Entrepreneur School

Wow, 100 episodes. Hitting record on this one feels surreal. When I started this podcast, I didn’t fully grasp how much it would impact my business, my confidence, and even my community. Reaching this milestone has me feeling proud of the journey and impressed by the sheer consistency it took to get here (and trust me, there were days when life tried to throw every curveball it could). But mostly, I’m grateful—for the amazing guests, for the lessons learned, and for you, my listeners, who have made every episode worth recording.

In this milestone episode, I’m sharing the biggest ways podcasting has transformed my visibility strategy and why I believe it’s one of the most powerful tools for building your personal brand, growing your audience, and creating connections that drive your business forward.

I’m spilling it all in this episode:

  • Why podcasting is one of the best tools for building brand authority and establishing thought leadership.
  • How podcasting helps you grow your network and create opportunities for collaboration and visibility.
  • The confidence-building benefits of creating long-form content and how it translates to bigger stages and business growth.
  • Why hosting a podcast is a key strategy for entrepreneurs looking to grow their audience and create consistent visibility.
  • Actionable tips for podcasting success, including optimizing your reach and repurposing content.
  • How guesting on podcasts can amplify your visibility and help you connect with new audiences.

Take Action:

If this episode inspires you to explore podcasting—or to maximize it as part of your visibility strategy—be sure to share it with two friends who could use a boost in their business. And hey, slide into my DMs with your best millennial mom moments or TV recommendations—I’m always up for a good laugh or a new series to binge!

>>LET’S CONNECT<<

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>>RESOURCES YOU’LL LOVE<<

Ready to get visible without relying on social media? Get your custom plan and apply for the Brand Visibility Accelerator!

Kickstart your visibility plan without social media! Grab our Ultimate Roadmap to Visibility Off Social bingeable audio course.

Want to save time creating content? Snag The Simplified Content System for only $47!

Time to elevate your brand? Book a coffee chat to explore working with Kelly

>>THANKS FOR LISTENING!<<

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Entrepreneur School is proud to be featured on the Feedspot list of 30 Best Canada CEO Podcasts and nominated for a Women in Podcasting Award! 

Transcript
Kelly Sinclair:

Confidence is magnetic. When somebody's considering buying from you, they need to believe that you know what you're doing. That's one huge factor, and your confidence is what's going to connect to that and check that box off.

Kelly Sinclair:

This is the Entrepreneur School podcast where we believe you can run a thriving business and still make your family a priority. This show is all about supporting you, the emerging or early stage Entrepreneur on your journey from solopreneur to CEO while wearing all of the other hats in your life. My name is Kelly Sinclair, and I'm a brand and marketing strategist who started a business with two kids under three. I'm a corporate PR girl turned entrepreneur after I learned the hard way that life is too short to waste doing things that burn you out. On this show, you'll hear inspiring stories from other business owners on their journey and learn strategies to help you grow a profitable business while making it all fit into the life that you want. Welcome to Entrepreneur School.

Kelly Sinclair:as it? I can't even remember,:Kelly Sinclair:

So come and follow me on Instagram if you want to see, like, the evolution of how this has all come together. And I did those Live episodes for two years, like I did over 100 episodes, and then I allowed that to evolve into hosting some events, which I was doing with some really incredible guests, where we initially started the brand of entrepreneur school was really about hosting some live workshops online. Yeah, and I did that for about a year as well, and then it evolved into this podcast, and I'm so glad that I have this platform. Also. Huge shout out to my team at amplify you, who does all of the editing and pulls all of that together and makes it go to all of the places, because I don't know how to do that, but if you are looking for a podcast production team, they are incredible, and I will happily connect you to them.

