Ana Xavier, Founder, CEO, Podcast Strategist

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Moving to America was way more difficult than moving to London because it's just building a network from scratch.

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Welcome to another episode of Chewing the Fat. I am your host, Big Robb. Thank you so much for tuning in, downloading, following the podcast. I certainly do appreciate that. Thank you for the folks that have bought me a coffee as well. Chewingthefatbr.com. Those coffees really helped me go and put those late night edit sessions for sure. So I appreciate that. I'm excited about my guest for today. She is someone I aspire to be like at some point because she is a former broadcaster,

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She's a podcast strategist, she's an entrepreneur, and a woman with a mission. Please welcome Ana Xavier to the show. Hi Robb, thank you for having me. Hi, how are you? I am good. I'm excited to be here. We've been talking on Instagram for a while, so I am thrilled this is happening, finally. Finally.

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as far as my career and podcasting goes because he's meant so much to me actually hitting the big red button, as I say. I give him credit for kicking me in the butt to do that. But he's helped so many other people and I think that's where I was introduced to you. Either it was through like a builder club or social boom, whichever one that he's got going on, that you were there. And I just love your energy and I love your passion for helping others to do what they wanna do, to get their message out,

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That's the whole reason why I started this podcast, was to shine a light on folks that are having down days and feel alone, and are having those issues with mental health that they feel like no one else is having. So you being able to help others do that same thing, I just think it's amazing. Well, thank you.

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You're welcome. You're welcome. So for folks that may not know you or follow you on Instagram, which that will change after this, where are you calling in from, first of all? Well, I'm based in Dallas, Texas, but this is not my hometown and you can probably tell from my accent that I'm not from here. So where are you from then? I will also say that my second most favorite question to ask is, where do you think I'm from?

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And it's funny because no one, I'll take it back. The other day I was at a party and these gal goes, the third, like the third guest, she goes Portugal. And I'm like, no one has ever been so close. So yeah, via London work with a lot of Australians and Italians and hence my accent being a whole all over the place. It's got this conglomeration of just beautiful

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which the thing is having such an interesting accent though, I think it makes people's ear perk up and they have to listen more intently to what you say just because they need to understand what you're saying. So I think you've, not that that was ever a hindrance or anything like that, but I think you've been able to turn that into something that causes people to remember you specifically and who you are. So from Portugal,

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You say you went to London and Australia. What took you to all those places? What's your background? So I will say that even though I work in the podcast industry, I'll say that I'm one of the few people that actually has training in production and journalism. So the second thing that I'll say is that matters 0% because I've seen so many talented people really achieve amazing things and they just, you know, it's a natural skill.

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where they work really hard. But I think that because of that, because I had training in journalism and radio, I feel like that gives me my backbone of like, is this ethical? Is this podcast advice honest and truthful? And does it really do something for humanity? So I think that that's the one thing that I say that does matter to me because I always look through the ethical lens, even though when I went to college,

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was like over 10 years ago. Journalism was very different. It's very, very different than what it is today. So I worked in radio in Portugal and then at a sudden, you know what, my best friend moved to London. She was like, I got accepted in an illustration degree in London and I'm like, I wanna learn more about radio production. So I moved to London because of, because why not? It's the BBC. Yeah, for sure. So did you work at the BBC for awhile? Oh, I wish.

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This is where I'm like, I'll be totally honest, and I always am. If you haven't followed me on social media, this is what my messages is about, honesty and really authenticity. So I moved to London, and like myself, everybody is like, I want to work in radio. Everybody's there. So it's impossible even to get just any internships. It's nearly impossible. You have to meet people who are there in the business. So that kind of sucks.

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about community radio, online radio. I was a volunteer and I did incredible things. Like, I was part of a group that did a broadcast that ended up being a part of a museum exhibition, and we work in partnership with a council in London. So those things were amazing. And I also worked in a nonprofit, which is what I learned a lot about digital marketing and just online content in general, social media, which if you are not into the digital space,

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I'll say this, you just have to find what you want and you'll be able to just be on social media in a comfortable way because the nonprofit that I work for gave me a mission and creating content with a purpose, reaching out to young people, helping them learn about our services. And I just like loved it. And so that experience gave me like a holistic understanding of how content can be used online.

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and he moved here, we then got married, and lo and behold, like super fast, I got a job in the production department here in Dallas in a PR firm. So I know, and I did that for two years, loved it, like the team was incredible. But in, at the end of January, what am I saying? At the end of actually

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every person that you know, you have an awakening, right? My husband and I were both European. And so we're like, you know what? While he has a lot of vacation and flexibility, I didn't. And I was like, how about I actually take this opportunity to do my thing and enjoy not only my podcast knowledge and livestream knowledge to truly having a mission and a business with a mission. And like any entrepreneur will tell you,

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an entrepreneur at my heart? I did not think I was going to do it until I had to do it in January of 2020. So that's like something that is like the typical entrepreneur story. I saw something that I wanted to focus on and then I just decided, okay, I'm going to launch a company, provides educational content for podcasters from all stages, wall walks, will be a digital agency that supports

