Podcasting Momentum - The Marketing Flywheel for your Businesss

Inside Maureen Pisanick’s School Lunch Podcast | Client Attraction & Brand Building with Podcasting

• Josh Troche - Pedal Stomper Productions • Season 3 • Episode 8

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Discover how Maureen Pisanick leverages her School Lunch Podcast as a powerful tool for client attraction and brand building with podcasting in the nutrition and education sectors. Maureen reveals her unique approach to marketing with podcasting by amplifying vital conversations around school food service and child nutrition programs.

Learn proven tips for podcasters on content creation, including how to record multiple episodes in one day and repurpose content to maximize reach. Whether you're exploring podcasting for marketing or seeking strategies to make your podcast a meaningful part of your brand, this episode demystifies the process and highlights how to create compelling content that goes beyond just download counts.

Tune in to gain practical insights on podcasting for marketing, helping you build a resonant brand and attract your ideal audience through authentic storytelling and thoughtful conversation. This episode is a must-listen for podcasters, educators, and marketing professionals looking to elevate their audio content into a lasting business asset.

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Speaker:

If you're around my age, the answer is pizza. If you're younger, the answer is probably chicken tenders. If you haven't, I mean, you know, you know, I'm talking about food. And this week's guest is also going to talk about food a little bit. But how does that relate to a podcast? Stay tuned. This week I have Maureen Pasalic in the studio. Who what's the name of the podcast I can never remember? Sure. Neutral. Smart snacks. Nutritious smart snacks. I always really I always feel like I'm going to confuse it with something else, or I'm going to reverse words, or I'm going to put a donut in there somewhere, because that's that's a carrot. But a carrot or an orange are our logos in orange. Orange? Oh, that's right, you that's. Yeah. No I'll, I'll do orange slices and then cereal with. It's still in there I guess. Thank you for coming in today. I really appreciate it. You start I mean, you're connecting people with a podcast. You're I mean, you're talking about snacks in a snackable format, but you're also talking really about school lunches and how to make them both something that kids want to eat and something that is good for them to eat rather than like the I mean, I realized the square pizza was my favorite. Is that not the healthiest option? Well, if it's whole grain and it has the right amount of sauce and sodium and fat, it can it can live on the school tray. It just has to meet all those buttons. And so that's where our job comes in. We are menu planners. So we are, you know, hopeful to help people. Neutral, smart snacks is a plan. Words. Of course. Sure. Not just to talk about things that kids might snack on in the lunch program. It's more about the 15 minute or less sound bites, if you will, of good information to help our, our main customers, the students get better food service by training the people that serve them lunch. So really, menu development and training is at the core of what our business does. And so, this podcast naturally kind of, you know, we went with it, we said, hey, this is another modality. Meet people where they're at. Adult learners don't like to watch PowerPoint presentations. They don't like they don't like lectures. So the two really gold standards that we found, in our training modules for professional development for school nutrition professionals, our hands on culinary training, which we do, and now really different styles of education and podcasting. Believe it or not, our main goal really is to be, a conversation starter and to get, seeds planted for folks to think differently about their jobs as school nutrition providers, understand the regulations out there. That's part of our conversation. Like this is a federally funded and oversight program. So some of the talk is like, okay, there's a rule we can't do DUI's. Let's talk about that. You know, let's talk about dyes in school foods. But we also talk about fun stuff like what our food trends going on and like fast casual dining organizations or college and university, I think K-12 and early childhood spaces. You know, we're the butt of the joke. I've been, you know, really fighting this whole Adam Sandler Chris Farley skit from SNL for years that it's mystery meat and sloppy Joes. And it's I didn't want to bring it up. Yeah, I did, I did. That was the elephant in the room. But we really do want to try to elevate, both the opportunity to educate folks to continue to, to excel at their job, to be better at what they do, to understand maybe more why they do what they do. From a nutrition and health standpoint, like you said, wholesome meals fueling healthy lives is our businesses motto. And how do we get you there? We have to educate you. We have to support you. And that's what we hope to achieve in these conversations. To me, it's such a needed service because when you look at, I mean, some of the stuff that we ate when we were younger was okay, but could have been better. Sure. Both taste wise and I mean, the I still I tell and I know we talked about this before. You had someone on that he was talking about, like, different ways to do things, and he said, get weird with lettuce. Yes. Our favorite I, I still I'm like, yeah, I said I had someone in the studio at one time that said, get weird with lettuce. It's one of the things I love about what I do is we get to hear all