July 15, 2024 • 20 mins
Can building a business from a passion-driven side hustle really lead to nationwide success? Listen as Bruce Wozniak, CEO of Now Hear This, shares his inspirational journey from helping a talented singer in his church to expanding a thriving business that now serves musicians, authors, small businesses, and creatives of all kinds. Bruce emphasizes the critical role of being present and visible, sharing how this strategy has helped him secure clients across the country.
Unlock the power of connections and brand promotion through events and public speaking, as we recount lessons learned from PodFest and other significant experiences. Discover actionable strategies to market your podcast beyond the conventional realm of social media, including giving away memorable branded merchandise. Plus, Bruce dives into leveraging psychological marketing to back up your claims with credible sources—ensuring you're not just persuasive but also trustworthy. Stay tuned to hear more about Bruce’s podcast and his speaking engagements at nowhearthis.net and speakerbrucew.com.
Master the art of virtual business & create a life you love! Join Natalie Guzman, your host on Virtual Antics, a weekly podcast for digital entrepreneurs seeking work-life balance.✨
Ready to revolutionize your success? Tune in & subscribe for weekly episodes!
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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 andinfo-packed episodes will
inspire, educate and leave youfeeling motivated to take one
more step forward in yourbusiness.
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 byNendora, 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.
Welcome back to Virtual AnticsPodcast.
As always, I'm your host,natalie Guzman, and I'm so
excited because I have a goodfriend of mine on the show today
(00:44):
, Bruce Wozniak.
He is awesome.
He has so much experience,especially as a podcaster, so I
look up to him so much.
But not only that, but he's theCEO of his own company.
I'll let him tell you a littleabout it.
But his company Now Hear thisis doing amazing things, so
let's get into it.
Hi, bruce, how are you doing?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I'm doing great.
Thank you for having me on,Natalie.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
I'm so excited we finally get to do this together.
It's really cool when you aretalking with someone that you
know.
It's awesome.
So tell us a little bit abouthow you got started with
podcasting, but also with yourbusiness.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
I'll do it in the reverse order because podcasting
, but also with your business,I'll do it in the reverse order
because starting the businesscame much, much before the
podcast and I'll try to shortenit because it's a long story,
but it basically was born out ofbeing in church and seeing a
girl singing who I reallythought was so talented that
more people needed to hear her.
I volunteered to help her outdoing whatever event she was
(01:44):
doing in the community.
Eventually I wore her and herfather down to say, yes, okay,
this guy's not asking to getpaid, so let's let him help us
out.
I started getting results forthem and then the light bulb
went on that we all, asentrepreneurs, have where you go
wait, I can make a business outof this.
So that's kind of howNowHereThis was started and,
strangely enough, I really onlywas focused on musicians at the
(02:08):
time because she was a singerand I just kind of found that to
be my niche.
And one of the lessons that Ilearned over the years, natalie,
was when you're starting up abusiness, of course you're just
trying to find your way throughit and see what your specialty
area is going to be and, ofcourse, where you're going to
get business from.
So you just start looking inyour immediate local area and I
(02:28):
have found over my 20 years ofrunning Now Hear this, that you
really need to be present, bevisible, be active, be out there
, and that's how I've managed toget clients across the country.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
That is so cool and I love that.
Your business was passiondriven you.
You found it because you justhad this like a passion filled
moment where you're like, oh mygosh, this person needs to be
seen by more people, and I lovethat.
That is so cool.
I feel like there's always likethere's businesses that stem
from an idea, there's businessthat stem from being stuck in a
hard place, and then there'sbusinesses that stem from having
(03:02):
a passion, and I kind of love Ihaven't interviewed anyone that
started from a passion, so thatwas really cool.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Well, I did have the safety net of the regular job
that I was in at the time, sothat was kind of like a side
hustle.
But, as I said, once I startedto see results I thought okay, I
can make something out of this.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
And I think in the beginning that's the same for
most businesses, right we allkind of start.
You know it's a bootstrappingphase, right.
So we just start trying to dowhatever we can to make it work
because we're really passionateabout it.
We see an end goal and so we doeverything we can to drive
forward.
So I love that.
I'm mine's kind of start as aside hustle as well, and very
(03:41):
quickly realized I couldn't saya side hustle.
So that's awesome.
Now tell us a little bit moreabout what you do, what type of
people do you work with?
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Well, as I said back then, it was musicians only, and
gradually I started to realizethat the skillset that I had was
transferable across a number ofindustries and I didn't have to
just limit myself to musicians.
And also I would start to getthe occasional inquiry from
someone that would say, couldyou help me by any chance?
Because?
And then they would insert whatit is that they do.
