2023, like, wow, what a year Am I right? I mean, I think back to the beginning of this year and I'm just blown away by how little I knew about AI and how much more I know today, how many things I've been exposed to and just how many fun opportunities I've had because I've been curious about so many different things this year. And we're gonna get into it today, because today's episode is a year in review for 2023. So used to I used to go over like my top five books of the year and I would like do a deep dive on all of those books. If you haven't listened to those episodes, go back if you're looking for some inspiring, like self-help motivation, like all those inspirational type of books. But this year I wanna do something different. One because I didn't read a ton of books this year. I gotta be honest, that's like one thing on my list I did not do a ton of, but I listened to some podcasts. Like I need to have a year in review report on my iPhone and see how many hours of podcasts did I listen to this year, because it was a lot. It was a lot, a lot. But I wanna share with you three main takeaways that I had in 2023 and just kinda do a like, let's wrap this up for what we've accomplished in the last 12 months and do a little bit of looking ahead and what all we have to look forward to in the next 12 months. So let's get right to it. Welcome to the Profit Podcast, where we teach you how to start, launch and market your content with confidence. I'm your host, crystal Profit, and I'm so excited that you're here. Thanks for hanging out with me today, because if you've been trying to figure out the world of content creation, this is the show that will help be your time saving shortcut. So let's get right to it, shall we? So, hi, welcome back. This is going to be so much fun. Like I said, there's three main takeaways that I had from 2023. I'll just say three main episodes. No, there's three main takeaways. The first one we're gonna go through is events. There's some really incredible events that I wanna highlight. The next thing is some of the trends that we saw in 2023, and some of my predictions of what that will look like in 2024. And then we're also gonna give some shout outs to some special members of this community. But let's go ahead and get started. Let's dive right into. The first thing we have to cover today is the events of 2023. I don't think I've had as profitable partnerships, partnerships, relationship building, since 2021. And in 2021 was when I went to Nashville. I went to podcast movement. There I had, I mean, just so many, many, many people in this audience. I met Mark Cuban like that was weird. I met John Lee Dumas in like this breakout session of podcast movement. I just had a lot of connections like cool interactions with people that I never thought I would have. I went to she podcast. We did podcast Like it was a big year. I had Dave Ramsey like I met a bunch of people on their team. And Jade Warshaw like I've given her a huge shout out before but she is someone that is like she's freaking, killing it at Ramsey and she was my partner at the Ramsey influencer event. So I am just cheering her on from the sidelines and like, go, Jade, go, like you are crushing it. But that was a 2021 year. So in 2023, I feel like the events that I was able to attend while it was minimal, like it wasn't a bunch of events every single one of them were so impactful for different reasons. So if we start at the top. The first event that we had in 2023 was going to speak at podcast movement, so it was podcast movement evolutions in Vegas, and this was in March. It actually ended up being over spring break, so my husband got to go with me and it was so much fun. We're not really like Vegas people and I can say that because it was my second time to go to Vegas the first one was in 2020, but I'm just like I don't know, like I don't see what the hype is about. Maybe because I'm cheap and I'm not really a gambler. I just I don't really. You know, the hype wasn't there for me for, like all things, you know, vegas quote Vegas, the quintessential Vegas stuff but I had so much fun meeting incredible people. So I met my coach, jen. So shout out to Jen. She's Jen Frey coaching. She has been on the profit podcast, but we met there and it was so fun because I wasn't really expecting to meet a bunch of people that would have such a profound impact on my life and Jen has absolutely been one of those. So shout out to Jen. I'm gonna link to, you know, everything she does in the show notes because she has helped me Like I hired her as my personal coach and we worked together from, I mean it was August through November. We worked on some really incredible things and it was everything from mindset, career, motherhood, parenting, like so many different things. But I met her at podcast movement. So it wasn't just the highlight of being able to speak on stage for the first time solo, because I'd spoken at podcast movement before, but being able to do that in the solo format was incredible. I had so many compliments after that talk. So this episode I feel like it's gonna be just a ton of shout outs but shout out to Heather Sager, so we're gonna come back to her in a second. But she helped me with my talk. Like I've learned from