Matt: Welcome back everyone. Today we are doing a... I was gonna say special episode, but I don't know if I like the word special.

Lauren: I don't wanna, I don't wanna give – blegh. Wow, we're off to a great start.

Matt: You're the editor. Fix it in post. Although kind of ironic, given what we're about to talk about.

Lauren: It sure is. Yeah, no, I don't know. Special, special might give people the wrong idea. I don't want them to get too excited.

Matt: Fair enough.

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: It is a special episode, though.

Lauren: It is, it is a anomaly, an anomaly episode?

Matt: An anomaly?

Lauren: I don’t know. Yeah. Every now and then we do

Matt: Okay.

Lauren: ones that are like, not, not super, super...

Matt: I don't know if I like that choice of words, but whatever.

Lauren: Okay.

Matt: We'll roll with it.

Lauren: Alright.

Matt: It's an anomaly. I'm gonna be interviewing Lauren today.

Lauren: Plot twist.

Matt: Plot twist, sure. We can stick with the publishing theme if you want. Why not? 

Lauren: For the first and last time this episode.

Matt: Yeah. It seems Lauren has finally created, produced, and is ready to launch her own podcast.

Lauren: Yep.

Matt: And we decided there's probably some benefit and value hidden in here, and we're gonna try to flesh it out.

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: Yeah. I think so.

Matt: Okay.

Lauren: Hopefully.

Matt: This will be fun, if nothing else.

Lauren: I think it'll be fun for you.

Matt: It is gonna be fun for me. 

Lauren: Okay.

Matt: Cause I have an entire two pages of questions that I've been dying to ask you.

Lauren: You do.

Matt: So this is gonna be fun for me, for sure.

Lauren: Great.

Matt: Probably fun for anybody listening. I don't know how much fun it'll be for you.

Lauren: I'm okay with that.

Matt: Alright. 

[2:07] – Introducing Alternative Park Days

Matt: So, I'll jump in. The most important question, I'm gonna ask it right out of the gate.

Lauren: Okay.

Matt: After roughly three years of podcasting with me, you decided for your thing you needed exactly one host, and that was you. So how personally should I be taking this?

Lauren: Not at all.

Matt: Okay.

Lauren: Not at all. Because while I absolutely, I am very intentionally trying to establish this as a podcast that can be a single-host podcast, I do very much intend to have guests on, just not on every episode. Because I think that's a lot of fun. And obviously would love for you to be a guest host on my podcast one day.

Matt: Alright, well.

Lauren: If you can fit me into the schedule.

Matt: So, all that being said, why don't you just go ahead and introduce us to your podcast? Like, who's it for? What's the conversations that you're gonna be having? And, and what should people expect?

Lauren: Sure. So my, my podcast is called Alternative Park Days, and to the absolute surprise of 0% of the people listening to this current episode, it is a podcast about going to Disney. I figured you guys were all sick of hearing me talk about it on this podcast, so maybe I should just funnel that over somewhere else.

Matt: I can't imagine anybody that listens to our podcast is sick of hearing us talk about Disney. Maybe of talking about Taylor Swift, but not Disney.

Lauren: I would just like to remind everyone that Matt wrote the list of questions that are about to come in this episode. Not me.

Matt: I did.

Lauren: But, yeah no I, I, I thought it would be fun to, you know, start more intentionally talking about Disney. And specifically it's a podcast that is about kind of different, or perhaps alternative, ways that you can go to and enjoy Disney World.

Matt: And to be clear, though, when you say Alternative Park Days.

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: You're not talking about everybody shows up with green hair, piercings, and tattoos, that kind of alternative?

Lauren: I mean, there is definitely the... there is, there is a pun going on in the title, for sure.

Matt: Okay. Alright. Just checking.

Lauren: There is... yes, there is very much, you know. I am definitely playing onto the, the emo kid side of me there, for sure. But.

Matt: Alright.

Lauren: Yeah. You know. 

Matt: I might still listen.

Lauren: You'll give me one or two episodes? At most?

Matt: Alright. So take us back to when this stopped being one of the usual Lauren ideas of like, I should start a podcast, I should write a book, I should write an EPCOT passport.

Lauren: Still working on it.

Matt: When did it actually become something that you started doing? Like, what happened that snapped you out of your usual lull and you were like, I gotta get busy. I'm gonna do this.

Lauren: I mean, honestly, it was just the, the fact that the idea didn't go away. Which is, which is how I find myself with most of the, you know, flash in the pan ideas that I have. If it's something that a week later I've already forgotten about it, it's probably not worth pursuing. But this was an idea that was born at, actually at CEX 2025, and didn't go away. And two months later I was at Momentum in October and had still been thinking about this. And that was then where I started saying it out loud to other people that were also Disney people and content creators and content entrepreneurs. And the fact that every single one of them did not respond, well, that's a terrible idea, was, was like the, the solidifying foundation that I needed to be like, okay. Let's see, let's see.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: How, how long I can mess around with this idea and see what happens.

Matt: So you already know how much work it takes to produce a podcast, obviously. That didn't slow you down? The idea like oh, now I'll be doing two?

Lauren: I mean, it slowed me down in the sense that I did just say it's been a year.

Matt: That's fair enough, yeah. But obviously not enough to talk you completely out of it.

Lauren: No, not enough to talk me completely out of it. And I think it actually kind of... I mean, I'm definitely going to be using my knowledge and experience from this for this new podcast as well. But I am also trying to keep that in mind as I make decisions about the podcast in general. Like, I mean, to go back to your question about one host versus two hosts, I wanted to be able to have the flexibility in my schedule. Cause I know sometimes for us it gets really hard to plan around our schedules and say, like, we're both traveling, one of us is traveling, whatever. We

Matt: It's ridiculous.

