Creative Ways To Expand Your Brand Awareness With Tracy Hazzard Love The Work You Do With Erica Castner

As everyone migrates online, it has become increasingly challenging to make your brand visible. That is why one of the most important things you need to do is to expand brand awareness and stand out from the crowd. In this episode, Tracy Hazzard guests in Erica Castner’s Love the Work You Do podcast to share her knowledge about how podcasting can create more awareness that translates to more business. She talks about the three things that build trust, the difference between guest podcasting versus hosting a podcast for creating awareness and being in a business partnership. What is more, Tracy is also joined by other great experts, Nesha Pai of Pai CPA, PLLC and custom portrait photographer, Andi Diamond, who share their professional insights about making the most of your marketing to create more impact with your brands no matter what industry you are in.

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If you are seeking creative ways to expand your brand awareness, especially if your traditional ways of positioning your brand have been affected by the 2020 pandemic, then this show is for you. In this episode, you’re going to hear from three innovative leaders who have leveraged podcasts, books and are centers of influence to open up more doors to expand their brands respectively. As you will hear in their stories, Tracy Hazzard, Nesha Pai and Andi Diamond are all going to share the lessons that they’ve learned to generate more brand awareness even during uncertain times. How to stand out from the crowd even in a saturated industry and how to make the most out of their marketing and advertising dollars to create more impact with their brands.

Some of the points that we’re going to cover in this episode are number one, we’re going to talk about how to create more awareness that translates into more business. We’re also going to talk about why it’s important to develop the future leaders in your respective professions. Stop thinking about, “I can’t collaborate with other people that are in my industry.” We’ve got to take the time to help lift and rise people within our industries. That’s going to help us succeed in the long run. We’re going to talk about how to leverage volunteer opportunities or pro bono work to generate more publicity for your brand.

We will then wrap this up with Tracy, Nesha and Andi sharing their favorite resources on what’s currently moving the needle for them personally and professionally. Before I get into the actual interview, maybe it’d be helpful if I share it a little bit about each one of our panelists. First up, we have Tracy Hazzard and she is an Authority Magazine columnist, a former Inc. columnist, and a host of five top-ranked podcasts including The Binge Factor and Feed Your Brand. She’s also one of the CIOs Top 26 Entrepreneur Shows. She is the Founder of Podetize.com. Podetize is the largest podcasting production company in the US. As a content product and influence strategist for networks, corporations, marketing agencies, entrepreneurs, publications, speakers, and so on, Tracy influences and cast branded content with $2 billion worth of product innovation around the world. This woman knows her stuff as it relates to positioning your brand on air.

The next one we have is my friend, Nesha Pai. She’s the Founder of Pai CPA, PLLC in Charlotte, North Carolina. She began her career within the world-renowned accounting firm, Arthur Andersen, and then later within multiple privately held Fortune 500 companies as a business consultant, relationship facilitator, and account analysis. She realized that she had a passion for the small businesses and entrepreneurial sector and she started her own firm in 2011. Nesha has continued to nourish her own passion and the business growth of the queen city by creating the Pai Networking Group in 2017.

She also launched her own showing series Piece of the Pai that focuses on allowing successful Charlotte entrepreneurs to share their stories and their business insights. She published a book, Overcoming Ordinary Obstacles which chronicles her journey as a first-generation Indian woman born and raised in the South. Nesha herself has been a Charlotte resident for 25 years. Apart from her growing empire, she enjoys fitness, art, traveling, food and being fashion-forward. I can attest to being fashion-forward. She is a woman that knows how to mix a print, a girl after my own heart.

Expand Brand Awareness: We need to get people to trust us. The faster we do that, the more likely they are to do business with us.

Next up, we have my newest friend, Andi Diamond. She is a custom portrait photographer based out of Tampa, Florida. Her goal is to help her clients feel empowered, confident and beautiful through boudoir photography sessions, personal branding style shoots and family portraits. Andi bleeds orange and blue and has been married to Pete for several years. Together, they have two children: Ethan and Emory. You’re going to love some of the things that she’s bringing to the conversation now because she’s been able to take some tragic moments from 2020 and turn them into beautiful moments of transformation and lasting impressions for not only her clients to see but for the rest of the world to experience. We’ve got a fully packed show now. We’ve got some powerhouse leaders who are going to bring us the goods as it relates to helping us expand your brand awareness more creatively and more confidently. With that said, let’s dive into the show.

