099: Creating Content That’s More Impactful and Less Overwhelming with Gracia Ostendorf
Trying to plan and create content on social media that feels unique and impactful day after day can be so overwhelming. Where do you start? What trends should you follow? What are you even supposed to talk about?
In today’s episode, Gracia Ostendorf is here to break down her best tips for content creation and simplify the process for us. Gracia reminds us –once again– that social media and content creation isn’t about getting tons of views or downloads, but to make connections that turn listeners into clients. And the best way to make connections is about thinking through what your audience needs and showing them how you can help in a real and authentic way.
Let’s dive into her best strategies for creating content that’ll move the needle in your business without draining all of your energy!
#1 | Stop stressing about trends.
Okay, let’s get this out of the way: There is no “perfect” strategy or formula that you need to follow to make content for social media! If you don’t like making funny reels or dancing around on Tiktok, you don’t have to. The content that is going to work best for you and your business is content that feels aligned and authentic.
#2 | Take an outsider’s perspective on your content.
As business owners, we’re so close to our work – maybe a little too close sometimes. And that can make us hesitant to share things about our work that we don’t find new or exciting anymore. But things that might feel mundane to us are still probably brand new to someone who just found your Instagram page this morning. Don’t write off topics or stories just because they feel overly familiar to you. Ask yourself, would I have known this five years ago? Would this be common knowledge to someone who is new to my industry? Looking back and remembering what you wish you had known when you first started out in your industry is a great way to brainstorm new content.
#3 | Focus on the message, not the details.
Cute graphics are important for catching attention, and higher reach is definitely good for the ego, but none of that matters if your message isn’t clear and powerful. At the end of the day, your business content should be strategic and focused on educating your audience about your brand and services and then –hopefully– converting some of those followers to clients. Take some time to think about your business, your sales pitch, and how your message can serve others in your market. Then use that information to craft a message that can communicate to your audience in your unique voice.
#4 | Don’t forget to show your human side.
Your audience and potential clients want to know that there’s a real, relatable human behind your business. Don’t get so wrapped up in “business” stuff that you don’t take the time to be a little more human too. Posting polls, behind-the-scenes of your work, favorite drinks or books, etc is a great way to form meaningful connections with your audience. You don’t have to get overly personal if you’re not comfortable with it, but don’t be afraid to show your messy desk or “unstaged” videos. People want to see a person behind your business, not a robot.
#5 | Educate your audience!
Educational content gets a lot of attention on social media and for good reason – people are often looking for solutions to problems or answers to questions. But not all educational content has to be a “did you know” carousel or a how-to video.
Gracia uses three different stages to help educate her audience. In one stage, she targets an audience who might be brand new to her and educates them on who she is and what services she offers and other basic information. In the next stage, she educates her audience on why she’s qualified to assist them using behind-the-scenes, showing her process, and other techniques to build authority. In the last stage, she solidifies the trust she’s been building with her audience by sharing social proof, like testimonials or finished work that she’s done for others. After this educational process, she’s set the stage for her potential clients to be comfortable buying from her, without having to be overly salesy.
#6 | Don’t overthink it and just get started.
You can’t refine your message, your strategy, and your content if you don’t get started. Don’t worry about being perfect. Getting hung up on the perfect message just leads to overwhelm and overthinking. Post things, adjust as needed, and learn as you go!
Content creation and sharing your business is something that should empower and complement your business, not take up all your creative energy. Hopefully Gracia’s tips gave you some great ideas to put the fun back into social media. Tune in for another awesome episode next week!
Are you looking for a partner who can help you manage your podcast, stay on top of industry trends, and give you more energy and space to create the content that’ll really move the needle for your business? Check out our monthly production service, where we partner with you to create the best, most aligned podcast episodes week after week to help you reach your ideal clients and share your unique voice with your audience.
Links:
Check out our services to Launch, Uplevel or Grow your Podcast
If you’re looking for even more podcast information and inspiration, join my CLOSE FRIENDS list on instagram. Click on my CLOSE FRIENDS highlight to learn more.
