How to Create a 7-Figure Podcasting Company with Ginni Saraswati

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire. brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like Billion Dollar Moves. Today, we'll be breaking down how to create a seven-figure podcasting company. To drop these value bombs, I have brought Ginny Saraswati into EO Fire Studios. Ginny is the founder and owner of Ginny Media, host of the multi-award nominated podcast, The Ginny Show, creator of PodPops, and an influential voice in business leadership. And today Fire Nation will talk about the growth of Ginny Media into a seven-figure empire.

0:41We'll talk about focus and what three things you should be focusing on to grow your business, Fire Nation. We'll talk about values and harmony and how we communicate to individuals around us and so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Ginny and our sponsors. The Gold Digger Podcast, hosted by Jenna Kutcher, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. The Gold Digger podcast helps you discover your dream career with productivity tips, social strategies, business hacks, inspirational stories, and so much more.

1:13One of my favorite recent episodes is titled How I've Built an Unmatched Team Culture, an insanely important topic for all business owners to dive into. Listen to Gold Digger wherever you get your podcasts. NetSuite is the number one cloud financial system, giving you visibility and control to make better decisions faster. Right now, you can defer payments of a full NetSuite implementation for six months. Take advantage of this unprecedented special financing offer at netsuite.com slash fire. Jeannie, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with.

1:51Thank you, JLD. Hey, Fire Nation, what's up? Great to be here on this podcast. Been one of my favorites for a minute and I'm very grateful for your time and attention. So what's something that I believe that becoming successful that most people disagree with? Well, I believe JLD that all income reports, now I know you do a monthly one with your accounting team, but I think all income reports need to have a column for emotional tax. I think emotional tax, you know, you don't see that on your 1099s or your W-2s, but emotional tax is like energy tax or time tax. You know, what's taken away from you in energy, in time, either from your business or personal life?

2:31I don't think we pause enough to account for that. And, you know, humans have this tendency to dwell, to fixate, to complain, and it can be challenging to really snap ourselves out of that. So that's what I call emotional tax. So these can be things like if you're having conversations with an employee about performance and nothing is changing or a business partnership or relationship that's happening and you're in the seventh time having that conversation, but nothing's really changed, chances are that's the last four times that you've spent emotional tax. So I think we need to start including these on income reports.

3:05Well, I love that. I'm going to bring it up to my team because I can tell you for a fact that I left California and specifically the United States to avoid paying a lot of income tax and instead just pay a flat 4 % Puerto Rico tax, which has been great. But man, that tax that you're talking about is real. Because I remember Kate and I looked up one day and we had a team of 13 people. We had like all these things that were happening with courses and webinars and our days were just filled. We're like, are we really running the business that we want to be running right now? And the answer was no.

3:40And so we made changes over the next year to get exactly to where we wanted to be. And we've been rocking that for about five years now. But if we had had that on those monthly income reports, that tax you're referring to, I bet we would have realized it a lot faster than just that kind of slow creep that sometimes you wake up, you're like, oh, wow, like what is happening right now? So Fire Nation, we're talking about how to create a seven-figure podcasting company. And I do want to start off with that because you turned Ginny Media into a seven-figure empire. Tell us how. Well, it's a few things.

4:14I think, JLD, you talk a lot about time and you have the mastery journal where you have to put in the time and it's really that focused time. Ginny Media happened completely accidentally. It was a side hustle for me. I was working for an aerospace company building airplane parts and on the side, I was doing podcasting. That didn't come just naturally to me, I did have a background in radio. So it was like a natural progression. So I was editing podcasts, producing podcasts, putting my radio expertise into play with clientele. And podcasting was just new at the time when I started. So that's what happened with that.

4:51It just grew. I had five clients and I was living in Melbourne, Australia, and I decided, okay, I'm going to up and move to New York, the capital of podcasting. And I've been here almost six years now and And Ginny Media has grown exponentially since. So from five clients to a seven-figure company. What would you say was the turning point that you're like, okay, now we've got some traction. And from that point, you really started to move in the direction of those seven figures. Like what was that catalyst that really made it happen? I think the catalyst was, JLD, when you really think about, when you stay in your lane about what you're really good at.

