Podcaster helps 15,000 fellow moms simplify and declutter (Krista Lockwood, Motherhood Simplified)

NOTE: This podcast was transcribed by a free AI transcription tool called Otter. Please forgive any typos or errors. Krista Lockwood 0:02 I was getting really into podcasts and like enjoying them. But again, I thought that they were really intimidating, like man How do these people do these podcasts, which is so funny to look back I’m like how do they do this. And I download my zoom video one day and I thought there was an audio file. I was like, oh my gosh I didn’t even know that they gave me a video file, and a separate audio file. And I just kind of started my wheels spinning, and I was like maybe I could upload these into a podcast. Melissa Guller 0:29 That’s Krista Lockwood the host of Motherhood Simplified. The word simplified is a perfect way to describe Christy’s approach to podcasting and one I think a lot of you listeners might relate to. Because in this episode, you’ll hear Krista explain how she turns her weekly Facebook Lives into podcast episodes, and how she started podcasting, almost by accident. She doesn’t have an editor, and she has a disclaimer that you may hear her kids running around in the background. At the start of each episode. But loud kids haven’t stopped Christos business and podcast from absolutely booming. She has over 14,000 people in our Facebook group, and over 100,000 downloads on her podcast since launch. And ultimately, our strategy doesn’t involve any fancy marketing, because it all comes down to something fittingly simple being authentic being helpful, and being extremely relatable. Let’s say hello. Announcer 1:39 Welcome to Wit & Wire, the podcast that takes you behind the scenes with podcasters and industry experts to help you start and scale, a binge worthy podcast. Here’s your host, Melissa Guller, Melissa Guller 1:56 everyone. I’m Melissa, and I’m so excited to be here with today’s guest Krista Lockwood Christa runs Motherhood Simplified, where she teaches moms how to declutter, so they have more time and energy for the people inside of their homes, not the stuff. Melissa Guller 2:24 Well Krista I’m so excited to welcome you to the podcast. Krista Lockwood 2:27 Thank you so much. I’m so excited to be here. Melissa Guller 2:29 Maybe just to start things off, I’d love to know before you started your podcast, what did your life or work look like at the time? Krista Lockwood 2:34 So, when I started my podcast, my business was really new. I had just had a baby. It was actually our fourth baby. And she was about six months old when I started, and I did not even know. So this is back then it was like 2018, I did not even know what a podcast was, I know I had heard people talk about them. I knew that they were kind of like this cool thing, but just the word podcast to me sounded intimidating, I guess, and so I never really explored it until I have an iPhone, and you know how to give you that podcast app right on your phone I opened it up, and there was all of these things on it and I was like, What’s this, and it was this random business podcast I listened to it like start to finish the entire podcast series I think it was like Lisa kicker or something. And I got a whole lot of value out of it and then I was like, hooked on podcasts. And at the time in my business, I had just started a Facebook group. I was brand new in my business I didn’t have like a real solid foundation yet. And I was doing a whole bunch of live videos and said my Facebook group, and people kept asking me like, Where can I find the replay Where can I find the replay because if you know anything about the Facebook algorithm, things get buried, especially inside of groups and that can be really hard to find. So I started recording my live videos on my computer on zoom. While I would go live on my phone, and then I would upload that video onto my Facebook, like page, so that when people asked for the replay. I could send them there and go find the replay over there. And then I was getting really into podcasts and like enjoying them. But again, I thought that they were really intimidating I was like man How do these people do these podcasts like upload these, which is so funny to look back on I’m like how do they do this. And I download my zoom video one day and I thought there was an audio file. I was like, oh my gosh I didn’t even know that they gave me a video file, and a separate audio file. And I just kind of started my wheels spinning. And I was like, maybe I could upload these into a podcast. And it took a couple months for me to actually do it because, again I thought it was really intimidating I didn’t know what I was doing. And then one day I just woke up and I was like, I have to figure this out How do people make podcasts, I googled it I figured it out and then the first one that I signed up with was actually anchor because it was free. And I just started uploading my audio files upon to anchor. And that was the beginning of my podcast and when when people would ask me like Where can I find the replay for the video you did the other day I would just send them to my podcast. And that was kind of what it looked like. Y Melissa Guller And in those early months, is it that most people were still kind of finding you through Facebook, and then, only then did they discover that you had a podcast or how were people finding your business overall? Krista Lockwood So, they were all finding me through my Facebook group, and my Facebook group is