Lauren: It's, it can be really difficult to schedule time. So I very intentionally, after dealing with that for the last few years, made the choice that, okay, if I build this as a one-host podcast that has the occasional guest, then if I have my, like, if I'm in the position where I have to batch record a bunch of episodes by myself that I can just have on hand to, to plug in there on the weeks that it gets crazy or the weeks that I can't schedule something or something doesn't go according to plan.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: Then I, I have that.

[7:52] – On Making Content Decisions

Matt: So speaking of batch record, guests, no guests, essentially the, the content piece of this. You know, with, with a brand podcast like we do, there's a purpose behind what we're doing. Like there's a business purpose, right?

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: That's, everything we talk about is still somewhat geared towards, you know quite frankly, what Lulu does and what we offer and, and how we can help creators and authors and businesses. So that helps us decide what we put in an episode. Arguably this one. We'll see. But when you're creating content for your podcast, how do you decide what you're gonna talk about for a particular episode? I'm assuming that you've not only recorded some, but you've got, you know, several shows planned out with content and topics. Like, there's no shortage of interests 

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: for you that you can talk about for days and days and days.

Lauren: Yep.

Matt: So how are you deciding what you're gonna talk about in each episode and, and kinda keep it to that?

Lauren: I think that, you know, it's all kind of aimed at answering a few different questions, and I'm trying to look at like, does each episode answer one of these questions, kind of. The questions being, like, what would I do in this circumstance at Disney? Or what would I recommend to somebody in this very specific circumstance that was going to Disney or wanted to go to Disney? Or, like, do I think this is worth it for XYZ type of person? Or anything like that. And I am very much trying to... Like, I, I know there's literally no such thing as a unique opinion about Disney because there are so many Disney content creators in every different area and field and niche and all of that, but I do think that everybody has kind of their own unique perspectives and experience.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: So I am, like, I'm trying to talk about things that I think are relatable and would be something that someone would ask or think about if they were, they were trying to think about going to Disney. But that maybe I can offer a perspective on it or an experience or an opinion on it that hasn't been done to death.

Matt: Yeah. Okay. I'll definitely listen to at least the first episode. So tell us about your first recording session, the first time you hit record, and realized oh shit, there's nobody here to talk to. I'm by myself.

Lauren: You know, I actually, I thought that was gonna be the problem. The problem was that when there's nobody else there to talk to, there is also nobody else there to interrupt me.

Matt: That is a problem.

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: And we should probably also state for the listeners, you're not a stranger to talking to yourself.

Lauren: No. No no no. Definitely not.

Matt: I'm just kidding. I don't know that for sure.

Lauren: Oh, no no no. I very much narrate my life out loud, especially when I'm home alone hanging out with Rose. But.

Matt: I would argue that's a benefit of

Lauren: Oh, yeah. That’s the whole point of having pets.

Matt: Living by yourself, yeah.

Lauren: Oh, well, that too.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: Yes. But no, it, it actually turned out the... So the, the very, very first time that I tried to record something, I was like... you know, let me just, let me just, like, rip the Band-Aid off and, and do it and try it. And I did not give myself an outline or direct- or like, direction or anything, and just kinda wanted to see what came out of my mouth, and it was three hours. Three hours long. Of me talking to myself for three hours.

Matt: You definitely lost me at three hours. That’s for sure.

Lauren: Oh yeah, no no no no, that's very much... that is, that was a, a, a test run that is never gonna, gonna see the light of day.

Matt: Three hours of recording, you must really not care about your editor.

Lauren: No, no, I, I want her to really suffer every second.

Matt: It's funny, I have the same opinion.

Lauren: Yeah I can tell.

Matt: Okay. Well, I was gonna ask you, you know, especially for that first one, did you write out a lot of the, the content and the bullet points ahead of time? But it sounds like for that first one you really didn't. It was like, Here's kinda what I wanna talk about. I'm just gonna hit the record button and see what happens. 

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: Have

Matt: you decided that's how you'll continue doing it, or are you, are you gonna really try and... Or have you been, you know, really laying out more of an, an actual agenda and bullet points that you try to stick to?

Lauren: I think that I need

Matt: Which, by the way, I'm also not

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: lobbying one way or the other. I think both styles have their merits depending on who it is and what the podcast is about.

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: And what kind of conversation comes from that, but.

Lauren: Yes. No I, I very much need something in front of me that is just like a, a reminder to stay on track.

Matt: Can confirm.

Lauren: Yes. 

Matt: I do too, by the way.

Lauren: Yeah. It's just, it's just easy, you know, especially when I am gonna try to keep these under an hour, you know?

Matt: Oof. That's gonna be tough.

Lauren: Tell me about it. But, you know, I do wanna keep something that is like, relatively high level, bullet point outline. But definitely not scripted. I have learned from doing this podcast that, that scripted content is probably why I hated doing this kind of stuff in the beginning. Because like I was always so nervous about sticking, like, saying the right thing, getting exactly right, reading

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: exactly off there. You know, back making social content that I was trying so hard to read the script line by line, and when I finally gave myself permission to just be like, get the general gist of it, it went a lot better. So. 

Matt: Aesthetically it's a lot, like.

Lauren: That too.

Matt: I've seen quite a few not even full-blown podcasts, just like, Reels from creators on Instagram, but also full-blown, where they're literally just reading from their teleprompter or laptop, and it's like, that is A. not entertaining, B. like... Yeah, never mind, I'm just gonna go to

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: something else, but. That's good.

Lauren: Which I think also, and I'm not knocking anybody that, that does it that way.

Matt: I am, for the record.

