Welcome to the Virtual Antics podcast, where we help entrepreneurs streamline their business to six figures and beyond. These short, sweet and info packed episodes will inspire, educate and leave me feeling motivated to take one more step forward in your business. So put down your never ending to-do list, because in this podcast we are interviewing the best of the best in the entrepreneurial world as they spill their secrets to success. This podcast is sponsored by Nandora, the all in one software for entrepreneurs to grow their business, with unlimited landing pages, automations, emails and text campaigns, and so much more. I'm your host, natalie Guzman. Now let's get into it.
Speaker 1Welcome back to the Virtual Antics podcast. As always, I'm your host, natalie Guzman. I'm so excited because today I have Isabella Sanchez Castanera with us. She is an amazing podcast production business owner and she is so cool. She helps people that have podcasts that don't necessarily interview their guests, but she helps them create the strategy and all the behind the scenes as well as the production of the actual podcast. Super cool. She's a really good friend of mine. I got to meet her in person last month at Podfest. I'm so happy she's here to share everything she knows with us. Hey, isabella, how are you doing today?
Speaker 2Hi, I'm doing so good. Thank you so much for having me, and I'm excited that we get to see each other again after Podfest.
Speaker 1I know it's so good to see you. It was so cool because when we met, during our pre-interview, we were like, are you going to Podfest? Because it was just right around the corner and it was like the perfect meetup. And then when we met in person, it was just like, oh my gosh, it was just perfect. Same energy, and we were both entrepreneurs and both women. And then we started like you would say, oh, I know the perfect person to introduce you to. It's Natalie and I would do the same thing that we realized we know the same group of people.
Speaker 2It was really cool. It was awesome and also just getting to share in that podcast community. Everyone is so welcoming and generous that the overlap is amazing.
Speaker 1Oh my gosh. Yeah, if you haven't been to Podfest I say it pretty much on every episode you need to is the best place to have it again next year in January. So check it out. But, isabella, so I absolutely love your Instagram, by the way, because I get to see all the behind the scenes of what you do every day, but can you tell our listeners what you do, because I think it's absolutely amazing?
Speaker 2Thank you, yeah, so I kind of toggle between a couple different roles with podcasts. So first I do a lot of scripting or ghost writing is what I've started calling it now where I go and take your expertise and I create episodes from it. I ask you a ton of questions and then go do my magic of bringing that into full sentences for you to read during your recording. And then that's the other task that I do is I'll do in-person recordings with the majority of my clients, get them feeling good, get them feeling like they really can show up in the way that they want to and in a way that reflects their business really well, and then put together all of those episodes for them. It's really having the agency be a one-stop shop for podcasting and really do it in a way where it matches the amount of intention they have with their clients out on their show.
Speaker 1That is really, really cool and I'm definitely impressed by your whole setup. I always watch all your stories and I love the behind the scenes stuff. I'm probably one of those people that like love seeing the behind the scenes of everyone's work. I think it's just so cool because you get that like deeper insight of what they do. And what I love about what you're doing is that a lot of times, you know, I've seen it time-to-time again where I have clients that get really easily overwhelmed, and I feel like podcasting is one of those things. People feel overwhelmed or like there's so much to do. What do I do? How do I distribute my podcast? How do I write my podcast? What do I say I'm? Or they get in their head right, and you kind of take those problems away, right.
Speaker 2Yeah, so it's a lot about getting people comfortable doing solo episodes. So I love this format of guests, but the majority of my clients are hoping to get clients into their course or get clients into their group program, and that requires a lot of trust with them, and so what we need to do with their solo episodes is really position them as an authority. Unfortunately, what a lot of people end up doing with solo episodes is winging it and they're like well, I talk about this every day. Of course it's going to come out cohesive, but what you end up defaulting to is what is known as the curse of knowledge, where you start talking and jargon, you start explaining things in a way that you would explain to a fellow expert, and so the person on the other side is like Wow, natalie sounds really smart, but I have no idea what she just said.
Speaker 2And so that ability to break it down and break it down in a way that is simple is where I come in and really help them do that by actually going into their course, going into their group program recordings and saying, okay, I noticed that, like three different people asked the same question. I think this would be a really great podcast topic and I'm taking the load off of asking what do I talk about? How do I talk about it and is it simple enough? I just take that completely off their plate and it ends up turning into really great material to then be repurposed, to then share with potential clients, and all in a way that doesn't have to become like a huge headache for them.
