Creator Spotlight: Susan Anderson

Introducing Susan Anderson and The Glampaluza Podcast

Susan Anderson is on a quest to become a glamping guru—and she’s here to share her journey with you.

You can check out The Glampaluza Podcast podcast here: https://glampaluza.com/

Tell us about your show!

I'm on a mission to build an entrepreneur retreat center in the Smokies. Since I've never done that before, I'm interviewing glamping hosts all across America to find out about their glampsites, hear and share their stories, and learn from their tips and experiences. Glampaluza helps glampers find new places to visit and helps new and wannabe hosts learn how to develop their sites and create amazing experiences for guests.

Why did you start your podcast?

In my old job at Capitalism.com, I interviewed entrepreneurs every week so that I could feature them in our weekly newsletter, The Grind. At first, I was so nervous about these interviews that I used to hope people would no-show! But interviewing really grew on me and became my favorite part of my job.

So, when this dream of building a retreat center for entrepreneurs dawned on me, followed by the realization that I HAVE NO IDEA what I'm doing... interviewing people who DO know what they're doing was the obvious way forward. That and, often when I talk about what we do at Idyllwild Woods Retreat Center, people often say they want to do something similar. So, I figured making these interviews public - while also putting these small businesses in the spotlight - was a win all the way around. Doing so on a video podcast is the way to go.

What's been your biggest challenge?

At first, we couldn't get a "yes" from anyone! My son (who is my VA) just kept at it and finally some hosts started saying yes. When we started, I figured we'd record just 10 episodes and see how it went. Now we're up to 28, and releasing one a week. The interviews are definitely evolving. Some of the earliest ones are pretty long - now I'm getting better at getting to the juicy bits faster.

Before Podium, I would have said that processing the interviews and creating all the promotional assets for them was the biggest challenge. That stuff's really important for helping to reach our audience. I know for a fact that I would have been the bottleneck in this project without Podium. But with Podium, each episode's written assets are a few clicks away from being done - and done really well.

How has podcasting impacted your personal and professional life?

We're still really on, so I can't say we've grown anything super significant yet. BUT the fact we're actually doing the do and putting content out there on a regular basis gives me great hope that it'll work out well. As an entrepreneur, my brain always has a ton of ideas. It's all too easy to try to chase all the rabbits and end up with a pile of barely started projects. So, personally, it's been rewarding to see my own follow-through with this podcast. It's been a great way to meet new people, get practical advice, and be of service to my guests by helping them get air-time.

What advice do you have new podcasters?

You're probably going to suck at first. And nobody will watch/listen. And that's ok. It'll get better and easier, and if you publish consistently, your audience will grow. Also, I went through the Start a Podcast Challenge by Stacey Lauren. It really helped demystify the process (both the technical end and the mindset part). Highly recommended.

Anything else you'd like to share with world?

I've become obsessed with alpacas ;) Once we have the retreat center ready, we'll start a small herd and welcome our guests to come enjoy their furry little faces with us.

And, if you'd like to nominate a glamping host (even yourself) to be featured on Glampaluza, just reach out to happycamper@glampaluza.com.

How has Podium improved your workflow?

Recording and editing your podcast is just half the challenge. Podium seriously makes it easy to get the marketing copy you need for every episode. Like, push a button and out pops really good marketing copy for your podcast. Once you have Podium as part of your podcast production workflow, your life as a podcast producer gets a whole lot easier.