her all the speaking different programs I've done with her, her coaching that she's helped me with and just the incredible way that she can help you lay out a talk. I did that talk for two weeks straight before I ever took the stage Every single day, every single day. For two weeks I did a full run through of that. I mean the full, like 45-ish minutes, at least once a day, every single day for two weeks, and it shows. It shows that was the best speaking state stage performance I've ever had. It sounds weird to call it like a stage performance, but that's what it was like. I had the hand gestures, I had practice with the mic, I practice with the clicky thing, like I had done all the things behind the scenes to make that talk happen. And I'm still so, so proud of that. So just shout out to the podcast movement team I'm so, so grateful to have had that opportunity and you know, I hope to work with them again in the future because it's an incredible organization. I am planning to go To podcast movement in the fall of twenty twenty four, so I wanted to throw out some of these like conferences. You have them on your radar for next year. If you're like, oh, what should I go to? I'm not going to the one that's going to be I think it's in LA in the spring. I have other other prior commitments in the spring, but I am planning to go to the next one that they have in the fall. So podcast movement fantastic conference again. You make incredible connections and get to meet up with some amazing podcasters. So highly, highly recommend that. The next one is craft and commerce in Boise, idaho. First of all, I'd never been to Boise and it is beautiful. Like I understand everyone's like everyone's moving here from all over you know, like we have so many like influx of people moving from different states. I understand why I went there in June is gorgeous, and to get from the airport to my hotel in downtown Boise was like fifteen minutes. I was like this is absolutely unheard of. This is incredible and I will be going back. So craft and commerce was fantastic. I got to make Awesome connections. So Justin Moore he's been on the podcast. I've been chatting his praises. You probably seen us like tagging each other on Instagram Because I'm a success story of his program, brand deal wizard, where he teaches creators about sponsorship. So I'm gonna link to that in the show notes. I'm an affiliate for his program. I will shout it from the rooftops I'm so proud of this thing. It has made me tens of thousands of dollars at this point in my business already. So, yeah, I'm gonna keep talking about it because it is incredible thing. But I met him at craft and commerce. He took the main stage. I was able to, you know, chat with him briefly whenever he was done and then we made a connection. Afterwards. I asked him come on the podcast and it ended up being a great partnership. And then now I've helped him do some fun things behind the scenes that I can't wait for him to share in twenty twenty four. And we have some other fun partnerships coming up that I mean I'm just the collaborations that come from conferences and events are. They're just unmatched, because you can do only so much like online networking and it gets a lot of work and you know someone's gotta reschedule, someone's gotta cancel, like it. Just it's not as organic as it is when you are live there in person with other people and you can have just authentic conversation. So I will absolutely be going back to Craft Commerce. I'm actually planning a family trip for all my whole family to go, because I told my husband I was like we got to get you back here so you could go fishing and they have whitewater rafting and our boys love to fish. So I'm like it's in the summer. We're making it a whole deal. I've already it's slated on my agenda. So if you want to meet up with me in 2024, I will be in Boise, idaho, for Craft Commerce. For sure I'm going to make that one. But the other connections I made. So Terry Rice he also spoke. He was the opening keynote speaker and he is absolutely incredible. Go look him up on Instagram, go get on his newsletter. He is someone that has just such a passion. He's working on a few new projects for 2024. And I just was recently an interview on his podcast. It'll be coming out in a few weeks and it's called Launch your Business. That's his podcast and it was just so much fun to talk to him. We actually did a little coaching on some things that he has coming up that has to do with another podcast. So it was just so much fun to meet these inspiring entrepreneurs and creators that they have the passion Like that is. If you're looking for a really passionate creator community, convertkit is where it's at. It really is Like they just know how to draw in these uber passionate people that just have a heart to help people and share their message and make an impact, make a difference in everything that they do. So go check out Craft and Commerce and Boise. It's where I hosted Amy Porterfield for her meetup and book signing, which was super fun. It was always. It's always great to see Amy in person and just meeting the ConvertKit team was also great. So I'm going to say it again, I will be at Craft and Commerce and Boise, idaho, in 2024. So if you