We Are Podcast 222. Emma Guns on Broadening Your Horizons With Podcasting
Sometimes we start out in life with a picture of how things are supposed to be. And then fate deals us a completely different hand. Even if you fell into podcasting as an alternative, or because your Plan A failed, don’t take it for granted. Podcasting can broaden your horizons and open up a whole new world.
Welcome to Should I Start A Podcast,
where each week Ronsley Vaz, with the help of a star-studded entrepreneurial guest lineup, explores why you should start a podcast; build an audience, and how to keep them hungry for more.
If you’re thinking about starting a podcast or simply looking for a better way to get your message out to your audience, then this is the podcast for you.
Emma Gunavardhana wanted to work for glossy magazines.
Emma thought she knew what her life would end up like. She’d work for a fancy beauty magazine for twenty years or so. She’d interview and hang out with famous celebrities and fashion icons. And she’d be happy and content.
Well, that didn’t exactly pan out, at least not in the way she had originally imagined. Sure, she did end up working for a couple of fancy magazines for quite a while. But it didn’t exactly check the box the way she had expected it to. And that’s ok. In fact, it’s more than ok. It’s amazing. Because now Emma is the host of The Emma Guns Show with an audience of more than 8 million listeners.
Working as Beauty Editor at OK! magazine for ten years gave Emma a built-in network when she decided to start her podcast. Writing detailed features for so long also gave her the feel for interviewing. What she didn’t expect to happen was to have her horizons broadened so widely.
Podcasting gives you quite a different platform than a magazine. Writing for a beauty magazine kept Emma’s topics and outreach somewhat limited. However, once she had her own podcast, she realised how much you can push the envelope with candid conversation.
In this episode, Ronsley and Emma get into the natural evolution process of podcasts. They discuss the power in conversation and how it not only impacts the listeners, but the host as well. Emma lays out the unconventional approach she has to advertising, and why she’s still doing the dirty work herself. This is an excellent conversation for people who are afraid podcasting will box them into a specific niche. It doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, podcasting is a great way to explore your interests and play with your destiny.
Other fun stuff in this episode:
- Why it’s ok to admit you’re not cut out for something
- The natural evolution of The Emma Guns Show
- Why consistency is the key to success
- What’s with all the episodes on hormones?
- Why you should always keep your DMs open
- Travelling through people’s stories
- Why Emma doesn’t let herself get bogged down in the metrics
- How the podcast has changed Emma’s habits
- Why you should focus more on getting quality guests than anything else
Links:
The Emma Guns Show: Learning how to Breath with James Nestor