Lauren: That’s, that's fair. I think that it takes away some of the implicit authenticity of it. Because I think that like... And while I know that so many people rely on that because they are maybe a little nervous or because they wanna make sure that they're getting everything in that they wanted to say or that they're, they're saying the right things.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: Especially if it's a more serious topic or a more educational topic. But I mean, I'm really just trying

Matt: Well, let's be clear, too. We're not talking about having some bullet points

Lauren: Right.

Matt: or some things to guide you. We're talking about people who are literally reading word from word

Lauren: Right.

Matt: from a teleprompter or a laptop, so yeah.

Lauren: Right. I just, I, I feel like for me, and not even as a viewer, just as somebody who's presenting content, I would feel like the message that I'm subliminally giving an audience of people if I had to read word for word off the teleprompter, was that I either don't know the thing that I'm talking about well enough to do it on my own, or I don't really care

Matt: Don’t care, yeah.

Lauren: enough about it, and I don't want either one of those things to be the perception.

Matt: Yeah.

[15:28] – On Making Technical Decisions

Matt: When you started recording, and even before that, like, what did you feel like you had to have ready for recording and/or launch, and what have you decided or what did you decide was like, I'm gonna give myself grace on this, I'll figure that out as I go? These things or this thing, like, this has to be there. You know what I mean? This other stuff, like, I'll just feather that in. I'll figure it out.

Lauren: This has actually been – This is why it's taken a year. 100%. This question right here is why this has taken a year.

Matt: I would argue that...

Lauren: No it, it's

Matt: I mean there's been multiple trips to Disney.

Lauren: Well.

Matt: There's been, you know, some other things that were in there as well that were probably pushing out your launch date, but.

Lauren: Yeah, you know.

Matt: Go ahead. 

Lauren: As somebody who professionally co-hosts and produces a podcast, but also works as a content marketer

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: on a marketing team that works very closely with content entrepreneurs and content creators, I immediately came into this with too much of a big picture and really needed to, like. It took me, like, a good six months to be like, Okay, I do not need to have a blog and a newsletter and three books already lined up and, like, a, a complete calendar for the next 50 episodes. Like, I do not need to start with all of that. I want to set myself up in a way that if I see a time and a place that it makes sense to grow and add a newsletter or add, you know, another content channel or something like that, I have set myself up from the beginning to have that, like, growth available to me. But not, like, I don't need to have all of those things pre-built before I ever, like, hit live on this.

Matt: Yeah. So... now, the physical and tactile piece of this is

Lauren: Oh, for sure.

Matt: there's obviously equipment and

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: things you need like, balancing like, what did you feel like you needed to purchase, you know, in order to actually produce and, and record and launch this thing? And what maybe are some things that you could tell somebody new to podcasting that they can skip for now or pick up later? Like, was there anything where you were like, obviously you need a microphone, you need some of the other things, but were there other things where you're like, well, I could buy this later, or I'll, I'll see if I need this later? Or was it all pretty cut and dry?

Lauren: A little bit, a little of both. And it was also actually more along the lines of how much am I willing to spend on the things that I want right away. Because, you know, like we, we just did the episode, I just did the episode with Chelsea where we talked about going live.

Matt: Right.

Lauren: And we talked about like things like a camera or a microphone, you can start as entry-level as you want with literally just, you know, your phone and your AirPods. Which are obviously two things that I have.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: But for me, you know, as, as the person responsible for editing these episodes, I am very aware of how painful it is when the audio quality is mediocre. If you've ever listened to an episode of this podcast and been like, Oof, audio, not great. Trust me, I know. Trust me.

Matt: Well, that one's hard too, right? Because we found early on, I was primarily, primarily listening to, to our podcast

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: and podcasts in general, I listen to them on my commute in my car. And that has, you know, it's my car stereo. You were oftentimes editing and listening back on headphones.

Lauren: Yep.

Matt: Sometimes studio-quality headphones, sometimes like you said, your AirPods. Some of our listeners may have been listening on their laptops, and their headphones, on their commute or whatever. So there's all different types of devices, too, where the output was - I would come in sometimes and say to you like, What is going on? This sounds like garbage. And you'd be like, What are you talking about?

Lauren: Yup.

Matt: It sounds fine. I would listen in my headphones, not in my car, and it did sound different. It, in many cases, better, and then other times it was like... So there, there's a lot of complexity there with audio. So.

Lauren: There, there is, and that is why the, I would say the most expensive thing that I bought right off the bat was a microphone. I actually bought one of these. The mics we're using right now. Which came very highly recommended to me by, like literally five or six different creators.

Matt: But above and beyond the microphone, it's equally as important, you know, what editing software you’re using.

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: What platforms, right?

Lauren: Yes. And, and there

Matt: And did you spend a lot of money there?

Lauren: I spent more money than I would have if I was actually starting from zero. I don't think I would have... I don't know if I would've known that I needed and/or wanted these. But I did, I mean, Ecamm, right away. That was a, you know, that was an early non-negotiable, was the, the microphone, the recording software. I did get a webcamera, so that I have a, a nicer camera than just my laptop camera. Editing software, I'm actually still deciding on what I wanna do with that. Because it, that is one of those things that it, it's gonna come down to not necessarily a quality decision, but a...

Matt: Usability?

Lauren: Not necessarily usability, but how robust I want it to be. Because I can't... when we started this podcast, the first, those first like, twenty-something audio episodes, I was just using Audacity to edit the audio on those episodes. And, I actually still use iMovie as the first step of editing the video on these. So. Which is also free on a Mac. So I could, like, realistically edit these episodes however I want to with free tools that are accessible to me, and I just have to decide, like, what, moving forward, what my bandwidth is, how much I want to, like, be able to control that. I know that I don't need Adobe Premiere Pro. Which is what I use to edit Publish & Prosper. Not that it's not an incredible tool, but I, I do think I could probably find a more cost-effective solution for myself as a

Matt: Probably overkill.

Lauren: personal creator.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: But yeah, there were a lot of decisions to make there.

