Storytelling for your podcast with Hilary Salzman

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:08

Hi, and welcome to Podcasting one-on-one with Rachel.

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This podcast is for busy female entrepreneurs who run their own

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businesses and want to start a podcast or who may already have a podcast.

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I want to share practical information and tips on how you can get your podcast

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started and managing it along the way.

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I'll also be interviewing other female podcast hosts to give

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you real insight into what it's like having your own podcast.

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:33

Hi.

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And welcome to this week's episode.

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I have Hilary Saltzman with me, who is a business storyteller from 22 Stories.

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She describes herself as a writer, podcaster, and storyteller.

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:57

Hi, Hilary.

Rachael Botfield: 00:00:58

Welcome to the

Hilary Salzman: 00:00:58

show.

Hilary Salzman: 00:00:59

Hi, Rachel.

Hilary Salzman: 00:01:00

Thank you very much for having me.

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:02

It's lovely to have you here.

Rachael Botfield: 00:01:04

Um, just a little bit of backstory, Hillary, Hillary and I met through

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a mutual friend, Tamsin, um, who has actually been on the podcast was one of my

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first episodes, actually her and Jillian came on for the anti diet club podcast

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and she introduced us and then we met at the podcast show in London, which was.

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It's May 23, depending on when you're listening to this, um, to this episode.

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So it was really great to meet Hilary in person and get to

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know her a little bit better.

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So do you want to just introduce yourself a bit and tell us a little

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bit more about what you do and your awesome podcast, which is the Everyday

Hilary Salzman: 00:01:41

Storyteller podcast.

Hilary Salzman: 00:01:43

Absolutely, yes.

Hilary Salzman: 00:01:44

I can't believe that, you know, that we met at the podcast show and here we are.

Hilary Salzman: 00:01:48

It's great.

Hilary Salzman: 00:01:48

It's the power of connection.

Hilary Salzman: 00:01:50

And yeah, that's very much what I'm about.

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So storytelling is something that, um, I really strongly believe in.

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I have been a storyteller through my career in corporate marketing.

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And it's through this belief that stories are what connect us at the end.

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as people, uh, is really what drives my business now and the podcast.

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So my business, 22 stories is about supporting mainly small business

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owners to embrace their own story.

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So their own personal story and the stories within their

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business and use those stories.

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to connect with others.

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So predominantly in a business environment, that's connecting

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with their customers.

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So it might be an audience there as well.

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So it might be an audience for other podcasters.

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It might be a social media following, but it's all about connecting to the

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people that those business owners need to connect to in order to grow

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their business and succeed and do the things that they want to do.

Hilary Salzman: 00:02:51

Um, from that, I've developed the Everyday Storyteller podcast because I recognize

Hilary Salzman: 00:02:57

that there was a bit of a gap in the market between kind of doing what I do, I

Hilary Salzman: 00:03:01

mean, I, I offer things like storytelling coaching and, you know, I write rant

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stories and business stories for people, but, you know, there is a gap between

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what What everybody can afford what resources they have and and actually,

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you know needing to learn this stuff So the podcast was a way of plugging that

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gap and being able to share my expertise and experience as a storyteller And a

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business owner out to a wider group of people predominantly women really because

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I think this is an area that You know women Sometimes struggle with lack of

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confidence around telling their stories.

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So it's all about kind of, yeah, getting the message out there, helping

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people, raising confidence, giving them the tips and tools to write their own

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stories and tell their own stories.

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And then the business is, yeah, they're kind of an extension of each other really.

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It's just the same content but going out to a wider audience.

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Um.

Hilary Salzman: 00:04:00

My background is in corporate marketing, as I said, so I spent 20 years, 20 odd

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years, more than that actually, but I'm working for really large IT and tech

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businesses And now I'll focus very much on all sorts of small businesses, which

Hilary Salzman: 00:04:15

is far more interesting than my IT past.

Hilary Salzman: 00:04:19

I love the idea of the

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:20

everyday podcast.

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:24

You're right in saying that there is a bit of a gap there that The also like

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similar to you with with my podcast with this one is I'd like to plug

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that gap in the way that I know that everybody can't afford, um, to always

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outsource or to have that information.

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So being able to create that to add value to them and help them along their

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way in by whatever means possible.

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I think that's a really great thing to do as well to help and my

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:51

audience is, you know, mainly female female business owners as well.

Rachael Botfield: 00:04:55

So

Hilary Salzman: 00:04:56

Yeah, definitely.

Hilary Salzman: 00:04:57

It's overwhelming sometimes as well.

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It's not just the money side of it, but it's like, you know, as business

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owners, we always, there's always something new to learn, isn't there?

Hilary Salzman: 00:05:06

Right.

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This is the latest marketing thing.

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And I think, yeah, the big kind of.

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Aim with my podcast and what I do in my business is really to, you

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know, get away from the fact that storytelling is something new that

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people have to, have to learn about.

Hilary Salzman: 00:05:20

You know, it is something we do all the time.

Hilary Salzman: 00:05:22

You and I met in London, you know, we, we chatted, we kept, we recounted stories.

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We talked about our own experiences.

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We do these things naturally.

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And so it's kind of breaking down those barriers and people not thinking,

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right, I have to buy a course of this.

Hilary Salzman: 00:05:37

I have to.

Hilary Salzman: 00:05:40

put this on my to do list.

Hilary Salzman: 00:05:42

It's just about helping people recognize that, that they're all, we're all

Hilary Salzman: 00:05:47

storytellers and say growing confidence in the voice, growing confidence in

Hilary Salzman: 00:05:52

knowing what to do with your voice and how to turn your voice into stuff which

Hilary Salzman: 00:05:57

is actually going to, as I say, build an audience and, and sell things ultimately.

Hilary Salzman: 00:06:02

Yeah,

Rachael Botfield: 00:06:04

I agree with you about confidence.

Rachael Botfield: 00:06:05

That's something I definitely.

Rachael Botfield: 00:06:08

I still struggle with from time to time and definitely when I wanted to start

Rachael Botfield: 00:06:12

this podcast and when I first started my business that I was, um, struggling with,

Rachael Botfield: 00:06:17

with, you know, You come up with that.

Rachael Botfield: 00:06:20

Everyone has those.

Rachael Botfield: 00:06:21

Well, I don't know what, well, I don't know what to write.

Rachael Botfield: 00:06:22

I don't know what content and when, when you don't think about

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it, it does come naturally.

Rachael Botfield: 00:06:27

Like you said, in our setting, when we met, you're telling stories, but

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when sometimes when you sit down to think about it in relation to your

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business, suddenly it becomes this big thing that you can't get over

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and you can't work out what to do.

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So your podcast is there.

Rachael Botfield: 00:06:41

Yeah.

Rachael Botfield: 00:06:42

So that would help.

Rachael Botfield: 00:06:43

So you've got, um, daily short episodes that, um, That you focus on, um, because

Rachael Botfield: 00:06:51

you've got here, I will share one thing you can do, write or think to help you

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grow confident in your voice and create the daily habits and mindset you need.

Rachael Botfield: 00:06:58

To be your own everyday storyteller.

Rachael Botfield: 00:07:00

I love those.

Hilary Salzman: 00:07:02

Yeah.

Hilary Salzman: 00:07:02

It's just, you know, you know, again, we can't all afford to spend

Hilary Salzman: 00:07:06

an hour, you know, on a podcast.

Hilary Salzman: 00:07:08

As much as you love to, I can lose myself in long podcasts.

Hilary Salzman: 00:07:11

But, you know, really, you know, if we're trying to teach ourselves to do

Hilary Salzman: 00:07:14

something new, or, or, which is this, as I said, is about the confidence piece,

Hilary Salzman: 00:07:19

we just need those little reminders.

Hilary Salzman: 00:07:20

It's kind of, you know, it's like that, someone saying, Come on, you can do

Hilary Salzman: 00:07:24

it today, and here's an idea for you.

Hilary Salzman: 00:07:26

And that's really what the show is about.

Hilary Salzman: 00:07:28

So, you know, it's, yeah, each episode that they're creeping up a bit.