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Tracy, Nesha and Andi, thank you so much for being a part of this awesome show. I’m super jazzed that we’re going to be able to share with our audience ways to expand their brand awareness. We have the panelists that are guiding us through this conversation. They are a wealth of knowledge as it relates to helping you establish creative ways to position your brand from a place of strength and doing it in a way that is going to serve you. There are going to be a lot of ideas that will come up in this conversation. Don’t feel like you have to own every single one of these ideas. Take one and apply it to your world and then figure out ways that perhaps long down the road you can incorporate some other things along the way. I’m going to steer our conversation to our first panelist, and that’s Tracy. Tracy, my question for you is how does podcasting create more awareness that can translate into more business?

The thing about business building and brand building, in general, is that we all want to need to increase our trust factor. We need to get people to trust us. The faster we get them to trust us, the more likely they are to do business with us. How can we do that in a way? One of the best ways to do that is to be in their ear. That voice in their head that says, “You might want to try this. This is an interesting way to think about things. This is a new viewpoint on the world.” All of a sudden, we’re planting these ideas in their head and that translates right back into them thinking, “Maybe I want to do business here.”

The best part about it is that in doing podcasting or anything that you do consistently and constantly, something where you show up week after week. Whether it’s a Facebook Live stream, YouTube, Instagram TV, or anything like that, it doesn’t matter what that is but as long as you’re showing up week after week, you’re showing consistency. Consistency is something that everyone looks for when you want to build trust. They want to know that you’re going to show up for them and you’re going to do the job that you say you’re going to do. It’s a bit of a characteristic of building trust. The most important thing to trust-building is showing care.

If I give fully my information of all the things that I can share, all the topics of my network, all the different things that I can give to you, I do that freely through something like a podcast or videocast or live stream, what I’m doing is I’m sharing that I care about you and your growth. That is the biggest factor in building trust quickly. I talked about care, consistency and then capability because you’re demonstrating some skill in that process. Those three things are trust builders and that’s why podcasting is working for people.

I think there are a lot of professionals that might be reading to this now and thinking, “Tracy, why would I even give away all my best stuff? You’re telling me to give away my best stuff on a podcast? Are you crazy?” I bet Tracy would have a thought to share on this as well. With you sharing some of your best content, the beautiful part is that not everybody can retain your content in the way that you deliver it and the scope of how you deliver it. If you’re showing up and adding value and you’re giving the juicy details of what it is about the thing that you do, people are willing to pay for an organized way to learn that process or to have you do the thing that they need your help with. Being willing to show up and provide that value and doing it in a way that’s going to provide excellence and care is going to demonstrate that trust factor faster than anything else. I appreciate you sharing that.

I know you’re going to have some other juicy nuggets to share with our audience. I’m excited and looking forward to diving into the conversation deeper with you. My next question is for Nesha. You are a woman that puts herself out there in terms of your podcast and your book and with your accounting firm. I generally don’t see a lot of accountants doing the things that you do to position your brand. I’m interested as to what made you start your own accounting firm. What was that thing that made you put yourself in that capacity to work in this industry?

I think I’m displaced. If you read my book, I should have always been in fashion or design. My parents were not going for that. I got into accounting. I was good at it and I started my practice years ago because I found an underserved niche in the marketplace from my previous firm that I had gone to when I got back into the workforce after being a stay at home mom for six years. They had neglected the small business entrepreneurial sector. I found that to be a gold mine. My boss did me a favor five years after getting into that firm and told me that I wasn’t where my peers were because I had that blip in my resume from being a stay-at-home mom.

I Jerry Maguire-d out of my firm from that day. I took my one big client with me and I was like, “I’m going to do this and I’m going to do it better.” I grew from there. I was right on the money that this sector, the small business and entrepreneurial, solopreneur sector is highly underserved. That was my purpose. When he told me that I wasn’t good enough to move forward in the firm, I said, “I’m out of here.” I’ve made more money than he told me I would years ago. I hope he reads this.