sorts of things and get weird with lettuce. Yeah. And so Chef Darren, I love it. So one of the things we inspire folks to do is think differently and more creatively about their recipes. Right. And so how do we get kids to like, you know, green things on their plate? It's not by, you know, keeping it boring. We got to get we got to get crazy with it. So let's let's get weird with it. And so his whole focus was taking lettuce and transforming it into different entree salads, using current global on trend flavors. So using the processes of, commodity purchasing and other purchasing but spicing it up. So, you know, we've done things like Goju Chang chicken salad and we've done, wild, you know, knockoff versions of salads that you might see in other fast casual dining that fit the need for schools, which, again, there are regulations on how much fat and sodium. So we have to be able to do things that, are exciting, that entice our customer, the students, to eat lunch with us. And we also have to think how that impacts, getting food into the kitchens and teaching people how to standardize recipes and tweak those recipes to stay on trend and so that that I love that Chef Darren's conversation was awesome. And he did. You know, you get one bag of lettuce and he showed us eight different recipes with wraps and entree salads and different topping and I mean, it was just a great, great conversation. And I mean, I remember sitting in the studio for that thinking, this is I mean, this is great stuff to talk about. Like the podcast as a tool. I know you guys use it to educate people because that's a huge part of what you do. The reach with it. Have you found like you're you're getting people say, I heard this on the podcast or I heard you talk with so-and-so and it encouraged us to talk to them. Have you gotten any of that feedback from the podcast? You know what I love about the podcast? The first thing I will say is it elevates an unspoken voice. So when we have people like a food service director, come on and say, hey, tell us what you're doing. You won the mystery chef, and you put this. How did how did you inspire your staff? And so we take somebody that generally is a quiet behind the scenes, you know, as behind the curtains. We know hungry kids can't learn, but nobody really gives a lot of props to that director or those foodservice staff making lunch and breakfast every day for those students. So this elevates them. And what I love about the reach is it's you want to know how many people like and share our podcast? It's mostly the families and the people that we elevate and they're proud of themselves. So number one, I think it's a it's an open door to, a place where we can put an unsung, hero on a stage and shine a light on them and say, listen. And so, you know, again, I'm not in this business for the brand or it's a different business. You know, I consider myself, you know, we are an LLC, but for all intents and purposes, the work in public schools and private schools is a labor of love. And it's a labor of public health. So my degree as a dietitian, that's where my heart's in is is like, how do we how do we reach people? How do we elevate people, empower people, make them feel good about the work they do? I will say, you know, you actually gave us a good idea. And we've been really capitalizing on, you know, working smarter, not harder is one of our overarching themes. And it's when you do a podcast, how do you turn that into a blog? And how do you turn that into, sound bites and a couple social media posts that really kind of, establish you as a content expert. And so when people hire us as a consultant, they want help because they need to know X, Y, and Z about how to administrate a federally funded program. Or they want, a cycle menu or they want recipe and development and training, but they why would they hire anybody? There's lots of people out there that do it. They want to know that they've got somebody that has a good track record. They have their authentic, I believe. There's a there's a voice, a humble voice that helps work alongside you. And so I think the podcast, if I look at it from that marketing funnel, it does, it does spit out a nice blog and it does give us some social posts and it hopefully shares that, you know, Masonic is here to be that extra set of hours of the day you need or eyes on your, your program. And what a consultant really is for is to help you solve your problems. And so that's what I hope the marketing angle of this podcast does as well. Sure, I want to I'm going to take a half step back on something you said there. The the fact the establishing expertise, the fact that they've seen you, they get to know you, no one is going to call you thinking, I don't know if she's going to have enough energy. You. So you've recorded 12 episodes in one day? Yeah. I sat there on the engineering table for 12 episodes thinking, okay, like 5 or 6 episodes. I was waiting to see like that. I was waiting to see a decline. There was no decline. I did not see any Red bull or illicit drugs or anything like that powering all of this. And I realize why you did it. It's because you guys have this big conference that you do every year, and it's amazing. And I mean, everything I saw with it extremely well put together. But you realize I've got all these people here in one place at the same time. How do you power through that? What like what do you look at from a preparation side to make sure that you're ready for each one of these people to come up here because they worked? I mean, you did 12 podcasts. There was some people that did two as part of a group or whatever. You know, you had different people, you had different topics you had and just powered