Hilary Salzman: 00:07:31

I think the longest is five minutes, but they tend to be

Hilary Salzman: 00:07:33

about two to three minutes each.

Hilary Salzman: 00:07:35

Um, and it's, yeah, just something practical and, and, you know,

Hilary Salzman: 00:07:39

and I lead by example as well.

Hilary Salzman: 00:07:41

So yeah, I, I try and start each podcast episode with a story of my own just

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to show how we, you know, how, how we can use it, how we can integrate

Hilary Salzman: 00:07:50

it in, um, Yeah, I think some of them are quite silly stories, because

Hilary Salzman: 00:07:55

I think that's the thing as well.

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It's about, you know, it's not always about having to be

Hilary Salzman: 00:07:59

super serious with everything.

Hilary Salzman: 00:08:01

Again, like you were just, you know, describing absolutely, you sit down and

Hilary Salzman: 00:08:05

you think you've got to work on your business, and suddenly that kind of, you

Hilary Salzman: 00:08:08

know, corporate business mode comes in.

Hilary Salzman: 00:08:10

You're like, right, I've got, what do people expect me to say?

Hilary Salzman: 00:08:13

And actually, you know, I think we're The world of business is more relaxed now.

Hilary Salzman: 00:08:18

I mean, there's certain industries where it's not, but on the whole, for

Hilary Salzman: 00:08:21

small businesses, it is more relaxed.

Hilary Salzman: 00:08:23

And I think once you can get into that mindset of actually, you know, I can be

Hilary Salzman: 00:08:27

a bit more chatty, I can be a bit more like me, it, then it's easier, because

Hilary Salzman: 00:08:32

otherwise, you're kind of pigeonholing yourself into, right, I've got to,

Hilary Salzman: 00:08:37

yeah, I've got to sound like a proper...

Hilary Salzman: 00:08:38

Grown up business and actually, yeah, we all do it, don't we?

Rachael Botfield: 00:08:46

That was something that I've that shift,

Rachael Botfield: 00:08:49

I guess, from employee mindset, perhaps to, to, to business owner.

Rachael Botfield: 00:08:54

And especially if you haven't really been in the online space

Rachael Botfield: 00:08:57

at all, it's very, very different.

Rachael Botfield: 00:08:59

I mean, my background prior to starting, um, my own business, I worked in events,

Rachael Botfield: 00:09:04

but with my dad, so it was very informal.

Rachael Botfield: 00:09:06

I didn't have like really a corporate background, but.

Rachael Botfield: 00:09:09

Um, when I moved into the online business, I was still very unsure of who I was

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then and what I wanted my business to be.

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So I felt like, Oh, should I have to, um, be this certain way or that certain way?

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Will I not look professional quote unquote professional enough?

Rachael Botfield: 00:09:26

If I say this in a chatty way, I mean, obviously, like you said, we know

Rachael Botfield: 00:09:29

this, this is not the case anymore.

Rachael Botfield: 00:09:31

And if you're on LinkedIn, there are, there are plenty of online business

Rachael Botfield: 00:09:36

owners and everyone who are so comfortable being themselves and having their own.

Rachael Botfield: 00:09:47

And I've got to say, I, it's quite, I, I do find it quite tricky because some

Rachael Botfield: 00:09:52

of you, depending on how much you want to share on the platform about, um,

Rachael Botfield: 00:09:57

what kind of stories you want to tell, but I think having those daily prompts,

Rachael Botfield: 00:10:01

having those little pieces of advice and reminders, sometimes it does just take

Rachael Botfield: 00:10:06

that little, somebody else saying it and you hearing it to think, actually,

Rachael Botfield: 00:10:10

Yeah, why haven't I done it like that?

Rachael Botfield: 00:10:12

Because I've had that before when I listen to other podcast episodes as well.

Rachael Botfield: 00:10:15

And I find that really, really helpful.

Rachael Botfield: 00:10:17

Um, it's kind of, maybe constantly or frequently reminding yourself of these

Rachael Botfield: 00:10:23

things to help you keep on track with your

Hilary Salzman: 00:10:25

business.

Hilary Salzman: 00:10:26

Absolutely.

Hilary Salzman: 00:10:27

And, you know, and, and the, yeah.

Hilary Salzman: 00:10:29

The thing is, I've, I've been in that place as well.

Hilary Salzman: 00:10:31

You know, I have, I, I didn't wake up one day and suddenly be able to have this

Hilary Salzman: 00:10:36

great voice and feel really confident.

Hilary Salzman: 00:10:38

I don't, you know, I, I certainly have my moments of feeling, feeling, uh, you

Hilary Salzman: 00:10:43

know, imposter syndrome is definitely something that I feel, and it's, but it's

Hilary Salzman: 00:10:46

taken me years to get to this point of, of putting myself out there, of not wanting

Hilary Salzman: 00:10:52

to put myself out there of doing it.

Hilary Salzman: 00:10:54

And, and.

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Cocking up and making a mistake and thinking oh my god, I never ever want

Hilary Salzman: 00:10:58

to go and speak in public again This is like my life is over, but it's you know,

Hilary Salzman: 00:11:02

picking yourself up and that's part You know, I share that side of it on the

Hilary Salzman: 00:11:06

podcast as well And sometimes I share really quite vulnerable things I've got

Hilary Salzman: 00:11:11

boundaries and I think you know what you're saying is absolutely right with it

Hilary Salzman: 00:11:14

There is no right or wrong when it comes It's got to be right for you, and it's

Hilary Salzman: 00:11:20

got to be right for your audience as well.

Hilary Salzman: 00:11:22

We've got to remember that, you know, it, you might be someone

Hilary Salzman: 00:11:25

that's a massive oversharer, but you've got to think, actually, do

Hilary Salzman: 00:11:28

my audience care about all of that?

Hilary Salzman: 00:11:30

You know, sometimes there's too, too far to go.

Hilary Salzman: 00:11:33

But, uh, you know, I, I do share, you know, I've had some really difficult

Hilary Salzman: 00:11:37

times, uh, in business, in my personal life, in, especially with my voice

Hilary Salzman: 00:11:42

and kind of, you know, being, feeling for years that I didn't have a space.

Hilary Salzman: 00:11:47

To have a voice and definitely guilty of adapting my, my voice

Hilary Salzman: 00:11:53

for particular audiences, you know, working in a very male centric

Hilary Salzman: 00:11:59

IT industry for lots of years.

Hilary Salzman: 00:12:02

It's really different.

Hilary Salzman: 00:12:03

And I, you know, I, I've ended up feeling really, you know, I felt ill,

Hilary Salzman: 00:12:07

I, I, I suffer from panic attacks and anxiety and it, a lot of it is driven.

Hilary Salzman: 00:12:14

In those times in my life where I've, where I've been basically, yeah, trying

Hilary Salzman: 00:12:17

to pretend to be somebody else and the freeing moment of actually saying, you

Hilary Salzman: 00:12:21

know what, I'm going to quit this world and I'm going to start up my own business

Hilary Salzman: 00:12:25

and I'm just going to be me, you know, I'm, you know, so much better for it

Hilary Salzman: 00:12:31

and I talk about these things and it's not always easy to share, share this

Hilary Salzman: 00:12:34

information, but it's that, you know, with With storytelling, it is about hope.

Hilary Salzman: 00:12:39

Hope's a really big word for me in storytelling.

Hilary Salzman: 00:12:42

And, you know, if I can share a little bit of my story and there's someone else going

Hilary Salzman: 00:12:47

through similar right now who hears that, it's that part of just, oh, I'm not alone.

Hilary Salzman: 00:12:53

There is a way out of this.

Hilary Salzman: 00:12:54

And then, yeah, there's Those everyday, kind of, here's something to think

Hilary Salzman: 00:12:58

about, here's something to try and do.

Hilary Salzman: 00:13:00

And just to gradually pick yourself up, gradually, you know, reinforce some of

Hilary Salzman: 00:13:05

those things that you probably know.

Hilary Salzman: 00:13:07

Storytelling isn't a new thing, you know.

Hilary Salzman: 00:13:10

I don't want to do myself a disservice here, but it's not rocket science.

