We Chose Authenticity Over Studio Perfection

Speaker 3 (00:00) welcome to this quick interview. This is Tiny Talks with Acast. So first of all, can you guys introduce yourself? Speaker 2 (00:06) I'm Natalie Pilkington with Sugar, Spice and Spirits podcast. Speaker 1 (00:09) Mindy Price. Speaker 4 (00:10) and I'm Kelly Williams. Speaker 3 (00:12) And tell me a little bit about your podcast. I see we're having matching shirts, different shades of pink. Speaker 1 (00:16) We are all about business, life, and real estate with a touch of sass. We always start out with a cocktail, a feature of the day, but then we get into the main dish. And it can be any of those topics, which is a wide variety, but we have a lot of fun. We have pretty strong opinions. And we always say, we're not doctors. We don't play one on TV. So listen at your own risk. Speaker 3 (00:35) And so is this your first podcast movement? Yes. Okay, so and are you guys from the area or? And I guess like what was one thing that you were you know expecting coming into podcast movement just like either growing your podcasts or specific panels or people you wanted to meet? Speaker 2 (00:41) You can't, yeah? Okay. Having beverages, having beverages and making connections with some really cool people. Speaker 1 (00:55) So we learned about it through the podcast host that we're currently using and we said, what else do we need to do? And they're like, we think you've got it already, but there's this conference called Podcast Movement you should go to. So literally we are here to learn. We are making so many mistakes and we're also finding out that we're doing a lot of things right. Totally. yes, networking is super important, but the knowledge and everybody's so friendly. Speaker 3 (01:17) Yeah. Speaker 4 (01:18) Well, we just launched last Friday. so new. So baby brand new. god. So again, we are making connections in how to monetize, how to, you know, advance our, dropping our podcasts. I mean, it's just, we've had so many hurdles to go over, but we get over that one and we go forward and then we find another one. And everyone has just been really super, super helpful in getting us further on the road. Speaker 3 (01:43) Very cool. And so what's, guess, the origin story of this podcast? Like, how did it start? How do you guys know each other? What's the, what's the spiel? Speaker 2 (01:49) Well, funny story. So Mindy and I both were competitors and we both were on a radio show, competitors more or less for different companies. Okay. And we never really met each other, but we knew of each other. So we had an opportunity to work with each other. And when that came up, I was like, we're going to have to meet before that actually happens to see if we can, you know, when you're in high level, high power positions, you've got to gel and mesh. And we did. So we're definitely very, very different, but similar in a lot of ways. So we worked all three of us at the same organization and we ended up leaving the company and we actually thought like, wow, what a better time to start a podcast. Speaker 1 (02:28) Yeah, well and what makes it even more fun. when we were on the radio together not as competitors and Kelly was a featured guest at times Kelly has a medical background so the show we were on was dealing with real estate and we always said we wanted to start a podcast together years ago we said this and so then when Natalie and I were on the radio together people would call in it was calling you could ask questions and then they would come see us in person and they were safe sugar and spice they gave us that nickname and they could never figure out who sugar who spice and we're like depends on the day. Speaker 3 (02:57) it. Speaker 1 (02:58) And there was no alcohol involved on that one. And so then when we were starting this, I was like, let's do something memorable. Let's be sugar, spice, and tequila. I love tequila. And this one's like, Mindy, that's kind of limiting. And I was like, you know, when you know a good tequila, it's very different than, you know, what you used to get sick on, you back in the day. And so she was like, let's make it more open to all kinds of beverages, including mocktails, because I think that's very important to be inclusive. She said, what about spirits? Sugar, spice, and spirits. And there's three of us. so that's how we came together. You've got medical background here. Mine's business and real estate. And I do a lot of keynote speaking, motivational speaking and coaching. And then this one is all about real estate, all about investing. Speaker 2 (03:42) Real estate investing, commercial, single family, multi-family. yeah. Wow. Speaker 3 (03:46) And so your podcast launched last week. Friday. one episode? Three. Three episodes. And then how was kind of like the layout of it? Like what is it? Is it