through that. And the last one finished just as good as the first one. I was impressed, I took a nap immediately afterwards for you. I went and presented. So I know you did. I just I was like, I'll be in my van sleeping if anyone needs me. Yes. I mean, like when you looked at that, I. I'm assuming you realized, hey, I've got all these people in the same place at the same time. What did you do to prepare for that, though? Yeah. First of all, thank you for the compliment. I mean, I, I really pride ourselves on, putting that Innovation Academy together, and you hit the nail on the head. I mean, it was one of those things like, gosh, I have people coming in from national logistical partners like Gordon Foodservice. I have all of these food manufacturers and brokers, I have school staff, I have directors, I have state agency people. Wow. What can I do with this? And so knowing the podcast space, at Tri-C Corporate College is so well set up. And we had done like a little trial the spring before. So we did four episodes. I really my thought was, I can do it, you know. So I got up thinking, we had this period of time during the day. We looked at the schedule. We we set the people appropriately because some of those people were presenting it on the show floor as well. So it was like Jenga, if you will, to like, right fit the schedule just from a timing standpoint. But I think the main thing that works for me is I know what I want to accomplish, and I draft it in a podcast script and it is consistent. So, you laugh. But I had by three questions. So I look at 15 minutes, you know, you don't want to really go crazy. And I think about what who's the who's the person I'm talking to and what are the best three things that are pertinent right now that I think, folks, what is the hot trending items that they need to know? So one good example this last time is in our business, there's a, several different laws by American is one. So only 10% of the food that folks buy in schools to serve to, to students can be non domestic and they have to track that. So it's a big undertaking and it's new. And then the other is obviously many states are taking on laws and legislations relative to clean label legislation. No dyes. No. That's so I said okay how am I going to get 15 minutes of three really good questions to link Gordon Food Service and our schools. Who is who they purchase their food from and really lay out a one, two, three punch strategy of don't, don't, don't, don't get overwhelmed. We'll help you figure out this and tease them enough. Because again, this is a podcast to educate, give them where to go. But when they get overwhelmed, guess who they come back to? Because I'm a consultant. They help me. You know, I help them understand. This might be something you want to ask us to help you with because we can. So it's again, to be that extra set of eyes and arms of the day, so that that script is thought out, it's drawn up and it's shared prior to the podcast event with the attendees. So they get a little bit of a glance. They get to ask me questions before so. But, you know, I don't read from a script. So like, I don't sit there and read the words, so I don't know what it is in me that first of all, there's passion, right? I'm passionate about the work I do. So I think I found the right position in life to be this is my calling. So let's just give God a little grace for the love and, you know, the energy he pours into me. But I will say the other piece to it is being organized. So I set up the time strategy. I set up the question strategy. I communicate with whom I'm interviewing, and then I ask questions ahead of that because I think what I would imagine, what normally happens and maybe, perhaps other podcasts is you have a little pre discussion, you work out some of those kinks and then you go right into the recording. I try to take a little bit of an efficient efficiency by using that Google Doc system where it's like they can edit it, I can edit it, we can look at each other. And by the way, I get no money from Google or any of these other companies. I'm talking about. I'm not sponsored. This is not a sponsored podcast. But, you know, I think a little bit of, you know, proactive work does a wonder to kind of keep that flow going through the day. And I like the people I invite to talk to on my podcast. I really I'm excited about what they can do to help the schools we serve. And so I think that's where you see that even that last conversation I had, I was like, okay, no, I'm now I'm excited that this is going to be a solution for my school and this is going to be a solution for me. So I think that, I mean, if I was talking about something I wasn't passionate about or didn't excite me or solve somebody's problem, it probably wouldn't be what you saw that day. Yeah. No. It was. It's serious. I was watching and I'm like, okay, where's the where's the added cup of coffee? Where's the Red bull. Where's that? No, I would have to go to the bathroom that night. No you didn't get up. You didn't say anything. And I'm like I'm back there kind of doing dancing behind the table. Like the last person that it was in, I was like, I am sprinting for the restroom. Yeah. No, I was like, that was that was absolutely brutal. Yeah. And but extremely well done. And it's to me we always talk about prep and it is that prep that makes the difference in how a podcast turns out. If you go in with a, hey, here's the message we're trying to convey, you're going to come out with probably that message if you go in just, whatever happens, happens. Yeah, whatever happens is going to happen. And it's typically not what you want. Yeah. That and I think, I try to open up that positive communication so that people