Hilary Salzman: 00:13:15

But it's so easy to get lost in the trappings of everyday, especially as

Hilary Salzman: 00:13:20

women, this kind of, you know, this should've, could've, do I need to

Hilary Salzman: 00:13:23

do this, you know, and those things.

Hilary Salzman: 00:13:25

And yeah, the show is really just about kind of paying right.

Hilary Salzman: 00:13:30

Forget all that noise.

Hilary Salzman: 00:13:31

Focus on what you, you know, what your voice is.

Hilary Salzman: 00:13:34

Focus on your audience.

Hilary Salzman: 00:13:35

Focus on what they want to hear from you.

Hilary Salzman: 00:13:37

And here's a little few little tips on how you do it.

Hilary Salzman: 00:13:39

It's that, it's that kind of feel rather than it being right.

Hilary Salzman: 00:13:42

You've got to now do this and you've got to be completely different in the

Hilary Salzman: 00:13:45

way that you run your business because that's not what I'm about either.

Hilary Salzman: 00:13:48

Yeah.

Rachael Botfield: 00:13:49

I like that.

Rachael Botfield: 00:13:50

Yeah.

Rachael Botfield: 00:13:51

Focusing on what works well for you and, and being able to to let a lot of the

Rachael Botfield: 00:13:59

other things go and, you know, staying in your own lane and the comparison game.

Rachael Botfield: 00:14:03

I've spoken about this before, and it's something again that, that does happen.

Rachael Botfield: 00:14:08

Something shiny new comes up and you think, Oh, I've got to do that.

Rachael Botfield: 00:14:11

And Oh, I get sidetracked, but actually I've really tried hard.

Rachael Botfield: 00:14:15

I have.

Rachael Botfield: 00:14:18

And um, yeah.

Rachael Botfield: 00:14:18

I, that's one of my main kind of things this year was to really try and kind of

Rachael Botfield: 00:14:22

sit down and focus on, you know, for my business and for my podcast, what I really

Rachael Botfield: 00:14:25

wanted and then how to kind of just try and filter out some of the noise because,

Rachael Botfield: 00:14:31

you know, like I said, it can get too much and then we started doubting ourselves.

Rachael Botfield: 00:14:34

So, um.

Rachael Botfield: 00:14:36

It's nice to have something out there that can help recenter you into

Rachael Botfield: 00:14:41

what's best for you and your business.

Rachael Botfield: 00:14:43

Yeah, and not compare to anybody else.

Rachael Botfield: 00:14:45

So what made you choose podcasting?

Rachael Botfield: 00:14:48

Like, like, had you had a past experience with podcasting or did,

Rachael Botfield: 00:14:53

have you just loved podcasting and thought this would be such a great

Rachael Botfield: 00:14:55

way for me to engage with my audience?

Rachael Botfield: 00:14:58

Like, what was the...

Hilary Salzman: 00:14:59

It's funny because it was about this time last year actually

Hilary Salzman: 00:15:03

that I started to think about it.

Hilary Salzman: 00:15:04

And no, I had no experience of podcasting and I have to be really

Hilary Salzman: 00:15:08

honest, I didn't really used to listen to podcasts either, which is normal.

Hilary Salzman: 00:15:12

I do a lot now.

Hilary Salzman: 00:15:13

I really, I love, you know, I love the whole industry now, but it was just,

Hilary Salzman: 00:15:17

I went to, I was talking at an event.

Hilary Salzman: 00:15:20

for KPMG, their big accountancy firm, not my normal audience.

Hilary Salzman: 00:15:26

But I was invited to go and speak about storytelling.

Hilary Salzman: 00:15:30

And after I had done a couple of presentations, one of the lawyers from

Hilary Salzman: 00:15:35

KPMG came up and she said, I'm really interested in what you have to say.

Hilary Salzman: 00:15:39

Do you have a podcast?

Hilary Salzman: 00:15:40

And I was like, no.

Hilary Salzman: 00:15:42

I was like, the brain was whirring, and I was like, and it, it stuck in me for quite

Hilary Salzman: 00:15:47

a few days, a couple of weeks actually.

Hilary Salzman: 00:15:49

And I kept thinking, that's interesting that she asked that, I've never

Hilary Salzman: 00:15:52

thought about doing a podcast.

Hilary Salzman: 00:15:54

And there's a few of my customers that do podcasts, um, a couple of my friends.

Hilary Salzman: 00:16:00

And it just, yeah, that little seed made me think, Actually, do you know what?

Hilary Salzman: 00:16:03

I love to talk.

Hilary Salzman: 00:16:04

I can't get enough of telling people about storytelling.

Hilary Salzman: 00:16:06

I need more platforms.

Hilary Salzman: 00:16:07

I'm always looking for, like, places to speak and, you know, events to go to.

Hilary Salzman: 00:16:11

So podcasting just seemed a really natural kind of place to take it next.

Hilary Salzman: 00:16:16

And because...

Hilary Salzman: 00:16:18

I've been doing this for quite a long time now and Instagram

Hilary Salzman: 00:16:21

has always been my main channel.

Hilary Salzman: 00:16:23

I've got a heap, had a heap of content as well.

Hilary Salzman: 00:16:25

So it's kind of, it, I wasn't feeling like, oh my god,

Hilary Salzman: 00:16:28

I'm gonna do a podcast then.

Hilary Salzman: 00:16:30

Where do I get the ideas from?

Hilary Salzman: 00:16:31

It's, it's all kind of there in the teachings that I've been

Hilary Salzman: 00:16:34

doing for years and the social media content I've been sharing.

Hilary Salzman: 00:16:38

So, yeah, it was just that, okay, I can reach more people this way, I can

Hilary Salzman: 00:16:42

reuse a lot of the content, a lot of the ideas, the things that I know work,

Hilary Salzman: 00:16:47

I can share my experiences, I can share the experiences of my clients that I've,

Hilary Salzman: 00:16:51

you know, Um, taken through that journey already, and a bit of fun as well.

Hilary Salzman: 00:16:57

Um, it's just, yeah, it's just something, something new, isn't it?

Hilary Salzman: 00:17:01

And, um, so I, I knew nothing about podcasting, and through a couple of,

Hilary Salzman: 00:17:08

let's say a couple of my clients who had podcasts, I met, um, this lady called

Hilary Salzman: 00:17:12

Susie, um, from Story Publishing, and she, uh, does courses in podcasts,

Hilary Salzman: 00:17:18

and we did a one on one kind of thing.

Hilary Salzman: 00:17:21

Four weeks of, of her just sort of teaching me absolutely everything

Hilary Salzman: 00:17:24

I need to know about podcasting.

Hilary Salzman: 00:17:27

And I think through that I just got more and more excited about it.

Hilary Salzman: 00:17:30

And I think it's when I had that original idea, well actually it was

Hilary Salzman: 00:17:33

Susie that said do, do a daily podcast.

Hilary Salzman: 00:17:36

I knew what, who, my audience.

Hilary Salzman: 00:17:38

I knew what story I wanted to tell.

Hilary Salzman: 00:17:40

I knew how I wanted to reach.

Hilary Salzman: 00:17:42

I knew that I wanted to do something different.

Hilary Salzman: 00:17:45

I didn't necessarily want to do a guest podcast.

Hilary Salzman: 00:17:49

Um...

Hilary Salzman: 00:17:50

I wanted it to be more of this kind of informative, educative piece.

Hilary Salzman: 00:17:54

And she said, oh, have you thought about doing a daily show?

Hilary Salzman: 00:17:57

And I was like, uh, no.

Hilary Salzman: 00:18:00

That sounds a

Rachael Botfield: 00:18:01

lot of work.

Rachael Botfield: 00:18:01

I was wondering how you came up with the idea for a daily, for a daily podcast.

Rachael Botfield: 00:18:05

Because yeah, that's your immediate thought,

Hilary Salzman: 00:18:07

isn't it?

Hilary Salzman: 00:18:07

Yeah, he's like, hang on a minute.

Hilary Salzman: 00:18:09

This is a lot of work.

