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Are you an aspiring or existing podcaster that longs to be more confident behind the mic? Or are you an existing podcaster looking for a sign or validation? Today, Lucy Liu talks about how to enter a new podcasting niche and how critical it is for podcasters to take a break. Lucy is a podcaster who bravely decided to take an honest break after hitting 150 episodes in her show. Learn about how taking a break gives you all the much-needed new perspectives or how to become more confident behind the mic. Just tune in and take your pick!

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Importance Of Podcasters Taking A Break And How To Enter A New Podcasting Niche With Lucy Liu Of The Lucy Liu Show

I have Lucy Liu on the show. Not that Lucy Liu, but Lucy Liu, who deserves to reclaim her name and her show. She has the Lucy Liu Show. It is a fueling station for my business and life. I love that subtitle. It is great. Too often, people use subtitles to cram in keywords, but that crams in a message. That is quite special, but so is Lucy. I enjoyed our conversation.

She is a global business strategist and certified life coach, helping high-achieving women in transition unstuck, kiss overwhelm goodbye, cultivate rockstar confidence, seek clarity, reach dream goals, and live a joyful and fulfilling life. She is an unshakeable optimist, wife, mother, easygoing entrepreneur, certified #IAmRemarkableWoman empowerment workshop facilitator, and internationally motivated speaker.

She is the author of two international bestselling books and also inspires as the host of her weekly podcast, The Lucy Liu Show, which is the fueling station for your mind, business and life. She has been featured on Medium, Voyage LA, Elephant Journal, Thrive, Global Fox, CBS, NBC, and dozens of other media outlets. She had over 150 episodes at the time that we recorded this. She is a powerhouse. We were talking internationally, so we had a little bit of fun with that. Here’s my interview with Lucy Liu.

Lucy, thanks so much for joining me. I am excited that we are going to talk about the Lucy Liu Show and the fact that you are taking a break right now as we are recording this. That is brave. What made you decide you needed it right now? You hit 150 episodes, and you needed a break.

Thank you, Tracy, for having me. First of all, I’m excited to be here because I binge-listened to your podcast, and it is amazing. It is such an honor to be here. Yes, I’m having so much fun. I’m taking a break because when I started my podcast, I gave myself a goal. When I hit 100 episodes, I’m going to celebrate and take a break. Once I hit 100, I’m like, “No, that is not enough. I’m going to go for 200 before I take a break.

I always tell my clients this, “Enough is a decision. It is not an amount.” I wanted to take that into my own life. When I hit 150, I decided, “It is a decision. I want to have a fun summer. I’m going to take an entire summer off of work and enjoy a vacation free from social media and my podcast journey.” It has been a blast. It is coming to an end after two months break.

You’re working here with me.

This is the first interview I’m doing after my break. I’m having so much fun.

She will be back by the time this airs. Has it given you any perspective on something that you realize, “I don’t love this about my podcast. I like to change this. I love this, and I like to double down.” Has it given you any perspective, that sort of breathing room?

It has in some ways. At first, it also validated my own preach or beliefs. I’m a big believer in going for things when I’m not ready. I felt I wasn’t ready when I started podcasting. I had no idea what podcasting was. My business coach at the time put me on my first guesting opportunity, and I was nervous. Once I got on the air and was blown away by how fun this experience is. I decided right there that I’m going to have my own show, and I had no idea what I was doing. If I’m going to talk the talk, I need to walk the walk and do it before I’m ready.

I immediately decided that I’m going to start my podcast. I did put the show out in probably around 45 days. I wasn’t ready. I feel like it has been the best decision. Life is full of decisions. We make daily decisions that we want to thank ourselves for in the future. That is also what I preach. I want to validate my own idea and prove that it is true what I teach. I do have fun and it feels like my life. I want my podcast to be the fueling station for your mind, business and life. Also, by speaking to my amazing guests, I am fueled. My brain juice is flowing. It is amazing.

Taking this break has given me more clarity on niching down because a lot of people have trouble niching, and I did as well. I have had amazing guests on my podcast where people talk about they don’t niche down either because it is about having fun. It is a struggle sometimes. Do you niche down or do you have more fun?

You decided that you are going to niche down.

A little bit more. I’m all about confidence. I think I’m going to niche down. I did general life coaching. Now, I’m going to niche down to confidence. Confidence is something we all can use throughout our lives and businesses.

