The Creator Maker Life Podcast

An interview podcast featuring your favourite online creators and entrepreneurs

Roxine Kee Roxine Kee

ROWAN MCDONNELL

Enjoy the process, that day to day, the days in and the days out.

Rowan.jpg

“Enjoy the process, that day to day, the days in and the days out.”

Rowan McDonnell (IG: @rowan757 YT: Rowan McDonnell)  is a content creator, owner of the American Ultimate Academy, and captain of the DC Breeze, a professional ultimate frisbee team that plays in the American Ultimate Disc League (a.k.a. AUDL, the ultimate frisbee version of the NBA). He was recently named captain of the 2019 AUDL All-Star Team and was also the 2018 MVP of the league.

Aside from his stellar career as one of the best athletes to play ultimate frisbee, Rowan is also known for his frisbee trick shots (my personal favourite: waffle fries) and as the guy who can throw a frisbee 80 different ways. He also documents his life as a semi-pro athlete on his YouTube channel.

Rowan has incredible dedication to furthering the sport of ultimate. His focus on the craft of ultimate and business, coupled with his vision for the sport and his company is inspiring.

I coach middle school kids and the best thing about Rowan is that you can watch this highlight reel and when kids inevitably ask, 'How do these guys get that good?' you can send them to Rowan's how-to channel." — Random guy on Reddit

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play , or on your favourite podcast platform. (I use Pocket Casts for iOS and Desktop  or Podcast Addict for free on Android).

Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify | Listen on Google Play

Enjoy!

In This Episode We Talk About

People spend a lot of time [trying] to do everything the right away... But really, there's not rules… Instead of following somebody else's structure, do what you want to do. Be yourself.  -  Rowan McDonnell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVZjg36GkFI&t=231s

  • Why I call him the “Steph Curry of ultimate” (because I totally just made that up)

  • Rowan’s thoughts on the the original frisbee trick shot pro, Brodie Smith, and why Brodie went viral

  • The ups and downs of being a semi-pro athlete and how that parallels with being an entrepreneur and content creator

  • Rowan’s advice for other athletes or artists who want to build an audience and make a living doing what they love

  • How Rowan got started with trick throws by accident (and what that has to do with pizza pies and waffle fries)

  • How many of his 40+ throws does he actually use in an ultimate game?

  • What he would teach the old Rowan before he put out his first trick shot video (and how he runs a YouTube business even without a “big personality”)

  • How getting cut from his D3 college basketball team led him to ultimate frisbee

  • His biggest failure that almost made him quit ultimate frisbee (and what he learned from it)

  • How he talks himself into doing stuff he doesn’t want to do, the struggles and growing pains of scaling a business, and when he felt that his work would actually take off

  • How he told his family he wanted to play ultimate professionally and how he describes what he does

  • How he stays organized amidst everything he has to do and what he eats for breakfast every day

Selected Links from the Episode

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGbO6c5FHPU

People Mentioned

Enjoy it while you’re doing it. If I didn’t enjoy what I was doing — playing ultimate frisbee three days a week and every now and then making a YouTube video — then there’s no way I would have made it through 2018.” — Rowan McDonnell

Next Steps

  1. Leave a review! If you enjoyed this episode then you would you mind leaving me a review on iTunes? It helps like-minded folks find the podcast and grows the community 🙂

  2. Keep in touch! Sign up for my weekly newsletter below to get articles on content marketing, creativity, and solopreneurship.

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Roxine Kee Roxine Kee

CIARA FOY

Whatever you believe is going to become your reality. Worrying is a prayer for what you don’t want.

Ciara Foy.jpeg

"Whatever you believe is going to become your reality.
Worrying is a prayer for what you don’t want."

‍

Ciara Foy  (TW: @CiaraFoyInc  FB: Ciara Foy Nutrition IG: @ciarafoynutrition )  went from being a Bay Street law career struggling through her first pregnancy at 26 years old to a multiple 6-figure business owner at 42 years old.