Hilary Salzman: 00:18:10

Yeah, but it was just, you know, she was listening to everything

Hilary Salzman: 00:18:13

that I was saying about it.

Hilary Salzman: 00:18:15

It was about this kind of, you know, we say about these kind of daily habits.

Hilary Salzman: 00:18:19

I mean, it was habits and mindset changing.

Hilary Salzman: 00:18:21

And he was just like, well, yeah, what if he did it daily?

Hilary Salzman: 00:18:24

And so, well, yeah, there isn't many people out there doing.

Hilary Salzman: 00:18:28

That's, you know, in the storytelling world, there's very few people doing

Hilary Salzman: 00:18:33

practical storytelling podcasts.

Hilary Salzman: 00:18:35

There's quite a lot of men in suits in America that do business storytelling,

Hilary Salzman: 00:18:39

. And there's, you know, surprise.

Hilary Salzman: 00:18:41

Yeah, surprise, surprise.

Hilary Salzman: 00:18:43

Um, and there's quite, you know, there's, there's obviously quite

Hilary Salzman: 00:18:45

a lot of, um, good podcasts around confidence issues and things like that.

Hilary Salzman: 00:18:49

But bringing those two together and doing it in a format that people

Hilary Salzman: 00:18:54

kind of think, oh, hang on a minute.

Hilary Salzman: 00:18:55

That's quite new.

Hilary Salzman: 00:18:56

I think.

Hilary Salzman: 00:18:56

Yeah, it was, it was.

Hilary Salzman: 00:18:58

It just sort of evolved to that, and it seems to be working, so.

Rachael Botfield: 00:19:03

How, how do you make it, like, planning wise and, and, and, um,

Rachael Botfield: 00:19:07

recording, how do you kind of fit that in?

Rachael Botfield: 00:19:10

Do you, do you must batch record a few different ones, do you have like

Rachael Botfield: 00:19:14

a little bit of a system going on for,

Hilary Salzman: 00:19:16

for how you do it?

Hilary Salzman: 00:19:17

Yeah, definitely.

Hilary Salzman: 00:19:18

So I, I batch record, I try and batch record a month in advance.

Hilary Salzman: 00:19:22

So I'll do like, yeah, 20 odd episodes.

Hilary Salzman: 00:19:25

Um, and it doesn't always work out that way.

Hilary Salzman: 00:19:29

Having a flexible producer is great.

Hilary Salzman: 00:19:31

Um, but yeah, it's, I've got a bank of content.

Hilary Salzman: 00:19:35

So as I said, so I've got a Trello board and it basically, I just use

Hilary Salzman: 00:19:39

that as my repository for ideas.

Hilary Salzman: 00:19:40

So every time I do.

Hilary Salzman: 00:19:42

a social media post every time something crops up with a client, I bung it

Hilary Salzman: 00:19:46

down on my Trello board as an idea.

Hilary Salzman: 00:19:49

And then I sit down once a month and say, right, what are the episodes?

Hilary Salzman: 00:19:52

What am I going to talk about this month?

Hilary Salzman: 00:19:53

It's all there in the Trello board, which is great.

Hilary Salzman: 00:19:56

So I don't often have to kind of think up new ideas.

Hilary Salzman: 00:19:59

Um, and then it's, yeah, I, I fully script everything.

Hilary Salzman: 00:20:03

Because I find it makes it easy, because it's just me, because

Hilary Salzman: 00:20:05

it's a monologue, I waffle.

Hilary Salzman: 00:20:09

I could literally, there's no way that I could like free, freehand do a 3

Hilary Salzman: 00:20:13

minute episode, it would be 15 minutes.

Hilary Salzman: 00:20:15

So a script helps me really make sure that I'm honing in on my audience.

Hilary Salzman: 00:20:21

It really makes sure that I've got one single message not going

Hilary Salzman: 00:20:24

off here, there, and everywhere.

Hilary Salzman: 00:20:25

And that kind of commitment to providing one thing for people to think about or

Hilary Salzman: 00:20:29

do or write is there in the scripting.

Hilary Salzman: 00:20:32

The other benefit of fully scripting it is that everything is then there.

Hilary Salzman: 00:20:37

So when I'm doing my show notes, I just lift it out the script.

Hilary Salzman: 00:20:39

When you're doing social media posts, it's all kind of written for you.

Hilary Salzman: 00:20:42

So I do find that a little bit of a, of a time saver as well.

Hilary Salzman: 00:20:47

And then, yeah, I just record them in one go if I can, if I'm up to it.

Hilary Salzman: 00:20:51

Um, and, um, and then they're kind of there.

Hilary Salzman: 00:20:55

And I, yeah, I just, I schedule them all in advance.

Hilary Salzman: 00:20:58

So, you know, there is a kind of, a couple of days of quite intensive work on it.

Hilary Salzman: 00:21:02

And then it's, you know, it's all scheduled and done.

Hilary Salzman: 00:21:04

And you can sort of sit back and get on with client work.

Rachael Botfield: 00:21:07

Yeah, so do you for your promotion and your

Rachael Botfield: 00:21:10

marketing with your podcast?

Rachael Botfield: 00:21:11

So like you said you you have the ideas so you use the podcast

Rachael Botfield: 00:21:15

episodes in your social media as well So you're kind of making that

Rachael Botfield: 00:21:20

your main content piece for the day?

Rachael Botfield: 00:21:22

Is that how

Hilary Salzman: 00:21:22

you?

Hilary Salzman: 00:21:23

Yeah, sometimes.

Hilary Salzman: 00:21:24

So, so it depends.

Hilary Salzman: 00:21:25

Sometimes there's different things going on on both channels.

Hilary Salzman: 00:21:28

But I do on a Monday, I always do a social media, um, uh, post that is

Hilary Salzman: 00:21:35

like, what's on the podcast this week.

Hilary Salzman: 00:21:38

So there's always, that's always consistent on my Instagram

Hilary Salzman: 00:21:41

and sometimes on my LinkedIn, but mainly on my Instagram.

Hilary Salzman: 00:21:45

Um, and then, yeah, it might be that there's a particular theme, you

Hilary Salzman: 00:21:48

know, it might be that, I don't know, Wednesday's episode is about overcoming

Hilary Salzman: 00:21:53

barriers, so I might do an Instagram post about overcoming barriers.

Hilary Salzman: 00:21:59

And it would link to the podcast, but it wouldn't be exactly the podcast.

Hilary Salzman: 00:22:03

It might be a slightly different take on it.

Hilary Salzman: 00:22:05

Um, yeah, like

Rachael Botfield: 00:22:07

using that kind of.

Rachael Botfield: 00:22:08

The subject is the, is the, is the, is the content pillar,

Rachael Botfield: 00:22:12

if you will, um, to use it.

Rachael Botfield: 00:22:13

Yeah.

Hilary Salzman: 00:22:14

Yeah.

Hilary Salzman: 00:22:15

Definitely.

Hilary Salzman: 00:22:15

Helps you.

Hilary Salzman: 00:22:17

Yeah.

Hilary Salzman: 00:22:17

It just means that you're not, you know, otherwise it's such a,

Hilary Salzman: 00:22:20

it can be such a slog creating content for multiple channels.

Hilary Salzman: 00:22:24

So it's, yeah, it's a good kind of way.

Hilary Salzman: 00:22:26

And then it works.

Hilary Salzman: 00:22:26

You know, sometimes there's, there's stuff that I've done on Instagram

Hilary Salzman: 00:22:29

that I'll then turn into a podcast.

Hilary Salzman: 00:22:33

So there's, you know, and that's the beauty of it because you can

Hilary Salzman: 00:22:35

turn it into multiple things.

Hilary Salzman: 00:22:36

So, you know, turn it into blogs.

Hilary Salzman: 00:22:38

Um, I've got a weekly newsletter that goes out on a Friday, which just reminds people

Hilary Salzman: 00:22:44

what they might've missed that week.

Hilary Salzman: 00:22:46

So again, you know, to write that newsletter normally takes

Hilary Salzman: 00:22:49

about five minutes because it's, it's all there for the taking.