[22:12] – On Marketing Strategy

Matt: I wanna go back to something you said

Lauren: Okay.

Matt: a few minutes ago. You, you talked about, when I asked you about things that, you know, you deemed necessary now versus things you can incorporate over time or worry about when, when you feel like it's time to worry about them, I didn't expect you to say marketing things. I, I was really looking at, like, okay, you know again, hardware, software, those types of things. Lighting, right?

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: Like, stuff like that. I, I was curious as to like, in your home studio, what's there now versus what you'll probably pick up later. Depending on, you know, the success of the show or whatever that might be, or just how much of Rose's space you're willing to take up with stuff. But you brought up marketing stuff.

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: So I guess the big question here that, I mean, if anybody's listening and, and they're putting the pieces together, how are you planning to get this podcast in front of people? You don't, to my knowledge, have a very large existing audience. So, you know, how are you gonna get this in front of people, especially when you launch, which I'm assuming is coming up very quickly here. Have you tried anything yet? And, you know, if you have, have you seen a response so far? So have you tried starting a newsletter list and building emails? Like how's this thing gonna launch?

Lauren: So… I am, I am going to promptly take every piece of advice that we've shared in the last, like, six months and throw it out the window.

Matt: Sounds like you already have.

Lauren: Yeah, kind of.

Matt: So... Care to elaborate? 

Lauren: I – Yeah. I am...

Matt: Was this just – Hold on a second.

Lauren: Yeah okay, sorry.

Matt: Was this a strategic decision, or was this something that came at the heels of procrastination?

Lauren: No, I always knew

Matt: Cause I know you also had a launch date in mind that you really wanted to stick to, come hell or high water.

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: So again, was the, the lack of marketing tactics strategic, or was it like, Oh, I'm getting really close to this date. I've still got these things to do. I'll just do them as I get to them?

Lauren: No, this is actually very, very on brand for me. I, despite

Matt: So it's procrastination? 

Lauren: No. Despite all of the times that we've talked about writing in public and building excitement before your launch, which I, I fully stand by in specific context and all these different things, I have always been somebody who would rather quietly put out content, and then once it's out there, then I start promoting it.

Matt: Why?

Lauren: Because… Because first of all, I don't have an audience already. And I do think that it's hard to build an audience with nothing to show. And I think, so I think that's the difference. Like when I say I still stand by building excitement before a launch announcement, that should have had a massive asterisk next to it that said, *If you already have an audience to announce something to.

Matt: I’m gonna push back on you there.

Lauren: Okay.

Matt: I really wasn't anticipating some of these answers from you. But I think this is a great moment, because I'm gonna push back on you there. And we have talked about that. I got glimpses of this when I was doing my book.

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: Where I too felt like I don't have an audience yet really, like couple hundred people on LinkedIn, whatever, like, you know. So I felt like... And because quite frankly, honestly, the book wasn't a huge priority for me. It was just something I, I needed to get done. So I, I was a, my goal wasn't quite the same. But nonetheless, I did wanna experiment with the things that we've been telling everybody else they should do, cause we see it work. So there were times where I publicly talked about the fact that I'm writing this book. There were times where I would reach out to people who were in my small, you know, pool of, not subscribers.

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: But you know, I do have a small email list and some other things, I just don't use it very often. And would talk about that or, or ask for feedback or, you know, things like that. And, and I would get really good responses even at that small dose. Which to me confirmed that not only when we see other people doing this at scale it works, but in us telling people they should be doing this, it's still the right thing to do. So I would argue and push back with you that with zero audience, not really zero though, right? Because you have some.

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: Even though like, let's, you know, you don't have an email list yet, right? And if you do, it's probably as small as mine is.

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: I'm sure. I would argue that's the best time to go - cause even like you, you said earlier, when you were at Momentum and you said, you know what? I'm doing this thing. Like publicly.

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: The response from several people was not like, pfft, maybe you should think about this, Lauren. It was like, yeah, you should do this. I would argue had you followed your own advice, our advice, and even assuming no audience, started talking publicly about this, not only would your motivation have accelerated but you would've started generating a little bit of buzz, a few more signups here and there. And so I do think, and again, we tell this to everybody, I, I think you strategically chose not to, but in my opinion, I think that's one area where you should have followed your own advice.

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: I really do. I think you would have more people at launch ready to hit the play button on this thing.

Lauren: Yeah. I don't, I don't disagree necessarily.

Matt: You can. It’s totally fine.

Lauren: No no no, I, I, don't. And I did, you know, I did have that debate with myself for a long time of like, do I, you know, do I want to start teasing this out? Do I want to do something where I'm, I'm talking more about this? Cause there are... I mean, you're right. There are definitely people

Lauren: It's not, it's not like a, a secret. There are definitely people

Matt: To be fair to you though, as well. I'm sorry. Let me just

Lauren: Go ahead.

Matt: put a bookend on this. To be fair to you, that was a hard thing for me. Not just because I'm an introverted extrovert. Like, it's just weird for people like you and I to go out there and start talking about something we're doing.

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: And if I looked at the list of things that I knew I should have been doing for this book, I just kept pushing that one down

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: towards the bottom until I finally just made myself do it, because I'm also a bit of a sadomasochist. So. Yeah, at a certain point, I myself just get to the point where it's like, just rip the Band-Aid off. Just do it. But I could see where just like for myself, on that list of things, like go out there and publicly talk about this and try to drum up some... just kept getting pushed down.

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: Further, for me. So to be fair, it's one of the harder things, I think, to do when it comes to pre-marketing a project, whether it's a book or a podcast or, you know, a YouTube channel or anything for that matter. That is one of the harder things to do, in my opinion.