actually still the main place that people find me and I’ve grown it completely organically. Over the last like year and a half, a little bit over a year and a half of just people inviting their friends, they liked the content inside of the group. So they invite their friends and it’s just grown from me and my one friend inside I was there when I first opened it to over like 14,000, I think now and the way that they found out about my podcast and I tell them about it in the group, because I do go live in there. I’ve gone live, no less than once a week, when I was first starting out it was like Monday through Friday, I’ve had another baby in between that, you know, when she was first born again I was like only once a week, I’m doing like three times a week right now. But I still tell them like if you want all of these replays of all of this content that we’ve done over the last year and a half, just go to the podcast and that’s how most people find it, and now I have a call to action inside of my podcast, like if you like this share it with a friend you know share it onto your Instagram stories because Spotify has a feature now where you can share it directly to your Instagram stories so I’m always like hey if you love this, share it on your Instagram stories and tag me, it helps me It helps your friends that helps you. That’s pretty much how they find out about the podcast. Melissa Guller 6:52 Yeah, first of all, that’s an amazing tip about sharing to Instagram stories, so I’m going to make sure there’s some info in the show notes in case people want to check out how to do that. And beyond that, what I love the most about your growth is that you kept showing up like you said you were so consistent with the Facebook Lives. And what I think a lot of early podcasters don’t necessarily think about is that the podcast might not be the first thing that people discover about you. So for you people find you in the Facebook group, and then as you grow your relationship with them then they happen to learn that you’ve got a podcast as well. So I think for a lot of people listening, it may be interesting to think about like where do people find me first is that the podcast, is it my blog my website, my Facebook group. It could be any of those things. Krista Lockwood Yeah, and I think we all have to start somewhere right so for me it was my Facebook group and sending them to the podcast and I I’ll be completely honest I don’t know a whole lot of like the technical stuff behind it, but podcasts don’t have a whole lot of like searchability so when you you know there’s not a whole lot of algorithm inside of iTunes for when you search for podcasts, which makes it kind of hard to be found. I think and I think social media is so essential for your podcast growth at least it has been for me and me sharing it on social media, and then asking my audience to also share it out onto their social media so I think that’s one of the things that is kind of tricky about podcasts is that they’re super powerful, they give you a whole lot of authority in your niche and with your audience because they’re just kind of this next level, platform, I think. But I think at least for me. It has been a lot more of me like telling people where to go get it, versus, you know, Facebook where there’s an algorithm where they’ll just randomly pop up my Facebook group to people who have the same interests or their friends are inside of it that doesn’t necessarily happen on a podcast feed. That’s such a good point. I often say that Google can’t hear podcasts, in the way that they can like read blog posts or social media algorithms can read different words. I’m sure who knows in five years what will be saying but for now, they still can’t, tune in and so I think that’s such a great point that you have to really encourage people to share it and tell them how to listen and it does take a little more work but I think it’s worth it in the end because you can build such a personal relationship with people and I know that your listeners are such huge fans I think it’s clear by how much you’ve grown in the last year, year and a half that people really love what you do, and something that you said that I want to kind of bring back is that you’re not very technical, you said and I think a lot of people have this fear like I can’t have a podcast because I’m not very techie. Melissa Guller So, how did you maybe overcome either the technical challenges, or maybe did you realize that you didn’t need to be as techie as you thought? Krista Lockwood Yeah, actually, it was definitely a combination of both. So, I guess that it kind of took me a couple months to step out and be like okay I’m gonna figure out how to make this podcast because I thought it was gonna be a lot more difficult than it actually was literally all you have to do is upload your audio file right sign up for your platform that pushes that out to the different podcast apps and everything, all you have to do is sign up for that and upload your audio file. And I did not know how to edit my audio files, and that held me back for like maybe a week or two, or I was like I’m gonna have to figure out how to edit these before I put them up. And I eventually just decided, you know what, like, I will just record a little intro that I can put at the beginning of every podcast episode saying hey like this is Motherhood Simplified, you know I’m a mom like you and I record these live and in real time inside of our Facebook community. My kids might interrupt us, you