Hilary Salzman: 00:22:57

So it's, you know, as I say, you kind of put that effort in for a

Hilary Salzman: 00:23:00

couple of days a month and then you've got all of the, you know,

Hilary Salzman: 00:23:03

all, everything that you need really.

Hilary Salzman: 00:23:05

So, yeah.

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:06

I'm, I'm big on that for myself as well and repurposing your.

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:11

Using that con the podcast episode and what you've done there, that is

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:16

you created the content, then you just need to, you know, pull the little

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:19

threads and break it down to little different types of posts that can

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:23

work for you or your email marketing.

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:25

Like you said, I think that you don't say you don't have to keep coming up with it.

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:28

You've got the basis of it, the bones of it there for you to use that then helps

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:33

you create makes it much easier to create the rest of the content for your whatever

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:37

your, you know, your content strategy is.

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:39

Yeah, definitely.

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:41

I'm interested to know how you feel, um, is your podcast, so your podcast

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:46

is an extension of your business.

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:48

How do you feel your podcast, has it helped with, um, increasing your business

Rachael Botfield: 00:23:53

or getting in front of your ideal clients?

Hilary Salzman: 00:23:57

Yeah, it's definitely helped get in front of

Hilary Salzman: 00:24:00

a wider audience and many of whom would be my, my ideal clients.

Hilary Salzman: 00:24:05

Interestingly, it is listened to by about, it ranges, but between about

Hilary Salzman: 00:24:10

15 and 20% men, which is really interesting because it is, you

Hilary Salzman: 00:24:14

know, I'm very, I mean, it's not.

Hilary Salzman: 00:24:16

I'm not, I have no issue with men listening to it, but I am quite overt

Hilary Salzman: 00:24:19

about it being a podcast for women.

Hilary Salzman: 00:24:21

So, but yeah, so that's quite interesting to see that the analytics is interesting.

Hilary Salzman: 00:24:26

Um, I, I don't think has it brought me in business.

Hilary Salzman: 00:24:32

It's hard to know the direct correlation between the two.

Hilary Salzman: 00:24:35

I can, I definitely know I'm reaching a wider audience.

Hilary Salzman: 00:24:38

I'm definitely getting the business out there.

Hilary Salzman: 00:24:41

Um, I'm definitely getting people coming to me that haven't come through.

Hilary Salzman: 00:24:45

My Instagram channel or my LinkedIn channel and they, they

Hilary Salzman: 00:24:49

are coming through the podcast.

Hilary Salzman: 00:24:51

So I think it's just, I, I think it's one of these things, I've been talking

Hilary Salzman: 00:24:55

to quite a few people about this.

Hilary Salzman: 00:24:56

A podcast is not a quick win for business.

Hilary Salzman: 00:25:00

Yeah,

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:00

I, I agree it's not a quick win.

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:02

No.

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:04

I've seen people out there say, Oh, well, why shouldn't you do, do this

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:08

with your podcast and it can get you this many in a short amount of time?

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:11

I don't, I don't agree.

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:13

Really at all with that because it does take time to build an audience and takes

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:17

time to, to reach people, um, as well.

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:20

I'm just interested because I obviously want my podcast to help be there for,

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:24

for helping my business as well as, as well as adding value and helping

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:27

those people that can't necessarily afford the services that I offer.

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:31

Um, and I would agree with you in that I know there are some people that have

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:35

come through that have listened to my podcast and I've seen those uptick in

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:38

my numbers, but I couldn't sit down.

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:41

Um, You know, and say with 100% certainty, you know, I think that I

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:48

think that's the same with people's marketing as well that you can have

Rachael Botfield: 00:25:51

depending on what kind of business

Hilary Salzman: 00:25:53

that you're doing.

Hilary Salzman: 00:25:54

I think at the end of the day, you know, it is, it's a multi kind

Hilary Salzman: 00:25:58

of channel approach to marketing.

Hilary Salzman: 00:25:59

It's kind of what's needed because we don't buy.

Hilary Salzman: 00:26:02

You know, unless we're buying, I don't know, water bottles, got my water bottle

Hilary Salzman: 00:26:06

next to me, you know, we, we don't tend to buy immediately when we see

Hilary Salzman: 00:26:10

something online, you know, when it, when, especially when you're in business

Hilary Salzman: 00:26:14

and you're buying another business service, you're investing probably your

Hilary Salzman: 00:26:18

own money in it as a small business owner, you know, it is, you've got to

Hilary Salzman: 00:26:22

build that trust and that means multiple hits across that customer journey.

Hilary Salzman: 00:26:26

It's not just about, Oh, I listened to a podcast and now I'm going to buy from you.

Hilary Salzman: 00:26:31

All right.

Hilary Salzman: 00:26:31

So we got linked in and I'm going to buy from you.

Hilary Salzman: 00:26:33

But what it does is it's building that trusted relationship with your audience.

Hilary Salzman: 00:26:38

One, it's getting out to people that might not be on the social

Hilary Salzman: 00:26:41

media channels that you are.

Hilary Salzman: 00:26:43

It's getting your voice out there.

Hilary Salzman: 00:26:45

Um, you know, it's building trust with a new audience for your existing audience.

Hilary Salzman: 00:26:49

It's another way for them to consume what you're putting out there.

Hilary Salzman: 00:26:54

You know, it might be the thing that, that.

Hilary Salzman: 00:26:57

Um, kind of converts them into the sale.

Hilary Salzman: 00:27:00

So I had some, had somebody recently, a new client recently come to me and she

Hilary Salzman: 00:27:04

had been following me for quite some time.

Hilary Salzman: 00:27:07

And she had seen me on Instagram for over a year.

Hilary Salzman: 00:27:09

She'd been following me on Instagram.

Hilary Salzman: 00:27:11

She had been listening to the podcast and those things together at the right time of

Hilary Salzman: 00:27:16

when she needed to invest in her business with the things that she said, right, I'm

Hilary Salzman: 00:27:20

coming to you because I follow you and because I listened to you and because I.

Hilary Salzman: 00:27:23

Trust basically what you can do, but you know, that's a, you know, a year

Hilary Salzman: 00:27:28

at least of her, of her following me and then listening to the podcast.

Hilary Salzman: 00:27:32

So, yeah, I think, you know, things happen.

Hilary Salzman: 00:27:35

Sometimes you will, someone will hear and, you know, and they will think, right,

Hilary Salzman: 00:27:40

actually, I need this service right now.

Hilary Salzman: 00:27:43

But I think it's also, it's.

Hilary Salzman: 00:27:45

It's the other networky type things that having a podcast opens up, so

Hilary Salzman: 00:27:49

it's not for me, it's not just about the people that might consume the

Hilary Salzman: 00:27:53

services from my business, it's other

Hilary Salzman: 00:27:58

kind of avenues it opens up.

Hilary Salzman: 00:27:59

I'm a real advocate for getting more voices out there, and so if I can

Hilary Salzman: 00:28:05

connect with Other podcasters with other storytellers, if I can, you know,

Hilary Salzman: 00:28:10

collaborate like we're doing here, you know, having these conversations.

Hilary Salzman: 00:28:14

You know, if I didn't have the podcast, I wouldn't be here.

Hilary Salzman: 00:28:16

Wouldn't know you.

Hilary Salzman: 00:28:17

Yeah.

Hilary Salzman: 00:28:18

You know, wouldn't have extended our network.

Hilary Salzman: 00:28:21

And you know, the podcast has definitely, um, given me more opportunities,

Hilary Salzman: 00:28:26

um, to meet new people, you know.

Hilary Salzman: 00:28:28

Being featured in Podbible was absolutely wonderful and that, but, you know,

Hilary Salzman: 00:28:33

that, again, that wasn't a fast stream of business that came through that, but

Hilary Salzman: 00:28:36

I met other podcasters and I've been invited on to guest shows and again,

Hilary Salzman: 00:28:40

you know, it's, it's all these things that are slow process stuff, but it's

Hilary Salzman: 00:28:44

all part of growing, I believe, a really sustainable business rather than it

Hilary Salzman: 00:28:49

being a quick, yeah, a quick way to

Rachael Botfield: 00:28:52

Yeah, I love how you said sustainable because that

Rachael Botfield: 00:28:55

is just exactly what I was thinking.

