Growing your business with webinars and behind the scenes of a top business podcast with Nicole Baldinu

John Ball: 00:00:00

If you've ever wondered to yourself, who am I to be an entrepreneur,

John Ball: 00:00:03

a coach, a speaker, or a podcaster?

John Ball: 00:00:06

This episode shows that Even from a completely non-entrepreneurial

John Ball: 00:00:10

background, you can make that change.

John Ball: 00:00:13

This is Podfluence the show that helps you to grow your influence

John Ball: 00:00:16

and income with podcasts.

John Ball: 00:00:18

My name is John Ball and my mission is to help you as a self-employed business

John Ball: 00:00:22

coach or speaker to grow your influence and income now so that you can have

John Ball: 00:00:26

a continuously thriving business.

John Ball: 00:00:29

That said, if you are a personal brand, service-based solopreneur, this

John Ball: 00:00:33

content can definitely help you too.

John Ball: 00:00:36

Nicole Baldinu is not just one of the nicest people you

John Ball: 00:00:38

could ever hope to encounter.

John Ball: 00:00:40

She's also a founding partner of Webinar Ninja and the $100 MBA course and

John Ball: 00:00:46

podcast with her husband and co-founder Omar Ze nhom , one of the things I

John Ball: 00:00:51

was particularly interested to get into with Nicole was understanding

John Ball: 00:00:54

more about webinars and using them as a tool to grow your business.

John Ball: 00:00:59

Nicole shares with us some of the best practices and also some of the things

John Ball: 00:01:03

to avoid doing with your webinar.

John Ball: 00:01:05

she also shares with us why you may want to consider starting your own

John Ball: 00:01:09

podcast, and certainly how her and Omar ended up starting the a hundred dollars

John Ball: 00:01:13

MBA and building that into one of the most downloaded podcasts in the world.

John Ball: 00:01:19

When we recorded this show, I was just coming back from, quite a long hiatus

John Ball: 00:01:23

from not having recorded any episodes at all and just rebranded the show.

John Ball: 00:01:29

I say that in the hope that you might forgive me, that I was woefully

John Ball: 00:01:32

under prepared for this interview.

John Ball: 00:01:34

and the reason I put it out even at the risk of my own embarrassment

John Ball: 00:01:39

is because Nicole is a high value guest, and she saved the day.

John Ball: 00:01:44

Even with a poor interviewer on this particular episode, you're

John Ball: 00:01:48

gonna get a lot of value outta the conversation that I had with Nicole.

John Ball: 00:01:52

So I tried to edit it to make it as cringe free as possible for you to listen

John Ball: 00:01:56

to so that you get as much of the value that we talked about as you can get.

John Ball: 00:02:01

That said, if you have your device, your hand right now, do me a solid

John Ball: 00:02:05

and click the plus button on on Apple Podcast or Spotify or wherever you

John Ball: 00:02:09

need to press on whichever listening platform you're using to subscribe to

John Ball: 00:02:13

the show so that you can get weekly updates of Podfluence as they drop.

John Ball: 00:02:17

For now, pop in your EarPods.

John Ball: 00:02:19

Let's get started.

John Ball: 00:02:34

Welcome to the show and today on Podfluence, I am very happy to be

John Ball: 00:02:39

joined by someone who has some, some serious expertise and, some interesting

John Ball: 00:02:44

business ventures that I am looking forward to talking about because they're

John Ball: 00:02:47

all gonna be very relevant to you.

John Ball: 00:02:49

If, if you are a coach and a speaker or if you have an expertise based

John Ball: 00:02:55

personal brand business, this is definitely something you're gonna

John Ball: 00:02:57

be wanting to pay attention to.

John Ball: 00:02:59

So let me formally welcome to the show, Nicole Baldinu.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:03:03

Hey.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:03:03

Hi, Johnny.

John Ball: 00:03:04

Did, did I say your name right you?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:03:06

You did.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:03:06

I think I got really excited when I heard you say my name.

John Ball: 00:03:09

Right.

John Ball: 00:03:10

Look, I've really been looking forward to speaking to you, not just because you are

John Ball: 00:03:13

such a nice person and, and when we had a chat before, I thought you're so nice

John Ball: 00:03:18

and, and I'm really looking forward to having you on the show, but also because

John Ball: 00:03:22

you are involved in some amazing business.

John Ball: 00:03:24

particularly fascinating to be that you have a, a webinar business.

John Ball: 00:03:28

It's a webinar ninja, is that right?

John Ball: 00:03:30

Correct.

John Ball: 00:03:31

Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:03:31

Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:03:32

And it's one of our bus.

John Ball: 00:03:33

Tell us a little bit more about the webinar business

John Ball: 00:03:36

and why you started that.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:03:37

I wasn't always in business.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:03:39

I actually started my career as a teacher, a high school teacher, and I did that

Nicole Baldinu: 00:03:43

for 12 years before going full-time into I'm gonna do something else.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:03:47

I don't know what that something else is gonna be.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:03:49

It turned out to.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:03:51

Entrepreneurship, which led to the a hundred dollars mba and

Nicole Baldinu: 00:03:54

then subsequently Webinar Ninja.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:03:57

That's really in, in, you know, a nutshell how that kind of trajectory led me to

Nicole Baldinu: 00:04:01

Webinar Ninja and I co-founded that with my husband and co-founder Omar.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:04:06

And really the way Webinar Ninja came about was quite early on.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:04:10

I mean, we're talking 2014 now, so it's, you know, at the time there weren't

Nicole Baldinu: 00:04:15

that many other solutions out there.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:04:16

Mm-hmm.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:04:17

, but we had already started the a hundred dollars mba, which

Nicole Baldinu: 00:04:20

at the time initially started.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:04:22

Business training and community for aspiring people to, learn the

Nicole Baldinu: 00:04:26

foundations of business, which I didn't have at that time, like 10 years ago.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:04:31

I did not know anything about business.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:04:34

And I, and I don't mind admitting that cuz I've learned a lot along the way and

Nicole Baldinu: 00:04:38

I'm still learning, but me too, right?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:04:41

Aren't we all?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:04:41

So we had the a hundred dollars mba.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:04:43

We were trying to get new members.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:04:45

So that membership was slowly growing and Omar started running webinars

Nicole Baldinu: 00:04:50

to teach business, to give little workshops and bring in new members

Nicole Baldinu: 00:04:55

to the a hundred dollars mba.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:04:57

And so as I said 2014, there weren't a lot of solutions out there.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:05:02

He's kind of frankensteining bits and pieces together to

Nicole Baldinu: 00:05:05

make it all work each week.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:05:07

And and it was really quite a headache to put those webinars together.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:05:11

So it was really early days.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:05:12

He had a little bit of coding and developing skills that, you know, so he

Nicole Baldinu: 00:05:15

was able to do it, but he thought there's gotta be like a better way to do this.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:05:19

So he did recruit just a freelance developer at the time to help him

Nicole Baldinu: 00:05:23

create a very minimal, viable version of that first version of Webinar Ninja.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:05:29

And when we were running those workshops, I he's teaching these workshops on

Nicole Baldinu: 00:05:34

this thing that he's put together.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:05:36

Somebody on the workshop asked, oh, what are you using to run this webinar?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:05:41

And he just said something, I slapped together.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:05:44

And then the subsequent question was, can I buy it?

John Ball: 00:05:47

Right, of course.

John Ball: 00:05:49

. So that, that makes Exactly.

John Ball: 00:05:50

Cause I think at the time, I mean I was doing webinars at that time

John Ball: 00:05:53

and I think pretty much the only horse in town was go to webinar.

John Ball: 00:05:55

I mean, it was like that, that, or pretty much nothing.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:05:58

The grandfather of the industry.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:06:00

Right.

John Ball: 00:06:00

We always refer to it . Yeah.

John Ball: 00:06:02

Yeah, yeah.

John Ball: 00:06:03

But you know, I, he had its limitations and I'm pretty sure it still does as well.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:06:08

Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:06:08

I think I haven't checked it out recently.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:06:11

But I mean, I don't want thing

John Ball: 00:06:13

to have changed

John Ball: 00:06:15

. Nicole Baldinu: One one.

John Ball: 00:06:16

I know, and one thing, you know, one thing that Ira and I have kind of abided

John Ball: 00:06:20

by and is that we know how hard it is to build a software, so it's right.

John Ball: 00:06:25

I don't wanna ever badmouth any other in the competition or cuz I just

John Ball: 00:06:30

know how incredibly difficult it is.

John Ball: 00:06:32

But yeah, I'm sure I actually don't even know if it still exists

John Ball: 00:06:36

, John Ball: so.

John Ball: 00:06:36

Oh, do you know it?

John Ball: 00:06:37

It's been so long, but there, there's I guess most people are kind of D Zoom.

John Ball: 00:06:40

I think they are still around.

John Ball: 00:06:42

I'm pretty sure I've been on some webinars with people who are still using them.

John Ball: 00:06:45

Yeah.

John Ball: 00:06:45

But.

John Ball: 00:06:45

Yeah, I mean, certainly they don't have necessarily the functionality

John Ball: 00:06:49

that a lot of people might want or at least they didn't.

John Ball: 00:06:51

I couldn't say now.

John Ball: 00:06:52

It's been so long since I checked them out.

