“How to Become the Center of Influence Through Bossy Podcasting” with Dana Malstaff of the Boss Mom Podcast

 

As part of my series of interviews about “How to Become the Center of Influence Through Podcasting”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dana Malstaff, the CEO and Founder of Boss Mom. She launched the Boss Mom brand with her first book Boss Mom: The Ultimate Guide to Raising a Business & Nurturing Your Family Like a Pro in 2015 that started an international movement. The Boss Moms Facebook community has organically grown to over 40,000 members and there are now Boss Mom local meetups in over 80 cities. Dana build Boss Mom because she believes that we need to show our children that doing what we love can be financially viable.

 

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Can you tell us the “backstory” about why or how you got started as a podcaster?

I actually did my college internship at the local radio station. I originally wanted to be a news anchor and I fell in love with being a radio host. Once I started my own business back in 2013 and saw that podcasting was starting to rise in popularity I knew I would eventually start a podcast. When Boss Mom was born I immediately launched the podcast and now after 400 episodes we are still going strong.

Can you share a story about the most interesting thing that has happened to you since you started podcasting?

I invited Amy Porterfield to come on the podcast for an interview. We had a really great conversation and at the end I asked her if she would come speak at my next event. We lived in the same city so I thought I had a shot. She said yes right there on the call after the interview. It was then that I truly realized the power of making connections through interviews.

Can you share a story about the biggest or funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Looking back I think the biggest mistake I made was to try to release 3 episode a week. I thought I needed more episode to increate my views, but all I was really doing was spending all of my time creating the show content and never had enough time to promote the show. Once I went down to two episodes a week and saw that our views went up… I couldn’t help myself and went down to one episode a week and was delighted to see my monthly views increased even more. The lesson is that more content is often just more. Spend the time to create great content each week and make sure you have time to get out there and promote.

How long have you been podcasting and how many shows have you aired?

I actually started a podcast back in 2014 that only aired one season. Once I decided to write the Boss Mom book and saw how popular it was, I closed down the first podcast, launched Boss Mom in 2015 and never looked back. We just passed our 400th episode.

What are the main takeaways or lessons you want your listeners to walk away with?

When people come to the Boss Mom Podcast, they are looking for two things… support & guidance.

The main takeaways from any episode on the podcast (we do interviews and solo shows) are…

1. You are not alone and you are not crazy… whatever you are experiencing or feeling right now as a mom and entrepreneur is normal. Someone else is feeling that same way. It does not mean you are not smart and capable and it certainly doesn’t mean you won’t succeed at being a mom or running a business.

2. There are specific tactics you can use to run a simple and engaging business that makes you money and brings you joy….and doesn’t take over your life.

Check out the full interview in Tracy Hazzard’s Authority Magazine article about Dana Malstaff!

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Podcast Influencer, Dana Malstaff of the Boss Mom Podcast shares the best ways to:

1) Book Great Guests. In order to consistently book great guests all you have to do is get ONE great guest. Find someone in your industry that is well respected and spend some time connecting with them on social media or by doing an episode where you mention or quote them and share it with them later, and then ask them on the show. Once you get one great guest, use that as an example to pitch other desirable guests. It becomes easier and easier the more great guests you get.

2) Increase Listeners. Get other people’s podcasts to feature you. You want to target people who listen to podcasts, and what better way than to get interviewed. You should be pitching yourself to 5 shows a week. That usually lands you 2–3 interviews a week. If you do that consistently your show will naturally grow. The Smart Passive Income featured me back in 2016. It really helped me increase viewers and it brought me a lot of business too.

3) Produce in a Professional Way. Most people will say that sound is the most important way to have a professional podcast. But I believe that a fun and confident personality always wins the day. Professional just means that people trust and respect you and if you can show up having fun, rolling with whatever comes your way, and always listening to your audience and what they want, then you will have a show that grows. (Note: if you record an episode that breaks up a lot or sounds horrible, it’s better to ask the person to re-record than to release it).

4) Encourage Engagement. I think that a Facebook Group is a great way to take your podcast to the next level. The Boss Moms Facebook group launched at the same time as the podcast. It has now organically grown to 40k members. Those members share the episodes and new members to the group are introduced to the podcast and often post about binging on the content. Women from the group pitch to get featured and tons of group members have started their own podcasts and I am one of the first people they want on my show. It allows me to create true engagement around the podcast content.

5) Monetize. We have tried sponsorships and it always ended up being more effort than it was worth. We find that promoting our own list building free resource or promo in the middle of the episode gets us the most traction. If you can get them on your email list then you can build a relationship and the right people will buy from you. We think of the podcast as the first date that gets people to realize they want to keep seeing me. Then they get on the email list to continue the relationship.

What makes your podcast binge-listenable? What do you think makes your podcast unique from the others in your category? What do you think is special about you as a host, your guests, or the content itself?

Check out the full interview in Tracy Hazzard’s Authority Magazine article about Dana Malstaff!