want to come meet up with me, that's where I will be, get it on your calendar now. But the other third event that I wanted to highlight is getting to go to Bend, oregon. So total, like I did, a lot of traveling this year, a lot more than I anticipated, but it was so incredible. I got to go help my friend, heather Sager. So shout out to Heather. I knew I'd circle back around to this, but I helped her with her signature talk accelerator. So this is her program that she created. She wanted to host it live for a live cohort and it's actually going to be an on-demand version where you can learn all the things that I learned to take the stage at podcast movement evolutions, to speak at she podcast, to do all the things that I did for the Ramsey influencer event. So if you're wanting to be more visible and speak on stages, then go check out Heather's program because it is fantastic. I was actually there live and I helped behind the scenes. I'll make sure and link to the video that I did and the collaboration that Heather and I did together. We recorded a podcast episode behind the scenes. So if you want to know, production-wise, what we did, then make sure you go check out those episodes and listen to those, because it was so fun to do it with a friend who had never met in person and now we can officially say we got to hug each other's necks and have coffee and meals together and just be able to do life in person. I think is something I want to continue to make priority in 2024 and say I'm going to these live events, I'm going to see people in real life, because that's where those organic connections and collaborations just happen so much more naturally. So I hope that you put that as a top priority for yourself in 2024. Actually, if you're watching this on YouTube, I want to know put in the comments what's an event that you're looking forward to in the new year that you're just like. Oh, I'm already counting down. I cannot wait until this happens in person, because it's going to be so much fun. I want to hear from you, so put them in the comments. All right, let's move on to the second thing that we need to cover today, and that is the trends of 2023 AI. I mean, is there anything else to start with. Is there anything else to start with? No, there's not. I think back to Craig. So Craig Vence, he was on the profit podcast in early 2023. I think that our episode was either recorded in February or I know it aired in the spring and we were talking about chat to BT and I was kind of like, yeah, that's a cute fad, we'll see where it goes. I was still living off of the hype of all these other things that I've participated in and they've gone by the wayside very quick. They disappear just as quickly as they appear. And this was one that I was like sure, like I'll play around with it. I didn't really. It wasn't doing much for me. Now I'm obsessed. I use it every day. I use other AI tools every single day and I see that being the thing that continues in a 2024. That blows our minds. I really do. I think that the rise of so many different apps and companies and the way that people are deciding to use it and people want to bring this idea to life in this new way. It may not be a brand new idea, but it's making things simplified, it's automating this, it's prioritizing that and it's just making so many of our jobs that much easier. So I'm excited about AI in 2023 and looking forward to it in 2024, and I cannot wait for it. One of the other fun things that I saw that were very interesting this year was threads in X. So if you are an Instagram user, you know threads is their Twitter version of their platform. It was a huge deal when it first started and I haven't posted on there in several weeks. I can't be honest. I just I can't it. I think that I was fooling myself and saying, oh well, I wasn't a Twitter person, but I will love this. I don't love it. I really I just I don't love the format. I think it goes back to, if you think. I mean, I remember when Facebook was literally just, you know, captions was what you were writing, but that's what happened in your feed was? You know? You just had the text of? I'm meeting, you know, pizza Hut tonight with some of my friends. You know, I don't even remember things that I would say in Facebook, like circa 2006,. But that's what I feel like some of these platforms are, and I'm just not. I'm a visual person. I want to see the images and the graphics and I know that they have that on Twitter and threads or, excuse me, x or threads. You know they have these visual platforms, but I still prefer an Instagram and that's where. That's where I am. So we'll see, you know, what happens in 2020, and beyond, but for me, it's just. I don't need any new platforms. That's what I have decided. I don't do TikTok, still, I just it's not the one for me. I can't get into it. There's too much going on. I'm like the, the middle-aged woman walking into a club holding her ears saying it's too loud, like, can we go home? Like I just want to go snuggle up on the couch. And that's what Instagram is for me. It is a casual, chill app that I need. And so, yeah, that's. That's my little rant, I guess, if you will, about the trends of threads and X rebranding and just all that drama that happened this