversthat we can pull, but if there's
one product, I don't know,maybe for a couple of years.
But then if you want yourbusiness to run long term, start
(17:42):
to diversify.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Yeah, 100%.
And our needs are alwayschanging.
You know your consumers' needsare always changing.
That's why I mean to say and soalways evaluating that, looking
at the data, it's super, superimportant.
Well, I've loved having you onthe show and I thank you so much
for all your insight.
Where can we find more aboutyou?
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Well, your listeners can check out my podcast.
Since this is a podcast, we'rein the podcasting world.
Your listeners can go and openthe search bar and just type in
all ears English and you'llactually see three shows pop up,
all three of our shows.
Everything is yellow.
That is our branding.
You could hit follow on allears English and check it out,
see what our style is, and youcould find me on LinkedIn.
(18:20):
I'm happy to answer anyquestions or do any informal
coaching or mentoring issomething that I'm always happy
to help out if people havequestions.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Thank you so much, Lindsay.
I really appreciate you comingon the show and we'll talk to
you next time on the virtualindex.
Welcome to the Virtual Antics podcast, where we
help entrepreneurs streamlinetheir business to six figures
and beyond.
These short, sweet and infopacked episodes will inspire,
educate and leave you feelingmotivated to take one more step
forward in your business.
So put down your never-endingto-do list, because in this
podcast, we are interviewing thebest of the best in the
entrepreneurial world as theyspill their secrets to success.
(00:23):
This podcast is sponsored byNandora, the all-in-one software
for entrepreneurs to grow theirbusiness, with unlimited
landing pages, automations,emails and text campaigns, and
so much more.
I'm your host, natalie Guzman.
Now let's get into it.
Hey guys, welcome back toVirtual Antics podcast.
As always, I'm your host,natalie Guzman.
I am so excited because I havea dynamite podcaster with me
(00:47):
today.
She is Lindsay McMahon.
She is the host of All EarsEnglish.
Her podcast is downloaded fourmillion times per month globally
and then ranked the best ofApple podcast categories in 2018
and 2019, as well as the numberone in US education language
courses.
Lindsay and her podcast hasbeen featured in podcast
(01:08):
magazine, language magazine andForbes.
Welcome Lindsay, how are youdoing today?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Thank you, natalie, I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Thanks for having me on your show so excited to have
you Absolutely love your podcastespecially.
I love languages.
I'm married to someone.
I speak a different languagethan me, so I think it's
absolutely amazing what you'redoing.
It's a little bit more aboutyour podcast and your business.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Happy to, happy to.
So we launched our podcast kindof in the early, early days of
podcasting in 2013.
And at the time I launched theshow with my co-host at that
time, who was also from Boston.
We were together in personpodcasting.
We had both traveled the worldquite a bit and taught English
as a second language in Japan.
I had taught in South America,new York City, and I said, hey,
(01:58):
I heard about this podcastingthing.
I was listening to a couple ofpersonal development shows and I
said what about a podcast forEnglish learners, for adults?
So we launched it and then abusiness grew around.
It Just kind of caught on.
From the start it was we had anice cover art.
We showed our faces on the show, which a lot of ESL teachers
were kind of trying to stay moreprofessional at the time,
(02:18):
whereas we wanted to be fun.
You know, we knew what we weredoing, but we wanted to have fun
on this show, right, and so itstood out and it's always been a
high ranking show, a successfulshow.
And then, over the years, welaunched another show around a
niche within ESL which is IELTS,a test prep show.
And then we launched a thirdshow last October business
(02:40):
English, so a business grewaround it.
Eventually, we built two apps,did some live events in Japan,
boston and New York City, andnow we sell online courses.
We do sponsorships with brands,we do licensing, and so our
business model has built, butit's all still with the podcast
in the center, because that'swhere we're able to spread our
(03:01):
message.
Our message is connection, notperfection, our vision, our
values, and it is also obviouslya lead generator at the top of
our funnel.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
So that is amazing and so cool.
We are a what is it called Duallanguage household, so English
and Spanish, and I still do notknow Spanish.
I can get by, but I reallylearned that how like amazing
languages are, and learned youknow my husband's Puerto Rican,
(03:34):
and then you have, we have a lotof friends that are Mexican and
so even though they both speakSpanish, they a lot of the words
are not the same and a lot ofthe slang is not the same.
So how do you kind of addressthat when in your podcast and
when you're trying to teachpeople English?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
It's a great question .
So we so our kind of angle onEnglish, is American English.
So we're very upfront with ouraudience.
We say this is what we know.