(04:13):
And I have found that, forwhatever reason, a large part of
my clients have turned intoauthors.
So I do still serve the musiccommunity but I very much have
found a foothold in the writingcommunity.
And again getting back to mypoint before about getting out
and being seen, because I'vealso become a speaker, I do find
(04:34):
myself authors to smallbusinesses.
I recently had a nonprofit thatI was working with
entrepreneurs.
I've even worked with somepodcasters, so it's really grown
(04:54):
.
I've even been really excitedhelping filmmakers and actors,
the creatives, I think, as apodcaster myself.
I think there's kind of thatgravitation.
You know we fit together nicely.
It doesn't mean that I don'tfit together nicely with authors
because, as I said, that'sreally become a big part of my
business.
But I have kind of gone on thisroller coaster ride over the
(05:16):
years where, when I first movedto Florida in 2000, I was
freelancing for three differentfull service agencies and I got
to the point where I said Idon't like this working on so
many different accounts over thecourse of a day, like I want to
just do one thing.
And so the job that I ended upgetting was in the Olympic
movement and I thought okay,here we go.
Now I'm just doing one thingand this is my one and only job,
(05:40):
my one and only quote unquoteaccount, my one and only client,
if you will, even though it wasa regular full-time job.
And ever since I went back andstarted now here this I do like
the variety of working with somany different people.
I think it keeps you fresh andI think you learn experiences
from one client that youtransfer over to another, and so
(06:00):
they all kind of feed into eachother and it keeps you
constantly learning and it makesit more challenging, exciting,
all the usual buzzwords as yousit down to work each day.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Yeah, that's one of the reasons I love.
The virtual assistant world islike I felt like I was able to
be a better business ownerbecause I got to work with other
businesses and learn how theydo things and I got to kind of
tweak it and make it my own andapply it to my own business and
you work with so many differenttypes of people and
personalities and, yeah, they'realways suggesting new things or
like did you hear about this?
(06:33):
It's kind of cool because yougrow your own community within
your client base and it justkind of makes everyone grow
stronger and become stronger.
That's why I love hiringcompanies like yours, because
you're really there's only somuch that you can think about on
your own and so much thatyou're good at.
So when you hire a company likeyours, you're able to get
someone that thinks about thatstuff 24-7, that's in that field
(06:56):
and learning about it and superimportant.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
It's just a lot more effective it's a lot like the
podcast community.
You know you asked me beforeabout starting up Now Hear this
Entertainment and I had startedthat in 2014 because I had heard
about this thing calledpodcasting and of course, we all
know that it's so muchdifferent now from when it was
back then.
Back then I thought thatpodcasting was going to be just
(07:19):
kind of another marketing toolfor my business that maybe some
musician who's listening to theshow in San Antonio, Texas, will
hear me and contact me and sayyou know, this Bruce guy sounds
like he knows his stuff.
I listened to his podcast.
Maybe he can manage and promoteme from across the miles.
And it's turned into so muchmore and I feel like there's
that community also.
(07:40):
So learning about PR andeverything from one world and
then going into the podcastworld and learning a whole
different skill set but makingall kinds of new networking
contacts, all these greatconnections, and really the
benefit of that, Natalie, hasbeen that I went from.
Maybe this will be lead gen,where I'm going to get clients
(08:01):
contacting me because they'relistening to.
Instead, it's turned into.
I've met so many great peoplewho can be a good asset for my
clients.
So now, all of a sudden, when aclient comes to me with a need,
my light bulb can go on and Ican go through that bizarre
mental Rolodex that I have ofall the guests that I've talked
to and I thought, okay, theperson that I interviewed over
(08:21):
here would be a good fit forthis client, because I match
them up and everybody's happyand I feel like I'm not going to
a past podcast guest with myhandout like, oh, okay, that's
why he had me on, he wantssomething from me.
In a roundabout way, you couldargue I'm giving them business
right, Because if it's, you know, I remember one client who
(08:43):
Hollywood-based client, dancerfirst, singer second never did
any songwriting and she wantedto know you know, how can I get
into songwriting?
And I said I have the perfectperson to match you up with.
Now those people, of course,can, will and should charge for
their services.
So if Bruce Wozniak brings themone of his clients, it could
become a client of theirs.
So I've just so enjoyed so muchabout the podcasting community
(09:06):
and everything that the mediumitself has done for me and for
my business.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Yeah, that happened the same way with me too.
I originally started VirtualIndex kind of as a lead
generation tool, and then I wasmeeting so many cool people and
I was like there's so many waysto collaborate with other
businesses and other businessowners that I just started
creating like a very detailedspreadsheet.