know my audio is not perfect, but I know that this is going to be helpful for you, and it will help you declutter your home. If you know that in different order of words, but I just started uploading it, and I had it in my mind that my podcasts would be this really valuable Bank of resources that moms could come back to again and again, and listen to over and over, and it would be like we were doing our decluttering and simplifying together. And so I realized that it didn’t have to be so hard, and it didn’t have to be perfect, and just taking those steps made it way less intimidating, and I’m so glad that I did. I’ll be completely honest I was afraid to do it that way, because I listened to very polished podcasts, and I think it should be that way. I was like, man, that’s not me right now. But the more episodes I’ve done, and the more skills I’ve learned my episodes get more and more polished and the content I think the content is the most important thing the content is what my audience needs, and it helps them. So, the audio doesn’t have to be perfect in order for it to be helpful to them. Melissa Guller 11:44 I think that’s such a great perspective and especially thinking about like who your ideal listeners are like they’re busy moms they can probably totally relate to this disclaimer and think like me too I don’t have time for perfect audio and so, like you said, focusing on great content is always what’s going to win out like if you have an amazing marketing background and a perfectly edited show. It won’t matter if you don’t have anything worth sharing and so I think for any listeners who are feeling like what if I can’t do all this techie stuff, that’s all secondary to just having something really valuable for someone else. Krista Lockwood Yeah. and the great thing too about podcasts is. I think they’re a little bit more intimate than a lot of the things out there just because podcasts are an authority platform I think right they’re professional. They’re Polish they’re a great, great tool. And I think you need to be mindful of your niche right and your audience but for me serving moms, they enjoy hearing the occasional background noise of you know my toddler saying office, a crazy day or whatever I just obviously won’t upload that that podcast episode, but you know there have been times and I have a six month old and people like hearing her little coups in the background and all of that. So I think if you let go of the perfection and just focus on serving your audience in the best possible way. It’ll be fine. People won’t care if it’s perfect. Melissa Guller Now I have to also just compliment you because I think that your podcast topic is so incredibly clear, like from your website it says a podcast for moms who want to declutter their home and simplify their life so they could start enjoying more of their motherhood season. And I know in just so much of the material I work on with students that we talked about how there’s something I call a winning podcast formula where some people just pick a topic, they say oh well, my podcast is about yoga, my podcast is about health and wellness, but if you kind of break that down like, Who is it for like health and wellness for senior citizens is very different from health and wellness for young people. So, I love that you have such a clear audience in moms but also such a clear benefit of helping them declutter and simplify and enjoy and I think that anybody thinking about their podcast topic, even early on, focusing on like what’s the benefit for the listener is so powerful. Krista Lockwood Yeah. And on that same note I think some people are afraid to get so specific because they’re like, there’s only so many things you can talk about but I’ve, I’ve found it to be the opposite like there are so many things. And so many ways to show up and serve this specific group of moms that I’m working with. I feel like I’ll never run out of content I have like 138 episodes right now, and I still have like so many episodes that I can still do, and still create for them. That’s great advice, because I do notice that people do have exactly that fear that you mentioned like the oh if I go to specific, if I have a niche that is very small, then I’m eliminating so many people as prospective listeners for my show but like you said you have so much content, and I bet that people are more excited to tune in because you’re addressing exactly the thing that they want to hear. Yeah. And that was one of the things is like I really wanted to be the podcast and the person that they want to listen to when they’re actually in their homes right I wanted to become omnipresent, with them you know always at the front of their mind and so if I can make podcast episodes that they can turn on and work outside of their home while they do it and it’s like we’re doing it together, it’s worked out really well. Yeah, I love that togetherness aspect of your whole business right you’ve got the community, you’ve got, I don’t know a lot of people 14,000 members is just an absolutely astounding amount and so I’m curious to hear how has your podcast and your community also like how have they grown since you started in 2018. Krista Lockwood 15:30 Yes, so I actually started it with my due date group so I don’t know if anybody listening knows what a due date group is but on Facebook you can have groups for anything and we actually had a due date group of moms do in the same month as me. And so we all had our babies at the same time we got really close