All of our co-hosts across allthree shows are American native
English speakers.
So we teach American English.
But we do a lot of guestinterviews, especially on the
bigger show, all Ears English.
Just in the last month I'veinterviewed three of my I guess
(04:13):
I would call them friends slashother ESL co-hosts, podcasters,
who are British.
I've interviewed people fromCanada on the show, england, all
other native English speakingcountries and also international
people on the show.
So you end up with a mix ofaccents that we talk about slang
, we compare cultures.
(04:34):
We really get into it.
It's really fun actually.
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
I was just thinking you know, I'm from Massachusetts
, so Boston is almost a wholeaccent itself.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Oh my gosh, I love.
I'm from New Hampshire, and soI grew up going to Mass all the
time.
I didn't know you're from there.
That's very cool, okay.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
I lived there till I was 20 and I lived towards two
areas.
I had divorced parents so I wasin Boston area but I was also
near kind of Connecticut inWestern Mass All right, I used
to go to Hampshire for summercamp, so that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
The Boston accent is so much fun.
We've had two or threeinterviews with people from
Boston and we have a blast withit.
It's just, it's great.
Oh, so much character.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Oh my gosh, it's so fun.
I love talking and when I talkwith my family I get a little
bit of the accent back.
I don't have that anymore.
But it's so much fun and just Ithink that's what you just said
character, right, that's one ofthe things I love about
languages is that everyone hastheir own culture and character
and like, oh, I just lovelistening to my in-law speak
(05:35):
Spanish.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
You know.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Sometimes I don't know what they're saying,
because oh, it's just, it's justso amazing.
I really really love languagesand it's crazy how many
different languages there are,right.
So how do you tackle?
You know you have a lot of yourlisteners are not just one
language, they're all differentlanguages trying to learn
English correct, correct,correct, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
So how do we handle that?
Yeah, good question.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
How do you do that?
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Good question.
So the level that we target isthe global professional right.
So they, in terms of, weconsider it the intermediate to
advanced level, right?
So these students, theselisteners, are already
potentially doing business inEnglish.
They're good enough to be doingthat in many cases, so they can
understand.
So it's full immersion, right?
(06:20):
I mean my co-host, aubrey, shecould run the podcast in French.
Right, she speaks Frenchfluently.
But that's not how we do it.
It's an immersion method and soit's all in English.
You definitely run intochallenges when it comes to
selling courses and copywriting,right, conversion stuff, which
we could talk about, if you want, around course sales.
(06:40):
But we do our best to be asvisual as we can in our
promotions and as clear in ourcopywriting as we can, which is
an ongoing challenge.
But, yeah, for the learning, Ithink it's good.
They need that at that level.
They want to feel like they'resitting in a cafe and listening
to a conversation between twonative English speakers, and so
that's what we give them.
Oh, that's super cool.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
I love that Because it's almost like do you kind of
tell stories as well, because Ifeel like I would learn really
well just by listening to astory.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Yeah you know, I just I'm collaborating in a few
weeks with someone whospecializes in her podcast is
also an ESL podcast but whatthey do is they bring on, they
kind of follow the moth.
You know the moth the moth,where people go up on stage and
share a story, that concept,yeah.
So they follow that concept, sothey have a storyteller.
(07:30):
I'm going to be on her showsharing one life story that I
have to tell and adding a lot ofvalue, and that is her entire
method.
So all ESL podcasters, I guess,have a different, as all
podcasters do have their ownformat.
There are a lot of directionsyou can take language learning
in.
For us it's a very fast paced,always two hosts, conversational
(07:52):
15 minute format, boom, boom,boom.
It's fun role plays.
We teach you something, there'sa takeaway, and then we focus
on our value, which is humanconnection, cause I think
there's something more tolearning a language than grammar
and vocabulary.
If that's why we're here, thenit's not for me, right, it's for
the human connection.
So we bring that across forevery episode.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
And I feel like you definitely learn a language
better when you're focusing onthat connection, like I know for
me, right?
I kind of learned Spanish justby being in a room with my
in-laws, who all spoke Spanisharound me, and then I was able
to get the pronunciation betterthan I ever could in Spanish
class back in high school.
So one of the common questions Iget is like people will start
(08:33):
talking to me in Spanish becausethey'll hear me maybe say a
very basic command to mychildren in Spanish.
My accent is so on pointbecause I was listening to them.
They're like I speak Spanish,but I mean you turned this into
yeah, gradually went into abusiness, which is amazing.
I love those type of businessesand so tell us about your
(08:56):
course and like kind of whatit's about and how you guys help
people.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah, I mean we have multiple courses.