feel comfortable talking to me. Right. So I think you could be really prepped and you could be ready on this side of the table. But if you're your guest is frightened, you know, like so I'll say it's just look at me, let's have a conversation. You know, like, I'm sure you give all these tips as well, but, you know, the space is comfortable and it doesn't, you know, like, yeah, everybody, myself included, as soon as I get in there, I'm like, okay, you're checking yourself, you're making sure you're sitting a certain way. But once you get into the conversation, if you could see people's shoulders kind of like drop a little bit, then you know, they're just like into the groove of talking to you and they're excited about what they're talking about. That's when you click that, you know, you get that vibe and you're like, oh, this is going to be a good one. And that's what you saw in Chef Darren, where he just started going crazy and talking about getting weird with lettuce. And it just works right. When you talked a little bit earlier about repurposing for like blogs and like the social media clips and stuff like that as a content creation tool. Has the has the podcast really changed how you guys have been available for people? Is that the right way to ask that of you or like your visibility to people? Gotcha. So you are talking to the wrong for Sonic, my my business partner. You could interview him next. So you know, this might be one of the reasons I keep my energy about it is like, I know what my intention is. I stay true to my mission and I do what I do. And I don't worry so much about how many followers, how many likes, how many shares. I worry about getting quality content out. And even if my message gets, you know, you know, falls on, a portion of our viewers and they get some kind of pearls of wisdom and it makes their program easier. I'm good with that. Right. So that's my, my litmus is like, if I went in and left it all out on the field, so to speak, and I can walk out of there and say, yeah, somebody is going to hear this and it's going to do good, you know, good things for them. Then I feel like that's my measure of success. And I know that's odd because podcasting is an investment, you know, like you pay to use a space, you pay for an engineer. So there might be other strategies in the future. I might look towards a more, you know, approach to like, what is the ROI on getting more followership? Again, I think our main goal is just to continue to be at the forefront as a content expert. And so this is a really good way to do that. So, I mean, you really are building that reference library for people to go back to that. Yes. And that to me is it's a wonderful way to do it because so many people look too many people look at the vanity metrics. How many followers do I have? It doesn't matter. The question that I always ask people is if I told you there is ten people in the room next door, would you go talk to them? And everyone inevitably is like, yes, I sure would. There's ten people that want to go hear from you. You go talk to them and they're like, yeah. And I'm like, why are you upset about ten downloads in? Yeah, those ten people wanted to hear from you. Yep. Yeah. Go go go talk to them. I love that you call it vanity metrics. I'm sure that's an industry term that I just was unaware of. But I think humility, being humble and not being that vain about a podcast is probably what keeps me, wanting to do it. Like, I think it's fun. I think I love the conversations. I really don't know if I was like, looking at those metrics and like, trying to get an A-plus because I am a Type-A person. Surprise, surprise. You know that, you know, when you strap a heart rate monitor on me at I Orange theory class, I would, like, blow it out until I blew myself out because I wanted a good grade. Like, I guess, protect yourself. I mean, I don't know, I let other people look at that. And, you know, again, I think, I think our mission is honored by the conversations we have. And I believe what you just said, if a handful of people listen to it, it helps connect people. I think what I said about bringing in experts I'm happy to be a conduit to. I like to be asked behind the curtains like, let me connect this person with this school district. And even if they don't want to use our consulting services, they've got the right answer. And and I think it takes a village, right? The rising tide lifts all boats for our schools. We're not competitive restaurants. So everybody doesn't need for Sonic Partners. But there are things and valuable, connections with people in our industry that support child nutrition programs that I hope to make during this podcast so that if you listen and you're not using us as a consultant, that doesn't matter. You don't have to be a, you know, a customer of ours to like the podcast. I hope I open your eyes to maybe a new conversation or a new relationship that helps you further your mission, because everybody has a mission. And in child nutrition, I mean, you are. You wouldn't be in it. It's not a glamorous if we already established it's not the most glamorous position. Sometimes there are some less glamorous positions. Yeah. It's not. Yeah. You did not do this for the fame. No. Absolutely not for the money or the money. Let's be real. For the money. Let's be. Real. Not the fame, the glory and the money now, Interesting. You just would like to see some healthy kids. Yeah. Public health. I mean, I am my background. I'm a dietitian and a mom. Let's be real. Like I graduated, from case, went to Cleveland Clinic. I worked clinically before I went into school. So, like my previous life and my previous life, I was helping kids that were sick. You know, trial