Ready to gain back some of your time, uplevel your podcast and focus on creating content?
We have openings for monthly management! Click here to learn more!
The Transcript for Podcast Your Business:
099: Creating Content That’s More Impactful and Less Overwhelming with Gracia Ostendorf
[00:00:00] Gracia Ostendorf If you aren't that into putting personal stuff out there on the Internet, you can also create connections through things that are a little bit more business focused by just posing things that help your ideal client feel seen and understood, and that can connect you guys really well as well. So that's doing stuff like posting about their pain points or their common struggles that they're going through. Or on the flip side of that posting about, you know what, you know, their dream solution is what they're looking for, what this better world would look like to them.
[00:00:33] Caroline Hull Are you ready to start a strategic podcast for your business and share your message in a way that feels wildly authentic? This is the place. Welcome to Podcast Your Business, where each week I share the strategy behind having a podcast that helps grow your business. I'm Caroline Hull, podcast manager, strategist and consultant, and I've seen the power of podcasts can have for your business. Let's get started.
[00:01:04] Caroline Hull I am so excited to introduce you to my friend Gracia. I met Gracia through a mutual online friend, if you will, and started following her Instagram account and just absolutely fell in love with her ideas and strategies for creating content. I just love her approach to it and it really aligns with what we've been talking about on this podcast, about creating content that creates connections and shows who you are and what you do without feeling icky or salesy, right? So Gracia is a business coach for solo producers specializing in content strategy, leaning on her professional experience in both education and marketing. She helps solopreneur be both business owners and humans by crafting an unpronounceable, bespoke business with their unique skills and needs in mind, while also developing absolute clarity on the content strategy that will spark real, authentic connection with ideal customers. I knew when we sat down to do this interview that we could probably talk about it for days, and I definitely feel like out of this conversation came so many more things that I want to talk about with her, because so much of what she talks about aligns with what we've talked about and our approach here at Wild Home Podcast to creating podcast episodes and then using that as content pieces in other places. And so get out your notebook, take some notes, be sure to go follow her on Instagram, will definitely have a link in the show notes and enjoy this amazing conversation about creating content. Hi Gracia, thank you so much for coming on the show. Welcome.
[00:02:43] Gracia Ostendorf Hi. Thanks for having me.
[00:02:44] Caroline Hull Yeah. Could you just introduce yourself to my audience and tell us what you do?
[00:02:50] Gracia Ostendorf Yeah. My name is Gracia Ostendorf. I'm a coach for creative business owners and Side Hustlers, specifically in the area of content strategy.
[00:02:59] Caroline Hull I'm probably repeating myself from the intro, but I actually stumbled across you on Instagram because we have a mutual Instagram friend, Melanie Lee, who was on the show. So we'll link to her her episode as well. And I immediately just fell in love with your take on content. And I don't know, you make it seem like, yes, of course, that's exactly what I should be doing every time I read one of your posts. But I also feel like you and I say a lot of the same things when we're talking about content, because a lot of what you say about content in general, I will say to my podcast clients and listeners about podcast content. And so that's really why I wanted to bring you on today. So we're going to dive into all kinds of things about content. So everybody get your notebooks ready. And I want to start out by just kind of talking about why do you think content feels so hard for business owners?
[00:03:55] Gracia Ostendorf There are a few reasons, I think, why coming up with content just feels so hard for everybody right now. I think one one side of it is that we're just like constantly consuming other people's content online, and so we're getting stuck in that mindset of comparison. And like you, you start to think that you need to do what everyone else is doing. So things like trends, especially with reels and tick tock, the pointing at words and the dancing and the lip synching to other people's audio. Like that doesn't feel natural to them and it doesn't feel authentic and it doesn't feel like in line with their brand or their business or what they want to be known for at all. So if you haven't done that foundational like strategy work for your content, which is, you know, figuring out who your ideal client is, how you can help them, what makes you different from your competitors and really like deeply establish your own content strategy that's actually rooted in your strengths and your differentiators and your voice that you want to put out in the world. It's easy to get sidetracked and think, okay, I'm just I'm supposed to be creating this trending content that. Everyone else is creating and it doesn't feel right to you. So creating content just feels hard, it feels natural, it feels unenjoyable.