Lauren: I do think that that's extremely valid for both of us, and anyone listening. It is, it, it is hard, and it's like, hard in different ways. Because I don't really have a prob- Like I've, I've never been like, super, super shy about being like, hey, I did this thing, go look at it. Or hey I like, like, you know, I've, I've shared plenty of content professionally, personally, whatever, over time. I've, I've never really been super shy about it, but I very rarely talk about it before it's ready. And that has always been something for me

Matt: Yeah, but I think true to this interview.

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: It's one thing to create something professionally, especially because that's your job.

Lauren: True.

Matt: Like, the point, right? Like.

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: This podcast is branded. We're paid by Lulu to do this. 

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: It's, so, going out and talking about what our next episode's gonna be, or even an, an article you might write for our blog, professionally, I think that's a lot easier. That's your job. Like.

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: That’s what we’re paid to do. Personally, I think it's different. But.

Lauren: It is.

Lauren: No I, I completely agree with that. It is, and it's... I mean, it's different in terms of not necessarily, like, priorities, but. I mean, absolutely, if there's a week where I have only so many hours and two podcast episodes to put out, it's always gonna be Publish & Prosper as the priority. Because that's my job. 

 Matt: Good answer.

Lauren: But even if I

Matt: Thank you.

Lauren: wasn't talking to my boss right now

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: like, no, genuinely, like, that is, like, like, that is the priority and, and Alternative Park Days is a passion project. And if I'm lucky, and I use the skills that I have learned and shared with other people for the last several years, maybe one day it'll be more than a passion project. But there is still a difference between something that is, that is, like, prof- that I am professionally beholden to, and something that at the end of the day if I delay my launch date three times on this podcast, the only person disappointed by that right now is me.

Matt: So back to my original question.

Lauren: Okay. Yes.

Matt: Which... Great. How are you planning on getting this in front of people?

Lauren: Well. It's a great question. I, I do plan on unfortunately dusting off some of my social media marketing skills and, and trying there. Starting with, you know, taking some of our actual advice and sticking with content channels that I not only am familiar with, but the ones that I am the most comfortable on, and spend the most time on. Which will be Instagram and YouTube, to start.

Lauren: But I also, I will definitely be reaching out to some, some friends that I've made over the last few years and asking their help to spread the word on this.

Matt: Okay.

Lauren: And then we’ll see.

Matt: I think you could feel the disappointment coming from me.

Lauren: I know.

Matt: On your marketing plan. But you know what?

Lauren: But

Matt: I'm gonna, I'm gonna give you a break. Let's, let's...

[32:33] – Marketing Strategy (Lauren’s Version)

Matt: Let's stick with marketing, but let's take it more your vein.

Lauren: Okay.

Matt: So we did an episode, 126, where you talked about the 13 things, marketing lessons, from Taylor Swift.

Lauren: Yup.

Matt: What's one of those that you are putting into your launch? What are one of those 13 things that you brought to us from Taylor Swift, these marketing lessons that you're going to employ for your launch?

Lauren: This is kind of a, a non-answer to this question. But. Because of those 13, only 4 of them were specifically about launch strategy.

Matt: Okay.

Lauren: And I'm choosing one that is not from that. And.

Matt: You're choosing one that's not from the four?

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: Gotcha.

Lauren: And I am saying: build a community and not an audience. Is the advice that I'm taking from that. And I think that is why... I think that also kind of adds to the answer about marketing from the beginning, is that I'm not... I am not currently of the opinion that I want 1,000 listeners on day one. If I have 20 listeners that are like, invested and engaged and, and tune in regularly and comment and whatever, by the end of this year, I'll be really happy with that.

Matt: That's the

Lauren: Because I want a community

Matt: that's the beauty of not being attached to a brand.

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: Or even so much a, a monetization strategy for your content. It's truly, like you said, a passion project. So you have the luxury of saying

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: I don't need to launch to 1,000 listeners out of the gate. So, you know, that's good. It also takes a level of stress off your shoulders and

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: keeps it fun and light. So, okay. I'll take your non-answer, which really was an answer.

Lauren: It was. It was an answer. 

Matt: So that’s, that's fine. Yeah. Okay. What romance trope best describes your relationship with making this podcast? Love at first sight, slow burn, enemies to lovers with your editing software, or something else?

Lauren: So slow burn, obviously. But I would actually... I would, I would choose the unwritten fourth option that is will they or won't they?

Matt: Well there are many unwritten options, by the way, I just don't know them all.

Lauren: Yes. Yes. That's fair. But no, it's definitely will they or won't they.

Matt: Will they or won't they?

Lauren: Because there really was

Matt: So that’s another trope?

Lauren: Oh yeah.

Matt: Okay.

Lauren: Well, that... But that... I mean, that is like a slow burn too. That's like the

Matt: Okay.

Lauren: more of like the TV series. Like Bones and Booth are always the ones that come to mind immediately. The show Bones?

Matt: Oh. What was the second thing you said?

Lauren: Booth is

Matt: What's Booth?

Lauren: David Boreanaz's character's name.

Matt: Oh, so they're both in a TV show called Bones?

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: Okay. 

Lauren: Unfamiliar with this show?

Matt: I'm pretty sure I've seen a commercial for it back in the day. Is it even a, a, a current thing?

Lauren: No, and I also rage quit it.

Matt: Okay.

Lauren: But they did spend like five seasons, five or six seasons in this, like

Matt: Okay, for me that’s

Lauren: Will they or - Yes.

Matt: Scully and Mulder from X-Files.

Lauren: Yes. Yeah.

Matt: Okay, I get it.

Lauren: Yes. That absolutely

Matt: Alright, yeah.

Lauren: Like, it's like a

Matt: Yeah, I got you. Okay.

Lauren: Like are, are they ever gonna actually... like

Matt: Love it, yeah.