you three talking? Are you bringing on a fourth? Is it, what's the? Speaker 2 (03:52) 3. Speaker 1 (04:01) So we will have guest happy hours, but we haven't started that yet. We actually we were doing it as a hobby and then we realized no, we're onto something where we're enjoying this. It can enhance each of our personal businesses that we have. Speaker 2 (04:14) when it is a hot. We started this stuff out to win it like we're in it to win. Speaker 4 (04:18) to win it. Speaker 1 (04:19) 15 episodes in hat. So it's kind Speaker 2 (04:22) I get what you're saying. Okay. Hobby aspect to it because we hadn't launched yet. Speaker 1 (04:28) So we're like, if this is a legit business, then we need to take it seriously. We need to launch. Nothing is ever going to be perfect. And it hasn't been perfect. Speaker 4 (04:36) But that's also one of the reasons why we came here because we do realize and this is just proof positive of how legit the business of podcasting is. Totally. Speaker 3 (04:45) mean, totally. Speaker 1 (04:46) flowing. Speaker 4 (04:46) Yeah, mind-blowing. people tell us that they've been at this, you 18, 20 years, we were like, I didn't want to have been around that long, you know. So, I mean, it's just really almost overwhelming when you see how much input goes into it and what the opportunities are. And so, yeah, that's one of the nice things about this is we're just like, wow, just really wowed by all of it. Speaker 3 (05:06) And I guess like what's something that you are gonna kind of take into like moving forward with recording from this conference? Like is there anything that you're like, now we have to, like I was just listening to a panel about like keywords and how important that is for like SEO and like just searching. Like is it, like what are your takeaways so far I guess? Or is there so many you can't even choose? Speaker 1 (05:27) There's just so many things because we are so new and learning, but what we're excited about, we're doing a lot of things right. We're trying to have that consistency. We're trying to understand who is our market, who are we speaking to. You can't be all things to everyone. What is that niche? So really identifying that, fine tuning it. What is our 30 second elevator pitch? Being able to do that I think is important. Speaker 2 (05:51) Yeah, I think knowing our audience, which is something that we have a pretty good base, we're already pretty established in the field and the industries that we're in. getting that out, once we launch, we'll be so much better. But being able to watch the data, watch the numbers, and more importantly, interact with our listeners and just build that community that we're looking for because we really want to have that interactive community. not the ones to stay in our shell. Everybody knows who we are when we go places. Speaker 1 (06:20) Like bringing value is so important. one thing, yesterday, so we were sitting there and it may seem small, but I thought it was great. They talked about connecting with your audience. So we're having a conversation and we might think we're funny. Right, right. Are we inclusive of everyone? Does somebody log in and feel like they're listening to their mom, to their friend, to somebody that they trust? And so in our conversations, making sure that we're bringing the audience in, I think is so important. I think we were doing that but we weren't purposeful and in everything that you do there should be a purpose and I think this is going to help us moving forward. Speaker 4 (06:57) Well, and I think you've got such a such a huge variety of people here There's been there's been some podcasts when I talk about authentic and real we're having a podcast and her cat Comes walking across the table and there's this black tail and we're just like, okay, just go with it, and there's Opportunities that we talk and at the end of one of our podcasts we were all in tears Yeah over some very emotional things that happened to all of us in our lives. And I mean, I've got chills and it just it's it's raw It's real, it's authentic, it's us, and no topic is off the table. And so that's why think we're going to really relate to a lot of people, kind of like your one-stop shopping. Totally. Speaker 3 (07:37) Yeah. And do you guys have like a target audience? Or I know you want to obviously be inclusive to everyone, but you know, like even even with releasing it for a couple of days, have you noticed like a trend or? Speaker 1 (07:49) So. Speaker 4 (07:51) With me being in healthcare, one of our topics was becoming, we were all caregivers. And becoming the parent to your parent. And so that's really gonna resonate with people that are, mean, our age. I'm almost 60 and so I'm looking at that target age and then. Speaker 2 (07:59) Yeah. Speaker 4 (08:10) you know, my daughter's got all of her