year. Very interesting. The other trend of 2023 was video and podcasting. So I was recently on. I'm gonna link to this in the show notes too. But Veronica, over from Pod Sound School, she has a podcast called Contet Jefe and you have to go check it out. It's such a cute. I love how they edit things and they like her husband, studio Steve is so talented in all of their video editing and production that they do, and that's what they specialize in behind the scenes. So they created this fantastic video. But one of the things that we talked about was video podcasting and was like do we need it, Do we not need it? Is audio only the way to go? And I'm gonna keep saying you can go the route of doing an audio only podcast, but it will only get you so far. You can't depend on just audio only anymore. You've gotta have some components of video and there's a few different ways to do that. But it needs to be on your vision board for 2024. It needs to be on your strategic planning, but it needs to be something that's incorporated into your content in some capacity. That could just be Instagram stories, right? It doesn't have to be this full production of all these reels and all this content you gotta create. It could just be you showing your face on Instagram stories and saying, hey, there's a new podcast episode out today. Go check it out, go listen to it. It doesn't have to be this big, elaborate plan, but I do think that you need a video component in the new year and beyond and you have to figure out what that's going to be for you and how that's gonna work for your content and your business. The other one that I wanted to throw in my trends of 2023, I just wanted to throw in. I said, oh, let me add in my top three podcasts that I love to listen to right now, and then I realized it's my top five and then I realized, oh, it's all the same people. So this is I can't say it's been of all of 2023, because there have been other podcasts that I listened to throughout the year, but the last few months leading up to me recording this episode, I'm obsessed with Armchair Expert the Armchair Umbrella, I should say, because that's where all of these shows are. I love Dax, I love Monica and I love the shows that they're creating and their whole network of different, inclusive shows that are so different. They're so different than anything else that you listen to and you hear they're entertaining, they're vulnerable. The guests that they have on there. I mean I'm just, I'm always blown away. I'm like, oh my gosh, I can't wait to listen to Eva Longoria on a podcast. I can't wait to listen to Maria Sharapova. I can't wait to listen to this vulnerability expert or someone that's a therapist and it's just. It has the perfect blend of everything that I'm looking for, and so I love all of their shows. So I'm gonna list them off. They have the Armchair Expert Sinked, which is a newer show. If you listen to their show, race to 35, which is all about Monica and her friend Liz, they shared the process of fertility and freezing their eggs and I told my husband that that show was so interesting because I've had three kids like we're done. We're done having kids. I'm not in the fertility space, but I have several friends at my age that are struggling with infertility or they're having to make those decisions Like do I freeze my eggs? Like do I do, and so that whole world was very like. I'm so far removed from it that I wanted to have this baseline of connecting with people who are going through things like that. So I listened to their show. It was fantastic. It was a short run, limited series, but those two together monica and lives have created a regular show that is ongoing and it's called the saint and it's just like the girlfriends guide to the galaxy. It's so fantastic. So lives and monica are both around my age, so the things that they share are. I totally identify with my think. Monica and I are actually the same age. Like we would have graduated in the same high school class and college and all that together and it's just. It's very I don't know it, just it makes my heart happy. So singt is another great one. They also have flight list bird, which is about david farrier, who is from new zealand and he is in america like trying to figure out what, like why do we do the things that we do? It's hilarious one. It calls out weird, quirky things that have never thought about as an american that we do hear that. He's like why the heck do you do this? Like this is making any sense. Like, why are you the way that you are? So I love his perspective. I love that it's him and monica and rob, their producer, and they're constantly just talking about the most outrageous things and it again it makes my heart so. They're talking about cereal. They're talking about quilts. They talked about the dmv and getting a driver's license. I mean pinball machines. They've talked about the most outlandish things that I wouldn't even thought about american accents and it's so fun. So if you're looking for something that's Purely entertainment, go check out these shows. They also have armchair anonymous in your book, which are some of their newer shows that I highly recommend again. Armchair umbrella I'm obsessed with the whole thing. It is Not