Lauren: there’s always that flirtation, are they ever actually gonna do it?

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: So I would say that's probably the most accurate.

Matt: You had to, you had to get on my level with that. X-Files, Scully and Mulder, I, I can get down with the will they or won't they.

Lauren: Got it.

Matt: Got it.

Lauren: Okay.

Matt: Okay. So slow burn with a, a, a twist or a tinge of will they or won't they? 

Lauren: Yes. Yeah.

Matt: Understood. Okay. Which Taylor Swift song title best describes your launch week?

Lauren: Ready For It?

Matt: Okay. You know the truth of the matter is I probably know three of her song titles. You could've said anything and I would've been like alright.

Lauren: I know.

Matt: But alright. I'm gonna assume what you said was a song title.

Lauren: I mean, do you want context or no context?

Matt: No, I don't want any

Lauren: Okay. Then just leave it at that.

Matt: Well. Actually, you know what? If you wanna provide context, you can.

Lauren: Well I mean, first of all, very obviously within the title, Ready For It. But also Ready For It was the first song on her album Reputation. It was not the lead single, and so it was not like everyone's first impression of the album, but it is the first song on the album. Which, Reputation is my favorite Taylor Swift album. And it was a pretty big departure from her, from her previous sounds, and this was the album that she put out post the Kim and Kanye drama. Nevermind. So it was a big, it was kind of a big move for her.

Matt: You know most pop culture references are lost on me.

Lauren: I know.

Matt: It's okay.

Lauren: I know. It's okay. It was, it was a, it was an album that was high risk, high reward. And, even though it initially... it actually initially, wasn't, like, well-received like... critically or commercially, and now everyone's obsessed with it. It was one of those, like, really took time for, for people to... But, she took a big risk on it, and the risk did ultimately pay off in the long run. It just took... Didn't happen overnight.

Matt: Okay.

Lauren: So, Ready For It.

Matt: Alright. We'll, we'll let you run with that.

[38:11] – On Managing Time

Matt: I feel like I've beat you up enough about your marketing, or lack thereof. Let's move on. You, you have alluded to this a little bit. We've sort of touched on this, right? So when this is, when this or anything is a passion project, and for a lot of creators, they have daytime jobs just like you do. So, you know, how are you fitting this, this side project into a life that already includes a, a very full-time job? I know, because I'm there. Also a full-time cat.

Lauren: Very much full-time cat.

Matt: And the fact that you're a Disney adult is like, another full-time job. Yeah, how, how do you do that? What does a realistic week look like for you in terms of producing this side project?

Lauren: That is, you know, definitely one of the things that I have had to kind of contend with, and also that I'm trying very hard to, like, build into my, like, general plan for this. Which maybe is why the, the marketing plan leaves a lot to be desired, because that also to me is, like, the answer to your question of what did I need to have for launch and what can, what can come later? To me, the marketing plan can come later. That, that is something that I can do once, once this is live. But what I am trying to do in the lead up is make sure that when I, when I go live and when it's, when I'm ready to have this out in the world, that I have done the like, establishing a workflow and establishing what my… Like, how much editing am I gonna do for every episode? Is it possible for me to, to template things like the show notes and the, the cover art thumbnails and the social media graphics and stuff like that for when I'm promoting this content, so that when I have a busy week, I can really quickly kind of plot this out. I have also - I mean, this is something that I've thought about in, in figuring out strategy in general. I am intentionally timing these episodes to come out later in the week than Publish & Prosper episodes. They're gonna come out on Fridays. So that, you know, if, if it's one of those weeks where Monday and Tuesday I'm still working on Wednesday's Publish & Prosper episode

Matt: What a coincidence, you also work from home on Fridays. For anybody not watching this, and they're just listening to this, I'm joking. I know. You didn't see my face, but I'm kidding.

Lauren: No we, we know, we know, we know. But yeah, no, I mean, that is, that is absolutely something that I am trying to - I wanna make sure that I can batch create these episodes, so I've already... A lesson that we've learned right off the bat, not numbering the episodes, not saying the name or

Matt: At least not immediately.

Lauren: the, the number. Hmm?  

Matt: At least not immediately numbering them.

Lauren: Right.

Matt: Cause that could change, yeah.

Lauren: Right. It, it could change, but you know, there are a lot of things like, structurally and in terms of like, the back-end workflow stuff that I've thought about that are very much, you know, trying to contend with the reality that my schedule is busy. My schedule is constantly changing. There are weeks where we're traveling a lot. I'm gonna be gone for half of October, and yet I thought now would be a good time to launch a podcast.

Matt: Did I already approve that time off?

Lauren: You don't have to.

Matt: Wait, why don't I have to?

Lauren: You don't approve my PTO, Paul does.

Matt: I should fix that. I'm gonna text Paul.

Lauren: Does that answer your question?

Matt: Sort of.

Lauren: That basically I'm trying to, you know.

Matt: Yeah. I mean.

Lauren: I am trying to be very conscientious of my own...

Matt: I guess what I was looking for was, you know, knowing you.

Lauren: Yeah?

Matt: Is this something where you've got this crazy structured, you know, time schedule planned out for yourself every week where it's like hey, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I'm spending an hour between 7:00 PM and 8:00 PM editing, and then 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM Rose gets my attention, and then, you know, 9:00 PM to 10:00 PM I'm reading crappy romance novels. Or is it like what you just said, which is also probably how I would have to do something

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: like that, like just do it when I can do it, and, you know, if I gotta stay up extra late one night, I will.

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: And if I don’t, I don’t. Great. You know?

Lauren: Yeah. I, I mean, and that's, you know, I - this, this goes all the way back to the episode we did, like, two years ago about building a writing plan or, like, building a writing habit

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: that actually sticks.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: And how like, we've both been people that historically don't, like, do well with the, I'm gonna write for an hour every day, or, I'm gonna write a thousand words every day.