Ciara (pronounced “Keera”) helps driven, high-achieving women understand their health. By helping them prioritize their internal life and create room for self-care, she gets them on track to become their happiest, healthiest, most efficacious selves.

For over a decade, Ciara has coached Bay Street and Wall Street executives, managing directors, technology entrepreneurs and professionals returning to the workforce after having children. She specializes in nutrition, uniquely focusing on the relationship between the foods women eat, their hormonal health and their on-the-job performance.

These days, when she’s not working out of her private practice in downtown Toronto—or spending time with her two girls—Ciara provides consultations to women all over the world, from the United States to Scotland, Morocco, and beyond.  Ciara’s perspective has been featured previously in ELLE, FLARE, ET Canada, Reader’s Digest, Canadian Living and Body Rock TV. She also has a new book coming out this June called, Empowered by Food: Heal Your Hormones, Balance Stress, and Become Unstoppable.

In the book she offers “no-nonsense, action steps” that help high-achieving women professionals and entrepreneurs “ditch perfectionism, love yourself healthy and feel confident and energized in the boardroom—and the bedroom.”

I met Ciara as a referral from a mutual friend. I reached out because I wanted to learn how we as entrepreneurs can better take of ourselves during the marathon that is starting and scaling a business.

And Ciara more than delivered. She's not just a theoretical coach -- she's in the trenches building her own coaching practice.

In fact, Ciara’s gone through the gamut of personal and professional difficulties over the 13 years she’s been in business: family conflict, a divorce, post-partum depression after having her first kid, intense hours in her law career, and even pulling her business through the 2008 recession.

We go into all of that in this interview. More importantly, we discuss healthy coping mechanisms to manage all that stress.

Finally, if you’re a guy reading this and don’t think this is for you (because we do mention menstrual cramps in the first 10 minutes!), keep listening because we also talk about dealing with overwhelm, advice for overachievers to prevent burn out, and how to turn off so we can turn on when we need to.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play , or on your favourite podcast platform. (I use Pocket Casts for iOS and Desktop  or Podcast Addict for free on Android).

Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify | Listen on Google Play

Enjoy!

In This Episode We Talk About…

If you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right — Henry Ford

  • The importance of boundaries in relationships and how Ciara learned to set them

  • Her story of learning self-worth and self-love

  • How PMS can be avoided (!)

  • How she got out of post-partum depression and how she got through the darkest periods in her life, including divorce, family conflict, and even rape

  • How to stop feeling like the other shoe is going to drop when something good happens

  • Her non-negotiable daily practices for staying positive, focused, and grateful

  • The two things she tells herself when she feels overwhelmed about the future

  • The three fears that stop us from improving our lives

  • For the perfections: How Ciara tells her high-achieving clients to take a step forward even if their situation isn’t perfect

  • Her advice for self-care for hard charging overachievers, founders, and top performers

  • If you want to change your habits and become a morning person, should you focus on sleeping earlier or waking up earlier?

  • How to turn off so we can be fully on when we want to be

Selected Links from the Episode

Done is better than perfect.

People Mentioned

Next Steps

  1. Leave a review! If you enjoyed this episode then you would you mind leaving me a review on iTunes? It helps like-minded folks find the podcast and grows the community 🙂

  2. Keep in touch! Sign up for my weekly newsletter below to get articles on content marketing, creativity, and solopreneurship.

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Roxine Kee Roxine Kee

ERIC WEN

Just because it’s hard to get, doesn’t mean that’s what I’m supposed to be doing.

"Just because it’s hard to get, doesn’t mean that’s what I’m supposed to be doing."

‍Eric Wen (YT: Eric Wen TW: @EricWenVlogs IG: @EricWenVlogs FB: Eric Wen Productions) is a vlogger and full-time videographer.  He’s also the co-host of The Pitter Patter Podcast with Eric and Jed.

In his last year of college, Eric dropped out of pre-med to pursue a career as a freelance videographer and content creator. Since then he’s vlogged weekly on his YouTube channel, traveled to Costa Rica for work and to learn Spanish, and makes a living doing what he loves.