Rachael Botfield: 00:28:57

It's like the building blocks.

Rachael Botfield: 00:28:58

You're building up that, that trust, like you said, that you're

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:02

building your authority, letting everyone know your knowledge.

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:05

And I think there's something, I mean, like a lot of people have said,

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:09

it's very personal about listening to audio as well and having that,

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:12

being that person in someone's ear.

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:14

Um, Helping them as well.

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:16

And, and like you said, some people said that helping the podcast

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:19

helped them make that decision.

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:21

I think that they not.

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:23

It's a way to get people to know you a little bit better.

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:27

'cause you're speaking, you are, you are letting them know your knowledge and

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:30

your ideas and how you are as a person.

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:32

And I think when people are investing online, and like you say, small business

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:36

owners, this is something that I have when I've invested in, in other

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:40

things for myself and my business.

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:42

I want to know the person, I want to know, you know, look at their content.

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:47

Before you invest and it's often, you know, a substantial investment, especially

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:51

if you're a solo business owner as well.

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:52

So having that, it's all really important to gain their trust, to know that, you

Rachael Botfield: 00:29:57

know, they're in good hands when they, when they do eventually, when it's the

Rachael Botfield: 00:30:00

right time for them to come to you.

Hilary Salzman: 00:30:04

Yeah.

Hilary Salzman: 00:30:05

Yeah.

Hilary Salzman: 00:30:05

That safe hands piece, that trust is really, really important.

Hilary Salzman: 00:30:08

Yeah.

Hilary Salzman: 00:30:09

And I think it's anything where you can share the human side of

Hilary Salzman: 00:30:13

your business, they then get to know you, your personality, I

Hilary Salzman: 00:30:17

think it's a really good thing.

Hilary Salzman: 00:30:18

And as I say, podcasting is that really intimate way of doing that.

Hilary Salzman: 00:30:22

And I, I think that's a bit that I've.

Hilary Salzman: 00:30:23

get really excited about as well, the fact that you are just in one person's

Hilary Salzman: 00:30:27

ear and the feedback that I've got from people about kind of, you know, I think I

Hilary Salzman: 00:30:31

said to you, we met, you know, my podcast always goes up at half six in the morning.

Hilary Salzman: 00:30:36

And I love seeing by like seven o'clock that I've had a handful of people listen.

Hilary Salzman: 00:30:40

So I, and I know it's It's part of people's morning routines and that makes

Hilary Salzman: 00:30:44

me really, really happy to think that there are people out there that get up

Hilary Salzman: 00:30:48

and they like have their cup of tea and they're like, right, I'm going to get

Hilary Salzman: 00:30:50

my three or four minutes of storytelling inspiration and get on with my day.

Hilary Salzman: 00:30:54

And that's, you know, that's just great.

Hilary Salzman: 00:30:56

And it's, you know, it's all part of my, my mission and all kinds of

Hilary Salzman: 00:30:59

the things that, that fulfill me.

Hilary Salzman: 00:31:02

It's not always about making money.

Hilary Salzman: 00:31:04

I mean, yes.

Hilary Salzman: 00:31:05

You know, we do need to do that, but it's also, you know, it is, yeah,

Hilary Salzman: 00:31:09

people, I want people to see that this is, uh, you know, a real passion of mine

Hilary Salzman: 00:31:15

and, you know, an area which I really believe in helping more women do this.

Hilary Salzman: 00:31:20

And so, yeah, the podcast is a good way of

Rachael Botfield: 00:31:22

doing that.

Rachael Botfield: 00:31:23

Yeah, I love the idea of it being part of somebody's routine.

Rachael Botfield: 00:31:26

That's, that's wonderful for you.

Rachael Botfield: 00:31:30

Well, thanks for sharing, um, about your business and about your podcast,

Rachael Botfield: 00:31:34

but we've also got a little bonus.

Rachael Botfield: 00:31:36

So, um, Hillary's going to share some tips into storytelling and how you can

Rachael Botfield: 00:31:41

incorporate that into your podcast.

Rachael Botfield: 00:31:44

So I'm really pleased that Hillary has offered to share these tips with you.

Rachael Botfield: 00:31:49

So Hilary, do you want to let us know what those tips would be?

Hilary Salzman: 00:31:52

Absolutely, yes.

Hilary Salzman: 00:31:53

And thank you for letting me waffle on for a little bit more about

Rachael Botfield: 00:32:00

storytelling.

Rachael Botfield: 00:32:00

No, it's so interesting.

Rachael Botfield: 00:32:01

I think it'll be really interesting to everybody listening as well,

Rachael Botfield: 00:32:04

whether they've already got their podcast or starting their podcast

Rachael Botfield: 00:32:07

and listening to your passion about your podcasting and storytelling.

Hilary Salzman: 00:32:11

Well, I think before I go very quickly before I go into

Hilary Salzman: 00:32:14

the tips that I have got five to share I think the question that is often

Hilary Salzman: 00:32:18

asked is you know, why storytelling?

Hilary Salzman: 00:32:19

Why do we do this?

Hilary Salzman: 00:32:21

And I've talked a lot about connection and it's important to know and to understand

Hilary Salzman: 00:32:26

that Storytelling is more than just a marketing y type thing Storytelling has

Hilary Salzman: 00:32:32

been around Since the dawn of time and our brains are literally wired for stories.

Hilary Salzman: 00:32:39

So the way in which we, um, detect stories, the way in which our

Hilary Salzman: 00:32:44

brain can determine a story being told to us, it's, it's amazing.

Hilary Salzman: 00:32:49

And so, so, so it isn't just a kind of fluffy marketing thing, as I said,

Hilary Salzman: 00:32:55

when we hear stories, it creates chemical reactions in our brains.

Hilary Salzman: 00:33:01

Um, things within the limbic system, which is the, the, the system which

Hilary Salzman: 00:33:06

gives us gut feel and it's the thing that drives emotive buying.

Hilary Salzman: 00:33:10

So when we tell a story and someone hears it and they think, Oh, I

Hilary Salzman: 00:33:14

like that and they get that nice warm feeling about that person.

Hilary Salzman: 00:33:19

It's actually chemical that's doing that and so, you know, and it's amazing and

Hilary Salzman: 00:33:24

it's things like cortisol and Dopamine to make you feel happy things that cortisol

Hilary Salzman: 00:33:30

is really good for memory So stories are much more memorable than if you're just

Hilary Salzman: 00:33:34

spouting a load of facts and figures Um and oxytocin as well, which is really

Hilary Salzman: 00:33:38

an important chemical for empathy So when we talk about trust and building

Hilary Salzman: 00:33:43

relationships All of this is connected.

Hilary Salzman: 00:33:45

So storytelling really is a powerful tool to have.

Hilary Salzman: 00:33:50

And when you're, when you're podcasting or whatever it is

Hilary Salzman: 00:33:54

you're doing, it is, as I say, that great way to engage your audience.

Hilary Salzman: 00:33:59

But I think for me, it's when you start telling your own story, is where it really

Hilary Salzman: 00:34:03

happens, where the exciting magic happens.

Hilary Salzman: 00:34:06

So, in terms of doing that, my, my tips that I've got, I think number one,

Hilary Salzman: 00:34:11

is figure out your own story first.

Hilary Salzman: 00:34:14

Be clear and be honest with yourself about it.

Hilary Salzman: 00:34:17

You know, we're not, you don't have to have a Hollywood blockbuster story.

Hilary Salzman: 00:34:22

If you've been anywhere, done anything, spoken to anyone,

Hilary Salzman: 00:34:26

you have a story to tell.

Hilary Salzman: 00:34:28

If you are a business owner, if you just have a side hustle, you

Hilary Salzman: 00:34:32

know, one day a week, you have a reason for doing what you do.

Hilary Salzman: 00:34:37

So take ownership over your own story.

Hilary Salzman: 00:34:40

Figure that out and, and embrace it with confidence.

