I am a control freak. I shared with Carol one time that I took up tango dancing to try to address this. In Argentine salon style tango, which is what I have studied, the follower has no idea what the leader is going to do. The follower may not know how much training the leader has had, or what steps they tend to do. (Most leaders will have a few combinations that they favor.)
As the follower, you have no idea what is going to happen and you just have to follow along and try not to have your feet stepped on – or step on your partner’s feet – backwards and in heels.
That’s right. You have to depend on this stranger to not bump you into other couples on the crowded floor or accidentally steer you off the dance floor or into some other obstacle. A lot of trust is required and the follower is supposed to just receive the lead and respond to it. The follower is not supposed to initiate.
Salon tango is thrilling, freeing, and occasionally maddening.
This experience is very similar to being a podcast guest.
Your podcast host may not know much about you, or they may have researched you and your work.
Your podcast host may or may not want you to send them questions. And even if they do ask you to send them questions, they may go in a totally different direction and not ask those questions.
As when dancing tango, you just follow the host and rely on your training, literally dancing in the moment.
Sometimes it goes well, and sometimes it’s a little frustrating. That is all part of it.
Getting booked on podcasts
Because of my book launch, I have been trying to book as many podcasts as possible. If you want to be a podcast guest to get in front of new audiences with your book or business, here is what is working for me.
Reach out to people you already know. I know this sounds obvious, but sometimes people hesitate to ask for what they need. Say you are currently looking to be a guest and could talk about xxx and would they be willing to book you. Make sure the topic you suggest is relevant to their audience.
Ask to be introduced. I sent out an email to several people I know with big platforms who might be willing to help me promote my book on social media. At the end, I said I was currently looking to be a guest on podcasts and would appreciate some introductions. My friend, Ben Baker, who was a long-time contributor to this blog, introduced me to several podcast hosts who were kind enough to book me.
Amazing! Thanks, Ben!
Do research and cold outreach. I feel like I could talk to three different audiences – career, entrepreneur, and workplace mental health. I did an online search for something like “top career podcasts” or “best career podcasts 2022” and found that someone else had done the work of sorting through the gazillion podcasts out there and created a list. I read the descriptions and narrowed it down to a smaller list of podcasts that seemed like a good fit.
Obviously I would LOVE to be on some of the big ones, but I am starting with the lesser known ones first.
You might be asking what the outreach email would look like to a host who doesn’t know you. Here is what we are going to try for career podcasts:
Hi xxx,
<something about a recent guest or topic covered to show why we are relevant and a fit>
I am reaching out on behalf of Catherine Altman Morgan. Catherine is an award-winning career transition expert, TEDx speaker, and the author of the recently released book, This Isn’t Working! Evolving the Way We Work to Decrease Stress, Anxiety, and Depression. (Amazon page www.tinyurl.com/TIWbook). It was the #1 New Release in Work-Related Health (eBook) and #1 New Release in Sustainable Business Development (paperback).
This is a small book with a big mission – to evolve working so it works better for everyone. We clearly need to make some changes, as evidenced by the Great Resignation, Great Reshuffling, Quiet Quitting, burnout, and an epidemic of anxiety and depression.
Catherine is an engaging guest with more than a decade of experience with live interviews and recorded podcasts. I would be happy to work with you to develop a specific topic targeted to your audience. You can find the media kit, including formatted book PDF and some possible topics and questions here at <link>.
We are starting the outreach this week. Someone else is doing it for me because it is not a great use of my time. I think it should work well and will keep the buzz going about my book.
Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash
