Live A Life On Your Terms

Welcome to visionaries where we explore stories, strategies and

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insights from the world's most inspiring entrepreneurs, brands

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and creators. Were on a mission to help visionaries like you

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stand out and monetize their knowledge, influence and message

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online. Exploring topics like business, marketing, creativity,

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and personal development. Let's build your vision for a happier

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more meaningful life, business and community together.

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Today, I'm talking with Samantha Lee Wright. Samantha is not only

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a master of her own platform, but a passionate teacher of the

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podcasting medium itself, leading the next generation of

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podcasters into the future with clarity and confidence. She

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mentors new podcasters on their journey with her no holds barred

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online course, pineapple podcast Academy, the online training

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program, which helps dozens of new creators start and grow

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their podcasts from scratch. Today, we explore what it looks

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like to live life as a visionary on your own terms, and also a

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little bit more about her program. So let's dive in. Sam,

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it's so good to have you on the show today. Thank you, thanks

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for having me. Dalen. You've, you've built such a beautiful

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community here your shows just like it's just a very sweet

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show. I really love it. Thank you so much. Well, I mean, true

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to the name of visionaries, I love to feature people like you

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who really are looking to build a business, and a life that

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speaks to your own personal vision of like what you want

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your life to look like your family life. And of course, your

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professional life. You know, a lot of us are building

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businesses from home, very virtual. And so as we get into

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talking more about what that looks like for you, I would love

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for you to share a little bit more about your story. And

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basically what brought you to where you are today.

Samanthas story

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Sure. So my story really has started since I was a young

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adult, I've always been a little bit a little bit hippie, and a

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little bit tech geek. So a little bit of both. And you've

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for many of the years growing up in my early adulthood, I became

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really, really fascinated with kind of two things at the same

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time. One was health and wellness, holistic health, and a

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sense of really taking charge of your own health. I just got so

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fascinated with the idea of like, wow, like, I can learn

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about herbs and this and do this and make these decisions to keep

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my body healthy. And then I also became really fascinated with

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like financial autonomy as well like, oh, man, maybe I don't

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have to work a nine to five my whole life and not have bosses

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my whole life. Maybe there's a way that I can. I don't be I

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didn't even really understand the word entrepreneur. But

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that's what I kind of saw and was like, oh, that's, that's a

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possibility. Because I guess I've always been a little

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stubborn. And in the fact that I I'm I love to work, but I never

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really liked working for other people. So I really love a sense

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of autonomy. And to me that really equates to sustainability

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as well to be in charge of my own life in all aspects. And so

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when you're kind of stubborn, like that becoming an

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entrepreneur is almost your only option. right to do that. No.

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Yeah, really. So fast forward. My husband and I we became

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pregnant with my first son and then two years later pregnant

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with my daughter now and and that really threw a wrench in a

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lot of things a beautiful wrench, let's call it because we

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were not very prepared for that career wise, you know, I had

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been doing side gigs. I've been working as a childbirth educator

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and a drill. I really, I had no real career to speak of or sense

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of, Wow, how am I going to raise a family you know, it takes

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money to raise a family. Wow. Okay, we got to really do

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something about this. And we were we were poor. I mean, we

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were struggling we were family of four living on $17,000 a year

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we were on food stamps hitting up food banks. And you know,

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something had to give something had to change and kind of at the

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same time my friend introduced me to her business she was doing

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which was an essential oil, mlm business and I became one of

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those moms you know, I'm just one of those oily moms now in

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the carpool lanes now. I'm like actually seeing like, who wants

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to host an oil class you know, I'm one of those now and that I

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did that for a year and I was really good at it and I loved it

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because I loved just interacting with different people. But it

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did get it got very tiring after a while and finally I was like

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alright, I gotta I gotta find time. Find a way to be home more

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with my kids no more going out to teach classes at night and no

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more. You know, on the phone constantly. I want to be home.