friends listening, she's 28, and so we're like, okay, we have to think of some really cool topics for that. so at this point, we don't really know what that target audience is, but we have so many different topics that I think we're gonna have a good spectrum of age range. Speaker 2 (08:25) I think mostly middle-aged women that are Gen X, empty nesters, kids are finally gone or if they're not gone, I can empathize with you. I also have a bonus baby. Yeah, a nine-year-old bonus baby along with some older kids that I'm trying to get out of the house. If you got any pointers, send it to me. They're great kids, however. So it's just that kind of energy, like life. What are we going through? She's got a kid that just graduated and is engaged. She had one just get married. So we're just experiencing. in life, but we're very p entrepreneurship, business Like that, know Mindy's been meeting people and she's been coaching them and just in business in general, because people do approach podcasting as a hobby. Like, I like history, so I'm going to talk about history. And then they're seven years into it they haven't been intentional with it. So I think that intention is really important. our true audience that I think will shake out will be middle-aged women. And we have a lot of men that follow us that came over from the AM talk show as well, just because we were there. Speaker 3 (09:31) Very cool. Yeah. Well, and I think also, like, I don't know if you feel this, but there doesn't seem that many podcasts that do this, right? Like, target this, like, specific audience and, like, relatability of, like, how, you know, versus, I guess, like, how difficult, also can be when your kids leave or, you know, when you're going through these things and, you know, when you're in your 50s, 60s, 40s, whatever it is. Speaker 1 (09:55) We're still on our 40s. Speaker 2 (09:55) Still there. Barely. Hang it on. Well, and so we're an empty nester, but then you got your parents moving in. So you think you're getting rid of one and then you've got it. It's like a reverse role there. So it's dealing with all of that that comes along. So yeah, I think it's I don't know. It's hopefully entertainment too. there's that value, but also entertainment. Speaker 3 (10:02) It's all those like life things. And like relatability it seems like as well. Speaker 4 (10:19) We have some very data-driven information that we share, but then a lot of it too is just our life experiences, like Natalie said, being caregivers and empty nesters and those types of things. we try to bring it out there and say, hey, here's what we did, it worked, it didn't work, do this, definitely don't do this. And I think we try to be very empowering to those people out there who maybe wanna take that chance and they're kind of afraid to. I'm like, here we are. We celebrated the fact that we're actually here this morning. The guy said, celebrate every little milestone no matter how large or how small. And even though we're having these little frustrations with getting all of our stuff out there, we're freaking here. And this time last year, we may have been just talking about it, but we put it into action. So we're here. So we're just going to keep trudging forward and celebrating those little milestones. Speaker 3 (11:05) I think that's important. And do you guys have, are you audio only or do you have a video component? Speaker 1 (11:09) you can't not have this. You have the cat walking through. Speaker 2 (11:15) And we're mobile, we're not just, we're not like in a podcast studio all pretty dolled up, like what you see is real, honest and raw. Speaker 3 (11:24) Which is cool, yeah. Speaker 2 (11:24) After after our podcast where we were crying and that was probably our third podcast that we filmed at the same time after 3 different kinds of beverages and that included the bucket but that's another story so we were all in tears because it was really an emotional one. We're like wow we need something that's that's fun and uplifting and I'm like we should do it in the hot tub. So we have one in the hot tub. very classy like it's not one of the hot tub girls kind of thing. Speaker 1 (11:47) So you want to go ahead. Speaker 4 (11:51) We did one where they were in Mexico and I wasn't able to go so they were in Mexico and I was at my house poolside so we did it that way. She was in Ireland. Wow. So yeah, so we're trying to make it as much of a variety and just not, you know, not stagnant. Speaker 1 (11:58) and we recorded one. We're not hung up on the equipment, on the sound like we do. We utilize a platform so it helps us clean up the audio so it's not annoying to somebody who's listening to audio only or to watching the video. But we're just trying to be as real and authentic as we can because we feel like that's missing. And a lot of things, and you would