It's Erin Trafford

Vibe for the week. Who’s in? 🦹🏻‍♀️

Blue Jays fan in an Expos hat.
Can opposites co-exist?!? 😂
Yes. They. can!

I’m a Radio girl in a modern media world. The parallels are uncanny.

Here’s the thing about uncanniness and being two apparently opposing things at once …

It’s necessary!
It’s human!

Y’all I had a really AMAZING call today. It was definitely a ‘business’ call. But it was also a human connection. (Both/and)

On the call, for 90 mins, I *had to be the modern media expert I am. I *had to show up in my ‘power and experience’ and sometimes ‘own the room’… and yet, I was still vulnerable and real (and at one point I teared up talking about the pain and grief I still carry for part of my old life)…

But guess what? Being authentic? Connecting?

You get to be BOTH AND.
An expert AND authentic.
Strong AND soft.
Adamant AND affable.
Serious about what you do, who you are, and what you want AND fair, kind and likeable.

A JAYS FAN IN AN EXPOS HAT.

PS. DT and I got back in the studio together on a NEW SHOW we are developing at SSN. (I haven’t been on a mic in six months).
Deets coming soon - but first to our newsletter … so get on that cuz it goes out tomorrow!

Be the happy puppy! Workshop is TOMORROW!!
How to Promote and Grow your Podcast…
We’ll talk about

+ guesting
+ social media (and the not-hustle)
+ the secrets weapon to get Apple and Spotify to love you
+ the pitfall to avoid if you don’t wanna lose listeners

Plus! 🎁 for showing up live AND probably the most crazy announcement I’ve made (well - at least recently) 😂

See you there!

There's a fine line between well produced content and great, impactful storytelling...

But here's the thing -
Making the jump from 'this is good content for our brand' to 'this is epic storytelling that will create change and transformation' ... requires the bravery to walk into a creative grey zone.

This creative grey zone?...It's that shadowy place between

'this is what we want to say' and 'this is how it'll be perceived'...
between
'this is how we do it' and 'this is how we want to do it'
between
'we can't do it that way' and 'why can't we try it this way'

It's a world, drawn in pencil, where few brands or organizations feel comfortable going.

But ... It's in this uncomfortable grey zone where great branded storytelling happens...

We're working on quite a few incredible projects at Story Studio Network and it's clear to me the marker between a podcast that will be great and one that will be 'expected'... is the brand or organization's ability to let the producers lead them into that grey area...

If you don't go there... if you stay on the 'this is fine' side of that 'fine line', your content will ... well, it'll be fine.

But it won't be great.
It likely won't have impact.
And it won't tell the deeper story, that certainly a podcast should be capable of telling.

Hey bold, brave, brands - walk beyond that line... It'll make you and your show better.

She looks like her Daddy but she’s always glued to her Mamma.
This toddler nugget is my shadow.

She’s my littlest and funniest teacher.

These moments are the best.

Hope your weekend is great!

I’ve got to be honest with you ...
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It’s been a bit of a planes, trains and automobiles week, or better yet more a ‘The Terminal’ weekend…
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Remember that movie with Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones? The one where he gets stuck living in an airport for like 18 years or something?
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That was my life last weekend.
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Through a series of unfortunate airline events, we ended up spending almost as much time in the Halifax and Toronto airports as we did at PodCamp…
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Which was boring and frustrating - but also an opportunity for me to really integrate what I’d learned… practice what I preach… listen to all the podcasts (until my headphones ran out of batteries… and omg don’t get me started on how hard it is to find a working plug in Terminal 2).
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So yes, this post (and this week's newsletter) was mostly written on my phone while sitting in the departures lounge at Gate B2A at Pearson International at midnight on Sunday…
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Don’t judge.
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But here are my biggest findings, validations about podcasting...
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and it gives me so much hope for the future!

“I’m f**king scared ALL THE TIME.”

I was on a call today with a former media-personality-broadcaster.
She was looking for advice on whether she needed a podcast.