Thinking about the things that you do to tell that story and other mediums, like I said, through your book and through your podcast, it’s inspirational to hear the things that you do to rally and support and champion behind other. Not just solopreneurs and small business owners, but especially women solopreneurs and entrepreneurs. Helping them get a good foundation underneath them, especially when it comes to these numbers. Let’s face it, we might be good at what we do and I’m speaking for myself.

Expand Brand Awareness: When you’re building a brand, it is always better to be the host.

I’m getting better at learning the numbers because I am a business owner now, but I’ve got to tell you that I didn’t run a business because of that. I was scared. I feel like a lot of our audience now, if you’re scared of those things, challenge yourself in different ways to align yourself with rockstars like Nesha, who are supporting and rallying and champing for solopreneurs and business owners like you to help them sort that stuff out. Nesha, I’m super grateful that you’re here. I know we’re going to read and hear some other pearls of wisdom as we dive into this conversation.

Andi, my next question is for you. I haven’t known you very long. I think I’ve known you the least amount of time, but in the short amount of time that I’ve known you, you were super active in your community. I know on top of that, you’re also a busy mom and you’re a busy business owner. How do you navigate all of those roles and still put yourself out there in terms of brand awareness and putting all of that stuff out there so people can find you and work with you?

I feel like one of the things that are positive for your brand is finding something that you’re passionate about, whether it be something in your community, a charity, something that’s very meaningful to you, and then connect that to your brand. As Tracy was saying, people want to do business with people who they trust. When you were putting yourself in a position that you are also helping different organizations within your community, that automatically builds up a brand trust, plus it’s a feel-good factor.

You feel good when you’re doing something for your community or you’re doing something for an organization that you know can use some help. Especially right now with everything going on, our charities and our community are suffering. They had to cancel all of their events and their big fundraisers. They could use help from talented people who have skillsets and who have things that they’re capable of doing that can benefit their organization. I think it’s a win-win.

You are leveraging your efforts when you are getting involved with the community because there are decision-makers within those nonprofit organizations or some of those other community associations. I find that when somebody is trying to get the in, whether it’s our local market or the regional market, or maybe they’re trying to expand beyond those markets, it’s sometimes tethering yourself to a nonprofit organization, not with the intention that you’re going to gain a bunch of business from it. That’s the only caveat I’m going to throw it out to this mix.

For our audience who are thinking about that strategy, it is super smart because you are meeting the people that are already passionate about that nonprofit or that organization that you’re passionate about. You already have that commonality and then with the business stuff, it’s a matter of time before that gets woven into the conversation, or at least people start recognizing you for what you do and how you show up in the marketplace. I’m eager to dive into your discussion points further in this conversation. Thank you for being here.

Tracy, I’m going to circle this conversation back to you. This is one of my favorite questions because there are two sides to podcasting. Maybe you could probably break it down to even more because you know all things related to podcasting. In my world, I feel like that there are two sides to it. The host side and then the guest side of things. Could you talk a little bit about the effectiveness of guest podcasting versus hosting a podcast for creating awareness?

When you’re building a brand, it is always better to be the host. You want to own the audience at the end of the day because you want to sell them something. You want to enroll them in something, whether it’s a mission or a social good program, or it is your business goals. We think about that’s hosting side of things, but many people think, “I’ll go guesting and I’ll go use other people’s audiences.” That sounds like the logical thing and easy thing to do but the problem with that is there isn’t quite that even exchange.

If you’re not doing it smartly, if you’re not out there doing a matched audience idea, if you’re going out there and saying, “This show is the most popular show so I want to be on that show,” some of those popular shows are like The Joe Rogan Experience. I would never be a good guest on The Joe Rogan Experience. He and I would probably get into a massive argument, which would do great with his audience, but not draw anyone to me. We want to think about that as like, how do we match it up? This is a challenge because you don’t know. Is this a successful show?