something about business. It's not necessarily motivational self help like this is going to show you how to get a million dollars. It is something that I enjoy. That makes my heart happy. I was gonna say, my heart in my soul. My heart in my soul is so happy. I laugh. I've cried on episode. So if you're looking for something to just make your heart happy, go listen to those episodes. Alright, the last thing that we need to cover in our year in review for twenty twenty three is shout outs. I am so proud of this community, I'm so proud of you all. I cannot believe that we have so much talent here with the podcasters and content creators. Like I could just have dedicated an entire show to the winds that I've seen in our facebook group. If you're not part of a facebook group, I'll have it linked in the show notes as well. Join us in our facebook group, because that's where there's so much like fireworks and sparkly things happening all the time and it just like I'm so proud of you. I'm so proud of you. I feel like a coach that is constantly like, yes, on the sidelines, like I am just like this, pumping and say, yes, go, go, keep going, you're doing an incredible job. But I'm also the coach that's there, say I'm here if you need help, like look to me, like you're on the field, you're doing your thing, you know you're, you're running, you're doing whatever sport or whatever you know athletic competition that you're doing and you're looking at me and you're like coach, what do I do next? That's the type of person I like to be. If you don't know this about me, I am Cheerleader. I've told people this, like from the age of four, is when I started cheering, you know, for little league football, for my brother and all his friends, and I just love being a cheerleader. So I wanted to give some shout outs to people in this community specifically that I've had some huge milestones this year. So, kathy, you're the first one up. So Kathy van and who will? She has the caregiver cut podcast and she just celebrated three years of her show. Three years, kathy, I am so proud of you. I still remember when you were trying to figure out your show, you were developing the name, you were trying to think about the content. And here you are, three years later and we've had conversations on the side. I know that she's looking at what are the next steps for her show. She's looking at collaborations and opportunities and different things that she can try as an established content creator. She's in it. She's no longer a beginner, she's been doing this, she's a seasoned pro and I'm so proud of you, kathy, for all the things that you've been doing, but mostly for staying in the game. You're here three years later and I think that it's incredible. I can't wait to continue to go on this journey with you. You are doing awesome things and the caregiver cup podcast again giving it a shout out. It is absolutely worth checking out. The next shout out I want to give is to Chef Amanda. So Amanda Schaumburg. She has a baking for business podcast and she celebrated earlier this year. She hit a hundred thousand downloads. She had Tiffany, amber Thieson no big deal Kelly Kapowski from save by the bell on her podcast this year and I again, I'm just so blown away by the talent in this community and just the fun things that she's been doing. Go follow her on Instagram If you are a home baker, if you love to be in the culinary space and you want to know how that can work, doing it from home. Go check out chef Amanda on Instagram, especially because she does a fantastic job sharing all these yummy creations. She had this thing that she shared the other day that I watched she bought. It was I think it was a pumpkin cheesecake or it was something that looked so good. I was like, oh my gosh, this is like or maybe it was a bun cake, I don't remember it was a delicious treat. Then she had bought from another bakery and she was like testing in and she was like giving her reviews and I'm like this is like the food porn that I need in my life to watch every single day, because chef Amanda does it so well in her delivery of sharing all this information. So again, shout out to Amanda, you're doing incredible things. The other shout out that I want to give is to Melissa, carrie and Hannah, so everyone that I've mentioned here today. They're all students of profit podcasting. So this is my podcast program that teaches you how to start launching, market a podcast in 30 days or less. But all of these people have started a podcast, launched it, marketed. But the other piece in there is they are still going. They are consistent in their journey. They're trying new things. They're figuring out their next moves for their podcast. So I just want to give a shout out to Melissa, carrie and Hannah because they launched their podcast this year. They've been super connected in our community and they're helping other people as often as they can. They're super active in our Facebook group and I'm just so grateful for the things that they've been able to share. I actually have Melissa and Carrie were on a special episode where we talked about their podcast journey, so I'll make sure and link to that in the show notes as well. But the other big thing that we had to share is