Transcript: Thanks Allan. This is David Brower with your 20 Minute Podcast. Our special guest today is Courtney Blair, founder, owner of Zippy Content. Courtney started her business out of necessity and willingness by the universe. She’s also a mother of a two year old, a business student in pursuit of her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. She’s faced and overcome challenges that most wouldn’t even dream of and has entered a time of synchronicity and harmony in her life. Wouldn’t we all like to be there? Courtney. Welcome.
Courtney Blair: Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate the opportunity.
David Brower: You bet, it’s good to talk to you. Courtney is, selfishly on my part, Courtney has provided I don’t know how many dozens of guests for my podcast and you just have a knack for sending me people that I wanna talk to.
Courtney Blair: Well, thank you. I’m glad you think so.
David Brower: Yeah.
Courtney Blair: We appreciate you having them on your show.
David Brower: Well yeah, there’s, nothing personal against a couple other people, but I’ve just gone, you know, have a good day. Because they just-
Courtney Blair: Yep.
David Brower: You know what I mean? They just, they’re good at what they do but it’s just not in sync with me and you just-
Courtney Blair: I agree.
David Brower: … rock and roll. So tell me how-
Courtney Blair: Thank you.
David Brower: … Zippy … well first of all, Zippy Content indicates fast content. What’s your purpose? What’s your business model?
Courtney Blair: So the biggest thing that we do for people is bring visibility to whatever they’re doing. So that is the first and foremost most important aspect of what we’re doing, is that our clients are up to amazing things and they need more visibility, more of an audience and you know, more of a tailored audience, even more so, you know what I mean?
David Brower: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Courtney Blair: People who are relevant to what they’re doing. So that’s what we’re helping them do, we’re representing authors, entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants, basically anybody with an amazing message or that’s changing the world, and we find them interviews on podcasts.
David Brower: How fun is that?
Courtney Blair: The best.
David Brower: Oh my gosh and plus you’re living in wine country. I wanna be you when I grow up.
Courtney Blair: You know what? So do I. Now I’m looking around at my own reality and I’m like, “This is pretty cool.”
David Brower: Yeah. I’m not doing bad.
Courtney Blair: I’m right where I wanna be.
David Brower: I’m not doing bad. I mean if all I got to complain about-
Courtney Blair: Yeah, not so bad.
David Brower: … is my cell service, I’m okay. You know?
Courtney Blair: Yeah. No kidding.
David Brower: How do you find people? Or how do they find you? How does the process work?
Courtney Blair: So, it’s been really, really cool. I started doing this a year ago, well I started finding podcasts and everything about four years ago, but I started reaching out to clients to represent them, last February, in 2017.
David Brower: Okay.
Courtney Blair: So it’s been about a year and a couple months now, and the first couple months I was just cold emailing people. Asking them if they wanted to be featured on podcasts and letting them know that I could help them. You know? So it’s like a really, it was pretty primitive, you know what I mean? Just a lot of cold-
David Brower: Sure.
Courtney Blair: … out reach and trying to make those connections. And after a couple months I just so happened to email, I think the right people, and I fell into some really great networks and from there, probably last April or May is when I just sort of hit a really cool network and I had, all of a sudden referrals were being poured into my inbox. You know? So I didn’t have to really cold email anybody after like, last May.
David Brower: Wow.
Courtney Blair: So I’ve had a lot of just you know, a lot of the coaches and consultants that I work with, are not only are they great on podcasts but their clients are also great on podcasts. You know? So, it’s been really cool to fall in line with those people because they’re like, “Hey, I love your services and I think all my clients would too.” So it’s-
David Brower: Isn’t it great?
Courtney Blair: … a few people that I’ve fallen in line with that that’s happened and so it’s been really great.
David Brower: Well, I mean, no matter what your business is, there’s nothing like referrals. I mean, that’s high praise-
Courtney Blair: Oh yeah.
David Brower: … and when you can … and hence the name ‘Zippy.’ Since you went from February to May and all of a sudden your referrals are crawling outta the woodwork, that’s unheard of.
Courtney Blair: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
David Brower: That’s just, incredible. Incredible good fortune.
Courtney Blair: You know, I feel like I kind of, I got really lucky or blessed or however you wanna look at it. A lot of, I hear a lot about a lot of entrepreneurial journeys that in, you know, the first couple years, they’re eating peanut butter and jelly the whole time-
David Brower: Right.
Courtney Blair: You know what I mean?
David Brower: Yeah.
Courtney Blair: They’re really just struggling and I kinda feel like I just hit it at the exact right time, you know, that the universe wanted me to and everything just sort of gained traction really quickly. You know what I mean? So I never really went through that phase of like, really struggling as an entrepreneur. You know what I mean? Like, sure, everybody struggles as an entrepreneur and there are things that we all struggle with, but I don’t feel like I had that phase of like, eating Ramen for dinner and you know what I mean-
David Brower: Right.