In this episode, we talk about…

  • How he told his Asian parents that he was dropping out of pre-med and doing full-time videography

  • How he found his first paying clients (and how much they paid him) and how long it took him to decide and prepare to start his own business

  • How he decided to start his YouTube channel and stay consistent with weekly vlogging

  • The magic of MKBHD and why Eric watches every single MKBHD video, even though he’s not looking to buy anything

  • How he uses his friends to help him make videos that connect

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play , or on your favorite podcast platform. (I use Pocket Casts for iOS and Desktop / or Podcast Addict for free on Android).

Listen on Apple Podcasts  | Listen on Spotify  | Listen on Google Play

Enjoy!

Selected Links from the Episode

I was like, “What would it actually look like if I made videos for money, instead of being a doctor?” — Eric Wen

People Mentioned

I like making people think about old things in a new way. — Eric Wen

Correction: In the podcast intro, I mention that Eric is a daily vlogger and that he dropped out of med school. Eric is a weekly vlogger and he dropped out of pre-med (undergraduate).

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How to Start an Interview Podcast

Starting an interview podcast is a headache: you have to think about finding and booking guests, recording the interviews (and making sure you hit Record), taking notes then publishing them on a website.

Starting an interview podcast is a headache: you have to think about finding and booking guests, recording the interviews (and making sure you hit Record),
taking notes then publishing them on a website

Starting an interview podcast is enough of a headache: you have to think about finding and booking guests, recording the interviews (and making sure you hit Record), taking notes then publishing them on a website…

I went through this a few months ago when I started my podcast, The Creator Maker Life Podcast. I had enough experience creating content. I had a network of folks I could interview. I knew I wanted to bank episodes.

But I also knew that I needed as little points of failure as possible and as low a barrier as possible to getting started.

The problem was, I had no experience with audio.

I didn’t know what a mixer was (still don’t). I didn’t know what “levelling audio” meant and why I had to do it.

All I knew was that I wanted was to get on a Skype call, hit record, have the computer record from my USB mic and my guest’s mic, then export it as a high quality MP3 file.

No Zoom recorder. No XLR cables.  No audio interfaces.

It took a lot of digging and a bit of experimenting. But I found my dream setup.

Here are the main software I use:

I’ll be mentioning a few more apps in this post, but these are the main ones I use.

Here’s how I use them:

Calendly + Google Calendar: Scheduling and Managing Guests

I use Calendly to send a link to my guests so they can schedule a time. My Calendly account is linked to my Google Calendar so meetings don’t overlap. Calendly lets me make different event types that have their own settings and time periods. This way I can use one Calendly account for both my business meetings and podcast interviews.

Here are a few more details about my Calendly setup

  • I ask my guests to allot 90 minutes for the interview, which covers the initial pre-interview banter and any post-interview talk before we get off the call.

  • I batch my interviews into Tuesday or Thursday afternoons so I have the rest of the week for deep work.

  • I have a setting on my Calendly that sends my guests a reminder of our interview 24 hours before it happens.

  • My Appear.in video chat link (more on that later) is already saved in the every Calendly invite so the link appears in my guest’s calendar invite — no more hunting around for the meeting link!

Bonus App: Alfred

I use Alfred as a text expander, among other things. So if I type in “podcast90”, for example, Alfred will automatically change that text to my podcast-specific Calendly link that lets a guest schedule a 90-minute podcast interview

Bonus App: MailButler

I use MailButler for…

  • Writing emails now and scheduling them to send later (even when I’m not online — an important feature)

  • Saving and using specific email templates for following up, outreach, etc.

I batch my emails in one afternoon then schedule them to go out on different days.

I’m also testing out another email automation app called Gmelius that lets me fully automate my outreach with email marketing-like campaigns and sequences in Gmail.

Appear.in: The Best App for Online Interviews

I use Appear.in for all my business meetings, not just for podcast interviews.

Unlike Skype and Zoom, my guests don’t need to log in with their own username to use it. They just have to go to my specific Appear.in room (appear.in/roxinekee, for example) and I’ll be waiting on the other side.