John Ball: 00:06:55

So what were the sort of things that you were able to do differently?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:07:00

I think we wanted to create as former teachers, so both er and

Nicole Baldinu: 00:07:03

I, were former high school teachers before we turned to full-time entrepreneurship.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:07:07

That interactive element that, the less of the one-sided, just, transmitting

Nicole Baldinu: 00:07:12

information and not getting anything back was something that, we wanted

Nicole Baldinu: 00:07:16

to replicate in the online space.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:07:18

Right.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:07:18

In having, Back and forth, whether it was a, an interactive chat, a way

Nicole Baldinu: 00:07:23

to ask questions, polls, all of that.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:07:25

So we're really looking at when building webinar ninja and all the

Nicole Baldinu: 00:07:28

different iterations of it, always looking to how can we maximize the

Nicole Baldinu: 00:07:32

interactivity and the engagement and the participation of people who are on there.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:07:39

Because, know, like really it kind of became this thing where, you

Nicole Baldinu: 00:07:43

know, a live webinar was the next best thing to an in-person event.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:07:47

And of course we saw, over the pandemic how critical these solutions became when

Nicole Baldinu: 00:07:53

people couldn't meet in-person anymore.

John Ball: 00:07:56

Yeah.

John Ball: 00:07:57

Yeah, definitely.

John Ball: 00:07:57

I think well, I mean, zoom has clearly increased in value during that time

John Ball: 00:08:03

and, uh, to a point where I know a lot of people still have some Zoom fatigue

John Ball: 00:08:06

from from the pandemic and stuff, but so many people were scrambling mm-hmm.

John Ball: 00:08:12

to transition their businesses.

John Ball: 00:08:14

Yes, online who had been mainly sort of in person, face-to-face

John Ball: 00:08:18

kind of things, and now suddenly had to have an online presence.

John Ball: 00:08:21

Now some people did that very swiftly.

John Ball: 00:08:24

And smoothly at best.

John Ball: 00:08:26

For some people it wasn't quite so easy.

John Ball: 00:08:28

Were you able to help some people make that kind of

John Ball: 00:08:30

transition with their business?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:08:32

That was what was really interesting and one of the challenges,

Nicole Baldinu: 00:08:34

to be honest, because we did end up having customers who were very new, were

Nicole Baldinu: 00:08:39

trying to make that swift transition and frankly, we were desperate to get

Nicole Baldinu: 00:08:44

their business and their services and their offerings online so that they

Nicole Baldinu: 00:08:48

could continue to keep the lights.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:08:50

So you were dealing with customers who again, were, they were used to

Nicole Baldinu: 00:08:54

maybe the zoom, the meeting aspect of Zoom with being able to see everyone

Nicole Baldinu: 00:08:59

versus, oh, this is different because this is more like a one to many stream.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:09:04

So you had to there was that element of education and getting people familiar

Nicole Baldinu: 00:09:08

with what's the difference between a meeting software and a webinar platform.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:09:11

So there was that aspect And, there was obviously those businesses that

Nicole Baldinu: 00:09:15

were very physical, karate studios, dance studios, fitness instructors

Nicole Baldinu: 00:09:19

that were trying to make their whole offering work with tools like ours.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:09:23

and some of those really struggled because they have so much

Nicole Baldinu: 00:09:25

feedback from, you the people that they're working with, obviously.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:09:29

And then there were some really interesting case studies and businesses

Nicole Baldinu: 00:09:33

that were very much in person.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:09:35

And I'm thinking of one in particular, Cass, who's runs a

Nicole Baldinu: 00:09:39

fashion styling, personal styling business next level wardrobe.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:09:43

she's a fashion consultant.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:09:44

She does in-person styling.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:09:46

She shops with her clients.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:09:48

And when everything's shut down, what was she going to do right?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:09:52

And it was really interesting to see her business evolve and her offering

Nicole Baldinu: 00:09:57

evolve when she started delivering webinars, teaching all the fundamentals

Nicole Baldinu: 00:10:02

of fashion and, styling and all of that.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:10:05

And then at the end, offering people to work more with her one-on-one

Nicole Baldinu: 00:10:10

and she was able to continue.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:10:11

And a lot of that A lot of her business still, depends on bringing in new

Nicole Baldinu: 00:10:16

people via webinars and, and continuing to serve people all over the world.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:10:21

So it's really, it's an interesting time.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:10:23

It was a really interesting time.

John Ball: 00:10:24

De definitely I know for me, I mean, I've been doing

John Ball: 00:10:27

webinars I think since around 2011, something like that.

John Ball: 00:10:32

So I, it wasn't a big transition for me.

John Ball: 00:10:35

It was out of something I was already doing.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:10:37

What were you, t what were you.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:10:38

Doing webinars.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:10:39

I mean, you could teach me like 2011.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:10:42

Wait a second.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:10:44

No.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:10:44

Who's the expert here?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:10:46

. John Ball: Well, I don't know if I

Nicole Baldinu: 00:10:49

is interesting, but and certainly experienced in delivering them.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:10:52

No, because I've worked with T Harv Eker since around that time.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:10:56

Okay.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:10:57

In, as an online coach and trainer with them they had me, so I was initially

Nicole Baldinu: 00:11:02

doing go to webinar stuff with them.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:11:05

and then we transitioned when the industry standard became a bit more like

Nicole Baldinu: 00:11:10

you should be seen on video and mm-hmm.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:11:12

We switched everything over to Zoom, but you know mm-hmm.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:11:14

, I had to learn, not just learn how to work with the technology, but also to

Nicole Baldinu: 00:11:18

be able to deliver in a way that was gonna be interesting and engaging.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:11:22

Uh, Especially with, if you know how someone who is quite passionate about

Nicole Baldinu: 00:11:26

what he does and he's very key in that his coaches and trainers have

Nicole Baldinu: 00:11:30

kind of passion and excitement with people as well.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:11:33

So yeah, there was some experience there, but I certainly still wouldn't

Nicole Baldinu: 00:11:37

call myself a webinar expert.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:11:39

I still learned so much about this subject from so many other people all the time and

Nicole Baldinu: 00:11:43

something Oh, yeah I'm the, I'm no expert.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:11:45

I'm just experienced . Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:11:47

That's just, that's the best I can say.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:11:50

makes you an expert to me.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:11:51

That's awesome.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:11:52

Yeah.

John Ball: 00:11:52

Ki kind of, kind of, but, but that brings me to an

John Ball: 00:11:55

interesting thing here because.

John Ball: 00:11:57

Delivering webinars, if we even call them webinars.

John Ball: 00:12:00

A lot of people now are saying, don't call them webinars because

John Ball: 00:12:02

people are sick of hearing webinars.

John Ball: 00:12:04

You, is that, have you come across that?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:12:06

Yeah, there's definitely like, a bit of, like we talked about

Nicole Baldinu: 00:12:09

before, a zoom fatigue or a cookie cutter approach that started to emerge.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:12:14

And so you feel like, okay, there, there has to be an evolution, there

Nicole Baldinu: 00:12:19

has to be an innovation in the industry because eventually a lot of

Nicole Baldinu: 00:12:22

these things can have a shelf life.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:12:24

they'll have to evolve into something that's.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:12:27

More interesting, more exciting, something new for audiences to consume.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:12:31

So definitely the use of the word webinar is interesting.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:12:34

And I find that too because we have users all over the world

Nicole Baldinu: 00:12:37

who speak different languages.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:12:39

It was interesting when they're wanting to customize their

Nicole Baldinu: 00:12:41

registration pages, their landing pages, they may wanna change the word.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:12:45

And it, it made so much sense.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:12:47

Like it's totally understandable.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:12:48

They're not everyone who's gonna understand this word.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:12:51

or then masterclass became a popular way of referring to these workshops.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:12:56

And I think just people adopt these different ways of, calling a workshop

Nicole Baldinu: 00:13:01

a lesson or an online presentation.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:13:03

I think whatever's on trend and whatever's kind of understandable.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:13:07

So I definitely saw that transition from webinar to masterclass recently happened

John Ball: 00:13:11

too, but, Yeah, I've seen a lot of more groups saying masterclass

John Ball: 00:13:15

or event or things like that.

John Ball: 00:13:16

. Yeah for sure.

John Ball: 00:13:17

And I get it.

John Ball: 00:13:17

Just, you know, in, when you're doing it in the industry, you want

John Ball: 00:13:21

to, you wanna call it a webinar, you wanna say, oh, it's, it's webinar.

John Ball: 00:13:23

But when you're titling it for marketing and stuff made, Be not

John Ball: 00:13:28

but I see plenty of people who still do that and it's not a problem.

John Ball: 00:13:31

So I'm not convinced it's such a big issue.

John Ball: 00:13:33

And some people, yeah, some people are claiming it to be like, I see

John Ball: 00:13:36

Pat Flynn for example, still using webinar and it's like, it doesn't

John Ball: 00:13:39

seem to affect his business.

John Ball: 00:13:40

So, and I think people will still look, look for the value there,

John Ball: 00:13:44

but how valuable are webinar?

John Ball: 00:13:46

For coaching and speaking businesses to be able to get additional business?

John Ball: 00:13:53

Or, I mean, what kind of uses are uh, do you see people

John Ball: 00:13:55

mainly going for with them now?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:13:57

Yeah, I see that I, I suppose by thinking of our u custom, like

Nicole Baldinu: 00:14:01

our users directly they're wanting to.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:14:04

Get more clients attract more potential clients.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:14:07

So, being able to deliver something online on mass at scale like that and get, as

Nicole Baldinu: 00:14:12

as many people, opted in and interested as they can, is, definitely a very

Nicole Baldinu: 00:14:17

effective way to demonstrate what they know, how they can help build that trust.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:14:22

That, that kind, that trust that you really do

Nicole Baldinu: 00:14:25

get and see when it is a live webinar especially.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:14:28

So it.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:14:29

We've definitely seen coaches, be able to deliver and teach, what they

Nicole Baldinu: 00:14:34

know and give incredible value and leave people watching with that desire

Nicole Baldinu: 00:14:39

to learn more, want to have more.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:14:43

Exposure, direct contact, directly work with the person.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:14:46

So if they're done well, if they're that, and if that presentation is

Nicole Baldinu: 00:14:49

effective, then that's what you want.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:14:51

You, you can only cover so much in 45 minutes to an hour.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:14:56

And so that leaving that desire to continue the conversation

Nicole Baldinu: 00:15:00

further is, you know, done very effectively with a webinar.