I get a lot of podcasters who come to my platform and start a podcast, then they second guess themselves because the confidence isn’t there. As they start to do it, that imposter syndrome and all of those pieces start to bubble to the top as they are recording.

I believe I’m a very confident person, but in our life journey, there are going to be curve balls thrown at you. That is the beauty of life. We are thrown these little rocks. Do you see it as a bump? Do you see these rocks as boulders that are standing in your way, or do you see these rocks as the exact little pebbles you need to pave your road to success and happiness? That decision is also yours.

I love that perspective. There is something else that you said on your show that I want to point out, and you hit it directly on. When you were doing your 150th episode where you were talking about taking a break, you went and defined what you believe in. You said, “I believe in this, and that is why I’m doing this. I believe in that, and that is why I’m doing this.” That is overlooked that someone says, “I’m taking a break,” that isn’t just an aside. You could have easily not recorded a separate episode. You could have, as an aside off, at the end of the last one gone, “I’m taking a summer break. I will see you in a couple of months.” Lots of podcasters do that. Instead, you decided to take a stand, make a whole episode about it and make it a learning opportunity as well. That is important.

Thank you. I agree and I’m learning as well. We are all incessant learners here. That is the beauty of life. There is nothing more important than taking your own education and personal development. It doesn’t matter how much money you make. This is the beauty of life.

It makes you a better coach. I’m going to say this from this perspective because this is your binge factor as well. I’m going to hit this right off the bat. The binge factor of the Lucy Liu Show is the fact that she walks the walk and talks the talk. She is taking her own advice here. She outs herself when she is not following advice and she will talk about those things. We are more likely to sign up with a coach who is real than we are with someone who is talking at that high level and not following their own advice, and it is super obvious.

Thank you, Tracy. That is beautiful.

It makes a big difference in how your podcast is converting for you. When you started it, did you have an idea of what the success metric was going to be for you and what was going to be, “This was a successful venture, this is worth my time?”

No. As I said, it was a very spontaneous decision, but it was a decision I’m glad for. I had no expectations. My goal was to put out my free content into the world. We all have our ways of putting out free content as a coach. I decided this was my format and modality. Even if I helped the life of one listener, I feel like I have made a better contribution to this better world. It will keep me going because I’m doing good for society and the world. It is what I believe in and it feels like my life as well. That is one of the biggest factors that helped me put the show out. I had no expectations. It was also for myself. As you know, my name is Lucy Liu.

I’m glad you are addressing this.

We both live in LA. We are close to Hollywood. I even took acting lessons when I was in middle school, and I failed every single audition. The casting director would run out of their office and be like, “You are Lucy Liu.” They are so excited. When they saw me, they were like, “Not the Lucy Liu.” They make this disappointed face.

I’m stuck with this name. It used to be my biggest obstacle in life, the biggest hindrance or whatever you call it. I believe we all have that hindrance or obstacle in life. For you, it might be something else. It could be your name is too hard to pronounce, too easy, too common, too long, or too hard to spell. You name it. It could be anything. It could just be the fact that you always feel less than someone else, you are compared to, or you are disappointing someone. That is how I felt. I believe every person on earth can relate to that in some form.

I believe that starting the show is also for me. As you said, if I’m a coach, I need to shatter the limiting beliefs of my clients. I need to constantly check in on myself. What can I do to improve my own mindset? One of my biggest limiting beliefs is having the same name as a celebrity. I can’t even hate her because I love her. She is so talented. In the meanwhile, I don’t want to sabotage myself as well. This is where I keep on coming back to remind myself that I am Lucy Liu. I own that name and I need to love that. I need to love myself. It is also a reminder for me to always shatter my own limiting beliefs and own them.

Entering New Podcasting Niche: One of my biggest limiting beliefs is having the same name as a celebrity. I can’t even hate her because I love her. She’s so talented. In the meanwhile, I don’t want to sabotage myself as well. This is where I keep coming back to remind myself that I am Lucy Liu. I own that name, and I need to love that. I need to love myself.

If you Google Lucy Liu Podcast, you show up more than she does because you have 150 episodes. You are equalizing things there in that way. I’m going to recognize as I’m listening to you that you are not the actress. I might type in a qualifying word like podcast and make sure that I found the right person. Your listeners are not only smart enough, but the whole searching side of things is serving you.