[00:05:07] Gracia Ostendorf I think another side of it is as a business owner, you're so close to your own business and like your your ideas and your expertise, you know them so well that it actually gets harder to communicate it to other people because you're in this expert mindset and you're talking to people who you know are you five or ten years ago when you were a beginner in all this stuff and you didn't know anything about it? It's hard for you to understand, like what people would be interested in. I had a client that I worked with awhile back who designed movie posters, who had a great example of this during our sessions. I have like worksheets and prompts that I use and I ask questions to go through figuring out their positioning and their content ideas and all that. So at one point with him, we were walking through his process for a poster he designed for. It was like a martial arts kind of movie. When I asked him for his process, he kind of just told me like high level, the general process you went through. And I kept probing deeper and deeper and asking him more detailed questions. And eventually we got to this point where he told me he was pointing out the different elements of the poster, and he was like, Oh, you see that fist on there? Like, that's actually my fist, because it was because of some reason, like the, you know, the filmmaker didn't have the right photography that he needed for the poster or something like that. Yeah. So to him, like this trivial detail, it was like that didn't matter to anyone because from his point of view he's like, Why would a customer want to know that? Like, that's my fist in the poster because it's just part of his daily job. He's like, That's just what I do when I don't have the photos I need. Yeah, but from my point of view, I'm like, That's really interesting. First of all, that your fist is in this movie poster that you weren't in. And also that's going to show your customer that like, you are resourceful. Like if they don't have the burden isn't on them to get you everything you need, you can come up with your own resources and things to fill in those gaps and you can be creative and you can still create a great poster for them. I think it's, you know, we almost get numb to these kind of things that are so like normal and commonplace to us in our craft or in our skill that we're an expert in. But that's why I think it's so critical to, like, have that outside perspective or that sounding board to bounce ideas off of and get those like really great nuggets out of. And that's, that's why I have a coach. And even as a content strategist, I'm a part of masterminds. I'm a part of group coaching programs because it gets you so much clarity to like share those ideas and have people ask questions and hear other people's perspectives on it.
[00:07:42] Caroline Hull Yeah. Oh my gosh. So much wisdom in your little opening answer there. Okay, so I have a few things I want to touch on. I totally agree with you on the mastermind coach aspect. It's really interesting because we're in this mastermind for like Instagram, right? And one of the things that I love that comes up for me all the time kind of exactly what you're talking about is this concept of, you know, I will sit here and tell my clients all day they need to do X, Y, and Z. And then when we're sitting in there talking about creating content and I'm like, Oh yeah, I said to my clients all the time, I'm not doing it. Yeah, you're absolutely right is because you're so close to the thing. You don't see all the pieces or all the value or, or you don't communicate all the value because you, it just seems like that's. Yeah, of course of course that's their don't you know that. And they don't necessarily always know that you have to communicate it. I also love what you said about the viral video thing. I will admit every once in a while I like to do a trendy viral reel just for kicks and giggles. But I do think there is this pressure that if I don't get 10,000 views on a real nobody is going to buy from me. And one of the things that I've talked about on this podcast a lot is like reframing your numbers and realizing that instead of chasing the 10,000 people you need to be chasing the ten that really care about what you say because they're the ones that are going to connect and purchase from you in the long run. Not the 10,000 people who are just scrolling and saw you for a hot second. And so I really love that you brought that up. So many good things.
[00:09:15] Gracia Ostendorf Yeah, I think the numbers thing is so important because I mean, I signed my first coaching client when it was recently. It was shortly after I pivoted to coaching. And so if you look back at the posts that I had out there on Instagram, like they didn't do well, I'm saying that with quotation marks because like if you just look at the numbers, like they had very minimal legs, they probably reached 100 or 200 people. Like not a huge amount. But that first client I got said they found me through my Instagram posts. They weren't a follower for very long. They were follower for just a few days. But they saw me. I don't even know how they found my posts, I guess through a hashtag or an explore page or something, but they found them. They said that was all of the messages that I put in there really resonated with them. And it just really felt like what they were thinking and feeling, and that's why they decided to sign up for my program. So, I mean, I like to share, you know, with my audience and my clients that, like the focus should just be on the message. Like, that's what your.