know this better being an expert, and we're so novice, it's going back to, it doesn't have to be so super crisp and super clean. And when I mean clean, like crisp, clean, all of that. Ours are rated explicit because every now and then these people including myself, sometimes we drop back. We don't mean to know we it it's all about keeping it real and I hope that's one thing that our audience Realizes because in our outside of this podcast and the companies that we own, know, the brand is different It's not so relaxed like I had a I had a hard time even though the sugar spice and tequila and spirits was my idea spirits hers But the alcohol component I was like but in my real business, this is scary totally and then I was okay with it because I looked at other industries Speaker 3 (12:40) Totally. Speaker 1 (13:08) and you see other people, do have a cocktail. I was watching a documentary and an attorney had an attorney was being interviewed had heard, his. Speaker 4 (13:14) Cigar. Speaker 3 (13:16) or something. Speaker 1 (13:17) Right, right. And then I looked at my other clients and I realized there was they had a drink or they would invite me to that. And so we're also learning and we want to share this information because we are not spring chickens. We're not old, but we have a lot of knowledge to share just life wise. So what can we pay? How can we pass it forward? How can we pay it forward? And just saying nothing's perfect. Totally right. Life is going to throw curveballs at you. And here's how we dealt with it. Doesn't mean it's right. It's just our situation. And, you know, hopefully the listeners want to ask us questions and we'll be real and... Speaker 2 (13:49) Yeah, I know she said the sound's not that good. We're gonna work on that. We're gonna get much better with that. We are the kind that will keep improving and learning and growing as we go. So we'll be improvising and adapting and going that way. So there's a beauty to our chemistry. We're all very, very different. I think you can kind of tell from talking to us. Speaker 3 (14:11) But it works, you know? Speaker 2 (14:12) Yeah, it's not the same. Like, not drinking each other's Kool-Aid. We'll call each other. No, no, no. I don't agree with that. That's not the way I see it. She isn't. it's almost like the Spice Girls of the 90s, right? But we're cooler and better, and we're not orchestrated by anybody else. So I think that brings a beauty to it as well. Speaker 4 (14:31) Yeah. We're very unscripted. I mean it's one and because some of our podcasts will be sitting there when we talk about something and we have a topic and we have what's called a tangent tax because one of us will go over here and we end up talking about this and we have to take a little tangent tax sip and and it's just funny because we we just compliment each other even if we're butting heads on something. Totally. That's you know that that's what makes us stronger. Yeah. Is we just weren't we're not scripted. Yeah. It is just what you see is what you get. So and I'm anxious to see a year from now. when we look back at how novice we are and some of our funny outtakes and how not unprofessional but I professionally produced and everything how big the differences are with after so much learning. Speaker 3 (15:14) Totally. And you learn by doing too, right? And I think that's part of it, where think a lot of people, there's this hesitation to start a podcast where everything needs to be perfect to get there. And you're like, well, I need to have it so fully fleshed out. And it's like, you also just start. know what I mean? Speaker 2 (15:26) That's why we're so proud of Mindy because she is the utmost perfectionist. She makes it to the top of everything that she does. Like she is a hustler top tier person and for her to be able to launch and not have it perfect like it's killing her. But we are out here surviving and thriving guys. You can do it too. Speaker 1 (15:45) We just started TikTok and I have no idea what we're doing. You can see and you can look at it. You're like, my gosh. Speaker 2 (15:51) Did they just post that? Speaker 3 (15:53) Yeah. But everyone has their own taste and flavor to it, you know, it's like I think that's you could obviously tell like the like that's the thing I think with everything like how to monetize and all that stuff like authenticity matters so much I think the more you can see the authenticity the more people care about it the more people can relate to it It's like, you know, and I think if you just have this like, you know, like I think especially our world now with AI and all these things It's like all we want is human connection, right? know and like that's kind of and like when we listen to something a lot of people just crave that they want to feel like they're in the room, right? and it seems like what