Why Podcasting is Your Best Business Tool with Sandra Laurie

Are you overcomplicating your content strategy? In this episode of the Make It Happen podcast, Ali is joined by podcasting "pro" Sandra Laurie, co-founder of WL Costa Properties and host of the chart-topping Costa Property Podcast.

Sandra pulls back the curtain on how podcasting has revolutionised her real estate business, turning cold leads into "already converted" clients before they even hop on a discovery call. If you’ve ever felt too introverted to start, or too intimidated by the tech, this conversation is the permission slip you’ve been waiting for.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The Power of Connection: Why podcasting is the ultimate way to share your story and build organic relationships with your network.
• Demystifying the Tech: Why you don't need a fancy studio to start (and why Stephen Bartlett started in a laundry room!).
• Overcoming the "I’m Not an Expert" Trap: How to silence the internal roadblocks and self-doubt that hold most entrepreneurs back.
• The Future of Marketing: Why personal branding and one-to-one connections via newsletters and podcasts are becoming more vital as AI rises.
• Building Community: A sneak peek into Sandra’s new "Buyer’s Circle" and how she’s creating a one-to-one experience for people relocating to Spain.

Notable Quotes:

"By the time they reach out for a consultation, they've already mentally made the decision that they want to work with us... they understand what we're about as people."

Resources Mentioned:

• Connect with Sandra Laurie: WL Costa Properties Instagram
• Listen to Sandra’s Podcast: The Costa Property Podcast
• Business Role Models: Lisa Johnson (Passive Income Queen) & Stephen Bartlett (Diary of a CEO)
• Recommended Listening: The Diary of a CEO with Simon Sinek (AI & Personal Connection)
• Upcoming Learning: Alex Hormozi’s How to Win in Business series.

Join the Community:

If you are a woman living in Spain or dreaming of making the move, join our thriving community at costawomen.com. It’s completely free to join!

Don't forget to subscribe to the Make It Happen series on your favourite podcast platform so you never miss an interview.

Transcript

Speaker 2 0:00

A podcast, in my opinion, is the best way to storytell, share information, and build relationships with people who could potentially turn into clients or you know people that are potentially going to come into your network. It's a fantastic way to do it because people are listening without you even realizing it, and you're getting a chance to share your story and information that could be relevant to the listener in a very natural and organic way.

Speaker 0:32

Well, I am back in the Make It Happen podcast studio today, and I'm delighted to be joined by Sandra Laurie. Hi Sandra. Hello, Ali. Thank you for having me. Thank you for joining me. So you're a bit of a podcast pro, aren't you? So I'm a bit nervous to interview you, but do introduce yourself and tell us why I think you're a podcast pro.

Speaker 1 0:53

Oh my goodness, it's great to be on the other side of the seat for a change, to be honest, but I do feel the pressure, so I understand how it feels.

Speaker 2 1:00

Um so thank you for the intro. My name is Sandra Laurie. Um, I am the owner and co-founder of a business called WL Costa Properties, and I host a chart topping podcast called the Costa Property Podcast, which launched nearly two years ago now, and it supports people to relocate or buy a property along the Costa del Sol.

Speaker 1:24

Amazing. Let's demystify podcasting. So, what exactly is a podcast and how can you create one?

Speaker 2 1:34

Oh, that's a great question. So, a podcast, in my opinion, is the best way to storytell, share information, and build relationships with people who could potentially turn into clients or you know, people that are potentially going to come into your network. It's a fantastic way to do it because people are listening without you even realizing it. And you're getting a chance to share your story and information that could be relevant to the listener in a very natural and organic way. Um, the second part to your question was around how easy it is to start a podcast, start correct. Yeah, so this is something that people, in my opinion, get massively wrong. They overcomplicate it with, you know, how am I going to do it? What am I going to do? Essentially, all you need to get going is a microphone, a quiet room, and some sort of recording software. That could be Zoom, you know. Um, you can record quite well on Zoom. Um, you also just need to have a really clear vision of who you're speaking to. So who's your ideal customer and what are their pain points? Okay, and what's the information that you're going to share with them to help them to solve their pain points? So it's not as complicated as people think. You don't need to be a tech genius, you don't need to have a fancy podcast. Stephen Bartlett, the host of Diary of a CEO, started his podcast in a laundry room underneath his stairs with a duvet around his shoulders. So I think it's important that we take the pressure off. If you've got something that you want to share with the world, podcasting is a great way to do it, and it's not difficult to do so.

Speaker 3:07

Okay, amazing uh advice. What difference has podcasting made to your business?