In the beginning, there are business coaches that will be like, “That is going to suck for your SEO.”

They are wrong. I’m going to give you this tip here because I want the audience to know this as well. There is a Tracy Hazzard who is a musician. They told me the same thing. My show is not named after me, which is a little bit different, but as the author or the host of the show, my name is the same as hers. She is a musician. She already had a ranking on iTunes.

Back when we started podcasting, podcasts were still in iTunes and not in the Apple Podcast, not in its own thing. The same thing would occur if you were to look at Spotify. She should outrank me on Spotify because she is a musician. She has been a musician for a long time, but I outrank her on Google again and again.

The trick to it is not just having a podcast but taking your podcast and blogging it on your website, and then taking that, adding that, embedding a YouTube video, and making sure you have a video that comes out of your podcast. When you do that, your content will out anyone. You can out any celebrity that way because they only get featured in publications on occasion.

While their publication will probably get featured, they are not going to dominate the first page of Google anymore. They are going to get mixed in with new relevant content that you are putting out every single week, but it has to be reduced to the written word and to a YouTube video in order for Google to you that way. You have to play that SEO game, not just the podcast one.

Thank you for your wisdom.

I think we could do it. Lucy, we should try it and see if we can make it work. You got competition for your name, but the reality is it is not for your topic. She is not out there giving advice on this. You are giving advice on confidence. Those two things tied together make a big difference. At least your name is remembered and remarkable. I’m going to remember it, and I’m not going to forget that. That is valuable at the end of the day. Let’s talk about that. How did you grow your show? How did you grow your listener base? What do you do on a weekly basis to get people to listen to your episodes?

I post it as a blog post to my website. It is a resource. When someone needs help, I send them a specific episode to solve their problem. If I know someone is stressed, I have an episode with one of my clients who did a breathwork session. It is a minute-to-minute breathwork session that I guarantee you will feel relaxed. I sent them like, “Go to episode 32. It is ten minutes, and you are going to feel relaxed after. I even listen to that. It works. Even if it is free content, I’m confident that if you binge-listen to my show, your life will be better. That is what I do, and I send it as a resource to my clients and to people I know. It is very organic. I do podcast guesting on other shows as well, and it has been an amazing journey.

You are getting them to share you. You’re getting that the guest opportunity is an opportunity for me or other people’s shows you are on to share you. When you are sharing willingly with your audience, they are sharing that out and making sure that they give you a shout-out because you gave them something for free. There is a reciprocal requirement in the universe for that, and they know it. That is a wonderful thing.

That is great that you are doing all of that on the increasing listener side, but you also have some great guests, and you are vetting them well to make sure that they are going to add value in a short period of time because your shows are not long. They are somewhere between 7 and 20 minutes on average. They are giving value in a quick timeframe, and you know that they can do that. How are you getting those great guests?

We met on PodMatch, and it has been a game-changer in recent years. Before then, I don’t do pre-interviews, but I do check them out.

I don’t have time for it either. You are not alone.

If they have a podcast, I will tune in. If they have a book, I will read at least a few chapters. If not, the whole book. If they are on YouTube, I watch their content or watch their TED Talks. I do my own homework because, in the process, I learn and I’m fueling my mind as well. I don’t see it as work, but it is part of my life.

We underestimate how much we learn from our show. I learn a ton, and you are right. It becomes a constant resource that I can pop into and say, “We did an episode on that. I know there is an expert over here. I need to refresh my memory, listen to it again, and share it with somebody else.”

It is also networking for me. We talked a little bit about this earlier. I moved abroad in my twenties, and I have been abroad for a while. Now, I travel back to my hometown Los Angeles and Asia a lot. Because I have been away for so long, I feel like I need a bigger network of women who are doing amazing things as well. The networking part was big for me. I enjoy connecting with people.

For example, I have referred my podcast guest to my clients. I’m like, “Do you need an accountant? Talk to her. Do you need a lawyer? Talk to this lady?” It has been a journey where it is not just on air. It is about making the real connection or a deeper connection that we need in society. Especially since COVID, we are not able to go out, but Zoom saved our lives, and it is beautiful. We have to enjoy this new norm and still continue networking.