you guys do is do that well. Speaker 1 (16:27) Absolutely, know, purpose. Like what is the purpose for it? And so when I decided to get out of the corporate world and bet on me, and use our savings. Speaker 4 (16:36) to get it started. Speaker 1 (16:37) Go all in with it I'm so thankful that I did. It's like, what is my purpose? What is my why? And so it's called Inside the Why. And in speaking and growing other people and helping them like that is I have so much passion in helping somebody else. It's not about what I get out of it because when I see them successful, but it took me a long time to get there, right? Because was always growing, growing, growing and hopefully not stepping on people and putting anybody down and getting in their way. But it's like I had a mission and this is where I wanted to be. And then all of that, taking that and be able to help others. So when we decided on the podcast and we're just gonna put it all out there in a raw format, super authentic, not polished, like hopefully in my other brand. It is the lessons that we can teach, the purpose behind everything, the why behind it. When somebody truly understands that any podcast or anybody, when you get the why and you can answer that question, what you're able to accomplish is huge. In my opinion, if you're helping others, that's like the best. Speaker 3 (17:33) Yeah, yeah, no, totally. And then I have one last question. What do you guys, guess, like looking forward into a year from now, two years from now, like what is success look in your eyes or like how do you see this podcast growing? Like where do you see like do you see building out a community of, you know, of sugar, spice and spirits or like what? my God. Speaker 1 (17:55) If we had the perfect world and you know our little magic, you know crystal ball that we could see we've talked about it like if we are We have so much fun together. We walk around and people love being around us and like it just it happens I would love for us to you know travel somewhere and say hey we're doing this and we have live remotes that we have shows and We're getting to go there and meet the people in person and then you know We're speaking on stages and we're motivating other individuals to go after their purpose and you know It becomes a household name where it's super fun, but it's really authentic, mean to me that would be huge and to grow a community and to have others that we can help and that's what I want. Speaker 2 (18:32) Yeah, we'll we'll be la this next week. So SK OOL and spirits podcast school can go and join and be a like and subscribe, you with your friends tell e because it's important t You know, I'm a rapper. Don't post the video. I do love to dance, but so the podcast is Speaker 1 (18:54) and she loves carrying. Speaker 2 (19:02) actually like we hope that thrives we hope that it helps we hope that we bring laughter and cheer and also real to our our audience we don't have a name for them hopefully they name themselves but you know just Speaker 3 (19:16) That's really cute. Speaker 2 (19:17) Like that's kind of what we want. We want people to, it's just kind of like with our logo, you see chat GPT did us wonders. We went to Fiverr, we went to a lot of different places and we had paid people to give us a graphic and I promise you this was the best one. We might share it on our Facebook with, you know. Speaker 4 (19:37) Yeah, but when I think I think you can tell that we're not shy and so I think what What I would love to see is for maybe at some point us to be up on that stage and they say How did you go from here? Right to there totally and from having just a few listeners to this new listeners? Yeah us being able to share our You know fly by the seat of the pants decision to do this and then our success stories. So yeah Speaker 2 (19:41) Right. Speaker 1 (20:05) You know, yesterday when Tom Webster was up there and he was giving the report and he said, you don't have to be big. Anybody can make it. We wanted to go up to him and go, really? The proof's in the pudding. We launched on Friday. Yeah. And these are the things that we're doing. We believe you. We're going to do it. We're going to see where we're at. And how great would it be to see us at Southwest by whatever that thing. You know, and then in September in New York, and you see we followed this path. We can share this. You can document it. You can see all of these things. I mean, that would be really cool. But we didn't tell Tom that. Speaker 2 (20:35) If you're listening, we're still open call us. Speaker 3 (20:40) Okay, do have one more question. How, guess, like, you know, in your own lives, you've all been in separate businesses and built, you know, your career and stuff. Like, how do you manage and, pushing through, like, this self-doubt or, like, self-criticism that you go