together. And once the babies came. All of these moms for making all these posts and like I’m drowning and my laundry and my dishes and my toys in my house is so overwhelming. And I had four kids and wasn’t struggling in that way. And so I didn’t really understand why. Until one day we started doing house tours, which was going live instead of the group and showing each other our houses and everyone started asking like where’s all of your stuff like where are your messes. And I realized that we didn’t have any stuff in our house like we hadn’t decluttered and so it was easy and I asked the moms inside of my Facebook group, or in our due date group would you want me to teach you guys how to do this. and they were like, just please we’re drowning and so one of the moms. Join my group with me, it was just her and I for like a month, and I was just asking her questions over and over again. What do you need help with your laundry What do you need help with your dishes, what do you need help with your toys and giving her answers and she invited like 20 people in one day. And they were like oh my gosh this is so helpful. And then I got to know those 20 people ask them what they need help with gave them a solution asked for feedback on how the solution worked, and they just keep inviting their friends and being like go through the content, scroll through the group. The whole foundation of like the Motherhood Simplified community is to be kind and be supportive. And it’s remained that exactly and I think that’s why I’ve been able to grow. So, I honestly don’t know if it’s quickly or not, but to where we are today is because I’ve just stayed true to that and done everything I can to give value and make people want to invite their friends, into the space with them. Melissa Guller I think it’s so powerful that you mentioned that people kept asking for help and then you kept providing solutions, and that kind of service, and just being useful is not only wonderful because then you’re legitimately helping someone and getting feedback on how to help them better but I think for maybe some early podcasters who are struggling, it may be because they haven’t figured out a way to be helpful yet it maybe is still kind of about you instead of about your audience and the surest sign that you’re onto anything, podcasts or business is if people keep asking you for more. And so, it’s no surprise to me then that people have kept asking because you found a real pain point you found something that you were doing that. I bet at the beginning, did you even realize that was a skill that you had? Krista Lockwood Okay, so I had kind of an idea. So our backstory is that in 2013, we moved from our only home we had ever known in Alaska to Florida, and about five weeks and we couldn’t bring any of our stuff with us so we got like a real clean break from the clutter and my life overnight. Basically changed as far as like the workload inside of my house, but I didn’t realize why that had happened. Until I joined my due date group and was like, This is why I don’t struggle with it. So, I started to kind of piece it together, just by like watching my friends inside of our houses, you know, being in a postpartum phase where. To be completely honest I was really burnt out and my teaching career and helping my husband with his business and decided to have my baby and just kind of like, I’m tired of like spinning my wheels and getting nowhere, I’m just gonna chill out and enjoy my friends. And then of course, I chill out and enjoy my friends and realize that I have a really good solution for them. And I didn’t know, kind of in the back of my mind that this would be my business, it would be something that I do for a very long time, and that I would enjoy and could actually be my thing, but I wasn’t focused on that at first I was focused first on getting to know them figure out what their struggles were and giving them all of the solutions and now almost two years later, I can look back and be like, I have that foundation, and now I can grow and actually be a business and know that I can sustain it and still support people, and the ways that they need is. Melissa Guller I love that. So I think the importance of that foundation is so important. Can’t be overstated but you know now that you have grown I’d also love to hear more about your business itself because, you know, earning money as podcasters is something that a lot of people are thinking about so I know you have different free challenges and online courses but maybe you can just walk us through how did your business evolve and just what different elements, do you have in place now that are either helping new people find you or earning you money. Krista Lockwood 20:20 Yeah, so I started off you know just asking them what they needed, and it’s still consistent the same things that they were talking about when I first saw their group or what they need help with now and that’s, you know, in their inside of their homes, it’s laundry dishes toys. Random piles of stuff throughout the house their cars you know getting their spouse on board how to teach their kids how to do this and getting past things like just in case and whatever, and oh my gosh it’s so wasteful. I just started out, creating solutions for them and the very first thing that I did was actually a free challenge called seven days to an uncluttered home where I was like I’m going to give you guys once a day for next week. The steps to take to declutter your laundry, and then we’re