Kelly Sinclair:

So that's the evolution of where it's come from. And really the reason for doing this, for me, has, well, there's a few there's a few reasons. The first one is, I do believe in the power of long form content, in how it can allow you to become a thought leader and to build strong relationships. Now I want to just acknowledge that podcasting is not the best strategy for every type of business. So where it is a really good strategy is if you are in an expertise based business, you sell your brain, you sell your skills, you sell your knowledge and your way of doing things. So that means you could be a coach, a consultant, you could have a course or digital products you could even be potentially doing like a blend of online and offline services, even like done for you, services in any kind of capacity, so where your client needs to really trust and believe in your expertise as part of what will help them to determine whether or not they should work with you. That's where podcasting can really come in and create some strong connections. It doesn't work as well, or it wouldn't be something I would recommend as a visibility strategy for a business that's strictly product based, that's strictly a brick and mortar location that's just trying to reach more people within a specific geography, right? Because podcasting can expand you all across the world. I've been charting in like Saudi Arabia and different African countries, which blows my mind. Shout out if you're listening from any of those places, because that's incredible. I'm like, way over here in Western Canada, in a little town in Alberta, in my basement, making this podcast and and just like it blows my mind that that I can be connected to people in so many different places in the world. And that's fantastic, and it does help, especially if you have the type of business where you can serve people online and throughout the world in that capacity. It really can help you to target but be more broad geographically. So kind of like a double bonus for how that works in terms of the strategy.

Kelly Sinclair:

The other reason why I love my podcast is because I get to meet so many incredible guests. I love that I have a space that's like an easy yes, if I want to collaborate with someone, I can invite them onto my show. I get to feature them. I get to showcase their expertise and their gifts to my audience and to people around the world, and to help them to grow. So my mission has always been about supporting small businesses, and this is actually a way that I get to do that, by bringing those small business owners onto my show and giving them a platform to help them reach more of their potential clients, through my audience, through my other guests, creating more connections and collaboration opportunities. It's all amazing, and I get that amazing face time with those people to deepen our relationship, create more connections, and a lot of the time, that expands into additional opportunities where I'm on their podcast or part of events that they're doing, or speaking inside of groups that they host or attending things, whatever it is, just like cross pollination, and that really strengthens your opportunity to really kind of get that multiple touch points in front of people. So when you start having these back and forths and you you have a space for someone, and then they create something for you, it's just you're kind of getting that feeling of being everywhere, without necessarily having to be everywhere, right? Which is a really great part of visibility and what you're looking to do.

Kelly Sinclair:

So podcasting in particular is an opportunity to become an authority in your space. So the more that you do this, and I'll tell you this based on my experience of. Of all of the videos that I did, and none of those going viral. It was not about the audience. It wasn't about all of a sudden so many people were showing up. That wasn't happening. It was because I was getting more clear, I was getting more confident. I was building my clarity and my messaging along the way. I'm currently speaking to you from a about four bullet points on a piece of paper, and that's how I can create, like, 20 to 30 minute episodes now, where it used to be that I have to, like, write out the entire thing that I was going to do for my video, and then I'd have to practice it once, and then I would show up and deliver it live. So it's a really incredible tool for enhancing your speaking skills. But that doesn't just relate to speaking, it also infuses you with more confidence, so that when you meet people at events, you actually are really good at talking about what you do. You have some insights and ways to pull nuggets for them, to help them get a win. To really like connect with people. It certainly helps when you are starting to if you're bringing people in onto sales calls, Discovery calls, whatever you like to call those, and your confidence has increased. Confidence is magnetic. When somebody's considering buying from you, they need to believe that you know what you're doing. That's one huge factor, right? And your confidence is what's going to connect to that and check that box off, and then they can go check off the other boxes that they need to fill in order to feel ready for what it is that you're offering. But this is a huge part of that, and being able to practice on a regular basis giving yourself a platform for that, it for me that has been one of of the biggest benefits of podcasting for sure, because I know that I can just show up and record this episode and feel really good that I'm adding some value, and it's coming to you in these little bite sized chunks, and if you like it, you're sticking around and you've listened to more than one episode. This is your first episode. Thank you for being here. But I have a feeling that most of the people who are listening to this have heard one, if not 100 of my episodes before, which is incredible. And I'm so grateful for you.

