In a candid interview with OrlandoVoyager, Tuccy shares how the podcasting community got started
Hi Angel, I am so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I was a late bloomer. As a Navy kid, I changed schools whenever my dad received new service orders. Starting a brand new school mid-way through the academic year, I was shy and always felt left out. I was bullied and highly introverted, and I never felt like I fit in. As an adult, I’m super proud of my dad for caring for his family, but as an awkward kid in school, I didn’t even come close to seeing the benefits of being a Navy kid.
Once I got to high school, the Public Speaker course was a required graduating credit, and because I was too nervous to speak in front of my classmates, I almost didn’t graduate. There was one particular lesson where we were reading a commercial into the school’s radio station microphone, and I could barely muster any volume. My mouth was so dry, and I was so shy. My teacher gave me a passing D, warning me, ‘You’ll never have a career in broadcasting.’
The crazy thing is, I never dreamed of going into broadcasting, yet I ended up with a 10-year career hosting my own talk show. I was a late bloomer in the world of radio. I was in my late 30s when I started co-hosting a podcast with my business partner. Our local radio station discovered our podcast and invited us to start a daily talk show on the AM local dial. After my first broadcast, I removed my headphones and decided I finally knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. I was determined to become one of the country’s top radio talk show hosts.
We were awarded Top Morning Show, Top Morning Hosts, and Best Talk Show Team during my career. I was honored to receive the ‘Most Influential Woman of the Year’ award from my local Chamber of Commerce. We grew our show from a daily 30-minute to hosting the 3-hour morning drive show. Then, I was invited to co-host the most popular Christian talk show in Denver, Crosswalk.
At the time, less than 1% of female talk show hosts were hosting 4 hours of broadcasting every day. During my career, I hosted over 2500 broadcasts and interviewed over 5,000 guests. Being a local radio host opened up doors for networking, emceeing charity galas, running a thriving networking community for entrepreneurs, and becoming the Chairman of the Board for my local Chamber. We hosted an annual Fan Braggin’ Gala where we recognized local businesses with The Extreme Customer Service Award and in recognition of one of our very first clients, we honored someone very special to us with the Ron Skinner Award. From the outside, it looked incredibly glamorous.
Alright, let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what challenges have you had to overcome?
My final few years of broadcasting felt like a blur. I wasn’t sleeping. I wasn’t eating right. I was living on sugar-filled lattes and working to keep the toxic office politics at bay. On air, I was the bubbly, encouraging co-host, but off the air, I felt like I had become a shell of the person I used to be.
The day they took my show off the air turned out to be a blessing. I was given my freedom to pursue a new career, even though, at the time, I felt torn about what path to follow. I went away for a long weekend to change my scenery and clear my head. During that weekend, I drafted an entirely new business model and outlined a course to teach entrepreneurs and organizations how to create media exposure and do their own PR. I recorded 12 sessions and uploaded them online, creating my first Media Mastercourse. I felt like I was too involved with my community to stay in my hometown and try to create something new and different, everyone was encouraging me to stay and continue doing what I had been doing, so I developed a signature talk and began speaking at small business expos around the country. After two years of traveling as a full-time speaker, I started an online group called ‘Need a Guest’ to help my network get booked on radio, television, and podcasts.
After several years of promoting media exposure and teaching a strategic formula of “2 Interviews a Week Plus One Press Release a Month,” the online community really started to expand and my clients started requesting to get them booked only on podcasts, so I made another pivot. Every new pivot requires a shift in focus and all new marketing collateral. I felt like I was returning to the drawing board again, but instead of spilling out a new program in a weekend, it took 3 months to create the new one, working a new business partner and with a few beta clients to work out the kinks and stress-test the system.
I appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about NeedaGuest.com?
‘Need a Guest’ is an online community, a free networking source for finding and booking guests. Paying attention to my clients’ requests and the growth of my online group, we decided to create a new service offering called “Media Firestorm.” Using our in-house network and our online community of podcast hosts, we help our clients get booked for 2 podcast interviews every week, creating a firestorm of 50 podcast interviews in 6 months, and we help them develop a strategy to leverage those interviews for lead generation and book sales calls. It’s been fun to laser-focus on the benefits of being a podcast host. Imagine getting to be interviewed about your favorite subject twice a week. It boosts your energy, creates more exposure, and builds your credibility in the marketplace. It’s a win-win for hosts and guests, and it’s been discovered to be one of the fastest and most profitable ways to grow your following and your business.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
It wasn’t until after I had gone all in on podcast guesting that I realized how valuable it was for business development. I started comparing the benefits of public speaking to being a podcast guest, and the podcast list is super long. Here are just some of the surprising benefits of being a podcast guest. It’s easier to get booked on podcasts than on stages, so it’s a great way to ‘fill in the gaps’ on your speaking schedule, or for those who aren’t comfortable speaking on stages. Plus, there are more podcast opportunities every day than stages, and they are filled with your ideal audience. It’s just as easy, if not easier to share your story in a dialogue and conversation versus putting together a presentation. Even if you aren’t comfortable with public speaking, you’re usually comfortable having a conversation. No travel is required. There are no extra expenses. No fancy wardrobe. Your story can be shared repeatedly. Your story is archived on a popular podcast platform. And my favorite feature is that people have more time in their day to listen to a podcast than to attend an event or webinar where you’re speaking. So, even if you need more clarification on marketing or where to find your audience, we make it easy to get started by providing free access to our online community. It was a hard blow to walk away from broadcasting, but every pivot I’ve made since then has created a clearer path to follow.
Any last comments? It’s more important than ever to find ways to share your story. Every pivot I’ve made since then has created a clearer path to follow. I like to tell people, when you follow your heart, you never make a mistake. That’s something I keep reminding myself.