We have kind of a suite ofcourses at this point, right.
So we've been in business for10 years and direct sales to
listeners, to individuals, isone way that we drive revenue
for sure.
So we have an IELTS course,which is a test.
I don't know if you've heard ofthe IELTS exam International
English Language Testing System.
(09:21):
It's a test which, if you wantto immigrate from, let's say,
for example, japan to the UK toget that visa, you need to take
this test, or to get the jobwhich gets you the visa.
There's a test involved, and sowe prep them for that.
My employee, jessica, one of theco-hosts on IELTS Energy, was
an examiner in that test forlike 15 years and so she knows
(09:42):
it extremely well, and so webuilt a course around that.
And then we built a businessEnglish course which is done
really well for our audience.
We built another course, whichwas actually a road trip I took
in 2016 around the country.
I took my camera andinterviewed people everywhere.
It was incredible, an adventure.
It's an adventure course.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
So, yeah, we've done all kinds of things here that is
so cool and I love that,because I was on a podcast
recently and they talked aboutthe two different types of
businesses.
You're either doing somethingyou love and it gradually turns
into a business, which is kindof sounds like what you guys
said, or you get like me, I waskind of thrust into a position
where I had to make money fromhome and so I was kind of thrust
(10:25):
into a situation.
So I love hearing stories aboutthat type of scenario and how
you've kind of gradually builtthis and it kind of shows you
that you know a lot of times,entrepreneurs, we quit things
within one to two years.
Right, we see it all the timewith fellow entrepreneurs and if
you just keep going, you knowthrough the hard times, let it
gradually grow.
Don't worry about doingeverything right now and right
(10:46):
there, and it can.
I feel like that's how you guyshave been really sustainable.
Would you agree?
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Yeah, absolutely.
I think that's a reallyimportant point, natalie, I
think an additional piece ofthat keeping going oh, having
both feet in fully in right Forme there wasn't really a lot of
other options.
I'm not going to go get acorporate job, right.
I had another business at thetime.
It was my another consultingcompany.
I had like really a one to onetraining, language training
(11:13):
company, but that was phasingout and this was real really
where my heart was.
But I think an important pieceis consistency.
So, being all in and if youtell your audience just within
podcasting, we actually publishfour days a week on all ears
English, which I know soundsinsane, but we have set up a
system where we can do it.
It makes sense, it works.
(11:34):
But we've never missed a singlefour day of the week.
We've never missed a single.
There's never been a Mondaythat all ears English has not
published since we launched in2013.
That's 10 years.
Or a Tuesday, or a Wednesday,or a Thursday.
I mean, that is that's kind ofthe kind of consistency that you
need in a way.
(11:54):
Yeah, this is what we'retalking about here.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Yeah, and I think utilizing a team you know, or
even a partner, is really,really beneficial.
Like you have a co-host, do youhave a team as well?
That kind of helps you on theback end things.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Oh yeah, I wouldn't.
I just wouldn't have made itthis far without a team, right,
first of all, I would have beenbored just talking to myself on
the podcast, and so having thatco-host is amazing.
It's chemistry, it's connection, it's authenticity.
And then, on the support side,we have a nice team of VA's,
virtual assistants, we havecontractors that have helped us
(12:28):
build our apps and help us withour transcripts, and you know,
we just had our team sync lastweek, and just updating everyone
on what's happening in thebusiness and feeling that we're
doing this together is a gamechanger for me.
I mean, some people are able todo it on their own, as a solo
preneuer, which is great.
That's another business model,but I don't think I could have
done it.
Yeah, yeah me either.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
I think part of like sustainability, too, is like
relying on other people.
So we do episodes twice a week,monday and Friday, and all I do
is I just show up, look prettyand I get to talk with the
awesome guests.
Right, I hand that off to myteam and then they basically do
everything else from there.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
So I hand off.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Oh my gosh, it's such a nice feeling and to have like
a team.
You know that we all work sowell together and communicate
well with one another.
It's just such a relief andthere's such a huge help.
I actually had an assistantfind a dentist for me.
I don't know if you know, butFlorida finding a dentist for
kids is almost impossible.
I didn't know that, oh it is sohard to find a pediatric dentist
(13:33):
in Florida, especially whenthat takes your insurance.
They're very rare and so we dohave to drive an hour away.
But they found one for me andso I was able to, like post all
over social media how amazingshe is and she felt so loved and
I just wanted her to know.
Like I didn't have to do that,I didn't have to call these
places and look at the reviews,look at the pictures to see if
they have like a playroom right,because a lot of times the
(13:57):
fluoro happens.
