Discovering the Power of Podcasting with Kim O'Hara

Jillian Grover

Hi, Kim. Thank you so much for being on the podcast today.

Kim O’Hara

Thank you so much for having me. I love talking about podcast.

Jillian Grover

Yes, me too. So to begin with, why don't we let the listeners know? Who is Kim and what does she bring to this world?

Kim O’Hara

Well, that's a very loaded question that I could go on and on about, but I'll keep it focused on what what we're doing here today. I am a Los Angeles book coach, so I help high achievers coaches, business owners, write amazing books. I'm a collaborator with them in the creative process, and then I'm a think tank with them in the publishing process. So I take them through the whole journey. I am a homeowner, I'm a mom, and I'm also a writer.

Jillian Grover

Awesome. And tell us a little bit more about your podcast. What's it called and why did you start it?

Kim O’Hara

Absolutely. I've always had a dream to be a talk show host and the bar to entry for talk show host is high. Not giving up on the dream yet, but podcasting just was like a much easier way to go with Bin. And I come from the movie and television business, so technically it wasn't that big of a reach for me. And I went and I think I watched some free videos on how to create a podcast and kind of understood originally when you first start, you do it on Skype with your regular headphones and then you're like, it sounds like good, and then you advance to the microphone. But just to say the reason why I started the podcast was that desire to be more of an interviewer. I love interviewing people. I'm told I'm excellent at it. And then I ask a lot of questions that people normally don't ask. And I also, to some degree, wanted to invite people on that I thought needed to hear themselves talk about how they needed to write a book. And some of those people did become clients.

Jillian Grover

Wow, that's amazing. Yes. I met so many amazing people through interviewing podcasts and then learning more about them. Then I go check them out, follow them. I've even listening to a podcast. Hired a business coach through the podcast because right, she's just gave so much free value because if somebody gives you all that free value, then you're going to be like, what would they give me if I actually paid them?

Kim O’Hara

That's a really good point. That's a really good point. And in a podcast I just recorded yesterday, we were talking about why people hedge on hiring coaches when the value is so obvious of what they're going to receive. They'd rather sort of stay in the pain for a little bit longer and that's what they'll do until they can kind of come forward and invest in themselves.

Jillian Grover

Yes, exactly. So walk me through a little bit about what fears you had before you started this podcast.

Kim O’Hara

You know, it wasn't so much fear because I really knew I could handle the podcast area in terms of content. I had a lot of confusion figuring out the title. And I think my first title was something like The Words That Inspire You, or something like that. And I ran it by a couple of friends, and they were like, it sounds like you're doing like a religious podcast. It sounds like a Christian podcast. And I was like, well, that's not so bad. And they were like, no, you should really have it be with books. And interestingly enough, it was my ex husband who comes from business development, and I was kind of complaining to him one day. I'm like, I just really can't land on the title. And he's like, well, what do people always say to you? Or what are you I always hear you saying that. You say to people, you should write a book about that. He's like, that should be the title. I'm like, oh, my God. I'm like, that is like the best title ever. And literally, that became the title, and I've never changed it since. So there was that hurdle. And then the other thing that came up for me that really I'd say about like 40 episodes in when I switched to a couple of streaming platforms. And I'm not going to name them because they didn't work out. And I don't want to put a business down. But for me personally, I went on a couple of these, like, platforms, and the technical started to be so it would give me so much anxiety. They tell you, oh, if you see the screen glitching on the guest, it's really not glitching. And I'd be like, how in the middle of the interview are you going to say calm when you see your guest reflecting? And then there was like, one platform that if the guest left before the download happened, the podcast was lost. And then that part started to make the podcast not fun for me anymore. And I actually had to stop podcasting for a while, regroup and just come back on Zoom.

Jillian Grover

Yes, I know exactly what platform you're talking about. That's why I stick to zoom. I tell people, keep it simple. I've never had an issue with Zoom. It always sounds good as long as you're using your microphone and your microphone. And it's not that expensive. It's about $15 a month. Yeah, keep it simple. Don't try to get into all the other tech because, yeah, I've had the same issue with what you're talking about.

Kim O’Hara

And it became, like, so stressful. One interview that the woman wasn't on Chrome, and then we had to sign her back out and sign her back in. And then her sound wasn't working. And I was like I felt like if it had been Zoomed, there would have just been like, you just go to Preferences, you just figure it out. And this felt like there was a third party. And then I'm trying to contact Lake there, and you're getting flustered in front of your guest, and you feel defeated. You feel defeated. So I'm happy to be doing it on Zoom. And the one tip I will give is and I just figured this out on Zoom, if you save the interview to your computer and not the cloud, you can get the separate audio tracks. But if you save it to just the cloud, you get the one track, and you can't have your wonderful producer, aka you edit out somebody's like Breath or a Glitch or something like that.

