179. Why you should seek support to share your voice
It's so important to share your voice - and you don't need to do it alone! Seeking support to share your voice is the very thing that enables it to be clarified and amplified!
In this episode I chat to the amazing Content Queen Mariah MacInnes, all about:
📣How you can amplify your voice and bring in more leads through content repurposing.
📣 Why posting the same thing on multiple platforms is a good thing.
📣 Why professional mentors are a necessity.
📣 The life changing impact of Mariah sharing her health journey.
📣 How joining Soul Speakers has achieved incredible results for Mariah.
Follow Mariah @contentqueenmariah
Transcript
Hello, hello. Welcome back to That Voice Podcast and special welcome. If you're new here, my Spotify wrap revealed that lots of people discovered this podcast this year. So if that's you, I'm so glad you found us! Today, I'm lifting the lid a little, there's a tongue twister for you: lifting the lid. A little on the content creation in my business, and you may have found me initially through social media, I do post prolifically and my number one marketing channel is organic social media content. It's a rare event for a day to go by without a post appearing from me on Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube, and Threads. I've kind of gone off X since the rebrand, but I am around a lot. And as a voice and speaking coach, I love sharing my voice online. However, if you're wondering how I am in so many places, so frequently, today's guest is why.
So I work with the wonderful Mariah MacInnes who helps repurpose my content and amplify my voice farther and wider. And this saves me time, introduces me to new people and gets people closer to working with me because gone are the days when people see one piece of content and are ready to dive right in. I dunno if there was ever a day where that was the case. I often have people signing up who've listened to this podcast since the single digit episodes. And if that's you, then seriously, what are you waiting for? How many episodes do you need to hear before getting serious with me? So this episode is called Why You Should Seek Support to Share Your Voice, and we go into how Mariah supports me and also how I've supported Mariah to share her voice. I don't need to spruce Soul Speakers in this episode, because Mariah shares exactly the amazing results she's had since joining Soul Speakers earlier this year.
Mariah also shares very openly about her health challenges and the big life-changing impacts she's had on people by sharing that story. If you are tentative about sharing content online, overwhelmed by the amount of posting you feel you need to be doing, or you're just unsure, if anyone wants to hear your story, then this is the episode for you. And look, just by tuning in, you are seeking support to share your beautiful voice, support our voices by sharing this episode. You're going to love it. Now, quick disclaimer: Mariah recorded this from Colombia. Her boyfriend Mitch is from Colombia. They're spending some time over there and I did my best to edit out the crackling 'cause the wifi wasn't fantastic. Please, stay with us. I appreciate your understanding because this episode is so good.
Sally:
Mariah MacInnes, welcome to that voice podcast. I am so excited to be speaking to you all the way in Colombia. How are you?
Mariah:
Hey Sal, thank you so much for having me. Yes, I'm good. It's it's, I'm speaking English now. I've been speaking a lot of Spanish. I'm very bad at it, but it's nice to speak some English today!
Sally:
It's interesting, isn't it? Do you find that your like mouth and brain has to like, get into the gear of the language you're speaking and it's like a little bit of an adjustment?
Mariah:
It is so fascinating to me how, like, say for example, my partner can swap between thinking in English and Spanish. I'm not quite there yet. One day I'll be thinking in Spanish, but it's so hard because you're trying to translate at the same time and then repeat back and it's just a mess.
Sally:
From my time in Brazil when I was over there, they say that you, you really absorbed the language when you start dreaming in it.
Mariah:
Oh, yep. I haven't got there yet. One day.
Sally:
A lot of people say to me, Sal, how on earth do you put out so much content? Like you are prolific, you know, every platform, every day. And yes, it is part of the way that I like to run my business and I really enjoy content creation. So I find making content quite easy. However, there is a secret weapon to the volume of the content I create. And that is you Mariah.
Mariah:
Thank you so much. You are a dream client because you love creating content, Sal, you make it so much easier with all your content. So yes, I am Mariah, founder of Content Queen and we are a content marketing agency. So basically we help small business owners, entrepreneurs and medium-sized businesses push out content so they have more eyes on their business, they can share their story. One of my biggest goals is to support my clients. So yes, they, they have more time to do the things they love in their business to be able to grow their business in various different ways. And so we can do anything, for example, for you Sal, we help you with the podcast page with some repurposing across different channels. So I do a lot of repurposing activities with my clients. So if they create a piece of content, we just try and get as much juice out of as possible. One of the ones I love the most is someone having a podcast, 'cause there's so much content that we can get out of a podcast. So in a nutshell, I'm a repurposing queen.