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And I had this lightbulb moment of starting a podcast to serve

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my my health and wellness business that I was building at

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the time because I looked that was one of the first places I

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went as, as just a consumer. When I started getting into

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essential oils, I was like, Well, I want to learn more about

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these, I went to podcasts, and I looked up essential oils, and

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there was a couple shows on but none of them were really taking

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it to a level that I wanted as a consumer. And so I was like,

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well, maybe I could start that podcast, you know, I think

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that's one of the most powerful thoughts that anyone can have is

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to ask themselves, why not me, you know, to see what other

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people are doing. And ask yourself, well, why? Why

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couldn't I do that. And so I had that thought, and I really

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couldn't shake it. And after lots of sleepless nights, and

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lots of brainstorming and deciding I finally launched my

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podcast, which is a very niche podcast about essential oils,

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and, and the rest is history, or 5 million downloads later, it's

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still thriving and making a sustainable income for my

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family. And now I've been able to take that experience, and

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turn it into an online course where I now get to help other

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aspiring podcasters, you know, hopefully do the same. That's an

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incredible story. And I feel like it's, it resonates so much,

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with a lot of us entrepreneurs out here who are, excuse me,

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looking for more of that autonomy. I mean, you know, for

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for you, right, it was like you guys kind of your family faced a

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moment that you're like, hey, I want to be able to have more

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autonomy and work, you know, to have more time with my family.

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And of course, like, you know, from food stamps and other

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elements, there's kind of like that, that moment of decision.

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See, like, what more can happen in order to make these changes?

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What would you say, in creating this autonomy and building this

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very successful podcast? What do you see now as like, what you're

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looking to do it take into the future, right? You have your

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program, you have the successful podcast, like what what do you

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think is next for you? Yeah, I think where I'm at right now,

Where Samantha is now

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honestly, if I can just stay here for a while, I'd be so

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content, because right now Dell in my life is awesome. Like I'm

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living the best life, I work. Four hours a week, on my

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podcast, I work another maybe five hours a week on my podcast

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Academy, that I serve students with. And then the rest of the

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time, I really get to spend time with my family with my friends,

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I've learned to really outsource as much of the parts of my

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business that I can so that I can stay in my zone of genius

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doing interviews like this, teaching my students answering

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questions for people in the academy, recording interviews

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for my podcast, and then the rest is kind of taken care of.

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And for me at where I'm at, right now, I've got two young

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kids, I've got a husband that I love, I've got a great friend

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circle. You know, I kind of tell myself every day I'm like,

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Alright, how long can I keep this up? Because this is

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awesome. Yeah, you know, what, like, the fact that you answered

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in that way, I feel like is, is a little unexpected, but also a

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breath of fresh air. And here's my reason why is most

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entrepreneurs out there would be like, well, I'm going to go

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build out this 100 person team, or I'm going to go make these

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multiple, you know, like, these multi million dollar decisions

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over here. But then it's like, well, guess what, like, you are

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in a place that your business is successful, and that you are so

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content with how what you've done to build your life that

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like that is at the end of the day, what is I think most

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essential, is the stuff that's less like less about the

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financial gain, or the accolades in that big wave more of, like,

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Hey, I've got like, I'm not I don't have to work, crazy amount

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of hours, you know, you know, 80 plus hours a week, hustle. And I

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can focus on living in the moment into having time to

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actually be with my family and living true to what you're

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talking about early on to right is this idea of autonomy of your

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time and your finances. And, and so I love that response. And

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that was like, I wasn't expecting that entirely right?

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Like and I that's something that I am aspiring to, is more of

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that that like you can still be successful yet have a simple

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form of accomplishment that doesn't always align to all

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these other entrepreneurs out there that are like, kind of

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shoving other ideas in definition. That's the culture.

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You know, I think we live in a culture where we're constantly

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told, you know, keep on improving, keep on improving,

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not good enough, yet not good. Like keep How can we grow? We're

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in this, this society of constant growth, which isn't

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necessarily a bad thing all the time, but it's not for everyone

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either. And so I think, you know, it kind of comes down to

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you're in Tensions need, the intention of me starting a

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business has always been self sustainability, I'm, I'm not

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gonna lie and tell you I'm one of those entrepreneurs that

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wanted to like change the world forever, you know, I don't

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really consider myself smart enough to change the world,

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honestly, I'm like, but I can figure this out enough to at

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least support my family and do it in a way that I'm I Love You

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know, I love my job, I love my work, I do feel like I'm making

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a positive impact. I'm supporting companies that I

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believe in that are doing good, you know, I get to do a lot of

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good in my business, but I think we all need to sometimes pause

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and ask ourselves, okay, am I Am I growing for the sake of just

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growing? Or is this something that I really need to do, and I

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might feel totally different, you know, in 10 years, when my

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kids are grown, and they don't, you know, want to spend time

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with me anymore. And they're off to college. And, you know, maybe

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I'll change maybe I'll have a light bulb moment and go, Oh,

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man, I feel really drawn to this, cause, you know, and I'm

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gonna fix it. I'm gonna build another business. And but yeah,

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I kind of back to my first answer. I'm so content right

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now. And I love it.

