eCommerce Made Easy - Growing your Online Business

How to Elevate Your Business with Consistent Content Creation Featuring Krystal Proffitt

• Carrie Saunders • Episode 68

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What if you could transform your business simply through consistent content creation? Join us as we chat with Krystal Proffitt, an award-winning podcast host and best-selling author, who shares her wealth of knowledge on the power of long-form content. We explore how creating regular content can help build trust and authority in your industry and dive into essential decisions & strategies to create a successful content plan. 

Krystal's insights are a goldmine for both seasoned e-commerce professionals and those just starting out in content creation. Whether it’s podcasting, video, or written formats, this episode is packed with actionable insights that will elevate your content strategy and grow your business!


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Mentioned Resources

-> Keep your business running when you are out of the office

Episode 42: Building a Resilient Business: Navigating Personal Crisis as an Entrepreneur

-> Use AI to speed up content creation

Episode 61: How to Write a Blog in Minutes Versus Hours Using AI

 

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Carrie Saunders:

I have a super exciting episode for you today and if you're watching us on our YouTube channel, you're going to see me grinning from ear to ear because I so love working with this person. I'm talking to my podcast mentor and content creator, Kr Prophet. We talk a lot on this podcast about how regular content is key for your business growth, so I thought it was perfect to bring her on to speak to you about what it's like to be a content creator and to create content for your business. So, even if you haven't even considered creating a podcast, you're going to get a lot out of this episode. She's going to help you take your content whether it's a blog post, a podcast, a YouTube videos, et cetera and help you move it forward and make it easy and have it play by your roles. And if you haven't started creating any of this type of content ever before yet, it's going to give you some inspiration to really help you move your business forward. Welcome to the e-commerce made easy podcast. I'm your Carrie, Saunders. When we started this business, all I had was a couch, a laptop and a nine month old my main goal to help others. I'm your host, k Saunders business, whether you're a seasoned e-commerce veteran or just starting out, you've come to the right place, so sit back, relax and let's dive into the world of e-commerce together. Welcome back to the e-commerce made easy podcast Today.

Carrie Saunders:

I have a super special guest with us today. Her name is Crystal Prophet and she was my coach and helped me launch this podcast a little bit over a year ago. So let me read a little bit about her bio first before we get started talking with her Krystal S Proffitt So is a podcast host, content strategist and host of the award-winning show the Prophet Podcast. She specializes in helping content creators create with confidence and has published over 1300 podcast episodes.

Carrie Saunders:

Crystal teaches content strategy, repurposing, branding and marketing through her podcast, digital courses and YouTube channel dedicated to content creation. She also appears as a content expert on other YouTube channels such as Buzzsprout and StreamYard. Her Amazon's best-selling book, start a Binge-Worthy Podcast, had Amy Porterfield saying this book is about to become your Bible. Crystal has spoken about content creation on several major stages, including the Ramsey Solutions, influencer Event, podcast Movement, chic Podcast, podfest Global that's kind of hard to say Podfest Global, spark, media Ventures and Amy Porterfield's Momentum Membership. She's also been a guest on many podcasts, including your Podcast Mentor, mind of a Mentor, and Buzzcast, a Buzzsprout k. lives in Houston with her husband, three sons and snorting Boston Terrier Wally. So welcome to the podcast, crystal. So excited to have you on here. Finally.

Krystal Proffitt:

Oh, thank you for having me . I feel like this is one of those moments that we were like manifesting together. That's like you know, I remember when you launched your show and you were so excited. So I love this like full circle moment that you were like, hey, you want to come on the podcast? I was like, absolutely so, I'm really excited to be here.

Carrie Saunders:

Yeah, and I honestly like, when I was reading your bio I was like, oh, you have a dog named W. Wall-E.. . That's like so hilarious, yeah. So I got to ask real quick did your kids name it or did you name it?

Krystal Proffitt:

I feel like it was a joint effort, like that is a movie I think it came out the year that our oldest son was born and we've watched it I mean, I can't even tell you how many times and so whenever we were thinking of what we didn't. So he was born in 2009 and we didn't get our dog, wally, until 2017. So I think that there was like this whole buildup of like that whole time from 2009 to 2017 that we were like when we get a dog, we're going to name it Wally, like for sure, that's just going to be the name and that's, that's what it is. And now, now he's. He's my little baby. I can't say his name too many times. I'm like I'm looking, I'm like he's gonna be like what are you talking about? Me, wait.