Courtney Blair: … like I felt-
David Brower: Right.
Courtney Blair: … it kinda just happened. It was a really cool thing.
David Brower: I love that. Well, there’s no such thing as a coincidence, in my world, so, that’s a-
Courtney Blair: I agree with that.
David Brower: That’s pretty cool. So tell me about your dad. He got you going in the podcast realm, right?
Courtney Blair: Hm. Yes he did. So he was my very, very first client. Four years ago, I was pregnant, I was about to give birth, and I was just kind of looking for something that I could do from home. I knew that it … you can’t find a job when you’re about to have a baby, it’s just-
David Brower: Right.
Courtney Blair: … impossible.
David Brower: Right.
Courtney Blair: Nobody wants to, you know, it’s just it’s not gonna happen, you know? You have to go on maternity leave and all this stuff, so I didn’t even really try, honestly, I kinda knew at that point that entering the regular job world was just not really an option.
David Brower: Sure.
Courtney Blair: And so, I started freelance writing and like doing a couple things that I knew people were doing, to make money online and they didn’t really work for me. You know? And I was blogging and stuff like that and it just didn’t really take off for me. So I hit up my dad, he was in NLP and psychology and mental health and personal development and stuff like that. And he has a blog, courses, web sites, all this stuff, so he’s like-
David Brower: Oh wow.
Courtney Blair: … you know, he’s doing what a lot of my clients are doing. Yeah, so he’s like, “Hey, Court, I could actually pay you to find me podcast interviews, that’s something I really wanna do.” And at the time, I thought he was nuts. I’m like, “Podcasts, huh?” Like, what’s a podcast?
David Brower: Right.
Courtney Blair: I just didn’t even understand using it as a business tool and I just sort of, it was like the most primitive thing ever and I was just going off of iTunes and-
David Brower: Sure.
Courtney Blair: … cold email- you know what I mean, like the whole-
David Brower: Sure.
Courtney Blair: … thing, but after a couple of years, it really turned into something. And I learned how to track the interviews, and handle the booking aspect of things, and really learned how to tailor looking for specific interviews for certain people and so after he helped me kinda dial it in, we decided, “Hey,” you know, because at the time, I’m like, not only do I have a cool thing that I’ve been doing, but I need more money.
David Brower: Right. Right.
Courtney Blair: You know? Like I can’t just be making-
David Brower: What a concept.
Courtney Blair: … you know, hourly wages right now.
David Brower: Yeah.
Courtney Blair: Yeah. So he’s like, “Yeah, let’s turn this into a business.” And he kind of helped me with just all of the internal processes and you know, what a client would be looking for in terms of a service that they would pay for, you know? So it’s been-
David Brower: Right.
Courtney Blair: … a growing process, the whole way. I mean, we’re still making modifications where we need to and being flexible where we need to. But it’s been great, it’s been really cool. It’s been a … this is our fourth year, doing this-
David Brower: Wow.
Courtney Blair: … and it’s been incredible. My dad’s still a client.
David Brower: Isn’t it great? I mean, you know, the old, this is way before your time, but the old TV show, back in the day, ‘Father Knows Best,’ you know?
Courtney Blair: Hm.
David Brower: And your dad-
Courtney Blair: For sure.
David Brower: … really was in the right place at the right time, as you, as were you.
Courtney Blair: He hit the nail on the head.
David Brower: And oh my gosh-
Courtney Blair: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
David Brower: … that’s just such a gift. I just got goosebumps now.
Courtney Blair: Wild.
David Brower: I love stories like that.
Courtney Blair: I agree. I have such a gift. I agree. And I don’t even think he really realized what we were doing at the time. Like we both knew this was something new and special and-
David Brower: Yeah.
Courtney Blair: … you know? So we started targeting authors, that was like our first group of clients that we were targeting, or authors, so they could talk about their books and that turned into, I mean, authors are everybody. You know what I mean?
David Brower: Everybody.
Courtney Blair: Anybody can be an author. Yeah, so that kind of-
David Brower: Yeah.
Courtney Blair: … I just kind of figured out who my ideal clients were, from there. You know?
David Brower: So do you … by ideal clients, that makes me think you’re somewhat selective.
Courtney Blair: Well, you know, I am selective, because I don’t wanna work with people who just wanna hear themselves talk.
David Brower: Good. Good answer.
Courtney Blair: So if I get onna, if I jump onto a sales call with somebody and the first thing I ask them is, “Okay, what are you up to? What are you trying to bring visibility to? What do you wanna talk about?”
David Brower: Right.