[00:10:18] Caroline Hull Yes.
[00:10:19] Gracia Ostendorf That's what you should be focused on in your content. Not the numbers, not the graphics, not the videos, not the visuals, like literally just your message. And that's why it's so important to do all this strategy work that I do with my clients to get that right. So you can have opportunities like that that come up from someone following you for two days. But they were just so in line with what you were saying that they decided to work with you.
[00:10:41] Caroline Hull I literally did an episode about this the other day. I'm not sure where all this is airing in relation to each other, but we'll be sure to only get in the show notes. And I talked about this, I talked about this how, you know, your messaging is working when you book a call with somebody and they like regurgitate back to you something they saw or heard or they say, like I booked a client for a refresh and she was like, your Instagram content, kind of the same thing. She had followed me on Instagram. She loved everything she's on Instagram, went and checked out my podcast, liked it even more, and then booked and hadn't been in my sphere very long. And I just think that's a real testament to, like you said, how honing in on your message is so important, but also like to keep sharing it. Like you cannot get discouraged if you do ten posts and nobody books with you or you do ten episodes and you haven't gotten a lead yet. Like sometimes it can take time, but when it starts to work, it works. And like we just spoke to clients this month just off of my podcast. And so I think hearing stories like that is really important when you're creating content because it can feel like you're doing it in a vacuum sometimes. But what you put out there matters and what people read and hear from you, it really matters. And when it resonates and when you start to hit that sweet spot where you feel like your content is aligned, then you start to see these things happen. Every time I Yeah, it really it does. It does.
[00:12:05] Gracia Ostendorf Yeah. I would add to that to that like the message, I guess I have a addendum to what I said earlier. The message is very, very important for your content, but almost equally as important is just the timing on your clients side. So what I mean is like this guy, this person who booked with me after three days, after three days of following me, like the timing was right for that person they were looking to buy, right? There are other people who they're just not ready to buy right now. It's maybe they're like in a bunch of other programs and they can't join yours because they don't have capacity for it. Maybe they don't. The money right now, like they're just things happening in their life holding them back from buying. But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't be talking to them and putting your message out there.
[00:12:51] Caroline Hull Right.
[00:12:51] Gracia Ostendorf Because it's kind of just building up with them and they're growing to to trust you more and more. And then when that timing is right, they know about you and you are their go to and you're in their head. I just joined a like a group coaching program of a woman that I've been following for over a year. I think I found her through someone else's Instagram, started listening to her podcast. I've been following her content. I think I'm on her email list, like I've been getting all this content from her for over a year, but I just didn't have the time or capacity to join her program until a couple of months ago. So everything all those little posts count, even if they're not getting like thousands of likes or or reaching tons of people.
[00:13:33] Caroline Hull Yeah, absolutely. I love that so much. And that's also to like why I constantly preach like, you got to stay consistent and you got to stick with it because to somebody there, somebody listening who in two years, like you said, they're going to be like, Oh, I need somebody to help me with content. Oh, yeah, I follow that one. Let me find her or I need a podcast manager. Like it. That's exactly, exactly right. When we talk about like, creating connection, I love if you could share just a few types of content that you you love for creating connection through Instagram. Anywhere. Anywhere.
[00:14:06] Gracia Ostendorf Yeah. I personally am a big believer in sharing things on your your business accounts that aren't always like 100% strictly related to business, you know, not things that are like too personal that you don't feel comfortable putting out in the public eye. But just like little things that help people connect with you as a human being, Because I think more and more that's what people want, is to buy from an actual person and connect with an actual person rather than this like, faceless, anonymous brand. So I'll use Instagram stories too. I'll use that platform a lot to share a little bit more about me as a person, what my daily life looks like. I'll post like fun pulls and things about like I think I've posted some about your your favorite brand of sparkling water and you're your least favorite level of a video game, like things that have nothing to do with my business. But they're just those honestly get way more engagement than. The polls and things I talk about that are strictly business related. And I think people just want to connect with you more on that human level.
[00:15:07] Caroline Hull Yeah, I love that.
[00:15:08] Gracia Ostendorf If you if you aren't that into putting personal stuff out there on the Internet, you can also create connection through things that are a little bit more business focused by just posing things that help your ideal client feel seen and understood, and that can connect you guys really well as well. So that's doing stuff like posting about their pain points or their common struggles that they're going through. Or on the flip side of that posting about, you know what, you know, their dream solution is what they're looking for, what this better world would look like to them if they hire or buy from you and get your your solution to solve their problems. I recently posted a real that just had like a big text caption on it said focus on the person reading your words more than the algorithm of the platform you posted on or something along those lines. And I got a ton of responses and engagement to that because I think it was just a simple statement. It was a very simple real it was like a video of me just working like I set up my phone and did a time lapse and just stuck a caption on top. Yeah, very, very minimal effort went into like the the visual creation of this. But I think it touched on a couple of things. One being the frustration that people are feeling with Instagram right now and social media algorithms in general. And also this idea, this possibility of like, oh, there's another way I can look at this. Like, you mean, I don't have to worry about the algorithm. I can just think about real human beings and like talking to people instead. And that's what I probably want right now because are so frustrated with the algorithm and not getting enough reads and likes and whatever. So it, it kind of simultaneously touched on a pain point and this dream's illusion, and I think people really connected with that. So that was a little bit less personal, more business focused. But I think you can still spark connection with stuff like that too.
[00:17:01] Caroline Hull Yeah, and I really love what you said about remembering that the people who are following you or listening to you reading whatever you're putting out there, like they're human beings and they want to be seen. And this is something that I've been talking about a lot with podcasting and choosing your episode content. You know, instead of being so focused on the solution and constantly saying like, you need this, you need this, you need this, sometimes like, what people really want is for someone to understand where they are in their journey. And so really like focusing on those pain points and sharing like what it feels like to be there and how to, you know, how to work through those pain points and things like that. I feel like that creates that, that feeling of being seen so much more. And it also, I think, helps like keep your, your content from getting stale and salesy feeling, you know, when you really focus on that like human human being aspect.
[00:17:59] Gracia Ostendorf Oh yeah. I mean, how many people like have a partner or a friend or something where you are telling them your problems or like the awful day you had and they try to fix it immediately and you're like, Oh, like I just want to vent. Like just listen to me and feel me on this. So I think it's the same thing. I mean, we're all humans, even if we're businesses and consumers. Like people just want to connect that way.
[00:18:22] Caroline Hull Oh my gosh, I love that. I feel like I want to make a sticky note and put it on my monitor for when I record my episode. Like, don't fix it. Yeah, let your audience feel the problem. I love it so much. And by the way, if you are not following Grazia on Instagram, you need to. We're going to put the link in the show notes. I love your Instagram feed so much and I like you. I loved your real the other day you posted the one with like the video and the caption over it and you were like, This is a really great idea for content. Just film yourself doing things and put words over it. And I was like, Man, I really need to start dating. I think I get I get worried like that. What I'm looking at isn't pretty enough. I turned my head away from the microphone because I was like looking at the room around me and like, this room is really. But, you know, I think sometimes we get self-conscious about what our world looks like. Like, is it Instagram worthy? You know? And I don't know. I just want to encourage our listeners to like, don't be afraid to show the mess. Sometimes when I do videos on Instagram because my office is off of the homeschool playroom. And so there's a lot of times where I be holding the phone and you'll see like the dollhouse in the background. Or when I did a whole series of videos with my vacuum sitting right here, we're doing this podcast interview right now, and you can see my daughters. Well, you can't, dear listeners, but Grace, you can see my daughter's box collection because she's building a robot. I don't know. But like sometimes you just need to embrace what's around you and not be afraid to show because. You know, part of who I am as a homeschool mom and a business owner. And sometimes there's a dollhouse in the background. Okay. People felt like that's part of it.
[00:19:59] Gracia Ostendorf Yeah, I went through that a bit where we're doing a lot of work on our house right now. And so there is the office where where obviously I do most of my work is like very half finished right now. There's clutter everywhere. There's like we put down a hardwood floor, but we have a dog, so we haven't bought rugs yet. And so there's still like scraps of the old carpet on the floor just so the dog doesn't slip around. Yeah, there's paint swatches on the wall. There's just stuff all over the place. And so there is a good chunk of time where I, I shied away from doing a lot of, like, videos and stories and reels and all that that showed my face and my surroundings just because I was like, Oh, I'll do more of these once we finish the office. And of course, know how long has it been now? Probably like a year or something. We've been working on The Office. Yeah, it's like you can't just put that on on hold and wait for everything to be perfect. And I don't think that's what people want to see. They want to see that, like authentic side of you and know that you're a human and you're not some perfect, polished business with no personality.
[00:21:03] Caroline Hull So yeah, and I think that kind of takes us back to like what you said at the very beginning. You know, it kind of goes along with the idea of trying to do these trendy viral reels all the time. And I think that same like perfectionism of our background in our lives, looking beautiful and perfect on social media. I think it's kind of in the same category, you know? And so I love that the conversation about content has kind of come to this place because I think it is important to realize that you don't have to be perfect and you don't have to be Instagram worthy, and you can still be learning to share too, by the way. So I love that so much. So why I mentioned your Instagram account was because some of my favorite posts you've done recently have been about educational content, and I wanted to touch on that a little bit before we we have to say goodbye. But why do you think educational? Well, first of all, can you just explain what you mean when you say educational content? And then why do you think it's so valuable?
[00:22:01] Gracia Ostendorf My definition of educational content is a little bit different from what you probably immediately think of. I do have a background in education. I've been a teacher and instructional designers. I think maybe it comes from that just the way my brain is wired. But when I'm talking about educational content, I'm not talking about things like tutorials and how tos, and there's very strict step by step like teaching a skill, but rather the way I look at all marketing and all the content you create, I think all of it is actually educational to your audience. So if you think about your experience as a consumer, if you have a problem that you need solved and you want to buy something to solve it, you likely won't buy the very first thing you see or the very first ad that pops up in your Instagram feed or whatever. You're going to have questions about it. You're going to want to know more about the person offering this thing, more about the business, more about the company. You're going to want to know more about the product. Like what does it have? The features you need? Is it really made for you? Is it really going to solve your problem? Like there's just stuff you need to know in order to make that purchasing decision. So really, that's all what marketing and sales is, is people, companies and business owners trying to educate people on their product, on their company, on their solution so that people can make that decision of, yes, this is for me or no, it's not.
[00:23:21] So I kind of like to bucket it in these three stages, I guess, where, you know, you have someone who's a total stranger on the Internet. The first thing they need to learn about you is just who you are and what you do like the very basics of your business. What does it do for people Who are you as a person? Kind of what are your characteristics and are they going to click with you? Do they want to support your business? All of that kind of basic information? And then if the answer to that is yes, they do want to you know, they want to follow you. They want to learn more. Now you need to educate them on why are you qualified to solve their problem or to help them in some way. And so that is, you know, a lot of content showing like your process, your behind the scenes, showcasing your expertise and building your authority with them to demonstrate that you've got these skills and these characteristics that are going to be perfect for them, perfect for the solution they need. And then there's still more to do after they learn all of that. They still need to learn whether or not they can really trust you to deliver on the promise you're making. And so that's where, you know, you hear the term social proof, like testimonials, reviews like they want to know that you've done this before for someone else that looks like them and that you've helped people achieve the transformation that you're promising. And that point at the time I get it, the timing is right for them. After all this, that's when they'll be ready to buy from you. But you see how there's like so many stuff they have to go the. You first write with your with your content, your educating and your teaching the whole time about all these things. They need to know all these questions in their head that they have to answer before they feel comfortable buying from you.