going to do your dishes, and then we’re going to do your toys and then we’re going to do your bathrooms. And it was just a free challenge, and it was super helpful because I literally just laid out the steps of do this, do this. And when I did that free challenge I had it in my head but I would one day turn that into a paid offer right I would run it a few times. See how it worked, get feedback fixed things that needed to be fixed and then I would put it into I use think if ik any course platform will work. And I did that for two months I think where I ran the challenge like every couple weeks. And then I told them, Hey, I’m going to put all of this into this platform. And for the first week or so it will be free, and then I’m going to start charging for it just because it’s such a valuable piece of content and I you know I have a big vision for this I could see what it can turn into. And so I turned that into my first paid course. And the first time I sold it was like $7 or something. And then after that first initial group of moms that I was working with which was like maybe 100 moms, maybe 200 moms went through it. I kept getting feedback. This was so helpful you know I got like the biggest things out of the way, but now I don’t know what to do with like my hallway closets or my garage or under the beds, or my kids clothes that I’m going to save for the future. So how do I do that, and I created a separate bigger course which is my main offer now called clutter free motherhood. That answers, all of that and like walks you through exactly how to declutter your entire home and I have another course that is like creating systems and routines inside of your home, because that was the next thing that they asked for like I declared my whole entire house and now I have time. But I don’t know how to use my time. So it just kind of built on like that and I have other free challenges that I use you know to get people into my email list, and to get them acquainted with what Motherhood Simplified has to offer. And to get them started and then get them into those paid courses, and I use my podcasts now. In the same way, right, it’s just to kind of get them acquainted with what I have to offer my style, my opinions my beliefs about, you know, decluttering and motherhood. And so far my podcasts, all I do is use it to build awareness around my courses, so I’ll make mention of the courses inside of podcast episodes. And now that I can improve my podcast and getting myself out there a little bit more I’m exploring things like affiliates with podcasters and the same but different niche than me. You know programs that I can offer that you know might supplement what I offer. There’s a lady called from fighters she focuses on like mom wardrobe specifically, which is a really easy thing for me to offer so getting a sponsorship through her and just different things like that now that I have that really solid foundation. Melissa Guller I think that makes a lot of sense where I want to talk about two things. One is that you are using your podcast to build awareness around the courses, but it’s not like a hard sales pitch right it’s just kind of building trust with people sharing your beliefs on decluttering and then in terms of specific call to action in the episodes. What do you usually encourage people to do? Krista Lockwood 24:33 This has kind of been something I’ve had to intentionally practice, you know, weaving it into the conversations without it being like this hard. Now go get into the course right so the other day, you know when we’re recording this in the middle of like the craziness that’s happening with like coronavirus and everything. I am doing podcast episodes on how to maximize on your time in it right now. So I’ll give them tips like you can create piles of stuff to go, you know, put labels on it so that you know, once the world opens up where you’re going to take it. And if you need more help with this for the next four weeks, if you enroll inside of course, I’ll be holding live free workshops so if this is helpful for you, and you want more. This is how you get more from me, right, or if this is making sense to you but you need more help with it. This is how you get more support from me you go enroll inside of a course and it’s really been kind of trial and error and practicing for me to figure out how to weave it into the conversations in a way that feels good to me. And in a way that makes them want to go get more. Yeah, I think a lot of podcasting is trial and error, I know in my very earliest episodes it’s all just does this sound right or, I don’t know if people really responded to that and like you said, in this case you’re having people join a free workshop, maybe in other episodes you mentioned sharing the episode with friends if you thought they would benefit. So I think there are lots of different things that people can try out. I think that if you kind of going back to what we were talking about in your niche right if you know who you’re talking to. You can give them the idea. And this is kind of how I do it I give them the idea of what they need to do. and you know how to do it. And then the courses are really the clear concrete steps, and I tell my audience. I don’t really want to just show up and inspire you right because that doesn’t do anything for you I want to give you the exact steps, and I can’t do that in one podcast episode, which is why I’ve created these courses. You can get the exact steps in one place and you won’t be distracted