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I wanted to focus on entrepreneurs who are working toward the betterment of their communities. That's so good. That is so good. And yeah, like you said, being an entrepreneur, I have a friend that says, every day you wake up and you try to figure out how to invent money to pay whatever bill that's due that day. And that's it. You just worry about one day at a time. It's like, okay, all right, how do I invent enough money to pay this bill and to go on? And you do that every morning. But to do it with the heart of wanting

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improve their communities. I think that's so amazing. I think that's so amazing. And obviously your time that you spent in London working with the group there, and turning your knowledge in radio and all like that, and being able to focus that into a different way, I just think that's amazing. I was in radio for 20 years when I got Let Go. Whereas I was just, you know, I was a DJ here in America, you know,

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presenter, as they'd call in the UK. And, you know, I was let go with 3,500 other folks in one day, and it's like, okay, how do I take this knowledge, and what do I do with it, because there are 3,500 other people with the same skill set that just got let go into a workforce that doesn't exist anymore. And I didn't have the forethought that you did to be able to turn that into something

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and to become your own business. The reason I do my podcast is because I do believe I have a message that is important for people to hear, but there was an ego part of it that I just miss talking to people too, you know? So you're a better person than I am, Anna. You're a better person than I am. But I love that, and I love that you are actively

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and wholeheartedly making that happen for yourself and for others too. What do you see, where do you see that going? And it's in the podcast space is your company, correct? Yes, yes. So where do you see the podcast company going? What do you got planned for 2022? Well, what is interesting is that when you are an entrepreneur, you can really like figure it out and be like, oh my God, like,

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I want to be. And as a creative, it's funny, because I have 1,000 ideas all at the same time, right? And in my first year, continuing the true talk honesty, in the first year, I was like, all right, I've never been an entrepreneur before, but here's what I'm going to do for year one. I am going to be a digital podcasting agency focusing only on entrepreneurs who are working toward the betterment of their communities, so not really necessarily aiming at everybody.

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I'm going to launch a newsletter. I'm going to have swag. I'm going to launch my podcast course." And it was something else. And I was just like, at the end of the first year, I got my butt kicked. I was like, this is harder than I expected. And oh my god, when you have to do your own sales, you have to. And I love talking to people. And in case you have not noticed that I am a little bit of an extrovert. I don't have any problem talking to people. And during the pandemic, I just like,

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really got into my network and be like, okay, who have I served for the past two years? I was looking through and I was like, over 20 hosts and 20 other co-hosts. And then there's the guests. And I was like, oh, okay, like have a big network. But then people make, it just takes time for people to make decisions. COVID was really tough on like a lot of people said, okay, yes, I'm super excited. But then they're like, ooh,

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progress because I'm a little worried over the economy. And I was like, OK. So there was a lot to learn. And so the company started initially as just a digital podcasting company with a strong core on education. And now we're moving on to me and letting my team do more of the project management of everything, even though I delegate a lot. I'm just kind of like, oh, you know,

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because just supporting everybody, because that's what I do. But I really want to move the company more toward public speaking to make a bigger impact and helping more podcasters, primarily business owners. That's the people that I support, because they're the ones who really, truly will benefit from the power of podcasting, because it's such an intimate medium, but also it converts so much better than other mediums. And that's just more enjoyable, to be honest. So that's where we're moving toward.

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So I'm so excited that soon enough, by the fall of 2022, we're launching the second phase of the podcast course that I've been launching earlier this year, which is Maximize Your Podcast Content. Because, I mean, why do so many people create amazing content and write two lines as show description and one post saying, the episode's up, everybody. And then they're like, oh, nobody listens to my show.

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So much good stuff, nobody's listening or finding this. Let's get you sorted. I feel like you just slapped my wrist a little bit there. I'm not gonna say that I do that, but I mean, no. I, but I do understand what you're saying because there's a lot of that mindset when you create, you know, a podcast episode is, all right, it's out in the world. People will find it just, you know, naturally, they'll stumble across it. And you know, yes, there is part of that,

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spent the time in making the content and having the conversation, why not repurpose some of that into other forms of content that can meet people in other places that you're not getting natively by them just stumbling across your Apple podcast or Spotify or wherever your podcast is at or how to take that and turn it into micro content that you can then put on a TikTok or an Instagram reel.

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Facebook or build that community that is looking for what you have to say. So I think that's amazing. And that's a great mindset for you to have for your company and to help people to do that themselves with their podcast. I think that's amazing. Well, and you know, here's the thing, Rob, it's not that difficult. It's just having the right, I'm going to be like, framework. But it's true.

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of them, like the student feedback we've gotten was so good. There was one guy who was like, I just did module one and I'm not, I'm like, I closed deals already from, from going through this. And I was like, yay. Like that was amazing. So I think it's truly just understanding a core base of what you're doing and everything else falls into place because a lot of people are just, do I know who my ideal audience is? Maybe I didn't take the time to think about it. And if I'll say,

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If you cannot, you the podcaster, cannot take at least 20 pieces of micro content from your podcast, you are overthinking your content. Absolutely a thousand percent. Because if people can get inspiration from a single quote on social media, heck, like a really good 40 minute episode, 20 minute episode, it will give you all of that.