Matt: Schedules in general, yeah.

Lauren: Right. It's more about the, the routine is not necessarily, like, I have to do this amount of this thing every single day in this specific window of time, but rather this is what I have to get done in a week, or a month, or whatever.

Matt: Yeah, and how I choose to get it done is how I get it done.

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: As long as I get it done, it doesn't matter to me.

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: No, I agree with that. Or it works for me.

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: It's not necessarily something for me to agree with, but.

[43:28] – On Measuring Success

Matt: If you fast-forward… I don't know, a year from launch and you look at your podcast, what are the, the signals there that are gonna make you feel like you wanna keep doing it? Like, what's there that you go, yeah, I'm gonna keep doing this thing?

Lauren: That's a good question. Can I answer instead the question of what would make me wanna not do it anymore?

Matt: Sure. Yeah.

Lauren: Okay. So for me, like I've, I've, I've already said, this is very much a passion project. This is something, and I think this is probably why I'm, I'm feeling a little bit less pressure about trying to get 1,000 listeners right off the bat or whatever. What this actually is, is just an excuse for me to talk about Disney on purpose. Realistically. And, like, this is basically

Matt: To somebody besides Rose.

Lauren: Right.

Matt: Or me.

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: Or the people you go to Disney with. 

Lauren: The, the poor people that are only, like my, like my friends that are, like, casual fans and/or like, just love me enough to support me and are like, yeah, we get it. You're talking about Disney for the 87th time. Talk about anything else. 

Matt: 87th time in one day, by the way.

Lauren: Yeah, obviously. But you know, this is an opportunity for me to intentionally talk about Disney and basically shout into the void hoping that some people will start shouting back. Or some people will at least be interested in hearing what I'm talking about and, and will come and hang out and listen to more. So it's not necessarily to me like, what I would consider an indicator of success. Like, there's no like, metric that I'm thinking in terms of, like, if I have this many subscribers or this many followers or, or whatever. But what I am hoping for from this, at least in the early stages, is the catharsis and the, like, creativity of, like, being able to talk about something that I'm enthusiastic and passionate about. And if I reach a point where I am investing more work into this than I am getting joy out of it, then that's when I would probably reevaluate whether or not it, it's serving a purpose.

Matt: When you feel like it's more work than joy.

Lauren: When it's like, sucking my soul out of me instead of

Matt: When you enjoy doing something you often don’t realize

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: how much work you're doing.

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: Because it doesn't feel like work.

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: When it feels like work and the joy is gone, yeah. I

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: agree with you.

Lauren: The minute that I dread, like, ugh, I have to record an Alt Park Days episode today... Like, that's gonna be the moment that I'm like, oh oh, hold on. T for time.

Matt: What did you just say?

Lauren: Which part?

Matt: Did you say T for time?

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: What does that mean? 

Lauren: Time out? T for time?

Matt: Oh, T for time out. Okay. Gotcha.

Lauren: T for Troy.

Matt: Weird, you just threw like a weird sports reference in there. You do read a lot of sports romance, don't you? 

Lauren: I do.

Matt: Okay. Interesting. Okay. So it's not, it's not that a year from now you'll look and go, sweet, I'm at 865 followers, my email list is at 500, you know, I'm actually making a little bit of money on, you know, whatever, whatever, and that, those aren't your metrics. Those aren't your success signals like they might be for a lot of people. Because it sounds like your goal is different.

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: And, and for you it's more about as long as I'm still having fun doing this, those other things are just trailing indicators of that. It's I'm having fun doing it.

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: And sounds like… I hesitate to use the word building, but, you know, engaging some sort of community around what you're doing is probably maybe one of your goals or a secondary goal, besides having fun.

Lauren: Yeah. No, I would, I would say that's probably the, the, you know, number, number two after number one being have, have fun and have a good time

Matt: Gotcha.

Lauren: doing this. Absolutely. I mean, obviously I do have like, tangible goals. But those are more like, you know, it would be nice if at some point in time I was able to monetize this enough that it paid for my annual pass every year. But I'm not gonna

Matt: That's a great goal. You should write that down.

Lauren: pull the plug if it doesn't happen.

Matt: Well, I mean, hey, that's, that's a pretty good goal, actually.

Lauren: It is. It is one of my

Matt: You should publicly make that part of your goal.

Lauren: Alright, I am publicly making the statement right now.

Matt: You should do something publicly. You know

Lauren: I will.

Matt: I've been sitting over here like, just

Lauren: I know. I know, I know.

Matt: internally fuming over this.

Lauren: I know.

Matt: You guys all heard it. She has a goal of monetizing the podcast just enough to pay for her yearly annual pass to Disney.

Lauren: Yup.

Matt: Okay.

Lauren: Yup.

Matt: I like that. I like that.

Lauren: Thanks.

Matt: You might only end up enough for a new spirit jersey, but that's still okay.

Lauren: That’s fine.

Matt: We like that.

Lauren: Yup.

Matt: Okay.

[48:45] – Episode Takeaways

Matt: Alright. So, last thing, really, before we kinda wrap this up, just so hopefully anybody that actually sat through all of this, maybe they can walk away with a little extra. There's plenty of stuff in there, but. If somebody's out there and they're sitting on an idea, and have been, like you did, for a little while. Six months, a year, whatever that might be. What's one thing you would say to them that they should do this week? Well. This podcast comes out on Wednesdays so, you know. What's one thing you would say to them they should do in the next seven days to get started on that thing they've been sitting on for whatever length of time?

Lauren: Tell five people.

Matt: Okay.