Sally:
Absolutely, you are. So in my case, you know, we use podcast and then you help with not just the Instagram channel, but also LinkedIn newsletter with Pinterest, with YouTube shorts repurposing my TikToks. And so it really enables my voice to be able to be amplified across more platforms. Most of my leads come in from people who have seen me. And it's not just the one time, you know, it's lots of different times across a long time period. Is that what you're finding is that people really need to see who you are and what you do in lots of different places over time?
Mariah:
Oh, absolutely. It's like nowadays it's up to like 18 if not more touch points that you need to see someone build trust and then of course like get to know them and buy from them. So that's a lot of time.
Sally:
18. I thought it used to be 7.
Mariah:
Oh, it used to be. Now, it used to be that were the good old days, they were the good old days when you didn't have to, you know, be a content mule. I think a lot of business owners that, and you'd find these people that don't, you know, struggle to share their voice, struggle to show up. They're like, oh my God, I've gotta create another thing and another thing. And that's where repurposing is really powerful because it does allow you to amplify your message. And some people, you know, you might, and there was always this old thing of, Oh, if I see, if I post it on Instagram and then I post it on Facebook, you know, that person will think I'm being lazy. And it's like, No, no, no, they probably won't see it on Instagram. They might see it on Facebook and then they might see it somewhere else and then they'll think about it. It's like when I have a mentor that'll tell me something like five times before I'll do it, it's the same thing, right? Like, we need to hear it in so many different times, in so many different ways to take action.
Sally:
Yeah. And chances are, if somebody is seeing your post in your email newsletter, let's just just say, you know, if they've listened to the podcast, seen the newsletter, seen the Instagram, seen the LinkedIn, seen the Facebook, like chances are they're a super fan if they're seeing you in that many different places and they likely enjoy seeing your content.
Mariah:
Oh, absolutely. And the super fans are great because they'll probably add value in a comment on any one, every one of those. And that's what you want. So people that see all your content, like it's, it's, yeah, it's rare, but they're, they're unicorns. They're amazing.
Sally:
Yeah, absolutely. So of course I am a big advocate for using your voice. I feel like you cannot completely outsource your content. You need to be making videos, putting your voice out there. Absolutely. Yet, this episode is all about how it's very helpful to seek out that support. You know, while the content does start with you, it doesn't need to be all on you. And so you mentioned that I'm kind of a dream client because I love creating content. Take us through what are some of the challenges that some other clients come to you with? Are there people who say, look, I don't even wanna be on social media at all. Can you just do the whole thing and what do you say to them?O
Mariah:
Yeah, I mean, there's definitely been times where I've had people be like, oh, I don't really wanna show my face and I don't wanna do this and I don't wanna do that. And over time, what I love about what I do and my work is I find I turn people into content creators because then they get really excited about all the opportunities that we could do. So I'll build a strategy out and look, you know, I'm not the type of person that will force someone to do something, but I will gently guide and support them along that journey to I guess showing up and, and sharing of their wisdom, their story. So I really like to pull people's stories out. I'll never forget the client that I first had, and I'm gonna mention it because she'll be okay with this. Laeticia who we both know, when I first started working with her,
Sally:
She's been on the podcast too.
Mariah:
Yep. She's has been a guest. And she didn't like sharing her voice. She didn't like talking about herself. And in human design, her gate eight was closed. So for her it was like yeah, she, she was really struggling with that. So we had conversations, I got talking to her, I asked her questions, and now she's always coming to me with ideas like, We could do this and we could do that. And how about I share this? So it's definitely helped happened over time, but what I help people with is of course yeah, getting them excited about the content through the opportunities that they could do. So I think that's where strategy comes down comes down to it and we, we go through the strategy, we map it out, and then from there they slowly start to see how possible it is. And then of course, how sharing their story and being personal and relatable is gonna help grow their business. Because without it, as you said, s yes, it's awesome to outsource your content, but you need to be in it. Like you need to understand your audience, you need to be talking with them, not just at them. And content is a beautiful way to do that if it's you. So I like to gently guide over time for sure.
Sally:
Yeah. And I love that you said that, you know, it's not just about seeking support for someone to help amplify and repurpose your content. And that's what makes you different, Mariah. It's that you, you really are like a content mentor. It's a sounding board where you can say, Oh, I'm thinking about doing this. What do you think? Or, or how does this video sound? And that's what I think is really valuable about mentors and coaches, you know, like myself, like Mariah, is that it's so useful to have somebody to be able to bounce your ideas off. And I think one of the best ways to trust our own voice and trust our own message and what we wanna say is to get that critical feedback and that loving support from somebody who really cares about what we're trying to do and understands us.