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For sure, no, I think that's, and that's a great takeaway for anybody that's listening that might be considering either starting a podcast for their business or maybe they've got a podcast already going or something else. Maybe they're already a content creator and they're only staying in one lane. It's like, okay, you can take that content and put it somewhere else to get more reach, to affect more lives, to make more change in your community or to make more change in your circle of friends

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I think that's amazing. And also not just that, but you know, I think that we all should have learned the lesson when Facebook went down. Oh, sorry, Metta went down. And like so many business owners, like my main platform is Instagram. However, I am on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. So, and I have a newsletter. So if all of social media

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I still have my website and my email list. And so I think it's important for people to understand that you cannot and should not devote so much time of your precious time and effort to one platform, which could disappear tomorrow. Like TikTok, there's conversations about the FCC bringing it down, I think, is the FCC. Yeah, I think so. So it's just so much of your work and effort and labor of love.

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just make sure that if you are creating content, it is being maximized and also safe proof. Yeah, yeah. And what you're saying too is not that, oh, well now, because I guarantee there's somebody listening and they are like, oh, now I feel overwhelmed because now I have to create for these seven different platforms. And I just said, and it's like, no, you don't have to. You can just take that one piece of content that you had, use it intelligently and put it in these other buckets.

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as well. Don't put all your eggs in one basket as they say. Right. You know, spread the eggs across all the baskets. Just pick one lane, like for instance to me, all of my content is optimized for Instagram. So you will see that like maybe the way I create the content, the way that I'm crafting that advice, it is specifically for Instagram. However, I engage with my community mainly on Instagram, but I'll still use content on LinkedIn because, by the way, if

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using your podcast to kind of like increase your thought leadership in your field, it does not matter what you post. It matters that you are the, I think I was looking at it some data and I'm going to like be crucified if someone get, if I get it wrong and someone looks at this, but let's just say as an average, right? Like 94% of people are just perching and looking at everybody else's content. They do not create, they don't have the guts to

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with just the time and the intentional efforts toward it. So I will say if you're feeling overwhelmed, you're like, what do I have to say? Or like everybody has said it. Honestly, on LinkedIn, for instance, only like 6% of people actually post. Everybody else, like, and posting your company's like achievements or sharing, that's not all leadership. I'm sorry. Like original content is more important.

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That's part of it too, is those folks with things like, oh, it's already been said, or it's already been done. It's like, yeah, it may have been done, but it may not have been done through the lens of you, through your individual voice. Your individual voice is what's important. That's why people follow stoicism, and they follow these quotes, and you see quotes everywhere. The words remain the same.

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who's saying it to you, the person who internalizes that quote and then gives it back to you through their lens, that's the important part. That's where the value is, is it's your voice, it's your point of view that helps to spread that word. It helps to continue the goodness of whatever that quote may have been talking about or that inspires someone to do something

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you know find themselves in whether they just need some encouragement to you know go into work or maybe they're dealing with something tough at home and they need that encouragement to either either get out or to or to make a tough decision to move on to do whatever it's your voice if you're in you know that circle and they're in your circle they want to hear what you have to say from you you know speaking of quotes I was

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And I did a content a few weeks ago with this quote, and it's, you know, what comes from the heart goes to the heart. And I just love that because if it comes from your heart, it goes to the heart of someone else. What they decide to do with it once it gets to them, that's on them, but it takes you having that heart

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say it or to do that act of kindness or to or to say that encouraging word or to reach out to that person or to Tell someone they need to organize their Their social media platform, you know, whatever it is if it comes from the heart it goes to the heart And I think that's so important for Everyone to understand. It's not just me saying it. It's not just you saying it's where you are as An individual and where you stand in your shoes and you saying it

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I think it's so important. And piggybacking off that, I'll just say this. I will take the pressure off anybody's shoulders to be original when I say, hey, everything around the sun has been done already, right? Or however the expression goes. I mean, it does not matter. You will likely never create anything truly unique.

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it or not, somebody thought that, somebody said that, somebody dreamt that. So don't worry, it's fine. It's just your own version of that. And I think that that like takes away the pressure of coming up with something like incredible. Um, cause it's just like, Hey, like it's fine. It's fine. It's just your, your unique experience. And sometimes, sometimes as you were saying, we will hear it a thousand times and only by the extra

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one time that's when we truly needed it. And people go like, I want to influence a thousand million people. And it's like, wherever you are right now, you are making an impact. Like one of the things that I love doing is I compost, I love gardening, I care for climate. And so like one of the things that I was doing was picking up trash on our walks. I had a grabber,

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my friends and I was just like, oh, you know, this is what we're doing today or whatever. And they like years later, they would tell me like, you know, I started picking up trash because of you. And you're like, oh, I had no idea. And right, like it's just changing one person at a time, or just live your life by the golden rule. And then you know, just carry on doing what you're doing, you will inspire others just by leading by doing things.