Cause you know me, I'm superorganized, I need everything on
a spreadsheet and I like wrotedown like things about them,
even their personalities.
Cause you know me, I'm superorganized, I need everything on
(09:36):
a spreadsheet and I like wrotedown like things about them,
even their personalities.
Cause I don't, I might havesomeone that like multiple
people that do, let's say,marketing Right, and I want to
refer them out.
Well, their personalities mightnot match, or you know, there's
certain things, or maybe theyboth live near each other and so
that could be a really coolconnection.
So I love writing likeadditional details like that to
match them up.
It's so much fun.
(09:59):
And then they come back to meand they're like thank you so
much for introducing me and I'mlike, of course it's just
exactly such a good feeling.
I love podcasting and that'show we met is through podcasting
.
We met at a podcast and, um, ohmy gosh, it was so cool to meet
you and your wife and I justfelt instantly at home when I
met you guys.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
You're like you're in .
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Florida.
You have to come to our meetup.
Why haven't you been?
And I was like, oh yeah, I needto go.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
But that in itself is a good business lesson because,
like I said, you need to getout there, you need to be seen,
you need to attend events andmeet people.
But I think it also shows youand I were both speakers at
PodFest and so you literallyhave a stage that you're
elevated on that.
All these people in the roomare looking up and it's a way to
establish your expertise, justlike on our podcast.
(10:46):
So now when you and I go intothe after party at night,
everybody looks at Natalie andthey go, oh, that's that girl
who spoke about.
And they see Bruce and they go,oh, that's that guy who spoke
about.
As opposed to walking up to astranger in an after party at
PodFest and saying I guess I'lljust say what's your podcast.
(11:07):
So now it's a real niceicebreaker for people like you
and I, and so for those in theaudience who are listening to
Natalie and I.
That's another thing that hashelped.
Now hear this, the company isbecause I went from being Bruce
Wozniak business owner to BruceWozniak business owner and
podcaster.
There's an ebook series that Ilaunched out of my podcast, so
(11:29):
you could say that I also becamebusiness owner, podcaster and
author.
But then, when you have allthese things going, you get
these speaking opportunities andnow you've really put yourself,
and, by extension, yourbusiness, out there, because now
it's business owner, podcaster,author and speaker.
And then you meet people evenmore.
And that goes back to myoriginal point.
I speak all over the country.
(11:50):
So how does Bruce have clientsin California?
How does he have people inNevada?
How does he have people inWisconsin, in Nashville, in the
Carolinas?
Well, that's how, because I getout and meet people, I shake
hands and kiss babies, as theysay.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
That's hilarious.
Yeah, I feel like going inevents definitely leveled up my
business in a big way because Igot to just build so many more
connections and, like you said,the speaking.
You know, when people see thatand they get to see me on stage
they're like oh, she actuallyknows what she's talking about
and she just doesn't just workon it, she actually like studies
it and understands it and haslike strategies and things like
(12:27):
that.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
And if you have what she preaches.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Yeah, exactly, you had an amazing speaking topic.
You were teaching us about howto promote our business or our
podcast, right, yeah?
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Yeah, fittingly enough right For a PR guy.
Yeah, the reason I do the 20plus ways to promote your
podcast presentation is becauseI fear that podcasters are doing
one or two things, which issimply releasing their episodes
and saying, well, it's out there, people are going to find it,
(13:00):
it's on Spotify, it's on ApplePodcasts and I go.
It is, but so are a couplemillion other podcasts and
there's so, so, so many othersto weed through that.
What makes you think people arejust going to magically find
yours?
And some people will try tochallenge that and say, well,
wait a minute, I didn't tell youI got this really awesome title
for my podcast, or you haven'tseen the cover art?
(13:22):
It's so clever and it's like itdoesn't matter, because until
somebody gets to your podcast,they're not going to know that
clever title, they're not goingto see the cool artwork.
And the other reason I do it isbecause we're also conditioned
to just put stuff on socialmedia and assume that, well, of
course people are going to findit.
I have it on Facebook, I haveit on Twitter, I have it on
Instagram, tiktok, youtube,wherever you are.
(13:45):
And again it's the sameoversaturation problem where I
say, duh, like, of course youbetter have it on social media.
You're not impressing me bysaying every episode, I post
about it on my socials, like,yeah, you better be, but there's
so many other things you canand should be doing.
So that's why I do thatpresentation, because they're
(14:07):
all things that have worked forme.
I know that there's lots andlots of podcasters who have
little to no budget to promotetheir podcast, and so I like
being able to share all thosetips, knowing that the absolute,
overwhelming majority of themdon't cost anything at all.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Yeah, it's awesome and you know the.