Mariah:
Oh absolutely. I've had mentors since I've started in different ways. You know, like I've got business mentors, I've had mindset, I've even got a mentor at the moment as I'm dealing with you know, my own health journeys. Because I think having someone that's attached to you but not so emotionally attached where they can take a step back and see it from a bigger picture, that's what we need. Like, and often we can't get that from our friends and family who don't truly really properly understand what we do. Like my brother still doesn't know what I do to this day, so I can't go to him ask for support. So I think having a support network and just giving fresh new ideas that you wouldn't have thought of. And that's a lot of that I've gotten from my podcast and my content and sharing my voice from you sell where I'm like all your outside the box ideas that have really helped me with my content. And I think having someone in your corner in business, especially when it can be super lonely when you're working for yourself, it's like a necessity. It's not just a nice to have, I think it really is a must have.
Sally:
Oh, I love that. And we love having you in soul speakers and talking about seeking support. It really is that network. It's hard to find, I think in business somebody who doesn't have a team of mentors, whether it be for business or content or speaking. And you've been in Soul Speakers for a few months now and what's been the support that you've really found in our group?
Mariah:
I love, I love Soul Speakers. It was on my list for so long to join and then when we had a conversation like I just need to do it because I was really struggling with what people thought of me and caring what people think, especially in an industry. I'm in an industry of content creation and social media that is so saturated. There are so many people out there that are speaking so loud. And for me, I label myself a content queen and I was almost embarrassed to step up into that. I know what I'm talking about, you can trust me. And so I really needed to join Soul Speakers because I needed that guidance on how to actually step into that confidence. And of course when I joined the call, there's so many people that can relate and you know, I'm popping things in the chat and everyone's like, Yes, me too!
Mariah:
Oh my god, I so feel that. But what I love about it is the actual, I'm very actionable. So I like the action steps that I can take after a session after like I watch the replays of anything or all the content in there and specific to my current pain point or needs with my own voice. And then I can just take action on it and see the results in my business. And one that I've had is my podcast because I'm a rambler. I love to talk and I needed something to make my podcast more succinct and more, I guess relatable for my audience, educational for my audience, but also not just like a ramble. Like I'm repeating myself all the time 'cause that's what I do. So one of the kind of formulas or frameworks that you provided for a keynote I used in my podcast and I got a podcast for like in 20 minutes yesterday.
Mariah:
And that is just so unheard of for me. And it was just so tangible and actionable and I was just so happy with it. Now when I edit my podcast, I love it, but not only that, I'm getting feedback on it and I feel like that's really moving the needle in my business. So with that, that newfound confidence, I've been able to run campaigns, marketing campaigns in my business being like, I know what I'm talking about. Listen to me. And I feel like it's had such an amazing impact to the point where when I got home from Europe self, so I joined Soul Speakers in Europe. When I got home from Europe, I just had an inundate of new clients who were seeing my content and being like, Whoa, Mariah knows what she's talking about. I need to speak with her and see how she can help me.
Sally:
Mariah, that just makes my soul sing. That is exactly what we're all about, to be able to use your voice so you become that visible force in your field so people see what you see in yourself. And also, I've never really thought about this, but Soul Speakers really is specifics meets spirituality. So you know, when I talk about spirituality, there are some energetics and some higher level things, but there are a lot. I think it's because I'm a daughter of an engineer, so my dad's an engineer and my sister's an engineer. So I've got this kind of part of me where I'm like, Right, here's the steps, here's the formula. You know? So, yeah. I'm glad that you said that because that's the feedback I get quite a lot that they're like, wow, you're like actually telling me what to do and it's actually really easy. So, oh, that is so beautiful to hear.
Sally:
I know this episode is good and so are my pep talks in your pocket. These short audio tracks tell you exactly what you need to hear before speaking. So there's one to calm your nerves, one to warm up your voice, get your breathing under control and ditch the self-doubt that can creep in. So many of my clients have said, Sal, I so wish I had you in my ear before speaking. Well, now you can! It's like the ultimate hype girl right when you need it. And these are 100% free to download and keep forever. So you can have them handy before your next speech presentation, meeting, or hitting record on the video. The link is in the show notes. Or head to my website sallyprosser.com.au and you'll see the link. Okay. Back to the episode.
Sally:
So Mariah, I'd love to circle back when you're talking about your health journey with your health journey that you've been sharing, you've built such a great community and I've especially noticed it on TikTok where you are sharing about Whipples, which is something that I had never heard of until I met you and saw your content. And then it really warmed my heart seeing in the comments so many other people who were struggling with the same thing and going, Oh my gosh, somebody is finally speaking about this. So I'd love to hear from your perspective, what started that particular journey. What was the, the catalyst that made you say, Right, I need to talk about this publicly?
Mariah:
Hmm. Yeah. Well, so yeah, I had a major surgery in 2021 and I left that hospital and I was sitting on, my parents' rented Airbnb in Sydney. They spent a lot of money to come and support me in Sydney 'cause they're from Melbourne. And they went for a walk one day and they said, Look, are you okay? We're just gonna go for a walk. I said, no worries, I'll be fine. And they left and I cried and I cried so much because I was so alone. I had no one that really understood what I was going through. Because I was so young. When I got told I needed the surgery, my doctor had never operated on someone as young as me. It's usually done for pancreatic cancer for people over the age of 60. And I really struggle with this.
Mariah:
And I googled Whipples hashtag whipples on Insta. Oh, not Googled, on Instagram. I searched and I found one woman and one woman only, but no one was creating anything about it. And I just thought, I'm so lonely in this journey. So once I started feeling better, I just started talking about it on TikTok. I hadn't really done much on TikTok at all. And I thought, you know what? I'm just gonna share my story because it's rare. Every nurse that I ever meet is like, oh my God, you've had a Whipples. What the hell tell me everything, every doctor I ever meet, which is not often, they say, oh my God, you need to tell me everything. Like, what cancer was it? Everything, just lay it all out. And I go through the story. So when I started creating this content, I didn't realize that I would connect with so many young people that had had surgery.
Mariah:
And I started doing it on YouTube. I started longer form videos on YouTube. I don't do so much content anymore because I do find that often it becomes your identity and you have to be really careful about an illness or a chronic illness becoming your identity. But I really wanted to show the other side of my surgery and how I'm traveling. I'm living my life. Like, I mean that life expectancy after a Whipples is about five years. So yeah, it's crazy, right? Because it is mainly done on pancreatic cancer. That's why. But because mine was done on a different cancer, you know, obviously my, my doctor told me my life expectancy is a lot higher. So when I started creating content, I got all these beautiful messages from these, I got a message from a 15-year-old from South America who was terrified of her surgery.
Mariah:
And you know, I heard from her after it and I think I really helped her through it because she was really grateful. I actually met up with a girl in Colombia who is the first person I met in real life that had these Whipples. She shouted me and my partner for dinner because she was so grateful for everything I did for her. I spoke to her partner while she, he was in hospital. I approached him through the process of supporting his girlfriend, going through some life changing things. And it just made me realize how powerful content and sharing your story is because I would never have connected with these people in a million years if I didn't have that platform. I would. And I started a, a Facebook group just to support people. Actually. I had a girl literally message me overnight saying how she's really struggling post-surgery with her mental health.
Mariah:
And it's just amazing how I can really just share my experience without any judgment from anyone else. I'd have people that their 7-year-old father was going through Whipples and they just wanted me, wanted to know if they're gonna be okay. And obviously I could never guarantee that to anyone, but at least I can share my experience and give them a level of positivity that they probably didn't have before. That woman from Colombia walked after day one of that surgery, which is very unheard of. And I think her mindset really helped her. So yeah, it's just amazing to be able to share my personal experience and then have that impact on people and see their journeys and their, I've seen a lot of people start creating content on TikTok because of like me sharing my story and they've said, Oh my God, I started sharing my story because you are, and it's just really inspirational for me. So it's, it's actually amazing to see that.
Sally:
Oh my gosh, this is so good. This is, this is the thing, you know, content and putting yourself out there. It's not about you. You know, it's not about you. It's really about the impact you can have, the lives you can change, the connections you can make. And I love that quote from Marianne Williamson. You know, when we shine our own light, we give other people permission to do the same. And when you shared about how other people going through a similar experience and now sharing their story, it just isn't a beautiful real life example of that.
Mariah:
Yeah. And I mean, the woman that's sharing as well, she's Colombian, so she's like, no one speaks Spanish and no one obviously not everyone understands your content because it's in English. So at least I can transform that message even further. And it's just like, it's like a pay it forward process. People are seeing my content from two years ago and are commenting and messaging me. So like, you know, just because you post something, it doesn't mean it's gonna have that immediate impact. Now, it could in the future have more impact, which I think is amazing.