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on my best behavior. Just live by what you believe is the right thing to do and everything else will fall into place. Yeah, I love that. I love that because you know, you don't you never know who's watching. You never know who you are influencing just by being you, you know, and even if you didn't mention to you to a friend, hey, I'm going and we're going to walk and taking my grabber and we're picking up trash on the thing. You could have just been doing it as you're walking

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whether it's on a greenway or a side of the road or wherever you're walking, sees you doing it, and is like, hmm, I take this route every day. Every time I pass her, she's always picking it. You know what, I think I'm gonna bring a bag with me and a grabber as well, because that's easy for me to do, to go from point A to point B, and I can just kind of pick up stuff as I'm going. Because also, depending on how much you pick up, that's extra weight, and now you're burning more calories. Yes, I mean, there's a thing called plogging. You just, like, you actually,

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in the Northern countries. I can't remember if it was Sweden or Denmark, but it's people who have like, you know, they put on like a plastic glove or whatever, and they literally go jogging, and while they're jogging, they just pick up trash. Cause you're like, you're doing lunges or whatever they're called. Like you just like, you do extra exercise by picking up the trash. That's a thing. I never knew that. That is so cool. Plogging is what it's called? Plogging. Wow, I'm gonna have to look at plogging now. I will look up plogging.

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I'm gonna put it on article. Hang on, now I'm like, is that the right word? Oh, wait, yeah. Check the show notes first, because let me find out the name first before you don't just search plugging, just in case it's not. Okay, yes. Oh, is that what it is? It's plugging, it's go jogging while picking up litter in their immediate environment. Okay, all right, pick litter, jogging, gotcha. Okay, all right. That is awesome.

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This is where I literally, when I was live producing content, like the host would be like, hey, can you check the whatever? And I'm like, yeah, right, sure. I'm just switching cameras and like running all the comments section while double checking the data you're asking me. So this is totally normal. Oh my God. So aside from from plugging and changing the world with your guests, what brings you joy, Anna?

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I'll say just really well, I'm an extrovert, so being around people, but I think what brings me joy is just really being happy about what I'm doing, whether that's gardening or helping podcasters grow their show. I don't believe that we should always be working. I will always, you know, because I'm like gardening, I love DIYing, by the way. Oh yeah? That's right, I think I see you guys have like a,

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instruction in your house or something like that. Renovation is what it's called. We're renovating our house. And so my husband picked up woodworking during the pandemic. I always loved the outdoors, so I started learning more about gardening. And so, yeah, we just started upscaling, just learning all the things. And he's a very specific, meticulous person. And I'm like, let's just get creative and see where that lands us. It works.

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He works different types of ways depending on whatever you're doing. Sometimes I will not do woodworking because that requires plenty of meticulous work. But yeah, sometimes I'm like, hey, have you thought about these totally outside the box thoughts? And he's like, I didn't, but that sounds great. So that's what makes me happy. And traveling, that's definitely true. So I guess definitely being able to go places again obviously helps your extrovert be able

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people and see faces and reconnect in person. You said you're in Dallas. What type of gardening are you doing? Are you doing like vegetable? Are you doing plant? Are you doing both? Both. Both. But it's funny, cause growing up in Portugal, I grew up in a Roman city and it's just like in a valley and it's like super cold in the winter, super hot in the summertime. And I was like, oh, okay. My parents had a big backyard and whatever.

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I totally did not. So it was just learning a lot about growing things. And the first year, I think I had like, what do you call, what's that expression that like the first time lucky or something, what is it? Beginner's luck? Beginner's luck, yeah. So I was like, I had like beautiful zinnias, which are like beautiful flowers. I love pollinators. So I'm like, you get a plant and you get a flower. I'm like, I don't know. So, oh, and there's a really cool group. So I live in Oak Cliff.

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It's kind of like a mixed neighborhood, very artsy, blah, blah, blah. In my street, you have every type of person, which I love. My next door neighbor is like 96. My other neighbor is like 34. Very different. There's this group for gardeners. Everybody shares gardening advice and tips and trades plans.

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best types of plants to do here, and here in Dallas, which right now it sucks, because everything is crispy, or just hard to survive because it's so hot. Yeah, yeah. So what vegetable or fruit did you plant that you had your first harvest? Because I always feel like that's when you feel like, I am a gardener,

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my own tomato and it was delicious. I ate it right off the vine, raw. Right, it just took me like 60 or 90 days of watering and pruning and like. Right. So I've done some potatoes, baby potatoes. I was so proud. I planted them like, we're literally about to go on vacation and I tossed them in December into the ground and I'm like, on your own baby. And indeed we had potatoes. It was insane.

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And then tomatoes and cucumbers, yet to be seen. But I have three tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, so obviously not a big harvest. But last year we had Roma tomatoes. I love how these podcasts are suddenly like, well, let's tell you about my life and all the crazy things I get into. No, it's great, it's great. No, I think that's amazing, yeah. So yeah, so those were my harvests. What did you make with your tomatoes? Did you like make a sauce? Did you just eat them raw? Did you slice them heavy? A tomato sandwich?