through of, like, starting something that's, a vulnerable process, and, two, you you've to take a chance on yourself? You know, does it help that it's the three of you that you guys, uplift each other? Like, how do you feel? Speaker 1 (21:04) so many things to unpack on that. I'm gonna jump in. Just because. So, imposter syndrome. That is a huge thing. It's a topic that I speak on because my thing is leadership and communication. And that is huge. And when you're helping somebody who's not used to being in front of the mic and they are afraid, anybody is a public speaker. Right now, we're public speaking between the four of us. And somebody who is afraid of that, so I think of those feelings and coaching people through that. Okay, we're doing this. We have huge imposter syndrome. We are brand new to this. And it is scary and what if we fail and so all of these things and it's just like, know what? Believing in the mission, understanding our why, why are we doing this? We know we want to bring value and then anchoring back to that is so important. And I think it's truly helped us and growing. Now, the other thing that you said is so being alone, solopreneurship is very hard and scary. And there's a lot of podcasters that are out there on their own and they're on this island. I feel so blessed to have these It is super fun. It is so much more enjoyable to work with them than it is being by myself with my company that I have. so I think we have a huge advantage in my opinion because it's a lot easier whenever I'm hard on myself or that didn't sound right or that wasn't perfect, they come in and they help me and vice versa. Speaker 2 (22:22) when she's hard on herself, agree. Mindy needs to really step it up in the group because she's doing a lot of the work, but she's not doing all of it. So we're still waiting for her to step all the way up and be the perfectionist that she is. So with that being said, you know, we all, we all have our own self doubts and we fight it and we just move forward. I think for us is we'll kick each other in the ass if we don't get going. And if we're not on the call or if we're not doing what we need to do, we'll call each other out. And it's like, let's move forward. Let's go. Let's get it done. Totally. And I don't think it's, it's if we fail because we won't fail, we're gonna be successful. Mark our word that we will be around Charlie. You'll see us next year. You'll see us everywhere. And the podcast will be doing well because it won't really be about us. It's really about helping and serving the listeners and the audience and being the best that we can be for them and adding value to their lives. Speaker 3 (23:11) Totally. Speaker 4 (23:12) I think you can tell we all have different strengths. Totally. Yeah. And so we compliment each other very well. And, you know, a lot of humor, lot of anxiety. And I'm just like, I'm just here and I'm going to enjoy it and have a good time. mostly fun. Yeah. Mostly fun. But it's definitely a learning experience because, know, it's not as something as, you know, all of our friends are like, oh my gosh, we're so excited for you guys. I've already heard of your podcast. How do you do it? we're like, well, it's not that easy. Speaker 3 (23:37) yeah. Speaker 4 (23:38) I mean, look around, there's an entire convention on it. So it's not just make your recording, turn around and post it. Lots and lots and lots of little tiny, tiny steps. but yeah, so mean, it's just, we're having a blast. Just a blast. Speaker 3 (23:52) And I think almost like some of the best podcasts make it look easy and you're like, I could do this in a heartbeat then you're in the process and you're like Whoa the editing the this and especially the video component and you're like wait We have to even if you're makeshifting right because most people don't have a podcast to do they can just hop into with these crazy mics, right? So it's it's a process, but I feel like there's a courage that you guys you know Took on yourself and I feel like it's awesome Speaker 2 (24:17) We have the mics we have the mics we have the booms we have the yeah mixer set we just don't know how to set it up. Speaker 1 (24:26) We Speaker 3 (24:28) That's your next project. That's right. do an episode about that. Like how do I navigate this whole thing because now we have to do this. Speaker 2 (24:35) So that's what we're doing we're taking a chance on how do you eat an elephant one bite of course yeah, that's what we're doing yeah, and we just laugh at it along the way and it's once we get it done we get it down like we know totally like once our channels are set up and we're dropping good it will be fantastic. Speaker 3 (24:52) Yeah, it's the language, it's everything, you know? Well, I wish you guys the best of luck. Thank you. you, Charlotte. Speaker 4 (24:59) That's true.