John Ball: 00:15:04

Yeah.

John Ball: 00:15:05

So that does lead me to asking you what in your opinion, makes a good webinar?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:15:09

There's a lot of things.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:15:10

There's that participation, the same thing that would happen really on stage

Nicole Baldinu: 00:15:15

as well, if you were giving a talk on stage, asking for that feedback, asking

Nicole Baldinu: 00:15:19

for so quick participation, whether it's, the simple, the things that we

Nicole Baldinu: 00:15:23

know are pretty common in the space.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:15:25

Tell me where you're tuning in from.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:15:26

What's something that you're here to learn today?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:15:29

Like, why are you here today?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:15:30

Type in the chat.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:15:31

So that constant re-engagement and very, and what I see really good hosts do is ask

Nicole Baldinu: 00:15:36

very short questions and quick questions that just ex elicit a very rapid fire.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:15:40

Just type, you know, give me an emoji and you just see the chat blowing up

Nicole Baldinu: 00:15:44

with all these emojis when you know.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:15:46

They ask a very simple question.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:15:47

And so just that constant re-engagement with the, and being aware that because

Nicole Baldinu: 00:15:53

you are delivering, and you would know this from your experience, right?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:15:56

You are delivering content via a screen.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:15:59

Your energy has to be taken up a few notches.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:16:02

And so those kind of presentation skills come.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:16:06

Everything from like EF effective slides and you know,

Nicole Baldinu: 00:16:08

the visuals are on the screen.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:16:10

Again, same thing if you're in person.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:16:12

Being mindful of all of those ti all of those things is still really

Nicole Baldinu: 00:16:16

important in with the webinar.

John Ball: 00:16:18

I mean, uh, the story, a little story I'll share with you,

John Ball: 00:16:21

, that when I first started doing these webinars, and I'm saying about how

John Ball: 00:16:25

Harv likes to have passionate trainers, we have good energy so half, and his

John Ball: 00:16:29

partner, Michelle would listen to.

John Ball: 00:16:31

Calls they'd be on like some training webinars with me, and at

John Ball: 00:16:35

the end I'd get the feedback like, The energy's just not there yet.

John Ball: 00:16:39

It's just not there.

John Ball: 00:16:40

And, and I'm thinking, but I'm really, I'm really working on it.

John Ball: 00:16:44

I feel like I'm cranking enough.

John Ball: 00:16:45

. Yeah.

John Ball: 00:16:46

I feel like I'm really delivering a super energy level.

John Ball: 00:16:48

If I go much higher than this, I'm gonna blow people's brain barrier.

John Ball: 00:16:53

You know?

John Ball: 00:16:53

It's like, I, I didn't want, I was a bit concerned about that.

John Ball: 00:16:56

But you know, they're saying no, you have to get the energy higher.

John Ball: 00:16:59

You have to get the the excitement and the enthusiasm turn down, just add up more.

John Ball: 00:17:03

We wanna see that.

John Ball: 00:17:04

And if you can't, and if you can't do it, we will find someone who can.

John Ball: 00:17:09

Okay.

John Ball: 00:17:09

And.

John Ball: 00:17:10

. And so that sounds really harsh, but it was exactly what I needed to hear.

John Ball: 00:17:14

It is like, okay, this is not an option.

John Ball: 00:17:16

If I can't do it, I'm out.

John Ball: 00:17:17

Mm-hmm.

John Ball: 00:17:18

, so, uh, no.

John Ball: 00:17:19

So I have to, I have to make sure I can do this.

John Ball: 00:17:21

And so I really, really pushed myself to do it.

John Ball: 00:17:24

And yeah, it, it was absolutely right to say that because I, I think, bring

John Ball: 00:17:28

up a great point that the energy you have to bring is a little bit different.

John Ball: 00:17:33

Like even as a speaker, you have to bring a good energy, a high energy, But if you

John Ball: 00:17:37

come too high energy people are going to probably get bit turned off by it, right?

John Ball: 00:17:43

Yes.

John Ball: 00:17:44

We, we don't, yeah, we tend to find that a bit too, a bit overpowering.

John Ball: 00:17:48

Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:17:48

Yes, I agree with you there.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:17:49

And I definitely think, and I think I took this from teaching days as

Nicole Baldinu: 00:17:53

well, you know, there's that kind of modulation or you know, if, if

Nicole Baldinu: 00:17:57

you're al, if you're up here the whole time, like you said, it's exhausting.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:18:01

And when the energy's too low and it's continuous, that.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:18:05

That's a snooze fest.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:18:05

No one wants to hang around for that.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:18:07

So definitely being mindful of those moments in your presentation

Nicole Baldinu: 00:18:11

where you are much more high energy when you can bring it down.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:18:14

If it's something more serious or if you're sharing a personal story, maybe

Nicole Baldinu: 00:18:17

being a little bit vulnerable, just like in person that, the, the sentiment

Nicole Baldinu: 00:18:22

behind your voice is gonna change.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:18:24

And I think that variation, that variety needs to be

Nicole Baldinu: 00:18:26

present in a, in a presentation

John Ball: 00:18:28

as.

John Ball: 00:18:29

Yeah, I do think you have to bring some performance energy to, to these

John Ball: 00:18:32

things because there is a, because such a performance level to it.

John Ball: 00:18:37

I, I wonder what o other than maybe energy issues, what perhaps are some of

John Ball: 00:18:43

the pitfalls or mistakes that are quite common for people to make in going into

John Ball: 00:18:48

webinars, things like, and not being able to maybe get people on them or

John Ball: 00:18:52

not, not, uh, running them effectively.

John Ball: 00:18:55

What, what have you seen?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:18:56

I mean, Being, um, the title, like what the, what

Nicole Baldinu: 00:19:01

we refer to as like the promise.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:19:04

Being very clear on and, and creating a very effective title that really

Nicole Baldinu: 00:19:09

gives the person who's registering for that webinar a very clear indication

Nicole Baldinu: 00:19:13

of like, what am I signing up for?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:19:15

Because, you know, giving your email, giving up your time nowadays, you

Nicole Baldinu: 00:19:19

can't take that for granted anymore.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:19:20

Right?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:19:21

So they really need to know what's, what's in it for them.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:19:24

So I think a lot of the times, you know what, we spend a lot of

Nicole Baldinu: 00:19:27

time, I must spend a lot of time teaching is, you know, making sure.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:19:31

, whatever you promise, whatever that title is, you can actually accomplish

Nicole Baldinu: 00:19:35

that in that time of the webinar.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:19:37

It's, it's like when you're, I dunno if you've ever been on stage and you've

Nicole Baldinu: 00:19:39

seen a speaker just flick through slides and go, oh, I don't have time

Nicole Baldinu: 00:19:42

for that, don't have time for that.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:19:43

Like, that can be effective.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:19:44

That can be a sales technique or a reason for doing that, but really

Nicole Baldinu: 00:19:49

you, you want that timing to be right so that the person, the, the people

Nicole Baldinu: 00:19:54

watching and the people attending feel like, oh, I've really what I

Nicole Baldinu: 00:19:58

came, what I, what I showed up for.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:20:00

I got that.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:20:01

I got even more maybe through that AFI that, you know, rapport with

Nicole Baldinu: 00:20:04

the host, that interaction, that participation, they get a little

Nicole Baldinu: 00:20:07

bit more than what they expected.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:20:09

Um, so being really clear and what you can deliver in that time, and making sure

Nicole Baldinu: 00:20:14

that you do deliver and get that feedback.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:20:16

Like, did you guys get what you came for?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:20:18

Um, yeah, let me, let me know.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:20:20

I'd say that's one of the things, you know, and I think a lot of the times

Nicole Baldinu: 00:20:23

that I think I've been guilty of this, Maybe in your webinars as well where

Nicole Baldinu: 00:20:27

you wanna give as much value as possible and it's very overwhelming, right?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:20:32

Like we, it comes from a good place, right?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:20:34

Comes from a good place cuz you wanna share as much as you can.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:20:37

But being mindful, especially when someone's on the other

Nicole Baldinu: 00:20:40

side of a screen that.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:20:42

It's really only so much they can, listen to for, you know, a certain amount of time

Nicole Baldinu: 00:20:45

and you really want them to take action.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:20:47

So I think being mindful of like, what, what are they actually gonna do

Nicole Baldinu: 00:20:51

with the, the content that I've given them and being really clear on that.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:20:55

And sometimes I think it's just an information dump.

John Ball: 00:20:59

I think a lot of people go that way.

John Ball: 00:21:00

You know, I, I've . I've been in, in the Toastmasters organization for a

John Ball: 00:21:03

long time, and I not currently, but you know, from, for the, from my time

John Ball: 00:21:07

with them, it has been very valuable to to also do an opportunity to get the

John Ball: 00:21:11

help people who are developing their speaking and training skills as well.

John Ball: 00:21:15

Which, you learn so much yourself when you're helping other

John Ball: 00:21:18

people to do these things too.