Carrie Saunders:

Yeah, no doubt. Um, so I brought crystal on our podcast today because I know some of our listeners may not have a podcast yet and I wanted to put a bug in your ear to explore the potential possibility of what a podcast can do for you, because I look at it as long-form content and a way to build trust and authority and really get your name out there. So that's one of the reasons why I have Crystal on our podcast today is I want her to talk to you about some of the benefits and how you can use it as a way to promote your business. So let's get started on some of the questions that I have. So do business owners need to show up online the same way influencers create content? Because I know this is something I kind of struggled with, because I've been listening to other podcasts before I created my own and I was like, ooh, how do I really spin this as a business owner? Cause it is a bit of a different beast there when you do it as a business.

Krystal Proffitt:

Yeah, and I think that the first decision, like, if you're listening to this right now and you're like, oh yeah, I don't want to be labeled an influencer, like, don't put me in that same category this is how I felt for a long time. I was like, oh, like it makes you like tense up a little bit. It's a little cringy to think about. Like I'm not this 22 year old, you know, like model walking around talking about clothes and makeup and all this other stuff. So I didn't really know how to start showing up online. But whenever I started feeling more comfortable was whenever I made a decision is are you going to be a personal brand, like as your business? So, for example, myself I show up as a personal brand under Crystal Profit. That is my website, that's my YouTube channel, that's my Instagrams, my Facebook Everywhere I am online is under my name. But a lot of people listening may say I don't want to do that. I don't want to be the face of the brand or I just want to be the person. I want to be the CEO that's making the decisions and I want to have someone else, or maybe I want to have multiple people in my company showing up in our content. Well then, that's a brand strategy. So that's how I really like people to think about Will you want to be a personal brand, like Amy Porterfield, marie Forleo, jenna Kutcher, or do you want to be like a brand like Nike and other big names that we know Sony I'm looking around my office now all the different products in here, and that's really the decision you have to make, and then from there, you can kind of put the stake in the ground on boundaries around your content.

Krystal Proffitt:

So, for me, I am a personal brand, but I drew a clear line in the sand that I'm not going to be someone that records every single piece of my life. That is not for me, and I've seen so many really creative, innovative people burnt out doing this, and I've been in the creator space since 2018. And I've seen so many amazing creators come and go, and I think part of it is because they think that if I'm going to be a personal brand, I have to go all in and share. You know, this is what happens when I wake up. This is my coffee, this is my workout routine and I'm just I'm. I can't do that. I just know that I would burn out so quickly if I did that.

Krystal Proffitt:

So if you do decide to go the personal brand route and you want to share aspects of your life, then put up some of those clear boundaries. I don't show pictures of my kids anymore. I used to a long time ago on social and I just got to a point where I'm like I don't, I'm making this decision to put them on there. They're not making that decision and I also, I don't know it was just part of it that that was a boundary that I wasn't willing to cross anymore. So you don't see that they're not clearly displayed on my website and all over the place.

Krystal Proffitt:

But if you're thinking about it from a brand perspective, you could also make those boundaries on the type of people that you want to show in your content. You want to be more inclusive, do you want to have a diverse population that you're really trying to attract to your brand? And we could go in so many other ways, but that's just kind of a real quick like I want to be in this category or this category when you're starting to think about how you show up online.

Carrie Saunders:

I really love that because I feel like I've somehow landed kind of similar to where you are, Like I don't mind to post personal content sometimes, but I don't want it to be all about me because I mean, I've got this business over 27 years old. It's about us. You know, we're, we're a cohesive team here and I didn't want it to be me, me, me, me, me, Cause that's just not the type of person I am. So I love how you explained how we can whether we're a solopreneur or whether we own a big business with some employees create that balance and figure out where we want to be for our own selves when we're creating content like this.

Krystal Proffitt:

Yeah, and if you run a brand or you run a business and there's likely going to be If you have several team members there's going to be someone that's like there's likely going to be. If you have several team members, there's going to be someone that's like give me a phone, like, give me a camera, let me shine. Like I want to do that, and so I encourage you to find out, like, if there's a person that feels comfortable on your team already today, get like, let them have creative range to start posting stuff for your business, and you'd be surprised how quickly giving that task to the right person could really just increase the engagement on all your platforms where you're creating content, or it could just give you so many more opportunities that you didn't even know were available, Because a lot of people think that, as a business owner, they have to be the one behind the camera recording the things, and you don't. You absolutely don't.

Carrie Saunders:

I love that. That's a really great idea. Now my brain's working on my team. Yeah, like you're, you went through the Rolodex. You're like, ooh wait, hang on, hang on.

Krystal Proffitt:

There's like three people that would be like okay, I'll do this, I'll do this, and it's also a great way for you not to burn out, right. It's a good way to spread out that task list that you look at and you're just like, oh my gosh, you know I have so many people come to me and say when you get sick, what do you do? Like, if you have a family emergency, what do you do? How do you make that work? And if you do have someone that's on your team that you can delegate those things to, you're like man, I'm under the weather and I absolutely can't record anything this week. Can you record a quick 10-minute podcast episode or a short YouTube tutorial? That would be helpful for our clients? Those asks over time can test the waters on what your team is capable of, but also just give you some more of that freedom as the business owner to focus on some of those more important tasks that you should be doing.