nutrition in public health give you the chance to help prevent sickness. Sure. It's awesome. So. And when I would have a list of patients to see to help that were already sick, it was finite. When I get into schools and see enrollment and then another district and more enrollment, it's a ripple effect of the positive, information that can be provided to support proactive public health nutrition goals for kids never to have to worry about being a diabetic or having heart failure or high blood pressure. I mean, it's a real thing. So I think for me, again, it's just, you know, it's just a it's been where my passion meets my purpose. You know, we can tell. I think it's it's it's not something that you hide. Well, maybe that's the right way to put it from the podcast. What's been something that, like you've learned and I'm going to ask this kind of as a two piece is what's something that you've learned, first off, that you about your industry, that you didn't know. And then the other thing is, what's something that you've learned like about podcasting, where after 12 episodes you're like, Learn something there. That's those are two good questions. Okay. So the first one is, what have I learned to repeat my question on the podcast. What have you learned from, like doing podcasting about your industry? Yeah. Okay. So, first of all, I, I feel like there's always a change in regulation and oversight of what we do. So there's always something to learn. And so what I loved this last go around, is when you invite people to the table that sometimes people, you know, you don't want to hear the auditor or talk about the audit. You know, a lot of the times, like the people that do the group purchasing for this, you know, there's there's lots of rules and lots of, oh, scary conversations. When you give somebody that is in that seat all the time and maybe has to have those hard, negative conversations, a place to talk about the positive side and the proactive ways to be organized for an audit or a purchasing situation. You know, I feel like the last go around, that was my moment is like, wow, if you ask the right questions, even that dry, sticky old auditor voice that you normally hear. This is how. It goes. And this is, you know, like we love, you know, we love everyone. But, you know, let's be honest, it's hard to hear people talk about food safety, and it's hard to talk about how to buy food. I mean, those aren't sexy topics. It's not really fun. It's a lot of rules and a lot of, you know, red tape. So how do I position questions that bring out an excitement about that? And that was something I learned about my industry. There's a way to do it. It's a hard nut to crack, but there can be conversations that feel really good, administrative practices that generally are topics that aren't exciting. And how do I get there? And that was an moment for me this last go around. That makes sense. And so that what I mean, that really kind of covers both both questions and one answer to me. If if you think about it. Because there's the lesson in podcasting, if you ask the right questions, sure, you can get the you can get the, the the answer and not necessarily the answer you want to hear, but you can get the interesting answer, if you ask the right questions. Because yes, we have all heard boring podcasts. Sure. Where it's the and the auditor is the, the one I've heard some auditing podcasts where I'm like, oh, I'm going to listen this just to see what it's like. And ten minutes in I'm like, do I drive off the road? Right. It's like teaching food safety, you know, how many times can you teach people how to wash their hands and tell them they have to run it under water and count and do all the fun things? You know, it is definitely, you know, for me that that is how do I engage folks to make their passion come out? Because everybody's got a little bit of them, maybe some more than others. Sure. Oh, sure. Yeah, yeah. And I guess the other thing, at the end of the day, I did learn and I will admit, people don't always go at my pace. Right. So that's a lesson learned. I learned I really did because jokingly, you know, it was like, you're the engineer. I you know, I didn't really think about. Can he hang this long? Is this you know, I didn't think about potty breaks for us. I'm sorry. You know, so we survived. I think afterwards it made me think like, marine, you have this focus, you have this passion. You have this energy. And my husband often reminds me, like, everybody doesn't go at your speed like you. So I think I learned something personally about myself that I, will take into future recordings. Just that, you know, there's got to be a little grace for the pace. You don't have to. You know, I am a very much a Type-A. Get an plus, get it done kind of girl. And I do set really, really high standards of expectation for myself. And, that not necessarily is a bad thing, but I would never want to scare anybody away from, you know, being a part of a podcast because it seems so intense. And I did hear some of the you, my people coming out and saying, it's like a doctor's office. Hi. And they were like saying hi in between, which I kind of was we were running, like 15, 15, 20 minutes on the, on the hour, you know, after a couple hours, it was kind of comical, but, you know, so for me, I think what I learned personally about my go to podcast style is to really, take a little breath, maybe pause a little more, give it a little space. And it doesn't have to feel so fever pitched. But I think you you still know why I did it? Because. Why? I had the people in the room. So it's always going to be that, like, oh, gosh, I got to do this. 100%. And it was funny when I saw the schedule, I'm like, okay, she