John Ball: 00:21:20

And so you are getting developed by people who are higher level than you every.

John Ball: 00:21:25

. Everyone's lifting each other up there.

John Ball: 00:21:26

I love that environment.

John Ball: 00:21:27

And one of the things, one of the things I see so often with people, especially

John Ball: 00:21:31

newer speakers which they would likely do in webinars or podcasts, whatever is the

John Ball: 00:21:36

information dump is like, oh, they just wanna teach to share all this information.

John Ball: 00:21:40

They've done all this research.

John Ball: 00:21:41

It's like, so I'm gonna give you everything I researched like that.

John Ball: 00:21:44

That's great, but it's too much.

John Ball: 00:21:46

Yeah.

John Ball: 00:21:46

And, as Joe, we don't love that.

John Ball: 00:21:48

We don't just want information, information, information because

John Ball: 00:21:51

you won't remember it afterwards.

John Ball: 00:21:53

Mm-hmm.

John Ball: 00:21:53

, if you take, even if you take great notes, you probably won't

John Ball: 00:21:56

remember much of it afterwards.

John Ball: 00:21:58

And so you are right is such some simple bits of information, two

John Ball: 00:22:02

or three points delivered clearly.

John Ball: 00:22:04

Mm-hmm.

John Ball: 00:22:04

, and explained well with.

John Ball: 00:22:07

How, and some action to take afterwards.

John Ball: 00:22:10

And so people are clear on what to do with that information is far more valuable

John Ball: 00:22:14

than just a whole load of information that you can pick and choose from.

John Ball: 00:22:18

And so that's true in webinars.

John Ball: 00:22:19

It's true in podcasts, it's true in public speaking.

John Ball: 00:22:22

It's like just, it's just avoiding that desire to ote and to yes, over

John Ball: 00:22:28

teach and to be coaching and sharing everything, you know, and you can't

John Ball: 00:22:32

pass everything off all at once.

John Ball: 00:22:33

And nor.

John Ball: 00:22:34

Being effective is more important.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:22:36

Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:22:37

And sh and having and knowing there's that balance of showing

Nicole Baldinu: 00:22:40

them that you care, right?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:22:41

Like they're there for a reason.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:22:43

You're there to share something that they're really hungry for.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:22:46

They really wanna know.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:22:46

It's gonna help them overcome a problem, a challenge.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:22:50

Whatever it is.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:22:51

And so investing in that time, as as much as you wanna give, as much information

Nicole Baldinu: 00:22:56

as you can in actually showing that you are there to help and care, that's

Nicole Baldinu: 00:23:01

gonna create so much more of a, a rapport and, you know, a trust in the

Nicole Baldinu: 00:23:05

person who's delivering the content.

John Ball: 00:23:07

That I think is super important, and I'm glad you brought that

John Ball: 00:23:11

because we hear it over and over again.

John Ball: 00:23:12

It's been discussed on this show in its previous iteration, a number, a

John Ball: 00:23:16

number of times about how important it is to show that you care.

John Ball: 00:23:20

and there, there were a lot of people who were quite cynical of coaching

John Ball: 00:23:25

and motivational speaking and things that, because there have been people

John Ball: 00:23:29

in the industry and for a while there was quite a lot of them, who

John Ball: 00:23:34

we might call them, I mean, Mike Winnet calls them contrapreneurs.

John Ball: 00:23:38

Uh uh, we might.

John Ball: 00:23:40

We might call them sharks or whatever, but people who are, maybe they're

John Ball: 00:23:44

just in it for what they can get.

John Ball: 00:23:45

And they want your money and they don't really care about you.

John Ball: 00:23:48

And that's been very clear.

John Ball: 00:23:49

They have the slick sales.

John Ball: 00:23:50

They have the image, they have the videos with the private jets

John Ball: 00:23:54

and the Ferrari . Why Ralph?

John Ball: 00:23:56

Think of a few . Yeah.

John Ball: 00:23:58

But they don't care about you.

John Ball: 00:24:00

And, and what you see is what I see.

John Ball: 00:24:02

Far more people want to see that and feel that connection.

John Ball: 00:24:06

Mm-hmm.

John Ball: 00:24:06

with the people who are selling to them.

John Ball: 00:24:08

So whilst I don't think we've completely moved away from the people who are

John Ball: 00:24:12

more perhaps of themselves are more cynical about their approach to this.

John Ball: 00:24:16

Just getting money outta the people in the industry, the.

John Ball: 00:24:20

People who are really caring and showing that they care.

John Ball: 00:24:23

I see.

John Ball: 00:24:23

Doing much better now.

John Ball: 00:24:24

Yes.

John Ball: 00:24:25

And that, that's great to see . Yeah.

John Ball: 00:24:28

For, for me, that's great to see it.

John Ball: 00:24:29

Yeah.

John Ball: 00:24:29

I think for consumers as well, I the connection part is super important

John Ball: 00:24:34

and hopefully that carries out into other parts of our lives as well.

John Ball: 00:24:38

Yeah.

John Ball: 00:24:38

That would be nice to think that it does.

John Ball: 00:24:39

Ah,

Nicole Baldinu: 00:24:40

yeah.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:24:40

No, I, and you said the word connection a couple of times

Nicole Baldinu: 00:24:43

and what's interesting in, in.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:24:46

All the webinars that we've done and people showing up to them

Nicole Baldinu: 00:24:50

is that you see the same people showing up again and again.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:24:53

Right.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:24:54

And there's a reason why they're doing that.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:24:55

It's because, they're still, Working on that trust, they're still wanting

Nicole Baldinu: 00:24:59

a little bit more time to connect with you and to learn more, and to build

Nicole Baldinu: 00:25:03

that trust with the person who's on the other side selling or whatever.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:25:07

And so those moments of connection are really important to keep in mind

Nicole Baldinu: 00:25:13

as you're delivering your content.

John Ball: 00:25:15

Yeah.

John Ball: 00:25:16

The you, you mentioned something earlier and I do, I feel like I need to come

John Ball: 00:25:19

back to it because I'm pretty sure our listener will be, I maybe just

John Ball: 00:25:23

listening to this and Kim, is he just gonna leave that out on the table there

John Ball: 00:25:26

and not come back to it or mention it?

John Ball: 00:25:28

And he's not, he's gonna come back to it now.

John Ball: 00:25:30

The hundred dollars N b a tell, tell me a little bit about that.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:25:33

So, the a hundred dollars m v is now a podcast, the hundred dollars

Nicole Baldinu: 00:25:37

N v Show podcast, but it started out as a online business training and community.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:25:43

So, Done a little bit of a stint at Wharton Business School because he

Nicole Baldinu: 00:25:47

wanted to be a great entrepreneur.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:25:49

But his, on his marketing professor said, well, what are you doing here?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:25:53

You don't get an MBA to, to be an entrepreneur, you don't need it.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:25:57

And so he'd already had a lot of experience side hustling

Nicole Baldinu: 00:26:00

while he was in teaching.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:26:02

And so the a hundred dollars N B A came out of just, let's teach the fundamental.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:26:08

not me.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:26:08

He was teaching the fundamentals of business.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:26:10

At the time, I had no idea about business.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:26:11

I knew nothing about business.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:26:13

Let's teach the fundamentals of business for a hundred dollars, like make it

Nicole Baldinu: 00:26:16

really accessible so that people can just get started and specifically

Nicole Baldinu: 00:26:19

start an online business, but also had, just fundamental business advice.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:26:23

And so we created this community.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:26:26

At the time I had very rudimentary film skills and so I was shooting

Nicole Baldinu: 00:26:30

the videos, editing the videos and put, and they were up on the.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:26:33

And we ran that for a while before we launched a podcast with the same name.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:26:38

And now the podcast is the primary focus of the a hundred dollars MBA

Nicole Baldinu: 00:26:42

and published over 2000 episodes.

John Ball: 00:26:46

Oh, wow.

John Ball: 00:26:47

That is a lot of podcast episodes.

John Ball: 00:26:49

Yeah.

John Ball: 00:26:49

And, and so, It's the kind of thing I hear, I'm hearing that.

John Ball: 00:26:53

I'm thinking I wish I had known about that when I, when these kinds of

John Ball: 00:26:58

things when I started out in business.

John Ball: 00:26:59

Although maybe, I don't know if your podcast is around when I started out,

John Ball: 00:27:03

but but that's the kind of stuff I think.

John Ball: 00:27:05

Yeah.

John Ball: 00:27:05

I didn't know.

John Ball: 00:27:06

You don't know what you don't know.

John Ball: 00:27:08

Right.

John Ball: 00:27:08

And like yourself.

John Ball: 00:27:09

And I came from, I, I was a flight attendant for 12 years.

John Ball: 00:27:12

Wow.

John Ball: 00:27:12

So, you know, it's like, I, I did not come into the world of business

John Ball: 00:27:16

having the first clue about mm-hmm.

John Ball: 00:27:18

, how to run a business or anything like that.

John Ball: 00:27:20

And so it was a bumpy, a bumpy ride to say the least.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:27:25

No, you've used that one before, haven't you?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:27:27

That's a good one.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:27:28

I like that.

John Ball: 00:27:31

Was trying to put it in, in sort of terminology

John Ball: 00:27:33

that isn't too extreme.

John Ball: 00:27:35

But but yeah, definitely it was a challenging part to take.

John Ball: 00:27:38

And yeah, now I know that, at the time you think sometimes when you're

John Ball: 00:27:42

getting started out, you think you have to bootstrap everything.

