Bethany Hawkins on creating an amazing guest experience

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A great guest experience makes for a great interview… and you know what? There are steps that podcasters and Podcast Managers can take to make sure that the experience your guest has is a good one! Today I’m chatting with Bethany Hawkins, who comes with the perspective of both a podcaster and a manager. She gives us her advice on how to pick the right guests for a show and how to prep them before an interview. We also talk about expanding your team, why podfade happens, and the importance of great communication in your business.

Bethany Hawkins found her love of podcasts while working in the criminal justice system. She credits getting through that emotionally draining experience to always having a podcast going in her headphones. With a plan to become a Podcast VA, Bethany made her move and quit her day job. Since that time she has transitioned into podcast management and founded her company Crackers in Soup. Crackers in Soup is a podcast management company that’s mission is to assist women podcast hosts that need the best “F” word known in the English Language: FREEDOM. Since it’s inception, Crackers In Soup has worked on over 50 podcasts from creating cover art to assisting to post recording production and everything in between…including launches. Bethany is also a podcaster and co-host of the show Chatting Over Chowder! A podcast where two minority women talk to other women in the podcasting industry about what podcasts they listen to…while eating chowder.

If you want to chat more about this topic, I would love to continue this conversation with you, over on Instagram!

In this episode, we cover:

  • Bethany’s experience taking the Podcast Manager Program
  • How to establish your presence online before launching your services
  • Outsourcing and finding the right team for You
  • Knowing yourself so you can hire the right people
  • Why you need to like your clients and their subjects
  • What “podfade” is and why it usually happens after 7 episodes
  • Being both a listener and an expert
  • Giving the client what they want through proper communication
  • Why you need to be willing to learn new skills
  • How to avoid scope creep
  • Ways that you can save an interview that’s going sideways
  • Making sure you “jive” with your guests
  • What to do when you have a bad interview
  • and, how to redirect conversations and disagree with your guests the right way

Resources and links mentioned in this episode:

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Lauren Wrighton is a podcast strategist who went from making $5 an hour to $50+ an hour in less than 6 months by making a few changes to her business. Now she teaches freelancers how to become profitable podcast managers in her course, The Podcast Manager Program!

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