One cool feature is that I can “lock” a room so that folks don’t accidentally “walk in” on the link when I’m on a different meeting. They’ll need to knock and I’ll have to let them in before they can join the meeting.

Audio Hijack: The Best App to Record In-Person and Online Interviews

Thanks to Audio Hijack, I don’t need XLR cables, a Zoom recorder, or a mixer to record both Skype and in-person interviews.

  • For Skype interviews, all I need are my ATR2100-USB mic, a dongle (cuz Macbook y’know), my voice chat software, and Audio Hijack

  • For in-person interviews, I just need 1 more ATR2100-USB mic and I’m in business

Audio Hijack splits my guest’s and my side of the conversation into two separate WAV files so I can edit them separately. I even get it to record both our sides into one extra MP3 file as a backup.

Notion: The Best App for Storing Research, Notes, and Post-Production

Sneak peek of future podcast guests!

I use Notion as an all-in-one repository for podcast notes, to track episode progress as I’m editing it, even my outreach and follow-up for guests.

  • I use Notion’s templates feature to automatically create checklists for each interview I do

  • I use its database feature and Kanban views to keep track of episodes I’ve done

  • I use each database entry as a page to store my research before an interview

I’m excited for when Notion builds a Zapier integration so I can link it up with Calendly and automate even more of my process!

Simple Post-Production for Your Podcast: Garageband + Auphonic

I learned how to use macOS’s built-in Garageband via this video from Pat Flynn:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhesskgmIsQ

I follow his process to the T. Afterwards I export the episode as a WAV-16 audio file, and rename it “<episode #> - <guest name>_RAW”.

Finally I upload it to Auphonic to even the sound levels, and rename the finished product to “<episode #> - <guest name>_FINAL”.

Here are some details on how I use Garageband + Auphonic

  • I use a master template in Garageband that I just duplicate for each new episode

  • I record my intro and outro for each guest/episode (“Hey friends, welcome to another episode of The Creator Maker Life Podcast…”) in Garageband

  • I also have a preset in Auphonic that already contains all my podcast settings

Publishing Your Podcast: BuzzSprout

I use BuzzSprout to store my podcast files online and create a feed that iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and Alexa use.

Why BuzzSprout? BuzzSprout is cheap and easy to use, and has a nice-looking audio player I can embed on my website. It also lets me create video snippets of each episode that I can share on social.

Other similarly-awesome and well-designed podcast hosts are Transistor.FM and SimpleCast (which even lets you have a custom website for your podcast).

I might move my show over to either of them in the future, but for now, BuzzSprout does the trick.

Update on The Creator Maker Life Podcast

As of this writing, I’m working on episode #9 of my podcast. I’m still figuring out the ropes to make things as efficient as possible, but I’m starting to find my groove. I still struggle with consistency and even with all of the right software, I still find it hard to sit in front of my computer and listen to my voice.

But these apps, systems, and checklists have definitely made it easier to do so. And remember:

Don’t get fancy because fancy gets broken. — Morgan Spurlock

I've got some affiliate links sprinkled out throughout the post. If you want to support the site, pick up some gear with those links. 🙂 Thanks in advance!

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Health Roxine Kee Health Roxine Kee

REDROMINA

I had been through so much in my life that I had to realign what success meant to me. And in doing so, I really focussed on what really mattered to me the most.

redroma.jpeg

"I had been through so much in my life that I had to realign what success meant to me. And in doing so, I really focused on what really mattered to me the most."

ROMINA (@REDROMINA), is an actress,  a published author, online content creator and world explorer.

She has worked on films such as Horrible Bosses 2, The Insomniac, and Wild Child. She has also joined the cast of various TV series like JONAS and Saving Grace. Her passion for film has led her to start her own production company and working with brands, such as Toyota, Coca Cola, Honda, and San Diego Comic Con.

ROMINA vlogs and livestreams every week on her YouTube channel, REDROMINA, and co-hosts a podcast with other professional filmmakers called The Cool Kids Table.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play , or on your favorite podcast platform.