Kelly Sinclair:

And so as far as it being podcasting being like a strong visibility strategy, like I said, it's really for businesses that are thought leadership based, expertise based, selling your knowledge, that kind of thing is where it's really an effective tool for growing your business. So I was just thinking I wanted to share a little bit about like, what else podcasting can do for you and why it could be part of your visibility plan. So we talk about positioning yourself as an expert, right? That's that's the number one reason really like your ability to share your insights consistently gives you a space for people to start to see you as a trusted resource, and it's really a powerful way to build that authority, especially because right now I know that I am I'm in your earbuds, I'm in your car, I'm in your like, laundry room, you're doing your dishes, you're making your food like you're inviting me into a very sacred space in your life. And I'm so appreciative of that and and that's what the opportunity is, right? When you're creating content like this, sometimes it feels a little one sided, because I'm just like looking at a video image of myself talking to myself. Nobody else is here. My dogs are upstairs. That's it. But I know that it's reaching further, and that's so powerful. The other great thing about podcasting is it helps you build your brand's voice, right? So when you're regularly creating episodes, you're exploring your ideas, you're sharing your experiences and connecting with stories to really deepen that relationship with your audience. And from a content perspective, that's really a lot more powerful than a, you know, an eight second faceless Instagram reel with trending audio, right? So you know how I feel about social media, I will go to rent about that. And then, like I said, The other great thing about it is creating those new connections. So inviting guests really opens doors to collaborations, future opportunities, showing up in each other's community, and it naturally multiplies reach, right? So, so if you're considering podcasting, I mean, those are some really solid reasons to do it, plus, as far as your like content goes, and if you're already. Podcasting or your guesting on podcast, here is a pro tip for you. It's all about the repurposing so a podcast episode can turn into multiple emails, multiple social media posts, topics for you to have in conversation in real life, at events, speeches like expanded into, like a keynote speech, a master class, a workshop, any of those things. It just, it's like you take one idea and you put it all of the places, and that really helps you to expand that reach and get more out of less energy, right? If you pour a lot into something like this, this, you know what? 25 minutes that I might be talking to you today that's going to get chopped up, put into different places, you'll get it in email, you'll see it on social media, you'll hear it other places. And the other thing is, if you're guesting, look for opportunities to leverage that right. And I even even as a podcast host who also guests on other podcasts or participates in things like summits, online events, etc, you have heard several of those drop on my podcast, because if I'm taking the time and energy to create that content and to share those insights, and it always has a different angle. It always comes out just a little bit differently. And it's really important that we kind of create all of those opportunities, because it's going to hit you differently. You're going to hear it differently. When I say it differently, depending on the timing, what's what you're open to receiving, and all of that. So I'm putting those episodes on my show regularly. So you're getting bits of me from other places, different times, different angles, talking about basically the same stuff. Right when I'm talking about strategies with you, I am talking about visibility. That's what we talk about. That's my expertise. And obviously it's a huge bucket, which is why I can create an entire podcast about it, you know. And also all of the fun mom life things and being an entrepreneur, what that looks like. And, you know, signing on for your 3pm Uber mom shift every afternoon to get kids to all the places. See about carpooling, figure out who's eating where, if we're ever having family dinner together again, all of that fun stuff.

Kelly Sinclair:

