Hey! I’m Candace, your Podcast Guesting Strategist and producer, here to help entrepreneurs like you leverage podcast guesting and strategic podcasting to grow your visibility, expand your audience, and build your business with ease.
As a long-time podcaster and entrepreneur, I’ve been in the trenches—and I know what it takes to launch, grow, and sustain a podcast that makes an impact.
If you’re dreaming of starting a podcast, ready to step up your guesting game, or want strategies to grow your brand through podcast visibility, this is your space. I’ll share expert guesting strategies, production tips, and behind-the-scenes insights—all with no fluff or gatekeeping.
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231: What I'd Do Differently: My Top Podcast Guesting Mistakes from 2023
•Season 1•Episode 231
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I've been on 50+ podcasts in 2025 — but 2023 me was making mistakes that were quietly costing me opportunities, authority, and results.
If you're just starting your podcast guesting journey or you've been on a few shows without seeing results, this episode will save you so much time and energy. I'm sharing exactly what I got wrong and what I do differently now.
The intro mistake that loses your listener before you've even gotten started
Why saying yes to every podcast show is hurting you more than helping
The lead magnet problem that costs you conversions even after a great interview
What happens when you let the host guess your niche — and how to fix it before you record
Why sharing too many tips in one episode means listeners remember nothing
🎙️ Every one of these podcast guesting mistakes has a simple fix. Come learn them before you hit record.
Or it's time to get like a little vulnerable, but this episode is what I do differently. My top guessing mistakes from 2023. When I first started dabbling in podcast guessing, you know, I was a few years into my podcast, but I was still looking at my podcast as this fun little thing I did on the side, a little passion project, and not as like a vehicle to grow my business, to market my business, to work on my speaking, build authority, et cetera, et cetera. And so I was in a mind space of that, right? And I was just excited to be on podcasts. I like speaking on my own podcast, wanted to be on other podcasts, liked having guests on my podcast, was leaning in, which I don't fault, like rip the band-aid off and get going. But I have a list of my top mistakes, what I would do differently. I'm gonna tell you how you can do it differently and how it's gonna be much better use of your time because I've done these reps, and so I can help you speed up your process so that your reps are even better than what mine were. But if you've been here a while or if you haven't, you know I've guessed on 50 podcasts in 2025 alone. This wasn't always as polished though. So in 2023, I was I was making mistakes and they were really costing me and costing me in the sense of confusing people, confusing potential leads, not bringing in leads, no new followers. And so I want to really share what those were because I do this completely differently now, and you can just like speed through this learning curve. So I'm gonna present you the mistake and then I'll give you the flip of like what you can do. So my first one is way too long of an intro. You know, you get on a show and you're like pumped, you're excited. Yes, I want to talk to this person. They're like, okay, who are you? Tell me about yourself. Like, how did you get here? Who do you help and serve? And I went into sharing my life story because part of my podcast was sharing stories. So also in my head, I was like, you know, this is so valuable. Like, someone's gonna hit it. And I'm not saying it's not. When you're trying to be strategic and use guesting on podcasts as a way to grow a business, you can do a better job if you, you know, focus on who you are now and who you help now. Give the cliff notes version of the rest of it, but it's not a time to share, you know, your birth origin story. Speed it up. This is like 60 to 90 seconds, and then you let the hosts ask you follow-up questions because they know their audience better than you do, and they know what's going to be important to what their show is about. Second mistake saying yes to any show. Early on, it just feels so exciting to be invited anywhere or to be told yes to when you know you're presenting yourself. This just really can be a problem. So, guessing on a show whose audience has nothing to do with what you offer, that's that's just like a lot of noise. It's not visibility, it's not the right people. And those are really gonna fall flat. And sometimes those are gonna be the episodes where that host is like, I'm not gonna air this because then they get done and they realize, yeah, that didn't fit my my audience either. Or they air it and it just still flops because they shouldn't have aired it in the first place. But every yes costs you time and energy. Being intentional and making sure there's alignment with that show and what you're all about is important. So you can ask yourself, you know, are the people listening to this show already looking for what I do? And if it's a no, then it's okay to pass. It's okay to say, you know, I just want to make sure that this is a fit for both of us, and either ask follow-up questions to confirm or figure out if the audience is actually right, but you can also just say it doesn't seem like it'll be a fit, right? You don't have to say yes to everything. Number three, having a bad lead magnet. You could nail the interview, but then at the end, when it's time for the listeners that have listened to the whole episode and they're like loving you, because that's a lot to devote to someone, and you don't give them a good place to go next, a place of value of an easy yes, we're like, oh heck yeah, I want that. Then that can really drop the ball. And now it does look like you don't have any results because they're just gonna listen to you that day, take what you said, run with it, maybe, or enjoy your