Courtney Blair: And then they just go off for 45 minutes on a tangent and they don’t have like a specific message dialed in. I already know. You know what I mean? Like-
David Brower: Oh my God.
Courtney Blair: … okay. The people that I talk to have a message or they have … you know what I mean? And they have-
David Brower: Yeah.
Courtney Blair: … a goal and they’re actually out to change things and they’re not just like, “Oh, I just really like to talk about this stuff.” You know what I mean? Like, those are the people-
David Brower: No, exactly.
Courtney Blair: … that I am turned off by and I just don’t wanna work with. They’re … and you know-
David Brower: Well, good for you.
Courtney Blair: … if they don’t work for me either. Yeah-
David Brower: Well, for sure.
Courtney Blair: … they don’t work for me either because-
David Brower: Yeah.
Courtney Blair: Yeah, they won’t benefit from it the way I need them to in order for it to be worth it for them. You know?
David Brower: Right.
Courtney Blair: So-
David Brower: Right. And I won’t take guests like that. You know, it’s a-
Courtney Blair: Right.
David Brower: … because I, well, two things, selfishly, I wanna learn something because if I’m learning something then the audience is learning something. That gives me a chance to-
Courtney Blair: Right, right.
David Brower: … to-
Courtney Blair: Very important.
David Brower: … pay it forward and help educate some people and maybe give somebody an epiphany here and there, and that’s, I mean, that’s it-
Courtney Blair: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
David Brower: … that’s the payoff. And if somebody’s interested in talking about just themselves and not what the payoff is and how they can change somebody’s life, I’m sorry-
Courtney Blair: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
David Brower: … I accidentally deleted our interview-
Courtney Blair: You don’t wanna work with that.
David Brower: … I apologize.
Courtney Blair: Yeah. I think that’s why you and I are in such good, like, alignment. You know what I mean?
David Brower: Yeah.
Courtney Blair: Because we’re both-
David Brower: Yeah.
Courtney Blair: … looking for the same thing. We want there to be a message in it. You know, a game-changing thing that’s happening and not somebody that just wants to come onto the show and just pitch and sell, you know?
David Brower: No, that’s exactly right. Exactly right. So, I’m just fascinated by what you do and how you got into it and I have very little exposure to other people who do what you do. And I kind of eluded to this a couple of minutes ago, but the couple of people that I can think of, off the top of my head, who shall remain nameless, work for a companies and seem to me are more intere- they act like commission salespeople. That’s what I’m trying to say.
Courtney Blair: Hm.
David Brower: You know? So, they’ll say, “Okay, well here’s the interview, this guy’s gonna crush it, and let me know when you wanna do the thing.” And so I’m reading the bio-
Courtney Blair: Right.
David Brower: … and I’m going, “I don’t care, I don’t like, no. No.”
Courtney Blair: Yep.
David Brower: So they seem to be, and I don’t wanna generalize it, because that’s not fair, but, seems to be sometimes, the people are more interest in their payoff than really, the big picture. You know?
Courtney Blair: Right. Yeah, that’s where we differ for sure because I’m-
David Brower: Yeah.
Courtney Blair: … in this knowing that I’m here at the right place at the right time.
David Brower: Right.
Courtney Blair: And it’s not about the paycheck. You know what I mean?
David Brower: Yeah.
Courtney Blair: Like, yeah, sure, we’re all in this for the money. We can’t even deny that. We all want money. But, to be doing-
David Brower: I don’t make a nickel off this.
Courtney Blair: … and for they’re-
David Brower: I don’t make a penny off my podcasts. I just, I don’t care to.
Courtney Blair: You know what? Podcasts are special that way.
David Brower: Yeah.
Courtney Blair: And that they provide their own special value, you know?
David Brower: Yeah.
Courtney Blair: But yeah, just on terms of the paycheck side of things. I, that’s not, just, I don’t live for that. You know what I mean?
David Brower: Yeah.
Courtney Blair: It’s great to see money coming in, but what I live for is that feeling of, ‘Wow! Thank you so much for connecting me with that person.’
David Brower: Right?
Courtney Blair: We have had the most incredible interview and my audience is going to love them. And it’s like, if I had to give that interview away for free? Then so be it.
David Brower: So be it.
Courtney Blair: You know what I mean? Like it doesn’t-
David Brower: Yeah.
Courtney Blair: … even matter, it’s just a great feeling-
David Brower: Yeah.
Courtney Blair: … to know that what we’re doing is actually changing lives and making a big difference.
David Brower: That’s part one of our interview with Courtney Blair.
Allan Blackwell: Your 20 Minute Podcast with David Brower has been brought to you by Audible. You can listen to any of David’s podcasts anywhere podcasts can be found. Including IHeartRadio, the Spotify mobile app, and at DavidBrowerVO.com/your20mintuepodcast. Until next time. Thanks for listening.