Just Keep Learning - Arielle Nissenblatt On Learning, Geography, And How To Start A Podcast

Arielle Nissenblatt On Learning, Geography, And How To Start A Podcast

09/13/22 • 54 min

1 Listener

Arielle talks about the journey of formal education in her life. She went from being more reserved and lacking confidence to finding her true passions and believing in herself more.

She opens up about being diagnosed with a nonverbal learning disability in her early years. This also lead to some traumatic memories of being removed from class for needing more help with math. Even though it’s meant to help, in her case, and probably most cases, it did more harm than good.

Through post-secondary education and entering the workplace, she was able to better connect with her passions in the real world and her confidence grew. One of these big passions was geography. The other one, was podcasting.

We talked about being a multi-passionate person and how it’s ok to have so many interests. We found out the extent of organization systems Arielle uses and some of her interests. She has many new passions from TikTok, to checking out new food, mapping, rollerblading, tennis, soccer, and of course anything new in the world of podcasting.

Like always, there were some awesome surprise tidbits in the conversation. We learned how she broke her elbow and her Apple Watch called 911. Arielle also shared that she is pretty much vegan, loves storytelling and is a geography expert. Arielle has an incredible mindset and approach to life. She is the absolute definition of a lifelong learner.

Memorable Quotes

“If you have an idea for a podcast. Awesome. Great. Think about why it should be a podcast first.”

“I Love Podcasts. When I started listening, I just became exposed to all of these new people and all of these new stories that I had not been aware of beforehand.”

“I am constantly challenged to come up with new ideas. I love marketing concepts and I love connecting with people about how to tell their stories.”

13 Things To Remember When You Start Your Podcast

Know your why. Not just from a philosophical, motivational standpoint. Know why it should be a podcast. Could it be a different medium? What about podcast specifically do you think is valuable to tell this story, or share this information? Make sure it is best as a podcast, it can be easier to test YouTube, or blogs first to see if you want to keep investing time and energy into it.
Decide on a format. Is it going to be you interviewing a guest; you and a co host interviewing; you and someone else having a conversation; a panel of guest; or a solo, scripted show; or perhaps a combination? Get some clarity on the format, template and structure of an episode.
If it’s an interview show make a long list of the people you would want to interview and send as many pitch emails as possible. You will get no’s, but no’s lead to yes’s and everything happens for a reason.
Continually and consistently put out content to continue to grow your show. Creating traction comes from consistency, so be sure to build systems that allow you to bank episodes and upload regularly. Create your show like a podcast assembly line.
What investments can you make up front for the show that allow for you to focus on what you do best, or to make things more streamlined? For example, hiring an editor can free you up to be the talent on the show. But, this also depends on the style of your show. With a regular conversation, the editing work is not complex, keep it simple, clean up the sound a bit, remove a few awkward pauses and hit publish. If you have a very pre-scripted, polished and produced series, then the editing will take hours to complete. It’s all about knowing what your brand message is when it comes to the style of creative you are going for. But overall being aware of how much time, or money you have to invest in the show and the next best investment is valuable.
Over communication with your listeners is valuable because clarity is key. As you grow an audience and want to build a community there is no room for confusion. Publish with a rhythm and cadence that is clear and people can easily understand. When can people find the latest episode? Will you be changing formats and how will your audience know? You want to build connection by being transparent and involving your audience. Let them know what you are doing. If the audio is a bit messed up in an episode, let them know up front. If you are bringing two guests on instead of one, or doing some solo rants, let them know. Communicate any new developments, or challenges with your audience.
The audio quality must be stellar. It is really hard to get away with audio that doesn’t sound good. Whether this means practicing editing tools, or hiring someone to do it for you, ensuring audio quality doesn’t interfere with listening enjoyment should be a top priority.
Choose a podcast hosting site. There are many, but use one of the popular ones because it will be stra...

Arielle talks about the journey of formal education in her life. She went from being more reserved and lacking confidence to finding her true passions and believing in herself more.

Memorable Quotes

“If you have an idea for a podcast. Awesome. Great. Think about why it should be a podcast first.”

“I Love Podcasts. When I started listening, I just became exposed to all of these new people and all of these new stories that I had not been aware of beforehand.”

“I am constantly challenged to come up with new ideas. I love marketing concepts and I love connecting with people about how to tell their stories.”