Carrie Saunders:

I love that. Those are some really good tips, because I actually had to fall onto that back in February when I got super sick with the flu and I don't normally ever get sick with the flu. For one and two, I never get sick that badly. So yeah, pulling on your team members, I even made a podcast episode about that. We'll link that one in the show notes in case you guys are interested. Okay, so let's go to my next question how do you find the right amount of content to create when you aren't sure what consistent looks like? I know I struggled with this like a lot when I first started this, this podcast, really, and when I was blogging before that. So how do you tackle that?

Krystal Proffitt:

I think, what I've learned over the years and again, like I said, I've been doing this since 2018. I've done every variety, every unimaginable, unthinkable type of content creation. That is just. I look back at those days and I don't even know how I did it, honestly, because at one point there was this stint it was about a year and a half where I was posting two podcast episodes on the Profit Podcast. I had a daily podcast that I posted on Monday through Friday. There were five minutes or less. I did three YouTube videos. I was posting my Facebook group every single day, so that was just my Facebook group. Then I also did daily Instagram posts. I did a weekly live stream. I mean insanity, right, I look, look back, I don't know. We don't even that was magic. I'm not sure what happened, like I just woke up from a day after that happened but I remember I hit a point where I was like, oh, I can't do this forever. This is not sustainable.

Krystal Proffitt:

And in working with brand new podcasters, I have found that there are people like my mom. She's always a great example. She started a podcast and she had so much content. It was about gardening and just everything she had learned about permaculture and doing things just naturally and organically and all these things. And she just needed to word vomit all of these things, carrie, like she felt like this was a project that had been in her soul for decades, and so she started and she published every single day for maybe like three months and then she finally hit this point. So I feel like there's this inflection point where you hit it and then all of a sudden you're like, oh, this isn't sustainable anymore or I can't do this anymore. And so if someone's there right now, like maybe you're listening, and you're like God, I thought I was going to be able to podcast every single week, and now I've got crystal, you're talking to me. I've hit that point where I want to say timeout, I don't think I can do this anymore. What typically happens is people will get so overwhelmed and they will take a break, with good intention. And then I have a good friend who she took a break and it's two and a half years later and she's like oh crap, how do I get back to, how do I get back into this? So that is one possibility.

Krystal Proffitt:

The other possibility is, if you are at that point, take a pause and step back and say what is absolutely necessary, because that's what I did at that time period of doing all of that content. I said, okay, something has to go, something has to give. And one of the first things that I realized is like I'm putting all this pressure on myself to post on Instagram every day when no one's really engaging with my content, no one's liking, sharing, commenting as much as I really want, but people are really tuning into my live stream, so I'm going to keep doing that and I'm going to put effort into making sure that that happens versus my Instagram. And then I realized like, oh, I could go down to, instead of having two episodes a week, to one episode a week of the podcast, and then I went down to one YouTube video. So I slowly started trimming things off to make it to where I knew that this is the consistency schedule that I can handle today and I think that's really the key is, this could change over time. Allow it to change over time.

Krystal Proffitt:

Don't stronghold your content schedule and say this is how it is, this is how it always has to be. One of the things I always tell my students and my clients is like you're the boss. You're the boss of your content. You make the rules. If you want to, all of a sudden you have to take a break and you want to show up once a month and that's all you can do, then do that, that's okay. If you want to take a break for six months, that's okay, you can do that. But the trick is is, when you do take a prolonged break like that, you got to let people know when you're coming back. You know, I've seen people take maternity breaks. I've seen people take, you know, really long sabbaticals where they just step away from all things that aren't crucial for their business. So as long as you keep asking yourself, is this doable, is this sustainable, then you'll find that consistency piece that works for you.

Carrie Saunders:

I love that because I feel like a lot of people put so much pressure on themselves that you know I either have to do it this way or I've always been doing it this way. So I have to keep doing that. But giving yourself permission and grace to step back and really kind of reevaluate where you are right now because seasons change, life changes and I think that's a really good message to say to entrepreneurs and online business owners out there is give yourself permission to change what you're doing when you need to.

Krystal Proffitt:

Yeah, and one more thing I'll add onto that too is like it is seasonal, like for me, I put way back on doing interviews in the summer, like I might have done three, maybe three interviews this summer. I did a lot in May Cause I was like kind of super charging, cause I was like, all right, I'm taking the summer off, I'm not going to do a bunch of interviews. So I will batch a ton of interviews and do a lot of recordings and then I take it easy for a few months. I do the same thing around the holidays, where I take the entire month of December. I am not recording in December. Check in with me in January, we can have another conversation, but I really align my schedule to that. So I will block off my calendar where people they can't book time from, like I am unavailable out of office in December.