But really what she was looking for was validation that her fear(s) - after having just jumped into entrepreneurship - were ‘normal’.

Fears about not knowing how to do things like accounting, bookkeeping; how to find and keep clients; how to do sales and marketing…

And then deal with the rollercoaster of ‘oh f*ck’ overwhelm that roars in like a gd tsunami when you realize your 9-5-every-other-Friday-pay-cheque IS NOT GONNA COME.

‘I’m nowhere near where you are!,’ she said.
‘I’m kinda freaked out all the time.’

And that’s when I said ‘so am I.’

And listen, in the last 8 years I’ve:

- BIZ 1 (the blog): written more than 1,000 blog posts and grown a site to such a size I needed to hire a firm to manage it- generating multi-six figs in revenue
- BIZ 2 (exec. producer) done dozens of national media integration tours and campaigns with large Canadian brands = multi-six figs in revenue
- Also Biz 2 (consultant): consulted/mentored hundreds of early stage solopreneurs to get clear on their content strategy and positioning = another multi six-fig biz
- Biz 3 (SSN!): produced HUNDREDS of podcasts for large brands, organizations and business owners to help them hit key metrics of success (on track for a seven fig year!)

And yet - I still feel like I’m SCARED and not good enough some days.

I still feel like my 45,000 hours on-air counts for more than the last 8 years I’ve spent building MY SKILLS and my RESILIENCE.

But that’s bs.
Taking a chance in yourself is the bravest thing you can EVER do.
That counts big time.

You can be scared.
But trust me, you can do it anyway.

I know I’m not alone in the ‘December juggle’ …

🗓 Wrapping projects up for the year so we can all get much needed ‘offline’ rest
📓 Planning new things for 2023
😷 Sick kids (the viruses this year are just brutal. Working parents, I SEE you)
🛍 Holiday shopping, baking, play dates, concerts and movie marathons.

But- I have managed to pull together a project I’ve been excited to get going for a LONG while!

Starting January 3rd, I will be writing the Story Studio Network NEWSLETTER.

It’s going to be a weekly dose of behind the scenes, growth strategy, insights and analysis from the world of podcasting and media.

Y’all this is NOT a sales funnel.

It’s a grab a cuppa, dig in, bookmark and take notes industry publication.

Truth: this newsletter will be enough for you to considerably up your podcast game ALL ON ITS OWN. No hidden agendas. Just straight up goods once a week.

What else will it include?

Special deals from our accredited industry partners.
Early (and often discounted) access to our workshops and programs

It’s gonna be THE newsletter to read if podcasting is on your map.

I’m working on the first instalment that will be all about my predictions for the podcast industry in 2023.

Want on the list?? Drop a comment below and I’ll DM you the link!

Or head to www.storystudionetwork.com/newsletter

Full explanation of the energy of a BEAST WEEK to business build!

Sometimes we literally need to zoom in or we miss the details.
We get so wrapped up in the day to day… the ‘grind’… that we miss the whimsy of the bird, the support and abundance of the ship and the imagination and power of the jet (look closely).

I guess what I’m saying is… lately I’ve been slowing down on weekends to almost a crawl. I feel like I’m seeing this trend more and more.
Turning off phones.
Deleting IG.
Removing email.
Not giving into the ‘need for immediacy’.

For me, that’s looked a lot like…
Getting on the floor with the kids.
Legos. Laughing. Cookie crumbs.
Snuggling with Banjo and a cup of tea. Soft fur. Brown puppy eyes. His gentle snores.
Stopping to watch my toddler run excited laps around the kitchen.
‘More juice peez mamma!’ ‘More!’ Infectious giggles. Hilarious gait.

And in those zoomed in moments- I see the details God wants me to see, feel and embody.

The play.
The abundance.
The power.

The joy.

This season is hard for so many. I’ve never found it easy.

So maybe together we can just stop and watch even one bird, one ship, one plane… and together feel the fleeting joy of all there is we do not always choose to see.

Photo cred