Recently I had the chance to spend the day with Michael Hyatt, author of Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World, to talk about focus and productivity. I had the privilege of being part of the beta group for his course that I highly recommend: Free to Focus.&nbsp; In this podcast, I share how the course has impacted my life and my business. I’ll discuss some of the lessons I’ve learned from Michael including:  Mega Batching The four different zones that our tasks fall into Deciding where to eliminate, automate, or delegate The importance of hiring the right people The importance of having emotional support  Make sure to check out Free to Focus online and get on the waiting list.&nbsp; You won’t regret it. Are you ready to take the leap and start your own podcast?&nbsp; Text the word Podcastblueprint to 33444 and I’ll send you our Podcast Blueprint PDF. &nbsp;  “The importance of mega batching can’t be understated.” -Nick Palkowski CLICK TO TWEET &nbsp; RESOURCES Freetofocus.com Platform University YourPodcastGuru.com Your Podcast Guru on Facebook The Power of Podcasting on iTunes

Productivity and Focus: What I learned from a day with Michael Hyatt

When’s the last time you invested in yourself?&nbsp; With today’s crazy schedules, it can be really difficult to carve out time for yourself, but neglecting to invest in yourself is a mistake. The biggest habit that’s affected my life is reading.&nbsp;&nbsp; It only takes 10-15 minutes a day to expand your knowledge and invest time in yourself by reading. We discuss:  Developing a healthy morning routine 5 steps to creating good reading habits Absorbing what you read  We want to know what book you’re reading right now!&nbsp; Leave us a comment on Facebook or below letting us know your current reading list. &nbsp;If you’re ready to make the jump into starting your own podcast, but don’t know where to start, Text PODCASTBLUEPRINT to 33444, and I’ll send you my podcast blueprint PDF to get you started. &nbsp;  “The habit that has had the biggest impact in my life of any habit that I’ve developed so far… CLICK TO TWEET &nbsp;  Transcripts Download the Transcript for Episode #026 (PDF) SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST    &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; SUBSCRIBE TO THE VIDEO PODCAST RESOURCES YourPodcastGuru.com Your Podcast Guru on Facebook The Power of Podcasting on iTunes The Compound Effect Habit Streak for Android Habit Streak for iPhone

Book Worm Brilliance: The Power of Reading Daily

Do you ever feel overwhelmed with all the information and action items you have after a live event? Have you gone through a course that was packed with incredible information only to find that you implemented none of it? I was recently at a mastermind event when one of the attendees share a framework he uses to help make sure he takes action on the most important take aways from any learning experience. This framework works for live events, masterminds, courses, and books. Really it is a way to narrow your focus and build momentum. In this episode, you will…  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Learn the 12.3.1 framework &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Understand why creating momentum in your business is crucial &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Discover how to not waste learning opportunities &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Begin taking massive action to improve your life and business  &nbsp;  “By getting very narrow and focused in your action items, you’re going to see bigger progress… CLICK TO TWEET

The 3 Keys to Taking Fast Action on What You Learned

This episode of the podcast is a special one. Recently, I ran a 5 Day Get Started Podcasting Challenge. We had some excellent results. So I wanted to release it here on the podcast. The entire goal of this challenge is to help you through the beginning stages of creating a podcast. Your podcast can become one of the most important assets in your business. Yes, it can eventually help you sell your products and goods, but most important, it'll allow you to instantly build a relationship with real people who have given you the signal that they are interested in you and what you have to say. Your podcast audience can help you learn what pieces of content to create, what products to build, frustrations they are having, success stories they've had because of you, and much more. To sum it all up, your subscribers can help you take the guesswork out of the work you're doing to build your brand, blog and business. Before we dive in, I'd like to say one more thing: This isn't going to be the most sexy, mind-blowing process you have even seen, because it shouldn't be. When starting anything, the trick to get moving is to start simple. This process is&nbsp;very&nbsp;simple, and I promise you that it works if you take the time to actually implement it. We need to start by building a solid foundation. That’s where it all begins. With a solid foundation you’ll be able to grow faster with more confidence that you are taking the right actions. You may see the instructions below and be tempted to write it off because it seems so simple, but I want to challenge you to push past that resistance in this challenge. Let's get started... Transcripts Download the Transcript for Episode #028 (PDF) SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST    &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; SUBSCRIBE TO THE VIDEO PODCAST  RESOURCES PodcastingChallenge.com YourPodcastGuru.com/itunes YourPodcastGuru.com/TV YourPodcastGuru.com/YouTube YourPodcastGuru.com/Facebook &nbsp; &nbsp;