Krystal Proffitt:

Yes, I'm still working on my business and I'm doing things, but I'm not recording content and I'm not doing interviews. So I find pockets of time where maybe the business is a little slower or I can focus more on content and I'll say okay, crystal, remember you wanted to take time off in December? Well, that means sometime between August and November you got to batch a whole bunch of content so that you can get it done and you can take that relaxed time off. So that's another thing to consider too is, if you have pockets of time and you want to stay consistent, ask yourself can I record a few episodes at once, or can I do batch multiple episodes at once? Or can I do, you know, batch multiple interviews at one time and then slowly drip that content out as as things are, as the year continues?

Carrie Saunders:

I love that and I know I've done that on a micro scale, not quite as major as you.

Carrie Saunders:

When I'm, you know, getting ready to go on vacation or I know things are going to get a bit more busy in my business, I will batch a few episodes not nearly a whole month, but I will do that ahead of time to prepare, and I think we could take that not only into podcasting but also into blogging or other tasks within our business. Really, kind of look forward on where you are and what's coming up in your business and plan ahead for that. Yeah, that's such good tips. Forward on where you are and what's coming up in your business and plan ahead for that yeah, it's such good tips. All right, so I know that one thing that I've asked you about a lot in our discussions and group coaching and things like that is what is the best strategy to create and reuse your content across multiple platforms, because you have this great, big, juicy piece of content either it's a blog or a podcast or something but you want to get more miles out of it. How do you recommend going about that?

Krystal Proffitt:

Yeah, I know Carrie loves this topic because she loves SEO and she loves talking about websites and all that. So, yeah, this is a really juicy topic and I think it's one that a lot of people that didn't start in blogging so I have a background in blogging Like that's where I started. I always tell people I was like I was a terrible blogger, like I'm not. I will say, like I need to stop. I need to stop saying that. But it's true. Um, but when I look back at those early days of blogging, uh, writing just isn't the medium for me. Writing first. Okay, like I will say, I've gotten better over the years because I've legitimately have been writing almost every single day for a decade. Like, I started journaling, I started doing blog stuff, I wrote a book. I have gotten better with time, but the thing that I've realized is the spoken word. But the thing that I've realized is the spoken word. So me talking into a microphone, talking into a camera, doing voice memos on my phone using the Google voice, typing all of these things are how content flows out of me, so much easier than sitting in front of a keyboard and trying to write first. So what I recommend is people find that sweet spot that you're really good at. Maybe you're an incredible writer and you're like, oh my gosh, I could sit down and write a hundred page novel in like two seconds, because that is just what comes really natural to me. Or a 10,000 word blog post, but for me that's not the thing that comes natural. So I will record something, whether it's audio or video, and then I say, okay, now what can I do with this after it's done? And I plan for turning this audio into text, turning the video into a cool blog post, and with AI today, I mean, you can literally have ChatGPT or other AI tools do something really cool with your content, but I like to start with the longest form of whatever it is. So if that's a podcast episode or a video, I start with the long form first and then decide, okay, what do I want to do with this?

Krystal Proffitt:

Because I don't think that just taking an audio and transcribing it and throwing that on a website from a user perspective, no one's going to sit down and read that unless they're on their app, like on their phone. There are a lot of people and I love that the podcast apps are starting to become ADA compliant, where they're requiring those to be transcribed. For the disabled community, that really needs that support. But from a user perspective, I think people would much rather do that on their phone than have to do it on their website, and so I don't love just putting a transcript up on a website.

Krystal Proffitt:

Instead, I use something like Buzzsprout. Like Buzzsprout, if you have the transcript, you can include that with your audio file, and anyone that is listening to a podcast on your website they have the option where they could click in to that transcript and watch it if they want, or they can just go to the blog post that is underneath where the audio file lives. So I think that I mean and we can take this in a more If you want to go in a specific detailed place on repurposing content, but the long story of it is use that long form piece of content, first Record your podcast, record your YouTube video However you're creating that initial content and then decide are you going to repurpose this into Instagram reels or YouTube shorts, turn it into your newsletter, like is this going to be something that you use for a post for the next week on your social channels? But yeah, let me know if that answers your question.