Jillian Grover

Yes. I love two tracks because the host coughs or something that's so easy to take out, where if it's one track, you got to leave it in. Like, let me take out exactly what they're saying.

Kim O’Hara

Exactly. Yeah.

Jillian Grover

And I feel now, most people should know how to use Zoom, especially since 2020 happened. So other people don't get so flustered either. If they see the Zoom link, they're like, oh, I know that I can jump on there.

Kim O’Hara

That's easy. They know to show up. It's having a good mic that I always say to people, and some people can pull it off with their computer audio. I'm not a big fan of AirPods. I feel like it's on an Internet frequency, and it can be like glitchy. I say to people and I've texted people the package, and there's a package with a microphone, and I used to have, like, the big arm and the pop guard and the whole thing, and now I just set it on a stand. Now I just am really simplifying. I like to stand up and just chat.

Jillian Grover

Yeah. Like, my microphone was $40, and I think it works great.

Kim O’Hara

I've never sounds amazing. It sounds really good.

Jillian Grover

All this equipment. You don't need a whole production studio. Yes. And going back to the name of your podcast, I love it. It's straightforward. You know exactly what you're going to get when you click into your podcast. It's going to be about authors and writing a book. So I love it.

Kim O’Hara

And interestingly enough, the first half of the podcast is not about books at all. It's about the value that that person brings to the world. And then halfway through the podcast, I'm like, so why aren't you writing? And you know what, Jillian? I just realized I actually don't have that model. I really should be moving into that model. You just gave me the best Brainstorm Live. I have been showing the guests and then going into the book conversation, but it just dawned on me that I should be calling them out more about, like so you just told me how amazing you are and how many people you want to reach. Why is there no book? All right, that's it. That's my new thank you.

Jillian Grover

Yes, you should.

Kim O’Hara

New model for 2023 starts back season. Yes.

Jillian Grover

We're always growing I always say, if your first podcast is as good as your hundredth, then what have you learned? What are you doing? What have you learned? I'm not learning anything. Like you should constantly be growing and learning and evolving your podcast.

Kim O’Hara

Yes. And you come into your voice too. I know my 1st 30 podcasts were very scripted and everything, and now I do script, I write out all the questions, I do a lot of thinking beforehand and I flow, but I'm not frightened to go off in another direction. If somebody says something that I didn't expect, I'm like, wait a minute, let's take that. And then six questions are just gone because we just got into some stuff that I really want to talk about and somehow I am able to always wrap it at like 30 minutes. And people are always like, oh, my God, that was so fast. That was so easy. We could have talked for hours. And I'm like, yeah, but nobody wants to hear us talk for hours. That's the thing. They're already bored.

Jillian Grover

Yeah, I found that 30 minutes is like the max. Most people want to listen to a podcast.

Kim O’Hara

Unless they're like Joe Rogan or like, someone famous. Then they'll listen to you go on and on and on.

Jillian Grover

Yes, exactly. But I do the same thing. I have my list of questions here. But yeah, if we go in another direction, we go in another direction and you just kind of keep track of the time and try to wrap it up near the 30 minutes mark.

Kim O’Hara

Exactly.

Jillian Grover

So in what ways are you growing your podcast? How is it evolving?

Kim O’Hara

That is a really good and painful question for the beginning of 2023 because I don't have a game plan and I really should have one. I've gotten very loosey goosey where if I meet someone, and I always do, I do one every two weeks, I'm very relaxed about it. It's just like if I have a conversation with someone that I think should be public, that's my new meter. Like, oh, we just had this private conversation that I really think a lot more people need to hear. That's the meter. But really the best growth just came from this interview where I'm like, I'm going to change the model, where I challenge them more. And that might even mean changing the intro, where I say, today we're going to talk with DA DA and we're going to prove how important they are to the world and then we're going to figure out why they haven't written a book. And maybe it should be more of a controversial, like, you don't really want to be on Kim O'hara podcast. She's going to call you out about not writing that book. That might be the new model. Because so far it's been like this combo of clients that have written books, which is fine, because they need to talk about their process and they need to talk about their process with me for people that want to write a book. But then there's this sort of middle road, people that are like, I don't even really know if they want to write. I think they want to write a book. I've identified that. But it's not so hard pressing, so it could go into more of like an antagonistic, controversial direction. But aside from that, I did rebrand the look and I did make it a podcast by a writer for writers. I think that was the big shift for me at the end of 22, where I realized I've been writing for 30 years and I am highly qualified as a writer to know writers. I know them so well. I'm in pain as a writer all the time. So I really wanted to differentiate that, that I'm a writer. Interviewing these writers too, even though I'm a coach.

Jillian Grover

Yeah, exactly. And I like that you want to call people out. I feel like maybe it's the kick in the butt. Some people need to actually get it done because we all talk down to ourselves and say, I can't do that. Who wants to read a book I wrote? But yeah, I think just highlighting their brilliance, highlighting why they need to do this, why they're so awesome. People always love to hear why they're awesome.