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or something, or a piece of crostini with, you know, some buffalo mozzarella, you know, or something like that? Kind of like, well, the three lonely cherry tomatoes were tossed into the store, bought, so they were like, all right, there you go. But the Roma tomatoes last year, we did some like mix with like mozzarella. And by the way, I don't know if you know this, but my friend who's Italian, she was like,

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So you you take it out of the fridge you put it in a bowl with like hot water And you'll leave it to sink in and kind of like get a little hot and then when you take it out of the bag It's softer and it cuts wonderfully. So that is my tip my culinary tip for you everybody And then just put like oh I have pesto That's so good

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being in Dallas, I've never, well, I say I've never been to Dallas. I've been stuck in DFW for eight hours because of plane problems and that's still, that's still a thorn in my side. But, do you get to, what's one of your favorite things about Dallas in the area? Do you have like a favorite restaurant or a favorite art place or thing that you go to? Like if I was to come visit you,

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going first? Which you should because podcast movement is going to go in December, I'm saying in August. And at some point, every other year it comes back to Dallas. So I went last year to the one in Nashville because you know, pandemic before, so I rolled my ticket to the following year. But yeah, I'll say that coming from London, all right, and both my husband and I were

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or music that's actually how we met on a concert. And just like, I was like, what's happening here? And I will say that it's a lot underground, a lot more underground than you would expect. So like, there's a lot of things happening. You just need to get into the people that are doing the thing in order to know about the thing. Because everything else is very like, I don't know, surface level, but I will say that

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is very cool. There's a lot of talent and because there's a lot of old money, there's a lot of funding to the arts, which is something that I'm very happy about. And there's, I mean, the one thing that I don't like is that I hate driving. And so I'm like, let me walk. I will walk. I tried cycling. I cycled in London with like the double deckers, but in here just the roads are too broken.

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I need my slow going around, happy life. I can't be like, you know, sliding and being like, dear devil, I can't do that. So I'll say that the best thing about Dallas, I will say that's the people. Because I will just say this. This describes how amazing people are here. I moved here and in the summertime, I was kind of like, we were living before in an area which was more walkable.

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crossing the crossroads or whatever and these lady, these beautiful black lady with wonderful really like bulky hair, I don't know the terms forgive me, she like she's in this really tiny car. She gets her head out the window and she screams, oh my god you look so cute, I love that dress on you and I'm just like what has just happened?

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Isn't it wonderful? Especially, imagine coming out from London where people are like New York style right? Like busy on their life, nobody really talks to anybody and I'm like this is delightful. So I'll say the people. We've been very lucky with people we've met so definitely bad.

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All right, Anna, this is the second segment of the show where we talk a little bit more about mental health. We dive a little bit deeper into your mental health journey. I am a firm believer that everybody at some point goes through down days, whether it's a diagnosed depression or you just have a sad day or you just want to cry in the shower and you don't know why. I think everybody goes through that and being able to tell that story and bring that to light.

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folks know that they are not alone. And I imagine with your travels and you're moving and all of the stuff that you are very empathic about, that you probably have some stories around that. But for you, how do you keep the darkness at bay? It's funny, like moving countries takes a lot of courage. And I've moved countries and you know, earlier in this interview, I was talking about like, yeah, my best friend

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moving in your 20s, in your early 20s, and then moving in your late 20s when socialization is more done through work, you may not have as many things. I mean, actually, that's how I volunteered. I moved here and I couldn't work for like three months. So that was really tough because my husband would go to work and I was like, well, I can't really like do anything like legally so I can volunteer, I guess. And that's tough when you're like

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country that is not very walkable. Um, what do you do? Right? I mean, if you love chilling, that's fine. And so, um, I think that really being surrounded by people and just making sure like that you are opening up to people and you're not keeping it inside. I think that is one of the major things that I do. If I'm struggling with something, I'm just going to talk about it. Um, because. You know, I feel like we all go through the same,

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And as of right now, we're experiencing a lot of trauma and a lot of news that are happening, right? COVID took a major hit on everybody. And so I think that the things that I do is just, and as a creative and entrepreneur, it can feel really lonely because you're doing all the things and it's your business, it's your baby. And I will have like, honestly have to thank my husband because he's, he is a user experience

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He's just fascinated by that. And so he understands a lot of things that I have no idea about. And so he will identify a lot of things ahead of time. He's like nudging me. And I'm like, no, no, no, that's fine. And later on, I'm like, oh, yeah, poof. Moving to America was way more difficult than moving to London, because it's just building a network from scratch. It's really hard. But I think that really making sure

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day, something that brings you joy. I start my days by watering my plants and just making sure that I walk, moving your body is hugely important. And I'm also very lucky that we work in my company, we do produce a lot of content that is coming from entrepreneurs who are incredibly knowledgeable. So I learned so much by osmosis just by producing content. And so one of our clients, she's a

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coach. And so she talks a lot about embodied leadership and how to be your most authentic self when you lead a team. And she interviews really amazing people. So it's funny that like, you know, looking back when I moved here over five years ago, I'm like, oh man, like, you know, like just adapting to something is difficult. But now I'm looking, I'm looking at what I'm doing. And I'm saying, man, I'm focusing my energy every day to support podcasters who are doing the things

39:38
ago I wish I was doing. I always dreamt of only working with entrepreneurs who work toward the betterment of their communities or who really want to educate people. And I'm doing that now. So whenever I'm having a bad day, I'm like, just gratitude and just remembering it's the little things. We are little step by step, having progress towards the life that five years ago, two years ago, last year, or a month ago, we were like, I wish I had

40:08
Yeah, I think that's a great attitude to have to you know, there a lot of times that we put these These you know these weights on ourself that we carry around because of expectations that we have of what it should look like Or what it should be especially at this point is I should be here by now and I should it's like no You're right where you need to be don't don't weigh yourself down with that. That doesn't mean you stop you Yes, you continue on

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goal to be at somewhere, but if you're not there right now, don't beat yourself up about it. Keep moving towards that. And when you mention about looking at where you are now as compared to where you were, it's one of those things for me that when you start looking at what you have and when you start changing your mindset in the words you use to talk to yourself, a lot of times

41:08
I have to do this, I have to do that, I have to do this. And it's like, well, that can have such a negative connotation of having to do that. That's like the world would end if I don't do this because I have to do this. And it's like, if you change that have to a get, it's a much more, you know, it's a much more appreciative word, say, well, I get to talk to these people today.