does a 15 minute podcast and these people are 15 minute apart. I thought, I wonder if she realizes the people don't teleport in and out of the room when you're done. That's gone. In the next people appear. Thank you for a chat. Right? There's some of those things that we didn't account for in there that I mean, and that is but it's 100% your pace with that. And I know that it's funny watching the people in there, they were very comfortable with you and they were comfortable with your pace. But the pace of the day, you could see like trying to shuffle people in and out of the room and get them into the room and get them comfortable and everything like that. You're like, okay, we're ready to go. And I'm like, yep, I hit record and we're like, what? Where, where am I? How did I get in here? Yes, there are no magical teleportation going on, but it felt that way. I mean, we kept so again, that's something I learned. Like, yeah, it does. You know, in order to make your, your interviewer interviewee relationship good, you have to make sure you're not at a fevered pace. I think people in my industry just used to me that being that woman and they're like, oh, here we go. And they sign up for it. So then I feel like they've had their fair warning. They know what they've signed up for, I guess is a good way to say it. But I do think, you know, that is one learning curve for myself. And maybe as I mature into the podcast world, I can be a little calmer, and slower, and mindful, but really just to make sure. And the ultimate goal is to make whoever you're interviewing feel comfortable. And I think, again, to my husband's credit, everybody doesn't go at a fevered pace like I do. You know, there was a lot of people that you could see there. Like, did I just walk into a tornado? Yes, they did, but once again, it all went really smooth. The big question that I'm going to ask, what's the future vision for the show? I mean, you've got we've done two separate sessions in the studio now, where where do you see like the future? What? Like what's the next step? Yeah. So for us, my goal to transition into future, podcasts are twofold. Number one, I still want to stay on topic with things that affect people in terms of the hot topics and trends. So I would definitely see us inviting folks from, the oversight of Department of Education, other, other entities that help us understand how to navigate the potential changes coming in down the pike in terms of USDA oversight, because that's part of it. So then that goes back to how do I make those conversations exciting, and what do I prep to make sure that we're getting the highlight reel and doing things to inspire people, not overwhelm people. So that's one side. The other side is I think our goal really is to, Menu. Develop with schools. And our goal is to really help folks think about quality food, you know, defining their role in the clean label process, scratch cooking, speeds cooking. And so with that, we have a lot of culinary partners that were interested in interviewing, both from a manufacturer and, broker standpoint that sell to schools, but also, you know, Chef Darren, was that good conversation. There are more chefs in our wheelhouse that we'd like to bring in to really make the work of creating meals for schools. Exciting and talk about the culinary opportunities that we see schools can begin to implement as they think about high quality menus, and different nuances of clean label. What still the impact. It's not nutritional as kids eat it, so it's got to taste well. Right. And so the third people. Even as adults. Yes. The third person that I'd like to people group, focus group that I'd like to have is maybe some students and say, hey, here's a podcast. We talk about school nutrition. Let's let's talk about your experiences. And so I think it's always eye opening when we get, the students voice heard. And so that is a light bulb for some of our, our school staff and the directors that run the programs when, they hear the kids and their kids perspective. So those are really the three buckets of what's next incoming. I'd like to really focus on continued inspiration and the menu side. But really keeping folks up to date and comfortable with the regulation. And then why do we do what we do? It's for the kids, so why not listen to them? I love that my the question that I ask everyone at the end, what is one piece of advice about podcasting that you would give to someone? Either they're starting, they could be middle of their journey wherever, but what's that one piece of podcast advice that you would tell someone if you could just grab by the shoulders and shake them, Hire somebody to help you? And I know that sounds like I'm here just to push you or anybody that does it. I mean, I'm a dietitian, you know? I know how to cook, I love nutrition, drive in your own lane. I don't know all about this. I don't know about technology, speakers and and and when you think about it, I think there are some simple things you can do. When I first did a podcast, way back when, before this neutral, smart, I called, I had a podcast called, Morning Meetings with Marine. You can look it up. There might be some out there floating around. But I had a Yeti mic, and I was like, gosh, this is expensive. And so I stopped doing podcasting because I didn't know about studios where you can go and do a podcast. I didn't know about how you could use technology and engineer support and not feel overwhelmed to do the post-production. So when I first got into it years ago, pre-COVID, I stopped doing it because it was going to be an investment that I didn't have expertise in, nor did I have funds for. And our business model. So, if you are at all worried about