Dream Teams: Working Together Without Falling Apart

Who’s their audience? You have no idea. Sometimes they have no idea because all the information is controlled by iTunes or Spotify or iHeartRadio or any of those platforms. They don’t even always have an idea of who their audience is. It sounds good. It looks great on your press page, but it doesn’t always translate into book sales or into business leads. If that’s our goal, we want to be the host because we always think about it like this, “Who’s more important when there’s an interview going on?”

Is it Oprah or whoever she’s interviewing no matter how big a celebrity they are? Even if she’s interviewing President Obama, who’s more important? She’s more important at the end of the day because her audience is there because she attracts them. That’s where we ultimately want to put ourselves in. Guesting is a great way to lead into that but at the end of the day, the hosting is where the brand power is.

I think that there are certainly ways that you can be artful about the guesting opportunities but there’s a whole other set of strategy that goes into that play. Regardless of our audience now are thinking especially if they’re wanting to evolve their brand. They are thinking about which way to go, doing a pros and cons list for your own unique situation and then partnering with somebody, like Tracy and her husband, Tom, at Podetize to figure out what your next best step. A lot of times people think it’s an overwhelming commitment. Yes, it is because it is making sure that you are creating consistent content but partnering with somebody like Tracy and Tom who are doing some of the heavy lifting on podcasting can certainly help support you in your goals. Tracy, do you have something you wanted to chime in?

It’s the strategy that matters. It’s not like it’s a one-size-fits-all, “Let me follow a course and do it exactly.” Many people have gone out there and done The Joe Rogan Show and what happens is that it doesn’t work anymore because we’re in the ‘we’ cycle of the business. We are looking at how can we be more community-focused, more outward focused, more focused on what the audience’s desires and needs are. With that, we need a different strategy. We don’t need to show that says, “It’s all about me now.” Strategy matters in there and it matters whether you’re guesting or hosting. Thank you for bringing that up, Erica.

Consider that before you consider anything else for sure. Nesha, my next question is for you. What are you most passionate about in your work now and how does that translate into how you create your own brand awareness?

To piggyback off what Tracy said earlier in the show about service, for me, I’m all about empowering the small business owner and entrepreneur on their financials. There’s such a need and I feel like the financial statements and understanding your finances do hold people back from growing their business or expanding because they don’t understand it. One of the things I found through COVID, a complete byproduct of what I was intending was when the PPP and the EIDL and all the CARES Act information was coming out, I set out to share information. I didn’t care who was my client or not my client. I put it out in all my social media forums.

I found that a lot of CPAs were ghosting them or they didn’t have time for them. I set out on this mission of sharing everything I could learn, which was daily. A byproduct of that was I picked up all these new clients. I got onto different media platforms on TV and magazines to talk about it just by being of service and sharing information. I became an expert unbeknownst to me of disseminating all of that information during COVID. I’m passionate about sharing and empowering financial information. That’s why I got into what I did because I know it like the back of my hand and I want other people to feel just as confident because it is an important part of running a business.

It’s important and it’s confusing at the same time. When I saw you step into the spotlight as it relates to sharing that information, even at times, it seemed like, “Is the government even figuring this out?” Something was new every day. Every day, there she was on my social media feeds to polling up saying, “There have been some new changes, but here’s how this rolls and here’s how it affects people.” I said this in another conversation. There are opportunities amongst COVID-19 and all of the travesties that we’re experiencing right now in 2020.

There are plenty of opportunities. We just have to be willing to say, “Where are those gaps?” Being willing to draw in and say, “I’m not going to take advantage of situations, but if I can show up and serve, I perhaps maybe could open up another market in something that wasn’t even relevant months ago.” Months ago, did anybody think that people would be selling blinged-out masks? My yoga company where I get yoga gear got this rainbow iridescent visor.

I’m like, “I need that.” I never thought I would need that months ago and now they’re selling them for $70. To that point going back and I digress, being of value and showing up and serving and supporting is another way to extend that brand awareness, but also taking something that’s very complex and putting into simple terms. It is a lifesaver for people out there that need it. They will go to you because you were able to do that. Nesha, thanks for sharing that and thanks for all the work that you did to unravel such a difficult topic.

Thank you and you are welcome.

I know you’re still unraveling it on some levels. Thank you for that. We’re going to turn my next question over to Andi. This is a COVID-19-related question. I know with everything that’s happening right now with not only COVID-19 but then also with the Black Lives Matter Movement, what have you done specifically to support your community at large?