Carrie Saunders:

Yeah, I think so, and I think I think one thing that I had to make sure I did mentally and if long form content's new to any listeners out there, I think getting in the habit of doing that long form content first is key and then look at repurposing it in a month or in two months and I talk on the podcast a lot that having a blog post or a podcast or some sort of long form content is really crucial for search engine optimization, for customer trust and all those things. So get that nailed down first and then you can use some of these tools Crystal talked about on how to repurpose it later. But don't feel overwhelmed. You have to do it all at once, cause I know I sometimes get into perfection mode and want to do everything all at once, but I I my other part of me says no, we have to take a, we have to do this one step at a time so they won't get overwhelmed and too busy.

Carrie Saunders:

Um, so that's the advice I would give too is you know, get your long form content as a habit, cause I actually just put put a poll on LinkedIn the other day how often are you updating your website? And so far, occasionally is what people are picking, not daily or weekly or monthly, and occasionally I feel like it's a little bit too little. So let's get in the habit of at least doing something monthly and then work on repurposing it. Weekly would be more ideal, which I talk about a lot, but I want it tangible.

Krystal Proffitt:

Oh, I was going to say I want to go back to one point that you had, too, is like cause you, like you said, you came into this having already blogged, and I remember one of our coaching sessions. You know we were talking about how we could reuse what you already have, cause you're not starting from scratch, right? You have this decade long relationship with your existing customers and you have, like all of this content, all of this like real-time information about what your audience has already told you that they want. So, if someone's listening and you've been, you know, creating YouTube videos now you want to do a podcast or vice versa. Or you've been blogging for a while and you want to kind of foray into like a different type of content, don't go back to the beginning and start with, like blog posts zero, or episode one or the very first thing.

Krystal Proffitt:

If you're trying to repurpose something, go into your analytics and see what is the top performing thing that your audience has already told you that they wanted. If it's a blog post, go look at your Google analytics Like what are the, what has the highest page views? Or what's the highest converting freebie that you have? Or, if you do have a podcast, what's the most downloaded, one that you could turn into a blog post or a YouTube video. Don't think that because you're starting a new platform, that you have to start from scratch. Go back and look at your numbers and see what is. Your audience already told you that they really enjoy, because it can absolutely work on another platform too.

Carrie Saunders:

That's a really good thing that you brought that up, crystal, because I completely I skipped my memory that you told me that, like a long time ago, I really need to go back when I run out of ideas. I need to go back to my blogs and be like, oh yeah, I can retalk about this because it's been like five, 10 years and it's so important and so relevant. Yeah, I'm going to make a note of that.

Krystal Proffitt:

Well, I mean but you even mentioned LinkedIn. You know it's like if you have really cool threads on LinkedIn or other social platforms, even in Reddit, you know if you're like God, I don't know what to talk about anymore. Go type in your topic on Reddit and, man, you will be overwhelmed with ideas of questions that people are asking. You don't even have to engage on the platform, you could just read what other people are saying. And it's such a cool way to say hey, I was on this Reddit post and you could link to it and give that person a shout out that initially said it and then it brings a piece of community to it that I know for people that are creating solo content, they often feel like it's like the weight of the world is on their shoulders and they have to have this beautiful monologue of like I'm going to say the things today that it's going to change someone's life, and I'm like God, that's a lot of pressure.

Krystal Proffitt:

Like I don't put that kind of pressure on myself. I'm like, hey, I saw this thing the other day. Like let's have a conversation about it, and by conversation I mean I'm going to talk and I'm assuming that you're listening and reacting in a certain kind of way. So I definitely lean on other communities, other resources. So it doesn't just feel like I'm talking at my audience.

Carrie Saunders:

I love that. That's such good tips, my goodness. Hopefully listeners out there will take that, whether they do blogging or podcasting, because that's just a really great way to get some other ideas. I hadn't even thought of myself, okay. So something we've delved into lately on the podcast is artificial intelligence, and I actually have a really popular episode from June on that, and we'll link to that in the show notes too, if you missed that one. But I want to get your take on how you're using artificial intelligence in your content strategy, crystal.

Krystal Proffitt:

It touches everything that I do, but it's not every platform specific. It's not like I'm saying to chat GPT, do everything for me and come up with all the ideas. So if we go through a workflow process and Keri knows this, she's like, oh my gosh, she's bringing it up, I am going to bring it up. So I have what's called my PREPM method. So this is plan, record, edit, publish and market. So these are the 5 stages that I believe everyone should go through for creating and planning and executing their content. Whether it is a blog post, a podcast, youtube, wherever you're creating your content, it needs to go through these stages. And when I think about AI, ai touches every single one of these. So in the planning stage, I actually used Asana AI the other day, which was really cool, like you could go in. I'm such an Asana fan. I know people love you know Monday and there's a lot of other Trello. I think you're a Trello girl right. Like you, you use and you love Trello.

Carrie Saunders:

Yeah, and I use them to do as two actually.