5:29You know, every month or so as we'd onboard new clients, you know, my plate would be full and I'd have to really put in that culmination time where I'm like, okay, what do I delegate out? What do I need to focus on? It was this constant repetition and this constant process. So that's something that I typically did. And that was a turning point where I'm like, okay, I need to really be clear about my time and be super intentional. And one thing that we do at my company is we're really, really big on customer service. And I made sure that was still front and center. So that turning point, even though it doesn't seem to be huge and tactical, I just remained intentional.

6:06I became really protective of my time and energy. And I made sure that the trajectory we were going in was still intentional and in alignment with what I actually truly wanted to create and values for the company. Now, you did make mention of the Mastery Journal, and I appreciate that. I consider that one of the culminations of my work created to date because it's all about being productive, being disciplined, and being focused. I mean, if you can really master these three things, you can master whatever challenge you have before you. But I want to kind of focus, for lack of a better word, on that last thing, which is focus.

6:45Because it's so challenging for entrepreneurs because there's all these bright, shiny objects, literally everywhere. So what are three things that you believe entrepreneurs should be focusing on to grow their business? Great question, JLD. The first thing I think you need to focus on is protecting your energy just as much or even more so than your time. Because energy management is just as or even more so important than time management because, you know, we mentioned the Mastery Journal, focus time and management of it is important. But what I've learned is, especially this year and as my entrepreneurial ventures have grown, is that I needed to really deploy the time to get self-aware about when I work best.

7:32When am I the most energetic? When can I be the most focused? When can I be the most productive? Now, if you have kids, if you have other distractions around, that can fluctuate day to day. But for me, I'm a morning person. I like to be up. I like to hit the gym. I have my morning routine or what I believe to be my morning routine when I can't do it all. I make sure I get that workout in that stillness time. And then I start my day. And, you know, I know some people out there, they work best in evening. So being really aware of and in tune with where your energy's at, I think that's super important because productivity isn't necessarily how quickly you work, but when do you work best at your highest peak of energy.

8:12So I think we really need to protect our energy as well. So really be mindful of, okay, what's draining my energy? Is there a particular person, a particular problem, a particular area of my business that's more of a drain than life-giving? Should I delegate that out? These are things that you really need to continually culminate on. And I think that's super important. The second thing I'll say, JLD, is setting business boundaries. Now, boundaries, obviously, it's a buzzword at the moment. Definitely in my world it is. But I think a misconception about boundaries is people often believe that boundaries are between you and another person.

8:49It kind of feels like there's this, you know, trench or a moat between you and another person and you have to set a boundary. But really, boundaries are between you and you, right? One thing that I do to set boundaries when it comes to clients or email responses is I put a note on my email signature. I say that so they are aware of when I check email. It's subtle, but it's noticeable. So it's up to me to match my actions to that. So my email signature says that I check email from 11 at 11 and 3 p.m. every day, and I'm unavailable on weekends. So when I find myself sending emails on weekends to clients or business partners or whoever, and they hit reply, and I start to getting this email ping pong, and then I start to feel resentful, this is where I need to practice some of that personal accountability.

9:35and note that I've actually crossed a boundary for myself that I've set for myself. The other person is just responding to what you're doing. You're setting the tone. So that's the other thing that I've noticed too, that boundaries are between you and you and business boundaries, it's the same. It is between you and you and how you choose to show up and match your actions to that. Now, before you jump into number three, I want to jump in here myself with a tool that I know can help find your nation. And I live by this. And it sounds like it could really help you because Jenny, let's be honest from time to time.

10:09It's a rainy Saturday and you want to be getting some stuff done. I mean, you know, you're going to send some emails sometimes on the weekends out of the hours. So you need to start using a tool called Boomerang and that has an option called send later. So you write the email, you send it, but you click send later and you choose the exact day and the exact time that that email gets sent. So maybe it's going to be for you Tuesday at 11 a.m. Eastern. return that is going to leave your inbox and go to that person. So now it's off of your mental plates because you have created the email, you've sent the email, it's gone, but it's not going to be sent to that person till a time that's right for you to get into that back and forth if that's when you want to have that happen.

10:49So check that out. Boomerang. Exactly. Yeah. Scheduling emails is something I was going to say as a follow-up point. Yes. On a rainy Saturday, or if you have a weekend that you're having a focus weekend, scheduling those emails to go out when you'd like them too. That is such a powerful tool to have. Love Boomerang JLD. And I think the third thing I would say is always be open to learning new things. You know, I consider myself the perpetual stumbling student. You know, I'm humble enough to accept that I don't know everything and never will know everything. And I have enough awareness to know that there are some things I'm doing okay on.