It's just like think about howmany things people see in a day.
Right, we have internet, wehave TV, we have word of mouth.
There's so many differentthings coming at us in a day.
So how are you going to standout and be remembered and having
like um?
I know who is it.
(14:41):
Oh, mark Savant, from he'sanother pod fester.
He at his um speaking.
He was a speaker like two yearsago at pod fest and I went to
his um his thing and he gave outt-shirts.
At the end he had the nicest,softest t-shirt.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Like it's still my favorite t-shirt in my drawer.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
It was so soft and um , oh my gosh, it was amazing was
so soft and um, oh my gosh, itwas amazing.
And I was like, oh my gosh,this is like the best t-shirt.
And uh, I will never, neverforget mark and his company.
Because that, and then the nextyear I saw him at pod fest
again.
I was like I still have yourt-shirt.
I even brought it.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
I wore it to pod fest because it was just such.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Another one was Veronica with Purple it Up, so
she's a nonprofit for domesticviolence.
She had a shirt and she gave itto me.
I think I actually won it at aPodFest one year and the next
year I wore it and I got to talkto her and I got to learn more
about her and her business.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
You make a great point, though, because you and I
have this discussion offline alot, which is, you know, people
need to see or hear about yourbrand so many times, and because
we are bombarded by email, bysocial media, by text messages.
There's so many interruptions inour day that you might have
very good intentions oflistening to someone's podcast
(15:59):
when they tell you about it, andyou might even you know, I'll
try to do the thing where Ireally go out of my way and it's
like I'm going to bring it upon my phone on Spotify, but then
your day gets away from you,and so you need those constant
reminders.
You need the t-shirt that yougot from a speaker.
You need the postcard, thebusiness card, whatever it was,
the promotional item to say ohyeah, that's right, I think I
(16:20):
have it up on my screen.
I've got all my windowsminimized.
I got to find that Spotify thatI was ready to press play on,
now that something else cameinto my view and reminded me,
because you and I always talkabout this like eight times or
something like that.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
You need to hear about something before you're
going to take action yeah.
Yeah, every time and indifferent formats, right?
So we do a lot of like emailingin our business and so you want
to do emails, text, facebook Ifyou are using like Facebook and
megapixels, I can go into allthe different technologies or
you can hire a company that doesit for you, but basically you
(16:58):
can do a retargeting campaign.
I love that because it makes thepeople that did see it once.
I'll make them see it over andover and over again.
And those are the campaignsthat I actually tend to click on
, like in Facebook, if I see thesame one over and over again,
because I was intrigued at firstbut I didn't click and then I
keep seeing it and I keep likelearning more about them and I
see their face in all thesedifferent type of ads and I'm
(17:19):
like you know what, we'll learnmore and actually like take
action and that's why I loveusing all different formats.
And if they you got a text youknow saying oh, don't forget to
take this action.
You know, and it's so easy tojust click on the link and do
the action.
That is so easy for me as abusy mom, not entrepreneur just
have a link on my phone that Ican just click and take action.
Awesome, and.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
I think we have a responsibility as business
owners and as podcasters toeducate our constituents on
exactly what you and I aretalking about.
Because I was thrilled I justhad, two days ago, a sponsor
commit to one of my podcaststhat they're going to start
sponsoring, and I was thrilledbecause he acknowledged to me.
(18:06):
He said I know that it takes atleast eight times for someone
to hear the message.
So I'm going to do four monthswith you, you know, to start
this relationship, and so itdoes your heart good when
because my advice there is youdon't just tell people, hey, it
takes eight times, or hey, ittakes seven times.
If you can find somewhere whereit's written in a study or in a
(18:28):
report, or hey, something justcame out, and you cite the
source and you maybe even givethem the link, then it looks
more like I'm just trying toeducate you as opposed to.
This is something I'm going totell you in the hopes that
you'll believe it.
So you'll buy sponsorship withme.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Yeah, 100%, and there's so many studies on that.
By the way, it's all over theinternet, so I would actually
dive deeper into those studiesbecause they give you a lot of
different things onpsychological marketing and
things like that.
It's a really cool topic.
I actually love it, but yeah,I'm so excited you've been on
the show, bruce.
I'm so happy that you came onand shared your knowledge,
(19:05):
because I definitely look up toyou as a business owner and a
podcaster, so so excited you'rehere.
How can we find more about youand your business?
Speaker 2 (19:24):
nowhearthisnet is the agency website, but of course
there's a podcast section withinthe website.
Or if you just look for Now,hear this Entertainment on most
podcast platforms and you canfind my podcast on there.
I do actually have a separatewebsite for all the speaking
that I do, which isspeakerbrucewcom, but you'll
probably find that bumpingaround nowhearthisnet.
If you end up on my emailnewsletter list, you'll see that
(19:45):
I mentioned that in there oncein a while and, of course, all
over social media.
So once you hit nowhearthisnetyou'll see all the social media
logos down at the bottom toengage on whichever one you
prefer.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Awesome.
I'll make sure I put that inthe show notes so everyone can
go and take action with theclick of a button.
But I thank.
Welcome to the Virtual Antics Podcast, where we
help entrepreneurs streamlinetheir business to six figures
and beyond.
These short, sweet andinfo-packed episodes will
inspire, educate and leave youfeeling motivated to take one
more step forward in yourbusiness.
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 byNendora, 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.
Welcome back to Virtual AnticsPodcast.
As always, I'm your host,natalie Guzman, and I'm so
excited because I have a goodfriend of mine on the show today
(00:44):
, Bruce Wozniak.
He is awesome.
He has so much experience,especially as a podcaster, so I
look up to him so much.
But not only that, but he's theCEO of his own company.
I'll let him tell you a littleabout it.
But his company Now Hear thisis doing amazing things, so
let's get into it.
Hi, bruce, how are you doing?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I'm doing great.
Thank you for having me on,Natalie.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
I'm so excited we finally get to do this together.
It's really cool when you aretalking with someone that you
know.
It's awesome.
So tell us a little bit abouthow you got started with
podcasting, but also with yourbusiness.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
I'll do it in the reverse order because podcasting
, but also with your business,I'll do it in the reverse order
because starting the businesscame much, much before the
podcast and I'll try to shortenit because it's a long story,
but it basically was born out ofbeing in church and seeing a
girl singing who I reallythought was so talented that
more people needed to hear her.
I volunteered to help her outdoing whatever event she was
(01:44):
doing in the community.
Eventually I wore her and herfather down to say, yes, okay,
this guy's not asking to getpaid, so let's let him help us
out.
I started getting results forthem and then the light bulb
went on that we all, asentrepreneurs, have where you go
wait, I can make a business outof this.
So that's kind of howNowHereThis was started and,
strangely enough, I really onlywas focused on musicians at the
(02:08):
time because she was a singerand I just kind of found that to
be my niche.
And one of the lessons that Ilearned over the years, natalie,
was when you're starting up abusiness, of course you're just
trying to find your way throughit and see what your specialty
area is going to be and, ofcourse, where you're going to
get business from.
So you just start looking inyour immediate local area and I
(02:28):
have found over my 20 years ofrunning Now Hear this, that you
really need to be present, bevisible, be active, be out there
, and that's how I've managed toget clients across the country.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
That is so cool and I love that.
Your business was passiondriven you.
You found it because you justhad this like a passion filled
moment where you're like, oh mygosh, this person needs to be
seen by more people, and I lovethat.
That is so cool.
I feel like there's always likethere's businesses that stem
from an idea, there's businessthat stem from being stuck in a
hard place, and then there'sbusinesses that stem from having
(03:02):
a passion, and I kind of love Ihaven't interviewed anyone that
started from a passion, so thatwas really cool.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Well, I did have the safety net of the regular job
that I was in at the time, sothat was kind of like a side
hustle.
But, as I said, once I startedto see results I thought okay, I
can make something out of this.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
And I think in the beginning that's the same for
most businesses, right we allkind of start.
You know it's a bootstrappingphase, right.
So we just start trying to dowhatever we can to make it work
because we're really passionateabout it.
We see an end goal and so we doeverything we can to drive
forward.
So I love that.
I'm mine's kind of start as aside hustle as well, and very
(03:41):
quickly realized I couldn't saya side hustle.
So that's awesome.
Now tell us a little bit moreabout what you do, what type of
people do you work with?
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Well, as I said back then, it was musicians only, and
gradually I started to realizethat the skillset that I had was
transferable across a number ofindustries and I didn't have to
just limit myself to musicians.
And also I would start to getthe occasional inquiry from
someone that would say, couldyou help me by any chance?
Because?
And then they would insert whatit is that they do.
(04:13):
And I have found that, forwhatever reason, a large part of
my clients have turned intoauthors.
So I do still serve the musiccommunity but I very much have
found a foothold in the writingcommunity.
And again getting back to mypoint before about getting out
and being seen, because I'vealso become a speaker, I do find
(04:34):
myself authors to smallbusinesses.
I recently had a nonprofit thatI was working with
entrepreneurs.
I've even worked with somepodcasters, so it's really grown
(04:54):
.