Expand Brand Awareness: Erica Castner

One of the projects that I created is called Portraits 4 Progress. What I decided was that I have the opportunity as a photographer to creatively allow people who I know, clients, prospective clients and people who I don’t know at all the ability to share their thoughts, their fears, their anger, their struggles and their hope for the future in a creative project. I opened up the doors to my studio and it’s COVID-friendly where we cleaned everything and we all stayed a bit of a distance from each other. I invited people to come in and hold up a sign or a message or a memo where they had the ability to share their thoughts. Collectively, I then put all of those images together to create what I think has turned into a powerful slideshow of people’s emotions given the current climate that we’re dealing with.

It was amazing and impressive to me because I had people from all different ethnicities, backgrounds, sexual orientations and all walks of life who came to support our community. One of the things that I tried to drive home is what we’re wanting to do in this project is to show our support of the black community. In doing so, I don’t want to turn this into a political thing by any means, but this is a platform that you can show your support for the community. By showing your support for that community, you’re not downplaying anybody else.

It’s taking a situation or an event in our world right now and instead of running away from it, finding a way to not capitalize on it but shedding some light, but leaning into it and having an artful discussion and doing it in a thoughtful, compelling and a meaningful way. Sometimes, looking at those opportunities to not capitalize on it, not necessarily turn it into something that you know is going to be perceived as an opportunistic kind of thing, but saying, “What is it that I can do to add value to the conversation, to lean into it and to show support?”

If it happens to add some additional recognition to the things you’re doing, then that’s a beautiful by-product. I love the way that you were able to bring both of those instances where you were doing the front porch portraits, and then obviously with the portraits for a change initiative, both of those things were executed beautifully. I’m excited about all the things that you were able to accomplish with those initiatives. We’re going to turn our round of questions back over to Tracy. You work with your husband and your daughter every single day. It’s cool how you work with both of them. How does this contribute to or take away from loving what you do?

I did this before the pandemic. For those of you who are being thrown into this situation, I might have some coping tips. The thing is that I’ve worked on and off with my husband for several years. It’s been a joy. It is the reason I love what I do every day. We are creatives and at the end of the day, our brain doesn’t just shut off. For us to be able to have melded that into our lifestyle and that we’re here supporting each other, growing each other, believing in each other and having each other’s backs is a beautiful thing.

Being a solo in business is hard and I’ve done that too. When you’ve got a great partner, who’s not just in it for where the business is going and what that is happening, but it’s in it for the lifestyle and the way you want to live and the way you want to grow, that’s beautifully brilliant. Add into the mix a daughter. She is our COO. She’s responsible for the growth of our team from 12 people to 60 people. She’s massively responsible for all the processes, the systems and everything that went into hiring the right people. She’s responsible for that.

She was adding a second knee and that was amazing, but it does put a strain on the mother-daughter relationship because she’s young. She hasn’t had a lot of work experience and when your first work experiences are your mom’s company or your dad’s company, you come into this world thinking, “Why are they right about anything?” You have a lot of conflicts. You do have to learn how to accept that and work that through. That can make for some trying days. That I think has been the biggest difficulty for us in the scope of things.

Tom and I, in many years of doing this, came to a system by which we might argue in the office and we might disagree about something, but we leave it right there because we know it’s not a fundamental thing. You argue with your 25-year-old and they take it as you criticize them fundamentally. You have to learn different communication skills over time in order to keep loving what you do. It’s a big joy because we’re all in it together. We’re building something big and then we’re excited about it together.

It’s unique to have that situation where you have everybody within the family that is excited about moving in the right direction. I think at the end of the day, if you can all keep that perspective, it does make things a little easier. It’s ebbing and flowing the different communication styles to make that work. Congratulations on the team growth because of the evolution and the growth of the things that you’ve been able to bring to the table, you and Tom alone, and now bringing in your sweet daughter. Being able to grow the team in the way that you have is impressive.

Thank you.