John Ball: 00:27:45

You end up Scott having a blindfold on in a dark room and pointing a stick

John Ball: 00:27:50

to try and find the light switch.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:27:51

Yeah, . And like similar as a flight attendant.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:27:54

I would imagine it was similar to me being in teaching.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:27:56

You're surrounded by people in the.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:27:59

Job in the same career, right?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:28:01

And so when as soon as you step into entrepreneurship, you realize, oh,

Nicole Baldinu: 00:28:04

I need to actually meet different people, talk to different people,

Nicole Baldinu: 00:28:08

have different conversations, and then you realize, that, oh, it's through

Nicole Baldinu: 00:28:13

them that I can learn so much from.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:28:15

But you don't have that experience when you're coming from, a career like.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:28:18

A flight attendant or teaching

John Ball: 00:28:20

r Really, really you don't, but I do think, the world

John Ball: 00:28:24

generally doesn't seem to set people up for entrepreneurship anyway.

John Ball: 00:28:28

Yeah.

John Ball: 00:28:28

And so most of us are almost conditioned to go into the kinds

John Ball: 00:28:34

of roles that, that we did.

John Ball: 00:28:35

Mm-hmm.

John Ball: 00:28:36

, thing you ha you're supposed to get a job.

John Ball: 00:28:38

You should know if your skills are with customers and people do customer

John Ball: 00:28:41

service or if your skills are in teaching and you work well with

John Ball: 00:28:44

young people going into teaching.

John Ball: 00:28:46

You know, it is all those kinds of things.

John Ball: 00:28:47

Like you, you have to find your box to fit into mm-hmm.

John Ball: 00:28:51

In the working environment, but that you don't really hear that many people

John Ball: 00:28:54

talking about actually starting your own business as a way to secure your future.

John Ball: 00:29:00

That's always like, oh, that's risky, and that's.

John Ball: 00:29:03

The, the begin, but I, no, I think people if Covid has taught us anything

John Ball: 00:29:07

is that no job is secure , right?

John Ball: 00:29:10

No.

John Ball: 00:29:11

Nobody has that sort of job for life or security that you can hope for.

John Ball: 00:29:15

And I realized that quite early on with the, my job in the airline industry.

John Ball: 00:29:20

The opportunity was being taken away.

John Ball: 00:29:23

As things were being restructured in the business.

John Ball: 00:29:25

Everything was all about cost saving and.

John Ball: 00:29:29

Whilst I got to the point where it's time to go.

John Ball: 00:29:31

It, it's really time to go.

John Ball: 00:29:32

And now I'm glad I did, but I just wish I'd been more prepared for it.

John Ball: 00:29:36

May maybe you feel the same thing, or maybe that's part of where.

John Ball: 00:29:40

Hundred dollars n b came from for you as to yeah, you just need to know this stuff.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:29:46

Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:29:46

I just, I, I laugh at the fact that I, at myself when, and in 2012 when I'm

Nicole Baldinu: 00:29:53

seeing Omar create blog posts for the a hundred man, like, what's a blog post?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:29:57

What's the blog like?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:29:58

I was just completely removed from this world of business and.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:30:02

I think what I ended up, the small stint when I transitioned out of teaching, I

Nicole Baldinu: 00:30:06

went through film school, very short stint at film school, picked up some skills,

Nicole Baldinu: 00:30:10

started freelancing as a videographer, and then pretty much, nine months later

Nicole Baldinu: 00:30:14

I was already working with Imar and Will building the a hundred dollars mba.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:30:17

But I just learned in that time that what the confidence that it gave me

Nicole Baldinu: 00:30:21

was that I, when I joined, when I went to film school, I didn't even

Nicole Baldinu: 00:30:24

know how to use a camera really.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:30:26

I didn't know all the fancy settings.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:30:28

Aperture and all of that stuff that I learned, I had no idea.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:30:32

Like I started at zero and I saw that very quickly.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:30:35

Like in four weeks I was able to learn, a solid amount to get me started, to get

Nicole Baldinu: 00:30:39

me start starting to work with clients.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:30:41

And that just really gave you the confidence that in, short amount

Nicole Baldinu: 00:30:44

of time, you could pick up the skills that you need and you can

Nicole Baldinu: 00:30:47

start applying them right away.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:30:48

You.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:30:49

Make, a mess of everything that you do for the first time.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:30:52

Like my first work was just embarrassing, but I proved I got better and I

Nicole Baldinu: 00:30:56

applied that philosophy and that mindset as my mindset developed in,

Nicole Baldinu: 00:30:59

throughout the entrepreneurship journey.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:31:01

And yeah, within 10, 10 years on still around it's

Nicole Baldinu: 00:31:06

, John Ball: which in itself

Nicole Baldinu: 00:31:08

Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:31:08

Many people do not go that long in their business.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:31:11

So it's a testament to what you've been doing.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:31:13

How much or how important has the podcast been as part of that business success?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:31:21

It's been huge.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:31:23

. It's been huge.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:31:24

I think what I've also realized through the podcast and what I saw

Nicole Baldinu: 00:31:27

that Omar was trying to do was really building an audience is incredible.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:31:32

It's an incredible.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:31:33

Asset to have so that you can then continue to, create more service a

Nicole Baldinu: 00:31:37

product and offering that, people who were already committed to you have trust,

Nicole Baldinu: 00:31:42

in you would, might be willing to buy.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:31:44

So, the podcast, was launched in 2014.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:31:47

We were very fortunate.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:31:48

To be awarded, best of iTunes that year.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:31:51

So that was a, a huge accomplishment.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:31:53

Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:31:53

And that set us up for, okay this, because there was a failed podcast before that.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:31:58

So , we'd learn some hard, we learned some hard lessons before that one.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:32:01

But when, the a hundred R N B A really took off, it had legs.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:32:04

We realized, okay, this is working.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:32:06

This, we found, our voice and we found something that really works.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:32:11

That opened up, the opportunities for not just revenue and sponsorship,

Nicole Baldinu: 00:32:15

but speaking engagements.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:32:17

It's a huge marketing channel for Webinar Ninja, sharing stories, webinar

Nicole Baldinu: 00:32:21

Ninja gives a lot of content, to, to share on the podcast, but it also

Nicole Baldinu: 00:32:25

brings customers to webinar as well.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:32:28

So

John Ball: 00:32:28

That's great.

John Ball: 00:32:29

I love that.

John Ball: 00:32:30

I mean, I don't.

John Ball: 00:32:31

I'm not necessarily the current person says like everyone who

John Ball: 00:32:34

is sort of a coach or speaker or trainer should have a podcast, but.

John Ball: 00:32:40

I mean, , I feel, I feel like they should.

John Ball: 00:32:42

I think it's a good thing to have because one, one of the things that

John Ball: 00:32:45

I see, and, and I get people actually contacting me about this as well

John Ball: 00:32:48

which is that I'm always welcome to contact from people as well.

John Ball: 00:32:51

Just if anyone's thinking, oh, can we contact John or Nicole?

John Ball: 00:32:54

Like, yeah, you can reach out to us.

John Ball: 00:32:56

We may people, we'll, we'll fit it.

John Ball: 00:32:58

So I've had people contact me about that.

John Ball: 00:33:00

They're trying to be on all these different channels.

John Ball: 00:33:03

They're trying to do all.

John Ball: 00:33:05

Have content everywhere because that's what they think they're supposed to do

John Ball: 00:33:10

and I think part of it is, Part of it is they see some of the bigger players

John Ball: 00:33:14

doing that and don't necessarily realize that there's a whole team of people

John Ball: 00:33:19

usually who are doing that and they've had to build up to that they haven't

John Ball: 00:33:22

just started necessarily with that.

John Ball: 00:33:24

But also, There are some people out there who are teaching that

John Ball: 00:33:29

they need to be everywhere and be churning it out all the time as well.

John Ball: 00:33:32

And I do think it's a recipe for burnout for most people.

John Ball: 00:33:36

Yes.

John Ball: 00:33:36

And if not burnout, at least just disappointment.

John Ball: 00:33:39

And sending them to quitting earlier.

John Ball: 00:33:41

Yeah.

John Ball: 00:33:42

If you're trying to do too much, what do you think?

John Ball: 00:33:44

What would be your advice to people in that situation?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:33:47

Yeah, that's such a good, like, I've been

Nicole Baldinu: 00:33:49

thinking about this a lot because.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:33:52

I've been thinking about how I've been, I have a very much a love

Nicole Baldinu: 00:33:55

hate relationship with social media.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:33:58

. I feel like it's this, one of these, like, it's this necessary evil.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:34:01

It's a necessary

John Ball: 00:34:01

evil.

John Ball: 00:34:02

Yes.