Kim O'hara

Right. And I could open the podcast with like, okay, so we're going to get to why you haven't written a book yet, but first we're going to talk about how amazing you are so that we can understand you need to write a book. And I need to do that. I need to write that down.

Jillian Grover

That actually answers my next question because I was going to ask, what's the future of your podcast? But we see where it's going now.

Kim O’Hara

We're doing collaboration right here, like real time. I hope people are excited. So if you get a call to be on my podcast, get ready. I also think too, I would like to do more standalone, but because the podcast is called, my biggest received episode was where I just talked about writing. That's the one that's received the most downloads. Thousands, thousands of downloads. And yet I don't seem compelled to do it again. I'm not sure why. I've sort of lost the thread of that. And that's something I'd like to bring back in. In 2023, I started a column called the Inner Circle Column, and it's really about me telling stories, giving technology tips, saying something I'd like to see you invented, and like a tip on writing. And I feel like I need to bring that into the podcast. And maybe this year there needs to be like a branding integration of that column and the podcast because I do want like, a media conglomerate someday.

Jillian Grover

Yeah, that sounds amazing. I don't think I've heard you. I'll have to go listen to that episode. I've heard the following.

Kim O’Hara

It's gotten like a lot of hits, so I don't even remember what it's called. It's something about the authorship or the fundamentals of authorship or something like that.

Jillian Grover

Yeah, I will definitely go check that out. So what would be your number one tip if somebody wants to start a podcast and start getting their voice out there, even if they want to write a book and get their voice out there? Because that's still your voice. It's just in written form. What's your number one tip for them?

Kim O’Hara

I would say really know why you're doing the podcast. Really understand who I say this about books all the time when authors come to me is I make them really think about like, who is your reader? Because you're ultimately writing for the reader at the end of the day. And if you don't know who your reader is, then you are just going to be lost in the dark a lot of times when you're trying to discern what kind of content to put in the book. So I'd say with the podcast, initially know. Who are you doing the podcast for? Why are they listening? What need are you filling? What are you bringing them? Are you bringing them like life affirming objectives? Do you want them to laugh? Do you want them to cry? Because people have such a limited time that a lot of times when I do my podcast, I'll be like the first one to admit, even though I think it's like the best episode and I think it would be. Amazing to listen to it. I have a hard time imagining, like, someone's going to put 30 minutes of their day aside and listen to my podcast. I totally admit that sometimes I'm like, I don't know, sounds good to me. So I feel like if you're going to do a podcast, really like be on fire about who is listening and visualize them, be like, who are they? Why are they listening? What is the experience they're having right now with me and my voice?

Jillian Grover

Yes, I always do that when I with guest episodes. I record an intro and an outro and I always talk directly to my ideal listener why they should listen, how this is going to help them. Just give it to them straightforward and let them know to listen to it, right, exactly.

Kim O’Hara

And I think that's something that we've unearthed for me today is that sort of, why is someone listening to this? Well, maybe they're listening to the podcast because they're on the fence about writing a book and they hear all this other person making all these excuses that they're like, oh, that person should totally be writing a book. And they're like, wait, who am I to say that, like, I'm not writing my book. So maybe that is that is the switch because I know I did an Instagram post the other day where I basically said, straight up, I'm a book coach. If you call me and you complain about why you're not writing a book, just stop, because I'm literally going to be like, that's kind of what I do for a living. So maybe you might want to complain to someone else. I don't know.

Jillian Grover

I don't know why they would come to you just to complain about it.

Kim O’Hara

I know that's, like, if I went to you and I was like, Jillian, I don't know what's going on. I can't seem to get my podcast, like, recorded and edited. And out there, you'd be like, I'm a podcast producer. I'd be like, oh, but still, it's like, Why?

Jillian Grover

Yeah, that's funny. Well, thank you so much for being on today. This was a really good conversation, and I'm very excited to see the direction that your podcast is going in.

Kim O’Hara

Me, too.

Jillian Grover

And I do have to say I feel very lucky that I get to listen to it first before other people. So how can our listeners connect more with you? Obviously, your podcast, but how else can they connect with you?

Kim O’Hara

Well, I just rebranded this year, and I'd love people to go to my website to justify the cost I had on it. It's Kimbohara.com. Really easy, really simple Kimohara.com. And on there, you can click on and subscribe to my column called Inner Circle. They're funny. They're great. I really get a lot of it's grown even faster than my podcast and Instagram. Kim O'hara, coach. It's like, I'm super out there. There. If you can't find me, then you live under a rock.

Jillian Grover

Yes, I know you're on Facebook. LinkedIn. Twitter. I know all the places, everything.

Kim O’Hara

I've posted these nine places. 

Jillian Grover

I’ll make sure that is all in the show notes, of course.

Kim O’Hara

Thank you.