Welcome to Seven Minutes Sunday on the Switch Pivot or Quit podcast. I'm your host, Ayana Angel, and we are going to spend the next seven minutes together, getting you filled up with inspiration and goodness to get your mind primed to achieve greatness as you enter the week ahead. This week we're going to be talking about launching and learning from Maisie Media, what I've learned so far, the journey. So for those who are not familiar, I think you probably would have to be under a rock at this point if you haven't heard me at least mention Maisie Media in some capacity whether it be on the Switch Pivot or Quit Instagram or on an IG Live or maybe even here on this podcast or via an SPQ VIP text message, something you've probably heard me talk about Maisie Media.
One of the reasons for those who are building their own projects and launching their own things, one of the reasons that you have heard me talk about Maisie Media is because you have to start telling people what you're doing and seeding things so that people can expect what's coming before it actually gets there. Most of us are not Beyonce. We can't just drop a project and it be well received with open arms, you have to start letting people know what's coming. So that's what I've been doing with Maisie Media.
So Maisie Media is essentially a podcast network that I am creating, have created and that I am launching and officially launches on September 25th with the debut show, the debut podcast called Millie. Now the Switch Pivot or Quit podcast which you're listening to right now will still continue to be produced under Maisie Media. So you will start seeing Maisie Media more because that is now the parent company for all the podcasts that I am a part of producing. There will be much more content to come from Maisie Media and all the content is specifically curated for women.
And the difference is the Undoed Undead podcast network, the no-bro zone. So that's what I've been working on and you know it's crazy because this podcast journey I had no idea where it was going to take me when I started. And the reason why I feel like it's important to share that piece with you all is because a lot of you are in a season of transition. You feel like you have to figure it all out.
You have to know what you want to do next and what that means and what that's going to look like two to five years from now and how that's going to help advance your career or shape your life in one way or another. But the one thing that I know I learned is that you may have all these grand plans and you may think you have it all figured out but you never really know. You got to get in the trenches. You got to do things.
You got to start things. You got to try things. You got to put yourself out there. You have to step outside of your comfort zone in order to start really seeing things take shape and allowing yourself to be guided in the direction that's best for you.
When I left my nine to five, I didn't leave with this big entrepreneurial plan. I left to become a writer and I thought that's what the big plan was going to be. But to my surprise, that wasn't the direction that was actually meant for me. That wasn't where I could show up strongest and impact the most people and it's funny because I used to sit there and think at my job like a part of the reason why I was over it and I didn't really have any interest in continuing to do it because I knew that I had a purpose that was a bit larger and I knew that I wanted to impact people.
I just didn't know how. I didn't know what that would look like. I wasn't the chief encourager then. I guess I was but I just didn't know it.
So for me this journey has had a lot of twists and turns, a lot of lefts and rights and that's a part of how the name Maisie media originated because Maisie is derived from the word Mais and when you're in a maze and you're trying to navigate your way through a maze, it's sort of like our lives. You have to decide whether you're going to make a left sometimes, you have to decide whether you're going to go right sometimes and through all of it, you don't know what the right or wrong answer is. You're trying to feel your way through it. You're following your instincts.
You're going with your gut and then you're trying to get to this end of the maze. You're trying to get to this sweet spot in life where you feel like you've figured a lot of it out but throughout that journey, there's twists and turns, there's left and rights. So our lives look very similar to a maze and I wanted Maisie media to be a space, a destination, a home that will accompany women on that journey and through that journey with positive encouraging uplifting, inspiring, enlightening, entertainment throughout. So that is how the name came about and I really when I started podcasting, I really didn't know like I said where this journey would take me but I did start to notice early on that there was a void and the void was that there wasn't a hub for women, there wasn't a home for women and there wasn't a real strong voice for women.
Things have started to evolve more in rapidly actually within the last couple years and you're seeing a lot more happening like comedian Amy Schumer signing a reported million plus dollar deal with Spotify to do a show that last eight episodes and I think it's actually already done. It's already the last episode is already aired. So, you know, when I first started and that it was extremely long ago for those who don't know, it was it was going on, it'll be two years in January that I've been podcasting. But you know, I immediately recognized that there was a lack of community, especially among women and really also among women of color.
I noticed that our voices just were not prevalent like that. And that is also one of the drivers for me creating Maisie media is because I want women to have a destination, a hub, a home for voices that they can connect with, from people that they can connect with and connect to. And I hear it all the time and I see I actually just got tagged on a tweet the other day where a woman was saying, Hey, can somebody refer me to some female led podcast because I'm so sick of all the dude stuff? I don't want to hear another dude talk.
And it's funny because there isn't one specific destination. There are people trying to make inroads within the space, but you know, there's still some ways to go. But even though there's still some ways to go, podcasting is growing, it's growing like crazy. He has a podcast now and according to Fast Company, podcast ad sales in the United States were up 86% last year at a at $314 million, okay.
And podcast ad sales are projected to grow to $659 million by 2020. But this is the reason that I share this with you is to let you know the scope and to let you know that there's growth in this space happening and to help you to understand why I'm entering this space in a bigger way and why this means so much to me. In order to get even a sliver of that piece of that pie, as women, we have to show up for and support each other in big ways and in little ways, just even the simplest way that you may think, oh, that doesn't really matter. You know, he she won't notice if I don't do this or I don't do that.
Or if I do, you know, it'll go unnoticed. Things like sharing a new podcast that you find with a friend or with multiple friends. That kind of stuff matters. Things like going on to your favorite show on iTunes and hitting just the star rating.
If you don't have time to do anything else, rating it, especially if you like it and you enjoy it week to week and you constantly find yourself coming back for more, go and write the show. That's the kind of stuff that matters because that's the kind of stuff that people who are tracking the metrics they see and they use to determine what's high and what's not. So you want to make sure that you are supporting your women, okay. You want to make sure that you're supporting your women.
You ladies supporting me in this venture, it matters. It matters. I can't tell you how happy and touched I was this morning when I checked the iTunes reviews for the new show, Amelie, and I seen that eight of you had already showed up for me in for amazing media. Eight of you.
Now, that may not seem like a lot to many people, but it means so much to me because it's support. It's you showing up. It's you saying, I'm here, I got you, I hear you, I'm supporting you, and that means so much. And in order to win in this competitive, male-dominated space, the truth of the matter is, I need your support.
I can't do this without you all. If I'm creating this for you, but I'm not touching you and I'm not connecting with you and I don't have your support, then it's pointless. It's nothing. It means nothing.
It'll disappear. It'll go away. So the truth of it all is that I need your support. I need you.
If you even sort of like what I've been doing with Switchcover Quit and you can envision it going bigger and doing more, and even me going bigger and doing more with Maisie Media because of what I've shared with you so far, then I need your support because that's the only way it gets bigger. That's the only way I'm able to do more with it. That's the only way that I'm able to hire people and produce better quality and make some inroads in spaces where I haven't even been before is by your support. That's when it comes down to.
So a part of the reason that I feel really, really, really, you know, touched by the support as well is because if you watched the newest IGTV for Switchcover Quit, then you'll probably already know that I had some hiccups this week, earlier this week, and I'll admit that I was feeling a little less than hopeful. I had a moment of just like that going through your head feeling like, who do you think you are at a launch this network and think that this new podcast and Millie will even make a splash. And I felt that way because I had encountered a hurdle yet another hurdle I should say because my journey obviously hasn't been free of hurdles. So a Millie is the new podcast under Maisie Media that's launching on September 25th.
I wanted to put out a teaser for a Millie just to give you guys an idea of what you can expect. So if you're unfamiliar with podcasting the way that it goes is you upload to your host and then you send RSS feed, which is kind of like RSS blog type feed, you send that feed to iTunes and iTunes publishes your content on their platform. But when you're starting a new show, it's sort of a process. You have to submit it.
You have to submit this new show to iTunes. So late Monday night, well, really Monday night, let's say, because it started getting late eventually. It turned into the wee hours of Tuesday morning, Tuesday morning, this trailer for a Millie was supposed to launch. It was supposed to be there.
Now it was there on my host, the podcast host that I used, but it was not available on iTunes because when I went to submit it on iTunes, for some reason, the iTunes podcast submission page was down. I tried every device. I was racking my brain. But the time I finally tapped out and said, okay, just go to bed and try this tomorrow morning.
Like maybe there's just a glitch and they'll fix it in the morning. By the time I went to bed and tapped out, it was like 4.30 in the morning. And I had done all that I could do. And I was tired and I was frustrated.
And I felt a little defeated because I'm like, I wanted this to be up and out tomorrow. So how could that be if I can't even submit it? So I was frustrated, went to bed, woke up around 7.30, 8 o'clock the next morning and went back to the website again. First thing I did, logged on, still not loading.
So at this point, I'm like the website's down, like what's going on. So I still tried some more things, still down, can't figure it out. I ended up emailing or sending in a help request to iTunes and eventually, later that day, the website was finally back up. But obviously, like, yes, I'm happy about that.
But, you know, I feel, I'm starting to feel like I missed my window. I am telling people on Instagram Live Monday night that you're going to hear the trailer tomorrow. But although the trailer is ready and it's there, I don't want to push all the traffic to my host website. I want to push it to iTunes because iTunes is the one that will chart you.
You can get on the charts for iTunes. You can make the new and noteworthy, but you can't do that if people are not listening through iTunes. So obviously, I felt just like, ugh, I was frustrated, I felt defeated, but I still kept going. I still kept going.
And I was like, okay. So finally, the website comes up. It's working now. So it wasn't a problem with me.