What kind of return on investment have you gotten over the time of doing 150 episodes? What surprised you about things that you received from your podcast that you weren’t expecting?

I would say personal growth. That is bigger than any other return. It’s my own personal development journey because I’m speaking with authors, other podcasters, and speakers. They are all amazing. I learned so much, and it made me a better coach.

You are the first person to have said that on the show. I have done more than 150 episodes here. I love that because it is true that there is a lot of personal growth and business growth that comes from podcasting, tips, ideas, and new books that you are exposed to new shows that you exposed to us. I love that you said that straight out as an important return on investment for you.

When you work with these speakers, coaches, and bestsellers, they are expensive to work with if you were to work with them privately. As a listener, even if the podcast is free, take the information like gold because their coaching is worth tons of money. If you are listening to any podcast, take the information as gold because it is valuable, and you are getting it for free. This is the beauty of podcasting and listening to podcasts. I appreciate all the podcasters. I love podcasters.

So do I. This is life-changing in terms of you coming into podcasting. You get new skills and exposure, and you come to things. Is there anything that you were able to take from your podcast and start to change the way you coached because you had the podcast as part of your repertoire?

People have self-doubts about their own abilities, “Should I charge more?” or “Am I good at this?” My podcasting experience with over 150 beautiful women with incredible knowledge makes me a better coach and makes myself more confident that when my client asks me a question, I can answer it because many other coaches have validated what I preach. Usually, on a podcast, I’m nodding my head the whole time because what they say is something that I say. It gives me that extra boost of confidence that I am doing the right work and I am able to help my clients. I’m confident that by working with me, my clients deserve a better life of confidence and live the epic life that they all deserve.

I love that you are sharing out your show with your clients because I use this tactic all the time. I will be saying, “I think that this is an important aspect of podcasting, but don’t listen to me. Listen to X, Y and Z who have been on my show.” They say the same thing. This is consensus. It is a piece of advice you should take. I love that I can do that when it needs to happen with reinforcement. This isn’t just taking what I say with a grain of salt. It isn’t something that you want your clients to do. You want them to take it seriously and apply it. If they are hearing that from other people and not just you, that can be helpful. You are niching down into a little more of the confidence world. I have to ask, what can an aspiring or existing podcaster do to be more confident behind the mic?

Just do it. Set a deadline first, your launch date. When are you going to launch? Stick to that deadline and put it out into the world.

Post it on social so you are committed to the date.

That is what I did. You will find a way to get there. I took three courses. I’m a course junkie. If I’m going to do something, I’m going to take a course. I took three when I started podcasting. The best advice I got was to make two lists. One is the list of guests who you know will be on your show. People you already know like your friends, colleagues, or people you have worked with and you already have interaction with, then another list of your dream clients. Big names in your industry that you never even come across. You admire them and you know their big names. Reach out to both and see the miracles happen.

Entering New Podcasting Niche: Make two lists: the list of guests who you know will be on your show and another list of your dream clients. Reach out to both, and then see the miracles happen.

Too often, people don’t ask. That is a confidence thing right there. They are not asking enough. Now that you are about to restart your show, are you going to approach anything else differently? Are you going to approach the amount of time you podcast, the number of episodes, or the types of guests? Are there any other approaches that you are going to take differently in this niche-down model?

The number one difference is I’m going to do the video. I have been doing audio only for the first 150. The episodes now will also be video. I’m starting my YouTube channel, and it is going on YouTube.

I’m so glad to hear that. Your shorter ones, your seven minutes, or those ones, you could put into YouTube Shorts. I’m not sure what the limit is. It might be ten minutes, but I could be wrong about that. I’m not an expert on YouTube. Check out and make sure you categorize the YouTube shorts if you can for any clips that you do because they get a little more circulation, we are finding.

There is always the first episode or the first YouTube. My YouTube channel got twenty subscribers, but that is where we all started. I remember the day I had when I was stuck on 500 followers on Instagram for the longest time. Now you look back, and it is 5,000 followers. It is a journey. Just have fun. This is what I always tell my clients, “If you are not doing it, think of how much more fun you can make it so that you are having fun along the way.” We always scare ourselves. We see this big monster that is daunting like writing a book or starting a podcast. Whatever it is that you are trying to go for, think of how much fun you can have. It is all about having fun. You are not doing the thing. You are just having fun.

Entering New Podcasting Niche: Whatever it is that you are trying to go for, think of how much fun you can have. It is all about having fun.

Are you thinking about changing your tagline, your cover art, or anything graphic as you move to video?

I did change my cover art when I hit 100 episodes. Maybe I will do it by 200, but it is a photo of me. The biggest limiting belief that always comes up is, am I using her name? If I had done that all my life, I wouldn’t be able to live. I live in Los Angeles. They will tell you a story. I used to be scared to say my name. I used to book restaurants in my mom’s name because I didn’t want to say, Lucy Liu. I’m in LA. They would be like, “Are you the Lucy Liu? Are you coming to our restaurant?” It is owning what you already have and truly believing in yourself that you are worthy because we all are. We are all unique in our own way. Are you? Have fun.

I need to introduce you to Catherine Bell. I have known this wonderful woman. I had never thought about the Catherine Bell before, but one of the speakers at the event was telling this story about how excited he was to get to meet the Catherine Bell, who was showing up to this event and he could see her. It turned out to be a different Catherine Bell. She owns it. She does go and put her name into restaurants. When they say, “Are you?” She says, “Yes, I’m the Catherine Bell.”

That is what I do now. It is different, but it is fun.

Let’s own it. I love it. Is there anything else that you would like to share about your show? I love the subtitle. I want to say it, “The Fueling Station for Mind, Business and Life.” That does describe your show well. I love that you have added that to the cover art and your show in general.

My solo episodes are generally 5 to 7 minutes. They are super short doses of inspiration. If you listen to the solos, it is like, “I want you to feel inspired to move on with whatever your next goal is.” The interviews are very dating and fast-paced. My guests usually answer those questions on other podcasts in an hour. I do them in 15 to 20.

You get right to the point, and it is valuable that you do that. You are saving your clients and yourself a lot of time, but you are asking important questions. We are going into that, and that is critical. I love your solo shows. I hope you don’t change that because, at the end of the day, if there are people who are on the fence about working with you and they hear those solo shows, they are signing up. It is a good example of how you work and the advice you give.

I’m a big believer in coaching. I hope it is me. If it is not, get yourself a coach, and you deserve to live an epic life.

Thank you so much, Lucy. I’m so glad you came on.

Thank you for having me again to the beautiful audience. If you are tuning in, blessings are coming your way.

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One of the things that I love to hear and I always get worried when I find out a podcaster is on a break. When I met Lucy, she was on a break. I was like, “Do I want to interview her,” because she is at such high risk for podfading. She completely impressed me with what she was going to reflect on during her break. I had to make sure we were going to hear what the outcome was. That is why I’m glad we are catching her right as she is getting restarted again and moving her podcast back in with a new niche and new focus on that confidence area for her. Getting that chance to reflect sometimes can work for us.

I want you to follow Lucy Liu. Take a listen to that episode where she talks about taking her break. When you involve your audience in that idea of, “I need a reflection period, I need to think about this, and then I’m going to come back and tell you what I have thought about,” you are holding yourself accountable to make sure you show back up.

Even if you are going to quit your show at that point, you could show back up and tell them why. That is going to make your audience feel like they gave you the space. They allowed you the time to make that decision. That is a great way to end your show if that is what you are going to do. In Lucy’s case, refocus your show. Now they feel like they gave you the time to do that. They were involved in that process. They are more excited to come along and see how the show changes for them.

This is a great way to manage that whole process, and I want you to hear that from her. Plus, you got to check out the Lucy Liu Show because she is fabulous. She got a great on-air persona, and that is really her. That’s wonderful. She is owning who she is. I like the model of being authentic with your audience, being honest about where you are, and talking about your failings, struggles, tactics, and motivations. This is a great way to coach from within. That is why it works for Lucy. It is why she is going to keep going on her show. It’s why it is leading to clients. I want you to hear that as well. Check out the Lucy Liu Show and see all the amazing things that she does. Come back and tune in to the next episode, where I bring another successful and interesting podcaster you can learn from.

Important Links

• Lucy Liu
• Lucy Liu Show
• Lucy Liu – LinkedIn
• Episode 32 – Lucy Liu Show
• PodMatch
• www.Instagram.com/mslucyliu
• www.Facebook.com/mslucyliu
• www.Twitter.com/mslucyliu

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