John Ball: 00:34:02

Right?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:34:04

and, and I was reminded of it the other day when I was talking

Nicole Baldinu: 00:34:07

to Kate on the podcast actually, and she said, oh, you guys have done so well.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:34:11

I always remember that you just thought, social media's not our thing.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:34:15

We're not doing.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:34:17

and, and it's true, like we, when we launched the podcast, it was because

Nicole Baldinu: 00:34:22

we really believed in the medium.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:34:24

Like we saw people have, had success.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:34:27

But we also saw this is a great, it's a bit more long form.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:34:31

It's a way to really deliver and.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:34:33

Give a lot of value and connect with an audience, connect with the

Nicole Baldinu: 00:34:36

listener in a very intimate way.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:34:38

And so we just really fell in love.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:34:39

I'm with you when you say everyone should have a podcast, right?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:34:43

Because it is such a great medium.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:34:44

And then, but it takes time, right?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:34:47

It takes a long time to to be consistent.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:34:51

It takes that commitment.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:34:52

A lot of people do give up early.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:34:54

And so I think what I'm, what I see now, like what I've seen you.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:34:59

All the social media platforms that have come out and all the different

Nicole Baldinu: 00:35:02

ways to connect with your audience.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:35:04

I almost feel like that influencer model is almost trying to cut through

Nicole Baldinu: 00:35:10

and fast track or shortcut to what is something that takes quite a

Nicole Baldinu: 00:35:15

long time and actually takes a lot.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:35:18

Creating a podcast takes a lot of thought.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:35:20

It takes time.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:35:21

There's a whole process behind it, and there's not to discourage anyone, but

Nicole Baldinu: 00:35:24

I think the product you get in the, at the end, It is, it's quite special.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:35:30

And I, I don't know what it's like to go on a Facebook Live

Nicole Baldinu: 00:35:32

or turn, or an Instagram live.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:35:33

I'm sure that, has a lot of value as well.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:35:35

But I think there is that pressure of trying to be everywhere, and it's

Nicole Baldinu: 00:35:40

just like, why don't you just choose one, two mediums that you know you

Nicole Baldinu: 00:35:43

really wanna double down on and really get traction there before you start.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:35:49

When you, when you get traction, when you have the budget, you can bring on a team.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:35:53

You can bring on the team to

John Ball: 00:35:54

help you exactly that.

John Ball: 00:35:56

Yeah, exactly that.

John Ball: 00:35:57

I, I was chatting to somebody just yesterday who who was said to me,

John Ball: 00:36:00

He's talking about podcasting.

John Ball: 00:36:02

And he's saying that, oh, I said, what you been doing?

John Ball: 00:36:04

He said, I've been doing all these lives and stuff, and said, yeah, I

John Ball: 00:36:06

did that to you, but I wasn't really getting any much traction with it.

John Ball: 00:36:09

Like people saying, oh, go live all the time and you'll

John Ball: 00:36:11

get builders, huge audience.

John Ball: 00:36:13

And I was like, I'm sorry it didn't.

John Ball: 00:36:14

No, it did not happen for me.

John Ball: 00:36:16

Uh, and this guy's saying yes, same for me.

John Ball: 00:36:18

I'm going, going live at the time and feel like it's a lot of pumped energy into it

John Ball: 00:36:21

and it's also kind of lost afterwards.

John Ball: 00:36:24

And there's, the thing is like people are generally not gonna go back and watch your

John Ball: 00:36:27

old lives on replay, , on social media.

John Ball: 00:36:30

No, possibly, unless it's really valuable information, they're probably

John Ball: 00:36:34

not gonna watch replace at all.

John Ball: 00:36:35

Yeah.

John Ball: 00:36:36

But podcasts are a bit different.

John Ball: 00:36:38

Mm-hmm.

John Ball: 00:36:39

, if somebody fi, if you find a podcast you like, let's say you go and check out a

John Ball: 00:36:42

hundred dollar B eight which you should do, if you're listening to this, you

John Ball: 00:36:45

should definitely go and check that out.

John Ball: 00:36:46

And you listen to somebody, you think, oh, this is really good.

John Ball: 00:36:49

I like this.

John Ball: 00:36:50

The chances are you're gonna start going through the whole catalog of Yeah.

John Ball: 00:36:53

2000 episodes and say, oh, these, oh yeah.

John Ball: 00:36:57

I should listen to that one as well.

John Ball: 00:36:58

I should listen to that one.

John Ball: 00:36:59

So you will go through the back catalog?

John Ball: 00:37:01

Mm-hmm.

John Ball: 00:37:01

, the content is ever.

John Ball: 00:37:03

And that that is that even YouTube channels don't really have that

John Ball: 00:37:08

to the same way that podcasts.

John Ball: 00:37:10

Right.

John Ball: 00:37:10

I was, one of the things that I think is so valuable about it is

John Ball: 00:37:13

like the, the energy you're putting in, it's not a one-time deal.

John Ball: 00:37:16

It's not a, if they're not there, nobody's generally listening to it live anyway.

John Ball: 00:37:20

Not that many people still are doing live podcasts.

John Ball: 00:37:22

Right.

John Ball: 00:37:23

And, and I'm still not sure that's really going to become a thing, but.

John Ball: 00:37:26

We'll see.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:37:27

We'll see.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:37:27

We saw what happened at the clubhouse, right?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:37:29

That concept.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:37:31

. John Ball: Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:37:32

But we'll also TWI Twitter are kind of going down that path

Nicole Baldinu: 00:37:34

now with the spaces and stuff.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:37:36

But, but I also know that they're moving into a sort of podcast thing

Nicole Baldinu: 00:37:39

as well, so they're gonna have.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:37:41

Both.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:37:41

Mm-hmm.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:37:42

. But I do think, some people have been saying pod live podcasting

Nicole Baldinu: 00:37:45

is gonna be a big thing.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:37:47

I don't think that, I think the technology isn't quite there yet.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:37:49

And I think no you're so, you're certainly an exception to this,

Nicole Baldinu: 00:37:54

but some guests are not so reliable

Nicole Baldinu: 00:37:56

So, and when I've done some live shows before, people sometimes show up.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:38:01

. Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:38:01

And yeah, and like life happens.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:38:03

Sometimes just can't help this stuff.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:38:05

And so that's one of the reasons why I think live podcasting.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:38:08

Mm.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:38:09

No.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:38:09

But as a format, you have your, you have all your content out there.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:38:14

People can come back and say, oh, maybe something similar with blog,

Nicole Baldinu: 00:38:18

oh, I checked out this episode.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:38:20

However long ago, and it was, it was so good.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:38:22

Or you can even refer back to your old episodes like, oh, if you

Nicole Baldinu: 00:38:26

wanna know more about this, check out episode 66 where I talk about.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:38:30

Whatever, that, that's such a good tool to have and your effort, your

Nicole Baldinu: 00:38:34

energy is repurposed and Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:38:37

And still available to people.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:38:39

I dunno.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:38:39

I

Nicole Baldinu: 00:38:39

like that.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:38:40

Uh, I, no, I agree with you and you, and you mentioned

Nicole Baldinu: 00:38:43

when you said the noise, you know that when you're on social and alive, like.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:38:48

. It just, all that content can just get just caught up in this noise.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:38:53

It's super distracting and people are just jumping, oh, I got a notification now.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:38:57

I got a message now.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:38:58

Oh, hang on.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:38:58

What was that?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:38:59

Oh, I've got an event to go to.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:39:00

Wait, when did that , where were they before?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:39:03

But they don't even remember.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:39:04

I mean, they knew that happened to me, so it's interesting like with podcasting and

Nicole Baldinu: 00:39:07

I guess if we take it back to webinars too, cuz it's one of the questions we

Nicole Baldinu: 00:39:10

would always get asked or you stream to Facebook, why not do just a Facebook Live?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:39:14

What's the difference?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:39:15

And it's like, it's that attention, it's that very focused, localized attention.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:39:20

I'm not somewhere else, you know where I can.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:39:23

See other things and be distracted by other things.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:39:26

My attention is here in this place, whether it's on that podcast episode in

Nicole Baldinu: 00:39:31

my ears, or whether I'm just watching a webinar, watching a live workshop.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:39:35

And I think that's a big, a big advantage to these formats.

John Ball: 00:39:40

Yeah, and I think it's one of the, it is one of the things that

John Ball: 00:39:42

people struggle with a lot is presence and so, the interview podcast like this

John Ball: 00:39:46

is quite is quite an intimate scenario of it's a one-to-one conversation.

John Ball: 00:39:51

Yeah.

John Ball: 00:39:51

And whilst we are speaking, there's no one actually listening to us just

John Ball: 00:39:54

yet, but people who are listening to it people who are hearing our voices now are

John Ball: 00:39:59

listening to a conversation that was had.

John Ball: 00:40:02

A while ago, . That's just the surreal is, but when you're having the

John Ball: 00:40:04

conversation, you're there, you are.

John Ball: 00:40:05

Yes.

John Ball: 00:40:05

In the conversa, hopefully you're in the conversation.

John Ball: 00:40:08

You're not thinking about everything else that's going on for

John Ball: 00:40:10

public speaking or for webinars.

John Ball: 00:40:11

There's bit moving bits and pieces around.

John Ball: 00:40:13

Yes.

John Ball: 00:40:14

There, there's, there is stuff that can distract you if you're not careful.

John Ball: 00:40:16

And so you do have to get into that presence and be focused on what you're

John Ball: 00:40:19

delivering, who you're delivering it for.

John Ball: 00:40:21

Think about your.

John Ball: 00:40:23

Get out your head, be there, be present, and I think it's easier

John Ball: 00:40:27

to do in this sort of format.

John Ball: 00:40:29

Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:40:30

We're big fans.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:40:31

In case anyone didn't realize, big fans of podcasting

Nicole Baldinu: 00:40:35

. John Ball: But I want to,

Nicole Baldinu: 00:40:37

What, what are the things, what one of the things that I kind of preach and

Nicole Baldinu: 00:40:39

the Podfluence is all about, is being a guest on other people's podcasts

Nicole Baldinu: 00:40:44

which you very kindly or come agree to come and be a guest on this show.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:40:47

What value does that have for you as a professional?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:40:53

A lot.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:40:53

But the first thing I think about is a, it's something that my friend

Nicole Baldinu: 00:40:56

said, Michelle, on her podcast, that podcasting is a friend catcher.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:41:01

And I don't know if she paid a forward from someone else where she

Nicole Baldinu: 00:41:03

heard that, but I do feel that these opportunities to connect and have

Nicole Baldinu: 00:41:07

these conversations can result in friendships lifelong friendships.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:41:12

We're friends now, right?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:41:12

Johnny?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:41:13

I'm putting, I'm putting you, I'm putting you on this spot.

