Design a business - and a life - that gives you freedom from the conventional ‘9 to 5’.

I'm the founder of One Step Outside, where I help experienced professionals around the world design a career, a business, and a lifestyle that brings them more freedom, flexibility, and fulfilment.

Voted ‘most likely to succeed’ and graduating top of my class aged 17, I studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford and then continued on to do a postgraduate degree in International Relations at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva.

Having ‘ended up’ in corporate marketing after my studies, I spent the formative years of my career in beauty and luxury brand management. Leaving my role at multinational Procter & Gamble to start my own company in 2013, I began my new entrepreneurial path by providing digital marketing consulting to well-known brands through to exciting new start-ups and solopreneurs.

I now combine my decade of experience in corporate marketing with my training in coaching and positive psychology techniques to help people reimagine the next phase of their career, with a blend of life coaching and business mentoring.

Every week on the podcast, I aim to release a mix of inspirational, thought-provoking episodes and more practical, actionable strategies and tips to help you build a life outside of the 9 to 5.

You’ll learn all about my 5 pillars™ of building a life outside of the 9 to 5:

• identifying a clear personal definition of success to shape your strategy and guide your actions;
• cultivating the confidence and resilience you’ll need to deal with the inevitable ups and downs;
• choosing the right business model that will get you the results that you want;
• building a strong personal brand that will attract your ideal clients to you; and
• designing flexible work-life integration with a business thatfits around your other priorities.

Plus, each month, I speak to someone who has reimagined what ‘success’ means to them in their life and career.
 

Podcasts were a huge part of my own personal development after I quit my corporate job back in 2013 and as I started to reevaluate what 'success' meant to me. At the time, I was new to this world but fast-forward to 2023 and now they're an integral part of my daily routine.
As an avid listener, I saw the power of having this platform for my mission, my business, and my personal brand. A podcast was an opportunity to communicate directly with my listeners in an intimate way and provide easy-to-digest content that would inspire and guide others like me on their own career journeys. Episodes that were 15-20 minutes long could be listened to on the commute on the way to work, while out for a walk, or while doing the housework. And, as the host, the fact that I could just turn on the microphone and hit record really appealed to me versus other communication media.

I started the podcast in December 2018 and I've been able to show consistently and release episodes on a weekly basis in the four years - and counting - since.

The biggest barrier at the start, as it is for most people, was navigating all the tech and how to manage the editing. I did a lot of research and kept things simple. I recorded solo episodes that didn't require a load of editing. I bought my microphone, chose a bit of intro music, used free recording software for my Mac, and found an editor to bring it all together.
 

I release episodes on a weekly basis but I always batch-record these. The way I do my content is that I plan an overall theme for the month and then a specific topic for each week. The podcast is the core medium for me now (it used to be the blog) and so I start by recording, let's say, four episodes for the upcoming month. I'll then get those edited (by a professional audio editor), transcribed (using AI software), and uploaded (by my assistant). Then we repurpose the podcast into a blog post, videos and reels, and written posts.

The podcast is an integral part of the content creation for my business and it really doesn't take a lot of time. Costs are minimal in terms of hosting and then editing. The most time-consuming part is the marketing and getting people to actually find and listen to the podcast.
 

I don't have sponsors; effectively, I sponsor myself. The podcast is a part of my business ecosystem so it's a means for new people to discover, it drives traffic to my social channels, my website, and my resources, and it also serves as extra support for my clients.

One of my favourite parts of doing the podcast has been the opportunity to speak to people from all around the world as part of my interview series.
 

Physical equipment:

RØDE Podcaster Dynamic Large-Diaphragm Microphone with USB Connection for Mac and PC

RØDE PSA1 Swivel Mount Studio Microphone Boom Arm + RØDE PSM1 Microphone Shock Mount (or RØDE DS1 Desktop Microphone Stand when I'm in a temporary space).

with the recent addition of a pop filter at the request of my editor

Software:

Audacity for Mac

Zoom for interviews (I tried other platforms but they were buggy and I reverted to Zoom)

In terms of preparation, thinking back to my very first episodes, I think I actually used to pretty much read out blog articles. These days, I have a topic in mind and some bullets and then I freestyle. For interviews, I have certain questions in mind and then, again, I let the conversation go where it takes us.
 

I share my podcast in a weekly email to my list, plus LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.

One of the best ways I've found to get new listeners is to go onto other people's podcasts as a guest.
 

Start with understanding why you want to do the podcast, and who it's for. This will help guide you in choosing the topics, frequency, and length but it will also help you stay committed in the long run. This is a long game and most hosts will give up before their podcast has a chance to take off.

Then it's about finding a rhythm that works for you. If your podcast is part of your business as it is for mine, then I highly recommend coming up with your content themes and topics and batch-creating content around those themes. Then repurpose and put even more energy into getting your content out there than you did in creating it in the first place.

And before you launch your own podcast, I'd really suggest starting by going onto other people's podcasts as a guest. It will give you practice in honing your message, help you speak more confidently and succinctly, and give you a taster of what it will be like to have your own podcast. If you do decide to launch your own, I'd continue to guest on other podcasts as it's a great way to collaborate and bring new listeners to your show.
 

You can find the podcast at reimaginingsuccesspodcast.com or by searching "reimagining success" on your favourite podcast app.