Krystal Proffitt:

Okay, yeah, so there, I mean, there's so many different tools that are out there, but, um, I will use Asana to help me, like, okay, here's an idea, Like here's. You know, I'm starting to use it. I will use Asana AI, but I also use Grammarly, so I use Grammarly as well. So some of these aren't just AI platforms. These are platforms that have integrated AI. So I will get some ideas, I'll jot them down and then I'll be like oh, this sounds awful Again, because I'm not a writer first, so I'll be like Grammarly, help me make this sound better or make it make sense. That's what I need you to do, and I will go through all the planning and going through my initial notes. Sometimes I'll ask ChatTPT to be like help me find some good resources for this, or what are some questions that we can talk about for this specific topic? And then for recording, I use Riverside, which has AI platforms. It has editing built into it and clips and all that fun stuff. And then, if we talk about editing, there is a specific podcast app that I use, and I wouldn't call it AI necessarily, but it is kind of on that same level where it is something that's automated that I don't have to think about. So I use Hindenburg Journalist Pro. This is my audio, my digital audio workstation. They call it a DAW, but that's what I use for recording and editing. If I have to do a solo episode, it's just audio only then I'll use that, but I also do it for editing. There's this button that just says Carrie this is so cool. Carrie's going to be like Crystal. I signed up for seven other apps after this conversation. It's so worth it because I can click this one button and it's like having a built-in podcast editor, because it's called Magic Levels and so what it will do if it's. Let's say, I took the audio from this recording and maybe I was a little too loud, because I'm loud, this is who I am and Carrie was a little bit more soft-spoken, but our audio levels were like totally off right, like she was a lot higher and I was a lot lower and it just danced back and forth all the way through the whole interview. I mean, it would take so long to fix that, but I could click this one button in my audio editor and boom, we're all at the same level.

Krystal Proffitt:

I know that Descript is working on a lot of these AI tools too. It's not one that I use on a regular basis, but it's one that you should check out if you do audio and video, and see what Descript has for their editing and AI features. And then when we talk about publishing and marketing and AI features, and then when we talk about publishing and marketing so publishing, I used Buzzsprout, so this is where I publish my podcast, it's my podcast host, and behind the scenes they have a tool integrated that's called Co-host AI and this is the one that I use. That will pretty much write my initial blog post for me and then my virtual assistant will take that and they're putting it on WordPress. And then I'm going back in with Grammarly and ChatGPT Again, kind of making it better and massaging it to sound If it needs to sound a little bit more like me or if it needs to just be cleaned up for all the grammar.

Krystal Proffitt:

And then for the last one, for marketing, I will use Canva. I use Canva a little bit to do some of the AI stuff. And then again, with ChachiBT, writing descriptions or having it, I'll take the transcript from a YouTube video and throw it in there and say write my YouTube description, give me tags and then give me some other possible resources that I can link to for this specific episode, but I mean, we could go on and on and on about AI, but it touches every single piece of my content and I love it. I have fully embraced it and it's something that I can't wait to see where it continues to take the creator economy.

Carrie Saunders:

Yeah, and I love to use it personally for and the listeners out there can think about this too what do you not like to do with your content? And then utilize AI to do the things you don't really like to do. You know, for me, sometimes I honestly get kind of creative block and I need AI to give me some ideas and then boom, my brain starts working and I'm in a and I'm then I'm in a creative flow again. But use it when you're stuck or on the things that you don't like to do, like writing a transcript for my podcast. You know I use Buzzsprouts co-host AI to to make the transcript and it does a pretty good job. I always have to correct the spelling of my name.

Carrie Saunders:

I don't know why it can't get carried correctly but you know it does a really good job otherwise of creating that transcript for the people who do need to be able to read it rather than listen to it. Yeah, so I love to use it when it's something I don't want to do at all.

Krystal Proffitt:

Yeah, and I think that that is so smart, I mean. And that's where I started as like, okay, I'm going to try out this platform that I trust, which was Buzzsprout, and that was kind of my baby step into using AI throughout my whole content creation process, because I was like, okay, you know they already create really cool features. Let's try this out, and if I don't like what it's creating, then I don't have to use it anymore. But it is exactly what you said, carrie. It's like well, it's the beginning draft versions of what I could use, whether it's your transcript, your blog post, even the titles I let it create.

Krystal Proffitt:

It'll give you five options for titles, and sometimes they're amazing and sometimes they are total garbage, so you can't fully outsource some of these things in your content. But whenever I see what it has like, it gives me an option, I'm like, oh, that's not good, but it's also not that far away. Let me throw in two other words that could make it sound better. So it does get my same. For me, my creative juices flowing and I get a little bit of inspiration whenever I can see at least something. That's a starting point and there's nowhere to go but up from there.

