It is time to podcast

Handpicked the Podcast

Having written blog posts for many years (and I will continue to do so), I thought perhaps it is time to do a podcast for business owners. I am committed to sharing what I am learning to support other business owners.

I enjoy a podcast in fact increasingly I listen to podcasts as I walk the dog, or catch public transport and I love the intimacy of a good podcast. And I realised that perhaps this would be a great vehicle for sharing my content too.

Hummpro and Bendigo Bank liked the concept of my ‘reverse’ podcast and are sponsoring the first series. Podshape stepped in to develop and produce the Handpicked podcast. We reached out across my channels and networks encouraging business owners to come forward to ask me questions. And in the first episode alone there is plenty of ground covered in under 20 minutes.

In a recent interview with MediaWeek I outlined ‘why’ and ‘why now’

“Simson calls her podcast a short form mentoring session that gets straight to what business owners need to know. Guests and their business questions are handpicked by Simson as she delivers advice around starting or saving a business and gives guidance on how to grow.

Naomi Simson has been the guest on many podcasts, all of whom reported increased downloads for her episodes, and she has now embarked on her own audio adventure.

… “People ask me about mentoring all the time and sometimes I feel I am repeating myself. This seems like a much better way of getting information to people that they can consume easily.”

Simson said she wanted to ensure season one had good diversity with rural, regional and metro businesses. “We also wanted start-ups and growth businesses and ones run by people of different genders, [ages] and backgrounds.”

After requesting businesspeople to get in touch, Simson got bombarded with offers. “The age range goes from a businessperson who started at 19 through to someone in their 60s.

“What unites them all are the same challenges – finding more customers, keeping staff engaged and motivated, growing the businesses and making more money.”

Simson has an army of followers across various platforms. She has a newsletter, also called Handpicked (visit naomisimson.com to subscribe) and has no less than 2.8m followers on LinkedIn.

Naomi Simson has been ranked #2 global influencer when it comes to startups. She will be using the LinkedIn channel to showcase the Australian businesses she featured on the podcast to a big global audience.

Asked about the former Network 10 show Shark Tank Australia and her time as a “shark”, on four seasons she noted the Shark Tank Australia YouTube channel still runs the clips from all those shows to big, big audiences. “People are still stopping us in the street asking about the show.

“Are we sad it’s off air? Of course. We think it was a valuable source of information for people everywhere. It is important to continue to be able to showcase Australian businesses which is why I am doing this podcast.”

Released Monday’s from 24 May 2021, with a bonus content every Wednesday called Handpicked Extra, that serves as a glossary and tool kit to review some of the key terms and additional information regarding topics raised in the Monday episode.

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Also published on Medium.