the financial investment it takes, what you should to do a quality podcast, have have a set up. There are resources available. And believe you me, when I found that that studio at corporate college Tri-C and I got to just show up and sit there, that's why my podcast is back. Because if I had to create my own studio edit. Edit? Yes. I mean, really, that's why you and I are now best friends. You know what I mean? I just, I can't, I, you know, I, I have too much on my plate already as professionals as we all do. So I think there are a lot of people that are professionals and have really wonderful stories to tell. Education to provide things to do on podcasting. But why make yourself have to be the, you know, the hero of the day by being the engineer and the sound technician and the technology genius. I think that that's a barrier to entry for anybody who is a professional that wants to start a podcast, and it doesn't have to be. So that's my advice find a friend. I really like that. I definitely, really like that. No, not not a paid thing. No, nothing at all. Thank you for the time today. I really appreciate this. I was so glad that I just had to ask a couple of questions and didn't really have to keep up. Your energy is awesome. And that's one of the things that makes your podcast great. It's just that high level of go get them nice and everything like that. And that's what makes it a joy to be in the studio with you. So thank you. I appreciate this. For everyone else out there, I get to try and get my thoughts together after all this, and then I will be back in a little bit with the summary. Who sat was a lot. And yes. So that you're going to laugh at this if you're just listening, you may not realize this, but if you're watching this, you've realized that I am in a different studio and I don't have my glasses on. It is the next day after I recorded with Maureen and I really, as I, I recorded something right afterwards, and it made me think that I wasn't doing things justice, and I wanted to go back and really dive in. So I kind of listened to our conversation again, and there was a lot of great things in there that Maureen said that I really wanted to kind of touch on that, that are really great podcasting pieces. So let's dive into that now. Now that I've had a chance to to sleep, because the pace that she keeps up is just amazing. So let's talk about a few things one. Prioritize the content over metrics like vanity metrics. So many people get caught up on those downloads, things of that nature. I get it. Don't get caught up on that though. They're nice to see. But it's it's it's not what makes a podcast worth it. That engagement makes it worth it. The message makes it worth it. The people you're talking to, that's what makes it all worth it. Be genuine value. And if you can be an inspiration to others that that is what matters. And once again, so I always like to say at the end, if you can help someone else in the process, it's just a great thing to do. Build a knowledge library. That's another piece that she kind of talked about there. She's building reference libraries. She's building like herself and Passaic Partners as the go to resource for the school lunch industry. To me, that's amazing. And I know I mean, she talks I mean, off the air a little bit about how there's some competition out there. But she is truly building herself as a resource and when you see her and her personality, you really get to know the business that you're working with. You see the the types of people that you're going to be working with. When you work with bosonic partners. And for a lot of companies, I know that is a big plus to bring someone with. To bring someone in with her energy is just absolutely amazing. And the podcast helps display not only her knowledge, but also that super high energy and really makes them the go to resource for anything that you would want to know about the school lunches or how to how to run that back end of things. She also talked about repurposing. I mentioned that to her a few months ago. I'm like, look, you guys should be taking this and build other items, blog posts, social media soundbites, all these other things. She had put so much work into curating these podcasts, and she said the big unlock for her was when they started figuring out, oh yeah, this could be a blog, this can be an email, this can be a social media post. This can be soundbites. We can use all these other things. It's one of the things that we truly love about podcast hosting is it's a content builder. It's not just the podcast. It builds so many other great resources for you that it's just I mean, it's an amazing, amazing way to go. Now, it's not going to build those things unless you are planning and preparing thoroughly. She makes a well thought out plan and it's evident when she's in the studio. If you go listen to some of her podcast, you can tell she's got these points laid out. She is one that likes to give people the questions and I love how she talked about. She gives them the questions and they kind of go back and forth about it. She puts them in Google Docs, gives them access to edit that document. So that way can then be like, well, maybe ask it this way or maybe ask it that way. So that way first off, she's she's getting her questions answered still, but in the same sense, she's letting people display their knowledge and she's getting people comfortable in the process. She talked a lot about how, I mean, these are cafeteria workers. These are not people that are looking for the limelight. These are not people that are looking for the spotlight. And many of them, I guess I don't want to say behave in that way. But when they are put in the spotlight, they're kind