11:24But I think it's really important, you know, as an entrepreneur to continually learn from others who are doing different things than you, who are at a different level to you. You know, this can be something as simple as like taking an online course or being part of a mastermind or, you know, taking a webinar here and there. But I think, you know, closing yourself off to learning, you know, you're closing yourself off to opportunity to experience, even those experiences or relationships that we might be in, you know, business-wise that don't go the way that we hope, there's always learning in there.

11:57So I think, again, I know I've used the word pause a lot. I think there is a need to really pause and be like, okay, what have I really learned from this? What are some mistakes that I've made? What are the things that I did well on that I can repeat? And I think that's really important. Always be open to learning new things. Fire Nation, so many value bombs and we are just halfway through. So stick around. We got some more greatness coming up when we thank our sponsors. I'm all about lifestyle freedom. I want to be able to do what I want, when I want, and there's no better time to kick your feet up poolside than the summertime.

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14:19That's netsuite.com slash fire to get the visibility and control you need to weather any storm. nestwheat.com slash fire. Ginny, we're back and I want to talk about work-life balance. Now, you're not a huge fan of that very common tagline. You hear everybody saying, oh, work-life balance, this, that, whatever. You actually like the words values in harmony. Talk about that. Yeah, I agree, JLD. Work and life, I feel it shouldn't feel like a balancing act. You know, this concept of work-life balance, it's existed as far back as the early 80s during the women's liberation movement. And I understand there was a time and a place there was a need to differentiate between the two for a multitude of reasons.

15:01And it's talked a lot about in culture, especially nowadays, but it creates this measuring of work against life when really work is a part of life. You know, the truth is that for many of us entrepreneurs, our work is a huge part of our identity and what we do. So when you think of work-life balance, it's like measuring what we do with our time as if we're standing at the midpoint of a fulcrum, which is your center of gravity. And you have these bowls at each side of the scale. And when you're at equal levels, you know, you're considered balanced. So I do think like there needs to be, you know, some form of, you know, rest.

15:38You know, it's important to have that. And I also do believe that if you have large ambitions, resting all the time won't achieve them. So hard work is important. But I also believe that burnout and not spending time with those you love can, you know, land you in a really miserable place. So especially now in that digital age that we have of hybrid and remote work, you know, work is everywhere. So what's happening in our professional lives and personal lives, it's ever evolving. And our needs and ambitions, our desires and our life circumstances, they're going to change. And we're going to tip the balance, if you want to call it, towards what needs to be prioritized at the time.

16:16So honestly, JLD, I think it comes down to acknowledging that it's going to look different for everyone. And there's no one single hack to achieving that said balance optimally. And I think the other is rather than striving for balance, strive for being aligned with your values and that feeling of harmony. So harmony is when you're combining all of the elements you love, like your family, your business, your hobbies and your interests, and then finding ways for them to complement each other rather than being measured against each other. So it's about incorporating the work you love into the life you have to create that life that you want.

16:55So I think if we can learn to stop compartmentalizing ourselves into this is work Ginny and this is life Ginny and this is partner Ginny and we can start to apply this philosophy of wholeness, if you will, and focus on being present to what's actually happening and unfolding, then I believe that's where we'll find that harmony meaning and, you know, more than just this pursuit of happiness or what happiness is supposed to look like. Values and harmony. They just have such a better ring too than work-life balance. And one thing that I really want to dive into is communication because, Jenny, how we communicate with our audience, with our employees, just with those around us in general, I mean, this is going to dictate our success or lack thereof.

17:41So I want to ask you, how are you communicating in your business? Thanks, JLD. There's three ways I'm doing this. One, I'm communicating my business with myself. That sounds so weird because you're like, Ginny, what do you mean you talk to yourself about your business? I do think it's important to revisit your values, right? When you started your business five years ago, are your values the same? And how are you communicating your values personally and the values of your business to your team? You know, at Ginny Media, you know, we're all about elevating diverse voices and creating media platforms for people to be seen and heard.

18:17So we've got to walk the talk. So if I am not seeing or hearing my team members or if I'm not seeing or hearing myself, you know, what I don't give myself, I'm going to want and expect and demand from others, right? So I need to be able to create that space within myself to, hey, Jenny, what's going on with you, to check in with myself. So that's in a way how I communicate my business to myself. And the second part of that is communicating your business to your team members. So, again, I've got to also create that space for them to share how they feel, to hear how they feel, to actually listen and walk the talk, like I mentioned before.