Hilary Salzman: 00:34:44

Again, it doesn't need to, you don't need to write some big

Hilary Salzman: 00:34:46

mission statement type thing.

Hilary Salzman: 00:34:49

It's just knowing why you exist, what excites you, what gets you up

Hilary Salzman: 00:34:53

in the morning, and you know, where you've come from, where you are

Hilary Salzman: 00:34:57

now, and where you're heading to.

Hilary Salzman: 00:34:59

Figure that out in your own kind of head first.

Hilary Salzman: 00:35:03

Tip number two, once you've done that, is think about your audience.

Hilary Salzman: 00:35:08

And that sounds really obvious, but we, we often miss that

Hilary Salzman: 00:35:11

stage when we're storytelling.

Hilary Salzman: 00:35:14

And by thinking about your audience, it's not kind of, you know, yes,

Hilary Salzman: 00:35:17

the demographics are important.

Hilary Salzman: 00:35:18

Is it a man?

Hilary Salzman: 00:35:19

Is it a woman?

Hilary Salzman: 00:35:20

Are they this age?

Hilary Salzman: 00:35:21

You know, what are they interested in?

Hilary Salzman: 00:35:23

But really to think about it at a deeper level, you know, what do your

Hilary Salzman: 00:35:28

listeners in, in the podcast world, for example, really care about?

Hilary Salzman: 00:35:33

It's not.

Hilary Salzman: 00:35:34

Just what you think is really interesting or fun to talk about.

Hilary Salzman: 00:35:37

What do they really care about?

Hilary Salzman: 00:35:39

What problems are they trying to solve in their lives?

Hilary Salzman: 00:35:42

And then, it's almost like you draw comparisons between what they're looking

Hilary Salzman: 00:35:47

to achieve and what your story tells.

Hilary Salzman: 00:35:49

And when you create those kind of crossover links, that's where

Hilary Salzman: 00:35:53

those, it gets really exciting.

Hilary Salzman: 00:35:55

So it's telling stories about you, which is, you know, very honest to you, but that

Hilary Salzman: 00:36:00

fits in with, with um, With your audience.

Hilary Salzman: 00:36:04

And that leads me on to tip number three, which is be authentic, be you.

Hilary Salzman: 00:36:10

We talked a lot at the beginning, we've talked about this one on one range.

Hilary Salzman: 00:36:14

It's just, you know.

Hilary Salzman: 00:36:16

You don't need to be what you think people want from you.

Hilary Salzman: 00:36:20

Just be yourself, because that will really build that trust

Hilary Salzman: 00:36:24

that we were talking about.

Hilary Salzman: 00:36:26

So share genuine stories that reflect not only your experiences, but things

Hilary Salzman: 00:36:31

that reflect your values as well.

Hilary Salzman: 00:36:34

You know, the things that are important to you.

Hilary Salzman: 00:36:36

Talk about challenges that you've, that you've faced.

Hilary Salzman: 00:36:39

And encourage your listeners to relate to the journey that you've been on as well.

Hilary Salzman: 00:36:44

Um...

Hilary Salzman: 00:36:45

You know, it's sometimes, you know, the best stories come from talking about

Hilary Salzman: 00:36:51

our failures and when we, you know, it's that vulnerability piece, but it also

Hilary Salzman: 00:36:55

gives you that opportunity to say, right, so something epically went wrong here

Hilary Salzman: 00:36:59

in my life as, you know, as a business owner, I did this and I massively

Hilary Salzman: 00:37:03

messed up, but I've learned from it.

Hilary Salzman: 00:37:05

And in that learning.

Hilary Salzman: 00:37:07

I'm now better placed to help you, Mrs.

Hilary Salzman: 00:37:10

Customer.

Hilary Salzman: 00:37:11

Oh, Mr.

Hilary Salzman: 00:37:12

Customer.

Hilary Salzman: 00:37:13

Yeah, so it's all about, okay, what can we take, but always making

Hilary Salzman: 00:37:16

sure it's relating back to that.

Hilary Salzman: 00:37:22

Um, I think four is really about, and it's kind of, you know, these are all

Hilary Salzman: 00:37:26

linked together very much, but it's, it's finding that common ground and telling

Hilary Salzman: 00:37:32

stories that highlight the, the, the sort of the shared experiences because it's

Hilary Salzman: 00:37:37

almost like, it's almost like relatable.

Hilary Salzman: 00:37:44

It's, you know, thinking about, I always say it's about, like, holding a mirror up.

Hilary Salzman: 00:37:48

If you tell a story, and your audience can see themselves

Hilary Salzman: 00:37:52

reflected in that mirror, you know.

Hilary Salzman: 00:37:55

It's going to create this lovely kind of familiarity with you, and

Hilary Salzman: 00:37:59

it really helps break down barriers.

Hilary Salzman: 00:38:01

So I think this is especially useful when you're first getting into something

Hilary Salzman: 00:38:06

like podcasting, and maybe people don't know you particularly well, or maybe

Hilary Salzman: 00:38:10

you've been known for something else.

Hilary Salzman: 00:38:13

Those stories kind of, yeah, it's like, yeah, just getting it all out there.

Hilary Salzman: 00:38:17

Here, this is me, type thing.

Hilary Salzman: 00:38:20

Brings people in, and they naturally will want to kind of

Hilary Salzman: 00:38:22

find, you know, find out more.

Hilary Salzman: 00:38:26

When we talk about kind of the themes of stories, um, very much think

Hilary Salzman: 00:38:31

about things that are relatable.

Hilary Salzman: 00:38:33

And it can be any topics, but there are some sort of themes, universal themes.

Hilary Salzman: 00:38:39

Things like, um, hope, we talked about, um, compassion, resilience.

Hilary Salzman: 00:38:44

Those sort of stories, any stories that fall into those categories

Hilary Salzman: 00:38:47

are really human based stories.

Hilary Salzman: 00:38:50

And so they're really good for getting people kind of, you know,

Hilary Salzman: 00:38:53

on board with you and, and um, you know, they, yeah, just give you

Hilary Salzman: 00:38:57

something to kind of hook into.

Hilary Salzman: 00:39:00

Um, avoid listing out loads of facts and figures in your stories.

Hilary Salzman: 00:39:07

Yeah.

Hilary Salzman: 00:39:07

Facts, and it's funny, facts and figures can be great, but kind of use them

Hilary Salzman: 00:39:10

to, um, Almost to kind of, I don't know, evidence your story a little

Hilary Salzman: 00:39:17

bit, but don't make them the story.

Hilary Salzman: 00:39:19

If you've got an amazing piece of research, for example, that's great.

Hilary Salzman: 00:39:24

But if you want to talk about it to your audience, talk about the kind

Hilary Salzman: 00:39:28

of why it matters to them first and, you know, that, that side of things.

Hilary Salzman: 00:39:32

Um, but yeah, stories are a good way.

Hilary Salzman: 00:39:35

If you are a very fact and figure type person, stories are a good

Hilary Salzman: 00:39:38

way of making that a bit more

Rachael Botfield: 00:39:40

consumable.

Rachael Botfield: 00:39:41

Yeah, that's, that makes sense because otherwise it's a

Rachael Botfield: 00:39:44

little bit too, there's no...

Rachael Botfield: 00:39:47

heart behind it.

Rachael Botfield: 00:39:47

There's nothing for them, like you say, there's nothing for them to

Rachael Botfield: 00:39:50

relate to, to just those types of

Hilary Salzman: 00:39:52

numbers.

Hilary Salzman: 00:39:53

And it's not, it's not memorable content as well.

Hilary Salzman: 00:39:56

So again, going back to what I was saying about the way the brain works,

Hilary Salzman: 00:40:00

when we hear facts and figures, the brain just says that's data.

Hilary Salzman: 00:40:03

So it doesn't do anything.

Hilary Salzman: 00:40:05

It will, it will compartmentalize it and be able to understand it

Hilary Salzman: 00:40:09

in the moment, but it doesn't do.

Hilary Salzman: 00:40:11

anything with those chemical reactions.

Hilary Salzman: 00:40:14

Take the same information and tell it in a story form, the brain will recognize it as

Hilary Salzman: 00:40:20

a story and say, all of those cogs start whirring and it becomes more memorable.