Speaker 2 3:13

Oh my god, um, it has completely changed the way that customers engage with us. So I can safely say now that any buyer or wonderful client that chooses to work with us that comes through our podcast has already converted into an engaged client before they reach out. So, and I know that probably sounds a lot of jargon and terminology there, but by the time that they have chosen to reach out to us for a discovery call or for a consultation call, they've already mentally made the decision in their mind that they want to work with Sandra Warner and the WL Costa properties team. Because the reality is, is there's 95 episodes now of the podcast. They've listened to the ones that are relevant to them, they understand what we're about as people, they've listened to our client experiences. So they know so much about us, and it's just made made engaging with customers and warming them up, if that's the right terminology. Just it's made it so much more natural for us as a business in a way that I didn't really think could have existed, in a way that's far more um warm than you know, email lists on its own or social media, because they they really get to the core of who you are as a person.

Speaker 4:40

Okay, yeah, that's and it's not just for people that like to be out in the world sharing their stuff, is it? It it also works for people that feel that they're an introvert.

Speaker 2 4:55

Yeah, absolutely. Um, I think you're you're completely correct there. Like maybe there's an assumption out there that if we're more quiet by disposition or more sensitive disposition or more introverted, that podcasting is not for you. But that I don't think that's correct because you're leading the conversation often with guests, so it gives you a chance to be really specialized at you know, asking the right questions so that you get that information out of your guests so it benefits your listeners. So podcasting is for everyone, and I think it's a great way to develop confidence as well. If you feel that if somebody's thinking about a podcast but they feel like, oh God, you know, it's it's not for me, I don't have the confidence. Podcasting is a great way to do that because you're really honing your craft in the comfort of your own room, in the comfort of your own studio, um, and that's gradually allowing you bit by bit to develop your confidence.

Speaker 5:52

And also realizing that you do know your topic too. So you're the expert. Yeah, yeah. Did you have any business roadblocks when you decided to set up a podcast? And if so, how did you overcome them?

Speaker 2 6:06

Yeah, so I would I probably was thinking about a podcast for about six to eight months before the day kind of came we're going to do it. I would say that the biggest roadblock for me was the mental barriers in my own head. I would never have I identified or labelled myself as technical. So I got very wrapped up in the noise of that. I'm not a technical person. These were the type of stories that I was telling myself. You know, I don't have a big fancy looking studio. Oh, I was I was trying to be, you know, a professional podcaster before I'd even started. You know, that was the benchmark that I was comparing myself, which is just completely unrealistic. And I started to probably do a little bit of research online from people that had started podcasts and started to read that, you know, that was me really being in my own head and kind of my own ego taking over. This really isn't about me. This is about the people that have that dream that we're going to support, and we have the information to support them. So when I kind of flipped it over to the the real why of why this was important, I was able to kind of put those demons aside. And we all have to start somewhere, you know, and you don't need to be a tech genius to start a podcast. I'm certainly not, and I was able to do it. So um, you know, I I but that would have been, you know, the challenges for me at the beginning in terms of roadblocks would have been my own self-doubt. Oh, who am I to start a podcast? For God's sake, I'm I'm not a professional real estate agent. That's not my background. Who wants to listen to what I have to say? So we have to be careful that we're not in our own head sometimes when we start to talk ourselves out of making decisions that could be really beneficial for our business.

Speaker 7:46

Yeah, yeah, because our brain likes to keep us safe, doesn't it? So our brain is saying, don't do it, it's too dangerous to hate change. Do you have a business role model or even a podcast role model? And if so, who who is it?

Speaker 2 8:02

So, in terms of a business role model, last year I would have followed the work of Lisa Johnson very closely. Um, Lisa Johnson is known as the passive income queen. She has um a very successful business. She's based in the UK and she supports people how to create passive income streams in their business and run successful businesses online. Um, I found her work really beneficial in terms of supporting me to make um uh a large email list now, because she speaks quite a lot about you know, sometimes in business we lean a lot towards social media, but our social media accounts could be shut down tomorrow completely out of our control. It's not actually our property. Whereas if you have a strategy in your business where you're very focused around building your email list, that email list will always be yours. So even if Meta or whoever out there decides to shut down your social media accounts tomorrow, you could always relaunch again with an engaged email list. So I've found her logic and business advice very good. I've followed her closely over the last year. Um, she gives great advice online. She also has a Make Money Online podcast, which is worth checking out. Um, and it's kind of just no frills, honest advice about sometimes the things that we need to think about when we're um operating in in business. Um, so yeah, she's been somebody I I've enjoyed following her work, but I'm also a really big fan of Stephen Bartlett, Diary of a CEO, one of the GOATs. Um, and you know, it's been it's been amazing to really hear them break down around personal brand is huge at the moment, it's more important than ever, especially as AI takes over, because we need to be really, really leaning into promoting our own personal brand so consumers can tell the difference between AI and actual people-related values. So, yeah, they've been my two big ones this year.

Speaker 9:57

I listened to the one with uh Simon Sinek, and that was really good around AI. Yeah, really good episode.

Speaker 2 10:04

I have not listened to that particular one, but I I will check that one out. But I I love him in general.