Building a Foundation | Day 1 of the Get Started Podcasting Challenge

Have you set up your recording studio yet? This episode of the podcast we will dive into the best year options for your budget and style you want to record. This episode is from Day 2 of the&nbsp;5 Day Get Started Podcasting Challenge&nbsp;that I am releasing here on the podcast to everyone. Last week's episode, you were told to build your foundation for your podcast business. In the&nbsp;Power Of Podcasting Facebook Group, dozens of you reported that you were able to plan a solid foundation for your show! If you aren't in the Facebook group already, I highly recommend you check it out. It's a great resource for not only inspiration and to see that this is actually a process that works, but to get some help and encouragement too. Honestly, I'm blown away from how involved many of you are in helping others in there. Thank you for that!&nbsp; Now it’s time to move on to one of the questions I’m asked the most, "What gear do I need?" I'm going to keep it simple for you though, as always, and before I get to the instructions for today and continue the challenge, there's one important note I want to make about how many of you probably felt during Day 1 of this challenge... When I asked you to spend time answering your foundational questions, I knew that this was going to be one of the hardest parts of the process, because too often we want to skip ahead to the sexier pieces (like gear).&nbsp; Immediately, I started getting questions about how specific the answers needed to be, if they could wait to answer the questions, or if they could even skip questions all together.&nbsp; These are completely normal feelings to have. But the urge to breeze past these questions is one you need to suppress. These questions are important to creating a solid foundation that will help you grow more and faster down the road. Sometimes to go fast you need to first go slow.  So if you missed finishing Day 1, go back and be sure to&nbsp;answer all the Foundational Questions. In this training video I’ve broken the decision down for you into the 6 main components you need to consider and then gave you my recommended equipment for each combination. There’s no need to get too involved in equipment reviews, spending days researching which exact microphone to buy. That is just a fancy way of procrastinating. Make your selection and move forward. You can always upgrade or purchase additional equipment as you learn more about your specific podcasting needs but those are things you won’t know until you start recording episodes. So make an equipment selection and start recording.&nbsp;  Transcripts Download the Transcript for Episode #029 (PDF) SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST    &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; SUBSCRIBE TO THE VIDEO PODCAST  RESOURCES PodcastingChallenge.com YourPodcastGuru.com/itunes YourPodcastGuru.com/TV YourPodcastGuru.com/YouTube YourPodcastGuru.com/Facebook &nbsp; &nbsp;

Set Up Your Recording Studio | Day 2 of the Get Started Podcasting Challenge

We're now into Day 3 of our&nbsp;5 Day Get Started Podcasting Challenge! Great work! You now have a selected your equipment and built a solid foundation for your podcast business. Now it's time to talk about getting your podcast to stand out! You won't get listeners if your branding and visuals don't speak to your ideal audience. iTunes is by far the largest podcast directory. This is where people go to find new podcasts to listen to (even if they use a different player they are likely still connected through iTunes). iTunes (and other directories) are essentially search engines for podcasts. In order to stand out to the right potential listeners you need to do three things&nbsp;Get Found, Get Listeners,&nbsp;and&nbsp;Get Fans.&nbsp;Day three of the Podcasting Challenge will help you do just that. In this training video you'll discover the key areas you need to focus on in order to be sure your podcast is discovered, listened and subscribed to. TRANSCRIPT Download the Transcript for Episode #030 (PDF) SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST     SUBSCRIBE TO THE VIDEO PODCAST  RESOURCES PodcastingChallenge.com YourPodcastGuru.com/itunes YourPodcastGuru.com/TV YourPodcastGuru.com/YouTube YourPodcastGuru.com/Facebook