I've even been really excitedhelping filmmakers and actors,
the creatives, I think, as apodcaster myself.
I think there's kind of thatgravitation.
You know we fit together nicely.
It doesn't mean that I don'tfit together nicely with authors
because, as I said, that'sreally become a big part of my
business.
But I have kind of gone on thisroller coaster ride over the
(05:16):
years where, when I first movedto Florida in 2000, I was
freelancing for three differentfull service agencies and I got
to the point where I said Idon't like this working on so
many different accounts over thecourse of a day, like I want to
just do one thing.
And so the job that I ended upgetting was in the Olympic
movement and I thought okay,here we go.
Now I'm just doing one thingand this is my one and only job,
(05:40):
my one and only quote unquoteaccount, my one and only client,
if you will, even though it wasa regular full-time job.
And ever since I went back andstarted now here this I do like
the variety of working with somany different people.
I think it keeps you fresh andI think you learn experiences
from one client that youtransfer over to another, and so
(06:00):
they all kind of feed into eachother and it keeps you
constantly learning and it makesit more challenging, exciting,
all the usual buzzwords as yousit down to work each day.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Yeah, that's one of the reasons I love.
The virtual assistant world islike I felt like I was able to
be a better business ownerbecause I got to work with other
businesses and learn how theydo things and I got to kind of
tweak it and make it my own andapply it to my own business and
you work with so many differenttypes of people and
personalities and, yeah, they'realways suggesting new things or
like did you hear about this?
(06:33):
It's kind of cool because yougrow your own community within
your client base and it justkind of makes everyone grow
stronger and become stronger.
That's why I love hiringcompanies like yours, because
you're really there's only somuch that you can think about on
your own and so much thatyou're good at.
So when you hire a company likeyours, you're able to get
someone that thinks about thatstuff 24-7, that's in that field
(06:56):
and learning about it and superimportant.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
It's just a lot more effective it's a lot like the
podcast community.
You know you asked me beforeabout starting up Now Hear this
Entertainment and I had startedthat in 2014 because I had heard
about this thing calledpodcasting and of course, we all
know that it's so muchdifferent now from when it was
back then.
Back then I thought thatpodcasting was going to be just
(07:19):
kind of another marketing toolfor my business that maybe some
musician who's listening to theshow in San Antonio, Texas, will
hear me and contact me and sayyou know, this Bruce guy sounds
like he knows his stuff.
I listened to his podcast.
Maybe he can manage and promoteme from across the miles.
And it's turned into so muchmore and I feel like there's
that community also.
(07:40):
So learning about PR andeverything from one world and
then going into the podcastworld and learning a whole
different skill set but makingall kinds of new networking
contacts, all these greatconnections, and really the
benefit of that, Natalie, hasbeen that I went from.
Maybe this will be lead gen,where I'm going to get clients
(08:01):
contacting me because they'relistening to.
Instead, it's turned into.
I've met so many great peoplewho can be a good asset for my
clients.
So now, all of a sudden, when aclient comes to me with a need,
my light bulb can go on and Ican go through that bizarre
mental Rolodex that I have ofall the guests that I've talked
to and I thought, okay, theperson that I interviewed over
(08:21):
here would be a good fit forthis client, because I match
them up and everybody's happyand I feel like I'm not going to
a past podcast guest with myhandout like, oh, okay, that's
why he had me on, he wantssomething from me.
In a roundabout way, you couldargue I'm giving them business
right, Because if it's, you know, I remember one client who
(08:43):
Hollywood-based client, dancerfirst, singer second never did
any songwriting and she wantedto know you know, how can I get
into songwriting?
And I said I have the perfectperson to match you up with.
Now those people, of course,can, will and should charge for
their services.
So if Bruce Wozniak brings themone of his clients, it could
become a client of theirs.
So I've just so enjoyed so muchabout the podcasting community
(09:06):
and everything that the mediumitself has done for me and for
my business.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Yeah, that happened the same way with me too.
I originally started VirtualIndex kind of as a lead
generation tool, and then I wasmeeting so many cool people and
I was like there's so many waysto collaborate with other
businesses and other businessowners that I just started
creating like a very detailedspreadsheet.
Cause you know me, I'm superorganized, I need everything on
a spreadsheet and I like wrotedown like things about them,
even their personalities.
Cause you know me, I'm superorganized, I need everything on
(09:36):
a spreadsheet and I like wrotedown like things about them,
even their personalities.
Cause I don't, I might havesomeone that like multiple
people that do, let's say,marketing Right, and I want to
refer them out.
Well, their personalities mightnot match, or you know, there's
certain things, or maybe theyboth live near each other and so
that could be a really coolconnection.