Sally:
Oh, it's so great, Mariah. And it's, so, it's, if anyone's listening to this and they're thinking, oh gosh, I don't know if I wanna post content, what will I look like? What will I sound like? What a great story to hear to show that it really isn't about you. And by creating content and sharing our voice and supporting each other, amplifying other voices, sharing other people's stories, even like what we're doing right now on this podcast. This is the stuff that is life changing when we share our voice, which is essentially what putting content out there is the difference you can make to others and also yourself. So wouldn't you say Mariah? Well, I know for me, even the content I share about voice, I find it very healing, especially last week's episode about my Vipassana. Like, I think in lots of ways, just creating that episode was a way of me processing the experience.
Mariah:
Oh, absolutely. And I always say like, you don't need to have a, like a life changing, you know, cancer diagnosis to start sharing your story. You don't even have to have that as your story. You know, like I could share a story about like, I don't know, an analogy about how a cake recipe can be the same as content creation, and it can still really hit someone and be like, Yeah, I get it. And, and, you know, the smaller stories create so much impact. And I think you know, in, if everyone here, we all have a purpose in some way, you know, to help in some direction, wherever it is, no matter what you are helping and changing someone's life. And to be able to amplify that through social media, through podcasting and, and even that voice element too, Sally, like, I love writing, don't get me wrong. I've got a 10 million books in me. But the, the actual message that comes across through your voice, whether it's a podcast or a video, it's just so much more impactful. You know, like, people can hear so much more.
Sally:
10 million audio books. You got 10 million audio books in you.
Mariah:
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Because like one of the videos that I created, you know, I started crying. I was so raw, it was so emotional, it wasn't planned. And even the video that you did Sal, after you came out of that retreat, it was so vulnerable and raw, but so many people connected to it. And so many people were like, tell us what happened.
Sally:
Oh my gosh, I've never ever got so many dms from anybody in my life. Even one of my school friends rang me up and was like, Mate, are you okay?
Mariah:
But that's the power of when we share our voice. We don't have the time to write and change and edit. It's just, it is what it is. And, and that's where the magic happens. And people can connect with the emotion in your voice that they can't in, like, I'm an advocate for written words, like that is my passion, but the voice is just, it's so powerful. You can't, you just can't compare it with anything else.
Sally:
Oh, Mariah, I should sign you up to my marketing team. Oh, I already have. Amazing. Thank you so much. Was there anything else you wanted to add? How can people find you, even though you are all over the world?
Mariah:
Yeah, you definitely can't track me down in any location at the moment. But yeah, you can, you can find me on social media @contentqueenmariah is the agency, and, and that's on Instagram. And through there you can find my personal Instagram. I'm on TikTok, Mariah MacInnes, if you search it, I come up in all different various places. But I think the last thing I wanted to add, Sally, is like when I decided to, in actually intentionally invest in my voice through Soul Speakers, but even in, regardless when I made that commitment to say, I want to improve the way I speak, the way I show up in my confidence, that is when the impact really did happen in my business. More like specifically obviously like whatever other content I create is just so you know, it's my hobby, it's my passion. I love it. I love talking. But when I said, You know what? I want to improve in this skill. That is, when I saw changes messages, I actually was saying to yourself, I got a random email from a woman in the United States saying, Hey, can you speak in any given, these are the new dates. I need you to do a workshop. I actually had another one on Friday, which I forgot to mention to you.
Sally:
Oh, amazing!
Mariah:
Yeah. From a local government in in Gippsland 'cause They've seen me do stuff from Gippsland in Victoria. They've seen me do stuff for other councils. And they're like, but it's because I've intentionally put the time in and we believe in the universe, we believe in energy. When you energetically show up, that is when things change. We're not just like doing bits and pieces here and there, like actually saying like, I'm committing to improving this skill. So if that is something you are obviously listening to this podcast because you are want to improve in your voice, then the next step is to make that tangible commitment in some way. And that's what I did and that's really helped me.
Sally:
Oh, I love that. You know, commitment to anything begins with commitment to ourselves. So commitment to a course or a coach or whatever it is, it begins with that commitment to ourselves. And I see at time and time again, somebody will book in coaching because they'll want to prepare for a speaking gig that may come up. And usually the gig has come in before the first session, because they've made that intention to themselves and sent that message to the universe. So, I totally agree with that. And Mariah, I'm so happy for you that all of these opportunities are coming in and so many more people get to experience the incredible content that you have and the beautiful warmth that you have as well. Our voice is so much who we are, you know, so by showing people who we are, and in your case, I just know that any organization that decides to hire you and any business person as well. So if you're like me, you're looking to amplify your content, I would highly recommend you get in touch with Mariah because she's been an absolute dream to work with and a very, very supportive friend as well. So Mariah, thank you so much.
Mariah:
Thanks so much, Sal, for having me. I've really enjoyed chatting with you.