“How to Become the Center of Influence Through Podcasting Scared” with Ruth Soukup of the Do It Scared Podcast
As part of my series of interviews about “How podcasters can become a center of influence”, I had the pleasure of interviewing New York Times bestselling author Ruth Soukup.
Ruth is dedicated to helping women everywhere create a life they love, encouraging her more than 1 million subscribers to follow their dreams and reach their goals. She is the host of the wildly popular Do It Scared podcast, as well as the founder of the Living Well Planner® and Elite Blog Academy®, as well as the author of six books, including her newest bestseller, Do It Scared®: Finding the Courage to Face Your Fears, Overcome Obstacles, and Create a Life You Love. Her practical advice has been featured all over, including Family Circle, Entrepreneur, TIME and Fox News.
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Can you tell us the “backstory” about why or how you got started as a podcaster?
I’ve been blogging and creating content for my audience since 2010, but it wasn’t until 2013 that I first started thinking about podcasting. I was attending a conference for online business owners and one of the speakers talked about why he believed everyone should start a podcast. I was completely sold, but I also knew there was no way I could take on a whole new medium right at that time, especially since I wasn’t even sure what I would want the podcast to be about. But then finally, in 2017, I started noticing that fear was a topic that seemed to keep coming up with my audience, and suddenly I knew exactly what I wanted to talk about.
Can you share a story about the most interesting thing that has happened to you since you started podcasting?
I think the most interesting thing for me has been seeing the impact this podcast has made on my audience, and the dramatic changes it has helped them make in their lives. I’ve been blogging for a long time so I already had a pretty engaged audience — or at least I thought I did — but it was nothing compared to what it has been since starting the podcast. Every single day I get letters and DMs from people telling me that this podcast has changed their life, and I see a much deeper connection than I’ve ever had before.
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?
I think the biggest mistake I made was not getting started for so long! I thought about it for so many years, but just couldn’t seem to pull the trigger and always found an excuse not to. But now I honestly can’t believe how much I love it, and how much fun it has been. I was pretty intimidated by the technical aspects, but I shouldn’t have been. I wish I would have done this years ago!
How long have you been podcasting and how many shows have you aired?
I launched the podcast in April 2018 and we’ve aired 64 episodes so far. We’ve always done one episode per week, but we are planning on increasing that to two episodes per week this fall.
What are the main takeaways or lessons you want your listeners to walk away with?
I do two different types of episodes — interviews and stand-alone episodes. For interview episodes, my goal is always to just help my guest share their story in a way that is compelling, and in a way that encourages and inspires my listeners to push past adversity and do it scared in their own lives. In my stand-alone episodes, I am usually trying to give some actionable tips on specific topics related to overcoming fear or creating a life you love — things like overcoming limiting beliefs, pushing past resistance and procrastination, creating an effective morning routine, becoming a more effective goal setter, and so on.
Check out the full interview in Tracy Hazzard’s Authority Magazine article about Ruth Soukup!
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Podcaster Influencer, Ruth Soukup of the Do it Scared Podcast shares the best ways to:
1) Book Great Guests. Start with your own network — the people in your circle. Not every guest needs to be someone famous. I’ve actually found that some of my most popular and most-listened-to episodes are the ones where I interview people that I know. There’s usually just a better rapport, and the conversation is more natural and engaging. I’ve also found that my audience doesn’t seem to care that much whether someone is a “celebrity” or a “normal” person — they just want to be inspired. I’ve also found that guests who are less well known tend to promote and share the episode much more than the bigger guests.
2) Increase Listeners. I already had a fairly large existing audience when I started my podcast, but we’ve more than doubled our weekly downloads over the past year. I always send out an email to my entire list for every new episode, as well as share it heavily on social media. In every episode, I encourage my listeners to share the podcast in their Insta stories for a chance to win a t-shirt, which definitely works to get people sharing. Finally, I’ve found that being a guest on other podcasts is probably the most effective way to grow my listenership and reach whole new groups of people.
3) Produce in a Professional Way. If tech stuff is not your thing, get help with the editing! A good microphone is important. We use Zencaster for the official recording, but conduct the interview on Zoom, which we also record, so that I can talk to the guest face to face and so that we have a backup recording. I’ve been a guest on a lot of other people’s podcasts and I don’t know anyone else who does it this way, but it works great for us!
4) Encourage Engagement. Make sure you include a call-to-action in every episode. I always tell people to message me on Instagram, or to email me, and they do! I also drive people to take our Fear Assessment, or to download the show notes in order to increase our opt-ins from each episode.
5) Monetize. I look at my podcast as a marketing tool — a way to build loyalty and engagement, and to drive people to my products. I will generally do a “sponsorship” blurb at the beginning of each episode, but only for one of my own products. Of course, I also just talk about them naturally through the course of the show. I interview a lot of my most successful students from my online course, Elite Blog Academy, which serves as a huge credibility builder!
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 Ruth Soukup!