You’re welcome. My next question is for Ms. Nesha. You are the quintessential queen. Since I’ve known you for a short amount of time, there’s no doubt in my mind that anybody could talk to you and not know that you were super passionate about women. You’re passionate about making sure that they are on the rise and doing the things that they need to do to achieve success. Let’s talk about some of the ways that you help other women rise and within not only the CPA profession but even outside of the scope of the CPA profession.

I grew up feeling lonely, especially in a male-dominated profession here in the South. Sad to say, I never had a mentor in college and in my career early on. Had I had a mentor, my life could have been different in my profession. Things happen the way they did, and I love what I do now and who I am. Because I didn’t have a mentor, I felt like I needed to be a mentor when I got out here. I feel that in my faith, I am here where I am because of God and I want to pay it forward. It is my mission to help younger women. I employ stay at home moms. My entire team is all women because we wear many different hats and we do many different things. I felt the void of not having a mentor in my life. I want to be a mentor to others and being a mentor is one of the ways that I want to be a servant leader and I enjoy it. I love it. I’m giving back in a way that I missed out in my earlier years. Women will run the world. I do believe that.

Your whole perspective of empowering women in a situation that you could have easily been salty about like, “I didn’t get that in my early career. Forget it. Nobody gets it.” Taking into perspective that the only way that we are going to grow and the only way that our society is going to evolve is if we do to Sarah Benken’s words and part of the KNOW Tribe is lifting and rising other people through the process. Sticking together, not being stingy with the things that we know and not giving the farm away either. We want to make sure especially if we’re in the capacity of our coaches or trainers that are reading to this show right now. There’s no expectation to go out there and give away the farm, but there are opportunities to show up, be that servant leader, like Nesha said.

At the end of the day, our legacy is going to stand for. In terms of the brand awareness game, let’s face it, we’re building a legacy here. We’re spending all this time working on expanding our brand awareness. On some level, we’re thinking about the ultimate legacy goals. I think that’s super vital and super important. Thank you for that remark, Nesha. I appreciate it. Andi, for you, what is it that you do to empower the women in your world?

I have a private Facebook group it’s called ADP Diamond Girls. It’s been awesome seeing it grow because it’s shown me that women do want to be a part of a tribe where they are supporting other women. I feel like it goes back to that whole everything we learned in kindergarten. Where if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all. In my group, it’s all about helping women feel good about themselves. Helping women feel supported. Helping give advice or ideas if a woman needs some suggestions. In my career, I do that through personal branding portraits and through boudoir portraits. To talk about boudoir portraits for a minute, you don’t have to be 22 years old and a size zero to do boudoir portraits.

I feel like that’s something that society as a whole and through social media, we have these ideas in our heads or we were taught these ideas in our heads of what beautiful is and it’s not true. Some of it may be true, but also what’s to say that somebody in her 40s, 50s, 70s can’t feel beautiful, sexy and confident in her own skin? I love helping women of all ages, sizes, shapes, and colors to feel beautiful and feel confident. If a boudoir session is a route that they want to take to feel that kind of confidence for themselves, then love to be able to help them reach that goal. It’s fun. I love helping women to feel good about themselves and feel good about the skin that they’re in wherever they are on their personal journey.

That shows in the work that you do. It shows up in the other projects that you align with too and going back to what does it truly means to define branding and defining what that means for you. You found a niche and you found an opportunity to hone in on tapping into the beauty and wherever that lies for many of us because that is subjective. Making people feel empowered and having a brand that essentially puts wraps it up and puts a bow on it, it’s super empowering within itself. Congratulations on all of that success as well. You are a superstar.

Thanks.

You’re welcome. With that said, ladies, I cannot believe that we are almost out of time. It is crazy how fast our time goes on these episodes. I did have a final question for you and I wanted to make sure that I asked the same question of each of you because I feel like this is something that our audience is going to learn a lot in this short question that I have for you. My question is what book or podcast or what are the resource that you’re consuming or something that you consumed in the past that is either moving the needle or something that has changed the game as it relates to your business or life? Tracy, I’m going to ask that question of you first.