John Ball: 00:41:15

I'm.

John Ball: 00:41:16

No.

John Ball: 00:41:16

Yeah, I'm, I'm happy to be put on that spot.

John Ball: 00:41:18

Yeah.

John Ball: 00:41:19

I certainly feel that we are, we've connected, we, there's, you know, we've

John Ball: 00:41:23

even we've even kind of said, said the same words at the same time at some point.

John Ball: 00:41:26

No, that's rapport.

John Ball: 00:41:27

That, that that stuff doesn't come easy.

John Ball: 00:41:29

But yeah, absolutely.

John Ball: 00:41:30

But you realize people are gonna be, people f who are listening to this

John Ball: 00:41:33

are gonna be going, yeah, I heard Nicole bne on this podcast say that

John Ball: 00:41:37

podcasts are friend catchers and so you are gonna get . I'm gonna get

John Ball: 00:41:42

attribute the attribution for that

Nicole Baldinu: 00:41:44

now.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:41:44

Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:41:44

No, I, no, again, I don't know who came up with it, but I think, I

Nicole Baldinu: 00:41:48

thought it was, it's a good one.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:41:49

I like that.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:41:50

It's a good one.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:41:51

I think.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:41:51

Again I really believe that communication is, one of those skills that everybody

Nicole Baldinu: 00:41:57

should be working and refining that it can help us in, our personal

Nicole Baldinu: 00:42:01

lives, in our professional lives.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:42:03

And I do see that exercising the muscle of speaking, communicating con, having

Nicole Baldinu: 00:42:09

a conversation sharing a message.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:42:13

All of that.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:42:13

You can, you get to do this, you get to have this opportunity every

Nicole Baldinu: 00:42:17

single time that you show up.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:42:19

And you get to share your message.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:42:20

You get to give back.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:42:21

There's collaborations that come out of, podcasting.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:42:25

Being on each other's shows all of that.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:42:27

So there's, yeah, there's a tremendous benefit to being on a guest.

John Ball: 00:42:31

Do you feel that there are things you've had to learn about

John Ball: 00:42:34

being a podcast guest that would maybe be a bit different to being a

John Ball: 00:42:38

webinar presenter or a podcast host?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:42:41

Hmm.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:42:43

I think being mindful of the energy, being mindful of the, I wanna say, I'm

Nicole Baldinu: 00:42:50

very sensitive or aware of ambience.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:42:53

I feel like there's an ambience that's created in, even though it's not a

Nicole Baldinu: 00:42:57

physical, tangible ambience because we're on, you know, different parts in different

Nicole Baldinu: 00:43:02

parts of the world and all of that.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:43:04

But being mindful and aware and slotting yourself into.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:43:09

The tone of the podcast I think is important cuz it could be very jarring.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:43:12

Your listeners are used to you, they come back for you.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:43:15

Yeah, they come back for the guests that you interview, but they come

Nicole Baldinu: 00:43:18

back to hear you and there's a tone, there's a vibe that's created.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:43:22

And so being mindful of that, I think is important.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:43:25

Doesn't mean you have to change who you are or speak in a different way.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:43:30

But I think being mindful of that is something that I've

Nicole Baldinu: 00:43:33

recognized with podcasts.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:43:34

You match each other's energy in some ways.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:43:37

I don't know if you relate to that at all.

John Ball: 00:43:39

I, no, I absolutely do.

John Ball: 00:43:40

And one of, one of the things that It's always interesting to me.

John Ball: 00:43:43

Sometimes there are conversations where the rapport clicks in straight away and

John Ball: 00:43:48

it goes really well right from the start.

John Ball: 00:43:51

Sometimes it doesn't click at all, which is rarer.

John Ball: 00:43:54

I think that's a bit rarer for me.

John Ball: 00:43:55

I've only maybe had that once or twice.

John Ball: 00:43:57

And I probably haven't published these episodes to be honest.

John Ball: 00:44:01

We'll never know.

John Ball: 00:44:02

, you'll never know.

John Ball: 00:44:03

So, but more commonly, the rapport kind of clicks in halfway through

John Ball: 00:44:09

or two thirds into the conversation.

John Ball: 00:44:10

And so sometimes it's the last pipe, I think, oh man, I don't

John Ball: 00:44:14

want to end this conversation now because it's really into a flow.

John Ball: 00:44:17

Yes.

John Ball: 00:44:18

I just have that style of show like I, I.

John Ball: 00:44:21

Roughly what I want to speak to you like I, I pretty much knew

John Ball: 00:44:24

there, there were things that I wanted to speak to you about today.

John Ball: 00:44:26

But we've talked about, a few things.

John Ball: 00:44:28

But I like to give myself the space to like, no, I want to go wherever I feel

John Ball: 00:44:31

that I need to go here because I want it to be a natural conversation rather than

John Ball: 00:44:36

a prepared interview show, which I know some people do, and that's great as well.

John Ball: 00:44:41

Horses for courses, but this is my style and it works well for me.

John Ball: 00:44:45

But there is that risk of sometimes the rapport takes a while to yes, to build up,

John Ball: 00:44:50

mm-hmm.

John Ball: 00:44:50

And still get people saying, oh, is podcasting a thing?

John Ball: 00:44:54

Is it really gonna last?

John Ball: 00:44:55

Is it kind of die is like far from it.

John Ball: 00:44:59

It's really only just getting started, in my opinion.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:45:02

Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:45:02

Oh, I agree.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:45:04

I agree.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:45:04

You're right.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:45:05

And I think the con, the type of show as well, as a guest, I.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:45:10

Always make sure that I listen because I, not only do I wanna know what your,

Nicole Baldinu: 00:45:14

you are after, what your audience is expecting because that consistency,

Nicole Baldinu: 00:45:18

I think is I, is important as well.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:45:21

so I always make time to listen and listen to different episodes

Nicole Baldinu: 00:45:24

so that I can be familiar.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:45:26

I c I could be prepared as well.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:45:27

You're right there.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:45:29

I've noticed that in a conversation type podcast even if it is an interview,

Nicole Baldinu: 00:45:33

but it kind of flows more like an open conversation, it does take a

Nicole Baldinu: 00:45:37

while to warm up, and that that juicy meany stuff usually ends up being

Nicole Baldinu: 00:45:41

at the end because people Yes, each the we're more relaxed we're more

Nicole Baldinu: 00:45:45

comfortable, we found a bit of a flow.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:45:47

So yeah, I can relate to that.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:45:49

Yeah.

John Ball: 00:45:50

feel, I feel.

John Ball: 00:45:51

Confident enough to be able to ask, because I don't think this is gonna

John Ball: 00:45:54

be the answer, but what has been your, perhaps your worst experience?

John Ball: 00:45:59

Either as a podcast guest or as a host?

John Ball: 00:46:03

You don't have to name names, just we'll keep it anonymous.

John Ball: 00:46:07

No,

Nicole Baldinu: 00:46:07

that's okay.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:46:07

Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:46:08

I won't name names.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:46:09

I.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:46:11

And I think this might come with experience, but I think earlier on I did.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:46:15

I'm the type of person, I don't like to phone things in.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:46:18

I like to shop, I like to be prepared.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:46:20

I like to be organized.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:46:21

It's just the way I am.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:46:22

It's the way I operate.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:46:23

And so I think in earlier, Experiences that I had as a guest

Nicole Baldinu: 00:46:27

when I didn't have any information really as to what I was going to

Nicole Baldinu: 00:46:31

be, what we were gonna talk about.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:46:33

Perhaps it was even a new show.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:46:35

So there wasn't much that I could, feed off and understand like

Nicole Baldinu: 00:46:38

what the audience needs, what the host is looking for, all of that.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:46:41

I.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:46:42

Did have experiences where, you know the host would just say, just show up.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:46:46

Just be yourself.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:46:46

You're gonna be awesome.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:46:48

And I really didn't feel like I did the conversation, the interview justice,

Nicole Baldinu: 00:46:53

because I could have been just that little bit more prepared had I had

Nicole Baldinu: 00:46:58

the opportunity been available to me.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:47:00

And I'm not, I don't wanna blame the host.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:47:02

because that's, that's not really what I'm trying to say, but I do think, the

Nicole Baldinu: 00:47:06

fact that you go into, taking the time to do pre-interviews, all of that,

Nicole Baldinu: 00:47:10

some people might say, oh, really?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:47:12

Why?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:47:12

I'm a professional, I can just show up.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:47:13

I know how to, I've done this a million times.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:47:15

Yeah, I okay that sometimes.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:47:17

But there's so much that comes from, you mentioned, just we already have

Nicole Baldinu: 00:47:21

a connection, which can make this conversation go so much better.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:47:25

And I'd say the same thing.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:47:26

, just giving the guest a bit of preparation these are the

Nicole Baldinu: 00:47:29

things I'd like to talk about.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:47:30

This is what I see that you can, this is where I see you can add value.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:47:33

This is where I see you've got, some things that my audience can benefit from.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:47:37

And just that little bit of a heads up,

Nicole Baldinu: 00:47:38

. John Ball: I, I feel that's

Nicole Baldinu: 00:47:41

that in the pre-interview and recap.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:47:43

As we did before, before we start talking.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:47:45

Just and, but that, this is why I said I don't like to be too

Nicole Baldinu: 00:47:48

rigid on the content because sometimes I'll just hear something.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:47:51

I think we definitely need to talk about that.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:47:54

Or I want to go a bit deeper into this, or that could be a bit of a rabbit hole.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:47:58

Let's step into it and see and we can pull back if we need to.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:48:02

But, I like to have that flexibility and I think it makes

Nicole Baldinu: 00:48:04

for a more interesting listen.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:48:07

Maybe you see this as well, but a lot of shows just well, we're just gonna

Nicole Baldinu: 00:48:09

talk about anything with anyone and cover all the subjects under the sun.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:48:13

And it's like, then nobody's gonna listen to your show.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:48:17

. Sorry.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:48:17

But yeah they're.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:48:19

You have to be pretty specific these days and Yes.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:48:22

With, without that, like something like the hundred dollars MBA is

Nicole Baldinu: 00:48:26

a very specific kind of thing for people like you, you pretty much

Nicole Baldinu: 00:48:30

know what you're gonna be getting.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:48:31

Yes.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:48:32

And that has to be the case.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:48:33

It's like you got, if you call it the, you called your show the Nicole Baloo show

Nicole Baldinu: 00:48:39

what's, uh, Nick?