41:38
I get to help entrepreneurs. I get to have this great conversation with my friend, Anna. Even if it's I get to go to the dentist, as opposed to I have to go to the dentist, it puts you in a mindset of more appreciation for the time that you have. I say it all the time, we have these 24 hours of our day. What are we doing with them? And sometimes those days, you just spend them putting together a Lego,

42:08
plants because that's what you need right then. And to be appreciative for that, I think, is very important. And also, I love what you said. I absolutely love it. And adding on to that is questioning, why should I be there? Who is stating that? It's the system that is rigged in the sense,

42:38
It's about thinking about like the system that was in before does not serve us anymore. Like why do we need to work until we're 60? Why do we need to only enjoy life when we retire? Like why don't we do that now every single day? It's just rethinking what the assumptions that you've been living under and just say, hey, you know, that doesn't serve me. So why should I continue doing it? And also us ourselves.

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role models for the life that we think should be lived, or just showing people that there's other ways. Like social media, I am constantly talking about mistakes, I'm talking about like stupid things I do, or things that I were like, oh my God, I totally thought that was gonna be in one way and it ended up not being that. And I think we all unconsciously continue to play by the rules unless we take an active step into saying, no, I missed.

43:38
or, no, it didn't work out as I expected, but it's fine. It will, at the end, it will all be fine. On that, two podcast recommendations by two clients that work with us that I think are incredible. Language Alchemy by Alejandra Siroka. She is amazing and talks about how language is the bridge between not just us, but between us and others. So the way we use, like for instance, the other day,

44:08
She's not a client anymore, but she was like, I remember that episode you told me like forever ago. I should talk about pronouns. I'm doing that this month. And I'm like, yes. So how to ask someone like their pronouns without insulting someone. Like a lot of people don't ask because they're like, I don't know how to say that. Like those are like basic things. And the second one is aging in style with Laurie Williams. She talks about how aging in society in Western society is viewed as like.

44:38
oh, you're getting old, you're getting useless, there's no purpose for you, whereas we should see, she talked to this author not long ago, she says that 80-year-olds are the happiest score on the highest happiness score from these research that the lady did. She has a PhD on a topic. And it's just like, yes, let's redefine what success looks like. And you're absolutely right. I think part of what you're saying

45:08
saying is with the old system, it's that comparative system that we were taught to keep up with the Joneses. You know, you're always looking at someone else and you're comparing yourself to someone else and that comparison is the thief of joy. You are comparing yourself to someone else and you don't know what their journey was. You don't know which step of their journey they're on. They may be on step, you know, 107.

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only on step 17. So that's why they are where they are. And you are where you are. You know, look at your step 107 compared to their step 107, not your step 17 to their step 107. You know, it happens all the time because we always want to end up. But that's what I think that's what we were taught. That's what we were taught. It's like, Oh, well, you have to have this and you have to have this. Look at Joe. He has this and he has that. Why don't you have those same things? It's like, well, you can and you can work

46:08
towards those things, but you don't know what Joe has gone through to this point because we don't have those conversations either. We don't ask Joe, how did you get this? How did you get to where you are now? I mean, I even say that. You drive through a nice neighborhood and you're like, man, that is an amazing house. I wonder what they do to be able to have that house. But I drive on by, I don't stop and knock on the door and be like, hey, how did you get all this? I mean, that'd be a weird conversation, but.

46:38
And there's a guy that does that. He will go to people's cars, like really fancy cars, and say, hey, what do you do? Yeah. But again, that's not the norm. That's not the norm, because we were taught not to ask. You don't ask about people and how they make their money or what they did. Or you know what I mean? It's like, why not? Why not? Why not have that conversation? Open it up. And that's one thing I love about the podcast community. I feel the podcast community is so

47:08
welcoming and so eager to share information. It's not a, oh, well, I'm not going to tell you how I did this. I'm not going to, you know, no, this is this is all mine. You figure it out on your own. No, it's like, hey, I got this thing. And it's like, oh, well, have you tried this? Have you tried that? Have you tried this? Have you gone here? Have you talked to this? Have you listened to this podcast? Have you listened? And that's one of the things I love about this community. Yes, 1000%. Let me say this. I totally agree with you. How, when

47:38
Do you feel like there's been a pivotal moment in the industry though? In podcasting? I've only been in it a year so I don't know. I can say there's maybe pivotal moments for me but I don't know about for the industry as a whole. Okay so I will say that it has been fairly recent and that's actually something that I talk about

48:08
and in the audio industry, that did not used to be the norm. And I am happy that that transition has happened, because it is absolutely what you're saying. People are supportive. I mean, I send business to every other person all the time, like, oh, hey, this client does not align with what we do, but I think that this person would be great for you. Or yeah, like you were like, oh, hey, like I met you through Travis. You know, let's talk, let's, you know, like collaborate, do the things.