Carrie Saunders:

I think that's great, and I don't know if you can hear in the background One of the office cats. I joke about this on our podcast all the time. Sometimes they bomb my podcast and today they're sound bombing by playing in some paper behind me, and I already had an employee feed them some more food and then they started doing it again. So there's some enjoyment for you guys. Listen to the podcast some cat paper bomb.

Carrie Saunders:

Okay. So my last question, cause I think I think looking back can really sometimes help us look forward when we're listening to this as a new person. So, looking back, if you had to start all over again, what's the most important piece of content you'd create, now that you know what you know?

Krystal Proffitt:

I mean this question. So, if I go back to where I started in 2018, tech was a lot harder. You had to piece together a lot more platforms. I mean, I use Skype. Okay, guys, let me just throw that out there. I use Skype for my very first interviews that I ever did and it was awful. You had to install four other things just to get the Skype recording off of your, and it was not audio and video, it was just audio. It was a nightmare.

Krystal Proffitt:

So I look at someone starting something in 2024, the tech is a lot easier and it's more affordable. So the first thing that I would do was just get real honest with myself and say what do I want to create? What do I actually enjoy? And for me, I really do like audio and video. But this is me in 2024. I told you I started in 2018. I was not this person that I am today on video. This is after thousands of pieces of content.

Krystal Proffitt:

So if I had to go back, I would go and start with audio only again, because and you mentioned this earlier, carrie about doing something and getting good at it or having that consistency is, I think, your first step. And then you add on so do a podcast, write a newsletter, do a blog post, like find something that you feel really good, that you could do this every single week for 90 days, like you like committing to doing that doesn't scare the bejesus out of you. Like you feel like, okay, that's doable. I could write a single newsletter every week. I could do a podcast episode, I could do fill in the blank whatever that is for you and just get really honest about it. Who cares what everybody else is doing? It doesn't matter. They're not you, they're not the ones that have to sit down and actually create the piece of content. So just get really honest with yourself and say, all right, I'm going to do this and I'm going to commit to doing it for 90 days.

Krystal Proffitt:

And I think that that's the part where, again, I've seen so many people start a podcast and stop. You know, build, like, say they're going to build a YouTube channel, put out one video video. It gets like no views. And then they stop, like don't be so harsh on yourself to judge it, because I've seen stats that say it takes someone a year before they even get traction on anything that they're creating, whether it's a blog, a podcast or YouTube channel. So the pressure's off. Folks Like you don't have to even have a performing piece of content for a full year, like you're welcome. I just gave you permission to put content out and it's going to suck for the first 12 months and that's okay. It's okay Because you get more comfortable over time and carry. I would love your perspective too, like what piece of advice would you give to someone now that you've been podcasting for over a year? Like what would you say to your previous self that was still kind of trying to decide what they were going to do?

Carrie Saunders:

Well, I think for me, like in the beginning, for some reason I was afraid what people close to me would think. I was afraid what my kids would think. I was afraid what my employees would think. I was afraid what my boss or not my boss my friends would think, like I don't know why, like why was I actually afraid of that? Because, one, they don't care and two, when they do care, they're excited for my progress. You know, it's not a judgy type of care, it's a. It's a you know, they love me and they support me type of care.

Carrie Saunders:

So I think you know when your heart is tugged to do something and that my heart was tugged to do podcasting. You know, sit with it and then listen to it and don't worry about what other people think. Um, as my advice and that's what I did I just had to put my blinders on and be like I am determined. This is what I wanted to do, cause I had actually been thinking about it for almost a year before I did it. Yeah, and it took it that long for me to just say, okay, I really don't care. Normally, I don't care what people think of me. I need to get back to that space again and just go for it, cause this is what I'm drawn to do.

Krystal Proffitt:

And I'm so happy that you did. I'm so happy, Like I. I have to just brag on Carrie for a second because one thing that I mean, you have just surpassed so many things that you know don't usually happen in the first year of a podcaster's life. You know, being able to say that you're in the top 10 of like SEO podcast and like you're ranking and all these really cool ways for your show. But I think that, like, all of those are fantastic and I love the accolades that you can put on your website and share with your audience and say this is what the show has done.

Krystal Proffitt:

But, more importantly, you're still here. Like you're still showing up 12 months later. You haven't burned out, Like you have struck whatever that consistency medium is for you and you've been able to keep showing up week after week and really putting in that love and care to attention, to that message that you really want to share with your audience. So I know you weren't expecting me to brag on you, but I just have to real fast, like, as your coach and someone that's worked with you, like I'm so dang proud of you for showing up and still being here, because it's what's made today's interview possible and I just I can't wait to see where your journey takes you.