(I use Pocket Casts for iOS and Desktop or Podcast Addict for free on Android).

Listen on Apple Podcasts  | Listen on Spotify  | Listen on Google Play

Enjoy!

In this episode we talk about:

  • Being an early adopter of YouTube before it was popular

  • How YouTube and the Internet has changed the entertainment industry

  • What it’s like to be typecast in Hollywood

  • How she stays focused on what she truly wants

  • Having confidence and maintaining her privacy as public figure

  • Cutting out toxic people in your life who don’t align with your mission

Notes and Quotes from the Interview

“When I started posting stuff on YouTube, nobody knew what that was. I was the weird adult-kid who was on the internet all of the time.”

On writing

”Writing was just another way for me to breathe.”

On belonging and fitting in

”I never found that I was someone who easily fit in with groups of people. It was always hard for me to make friends. I was always second-guessing myself around people because it always felt like I didn’t really belong.”

On urgency and time

“Maybe I have 80 years, at best, in my life. How much time do I actually have left, that allows me to interact with people? It’s not a lot of time. There’s not a lot of time to do that. For me, I want to make sure that time is spent wisely. And it’s spent with people who are at a level that I can communicate with, people who allow me to grow as a person, people who inspire me, and people who make me into a better person.”  

How YouTube has changed the entertainment industry

On YouTube I’m putting myself out there. Sometimes I have to think about how I’m putting myself out there and how I want to be portrayed, and still remain genuine.

  • Actors can’t just be actors. They have to know how to be behind the camera, too.

  • You can’t just be a creative. You have to have a wholistic view of your place in the industry.

On her vision for her life

“[My] purpose is to tell stories that inspire people to make an impact in the future. At the end of the day I get inspired by these stories… I had been through so much in my life that I had to realign what success meant to me. And in doing so, I really focused on what really mattered to me the most.

“I went through a lot of dark periods in my life and it was deciding what would make me happy. And not letting something external be the deciding factor for that. I think that’s what was my turning point: having enough of that.”

Selected Links from the Episode

Selected People Mentioned

What Next?

If you enjoy the stuff I dig into in this podcast, then I can pretty much guarantee that you will enjoy my blog.

Drop in your email below, and you’ll get access to subscribers-only content, offers, meet-up’s, and AMAs with guests.

No fluff, no spam, no negativity.

Peace out, fam.

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Relationships Roxine Kee Relationships Roxine Kee

ANTHONY SISTILLI

I was so confident I would have no problem with in the 3 months of me moving back, of just starting a business and making bajillions of dollars from it. I didn't really truly understand what it meant to start a business.

Anthony Sistilli.jpeg

"I was so confident that I would have no problem within the 3 months of me moving back, of just starting a business and making bajillions of dollars from it. I didn’t really truly understand what it meant to start a business."

Anthony Sistilli is a web developer and former top 200 Starcraft player. He originally worked as a software engineer at Intuit and quit his job after 9 months to pursue his… Many pursuits.

These include a dropshipping store which he grew via Instagram and without any advertising. He founded The Forge, a community to help students get software engineering jobs and prepare for interviews which he grew to 7,000 members within 2 months with zero advertising. He was one of the youngest consultants on Toptal, a competitive premium freelance platform.

These days he’s continuing his software consulting to fund micro-ventures and business experiments including trying out affiliate marketing.

In this episode we talk about how he got his job at Intuit just 8 months after learning to code and almost dropping out of his engineering program. We discuss how becoming one of the best Starcraft players taught him about entrepreneurship. We also dive into what it felt like to be in debt when he first quit his job, living in AirBnBs all over Toronto before he decided move back in with his mom.

We also go into his operating and decision-making system in this wide-ranging interview. We cover how he decided whether or not to quit his job cold turkey to pursue business, his morning routine, and how he views unpleasant circumstances and resets his perspective.