So amplify your reach by repurposing content that you're creating anywhere onto your podcast from other people's podcasts, vice versa. And I want to talk a little bit about guesting, because, as a podcast host, I have definitely received 100 bazillion patches. Why? I don't know, because this is it's actually really frustrating. If you're a podcast host or you work with people to get them on podcasts, do you understand this? And I have a background in PR rights, my pitching mind comes from like media thinking about media and how to get media coverage. It's not about you, it's not about you. It's not about your client. If you're the person who's pitching, it's about how the person you can add value to the audience of the podcast. So tell me how you're going to create value, why this is important. Don't make me think right, like because I'm getting so many of these pitches, if it isn't immediately jumping out at me as an awesome idea and explaining why it's going to work, I am probably ignoring you. Sorry, I don't have time for that, right? And it's not just about like, we'll just pitch more, because if you don't get a no, then like, I'm not the media media, right? I'm not getting 17,000 emails a day about actual news that I have to filter. That's not my job to do. My job is to create great content for you on a weekly basis. Currently, that's the plan, and I have other ways of doing that. I'm working collabs. I'm creating relationships with people, and those people are always going to skip to the front of the line in terms of the people that I want to share with my audience, and very rarely do I accept a cold pitch unless it's very good and very clear about how you're helping my audience grow, get insights why it's different from other things like prove you've listened to my show. Don't just I actually got a pitch. My show drops on Tuesdays. It it goes live at like midnight, while I'm sleeping, and I had a pitch Tuesday morning before 8am referring to the episode that had literally just dropped, which basically made me think there's no way you even heard it like it's it's just, it's just so fresh and new out there you bear. Have even heard this episode, and it was just like, well, we know we're supposed to talk about an episode or reference your content in order to get your attention as a podcast host. And I'm like that that did not work. Does not That's not helping, like, go through and say, Hey, I haven't you talk about this on the show before. Like, I've and actually have listened, if you have not listened to my show, you know, like, I get people real estate investors. Like, why do I want to? I don't talk about real estate investment on here. Like, don't, don't come. Like, you're wasting your time as well trying to get on. It's not about quantity. I'm having a total rant here. It's not about quantity, it's about quality. It's about a good match. And in anything that you do visibility related, it's about the audience, right?

Kelly Sinclair:

So, audience, audience, audience, alignment. Show me, show the host that you do align with their audience, that you really understand who their audience is. Talk about why, like, why what you're going to share is going to be valuable, not about how awesome you are. Like, just a little tweak, like you are saying how awesome you are in the way that you talk about how you're going to deliver value. But it's not about your bio, in your experience, in your accolades, etc. That's just not how it works. Okay, well, I hope that I've been clear about that. If you'd like more tips about pitching, that's definitely something that we cover in brand visibility accelerator, figuring out who's a good fit. But also part of that is I, I'm creating a space to connect you with my people, my collaborators, my audience, my friends, my opportunities that are coming to me now, after having built a foundation over these last few years, particularly since I've had a podcast as well, it's been a huge part of it, why I'm getting invited onto things, and I don't have to do as much pitching directly for myself anymore.

Kelly Sinclair:

So when you're guesting, two more tips. Number one is, deliver value, right? Treat every guest spot like a mini masterclass. Share your best stories and insights. It's really your opportunity to shine, test out different ways of talking about what you're talking about. It's a really great platform for that. And then don't forget to be a generous guest, right? Promote the episode, genuinely connect with the host audience, leave a review. This is how you build those long term relationships. And future invitations will come from that like how good a guest you are, how courteous you were, how responsive you are. That all feels into your reputation that you leave behind that's going to make somebody think of you when they hear of another opportunity. Or a lot of the times, podcast hosts, when we're podcasting on each other's shows, we ask each other at the end, who do you know? Who would be a great fit for my show? Who should we connect each other with? That's how we continue that, like collaboration expansion, that web of relationship building that happens behind the scenes.

Kelly Sinclair:have some very big goals for:Kelly Sinclair:

You did it. You just listened to another episode of the entrepreneur school podcast. It's like you just went to business school while you folded your laundry, prepped dinner or picked up your kids at school. Thank you so much for being here. I want to personally celebrate your commitment to growing your business. You can imagine I'm throwing confetti for you right now. If you enjoyed today's episode, please leave us a review. Make sure you're subscribed and let us know you're listening by screenshotting this episode and tagging us on Instagram. Head to entrepreneurschool.ca. For tons of tools and resources to help you grow your business while keeping your family a priority. You can subscribe to our email list and join our community and until next time, go out there and do the thing.