Lauren: No, genuinely that's... Because yes, I, there's, as much as you're sitting here saying like, You should do more publicly, you should do... And you're right. You're right. If that, that is something that if I, if I went back and did one thing differently, I probably would have done more. But it was the thing, it was, it was the thing that made me go, oh, I have to, I have to just stop waiting for everything to be perfect, and I have to just do this thing.

Matt: Why would you tell five people? Why would you suggest to somebody listening or watching that the one thing they should do in the next seven days is tell five people? Not that I disagree. I'm curious what your motivation or answer is.

Lauren: Because then it makes it real.

Matt: There you go.

Lauren: And it makes it real.

Matt: It's accountability.

Lauren: Outside of your head.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: Yes. And, you know, I mean, to that point, we, when we were... One of the questions that you asked earlier, I can't remember which one, I told a bunch of people at... I talked about this at Momentum last year. Talked to a bunch of different people there, told them I was gonna do this, continued talking to some of them. Like, I, I've still been talking to some of them for, for months now about doing this. I have best friends that I talk to every day that I have told, like, maybe two things about this podcast. And I told them like six months after I had the idea. Like, there are

Matt: You’re about to lose some best friends when this thing drops.

Lauren: It's fine. It's okay. But, but no, you know, I mean, there were... It, it, I didn't realize until someone, one of them like, pointed it out to me that I, I got very siloed in like, telling people in my life about this idea that I had that, like, they were within my, like, professional network of people that would understand what I'm doing, what I'm talking about, like, were, were, like, asking intentional questions about how it was going, stuff like that. Versus the people in my life that have no idea what I'm talking about beyond, like, Oh, a podcast. Cool, I like podcasts. But

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: are, like, have a vested personal interest in my life in general. So that's why specifically, I think, tell five people, and tell people from different... You know? Tell a coworker. You were the, you were the first person that I said this idea out loud to. Like.

Matt: Which was probably smart, because I know that I bugged you for a while about it too.

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: That's my thing. I like to bug you about stuff. This is why she tells me things.

Lauren: Yup.

Matt: Accountability.

Lauren: Yeah, cause he doesn’t let me forget em.

Matt: Accountability.

Lauren: But, but genuinely yes, that’s

Matt: That's why you should tell five people.

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: I agree with you. Yeah. I, that, that book that I wrote, I, I started it years and years and years ago.

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: Like, cause I just felt like I work in publishing, I should publish a book. And the only thing I know really well was what I published my book on.

Lauren: Yup.

Matt: But got to the point where I put it aside and I just didn't touch it. And then I got to the point where I was like well, actually, maybe, maybe I should pull this thing out. And when I did that, I told a few people, and it did help keep me somewhat on track. Because now I felt this new accountability that I didn't have before. Because before I was the only one that knew I was writing it. I mean, nobody knew I was writing that book, not even my family. It was just stuff I was doing here and there.

Lauren: Yup.

Matt: When we'd travel, like I'd be on an airplane. Or, you know, I don't hang out after events, I go right to my hotel room and

Lauren: It's true.

Matt: watch The Office or Law & Order and, you know, I would write a little bit or do whatever. You know what I mean? Like, it just wasn't a thing. But once I told a few people, just a couple, like, I'm gonna dust this thing off. I'm gonna get this done. Like

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: I just felt a different sense of accountability. So I think that's, that's probably one of the best things you could tell them, is just tell some people.

Lauren: I think, I think the accountability part of that is huge, and I also think, you know, I don't, I don't wanna distract from that, but I do also think that the, the part where you tell people out loud about it, they automatically start asking questions. And that's when you start really solidifying the ideas that are just concepts in your head.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: When, when someone... When you say to somebody, Oh, hey, I'm thinking about starting a podcast. And they say, Oh, cool. What about?

Matt: Yeah, we immediately started

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: talking about it when you told me. Titles, topics, things like that.

Lauren: I've got a twenty minute recording that was before we started an episode one day that I just happened to be recording, and we started talking about this, and it's twenty minutes of Matt asking me questions and giving me ideas and brainstorming. From, from like, ten months ago, for this podcast. And, you know, that, that might have been the first time. I might not even have, like, been writing things down yet at that point. That might be

Matt: Well, to be fair you had a recording.

Lauren: Yes.

Matt: So you didn't need to write anything down.

Lauren: But, but yeah, it was, you know, it's when people start asking you questions. When, when someone asks you, What's your podcast about? You better be able to answer it in an elevator pitch, and if you

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: And that's how you figure out how to do that, is when people start asking more about it.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: So if, if you're, whether it's a podcast, a book, a newsletter, an Instagram account, a TikTok, whatever, if you've been thinking about this, go tell a few people about it.

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: Make… That makes it real.

Matt: Alright.

Lauren: Yeah.

Matt: Anything else you wanna say before we wrap it up?

Lauren: Yeah. If you are taking the advice that we just gave and telling a few people about your cool content idea that you wanna do and you don't know where to start, start by leaving a comment on this episode. Tell us. Even if you don't wanna tell us the whole idea, cause I know some people get really fussy about like, I don't

Matt: Yeah.

Lauren: I don't wanna, like, give away my big ideas, just publicly make a comment that says like, I'm thinking about starting my own podcast, or, I'm thinking about writing my own book, or, I'm working on something. You don't have to tell us what it's about, but make it real right now. Leave us a comment, leave us a review. Do something like that. That's, that's one of your five right there.

Matt: I like it. Alright.

Lauren: Alright.

[55:44] – Episode Wrap Up

Matt: Well, do the other things too.

Lauren: Please.

Matt: Like, subscribe, comment, send an email.

Lauren: Share.

Matt: Which Lauren will promptly answer.

Lauren: Absolutely. Always.

Matt: Share. Do all those things. Most importantly, come back and listen next week.

Lauren: Yes, please.

Matt: Alright. 

Lauren: And until then, thanks for listening.

Matt: Later.