Stand Out From The Crowd | Day 3 of the Get Started Podcasting Challenge

We're now into Day 4 of our&nbsp;5 Day Get Started Podcasting Challenge! If you've been following along, you now have a selected your equipment, built a solid foundation for your podcast business, and discovered how you can stand out from the crowd. Now it's time for an exciting (and sometimes nerve racking) moment.... recording your first episode! One of the greatest things about podcasting is... there are NO RULES. You can design your show any way you want, you want a 60 second interview show...great. If you want a 4 hour solo episode...awesome. As long as it’s entertaining and useful to your audience people will listen. One of the worst things about podcasting is... there are NO RULES. The freedom and possibilities can be paralyzing to many people. To help overcome that resistance and give you a little direction in terms of how to script out your solo episodes I wanted to offer two script templates that you can use as a jumping off platform. Of course, feel free to toss the templates and find the flow that fits your show. Also, when recording your very first episode there are three key items you want to cover. The reason is that the first episode will be one of your most listened to episodes. It doesn’t matter if people join you on episode 25, 100, or 700 a certain percentage will jump all the way back to the beginning to listen to that very first episode to find out about you and the podcast. Now it's time to get to work and hit that record button!! TRANSCRIPT Download the Transcript for Episode #031 (PDF) SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST  &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; SUBSCRIBE TO THE VIDEO PODCAST  RESOURCES PodcastingChallenge.com YourPodcastGuru.com/itunes YourPodcastGuru.com/TV YourPodcastGuru.com/YouTube YourPodcastGuru.com/Facebook

Record Your First Episode | Day 4 of the Get Started Podcasting Challenge

It's now the final day of the&nbsp;5 Day Get Started Podcasting Challenge! Before we get to the final challenge, however, I just wanted to say thanks! First, to everyone who followed along with this challenge, especially those who pushed hard through those fears that popped up when recording an episode for the first time. Imagine the people you may be able to help or provide service to. Don't ever let that fear stop you from potentially helping them, because remember - a successful business is one that serves! Whether you finished your recording or not end of this challenge, it doesn't really matter to be honest. What matters is this: You are taking action! That's more than what 99% of the people who only dream to start something like this someday can say. I'm getting a little off tangent here, and I know you're anxious for day 5's instructions, but I just had to share this because it's so important! As you probably can tell, at lot of this "business stuff" is definitely related to what's happening in the mind. Mindset is everything, because without the right mindset, your'e not going to give yourself the full energy you need to succeed. You're on your way though, you've been doing great these past few days, so let me stop rambling here, and get to it. &nbsp; TRANSCRIPT Download the Transcript for Episode #032 (PDF) SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST  &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; SUBSCRIBE TO THE VIDEO PODCAST  RESOURCES PodcastingChallenge.com YourPodcastGuru.com/itunes YourPodcastGuru.com/TV YourPodcastGuru.com/YouTube YourPodcastGuru.com/Facebook

Edit & Share!! | Day 5 of the Get Started Podcasting Challenge

If you are serious about getting consistent clients to your business and growing powerful platform then you need to be taking the actions that get the best results. Those results aren't coming from commenting in Facebook groups, spending hours each day on social media, watching webinars your never take action on, or tweaking your website till it's perfect. The best results come from getting in front of the your ideal audience members with minimal effort. One way to do that is by leveraging other people's audiences through media coverage or guest podcasting. That's exactly what Adrienne Dorison wants to help you do! On this episode Adrienne talks about her Expose Your Business challenge and how you can grow your business by adding value to other people's audiences. In this episode, you will…  Learn the basics of getting media exposure Hear about the Expose Your Business Challenge and how Adrienne is using it to build her community Discover the unique strategy behind Adrienne's new Pop-Up Podcast (hint: I think it will be EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE) Create an action plan to get more exposer for your business    SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST  &nbsp;&nbsp; SUBSCRIBE TO THE VIDEO PODCAST  RESOURCES Expose Your Business Challenge The Pop-Up Podcast AdrienneDorison.com YourPodcastGuru.com/itunes