Speaker 1That is super cool because I do so. That's one of the issues I found I had, especially when I first started doing monthly workshops, was that I was teaching something and I all my clients are non-techies and I'm a huge techie and so if I talk like I'm a techie then you don't understand anything, especially like how you say it right. When you're trying to teach someone, there's all these different ways and I feel like it's really important to like do it from their point of view. You know it's your target market's point of view. That's why, whenever you're trying to have someone get someone's opinion on your work, I always say make sure it's someone that's your target market, because if you ask, you know, if I asked my husband what he thought of something, he probably could make something way different than my viewers would think.
Speaker 2So yeah, and a hack for that, like for you explaining something techie, like I'm thinking of an SOP. Yeah, it's about finding an analogy or finding an example that everyone can understand. And so then, instead of saying like, oh, an SOP is a series of steps and you want to get granular and you want to include all the details, you say how would you teach your six-year-old how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? You would explain that you need two pieces of bread. You would explain that you need a certain type of jelly because you like strawberry and someone else likes grape. You would explain if it's crunchy or smooth peanut butter. You would explain if you want to cut down the middle or diagonal.
Speaker 2And so when you explain an SOP like that, your target market's like well, yeah, I've taught a six-year-old how to make a peanut butter sandwich before, and so it's really finding an example or just something that is going to really pull them in and make it feel less intimidating. Also, that's a great way to share your personality in your episodes, because if you're describing teaching a six-year-old something, then people can imply okay, she's a mom, I'm a mom, and like that's going to bring us closer together. Or oh, I have a client who would be perfect to work with her, because they can relate about their passion for yoga or their passion for reading, whatever it is. But that's one of the easiest ways you can bring it down to a simple level.
Speaker 1I love that. So that was actually another question I was going to ask you was like, when we have our solo podcast episodes, should we be throwing in things from our personal life or should we stick to strictly business?
So it's a matter of how you're bringing it in. So I see a lot of people start their episodes and try to bring in the personality by being like, oh, over the weekend we went to Six Flags and we did all these things, and now I'm so tired and here I am for the episode and you're like, okay, why did I just hear about that? Like, why did you just tell me that? Now I feel like you don't want to be here. The title said it was about one thing and you're talking about Six Flags. Versus, if you tie in that trip to Six Flags as one of your examples and you say we had to pre-plan everything and packing the right bag and the right shoes was all about planning, which is the same thing that I do with my clients People are like, oh, wow, she went to Six Flags, but it was relevant to me and so there's that, I think, the other piece of personal.
Speaker 2The question that comes up a lot is like how much do I share about my experience in business? And that's where my three week buffer rule comes in, where I always leave a three week buffer between when something happened and when I talk about it on my podcast. So if there was a big mistake that I made with a client. Whatever it may be. Maybe we went to a recording day and the microphone was just not plugged in. I'm going to wait to talk about that event for about three weeks because I want to fully process the event. Maybe I have to talk to my coach about it. Maybe I have to apologize to that client first, all of that, and I want to give myself room to process it and then talk about it. It saves you from those messier episodes.
Speaker 1That is genius. Yes, I absolutely love that because you're right, there's, you know, I think we also all have a responsibility. When we do put on information out on public is like you know, people are going to see that, you know our kids are going to see that great kids. And so I'm always saying my daughter actually listens to me on Alexa, which is like super cool. I absolutely love that and it's like, yeah, you got to. You know, you really got to think about it, and also that you can take that time to actually emotionally process. It is, you know, super, super mature. I absolutely love that because a lot of motion comes with every, because we care about what we do and we care about our clients, and so we can. The emotions definitely are a big part of that too.
Speaker 2And a huge part of it is like how you present it, obviously, and I agree completely that you have to think about where it's going to go, and maybe that client if we're using the example that I gave here's it and is like, oh like, why'd you put our business out there because it was so incredibly, versus if it's three weeks a month out, maybe it's a little more ambiguous and you're not putting anyone on blast. But also I think it's a great rule because I always say if I can't take a negative comment about that situation and handle it well, then I don't want to put it out. Sometimes it's three weeks, sometimes that means three months, sometimes three years, sometimes never, where there are situations where I don't want to have to defend anything or justify anything because of a troll coming into my comments and it's just a way to protect yourself and we deal with a lot of stressors as business owners anyway.
