You may be aware that recently we decided to begin recording our Black Women About Business podcast on our own, moving away from the beautiful partnership we’ve had with Motor City Woman this last year. Although we loved, loved, loved working with Motor City Woman-who was ultimately the inspiration behind starting our podcast – the decision to go out on our own was driven by a couple different factors.

When we first started out I had no idea about podcasting. In fact, I wasn’t convinced we should even do a podcast. I’m so glad I finally came to my senses because podcasting has been one of the best things we’ve done. Who knew Black Enterprise would name our podcast as one of the top 20 for black women to listen to after less than a year being in the field? Motor City Woman was known as one of the industry experts on podcasting, and we had the good fortune of having them in the heart of Detroit. I could do my interviews in the studio-which I knew I’d have ample options considering Detroit has the largest number of black female entrepreneurs in the country-and therefor maintain optimal sound quality. We were surprised, and fortunate, however, to not just draw powerhouse entrepreneurs from Detroit, such as, Melissa Butler of The Lip Bar (click here for her Changing the Way We Think About Beauty interview), we started attracting equally powerful women from different parts of the country. By the time we decided to part ways with the studio, about half of our interviewee’s were calling in.

The second reason Motor City Woman was so appealing is that they provided all the back end support we needed, from using editing software, to publishing our episodes, to sending us links to the episodes. All I’d have to do was find my subjects, prepare for them, come to the studio once a month for a few hours, edit my episodes, and they would do the rest. Don’t get me wrong, the work involved in doing a podcast is substantial (about seven hours per month for nine, 20 minute interviews), but not having to deal with the technical side made the podcast feel more accessible for me. The more I spent time doing podcasting, I increasingly came across women who were managing every aspect of their podcast on their own. As I dug into the research, I realized just how easy it could be to manage all aspects of your podcast. It was at that point I made the decision to take the leap. Getting a full day back of my time per month, having the ability to record podcast episodes anytime, and saving on gas money were all immense bonuses to the decision. 

A few days after I made the decision to go out on our own, I bought the equipment I needed (professional studio grade Audio-technica headphones and a Samson Recording & Podcasting Pack), developed a podcast scheduling link through Calendly (which is one of the tools I absolutely love), had several interviews scheduled (that I ended up cancelling), and had received several requests from several well-known influencers who wanted to be on the podcast, and yet, no forward movement. I looked back to the research several times, and kept racking my brain about why I had yet to pick up where we left off with Motor City Woman. What I had to come to terms with is that I was stalling, stuck in time, afraid of failure. I had quietly convinced myself that doing the podcast on my own would be a disaster and that I would regret not sticking with Motor City Woman.

Then I had to remind myself that this is exactly what I asked for. And that I can do this, and quite frankly whatever the hell I want to do in this lifetime. And that it won’t be a failure, I mean shit, how could it be? I wasn’t new to this, had success I never dreamed of in this podcasting space. And the irony is that it wasn’t even a space I was convinced was mine to begin with. 

And then I scheduled a date and time to begin again, which just happens to be this Friday, September 20. So here we go again, and we can’t wait to share with you the kinds of interviews we’ll be doing in the coming weeks. As always, we’re looking for fabulous women, just like you to interview. Contact us here if you’re interested in being featured on our podcast. 

So what have you been holding off that you need to plan? Put the date in your calendar today and work your way up to executing on the date you’ve set through small, steady steps. What’s one action you can take today towards meeting that end goal? Need clarity on your next move? Then check out our Be Well Beautiful Woman Retreat which is an all-inclusive luxurious experience overlooking Gull Lake October 25-27. See below for more information. 

Cheers to winning battles,

Demarra West

Founder