John Ball: 00:48:40

Yeah, yeah.

John Ball: 00:48:41

Or if I call it the John Ball Show I do people know who we are?

John Ball: 00:48:44

Really that well, yeah.

John Ball: 00:48:46

Uh, No.

John Ball: 00:48:46

That's not gonna pull people in.

John Ball: 00:48:48

But, Podfluence or hundred or B kind of gives you an idea.

John Ball: 00:48:51

Yes.

John Ball: 00:48:51

You pretty much.

John Ball: 00:48:53

What you're gonna be getting into before you've listened to it.

John Ball: 00:48:56

And so long as the content that gets delivered in those things relates to

John Ball: 00:49:00

that and it is within that sort of niche, people will keep coming back

Nicole Baldinu: 00:49:04

for it.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:49:04

Yeah.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:49:05

Yeah, a hundred percent.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:49:06

And I was gonna say like, it is definitely format dependent.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:49:09

So what the way you show up as a guest or as a host depends on your format.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:49:13

And if you're very clear about your format.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:49:15

That will generally go well.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:49:17

But you know, with something like the a hundred dollars MBA show the format is

Nicole Baldinu: 00:49:20

so different in the sense that it's a lesson and that consistency of delivering

Nicole Baldinu: 00:49:25

that lesson, that short format, no fluff, no backs, stories, just here

Nicole Baldinu: 00:49:30

is what you're going to learn today.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:49:31

And it's a very specific topic with actionable advice.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:49:34

If we, if Omar didn't deliver the.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:49:37

Consistent format and the same and de and pretty much keep

Nicole Baldinu: 00:49:41

his, be good for his word.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:49:42

This is the promise that, they're tuning in for then.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:49:45

Yeah, the show wouldn't be successful because I think podcast, this has really

Nicole Baldinu: 00:49:49

come to depend on that consistency.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:49:51

It's just like your favorite TV show.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:49:52

You know what you're gonna expect, every time you tune in.

John Ball: 00:49:56

Absolutely is.

John Ball: 00:49:57

Is there a recent episode that you think our listeners

John Ball: 00:49:59

should here, should check out?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:50:01

we've started what he started to do recently, we

Nicole Baldinu: 00:50:03

used to have a format again, it's eight, eight years now since 2014.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:50:07

We would alternate on a Monday with a must read and a guest teacher episode.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:50:11

We've recently started to introduce actually having that guest teacher be an

Nicole Baldinu: 00:50:16

interview where Omar interviews A guest and recently he interviewed Aman Alad,

Nicole Baldinu: 00:50:22

who used to be the c e O of AppSumo.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:50:24

That conversation is super interesting super, super interesting.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:50:27

So you want, you wanna check that one out?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:50:29

Oh,

John Ball: 00:50:30

I, I'm gonna check that out.

John Ball: 00:50:31

Yeah.

John Ball: 00:50:31

Yeah.

John Ball: 00:50:31

I'm very familiar with AppSumo and there, that sounds like

John Ball: 00:50:34

that's gonna be fascinating.

John Ball: 00:50:36

And for people who are maybe thinking.

John Ball: 00:50:40

Webinars and I want to know a bit more about Webinar Ninja.

John Ball: 00:50:44

What's the best way for them to learn about that?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:50:47

They can head over to webinar ninja.com.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:50:50

We have blogs Omar runs, we run a Twice a month a webinar

Nicole Baldinu: 00:50:54

for anyone who's interested.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:50:55

It's a free workshop.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:50:56

You get to see, the app in action.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:50:58

You get some content, you get a lesson there as well on how

Nicole Baldinu: 00:51:01

to deliver a great webinar.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:51:02

So we definitely have a lot of content over at webinar ninja.com.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:51:06

We've recently, we launched a community earlier this year, which is, has

Nicole Baldinu: 00:51:09

been really fun, really exciting.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:51:11

We've got an amazing community manager, Jenny.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:51:13

She does an awesome job.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:51:14

So people who end up do signing sign.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:51:17

Join the community and they get to share best practices and just give each other

Nicole Baldinu: 00:51:20

feedback on all that fun webinar stuff.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:51:22

So, yeah.

John Ball: 00:51:23

Yeah.

John Ball: 00:51:23

Great.

John Ball: 00:51:24

Well, look, I'm gonna, I'm gonna make sure there's a link to the episode

John Ball: 00:51:26

you mentioned in the show notes for people to go and check out listen to

John Ball: 00:51:30

that interview but also, The link to Webinar Ninja and to, for people who

John Ball: 00:51:34

may want to reach out to you and go and contact you personally, that's all

John Ball: 00:51:37

gonna be in the show notes for people.

John Ball: 00:51:38

If there was you mentioned action and importance of action earlier.

John Ball: 00:51:41

If there's one action you would like people to take from this

John Ball: 00:51:44

call today, what would that be?

John Ball: 00:51:46

Start a podcast.

John Ball: 00:51:49

A podcast.

John Ball: 00:51:49

I like that.

John Ball: 00:51:51

. Oh yeah.

John Ball: 00:51:52

I, I can actually, I can certainly go along with.

John Ball: 00:51:54

Is there anything you wish you had known at the start of your journey

John Ball: 00:51:58

that if you could go back and tell yourself that you had like just, uh, one

John Ball: 00:52:02

sentence or a couple of words just to sort of say, wish I wish I could send

John Ball: 00:52:06

this message back in time to myself?

Nicole Baldinu: 00:52:08

You often know more than you think.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:52:11

When that imposter syndrome creeps up and there's that constant

Nicole Baldinu: 00:52:15

self-doubt and lack of confidence.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:52:17

Oh, I don't know enough.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:52:18

I'm not good enough.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:52:19

What do I.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:52:21

Just give yourself the benefit of the doubt you might surprise yourself.

John Ball: 00:52:26

Wonderful.

John Ball: 00:52:26

Nicole, it's been, it's been a real pleasure chatting to you.

John Ball: 00:52:30

You are absolute delight.

John Ball: 00:52:31

You've been very generous with your time and your information and and

John Ball: 00:52:34

certainly I feel like I've made a friend and I'm glad you do too.

John Ball: 00:52:37

So, uh, you are welcome on the show anytime you would like

John Ball: 00:52:40

to come back yourself and.

John Ball: 00:52:42

And, uh, and I look forward to staying connected with you and

John Ball: 00:52:46

I, and I will certainly do that through the podcast as well.

John Ball: 00:52:49

And I hope people listening to this will do the same.

John Ball: 00:52:52

Nicole, thank you for coming and being a guest on Pod

Nicole Baldinu: 00:52:54

Tour.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:52:54

Thank you so much, Johnny.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:52:55

I had a really great time.

Nicole Baldinu: 00:52:57

Thank you.

John Ball: 00:52:57

Thanks for tuning in, and I hope you got some great value after

John Ball: 00:53:00

this episode and that it wasn't too cringe listening to me struggling to

John Ball: 00:53:05

get through that as an interviewer.

John Ball: 00:53:07

So if you've ever wondered how to make webinars part of your business growth

John Ball: 00:53:10

strategy and what it takes to grow a top podcast that hopefully you got

John Ball: 00:53:14

some great notes outta today's call.

John Ball: 00:53:16

Now you can check out Webinar Ninja and the $100 MBA from the links

John Ball: 00:53:21

in the show notes, and also give Nicole's new podcast a listen as well.

John Ball: 00:53:27

I wanna encourage you as well to come and get your free podcast guest checklist

John Ball: 00:53:30

when you subscribe to the Podfluence Weekly newsletter in the show notes.

John Ball: 00:53:34

Just so you know, if you subscribe through LinkedIn, there's no free

John Ball: 00:53:38

download there, but if you do shoot me a message, I'll send you something else

John Ball: 00:53:42

very cool.

John Ball: 00:53:42

Instead.

John Ball: 00:53:44

Now of course you can subscribe in both, if you'd like to do that, but you

John Ball: 00:53:47

might see a bit of duplication there.

John Ball: 00:53:50

And for anyone who's tuning in for the first time after having heard me

John Ball: 00:53:52

speaking on a panel at Pod Fest this year.

John Ball: 00:53:55

I appreciate you covering and checking out the show and hope

John Ball: 00:53:58

you'll come and join us next time.

John Ball: 00:54:00

For now, though, all the remains for me to say is wherever you're

John Ball: 00:54:02

going, whatever you're doing, have an amazing rest of good day.