[00:25:04] Caroline Hull Yeah. Oh my gosh, this is so great. I hope everybody took really detailed notes. I wanted to give an example because this literally happened to me the other day. I woke up and I said, I don't know if anybody else is experiencing this, but I have three kids and groceries have gotten so expensive just because of inflation. But my daughter has a lot of food allergies. I have to buy a lot of special stuff. So I said, You know what I need is a spreadsheet. I need a spreadsheet that I can plan my meals and keep track of my grocery budget every month. But I want a really detailed spreadsheet. So I was like, I'm going to create this myself. Well, you know, it it was not going to happen. Caroline does not create spreadsheets like this for herself. I needed somebody else to visualize it for me. So I googled it and sure enough, I came across a YouTube video of somebody who explains how she uses a spreadsheet to plan her groceries, her meals, and stay on her grocery budget. Then wouldn't you know, she had that spreadsheet available to purchase and wouldn't you know it? I purchased it right on the spot because I watched the video. She explained who she was, why she started doing this, the struggles she had with buying groceries, and then she showed how she uses it. I mean, she even walked into a grocery store and showed how she pulls it up on her phone. And I was like, Well, I'm never going to do that. But like, I just love the concept. But that's just a really good example of like, you know, having that type of educational content, just like you're describing and actually coming across it in the real world. I literally just Googled grocery budget spreadsheet and like watched like three or four videos and hers just connected with me. I did purchase this spreadsheet. Have you see yet? Not yet friends, but I definitely will and I'll let you know how it goes down the list for next week. Okay.
[00:26:52] Gracia Ostendorf I love that too, because that shows like I feel like a lot of people I talk to struggle with the idea of like marketing and sales because it makes them feel like they feel salesy, they feel like gross and icky and whatever, like marketing and promoting their products. And what you just described was like, you're not unhappy that you spent the money on the spreadsheet, like you had a need and someone just got out of the solution there and handed it to you on a silver platter And you're like, Yes, this is exactly what I need. Thank you for solving my problem. And so when you think about it that way, marketing and teaching people about your product is helping them. You are helping them get closer to a solution. And this like ideal dream state that they want in their lives. And I think people get a little hung up on the personal aspect of it, like, Oh, I like a confidence thing. Like they, they feel like they're they're promoting themselves and it's they don't deserve it or they don't they shouldn't be charging as much for it or they feel greedy or something. But you are providing a service to someone, you're providing a solution to someone. They actually want it. So by not marketing, you're actually doing them a disservice because you're making it harder for them to solve their problem.
[00:28:09] Caroline Hull Yeah, absolutely. Oh, I think confidence is such a huge a huge piece of it. I was having like flashes in my mind of thinking back to before I started showing my face so much on Instagram. And I was actually talking to somebody about this this morning. How would I change the name of my brand? I was like, Oh, I'm going to take my name off the sign. And now I'm the face of my brand, which is kind of funny. But, you know, there was this whole there was a whole confidence issue. I was like, I don't want to be the face of my business. I don't like to show my face. I don't want people to see it. My messy house, you know, there's all these things. But now that I have found that way to connect with my audience and not be afraid to be me and not be afraid to, like, share my dirty coffee cup in all of my videos. I don't know if anybody saw my close friends that I published recently with my dirty coffee cup and all the videos. I don't it's not that I don't care anymore, but I'm confident now and it's created such great connections and it did take some time to get here. But I guess what I'm trying to say is like just an encouragement that we all like when we started this connection, this connection. And I would also say the educational piece, you know, there is this like hesitation. And as you do it more and more and more, it does get easier and it feels it feels more natural and less like you're trying to be somebody that you're not, you know?
[00:29:35] Gracia Ostendorf Yeah, I work with a lot of like artists and creative business owners, too, and I think it's even harder some times because art can be such a personal thing that it's like scary to share that and put that on the world and receive people's judgment about it.
[00:29:49] Caroline Hull Right.
[00:29:50] Gracia Ostendorf But. It is. You know, if you're if you're running a business, it is something that you just you have to get used to and you have to kind of grow that confidence and you can do it. It won't happen overnight, but you can do it and baby steps and just keep practicing. And the more you, I think, get clear on on your ideal customer and your positioning and your strategy and sort of once you get clarity on that, I think that confidence comes a lot easier to.
[00:30:17] Caroline Hull Absolutely, yeah. Because then you don't have to hesitate like you know exactly who you're talking to, where they are in their journey, what their pain points are. These are all things I have been talking about on this podcast as it's related to podcasting because it really is the same. And when you are confident and all of those things, that confidence exudes in how you show up and it becomes a natural part of how you show up. If you were to listen to my podcast episodes, so I'm almost 100 episodes in, and when you listen to my earlier podcast, episodes like that is not the same exact Caroline that's sitting right here. Like, I'm so much more confident because I've done the work, I've dug into my messaging, I've dug into all these things that I've been talking about. Buyer's your knee pain points, all of that. And it's just, it's helped me. I knew what I always knew what I was talking about. But honing in on these things has helped me be confident in what I'm talking about.
[00:31:16] Gracia Ostendorf Yeah, and I think I think an important takeaway on all that too, is that is to not wait until you get to that point to post anything, like don't wait until you feel totally confident and everything's perfect. Opposed to anything like posting the crappy stuff is how you're going to learn and grow and learn these lessons about what people need to see, what people resonate with. All that stuff is part of it. So I would encourage anyone to not just like hide behind the scenes and and do your research on your ideal customer behind closed doors. Like you need to put stuff out there, even if even if you're hesitant to like, put these posts out or you don't feel 100% confident, all of those are stepping stones to getting that confidence and learning about your ideal customer and learning about your perfect positioning and niche and all of that. So the non confident posts are all part of the process too.
[00:32:09] Caroline Hull Yeah. Oh, I love that. Oh my gosh. I feel like this is such a great place to end this episode because I think you and I could probably talk for three more hours about this. I'm like, I'm like coming up with like five more episode ideas. Oh, I love it. You've shared so many amazing things with us today. Great. And I really want everybody to go follow you on Instagram. Guess everybody go follow her on Instagram because her posts are just there. So they're just nugget filled. Like every time I read one of your posts, I'm like, Yes, like, I just want to like, heart it and, you know, reshare it because you do. The way you talk about content has just made so much sense to me as a podcaster and as someone who is creating content every week. So definitely go check that out. But if someone wanted to work with you or find you online, what would that look like?
[00:32:56] Gracia Ostendorf Yeah. So I am accepting clients right now on my one on one coaching program. So that's where I work with creatives and side hustlers on their content strategy like we've talked about today. So they can get all this clarity and confidence around messaging, start attracting their ideal clients and learn all the skills they need so they can get to a point where they're creating all this content and doing it in a limited time and just like a couple of hours a week. So you can find more information about that on my website which is GlowwithGracia.com or on my Instagram account @glowwithgracia
[00:33:29] Caroline Hull Awesome. Thank you so much.
[00:33:32] Gracia Ostendorf Thank you. This was great.
[00:33:33] Caroline Hull It was so fun. Oh, that was so, so good. I again, just loved this conversation so much and I'm just so excited to introduce you to Gracia. And if you're interested in thinking more about your content and how you can present it and other places besides your podcast, I highly recommend you go follow her. Her approach to reels especially has been just piquing my interest lately and I've been rethinking how I've been doing my own reels. So definitely go follow her. Check out what she's posted. So much good stuff on her Instagram account. And then also don't forget to connect with her on glowwithGracia.com. We will have all the links in the show notes and then if you want to continue the conversation even further, we'll be chatting about this in my close friends list on Instagram, so be sure to check the show notes on how to join that as well. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you for listening to podcast Your business. For more podcasting tips, follow us on Instagram at Wild Home Podcast. If you're ready to launch up level or grow your podcast, head to WildHomePodcast.com to get started today.