You think for me it would be podcast but I listen to podcasts 5 or 6 a week just for business and for evaluating them for my show. It’s not my go-to for me to learn something because of that, although at a certain time in life, it was. For me, I’m still a reader. I’ve always been a reader. I probably consume at least a book a week, maybe more. I’ve been reading Dream Teams, which is Shane Snow. He’s one of my favorite writers. I follow his newsletter and LinkedIn. He has a fabulous view on growing businesses, especially businesses that have a tech edge. Because we’re about to go into a large capital growth plan in 2020, I’ve been trying to figure out how am I going to merge and acquire companies and build a team that’s cohesive and collaborative? Also, does all the things that I want the culture of my company to be. This book has been fabulous. I’ve taken many notes and highlighted many sections of it. I keep coming back to something that he said and researching more on that. That’s been probably the biggest one for me.

Nesha, the same question.

I have been listening to The Play Big Movement podcast by Sharon Lechter. Sharon was the co-author of Rich Dad Poor Dad. I met her at the KNOW Tribe Conference in 2019. She lives out in Arizona. Her podcast is amazing because she is also a fellow CPA, an entrepreneur and an author, which is what I am and want to be and want to be more of. She talks to a lot of entrepreneurs who have been successful. I’ve learned a lot from listening to her episodes.

That is a great podcast for sure. She is a wealth of information. Andi, the same question for you.

I’m probably the odd man out here because I tend to get a lot of my inspiration and a lot of my ideas from a couple of different mastermind groups that I’m a part of. I connect a lot with other photographers. We share a lot of information with each other, that way we can help to push and motivate each other. I think maybe I’ve got some adult ADD, but I tend to do better when I am speaking directly to someone and I can pick their brain and they can do the thing. I tend to get a lot of great information from mastermind groups. For anybody who’s reading, if they have the opportunity to connect with other individuals within their industry, I highly recommend it.

Especially if we’re thinking about competition over collaboration, there’s much more space in our world if we are thinking about collaboration and looking at people in our industry as peers versus somebody that’s competition. The things that you’re struggling with right now as a business owner, as a leader, as an entrepreneur and as a woman in business, somebody else has already figured it out somewhere else. You’ve got to open up your eyes and your ears to other people that are talking about these things and align with them and find out those best practices. That’s part of the reason why if you’re still reading to this episode now, hopefully, you’re doing that. You’re immersing yourself in what Tracy, Nesha and Andi are sharing so you can be more productive as it relates to putting your brand out there in a more thoughtful and compelling way. Tracy, where can people stay connected with you outside of the space of this interview?

I have multiple podcasts. They can look my name up, Tracy Hazzard, in any podcast player and the one that they’re using right now and they’ll be able to find that. We have The Binge Factor, Feed Your Brand, Product Launch Hazzards, and The New Trust Economy. There’s a ton out there. The best place, if you want to catch me personally is to go to LinkedIn.

Nesha, what about for you?

You could follow me at @NeshaPai on Instagram and from there, you can link to my other businesses and such.

Andi, what about for you? Where can people stay connected with you outside of the space of this interview?

The best way would be through social media, either through Instagram or Facebook and it’s Andi Diamond.

I cannot thank you enough for carving out time to be on this awesome episode. You rock, my friends.

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What did I tell you? That was a golden episode. There were many amazing nuggets shared during my conversation with Tracy, Nesha and Andi. If you have a specific takeaway or something that was a big a-ha moment for you that you gained from reading to this episode, then head on over to Apple Podcasts and leave a quick review on what your biggest takeaway was from this specific episode. Not only will I appreciate reading it because I read every single one of those reviews, but our wonderful guests are also certainly going to want to hear from you as it relates to what you found valuable in this episode.

I could read your review on a future episode. I could give you a shout-out in the near future right here on the show by simply heading on over to Apple Podcasts, subscribing to the show and leaving me a review about your biggest takeaway from this very episode. With that said, we’re going to wrap it up. I’m looking to connecting with you again on a future episode. Remember, you will have what it takes to go out there and accomplish big things as it relates to taking your influence, your income and impact to that next level of awesomeness. We certainly encourage you to utilize the show as a platform to continue to develop and grow your brand awareness. You rock. Have a fantastic rest of your day. We’ll talk again soon. Take care.

Watch the episode here:

Love the Work You Do
Erica Castner