Enjoy!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Listen on Apple Podcasts  | Listen on Google Play | Listen on Spotify

Roxine’s Notes from the Interview

  • Anthony has an obsessive, focused nature

  • He felt relief after allowing himself to switch goals

  • It’s OK to switch goals!

  • Don’t quit until you have something going on (for most people)

  • Wait until your side hustle makes as much as your main thing

  • Anthony saw risk differently, but could also stomach a lot of risk

  • Entrepreneurs perceive risk differently, but may not necessarily be bigger risk-takers

  • For Anthony, not growing is riskier than quitting a job with a regular income

  • He would rather spend a summer doing and learning on his own, than spend it in a job that paid, but was mediocre. The risk isn’t a monetary risk. The risk is a competence risk.

  • Entrepreneurs aim to get 2x or 3x the reward for the risk they’re taking on

  • Double- or triple-dipping to hedge bets

  • Research paper to back that up When it comes to evaluating risk, [knowing] what you want to get out of it is a huge factor.

  • The good to great mindset

  • He was willing to let go of good so he could reach for great: Intuit. A lot of people were getting internships. And a lot of the time people would get internships that were not the best, but they were something. And a lot of people would rather have something than nothing.

  • Self-reflection and self-awareness

  • He journaled every single night for 6 years before he went to bed

  • He uses The 5-Minute Journal and meditates

  • The value of solitude That self-reflection has helped me get to where I am and help me realize the importance of growing as a person and growing your mindset.

  • Learning to work with your conscious and subconscious mind, whether as a technical professional or a creative

  • Doing VS Being entrepreneurship

  • Do you want the title or do you want to be one?

  • Anthony admitted to himself that he had to move back in with his mom for a year because his businesses weren’t going so well “I was so confident that I would have no problem within the 3 months of me moving back, of just starting a business and making bajillions of dollars from it. I didn’t really truly understand what it meant to start a business.”

  • When you’re bootstrapping or starting out, you probably have to take on jobs that aren’t creatively-fulfilling to make ends meet until you can live on creatively-fulfilling work. Hav humility and a good attitude towards that.

  • Be humble enough to do that

  • Question your belief systems

  • Does this belief help me?

  • How does this hurt me?

  • Why do I have this belief?

  • Can pay and will pay

  • Students aren’t a good demographic to target

  • Went “back” to consulting

  • To get capital for businesses

  • He doesn’t have to rely on one business to fund his other ventures

  • Started consulting with Toptal

  • Good way to get started with consulting

  • Imposter syndrome
    ”My confidence isn’t as much in my software engineering ability as it is in my ability to adapt and learn on the fly as I go. Even if I take a job that I have zero understanding on what’s going on I’m very confident that I’ll be able to bring myself to that level without compromising the quality of the work I’m doing.”

  • How he stays organized without being routine

  • At least 8 hours of sleep

  • How he gets himself up to a good state through his morning routine

  • A quick workout

  • Write in his 5-Minute Journal

  • Meditate

  • Focusing on the negative feeling and distances himself from it

  • Focusing on what you want out of life and feeling of abundance

  • Accepting negative feeling: You choose how you it affects you

  • It doesn’t have to influence how your day goes

  • “Today would be awesome if…”

  • Look for the fun, and less on the productivity

  • He doesn’t give himself due dates

  • Structured, yet unstructured. Routine, yet no routine philosophy ”A lot of my day is making sure that the things I have fun doing are in line with what my goals are… Figuring out how I can make it so I want to do [it] and make it fun and exciting for me.

  • Scarcity vs Abundance

  • Believe in what you can do, regardless of where you are now or the cards you were dealt

  • Get rid of the “Yeah, buts…”

”When you have that type of belief, it’s a scarcity belief. You believe that it’s very hard to do something or your skillset is very limited to achieve something, that you’re in scarcity of this thing. And when you go through life with this lens in front of you, you’re going to be crossing off possibilities that you didn’t know exist before you know they exist.”

”I think 2 hours in a really good mental state, is better than 10 hours in a really bad mental state.”

Productivity, to me, is not about how many hours I put in. It’s about the mind-state I’m in when I’m putting those hours in.

Selected Links from the Episode

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOijU2XRONI

People Mentioned

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O2JK_94g3Y

What Next?

If you enjoy the stuff I dig into in this podcast, then I can pretty much guarantee that you will enjoy my blog.

Drop in your email below, and you’ll get access to subscribers-only content, offers, meet-up’s, and AMAs with guests.

No fluff, no spam, no negativity.

Peace out, fam.

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Culture Roxine Kee Culture Roxine Kee

KATIE STECKLY

You need to have some level of dedication and commitment where you say, like, ‘I’m doing this because I really love it and because I want to grow creatively and because I want to be better at what I’m doing,’ not because you want to gain instant success.

katie steckly.jpg

You need to have some level of dedication and commitment where you say, like, ‘I’m doing this because I really love it and because I want to grow creatively and because I want to be better at what I’m doing,’ not because you want to gain instant success.

Katie Steckly is an OG YouTuber and has been on the platform since 2009. She is also a freelance travel videographer and makes videos for a living full-time for her clients or for her YouTube channel, Katie Steckly. She co-hosts a podcast called The Bossy Women Podcast that celebrates female entrepreneurs in the Waterloo/Kitchener area in Ontario, Canada.

She is passionate about teaching entrepreneurs, aspiring creators, and small business owners the power of showing their face to the world with online video.

In this episode we talk about how Katie went from being terrified of public speaking to regularly making speeches as student council president of her college. We dig deep into why and how you should stick your channel even if it’s not growing as quickly as you’d like — she’s been on YouTube for 10 (!!) years now.

We also touch upon the hard facts about being a female entrepreneur, whether that’s on YouTube or tech, the biggest challenge she’s facing as she approaches her first full year doing freelance videographer, and the benefits she’s gotten from having a YouTube channel, even if she’s not rich and famous.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, or on your favourite podcast platform.

Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Google Play | Listen on Spotify

Enjoy!

Roxine’s Notes from the Interview

If you are starting out on YouTube anytime, you just need to be in it because you really love it. You really can’t let the numbers define your success because as soon as you do that you’ve already lost.

Even if you’re as lucky as somebody like Peter McKinnon to grow within 9 months. The first month is still gonna feel like it’s hard.

-- Katie Steckly

  • The wonderful thing about being an unknown is that you can make mistakes without huge repercussions

  • Some reasons and benefits to do YouTube, aside from being famous:

  • Documenting your life

  • Gaining a skillset to help you break into a career path

  • Confidence

  • Better public speaker

  • More outgoing in social situations

  • Be more articulate

  • How to know if you’re passionate about something: Would you do it for 10 years even if you never get paid?

  • If it’s a Yes, GO for it.

  • How did she get certain that YouTube was her passion?

  • When she started, full-time YouTube wasn’t an option. But she kept doing it even then, and that made her feel certain that she was passionate about this.  

  • Ask yourself: Would you watch this if you weren’t you? If you never got views for it, will you still make it?

  • Some reasons not to monetize YouTube videos?

  • Worse user experience

  • Can’t control ads that YouTube shows

  • Some strategies to grow a channel

  • NOT vlogging (fun, but not effective)

  • How many have you found new channels through a daily vlog?  

  • 3 videos a week

  • 2 search-friendly (how-to’s, tutorials, etc)

  • 1 vlog  

  • Pick a niche

  • People would know what to expect from you

  • Easier to make videos and have ideas

  • To test a new niche: Pick 1 month and do it for a month  

  • Consistency

  • At least once a week

Selected Rapid Fire Q&As

  • What's a podcast or book that you recently recommended to a peer?

  • Jenna Kutcher’s Goal Digger Podcast

  • Who is a someone (could be mentor or online person) whose work has most impacted your life?

  • Her mom!  

  • What’s an achievement you’re most proud of in the last 1-2 months?

  • Flying to Ecuador to do travel videography

https://www.instagram.com/p/BuOYy97AYnA/

  • What's something you think everyone should do more of or at least try?