18:55I think that's a really big part of the chemistry of business that you have and how that is put out to your customers, your clients and to the world. Because we don't want to communicate the exact opposite of what's going because eventually it's going to what I've noticed, you know, watching other entrepreneurs and watching. It does come up, right? You can't run away from that. There's only so long that that will last. It's just not sustainable. And the third way of communicating your business is how are you putting yourself out there on social media, in PR? Communicating your business is communicating your business.

19:29How are people going to find you? How are your clients going to find you? It's a super, super important part. Podcasting is a great way to do that. That's obviously what we live and breathe at Ginny Media. It's an intimate media platform of how you can really connect with a client, an audience member or potential clients. So we're in an age now that there's so much content. There's a lot of options out there. It's how you communicate your business in a way that aligns with what makes you uniquely you that's going to be important for the future of your business, your growth, your projected revenue, all of the above.

20:06That's super important. We're not in an age anymore where like, okay, we can just keep doing our thing and not talk about what we do. We need to talk about what we do. It's important that people know and it's important for the lifeblood of your business that people know. Fire Nation, communication. Wow. It is such an important factor in everything that you do. And Jenny, you've talked about fantastic things today, like what entrepreneurs should be focusing on, about values and harmony, about communication. What is the one thing you want to make sure our audience gets from our conversation today?

20:42I think honestly, I've said this word a lot, but take the time to pause, whatever that looks like for you, whether it's pausing to rest or pausing to just close your eyes and take a bit of a digital detox or just pausing to reflect. I think that's a very important part of a business process or an operational process that isn't enforced enough. I think the magic can come sometimes in the mundane and it can come in like forms of silence when we're still. And as woo-woo as that may sound, I think that's super important. And that will pretty much open up the doors to what I talked about today about, you know, protecting your energy, you know, being really clear about what, you know, is giving you energy to what's taking away, setting business boundaries, you know, always being open to learning new things, what gives you harmony so you can create the life that you want with the business that you have.

21:36So that's the one thing I'd love Fire Nation to do. Just take some time to pause. I love that. I actually have a word of the year. And my 2022 word of the year was breathe. And it was meant to be that, to take a second to pause, to breathe, to detox, to recenter myself. And I just love that process because it is so important for us to do that from time to time. So Ginny, how can Fire Nation connect with you, learn more about what you have going on? What is your call to action for our listeners today? So Fire Nation, you can check out ginnymedia.com to find out all the information about what we do at Ginny Media.

22:15And if you want to say hello to me, check me out at Instagram, at The Ginny Show. I check all my DMs. So I would love to hear from you and would love to know any questions that you have. I'd love to answer them. Fire Nation, slide into Ginny's DMs. And remember, you're the average. Of the five people you spend the most time with, you've been hanging out with Ginny and JLD today. So keep up that heat. and for links to everything we talked about, go to eofire.com, type Ginny, G-I-N-N-I in the search bar. The show notes page will pop right up. And Ginny, thank you for sharing your truth, knowledge, value with Fire Nation today.

22:51For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Thank you, JLD. Thanks, Fire Nation. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Ginny for sponsoring today's episode. And Fire Nation, over the last decade, I've interviewed more than 3 ,000 of the world's most successful entrepreneurs. and I've created a revolutionary 17-step roadmap to your financial freedom and fulfillment. I put it all into my first traditionally published book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, personally endorsed by Seth Godin and Gary Vaynerchuk. The Common Path to Uncommon Success is the step-by-step guidance that you need to achieve the lifestyle of your dreams.

23:28Visit uncommonsuccessbook.com to get your copy today and I'll catch you there or on the flip side. The Gold Digger Podcast, hosted by Jenna Kuchar, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. The Gold Digger Podcast helps you discover your dream career with productivity tips, social strategies, business hacks, inspirational stories, and so much more. One of my favorite recent episodes is titled, How I've Built an Unmatched Team Culture, an insanely important topic for all business owners to dive into. Listen to Gold Digger wherever you get your podcasts.

24:01NetSuite is the number one cloud financial system, giving you visibility and control to make better decisions faster. Right now, you can defer payments of a full NetSuite implementation for six months. Take advantage of this unprecedented special financing offer at netsuite.com slash fire.