Speaker 1So, being really intentional about it, and same goes with, like life events. I feel like I know one I mentioned a couple episodes ago was my stepfather has dementia, and so when I first mentioned that I thought before I said it. I was like, well, if someone comes up to me and asked me how my stepfather is doing, am I going to be able to handle it well, like, am I going to be comfortable with people asking me about it, because that's what's going to happen, you know. And also am I comfortable with him seeing it because he listens to my episodes? So am I comfortable with him hearing me talk about it? And so, especially where he might not remember that he has it when he listens to his episodes.
Speaker 1So if you're listening, john, hi, um, but you know, that's just one of the things definitely you know to keep in mind that. I love that you're. You're thinking in a very post strategic way because, like you said, most people they wing their episodes. I'm I wing these episodes, right, I never. It's a little different when you have guests, a lot more like a conversation with coffee, but I did a solo. I would definitely want to prepare because you want to be strategic and you want to lead the conversation in a certain way where people can easily understand it.
Speaker 2Absolutely and it's. It's never about hiding and it's never about, you know, trying to deceive your audience or whatever. It's just about protecting yourself and knowing that when you're taking care of yourself emotionally, you're gonna show up better for your clients, for yourself, for your family, and ultimately put that best foot forward, which, as we know, once you put something out online, you can't necessarily take it back.
Speaker 1Yeah, and it's also therapeutic. Like I love my podcast, I feel like you know it's definitely therapeutic for me. You may be able to talk, be able to learn from others and at the end of the podcast you wanna sign off feeling positive and high energy, not like, oh no, did I really say that?
Speaker 2Exactly, yeah, and that's when you can instead like put that energy into scripting an episode that you're really proud of or having a conversation, preparing to for a guest and being like I put in the work to do that really well and feeling proud Cause, I'll say, my first 50 episodes I completely was winging it. I did not follow that three week buffer and sometimes when I talk about those episodes, I like feel this little like twinge of embarrassment and I'm like, oh, I really wish like those weren't out there, and so I don't promote them as much and even if the episodes might serve someone, I don't feel good about it Versus my more recent ones where I've put in that intention, I've put in that love and the respect into the work I'm like please go listen, enjoy them, do them, and so I just show up differently for my own work, and that then translates to how other people receive it.
Speaker 1And I feel like that's kind of that's a really like good rule of thumb for like anything you do in work, cause I feel like a lot of times as entrepreneurs, we get caught up in the day to day of things and we're like exhausted and we're not giving full attention. Like if you catch yourself telling someone something more than once, they're like you already told me that that's because you're not being present in my in the moment, right it's cause your mind is on 10 other things, so you don't remember that conversation with that person. Or I know, lately I've had a lot of discovery calls and I was telling one of my teammates about it and I couldn't remember for life with me what that person did for a business. And I was like, oh no, I was not being mindful during that call. And I think we have to be mindful during our podcast as well, because we have something we want to say, one make sure people understand it, and so being mindful is super, super important.
Speaker 1So what are? How do you kind of you know what's your process when it comes to writing your script? Because do you start like in the beginning? Do you start in the middle? Do you start with bullet points. There's just so many ways. I'm really curious to hear how you do it.
Speaker 2Absolutely. I think the easiest way I can explain it is the five paragraph essay. So if you went to school in the States, you kind of remember roughly where it's an intro paragraph, three body paragraphs and a conclusion. We're going to follow the same thing for our podcast. We're going to start with a nice hook, then go into a little bit of background.
Speaker 2So if we're talking about maybe it's SOPs because we used that example earlier you would say something in the beginning to get people's attention that they need SOPs in their business, and then someone's going to say it's an SOP. So you want to anticipate that question and say, well, a standard operating procedure is blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and then an orienting statement. An orienting statement, kind of like your thesis statement, is a promise that you're making to your listener. You're saying in this episode I'm going to cover what a standard operating procedure is and the most important thing you need to include inside of it. So you've just promised them, if they spend those 15 minutes, 30 minutes, with you, they're going to walk away with that, and that's one of the most important sentences in your episodes because you want to deliver on that, and so that's why the planning is important, going into the body paragraphs. You're going to break it down and say you know, this is what an SOP needs. This is where my example gets lost, right, because I'm like this is not my specialty, this is Natalie's.
