Well, well, well, well hey there my amazing listen, super freaking welcome to episode 300 of the Small Business Made Simple podcast.

Way back in December 2018, after a business partnership spilt, I decided that one way I could stand out from ALL the other business coaches and marketing mentors was to start a podcast.

I wrote a list of people I knew which included Jemimah Ashleigh (episode 6), Jules Brooke (episode 14), Tom Dickison (episode 24), Michael Peiniger (episode 36) and Alita Harvey (episode 38), wrote down some things I knew about marketing like your ideal client, email marketing, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, common mistakes and a few more and decided to make a go of it – the podcast!

It took me three days to find the intro music that you hear – sometimes I think it’s more popular than me (!!) and I watched about 7 YouTube videos on how to start a podcast (they were a little rarer than they are now-a-days!).

And that was the start of the journey I find myself still on 300 episodes later.

I’ve never skipped a week from the start – so in 5.5 years – although some episodes have been late – I think two days late is probably the most I’ve gone, I’ve forgotten to press record on two interview occasions and had to ask them to record. One of those times was with the fabulous Cate Schreck on episode 68 and if you listen about halfway in, I have to admit my mistake because I am so confused as to what I asked when I wasn’t recording vs when I was recording – Cate took it like a champ and played along!

I’ve had guests that no long work in the space they did. I’ve had guests that I’ve never heard from again and were just using me and my podcast for their own personal gain – hint, that does not happen anymore, you have to come recommended or be in my world to get a gig now-a-days – you (my audience) are too precious to put some fly in, all for myself, business person, in front of, and some guests have been on twice, like Kate Toon, Jemimah Ashleigh, Jules Brooke, Jess Osborn. But never anyone three times …. Yet!

The podcast has had over 230,000 downloads and is ranked in the top 1.5% globally – that’s out of 3.3 million odd podcasts – so that’s pretty cool, right?

My most popular episode, might I say unfortunately because I’d never listen to it again, is my first one with over 3,000 downloads! The average downloads these days is just over the thousand per episode which equals about 5K a month. Those stats might not seem grand to you (or they might) but if I imagine standing in front of 5,000 people each month talking marketing, that’s HUGE!

The first season had a “Discovery of the Week” in each episode, and I am thinking of bringing that back because the surge of AI has brought so many great tools to us as small business owners, I think that’s worth sharing – so watch for that come back at some stage.

I’ve tried putting ads in my podcast to make it produce some direct income but that’s felt a little uncomfortable, so I haven’t done it for a while – but I am working on a project that might help with that value adjustment that I feel needs to be made.

I’ve had weeks where producing a podcast has been easy, simple and joyful and I’ve had others where it has been a chore, and I am without inspiration and words. I would like to say I batch recordings, but the truth is that about the only time that happens in (a) when I am going on holidays and (b) around Christmas time. I cannot seem to organise myself or my diary around doing it consistently, so I’ve had to lean into my failings there and just get it down week after week.

So many things have changed in marketing in 300 episodes and yet, not much has changed at all.

Way back in episode 2 I talked about having a reach out strategy and it’s still in the top 3 things I talk about to every small business owner today. Email marketing, from episodes 9 and 10, is still underrated as a marketing strategy and episode 4 talked about knowing and owning your expertise – again, still something so many small business owners struggling with – What Do You Want to be Famous for?

Episode 21 was 7 ways to market your business on a shoestring budget – and today one of my most profitable keynotes is 16 Ways to Market Your Business for Free – same/same!

Episode 25 is Get to Know Your Ideal Client and this is probably the biggest hang up business owners have with their marketing. Who are they marketing to and where do they hang out?

Between episode 25 and episode 4 (who is your who, where do they hang out and what do you want to be famous for), I could actually change the world of small business. If every small business owner worked on those three questions and those three questions alone, their business would be more successful, less stressful and more profitable.

But unfortunately, they’re not as sexy as Instagram Reels or TikTok, so they simply don’t get the attention they need.

The stat that 4 out of 5 small businesses fail in the first five years is what drove me to start the podcast and is still the driving force. Because you see, 4 out of 5 small businesses don’t fail in the first 5 years – they simply burn out. And they burn out because they can’t get enough customers through their business to make it profitable and sustainable. In other words, they simply didn’t pay enough attention to their market and their marketing. I know, that’s harsh, but 15 years in this job tells me I am right almost all the time.

My podcast has allowed me to make new business friends, offer business friends a hand when it comes to promoting their business (via an interview) and it’s given me great scope to approach people WAY outside my league, leading with, I have a podcast that’s ranked in the top 1.5% globally, I’d love to have you as a guest, are you keen? Oh, the doors it opens!

My podcast has brought me most of my clients over the past 5 years, loads of speaking gigs, business credibility in droves and opportunities for collaborations and media that cannot be underestimated.

All in all – podcasting was a good decision way back when I wasn’t sure what I would do and certainly wasn’t sure how it would work out …. But alas 300 episodes in, it’s worked out just fine!

I still do all the editing, recording, and promotion myself – although my amazing VA Lee, takes my podcasts and repurposes them into blogs, social posts, newsletters, articles and more – making my content go further and making me look good – showing up in loads of places with good quality content! Thank you, Lee! (Although she’s in Paris and definitely not listening to this episode – happy birthday amazing lady – enjoy Paris!).

There was a small thought bubble at the start of this year that episode 300 would be goodbye but honestly, I had some recorded and unreleased interviews that you definitely need to hear – so I can’t finish at 300. And plus, the world of marketing is ever changing, and apparently, I still have things to say – so onwards to 400, I guess!

Whether you’ve listened to one episode, this one or all 300 (and if you have listened to all 300, please let me know, we definitely need to be best friends!), THANK YOU. Each one of my 230,000 odd downloads is a person. A person who wants to make marketing and business life simpler and who has invested in their business by taking time to learn.

As John Rohn says “a formal education will make you a living. Self-education will make you a fortune”. My podcast is self-education for us both! Me, researching, you listening to that research.

If I could ask one favour, as a “podcast birthday gift” to me, I would love for you to share my podcast with another business friend and invite them to listen (you can always find a post on a social media and share it with your community as well – killing two birds with one stone and giving me a fabulous smile on my face knowing you care enough to do so!). And, if you have time, I’d love you to leave a rating or review where you listen or give my pod a Google Review (like is in the show notes): https://g.page/r/CeVoRUGZt3VOEAI/review

Hey, you, yes you, you fabulous listener – thanks. Thanks a bunch. You’re awesome. I appreciate you like you won’t believe.

Talk to you next week on episode 301.

If we’re not already friends on social media, let’s hang out on social and get social on social – you’ll find me on Instagram, Facebook and my fav LinkedIn.

But whatever you do, for the 300^th time,

…….. remember small business peep, as my opening song says, there’s no point in dreaming small!