13 Things To Remember When You Start Your Podcast

Know your why. Not just from a philosophical, motivational standpoint. Know why it should be a podcast. Could it be a different medium? What about podcast specifically do you think is valuable to tell this story, or share this information? Make sure it is best as a podcast, it can be easier to test YouTube, or blogs first to see if you want to keep investing time and energy into it.
Decide on a format. Is it going to be you interviewing a guest; you and a co host interviewing; you and someone else having a conversation; a panel of guest; or a solo, scripted show; or perhaps a combination? Get some clarity on the format, template and structure of an episode.
If it’s an interview show make a long list of the people you would want to interview and send as many pitch emails as possible. You will get no’s, but no’s lead to yes’s and everything happens for a reason.
Continually and consistently put out content to continue to grow your show. Creating traction comes from consistency, so be sure to build systems that allow you to bank episodes and upload regularly. Create your show like a podcast assembly line.
What investments can you make up front for the show that allow for you to focus on what you do best, or to make things more streamlined? For example, hiring an editor can free you up to be the talent on the show. But, this also depends on the style of your show. With a regular conversation, the editing work is not complex, keep it simple, clean up the sound a bit, remove a few awkward pauses and hit publish. If you have a very pre-scripted, polished and produced series, then the editing will take hours to complete. It’s all about knowing what your brand message is when it comes to the style of creative you are going for. But overall being aware of how much time, or money you have to invest in the show and the next best investment is valuable.
Over communication with your listeners is valuable because clarity is key. As you grow an audience and want to build a community there is no room for confusion. Publish with a rhythm and cadence that is clear and people can easily understand. When can people find the latest episode? Will you be changing formats and how will your audience know? You want to build connection by being transparent and involving your audience. Let them know what you are doing. If the audio is a bit messed up in an episode, let them know up front. If you are bringing two guests on instead of one, or doing some solo rants, let them know. Communicate any new developments, or challenges with your audience.
The audio quality must be stellar. It is really hard to get away with audio that doesn’t sound good. Whether this means practicing editing tools, or hiring someone to do it for you, ensuring audio quality doesn’t interfere with listening enjoyment should be a top priority.
Choose a podcast hosting site. There are many, but use one of the popular ones because it will be stra...

Previous Episode

Steve Cody On Overcoming Odds, Serial Entrepreneurship And His Latest Company

Steve Cody has started 18 businesses and clearly is a lifelong learner. He doesn’t make excuses and has built opportunities over the years with the attitude “where there is a will there’s a way.” This no excuse attitude was a big part of the episode, as he shares examples of how he learned to be independent and solve problems.

Growing up in a household with a single mom, moving schools a lot and having to get started paying bills young he’s leveraged all of that into his character. Much of the episode is evidence about how much of an impact his mother had on him to becoming the businessman that he is. Learning how to aim for your big goals, try things you’ve never done and win, or learn, are great examples of such life lessons.

We also get into the discussion around how to best help other youth who may be having to overcome odds and some ideas as a society on how we can make some changes. Steve is a great person to lead this charge because he understands first hand what some youth are going through. He brings up a great point that we really need to meet them where they are, because those who struggle just don’t know any different.

Steve started his first business out of necessity to start pulling his weight with household bills. And before long he had scaled one business after the other. Building from one opportunity to the next, he went from a window cleaning business at fifteen, to rental businesses and eventually building tech companies. Steve takes us on quite the journey to share all of his entrepreneurial experience and how it’s similar to being a lifelong artist.

Chatting about education and how Steve found that for him the best education was business was a really interesting part of the conversation. We discuss how to get clarity over your ideas, and why entrepreneurship may be the best lifestyle for many of us. The fact that Steve simply can not work in an environment with a boss was a very interesting thing to learn about as well. For many of us we have the same ideas, but don’t take that leap.

We hear about his latest venture, “Bunking” which is a marketplace for shared living and travel of like-minded people. And we even learn about the fact that Steve and their family lost a son to addiction, something that he struggled with, but used as fuel to keep pushing as well. It’s tough to summarize an episode, because listening is always the best way to take it all in. There were many great moments, hope you enjoy!

Memorable Quotes

“There's no grand plan, I just kind of find problems in life and then work to solve them.”

“If I look at myself and the way I was brought up, you don't even know good from bad.”

“I'm not an artist, but I can imagine they love painting pictures and they get right into it. They have a vision and they want to see it through. I think an entrepreneur is a lot like that. We get this vision, we get excited and we want to see it through.”

“It's a gift not wanting a boss.”