of like, oh and may not know how to handle it as well. She does a phenomenal job of with those using those questions and using that back and forth that she has with people ahead of time in making those people comfortable. So that way when we're behind the desk and we push the record button, they are ready to go. They're ready to feel good and they are ready to display their full knowledge. To me, that's just such a wonderful, wonderful way to go. And it's a wonderful way to put people at to to relax them. The thing that she does with that is she's elevating unsung voices. She talked about that a ton. Take people that normally wouldn't be heard because some of them have some great things to say. These are people that are working in the background. They've got great experiences, they've got great things, they've got great information. You are creating a platform where these people can get that information out, and they can get that information out through you, making you even more of the expert, making you like even more solid as the the the curator of all information in your field. To me that that's I mean it's a huge advantage and it comes with this this bonus of the fact that you're helping others. I want to talk a little bit about passion and authenticity. There. You're going to be hard pressed to find people that have the passion, drive and energy combination that Maureen, Passaic has, that she is a rare combination that is truly, truly I mean, it's it's wonderful to be around her energy and it's all geared in a positive direction. Granted, she will tell you if something is going wrong for sure, but so much of what she does is geared in a positive direction. I do not expect every podcaster to try and do that, but I want you to make sure that if you're talking about things, you're talking about it from a place of passion. You're talking about something you like. You're talking about something you enjoy. I talk about podcasting. Guess. Guess what? I love podcasting. Pretty sure you guys have figured that out by now, but really, it all comes down to passion. Talk about things that you'd love. Talk about things that you enjoy. Talk about things that you're involved in. Talk about those things that just I mean, you're thinking about constantly. Those are the things that I mean, really, when you when you turn on the mic, when you turn on the camera, that passion will shine through. And that's what makes it this like, I don't want to use the word infectious, but yes, that's what it has. This magnetic draw. When someone truly loves what they do, there's a magnetic draw to them, and she has that. Make sure that you're doing that because really, you can take she made the point about this. Even a boring topic, like she talked about federal regulations and food trends for for elementary school kids, for high school kids, these are not, like tremendously interesting topics to most people. But when you put someone that's passionate about it, talking about it makes all the world of difference. To me, that's truly, truly awesome. The last piece I want to cover, and she gave me a wonderful plug in this and I, I'm sure I'm going to play off that, but there's so many places that not just in podcasting, but you need to think about this in your business. Play to your strengths, know what you're good at, know what you need to learn. It's something that me, even personally, I've been working on. I know what I'm good at, I know what I can work with, and I know what things I should be learning. I also know there's a whole slew of other things that me and my business need to get done, and there's some of those that I need to just hand off to other people. If you're an expert in food service, if you're an expert in auto repair, if you're an expert in medicine, if you're an expert in who knows what, maybe it's veterinary care. You're an expert at that thing. You're not maybe an accountant. You're not maybe an HR person. You're not. Maybe a podcast producer. Find someone that can help you with those things. Huge, huge, huge. Unlock not only for your business, but can also be one for you personally to have experience. This first hand, you're going to save time. You're going to reduce stress. And it allows you. It allows you to put your energy where you need to. Marine mentioned it allows her, like us, doing the podcast for her because we have the I mean, she comes in, she sits down in the studio and she talks to people. We've done the things. So that way she can focus on those conversations. She can focus on sitting down. She can focus on the person that is across the table from her. That's also got a microphone in front of their face. She can focus on that. She doesn't need to worry. What level do I have? The mCAT is the camera right? Is the lighting right are the. She doesn't need to worry about that. How am I going to get this edited? None of that needs to be worried about. All she needs to worry about is the thing that she's really, really good at. How do I have a great conversation about school nutrition? Obviously it is working for her. If you would like us to work for you. Yeah, here's the shameless plug pedal Stopper productions.com or wherever you're watching this. Leave us a comment, send us a message. Would absolutely love to hear from you. If you're listening to the podcast, do me a favor. Hit a review. Goes a long way and helps other podcasters find this too, which we love to talk to podcasters. That being said, you know how I'm going to finish this. Do me a favor. Take care of yourself again. Take care of someone else too. I will see you very, very soon.

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Josh Troche

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