Portfolio Project: Week Two Update

In keeping with my desire to learn out loud, I wanted to write a short update on my portfolio project!

To do this, I want to pull from my initial outline and answer how I did on each of the goals I set for my first week and how I went about completing each of them.

Week One Goals:

Goal one:

• Talk to several people who have done podcasts or interviews before and pick their brains for how to ask good questions, get off to a good start with a podcast, and learn how to put the podcast online.

How I did: So, I actually did most of this before my first week even started. I talked to two different people who both had experience in podcasting and interviewing.

What I did: I realized very early on, in thinking of ideas for this project, that I was going to need to talk to some people who had experience in the world of podcasting. I used the resources in front of me to accomplish this task. Within Praxis, there are several people who have run their own Podcast, and even more who have at least done interviewing. I picked two that I thought would be the most beneficial conversations, and I set up advising sessions with both of them. I researched each of them and figured out what their strengths seemed to be and then, for each of them, I compiled a list of 20-30 questions based on this research. One list more heavily focused on the technical podcasting part of the project and the other focused more on the interviewing side.

This was a HUGE help and I highly encourage anyone going towards something they have no experience in to do something similar. There’s no reason to go in blindly when you can ask about the path from people who have already led the way.

Goal two:

• Send out emails or reach out via social networking to connect with people in the sales field who would be willing to be on my podcast.

How I did: I sent out messages to my top four prospects. I got a yes from two, a no from one, and a no reply from another. After getting a no from the one, I sent out a message to another potential prospect and got a yes.

What I did: This one sounds deceptively easy, but in reality, this may have been my greatest challenge this week. I started once again by using the resources in front of me. I talked to my advisor in Praxis and got the top four names of people who had been through Praxis that she would recommend for contacting for an interview. The only stipulation was that they had to have worked in a sales position, and preferably have 2-5 years of experience. She gave me some names, and I took it from there.

I started by taking my first prospect and researching/stalking the heck out of them. I wanted to know about them for several reasons. First, I needed to have something relevant from their lives to mention in my pitch to them. And second, I wanted to start compiling a list of questions that I had after learning a little about their lives.

After doing this research, I put together a pitch template. Here’s an example of what my pitch template looked like:

Hey Name,

Got your name from Credible Source! Huge fan of the work you’ve been able to accomplish at Name of their company. (Insert something very specific about what they are doing or a project they have done that I greatly admire)

I am currently going through the Praxis bootcamp and am planning to do a podcast series about sales for my module two project. I thought you would be an awesome guest to have because of both your Praxis experience and also your sales experience.

Would you be interested in doing an interview?

If you want to know more about the podcast, just let me know! I’d be happy to give you any other information!

Thanks,

Joey

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Obviously, this is somewhat specific for my podcast and the people to whom I am pitching, but this kind of template seemed to work well for me.

After sending this initial message to my first prospect, I went through the process to do the same for the other three. For anyone who didn’t reply within three days, I sent them a follow-up message. One of the people said no, so I quickly went to my source again and got two more names. I researched them, pitched one of them with the email template I already created, and then scheduled the interview within a day of the first message sent. I now have one interview recorded, one scheduled, one in the process of being scheduled, and one waiting for final confirmation on their end.

I am proactive with my messages and always try to reply within 30 minutes of receiving a message. This, of course, is sometimes difficult when I am at work and can’t use my phone, but I do my best.

Goal three:

• Have my first episode recorded (Or at least scheduled). Having it recorded will, of course, depend on the availability of the people I am interviewing.

How I did: I already gave this one away, but yes, I accomplished this. My first interview was the morning of the 8^th. One day after the end of week one.

What I did: After someone has agreed to do the podcast, I confirm everything, give them a little more info on the podcast. Then, I send them two dates/times for doing the interview and let them know that if either of them doesn’t work, we can push it back a week. This gives people options but also helps to avoid the “we’ll do it sometime!” kind of scheduling. So far, everyone I have talked to has been available for one of the two times that I send.

Goal four:

• Write at least one blog post about what I have learned that week. Whether I learned it through podcast interviewing or articles I read. Can be related to sales or podcasting.

How I did:  I definitely outperformed this goal. I wrote 7 blog posts in 6 days. 4 of them specifically relating to my project.

What I did: To be honest, I don’t know how I did this. I have never considered myself a writer (and still don’t) but I want to improve in both my written and verbal communication, so I decided to post every day this month. It is incredibly challenging to keep up with this along with my other project goals. Especially as I am working full time and leading music at church. But I want to put everything I can into this thing, so here we are.

The biggest thing I would say that I did was I was ultra-aware of everything that happened each day. Whether it was learning something new, or experiencing something odd. I looked for the stories in everything. When I started having a thought, I would write it down. When you do this, you realize just how much you learn each day.

On top of all of these things that I accomplished this week, I also decided to research MailChimp and started an email drip campaign for my podcast. I have almost 30 subscribers already, and hopefully, as I start putting updates and info out there in these emails, I will drum up some listeners for each episode.

The first week of my project was ultra-productive, and I plan to take this right into week two!

Week two sneak peek: More blog posts, MailChimp emails starting, more interviews, and (fingers crossed) my first ever podcast on the world wide web!

Here we go world!