48:38
a positive change that has happened that I'm like, thank God for that. Because before, I remember now working with people and I was just like, high nose, up in the air, and be like, so I do the whatever. And I'm like, I don't know what to do, but I don't know, I feel compelled to talk to you. Right, right, yeah, 100%. And that's part of it too, is, you know, they're,

49:09
I feel like every TV show has its own podcast. And it's them talking about whatever the TV show is or whatever the series is and stuff like that. And that's fine, but it seems like that's all just self-contained. It's just basically another avenue of advertising for that. Not that there are people that are invested in watching the show, so they may wanna learn more about the people. And I love listening to some of that stuff. But it's like, if you reach out to them and it's like,

49:39
on my podcast it's like oh well you know how many what's your reach how many listeners do you have is it worth my time to actually talk or how much do you pay or how much yeah how much are you gonna pay me to be on your part and it's like you know okay you're you obviously don't fit for my podcast you know what I mean I want to talk to people who just want to have a conversation who just want to be real spend a little time here and be able to be a little vulnerable to

50:09
things. I'm an actual person too. How amazing is that? Five years ago, you probably wouldn't be able to have this reach. That's when I'm like, technology has been the best thing for podcasting because so many people, you come from a background that you have that knowledge, you know how to work a board, an audio board. You come from all of that background in media that you know how to

50:39
it, but I think it's so important that people who have a message can be on your show and they're going to be like, what is a microphone again? They've understood that it's accessible for them. I call it democratized, but in America it kind of sounds a little weird, but it's true. People are able to access a medium in such an easy way. Hey, with your phone, you're communicating with everyone in the world and you're making meaningful connections and you're helping a community.

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of 500, 500, 5,000, 5 million people. Instead of before being gate, all of it was like gatekeeping from like people who knew the industry and that was it. And you had to know people and whatever. And now it's just what a joy, right? To have these conversations and we're chatting here and connecting. It's just wonderful.

51:33
Alright Anna, this is the third segment of the show. It's time now for the Fast Five. The Fast Five is time now for the Fast Five. Fast Five. Sorry, I don't have a theme song, I'm still working on it. Got my music guy working something out, still workshopping some stuff. But it's the Fast Five. No, no, ad libid, always and forever. This is just delightful. The Fast Five is powered by Poddex. It's an app created by our friend Travis Brown. Created for podcasters so that you always have

52:03
and things like that. But it's also great if you grab some of the physical decks and you keep a few cards in your back pocket. If you just need to have a question to ask someone, maybe you're speaking in front of a group, need an icebreaker, they're great. As a matter of fact, if you go to chewingthefatbr.com slash pod decks and use the promo code CHEW, you can get 10% off of your physical decks. But I'm going to use the app, which you can find in any of your app stores. And I'm going to hit the randomizer. No wrong answers. First thing that comes to the top of your head. You ready?

52:33
Here we go, question number one.

52:38
What will we find if we look in the bottom of your closet today? Shoes. Shoes? Is it a lot of shoes? Not a lot of shoes, actually. Shoes and boxes because we're renovating our house, so we had to bring everything everywhere. Gotcha, gotcha. That's awesome. All right, question number two.

53:04
Where's one place you hope to visit before you die?

53:09
I mean, you've been so many places already. I have, yeah. Japan. Yeah? Absolutely, just because it's so different. I feel like when I see Japan and footage and people that have gone there and stuff, it's like New York, but on crack. I mean, it's like New York to 10X speed. It feels like there's so much stuff going on all the time there.

53:39
I think it's beautiful stuff. Especially when you get outside the city, city part too. Yes, I think that's why it appeals to so many people. But in London I met this group of South Koreans and they were telling us that in South Korea everything is open. You can go and renew your passport at 4 a.m. The city just never sleeps. And I'm like, what are you telling me about? That's insane. 4 a.m. I just need to renew my passport. Right. That's a normal thing.

54:09
That's great, Japan. Wow. All right, number three. I'm sorry, Ann. I was like, what? Sorry, my little girl. I guess. That's great, Japan. Wow. All right, number three. I'm sorry, Ann. I was like, what? I guess. That's great, Japan. Wow. All right, number three. I'm sorry, Ann. I was like, what? I guess. I'm sorry, Ann. I was like, what? I guess. That's great, Japan. Wow. All right, number three.

54:19
I'm doing a little dance. It's amazing dance. Goes along with the theme song. You can choose anyone in the world to become friends with. Who would you choose? No, Dolly Parton. Yes. Oh, I love me some Dolly. And she's not, she's only like four hours from here, from where I am, so. I would love to meet her so bad. She just sounds like the most delightful person on earth. Yeah, and when you hear about the stuff that she does,

54:49
at 1000% when you hear about starting the library program with the books and then just all the stuff she's done for her hometown. Yeah, love. And like the COVID vaccine, she funded like a ton of like research too. So I was like, oh yes, Dolly. Love me some Dolly. All right, number four.