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That's so good. You know, and some of you said there, Frank,

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true to a quote, I may butcher, but I feel like there's this

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quote somewhere that I've heard that if you want to change the

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world, go home and change yourself, or change your home or

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change your family. And I think so many people don't recognize

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that opportunity, that that whole idea, you know, maybe it's

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that the Miss America Pageant type, like, you know, what do

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you want world peace or solve world hunger, and those causes

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are amazing, of course, but oftentimes, the not the easiest.

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But the more straight path for changing a world is changing

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your own world first. Like, you know, doing internal work,

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external work, like you know, your health, and extent

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expanding that to your family, and what you can do your family

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and I feel like that then spreads to your community that

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spreads to that community spreads to a broader, you know,

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community to statewide nationwide and beyond. So, yeah,

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I don't think a lot of enough people give credit to the

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personal to family work that should be focused on first,

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before they go off and try to change the world through the way

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that they define it. So that that perspective you shared is

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completely relatable. And I feel like relevant to many of us who

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are listening, watching. I'm so glad. Yeah. Yeah. So with that

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in mind, tell us a little bit more about this program. With

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helping people start a podcast from scratch. What does that

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look like? Oftentimes, like what types of people do you find? who

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are wanting to get this kind of help, like, describe those

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people to us, too? Yeah, so my, my academy, it's called

Pineapple Podcast Academy

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pineapple podcast Academy. It's really, for anyone who has ever

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thought to themselves, ooh, that would make a really good

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podcast. And we can start with just that one simple idea. Or

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for the maybe the small business owner, or the entrepreneur who's

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like, man, everyone's saying, I should start a podcast and

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they're not quite sure what that would even look like. Or people

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who just really appreciate the platform. We, we, we take total

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beginners, we walk them through how to really define that core

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concept of finding what your podcast is going to be about,

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who's it for who's gonna listen, and then just hold your hand

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every step of the way of getting that up and running. I focus in

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on the art of podcasting, because as a avid fan, I've been

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a true fan of podcasting for many, many, many years, even

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before I was a podcaster. Myself. To me, it's just the

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most beautiful platform on the planet. I think there's nothing

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that can beat it. You know, when I have to come on camera for

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interviews like this, I'm like, No, I gotta go on camera because

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I love being able to just turn on a microphone and hit record

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and send a message out into the universe and connect with people

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from all over the world. I have people listening to my podcast

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from practically every country that can get Podcasts can get

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access to it. And that's an amazing feeling. And I think

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there's so much creativity that can be put into podcasting, as

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as a medium itself. We are just scratching the surface of what's

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possible in podcasting. If you think about all the other

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mediums out there, like film, music, television, those those

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genres have been around for a very long time for centuries, or

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some of them for centuries. And podcasting has only been around

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for like a decade, you know, and so radio has been around for

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much longer, which I think is true the radio is not radio is a

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precursor but radio is not on demand. Radio is not on demand.

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And that's a huge difference, you know, to and radio is is

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like the gatekeeper. Yeah, it is. Yeah, there There's like a

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gait between. So there's just so much that that can be done with

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podcasting. And it's it's such an honor to be able to take

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people through and I've had 14 year olds take my course I've

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had 70 year olds take my course, you know, and everyone in

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between entrepreneurs or total beginners, people who have never

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even, you know, run a business and they just have this idea.

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Like, I have one student in my course who she is a second

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generation farmer. And she she has an inherited a farm, her

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family, you know, her, her dad's passing away, you know, the, the

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farm is going to the next generation. And she doesn't know

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what to do. She's like me, her, her siblings are like, I don't

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know how to run a farm, like, what are we going to do? And so

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she wants to start a podcast about finding solutions to that,

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because it's not just her, there's many, many families

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across America, especially where there's this kind of farming

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crisis happening where this second generation of farmers are

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coming and going, what do we do, like, we have no idea how to do

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this. And so you know, she's not in it for the money, she's not

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in it for starting a business, she just isn't it to really find

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solutions and to help other people that are in her shoes, as

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well. And I've got musicians taking my course who have

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created a podcast where they interview different indie

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musicians, and they sing songs at the end of it too. So really

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all over the place. And that's one thing I really pride myself

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on as a teacher of the podcast medium is helping helping people

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think outside the box a little bit and not put themselves in

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this Oh, podcasts have to be like this one thing where I

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interview someone or do you know do this I like to kind of open

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people's minds and make them realize it can really be

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anything you can experiment, you can get a little weird. And and

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that it's it's such an accessible platform for anyone

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to start if they have an idea or a story to share.