and you won’t get Facebook notifications thrown in your view or, you know, your video that you’re watching or whatever it’s clear, it’s controlled, it’s concise of step by step. And it’s pretty little package, and I think that probably applies to pretty much anybody who has a podcast right you want to give them some awareness and then you want to send them to the thing that you want them to buy that gives them the exact you know full complete package. Melissa Guller Yeah, and I love to that you mentioned specifically that you’re educating your audience on what you’re doing the podcast versus why they need a course. I think that that is a subtle thing that you mentioned but just telling people, oh you know I have this course because that’s how I’m gonna help you take action and that’s where you can go through it step by step like even saying little things like that is powerful. Krista Lockwood Yeah, and it was kind of weird for me at first because you do trial and error you try to figure it out. And for me, like this is probably me and just my own personal story and blocks with money and sales and stuff I don’t want people to feel like I’m holding back on them. So I do tell them like this podcast is here to help you. There is so much value and so much to support you in here, but there is just nothing like the support that I can give you inside of a course which I think is a beautiful exchange of, you know, my support and my insight and my knowledge and their money, it’s just a good exchange. I don’t know if anybody in your audience struggles with that but that’s been one of my biggest struggles, as a business owner is like, how do I make money, right in a way that feels good, and authentic. Yeah, I think that’s something we all struggle with whether it’s how to make money, or how to ask for the sale or all the above I think that it’s definitely not a comfortable thing for a lot of us at first, so I think it’s super helpful to hear it does get easier and now it’s natural for me and I do feel good about it because I do know that I give so much free content, especially inside of my podcasts that it’s easy for me to say, and when you’re ready for more. Here’s where you get it. Melissa Guller Yeah, that’s a great perspective, too, that you are offering help and that you’re doing something that benefits them so you know that’s easy to forget when you’re making a sale, it is mutual it’s not just a one way exchange. Yeah, it is totally mutual. Now I also want to ask because you have mentioned you know the Facebook group and having different friends refer each other to the group. So. Is that still the biggest way that you’re growing or maybe do you know of any other channels How do people find you in general? Krista Lockwood 28:52 My Facebook group is the biggest thing right now. And what we’re doing right now is helping me a lot, that’s kind of been my focus the last couple months is getting featured on other people’s podcasts just because I think it’s such an authority platform. By the way, thank you for having me on here because I think being featured in somebody’s story just gives you automatic credibility right if you can get somebody to trust you to tell your story on their show. That’s powerful. So, I’m focusing on that right now. I’ve joined mastermind groups so that I can start connecting with other business owners and kind of serve them and their businesses and their markets and their networks and then also tap into other networks and markets that I wouldn’t necessarily be a part of without putting myself out there in kind of a big way. Melissa Guller It’s a pleasure to have you on my podcast, and one of the reasons why I love having an interview style show is because I get to learn so much from people who I admire and people who are doing really wonderful things and so I think that’s one of the things that I love about podcast interviews in general is that it feels like such a win win. Like I win because I get to hear your story and I get to feature you so it’s amazing for you and then, of course, by listeners benefit most of all, because they get to hear from somebody real personal experience that hopefully resonates with them. I love the basis of your show like, what is it actually like to be a podcaster. I’m helping you debunk some myths and I’m hoping to just continue interviewing people who are doing really unique things like I had never heard of somebody in your group with the fact that you are doing these Facebook Lives and then repurposing them into podcasts that was a new strategy so I’m hopeful that at least once an episode maybe I’ll find something unique and helpful I can share with our listeners. Now, I do want to ask because obviously you’ve got your podcasts and now you’ve grown it into, if you don’t mind me saying this six figure, download range right. Krista Lockwood Yes, I have. Melissa Guller Which is amazing. So, I’d love to know what advice would you share with anybody who’s in those very early stages of starting their own podcast? Krista Lockwood Just know that when you first start your statistics and your numbers are going to be low right and that I think is one of the hardest things to overcome when you’re so new and I am coming out of that phase now where I can like look back on my statistics and these feel like true business statistics to me, but when I first started, I think it took me like two months to get past 500 downloads on my podcast, and I remember being. This isn’t like a real podcast. This doesn’t feel legit