Speaker 10:08

Yeah, no, it's definitely worth listening because um in there he talks about, and it goes back to the point you made earlier about you having a newsletter list, um, that uh people are now more a lot of people are leaving social media. I don't think he said that, but I can see that they are because they're fed up with what's going on. Um but people are far more leaning into the one-to-one personal relationships again, going back to you know, like and trust. And the easiest way to build no-like trust is with you know, one-to-one conversations like via newsletters or or personal connections, so yeah.

Speaker 2 10:46

Absolutely, absolutely. I can completely see that, and I think that would be one of my predictions for this year for 2026. I totally agree with you. I think we're gonna see a mass exodus on social media forums because people are just fed up.

Speaker 10:57

So we've got a quick fire round now.

Speaker 2 11:01

Should I be nervous?

Speaker 11:04

Do you have a book that you read in 2025 or you're planning on reading in 2026 that you would like to recommend to people?

Speaker 2 11:14

I've I've gone really bad with my reading list at the moment. I've been leaning a lot more to podcasts actually, a lot later, just because it's kind of how I'm consuming content. Um, but for 2026, um, Alex Hermosy is on my list. I've started to dabble a little bit also over Christmas in his work. Um, so I plan to jump a lot more into his work for 2026 and and consume a lot of his YouTube content. Um, his YouTube videos that are kind of appealing to me at the moment are called How to Win in Business. Okay. Um, so I think there's some good nuggets in there that I'd like to explore in 2026.

Speaker 11:55

What is your superpower?

Speaker 2 11:57

Um, I'm very organized. Um, so I am a person who from the outside appears to kind of juggle a lot of balls at once. Um and I don't really kind of get overwhelmed by that. I operate at quite a fast pace, but that's because I I would be really organized. So I'd have a lot of lists, a lot of kind of follow-ups, making sure that I'm I'm I'm pretty on top of things. And that's probably, you know, it's probably a superpower, but it's also probably like a a um coping mechanism in my life. I'm a busy mom of two, you know, and we run our own business. So it's probably that. But um probably I I do see things coming, so I would have good, you know, overall thinking in terms of oh, I think we need to be careful of this because that might happen. So, you know, putting steps in place in the business, like looking ahead. So I would be a be a good big picture thinker, I think that's something that I enjoy.

Speaker 12:49

What's something that you'll achieve by the end of 2026?

Speaker 2 12:53

Oh, so I will have completed uh my fantastic speech at the at your conference in March. I'm really excited to be a speaker. So that will that's on my goal and and vision board for 2026. But um we're we're launching something really exciting in our business that's going to be very community focused. Um, it will be a buyer's circle because, as you mentioned, there people are craving more of that one-to-one community experience. So any buyers that choose to work with us on a one-to-one basis will be invited into an exclusive community where they'll have a chance to speak with other buyers and people that have walked the walk before them and really answer questions and be inspired by other people's journeys. So that's something that we're working on at the moment, and it will be launching probably by the end of February. Um, so I'm really excited to get that off the ground and see how that fits into the world of real estate moving forward. Is it something that people are intrigued to be part of?

Speaker 13:53

Yeah, I think that's amazing because people love watching the TV programmes about moving to Spain, don't they? So this will actually give them the person that they can contact and speak to one-to-one rather than you know not knowing who they really are. So I think that's an amazing idea. Love it.

Speaker 2 14:10

Yeah, and on a personal level, I turned 40 this year, so it's a big milestone. So starting a new chapter of my life. So I'm yeah, I'm excited to see where that takes me as well.

Speaker 14:19

Yeah, well, my life completely changed at 40, so you're you're gonna have a good idea. I'm excited. I mean, just for when I was 40. Amazing. Uh you know that I love my future self thinking. So, what would be your future self? What would she say to Sandra? Do you think?

Speaker 2 14:38

Trust yourself. Trust yourself. You already have the answers, and you don't need to keep looking for the next shiny pill or shiny bullet solution that's going to validate what you already know.

Speaker 14:49

Love that. Yeah. How best can people connect with you?

Speaker 2 14:53

Probably via my Instagram page, which is um WL Cost Properties. Um, I'm very active there and love when people reach out and get in touch. So it's a it's a great way just to connect.

Speaker 15:06

Brilliant. So I'll share the links to everything that you've um commented about, the diary CEO and the other lady that you're listening to, Lisa, and your Instagram page below this. Sandra, thank you very much for being on the Make It Happen show. And I look forward to seeing you at the conference, if not before. Thank you, Ali. Thanks for having me. Okay, bye for now. I really hope you enjoyed this latest recording of the Make It Happen series, and I'd love you to subscribe to our podcast channel, or if you're watching this on our YouTube channel, just click the subscribe button. We'd love you to continue hearing more of our Make It Happen interviews. If you're not a member of Costa Women yet, but you're a woman who is living in Spain or a woman who is thinking about moving to Spain, do come and join us at costowwomen.com. It's completely free to join. In the meantime, I look forward to sharing more Make It Happen interviews with you again.