Carrie Saunders:

Thank you so much, crystal. I didn't expect that either, so I appreciate that I just I love doing this because I love helping others and I love having a medium that helps me reach more than than I would would be possible otherwise. So I think if you're listening today and you really wanna push your business forward, push your reach forward, pick something. Pick something like podcasting or blogging and, like Crystal said, give it 90 days. That was one thing that I loved about her course and we'll link to that in the show notes too. If you're interested in starting a podcast, she helps you create that first. I think it's what. 30 weeks worth of content. It's like 30 different podcast title ideas. I think it was in the course. I have an Excel sheet of it, but that helps you keep going. Having that plan and having it be less scary because you don't know what's coming next. So when you think of doing some long form content like this to really boost your business, some of these techniques that Crystal teaches, and really just plan out your content. It doesn't have to be perfect. Things will change, don't worry about that. Give yourself grace on that.

Carrie Saunders:

I know there's some weeks I'm like I really don't want to talk about this topic this week. I'm not in the mood. I'm like I really don't want to talk about this topic this week. I'm not in the mood. I'm in the mood for something else and that's fine. But you at least have that idea bank behind you with whatever you're doing, whether it's YouTube, podcasting or blogging. So I want to give you a little bit of praises, because you really were the key to helping me be confident and not afraid, to just go for it and know that, okay, I can do this, I can do this for several months and I'm going to enjoy it and I'm going to keep going because I'm committed to helping others.

Krystal Proffitt:

Oh, I love that so much and you know, thank you. I. I'm just so grateful that you know our paths crossed in the way that they have. And I want to give one more final thought that we really haven't talked about yet, and that's kind of like podcasting and content creation.

Krystal Proffitt:

For me is like a form of therapy too. Like when I think about all the things I talk about on my show, like my family. They're so supportive, they love me. They could care less about me talking about content strategies and digital marketing, and let's talk about SEO and how you can do this, like all the AI, like this entire conversation that we just had today. My family would be like I don't care, I love you, but I don't care, and so, whenever you can find that other people are just as excited about the topic that you're talking about, like you find your people and that is what's so exciting.

Krystal Proffitt:

I mean, carrie and I, like our paths would have never crossed if I hadn't started my podcast, you know, in 2018, and said I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm going to start doing this thing. And then eventually I started coaching and working with people and it just brings me so much joy to know that there are people out there interested in what I'm interested in. So if you're listening to this today and you're like gosh, I want to find my people, or I want to explore what it could look like to start content or start creating content in a new way about the topic that you've chosen for your business or the content, then I really encourage you to explore what that could look like, because I mean, it could be life-changing. I know that sounds so cliche or so silly, but, man, it has absolutely changed my life to be able to meet people and really just indulge in content creation and marketing, because it makes me so happy. It just brings joy to my soul to be able to meet people like you, keri.

Carrie Saunders:

So, yeah, I can actually totally agree with that Because, as you're talking, I'm thinking about all these new business friends that I have now because I did this podcasting and committed to it. All these people I have met I've just met the most wonderful people to help me in my business journey and support we support each other.

Carrie Saunders:

And so yeah yeah, I think this is a great way to find your people. That's a good way to put a crystal. Yeah, all right. So that's all we have for this week's episode, but I do want you to give us some opportunity. Where can we find you? The best crystal?

Krystal Proffitt:

Yeah, so you can go to crystal profitcom. That's crystal with the K and profit has two F's and two T's. Yes, that is my last name and the whole story is there on the website, Cause that's what people the first thing that was just like is that, yes, it's my really. It's really my last name. But yeah, just go to crystal profitcom. You'll find links to our YouTube channel. We actually have a fun quiz that you can take right there as soon as you land on the homepage and, like Carrie said, she's going to have links to the course that we do to help support people and if you're interested in checking that out, it'd be fantastic and you can reach out if you have any questions.

Carrie Saunders:

Thanks so much again, crystal, for being on our podcast. Such good business tips here, like from many different realms, so I really appreciate it.

Krystal Proffitt:

Yeah, thanks for having me, keri.

Carrie Saunders:

Oh, my goodness, Wasn't that such a great conversation with Crystal? I know I got so many good nuggets and even some things that she told me before that I completely forgot about. Be sure to visit the show notes wherever you're listening so you can learn more about Crystal and connect with her. You can also always find them on our podcasting website, ecommercemadeeasypodcastcom. If you're watching on the YouTube channel, make sure you hit that subscribe button, and if you're listening on the podcast, hit that follow button wherever you're listening. If you're loving my e-commerce made easy podcast, I'd be thrilled if you could rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts. Your readings help me reach more listeners and empower them. More people just like you just thrive in the online business world. Thanks again for listening and I'll see you next week.