to me. But you have to start there right and you don’t get to just skip that part of being like is this going to work, are people going to listen. Are people going to find out about me Are they going to care, you have to go through that first phase of it of like feeling like, Oh my gosh, you know, I only had 10 people download this episode because eventually you’ll get to 100. And I think now, my podcast downloads are like 1000, per episode, which I really don’t know what my target should be but I have like 150,000, total podcast downloads. Now, which feels good. In the beginning, you’re not going to have big huge numbers but they’ll get there, as long as you stick with it. Melissa Guller I’m so glad that you pointed that out because I think it does feel frustrating at first, I know that’s how it was for me like at first, I’m looking at my downloads and thinking like Thank you mom for downloading all of these episodes but are there other people listening to my show? But what I think is true about podcasting is that those first couple of months. The growth, like you said, it’s gonna feel super slow, but growth doesn’t look like a straight diagonal line, it’ll have little peaks that will go up like maybe you go on somebody else’s podcast and that gives you a boost or, like you said your Facebook group kind of kept growing I’m sure it kind of kept creeping up, but I love that we’re just pointing out that it’s okay to have very few downloads in the beginning because if you stay consistent and you put out really great content that people love growth will come in time, but it does take time. Krista Lockwood Yeah, and you will get people if you just keep showing up you will get people, there’s a little subgroup inside of my group of moms who have committed to listening to my podcast. From start to finish, which is 130 episodes and there’s like 20 moms who have done that, and if you can create content that’s so good that your community is like, I want to go binge on this and listen to start to finish, like that’s how your podcast grows, I think podcasts are kind of a quiet growth. We don’t really see you know, in the form of likes and shares and hearts and all these things. It’s a quiet growth and you have to go in and like look at your statistics and wonder when are people sitting. When are they downloading this When are they going to do it again. But it’s really powerful it’s kind of like a silent and quiet but really powerful platform. Melissa Guller 33:51 Mm, I’ve never heard it explained that way but I really like it, and something that is a positive about the quiet growth is that even if your numbers are really low. Nobody has to know that you should just treat your podcast, like you’re already reaching thousands of people because even if you aren’t The truth is that if you put your best foot forward, maybe you’re just reaching 10 people but they’re loving it, and they will slowly start to recommend it over time. Krista Lockwood Yeah. And if you have 10 or 20 people who listen to all 100 of your episodes. That’s powerful. They’re going to tell their friends and that’s where the real growth happens, I think. Melissa Guller Well, before we start to wrap up. I’d love to share with listeners. Where can they learn more about you and can they join your Facebook group? How can they learn more? Krista Lockwood Yeah, so if you just go to Motherhood Simplified dot com right on my front page has links to listen to the podcast to join the Facebook group to give you the freebies or the courses or anything it’s all right there on the front page that’s really easy to find, just click and go the direction that you want to go with us. Melissa Guller 34:57 I love that you’ve even simplified how to learn more about you. Krista Lockwood 35:00 Yes. I apply it to everything. Melissa Guler 35:03 Perfect. Well, I’ll still include links to everything in the shownotes and it’s been such a pleasure having you and just before we wrap Do you have any final words of advice or wisdom for anybody tuning in today. Krista Lockwood I would just if you’ve been thinking about a podcast, just do it. It’s gonna be fine. It doesn’t have to be perfect and you will absolutely love it. Melissa Guller 35:23 Well said. Well Krista thank you again, this has been so much fun to learn more about you and just that advice like do it, it won’t be perfect. I think that’s such a perfect note to end on. Krista Lockwood 35:31 Yeah, thank you so much. Melissa Guller 35:33 Thank you so much for joining us this week. To learn more about Krista, Motherhood Simplified, our free podcasting resources at Wit & Wire and everything mentioned in today’s episode, you can check out the show notes at Wit & Wire.com slash three. Now before you go, make sure you subscribe to the podcast, so you can receive new episodes right when they’re released. You can either subscribe right now in the app you’re using to listen to this episode, or you can sign up for email alerts in the show notes at Wit & Wire.com slash three. Lastly, I have a quick favor to ask before you go. If you are enjoying the podcast so far. I hope you’ll let me know. I love reading through your reviews in Apple podcasts, and if you have a minute to spare. I’d love to read yours to these reviews let Apple know that great listeners like you enjoy our show. And that helps us expand our reach in search results. So it really does make a difference. Thank you again for joining me. Melissa Guller, in this episode of Wit & Wire. I’ll see you next time, podcasters.