55:14
What gives you the creeps? You have anything that just kinda makes you? Oh my God. Yes. Okay. I don't know if this is like, because now I'm like 34 and like suddenly I'm starting to feel all the things. But needles, I like since I was young, I, you know, I fainted. So now just like looking at needles on photos gives me the like, I start feeling like feinty and I'm like, who am I?

55:44
So that's, yeah. And because we live in the time we live, they're everywhere. Well, of course, yeah, yeah. You had to have like four of them here within the past year too. You know, with all of the vaccines and boosters. Yeah, you're scrolling through your social media, boom, vaccine shot. Like needle, and they're like, ugh. I get it, creeps. I am not, I am, needles don't bother me, but I also, especially, I don't wanna look at them. I don't look. It's like, you know,

56:14
I'm like, okay, yeah, all right, do your thing. All right, no, I don't want to look. And if I ever, you know, and I used to give blood a lot more than I do now. But yeah, it's like, all right, do the thing. Don't you want it? Nope, I'm not looking at any of that that's happening. Good to look, yuck, no. I'm glad that you don't need blood. I wish I could, I'm not, I don't know. I'm not heavy enough. Like, I literally have no body, the minimal threshold. Oh, wow. And I was like, oh. Like, I always wanted to do that. I think I would endure that,

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minimum and I was like, oh. Well, I would say like, you know, eat some, eat, you know, a hamburger or two before, but you know, I don't want you to change your health. Yeah, and then I'll be like. Then it's like you go the other way all of a sudden. It's like, no, now it's, now I'm not, now my blood's not healthy enough to give. I just wish, cause this is one of those things that is so nice to do for people, but I'm like, yeah, guess not. Sorry, humanity. We won't be able to have any animal.

57:14
There you go. Go plogging. Go plogging! Perfect. Okay, and number five.

57:24
Are there any foods from your home that you can't find now that you really wish you could have? So I guess that would be from Portugal. Well, in Dallas, there are no Portuguese restaurants, but I'll say the most shocking thing, and since it's summertime, snails. Really? Not the big French ones. By the way, my husband's French.

57:54
I tried the escargot, they are not my jam. Just regular snails, they're amazing, they're delicious. You have a pot of them, they're like on a broth, and you have them with a beer. You like, you sip a beer, and you have like your little like, you know, toothpick, and you pick them out. It's delicious, your face says otherwise. You're like, what is wrong with that? Yeah, wow. Well, you said you're like here in Dallas, I thought you were gonna be like, I went out on the driveway, and I harvested me some,

58:24
I like. So, I mean, so was that something that like, just as a child you grew up with, obviously not the beer part. Not the beer part. But as a child you grew up and just had this familial connection to having snails and did you harvest them yourself and stuff? No, they're not really imported from Morocco. You can't just like, they're not sea snails, but they like grow them in specific conditions. My grandma knows how to cook them.

58:54
that is actually quite spicy and all that, but every summertime you would have it. But like the popular saying goes, you can only have snails in months that don't have any R's in them. So that's kind of like, what is it, oysters. You're only supposed to have in months with R's in them. Those cold months. If I'm not mistaken, I think I got that right. Someone let me know in the comments

59:24
if I got that wrong, but I think you're only supposed to eat oysters and lunch with ours, but you're only supposed to have snails and lunch without ours. Yes. Interesting. So if you live in London, like when I was living in London, there's like the little Italy, the little Portugal, and I would go with my friends and we're like, let's get, by the way, the snail's name in Portuguese is caracolis. Caracolis. Caracolis. Caracolis. By the way, Portuguese from Portugal sounds very much like Sean Connery trying to speak Spanish. That's hilarious.

59:54
Is there a dish that the snails recall other than caracoliche? Or that's it? That was pretty much it? I don't know. I think it's just caracoliche. You just go to a pub and you ask for them and they'll serve it. My son moved to Cornwall, England last year. And so the plans are to go visit. So maybe if I make it to London and go to Little Portugal, I can have some caracoliche.

01:00:24
Yes, there you go. Perfect pronunciation, Rob. I'm very impressed. Sir. Thank you for the slow clap. Very good. Yes. Alright, Ana, that is our Fast Five, and that is the show. Thank you so much for being here, spending some time with me. That was delightful. I had so much fun. It's like we're friends all lifelong already. You're so easy to talk to. I love it. I love it. If folks want to keep up with you, what's the easiest way for them to do that?

01:00:54
Well, thepodcastspace.com. That's where like that's our main hub. They can subscribe to the newsletter. All the links to social media are there. We have a ton of resources for free. So the podcast space resources. And and here's the thing. If you're a podcaster, we have a show notes template with prompts that people can use to write better show notes and faster. So hey, whenever you subscribe, you get that for free on your on your inbox.

01:01:24
Awesome! Yeah! That's so great, as I'm about to say. And I will put those links in my show notes so that folks can find you. And of course, you can find more about Ana in the guest page on the website at chewingthefatbr.com as well. But Ana, again, thank you so much for being here. This is just a treat. I really appreciate it. Same, likewise. Thank you for having me. And thank you for having this show and really normalizing these conversations that need to be had. Awesome. Thank you so much.

01:01:54
If you'd like to support this podcast. I'd appreciate it if you bought me a coffee at ChewingTheFatBR.com, but I look forward to the next time we have to sit a spell and chew the fat.