They say they take kids andthey shop for the appointment
and they're like no, we don'thave equipment for your kids.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Oh, they're in the waiting room, right, right,
right Right, so I'm like lookfor a waiting room that's geared
towards kids and the pictures,and that's how you know it's a
pediatric dentist Interesting,so that's very next level.
I can really admire thatgetting a team to help you with
personal tasks as well, whichfrees you up to focus on your
work.
Right, I'm not doing that yetI'm.
I'm still kind of scramblingaround calling my dentist doing
(14:25):
my things, have not assignedpersonal tasks yet, but I just
make sense, make sense.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Yeah, and you could.
You know, even if you dooverseas or a US space, it's
really not that costly.
I absolutely love her.
She's absolutely amazing, andit was because we move, so I do
this every.
We move every two years, so Ialways get an assistant for that
time when I move.
There's not much year roundwork, but she does other things
for us too.
She's a multitasker, she'samazing.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
So I mean the truth, like there, you know your team
is, it's the engine behind thebusiness, Right, I just had a
conversation with with myvirtual assistant last night and
I said you know, I soappreciate it, because sometimes
I forget that you and the otherteammates, they're the engine
behind the business running.
Like, why do things not blow up?
It's because you guys areyou're, you're consistent,
(15:10):
You're getting it done, and itlets me free up my mind to focus
on other things.
It's incredible.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Yeah, and it's.
It's really cool because I getthe focus on the things that
really I'm passionate about orthat I'm really great at, and
I'm great at like problemsolving and sometimes that can
be really time.
You know, time tanker and it'sjust having a team that I can
rely on and be like can you guyshelp me with this or that?
Oh, it's amazing and they'rethe absolute best.
I will always shut out ormarketing mavens.
(15:37):
They're awesome, so tell usmore about so you talked about.
You have your podcast.
That's kind of your leadgeneration and we got your
courses that would you considerthat your main offer?
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Yeah, I mean I think there are kind of four ways that
all those English makes money,right.
So we do courses, we dolicensing and we're getting into
the B2B space, meaning businessto business.
So working with companies,working with business platforms
that would then have companieson the other side, like
marketplaces, does that makesense?
So we're selling our products,putting our products on these
(16:09):
B2B marketplaces, and thencompanies are coming and buying
it from the marketplace.
Our apps are also monetized, soour apps just have a premium
subscription option.
So an Android, ios app and thenyeah, I mean that's pretty so
courses, licensing and thensponsorships for our podcast.
So that's the other piece thatwe've really gone into in the
(16:31):
last year and a half or so.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
That's super cool.
I always say I read this booklike a really long time ago.
It says millionaires alwayshave a minimum of seven streams
of income.
You've kind of built thatwithin your business, so so, so
smart.
I absolutely love that and it'slike almost like a freedom in
it too.
Like, especially, you have theapp, which I would assume is
kind of past the income.
You probably have to do someupdates and such to it.
(16:55):
Yeah, like we have a softwareand it's just been a game
changer for our business.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
It's huge.
You know, I do a lot ofmastermind groups with people in
my space, other ESL coursecreators, and I see 100% focus
on course building.
I'm like, yes, courses are agreat way to build a business,
but when you have a course, abusiness that's 100% based on
sales of a course scary to me.
(17:21):
I'm always obsessing overdiversifying, maybe too much,
but it just feels like one'sgoing to drop.
You know, like podcast adrevenue is probably going to
drop in 2024.
I realize that.
So we're going to ramp upcourse sales.
Right, there's always leversthat we can pull, but if there's
one product, I don't know,maybe for a couple of years.
But then if you want yourbusiness to run long term, start
(17:42):
to diversify.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Yeah, 100%.
And our needs are alwayschanging.
You know your consumers' needsare always changing.
That's why I mean to say and soalways evaluating that, looking
at the data, it's super, superimportant.
Well, I've loved having you onthe show and I thank you so much
for all your insight.
Where can we find more aboutyou?
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Well, your listeners can check out my podcast.
Since this is a podcast, we'rein the podcasting world.
Your listeners can go and openthe search bar and just type in
all ears English and you'llactually see three shows pop up,
all three of our shows.
Everything is yellow.
That is our branding.
You could hit follow on allears English and check it out,
see what our style is, and youcould find me on LinkedIn.
(18:20):
I'm happy to answer anyquestions or do any informal
coaching or mentoring issomething that I'm always happy
to help out if people havequestions.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Thank you so much, Lindsay.
I really appreciate you comingon the show and we'll talk to
you next time on the virtualindex.
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