So I love writing likeadditional details like that to
match them up.
It's so much fun.
(09:59):
And then they come back to meand they're like thank you so
much for introducing me and I'mlike, of course it's just
exactly such a good feeling.
I love podcasting and that'show we met is through podcasting
.
We met at a podcast and, um, ohmy gosh, it was so cool to meet
you and your wife and I justfelt instantly at home when I
met you guys.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
You're like you're in .
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Florida.
You have to come to our meetup.
Why haven't you been?
And I was like, oh yeah, I needto go.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
But that in itself is a good business lesson because,
like I said, you need to getout there, you need to be seen,
you need to attend events andmeet people.
But I think it also shows youand I were both speakers at
PodFest and so you literallyhave a stage that you're
elevated on that.
All these people in the roomare looking up and it's a way to
establish your expertise, justlike on our podcast.
(10:46):
So now when you and I go intothe after party at night,
everybody looks at Natalie andthey go, oh, that's that girl
who spoke about.
And they see Bruce and they go,oh, that's that guy who spoke
about.
As opposed to walking up to astranger in an after party at
PodFest and saying I guess I'lljust say what's your podcast.
(11:07):
So now it's a real niceicebreaker for people like you
and I, and so for those in theaudience who are listening to
Natalie and I.
That's another thing that hashelped.
Now hear this, the company isbecause I went from being Bruce
Wozniak business owner to BruceWozniak business owner and
podcaster.
There's an ebook series that Ilaunched out of my podcast, so
(11:29):
you could say that I also becamebusiness owner, podcaster and
author.
But then, when you have allthese things going, you get
these speaking opportunities andnow you've really put yourself,
and, by extension, yourbusiness, out there, because now
it's business owner, podcaster,author and speaker.
And then you meet people evenmore.
And that goes back to myoriginal point.
I speak all over the country.
(11:50):
So how does Bruce have clientsin California?
How does he have people inNevada?
How does he have people inWisconsin, in Nashville, in the
Carolinas?
Well, that's how, because I getout and meet people, I shake
hands and kiss babies, as theysay.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
That's hilarious.
Yeah, I feel like going inevents definitely leveled up my
business in a big way because Igot to just build so many more
connections and, like you said,the speaking.
You know, when people see thatand they get to see me on stage
they're like oh, she actuallyknows what she's talking about
and she just doesn't just workon it, she actually like studies
it and understands it and haslike strategies and things like
(12:27):
that.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
And if you have what she preaches.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Yeah, exactly, you had an amazing speaking topic.
You were teaching us about howto promote our business or our
podcast, right, yeah?
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Yeah, fittingly enough right For a PR guy.
Yeah, the reason I do the 20plus ways to promote your
podcast presentation is becauseI fear that podcasters are doing
one or two things, which issimply releasing their episodes
and saying, well, it's out there, people are going to find it,
(13:00):
it's on Spotify, it's on ApplePodcasts and I go.
It is, but so are a couplemillion other podcasts and
there's so, so, so many othersto weed through that.
What makes you think people arejust going to magically find
yours?
And some people will try tochallenge that and say, well,
wait a minute, I didn't tell youI got this really awesome title
for my podcast, or you haven'tseen the cover art?
(13:22):
It's so clever and it's like itdoesn't matter, because until
somebody gets to your podcast,they're not going to know that
clever title, they're not goingto see the cool artwork.
And the other reason I do it isbecause we're also conditioned
to just put stuff on socialmedia and assume that, well, of
course people are going to findit.
I have it on Facebook, I haveit on Twitter, I have it on
Instagram, tiktok, youtube,wherever you are.
(13:45):
And again it's the sameoversaturation problem where I
say, duh, like, of course youbetter have it on social media.
You're not impressing me bysaying every episode, I post
about it on my socials, like,yeah, you better be, but there's
so many other things you canand should be doing.
So that's why I do thatpresentation, because they're
(14:07):
all things that have worked forme.
I know that there's lots andlots of podcasters who have
little to no budget to promotetheir podcast, and so I like
being able to share all thosetips, knowing that the absolute,
overwhelming majority of themdon't cost anything at all.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
Yeah, it's awesome and you know the.
It's just like think about howmany things people see in a day.
Right, we have internet, wehave TV, we have word of mouth.
There's so many differentthings coming at us in a day.
So how are you going to standout and be remembered and having
like um?
I know who is it.
(14:41):
Oh, mark Savant, from he'sanother pod fester.
He at his um speaking.
He was a speaker like two yearsago at pod fest and I went to
his um his thing and he gave outt-shirts.