  • Create and carve out in your schedule to do it

  • Commit an hour a day working on her YouTube videos  

  • Who is one person whose video, interview, or podcast you would 100% click on when you see it on your feed?

  • Sara Dietschy  

  • Since this is The Creator Maker Life Podcast, what's your favorite part about what you do and the life you lead?

  • Being able to look back at the end of the day and say, “I did that.”

Selected Links from the Episode

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ieHmLt4gHw

People Mentioned

Other Episodes You Might Like

What Next?

If you enjoy the stuff I dig into in this podcast, then I can pretty much guarantee that you will enjoy my blog.

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Peace out, fam.

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Culture, Health Roxine Kee Culture, Health Roxine Kee

AUDREY EMBER

I didn’t start being, like, ‘I’m gonna make this a career.’ I started because they looked like [creators] were having fun and I want to have fun, too.

audrey ember.png

"I didn’t start being, like, ‘I’m gonna make this a career.’ I started because they looked like [creators] were having fun and I want to have fun, too.”

Audrey Huyghe or Audrey Ember (not Amber) on the internet is a YouTuber and filmmaker. She’s a member of the #nosmallcreator movement by Cody Wanner and she started her own movement: #CreateHer.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, or search it up on your favourite podcast app.

Enjoy!

Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify | Listen on Google Play

Roxine’s Notes from the Interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8xK9EJbxPU

  • Audrey started from a place of taste — she had an idea of what she wanted to watch and worked on that

  • She didn’t go into it wanting to be a YouTuber. She just does what she loves and enjoys.

  • I like how relaxed she is

  • Doing what seems natural to you

  • The importance of finding a community — the most important!

  • Helps you improve

  • She just wanted to make stuff and not be bothered You don’t have to make a YouTube channel if it’s not your thing!

  • There’s lots of ways to build an audience

  • You don’t know what or who you can be until you see it

“[Filmmaking] was never really forced [for me].”

— Audrey Ember

Selected Links from the Episode

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YarKjguI94w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Itaw9xNEmy0

People Mentioned

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8paaQxzUMY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZePvZMFyI4

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Travel Roxine Kee Travel Roxine Kee

THE CREATOR MAKER LIFE PODCAST IS LIVE! HERE'S THE TRAILER + EPISODES 1 AND 2

It’s not where you go, it’s what you see once you’re there. Travel slowly and experience more.

main ach.jpg

The Creator Maker Life Podcast is now LIVE

I never thought this day would come. After wandering aimlessly on YouTube in 2018 and trying to force it down my throat, after blogging for 4 years and wishing I could just SAY stuff…

The Creator Maker Life Podcast is now live

You can check out the trailer below to learn more about what the podcast is about. But essentially, my goal is to tell the stories behind the people who tell your favourite stories online.

I interview creators, influencers, and founders of brands to figure out why and how they do what they do, in an attempt to dig up practical mindsets, strategies, and principles that you can apply to your own life and work.

The Tim Ferriss Show for content creators, if you will.

I have an important favour to ask. If you've ever gotten some form of value from me in the past, please...

  1. Listen to all 3 episodes (should take ~90 minutes total)

  2. Leave a review on iTunes

I've gotten some good feedback on my initial listens (you might have seen some early promo’s on my IG) and I’ve put some serious time and effort into this for the past couple of months: I’ve already done 14 interviews and have 7 more scheduled for the month of March.

If you have any comments, questions, suggestions, or violent (positive!) reactions, leave them in the comments section below, on iTunes, or Twitter (@roxinekee_).

To launch, here’s the trailer, plus episodes 1 and 2.

Excited for you to check out my new project. Enjoy!

Episode 0: The Podcast Trailer

Listen to it here, and please subscribe!

Episode 1: Chris Au

Listen to it here, and please subscribe!

Selected Links from Episode 1

People Mentioned

Episode 2: Karim Tarek

Listen to it here, and please subscribe!

Show Notes for Episode 2

People Mentioned

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