conversation, but then forget about you. You know, it's not likely that they're gonna remember your name and then search for you later on. So having a place where people can go. So here's an example of mine, and I have an episode about this a month or two or so back of what makes a great lead magnet. But for example, real briefly, mine was about podcast guesting, like getting started. But a lot of those tips and that content that was in that downloadable, I already shared in the episode. So it's just like regurgitating the information. So I wasn't getting a lot of hits with that. I switched it to my free podcast matchmaking community now because the next step in the client journey, if they listen to the episode and they're like, heck yeah, I want to guess on podcasts. That sounds amazing. I never thought of that. The next step is to go get booked on a podcast. So giving that quick win, giving the community as a space to go do that, to go make a connection with a host or with a guest and get them on your show or vice versa. And so that's the natural next step. So that's you can think about like what is that next step? Because that's the value, and that's the easy yes, the easy win that they will sign up for. But if you don't have a lead magnet yet, I highly recommend one because you want to have one specific place to send people. The other thing could be having too many lead magnets, they might all be great, but per episode, have one. Don't share all of them. Too many choices, giving people too many options can lead to indecision and lack of action, and you don't want that. Number four, letting the host guess your niche. Something that I do now is present speaking topics to the host for myself and my clients, and also prepping questions that fit my framework of connecting, shifting, and method that I map out episodes following that for my clients. So I do not just let the host and people ask me, how do you make sure the host asks you these questions? Like, you can't really be pushy and be like, you have to no, you don't. But a lot of the time you're just booking the show and you've not discussed a speaking topic at all. Maybe you've shared with the host, like, hey, I'm a copywriter, and they're like, Oh, amazing, let's have you on the show. But your expertise is in like email copy and funnels, and they ask you about like website copy and all this, right? And you never get to talk about your expertise. You never get to talk about the area in that big umbrella topic that you actually serve people and help people with. And that's why you have to have a speaking topic. And that's why you have specific, as specific as possible, speaking topics so a host can say yes and then know exactly what questions they would ask you. And you can also present some questions to them. They often in the intake form have a box that says ask for questions. And if they don't, they'll have a box that says, you know, is there anything else you want me to know before we record? And you can put a few in there as well to prompt them to ask you the things that you want. And my last one, number five, sharing too many tips in one episode. You know, in 2023, I was so excited and I was like, Oh, I hate when people gatekeep. I might still do, but I thought value was like give away as much information as possible. And I'm not shy about giving away information. Like you can listen to my podcast here. There's tons and tons of information. You could literally take it and do a podcast here by yourself. The thing is though, not everyone wants to do that. Not everybody wants to DIY everything. But regardless, I was getting on these episodes and sharing 20 tips about a lot of stuff. And while yes, there's value in that, but the value that you can look at it, it's like, think about how they're gonna feel when they're done listening. Or are they gonna feel like I can take action on this because these one or two things, I can do it today. I'm so empowered, like I'm gonna make this happen. Or is it like 15, 20 things and they're like, I can't do all of that, so then I can't do any of that. And that's often how our brain works. There's two very different feelings when you get done listening to an episode. One is that you've been taught, well, there's a clear action step, clear takeaway, and this is memorable, and I feel empowered. And two is just like, yeah, no, I'm so overwhelmed. I can't, I can't do any of this. And then also like hard to remember any of it because there's too much. So those are the five things I would do different. I do different now, and are super common when you're excited and you're diving in. Lean into that excitement. That is a good sign that this is a great platform for you to lean into and market and network and build your business. It's just you can do it strategically and you can do it even better. So take this, run with it. And looking back, every single one of these mistakes came from the same place. They came from showing up without a strategy. And I was winging it and I was hoping that the opportunity would just magically work for me. And that's what so many of us do when we get on and do the interview, and it's like gotta be a good thing, right? Getting on a podcast has gotta be a good thing as a speaking engagement. But without your topics and your intro being wildly long, no lead magnet, your pay, all of those things, being more intentional, being strategic before you say yes, before you pitch, before you hit record. That is going to be what explodes your business. That's what's going to make this next chapter of your business be night and day from what it used to be. So go ahead and book your tour with me. The link is in the show notes. Let's get this going. I'll send you 10 to 15 shows that are perfectly aligned with you. I'll lay out your speaking topics, I'll episode map things to talk about, as well as questions that hosts can ask you and a pitch template. I'll lay it all out and get it delivered to you within two to five days from you signing up. So this can be your best quarter yet in business if you let it. All right, see you next week.