Importance of Audio

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Yeah, yeah, one thing I love about that, too, is that you're

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not just servicing those who are in it for the money. I think a

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lot of people jump into podcasts and say, thinking like, this is

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going to become my business now, or this is going to fuel this

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adventure. And I you know, talk about those, those students who

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are farmers, as an example, is it's part of it is finding

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solutions, part of is building a community, maybe they monetize

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down the road, but knowing what your purpose is behind having a

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podcast as your medium of choice, I think is a powerful

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thing to establish, because not everyone needs to go off and

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make tons of money. Part of it is like, people just want to

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share positive messages with the world. And and I would agree to,

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although I'm very biased about video, audio is an essential

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part of video. And it's just a central part of our way of

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receiving messages. And the cool thing about that, you know, with

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with your focus, and just the importance of audio in our lives

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is that we hear a lot more audio experiences than we hear motion

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picture, you know, video experiences. And I think it's

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something like Alexa, or other devices like that, that are

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often now in our home, and working to support us in other

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ways, you know, like technology that exists. Having access to

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like, those are audio experiences, and we can listen

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to those passively. And there's just a lot of opportunities that

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having your message heard through the audio form is is so

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important. I can't imagine watching silent films. Just not

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not as excited with audio experience. Yeah, exactly. I

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guess the same could be saying for the visual experience, too.

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Do you ever listen to a podcast? I just forgot the name of it.

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You should probably just cut that out. Anyway, but it's all

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about, it's all about the sound. And they did an episode about

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films for blind people. And so they have like an audio track

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that goes with the film that explains what's happening

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visually on the film the whole time. Oh, yeah. Well, that's a

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real thing. Or like you there's a lot more compliance happening

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now to with ATA, like audio visual, you know, in visually

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impaired and where you have to describe the visuals of what's

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been seen. I also think of whether it's I mean, I do a lot

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of audiobooks when I was younger, and I still do with

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like, you know, audible but there are a lot of books out

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there that actually have sound effects that go along with the

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reading of the books, I think of something like Lord of the

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Rings, where you you're hearing voices, voice actors for all

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these different characters in audiobook form. And you also

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have the sounds of like the hoofs of the horses or the

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swords clashing and, and but you also think of that how audio is

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in like podcasting is inserted in other types of media to when

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you're talking about it early on. I thought of this new show

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my wife and I have enjoyed with Steve Martin and Martin Short

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with Only murderers in the building on Hulu. I've never

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heard of that show. I've heard of it, but I haven't seen it yet

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as again. Yeah, it's pretty fun. Like it's it's all kind of based

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around this idea that they are massive podcasts enthusiast

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about like it's true crime podcasts, they go off and create

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their own. And so it's kind of built around that but yet it's

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built around like a crime within the story that they're trying to

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solve through this podcast. So they started any. And then I

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mean, there's even a moment like, which I thought it was

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hilarious as like a podcast or myself or like a consumer

20:33

myself. Tina Fey's like she plays this character is wildly

20:37

popular podcaster. And sure voice like suit, like very

20:42

soothingly wraps up one of the episodes. And she's talking and

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sharing this message. And then the episode you think ends

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there's this pause in her voice. And she's like, This episode was

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brought to you by Squarespace. And then she goes up. And it was

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completely unrelated to the episode. But it's so funny

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because it's so true. The podcast world of people who are

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adding in their sponsors, especially Squarespace sponsors,

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so, right. Kind of digress. Doubt, but like, I think, I

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think it's just so amazing that it's part of the Zeitgeist for

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sure. Yes, yeah, exactly. Exactly. So where can people

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learn more about this program and take part?

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Sure, at pineapple podcasting.com, you can find

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more information about the Academy. And if you're someone

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who's just sort of dipping their toe in the water, and I am

21:29

thinking maybe I want to start a podcast and just want to kind of

21:32

get an overview of the basics. I've got a free workshop up that

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walks you through, you know, microphone, what kind of

21:38

equipment to use, how to use it properly, which people don't

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talk about. And people are always like, here's, here's the

21:44

podcast mic you should buy, but they don't teach people how to

21:46

actually use it properly, which is just a little pet peeve of

21:49

mine. So walk people through that and help them kind of walk

21:52

through a little exercise to solidify their idea. And that

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free workshop is the same place pineapple podcasting.com.

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Perfect. We'll definitely include that information down

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below. Thank you so much, Sam, for joining. And we look forward

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to I look forward to talk to you more in the future. Awesome.

22:11

Great. Thank you so much down and thanks for having me.

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