It wasn't anything that I was doing. It was something that was going wrong on their end. So I submit it. This is Tuesday.
I submit the podcast. Now I'm checking every hour just to refresh the page to see if like, it's been accepted, but it still just says submitted. So now I'm just getting even more like anxious. Then Wednesday comes.
Still says submitted. I'm anxious. Still. Then Thursday comes.
Still says submitted. I'm anxious. Still. In the rest of the week, I can pretty much sum it up like this.
I didn't get as much done in terms of work because I felt stuck. And let me say that in terms of work toward launching this new podcast, Amelia, I felt stuck. I really felt like I was in this holding pattern because I wasn't sure when things would start to click when it would actually be available on iTunes. And I also learned a lesson.
Although you feel like you have these dates that you want to adhere to when you are dealing with a third party, when you're dealing with someone else that you can't control, you have to try your best to be prepared for that. What that could have looked like for me was submitting this podcast a week in advance just because I didn't know what the possible glitches may have been. And maybe that's why I took them so many days to actually approve the podcast because they were having issues on the back end. I don't know, but I do not remember going through this process before.
I don't remember ever having to deal with a submission taking so long. So what I could have done and what I will do in the future to be safe is to submit it way before I actually wanted to be available. So that's one thing that I learned. So jumping back into the story on Friday, I'm recording an IGTV video for you guys.
And I'm telling about this process and how like fresh running it's been. And I decided to bring you guys with me to go back and check the website now to see if it actually says active now with a green light versus submitted. I go on there. I'm hopeful and but I don't know what I'm actually going to see.
I click the refresh button and it's now active and I'm like, yes. But then I feel another set of pressure because now I have to let everybody know it's active. Now. Now finally it's here.
Please go listen. Please go listen. Please go right because it's finally here. Even though I told you it was going to be here on Tuesday, it's Friday and now it's finally here.
But I didn't let that get me down. I didn't let it get me down. I shared it with you all and I let you guys know that the intro, the teaser, the trailer, whatever you want to call it was now available. I gave you links to go listen via IG stories and you guys, the love was so real.
You did not let me down. You lifted me up more than anything. You lifted me up. You shared it on your platforms and on your IG stories.
You left me comments and said that you were so excited about what was to come and then on the new Maisie media Instagram and it's just Maisie media, M-A-Y-Z-I-E media, M-E-T-I-A. Go follow on that account. I got a message, a comment that just made me be like, Oh, much, I just, I needed this one. It's from the user name, Biz for Biz, Biz the number for B-I-Z and quite honestly, I know a lot of you that I regularly engage with on Instagram, like I know your handles, I know your little icon, like I know who you are, but I had never had much interaction with Biz for Biz at this point, Biz for Biz is new to me.
So I was surprised when I read this message, but I just, my heart was just warm. I felt like the love. So Biz for Biz commented under the Amili cover art, which you can see on the Switch Pivot or Quick Instagram or the Maisie media Instagram. It's on both.
Biz for Biz says, Maisie media, just downloaded and reviewed it. Ladies, let's get Maisie media burning on the podcast charts. And then she put three fire emojis and I was just like, Oh, thank you so much. That simple message right there meant a lot to me because how many times do we launch things and it feels like nobody's listening, nobody's paying attention, people don't even really care.
And to receive that message and to know that I have people behind me and rooting for me and cheering for me, that I didn't even know of, it just feels so good. It feels so good, especially coming off of a week where I felt a little like defeated, like what the heck. And a part of the reason I felt defeated too is because I felt like, look, I'm launching this network, but I bet if I were a larger network, like one of the big boys, you know, one of those super bro networks, I'd probably have a contact, a email address for somebody right at Apple podcast, you know, right there in that department to say, Hey, can you like hook us up help a girl out, you know, or what's going on with the website, at least be able to inquire. And that's sometimes the growing pains that you have to encounter when you're smaller and you have visions of growing bigger, but you know, you got to start somewhere.
But it doesn't mean that it's any less frustrating. I know that there will come a day where I mentioned with the big boys. I'm playing in the same sandbox as the big boys, but right now I'm in my growth phase and I understand that, but that doesn't mean that I can't feel a little defeated or annoyed even at times. So I just want to say to you, I know you're out there working hard chasing your dreams, trying to become the best version of yourself.
And sometimes it feels daunting. Sometimes it seems like an uphill battle to actually get that win, but never count yourself out, never count yourself out. Motivation has to come from within. If that you can do whatever it is that you're trying to do, it has to come from within.
And there's always someone out there that you may not even know behind the scenes rooting for you to win. Believe that. So don't let them or yourself down, keep going. Just keep going.
I hope you have an amazing week this week. This one was a long one. This is a long episode, but I felt like I needed to share the realities of what's going on with you guys and launching amazing media and what I'm learning from this experience. So I hope that you enjoyed wishing you an amazing week ahead this week.
And as always, keep killing it.