Hilary Salzman: 00:40:25

The reason that my business is called 22 Stories, by the way, is because

Hilary Salzman: 00:40:29

stories are 22 times more memorable.

Hilary Salzman: 00:40:43

And then I think finally, my, my big tip would be, you know, you

Hilary Salzman: 00:40:46

figure out your own story, tell it with confidence and ownership.

Hilary Salzman: 00:40:50

But you, if you, if you are in a position where you have got a platform,

Hilary Salzman: 00:40:55

like a podcast, use that platform, not only to share your own stories, but

Hilary Salzman: 00:41:00

to invite others to tell their story.

Hilary Salzman: 00:41:02

I mean, look at what we're doing.

Hilary Salzman: 00:41:03

This is exactly what I'm talking about.

Hilary Salzman: 00:41:05

You know, it's a really, storytelling and getting people to, to know

Hilary Salzman: 00:41:09

more about you isn't just about...

Hilary Salzman: 00:41:12

What you're sharing, it's the guests that you have, it's the stories that you share,

Hilary Salzman: 00:41:16

the things that you tell people about.

Hilary Salzman: 00:41:18

And it's just this lovely way to kind of,

Hilary Salzman: 00:41:31

I don't know, but it's also things like encouraging your audience to feedback.

Hilary Salzman: 00:41:36

You know, storytelling is, is always a two way thing.

Hilary Salzman: 00:41:39

So if you do a podcast like mine, which is just me rabbiting on, I would

Hilary Salzman: 00:41:44

say, you know, Talk to me audience.

Hilary Salzman: 00:41:46

Have you experienced the same thing?

Hilary Salzman: 00:41:48

Give them a mechanism to feed back and reflect on that story.

Hilary Salzman: 00:41:53

And, yeah, collaborate, find other storytellers, all

Hilary Salzman: 00:41:57

of those wonderful things.

Hilary Salzman: 00:41:59

Um, yeah, because it isn't just a one way thing.

Hilary Salzman: 00:42:02

And I think the final thing I'd say, I'm probably, probably

Hilary Salzman: 00:42:05

on six now rather than five.

Hilary Salzman: 00:42:09

It's just really, it's just to have fun with it.

Hilary Salzman: 00:42:11

Just chill out about it.

Hilary Salzman: 00:42:13

You know, it doesn't, it is awkward.

Hilary Salzman: 00:42:16

It can feel difficult.

Hilary Salzman: 00:42:18

And that's, a lot of that comes from society and what kind of society

Hilary Salzman: 00:42:22

tells us we should and shouldn't do as, as women in business.

Hilary Salzman: 00:42:25

But, you know, it doesn't need to be.

Hilary Salzman: 00:42:28

The world needs our voices, most definitely.

Hilary Salzman: 00:42:31

There is a space for us.

Hilary Salzman: 00:42:33

There are people that you can help just by telling your story on a podcast.

Hilary Salzman: 00:42:37

You are helping people.

Hilary Salzman: 00:42:39

Um, But, you know, just do it and be fun, be genuine, talk in your voice like you

Hilary Salzman: 00:42:44

were talking to a friend down the pub.

Hilary Salzman: 00:42:46

Don't suddenly put on some strange telephone voice.

Hilary Salzman: 00:42:50

Yeah.

Hilary Salzman: 00:42:52

And yeah, and just, you know, you know, use humour, use, you know, you know, just

Hilary Salzman: 00:42:57

depending on your audience, of course.

Hilary Salzman: 00:42:59

But, you know, just, yeah, just have fun, fun with your stories.

Hilary Salzman: 00:43:02

Definitely.

Hilary Salzman: 00:43:02

That would be my, my big ask.

Rachael Botfield: 00:43:05

That is absolutely brilliant advice.

Rachael Botfield: 00:43:07

I love how you said about, you know, sharing relatable stories and also sharing

Rachael Botfield: 00:43:12

your failures as well and showing, and I think, like you mentioned earlier,

Rachael Botfield: 00:43:17

it, someone else could be listening to that and go, Oh, it's not just me.

Rachael Botfield: 00:43:20

This is what I've been feeling.

Rachael Botfield: 00:43:21

And I think that is a really important connection in storytelling is

Rachael Botfield: 00:43:26

That feeling that you're not alone and that it has happened to you.

Rachael Botfield: 00:43:30

So if you're able to share your stories in that way as well, I

Rachael Botfield: 00:43:32

think, um, that can really help you connect with your audience.

Rachael Botfield: 00:43:36

And like you said, having fun, having fun with it and trying not to get, um,

Rachael Botfield: 00:43:41

too caught up with how you feel like you should be doing it and just kind

Rachael Botfield: 00:43:45

of do it with as much of you in there.

Hilary Salzman: 00:43:48

Yeah, definitely.

Hilary Salzman: 00:43:49

And I think it is that if you think that, you know, the way that I get over the fear

Hilary Salzman: 00:43:55

is to think about what you said at the beginning then was helping one person.

Hilary Salzman: 00:43:58

You know, if I can just swallow my fear for this one time and tell this story

Hilary Salzman: 00:44:02

and actually help one person, That is going to be in a slightly better

Hilary Salzman: 00:44:05

position today than they were yesterday.

Hilary Salzman: 00:44:08

Then it's, you know, it's worth those kind of like, oh, moments and things like that.

Hilary Salzman: 00:44:11

Just knowing that you could be helping someone.

Hilary Salzman: 00:44:13

And so that's a good way to look at it.

Hilary Salzman: 00:44:15

I

Rachael Botfield: 00:44:15

find.

Rachael Botfield: 00:44:16

Absolutely.

Rachael Botfield: 00:44:18

Thank you so much for coming on and sharing all your awesome

Rachael Botfield: 00:44:21

advice and your experience and journey with your podcasting.

Rachael Botfield: 00:44:25

Um, do you want to let people know where they can best find you if they want to

Rachael Botfield: 00:44:28

find out more about your podcasts and more about what you do as a storyteller?

Hilary Salzman: 00:44:32

Yeah.

Hilary Salzman: 00:44:32

Thank you.

Hilary Salzman: 00:44:33

Yeah.

Hilary Salzman: 00:44:33

So, um, the everyday storyteller podcast is on all of the, the

Hilary Salzman: 00:44:38

main podcasting platforms.

Hilary Salzman: 00:44:41

So just search up the everyday storyteller.

Hilary Salzman: 00:44:42

Um, the business is 22 stories.

Hilary Salzman: 00:44:45

So I'm on Instagram at 22 stories and me and my website is, uh, www dot.

Hilary Salzman: 00:44:52

22stories no 22 stories.

Hilary Salzman: 00:44:53

com.

Hilary Salzman: 00:44:53

But yeah, Instagram.

Hilary Salzman: 00:44:59

Instagram is probably the main, main place to, to, to find me.

Hilary Salzman: 00:45:03

If you want to get in touch, just drop, drop me a DM and we can have a chat and

Hilary Salzman: 00:45:07

I would love to talk to more people.

Rachael Botfield: 00:45:09

Cool.

Rachael Botfield: 00:45:10

I will put all the links in the show notes so you can easily find Hilary

Rachael Botfield: 00:45:13

if you want to get in touch with her.

Rachael Botfield: 00:45:15

Thank you again, Hilary.

Rachael Botfield: 00:45:16

It's been lovely chatting

Hilary Salzman: 00:45:16

with you.

Hilary Salzman: 00:45:18

I'll catch you soon.

Hilary Salzman: 00:45:18

It's been my absolute pleasure, Rachel.

Hilary Salzman: 00:45:19

Thanks for inviting me.

Rachael Botfield: 00:45:23

Thanks for listening to the show.

Rachael Botfield: 00:45:24

If you'd like to connect with me or get in touch, then head on over to my website.

Rachael Botfield: 00:45:28

If you liked the episode, then I'd love it if you could leave me a

Rachael Botfield: 00:45:30

review in your chosen podcast app.

Rachael Botfield: 00:45:32

Your feedback is much appreciated.