Speaker 2But then you keep going and then in your conclusion you summarize. We really want to summarize and really let people know hey, I delivered on the promise and you just walked away smarter. And so from there you go here's a natural invitation. I actually have an SOP template. I hope you do. Maybe you do Like I actually have an SOP template that you can download and join my email list. And so the person doesn't feel like you just pitched them. The person feels like, wow, she just delivered on her promise. So well, now there's a natural next step. And so just following that five paragraph essay, delivering on each point, and then a natural invitation, and you do a cute sign off of like see you next week, or go follow me on Instagram, whatever it is, and then rinse, repeat and no, nobody's going to notice that you have that structure each episode. It's going to feel different each one, but it's really simple to just follow and do kind of like check boxes almost.
Speaker 1Yeah, and having a structure is really good Cause I think, even though they don't like no, you can feel it Like I know. When I watch a show right, especially my crime shows I need something dramatic to happen, I need some sort of conflict and then I have the resolution at the end. Everything has structure. Look at like Taylor Swift's concerts right, everything is structured by the album huge Swift D over here and so everything is structured by the album. You never know what songs are going to happen. You don't necessarily know the costumes or the dances, but you know which album is going to be. So it's kind of it's really interesting.
Speaker 1I really like structure. I feel like that's how you get to know someone. It's kind of like the branding behind the brand, because you get to know what to expect. And if you start to get into the flow, and I feel like that's when we know that episode especially when we're listening to podcasts is going to be worth it, because we start to understand that person and we're like, oh, we're not going to have to like sit here and waste our time to figure out you know when this is going to happen. Is it going to actually happen when you have that structure. It's definitely, I feel like, just gives you a lot more like reliability.
Speaker 2Yeah, you feel like you can trust that person and I really think, when you were saying the Taylor Swift concert, I do think of like a romance novel, there's a couple of like key tropes and you know that, like in the second or third act, there's going to be a fight and you know that they're going to have a dramatic moment and then they're going to get back together. Maybe someone runs through the airport and you're not mad at it If anything. You're more mad if it doesn't follow that structure, because you're like, did I just waste my time? You just promised me a friends to lovers trope. Why would you, why would you just like deceive me, like this? And so it's just really cool when you can start bringing that into your episodes and then tweaking it a little bit so that it's like your own flavor.
Speaker 2But people just feel really comforted and so a background that I have this is like a little tangent. A background that I have is IT yoga, and so in our classes we have a general structure and people really enjoy getting to kind of turn their brain off for a little bit and be present in a different way, because they know that you are guiding them well in the yoga class. And it's the same thing in the podcast where it's like oh, I trust that Natalie is going to guide me well through this topic and so I want to keep listening. Every week. It doesn't feel like there's chaos happening because so much of our life is already chaotic.
Speaker 1No, I think that's why I don't like Marvel movies. I feel like every time I watch a Marvel movie, it's not like that great ending. It leaves you off in a cliffhanger and I'm like, oh, like, when am I going to watch that movie? I'm not. I don't know if I'm going to miss it in theaters, and I feel like that's a kind of chaotic mess I get from Marvel movies. I don't know if anybody can relate to that, but that is amazing and you have shared so much with us. Where can we find more about you and your services?
Absolutely so. First and foremost, is my podcast visible with East Media Inc podcast tips for business owners. I break down. You can see that structure in action. I break down that structure a lot. I share my tech stack, what equipment I use. Everything is on visible with East Media Inc. And then I'm actually really diving into LinkedIn right now. So if you find me, isabella Sanchez Castaneda I'm sure you'll have the spelling and the show notes Add me there. It'll come up as podcast strategist and I'm posting there and Instagram. I do a little bit of everywhere. And then if you're really interested in getting that podcast scripting done, getting that production and going further with me, you can find links to that either on visible with East Media Inc or on LinkedIn.
Speaker 1Awesome, Of course. I'll put that in the show notes so you guys don't have to try to spell out her last name.
Speaker 1I know it can be tough, and then there's an accent, it's all good, and then she was coaching me on how to say her last name, which I appreciate because I only speak a little bit of Spanish, so I was like I don't want to watch it. So that is, that's awesome. I am so happy that you were able to join us and give us so much knowledge. This was an amazing episode and we will talk to you guys next time on the Virtual Antics podcast.