the profit podcast turned five this year and I didn't really talk about it too much. We hit 400 episodes. We actually I mean, if I'm talking about year on reviews we had the potty report for three years and because of the potty report and the profit podcast we were able to surpass 1300 podcast episodes. Wrap your head around that number because it's still hard for me. 1300 podcast episodes have been published at Profit Media and that still blows my mind. It really blows my mind that I've recorded, edited, launched, published, marketed over 1300 podcast episodes and I'm just super proud and I want to share that win as something that I never thought would be possible because it wasn't even. It was too big. It was too big to even be on my radar. I know most of you that are listening right now. You're in the stages of just starting your podcast. Having five episodes sounds like a huge milestone to you, let alone a hundred sounds mind boggling. You're like what? I can't even think of that. But to have 1300 podcast episodes? I have to just take a moment and say I'm extremely proud. I'm so proud of being able to continuously show up because, y'all, it's not easy. As much as I like to make podcasting fun and content creation, let's do this with confidence. It is not easy. I know this, I realize this and it's why I keep showing up. You are my why. When I sit there and think what am I doing? How does this really even work? I have this reminder of Crystal. It's not about you, it's never been about you. It's about you helping the people that have a special message to share. That's why you do this. That's why I do this. I am so grateful for every single one of you in this community that show up consistently for me, because I'm going to keep showing up consistently for you. I love teaching in this community. I love all the wins that I get to share from awesome podcasters and creators. If you have a win that you want to share, go over to our pod inbox page, which is pretty soon going to be our fan list page, but I'm going to have a link in the show notes. I want you to go check it out and leave me an audio message. Tell me what, if your wins, if you're like Crystal you missed, like I wish you would have given me a shout out. I've celebrated so many amazing things. I want to hear about them. Send them to me, send me an audio message and we could air it on a future episode of the podcast. But I want to hear from you. What is your year in your view, what are your biggest wins of 2023? I cannot wait to share and celebrate and indulge in them. This is one thing I mentioned you know my coach, jen, earlier. One thing that she helped me with this year was I don't do enough indulging and celebrations. Of course, I'll say oh, you know, pat on the back, you did a good job, but I also had this voice in my head of well, of course, because I'm a self starter, I'm a motivated person. I never had any doubts that my in-eagram three right, I'm a high achiever. I never thought I wouldn't accomplish something, but I was always like three steps ahead into the next thing. I was never sitting in the celebration and saying, wow, this feels really good. Or look at what I've done, or you know, like that thing that I wanted for years and years, I finally accomplished it. I was usually just running on to the next thing. So what I want you to do like if you're listening to this, you're watching this. I want you to sit in everything that you've accomplished, whether you're watching this at the end of the year, you're watching this at the beginning of the year, you're watching this five years from now. I want you to sit in all the things that you have accomplished that you either never thought were possible or they weren't even on your radar in the first place, and once you just sit back and see like wow, when I do that, I have so many wow moments, so many that just like they take my breath away, as like I never thought that that would be possible for me. I never thought that I would have these opportunities and I'm so grateful sitting here today. I am so grateful that I get to share all of these journeys with you and just the different opportunities. We did so much in 2023 at Profit Media and I know that we're going to have so many other amazing things in 2024. I told you a little bit that we would tease out some of the fun things that we're working on. We're working on some more partnerships, so I am bringing some experts into this community that are going to help you achieve greatness in the next 12 months 24 months, but giving you the practical tools to get more sponsorships, to have more visibility and get in front of bigger audiences, to monetize your content I hear you loud and clear but also to work on project management, time management and making the most out of the precious time that you have. So there's going to be some fun launches coming up in Q1 of 2024. Like, stay tuned. It is going to be a rocket ship and we are strapping on, we are hanging on and I cannot wait to share them all with you. But that's all I have for you today. So if this is your first time tuning in, make sure you hit that subscribe or follow button wherever you are listening and watching and, as always remember, keep it up. We all have to start somewhere.