At the end he had the nicest,softest t-shirt.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Like it's still my favorite t-shirt in my drawer.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
It was so soft and um , oh my gosh, it was amazing was
so soft and um, oh my gosh, itwas amazing.
And I was like, oh my gosh,this is like the best t-shirt.
And uh, I will never, neverforget mark and his company.
Because that, and then the nextyear I saw him at pod fest
again.
I was like I still have yourt-shirt.
I even brought it.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
I wore it to pod fest because it was just such.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Another one was Veronica with Purple it Up, so
she's a nonprofit for domesticviolence.
She had a shirt and she gave itto me.
I think I actually won it at aPodFest one year and the next
year I wore it and I got to talkto her and I got to learn more
about her and her business.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
You make a great point, though, because you and I
have this discussion offline alot, which is, you know, people
need to see or hear about yourbrand so many times, and because
we are bombarded by email, bysocial media, by text messages.
There's so many interruptions inour day that you might have
very good intentions oflistening to someone's podcast
(15:59):
when they tell you about it, andyou might even you know, I'll
try to do the thing where Ireally go out of my way and it's
like I'm going to bring it upon my phone on Spotify, but then
your day gets away from you,and so you need those constant
reminders.
You need the t-shirt that yougot from a speaker.
You need the postcard, thebusiness card, whatever it was,
the promotional item to say ohyeah, that's right, I think I
(16:20):
have it up on my screen.
I've got all my windowsminimized.
I got to find that Spotify thatI was ready to press play on,
now that something else cameinto my view and reminded me,
because you and I always talkabout this like eight times or
something like that.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
You need to hear about something before you're
going to take action yeah.
Yeah, every time and indifferent formats, right?
So we do a lot of like emailingin our business and so you want
to do emails, text, facebook Ifyou are using like Facebook and
megapixels, I can go into allthe different technologies or
you can hire a company that doesit for you, but basically you
(16:58):
can do a retargeting campaign.
I love that because it makes thepeople that did see it once.
I'll make them see it over andover and over again.
And those are the campaignsthat I actually tend to click on
, like in Facebook, if I see thesame one over and over again,
because I was intrigued at firstbut I didn't click and then I
keep seeing it and I keep likelearning more about them and I
see their face in all thesedifferent type of ads and I'm
(17:19):
like you know what, we'll learnmore and actually like take
action and that's why I loveusing all different formats.
And if they you got a text youknow saying oh, don't forget to
take this action.
You know, and it's so easy tojust click on the link and do
the action.
That is so easy for me as abusy mom, not entrepreneur just
have a link on my phone that Ican just click and take action.
Awesome, and.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
I think we have a responsibility as business
owners and as podcasters toeducate our constituents on
exactly what you and I aretalking about.
Because I was thrilled I justhad, two days ago, a sponsor
commit to one of my podcaststhat they're going to start
sponsoring, and I was thrilledbecause he acknowledged to me.
(18:06):
He said I know that it takes atleast eight times for someone
to hear the message.
So I'm going to do four monthswith you, you know, to start
this relationship, and so itdoes your heart good when
because my advice there is youdon't just tell people, hey, it
takes eight times, or hey, ittakes seven times.
If you can find somewhere whereit's written in a study or in a
(18:28):
report, or hey, something justcame out, and you cite the
source and you maybe even givethem the link, then it looks
more like I'm just trying toeducate you as opposed to.
This is something I'm going totell you in the hopes that
you'll believe it.
So you'll buy sponsorship withme.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Yeah, 100%, and there's so many studies on that.
By the way, it's all over theinternet, so I would actually
dive deeper into those studiesbecause they give you a lot of
different things onpsychological marketing and
things like that.
It's a really cool topic.
I actually love it, but yeah,I'm so excited you've been on
the show, bruce.
I'm so happy that you came onand shared your knowledge,
(19:05):
because I definitely look up toyou as a business owner and a
podcaster, so so excited you'rehere.
How can we find more about youand your business?
Speaker 2 (19:24):
nowhearthisnet is the agency website, but of course
there's a podcast section withinthe website.
Or if you just look for Now,hear this Entertainment on most
podcast platforms and you canfind my podcast on there.
I do actually have a separatewebsite for all the speaking
that I do, which isspeakerbrucewcom, but you'll
probably find that bumpingaround nowhearthisnet.
If you end up on my emailnewsletter list, you'll see that
(19:45):
I mentioned that in there oncein a while and, of course, all
over social media.
So once you hit nowhearthisnetyou'll see all the social media
logos down at the bottom toengage on whichever one you
prefer.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Awesome.
I'll make sure I put that inthe show notes so everyone can
go and take action with theclick of a button.
But I thank.
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