In addition to giving me tools and practices to live a better life, Mel Robbins is also teaching me how to make better podcasts, videos, and social media posts. I’m going to share some practices and tips I’ve picked up from studying her podcast, YouTube channel, and Instagram.
Who is doing work that inspires you? Who is doing what you want to do? Have you taken the time to actually study what they are doing and how they’re doing it?
Are you taking the time to be intentional and really pay attention to the work of these other creators that you love to consume, or are you just mindlessly consuming their work?
Junior high and high school me spent countless hours trying to learn my favorite songs and guitar solos note for note. It wasn’t like I could go to YouTube in the eighties and watch some 14-year-old teach me how to shred the guitar solo from Crazy Train. I had to sit in front of my boom box with my Ozzy Osbourne cassette pressing “play” and “rewind.” No wonder those cassettes wore out!
It was a struggle then, but I had the drive and the patience to sit there and learn. Every guitar riff I learned from Stevie Ray Vaughn, Nancy Wilson, and Randy Rhoads found its way into my playing and still influences my guitar playing to this day.
Musicians study other musicians. We learn their licks, and then we incorporate them into our own playing.
We immerse ourselves in other songs of other songwriters as we learn to play them. This is how we learn to write songs. This is how we improve our own playing. We study. We analyze our favorites and then incorporate what we’ve learned into our work.
Now, I’m not saying go out and copy your favorite podcaster or YouTuber word for word. I’m not encouraging plagiarism or theft of intellectual property here.
I’m encouraging you to listen critically and break it down. Start taking notes. That’s what I did with a recent episode of the Mel Robbins podcast. Watch the video or listen to the podcast episode for the full breakdown. I’ve also included time stamps for the highlights in both the podcast and YouTube video.
00:52 Where to find inspiration
01:23 Why you need to immerse yourself in the work of people doing what you want to do
03:38 Why does Mel Robbins resonate with so many people?
05:25 What is your north star?
07:49 My biggest struggle as a content creator
08:40 Are you doing this on Instagram or are you missing out?
09:50 What you should be doing right now, even if you aren’t repurposing your content
10:20 Why this episode is a masterclass in podcasting
12:25 The number one reason I’ll stop listening to a podcast
14:14 What totally sucked me into this podcast episode
14:54 How to increase podcast downloads from your back catalog of episodes
15:13 How she sets the hook for a story
15:38 How do you build engagement and community with your audience?
16:05 How she gets us to come back after the commercial break
17:00 How to create tension in your episode and why you need it
17:15 The Magic of “Say more about that….”
17:58 How to get your audience to listen all the way to the end of the episode
18:40 How to get your listener to come back for more
19:16 Four elements you should be including in your episode
20:12 Getting the most out of your YouTube description and podcast show notes
22:49 How to get listeners to share your episode
Podcast Episodes Referenced