6 Things To Keep In Mind On Your Entrepreneurial Journey

There are different opinions, but loving what you do is a huge part of it. Loving what you do will allow you to be persistent and creative throughout the journey.
Be an artist. Create your art by diving deep into problems you can solve.
Be realistic and simple with the first business. What is a problem people have, will they pay you to solve it? Solve it, and keep solving it.
Enjoy the excitement and energy of appreciating that collecting money is a matter of being rewarded fairly for helping people with their problems.
Realize that a lot of other people’s success took way longer than you think, so don’t compare yourself to their path.
Remember that the more you want, the tougher it will get, so be prepared to overcome challenges.

Guest Bio

Steve was 15 years old when he launched his first company. He is currently the CEO and founder of Bunking. The company provides a marketplace and community to help people create shared living and travel experiences.

He has a wealth of knowledge and truly understands the value of creating world class software, building stellar teams, and connecting communities around the world by providing everyone with equal access to online marketplaces. He is a tremendous speaker and retreat leader in the world of entrepreneurship as well, especially for youth.

Having accumulated over 30 years of experience in building companies that have employed thousands and generated over $750 million in lifetime sales, Steve has had success in multiple industries including software, marketplaces, services, and rentals. But, he has also learned from failure and tragedy as much as triumph and is a great example of someone who lives that Just Keep Learning life.

Next Episode

Jake Lang On Side Hustles, Serial Entrepreneurship and Blogging

Jake is a perfect example of the Just Keep Learning mindset. He started going through the traditional education and corporate system, but kept dreaming and reflecting. He went from engineering, a pivot to the insurance world, and eventually found that his heart was closely tied to business.

This led to a classic side hustle grind of managing minutes on train rides to work, lunch time, the ride home, evenings and weekends to build some leverage. Through trial and error, a few failures and eventual successes he managed to make serial entrepreneur his career full time. He is the founder of 8 businesses and counting, many of which we discuss in this episode.

He shares some pretty cool stories about how it wasn’t always that way. He started his first business making zero sales. Although, he learned how to better validate an idea. His second business actually brought in three sales through pre-selling, but then he refunded that revenue anyway, when he had to close down the business.

One of Jake’s areas of expertise is in building niche sites and using blog posts to create organic traffic to the site. He essentially gives us a mini masterclass about the concept of starting a niche site. How to drive traffic, research keywords and ideas for monetization.

Jake has an overall umbrella company that holds each of the micro, automated, niche businesses. Each of these separate businesses are case studies for his overall project, the entrepreneur ride along. This main business brought us together.

At the Entrepreneur Ride Along he hosts a podcast, blogs, and coaches people to get started in their own business journey. This is where his personal brand and educational content on business specifically exists and can grow forever.

We chat a lot about how to get clarity over your business ideas, how to create content and how to start generating revenue. Jake also reminds us that you don’t need to be everywhere doing everything online. Share your marketing content where it makes the most sense for you and your business. It was neat to hear him tell how he hardly uses social media channels to build his business. While social can be a great addition to your marketing, the ability to build a foundation on your site and rank on Google is more valuable with this business model.

10 Steps To Start Your First Online Business

Brain dump and mind map. Think of all the things that you are passionate about, see opportunities in, problems you notice that maybe you could solve and what skills, or expertise you have.
Narrow your list of hundreds of things down to a top thre. By going with your gut in terms of passion, but also in combination with overall validating keyword research, figure out, this actually a problem that people need help with? Do people actually search for this online?
Find out if people actually care? Once you know there is overall search interest and volume of people who also see that as an important question, or problem, learn more about their pain points. Go deeper with your market research and ask potential clients in forums, messages, or groups.
Know your personal marketing channels. Some businesses may use only email, or newsletter. Others might find that social media sharing is really important. If you have the budget, then maybe you are everywhere, all the time.
Create your pillar content. This is the major content creation that you will start with. This could be a podcast, blog, or video creation that teaches and engages with an audience on a topic that your brand values.
Build your community. Take a long term approach from day one to build your email list, and, or group as you continue to gain traction by relating to people who have similar pain points. Continue to find ways to bring your community together in fun ways.
Ask for feedback. Engage with your community to learn what they think about possible product and service ideas and then create a minimum viable product.
Don’t be afraid to get actual commitment to your ideas. If something will take a lot of your time to create, then you can always double check people will actually pay for that product, or service by giving them a pitch and having them actually pre-buy. If enough people show interest and you deem it worthwhile, then create it.
Build a keyword strategy by using a service that shows you Google search data. Find search phrases that people use that not only have a high search volume, but when you look at the sites that rank on Google for those terms, you can compete with the authority of that website and rank for yourself.
Build a continuous, feedback loop machine that allows you to identify content people want, create content, build an audience, identify pain points, provide solutions (free or paid), get feedback about what customers want, and repeat.

Memorable Quotes...