373: Beth Buffington: Unleashing Creativity Through Podcasting and Art

Beth Ann Buffington 00:00:00:

The thing about creativity is that it's very forgiving. It allows you to go back, and you're always learning something from whatever it is that's happened to you. So it's an encouraging thing to know that you can go back and it's still there for you. And if you're not the best singer or the best instrumentalist, it's okay. You can play to your cat or your dog. You can sing in the shower. You don't have to have gigs and really be that person that's out in public doing the big things.

Harry Duran 00:00:31:

So. Beth Buffington, host of Create Today with Beth Buffington, thank you so much for joining me on podcast Junkies.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:00:37:

I am so excited to be here. Thank you for inviting me.

Harry Duran 00:00:42:

So we got connected through Cody Burch's email school. And for those that don't know Cody, he's a wizard at getting people up to speed on their email, getting things sorted for them, and it's a relevant conversation for this show because I think a lot of podcasters overlook the importance of email.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:01:00:

Yeah.

Harry Duran 00:01:01:

You know, in terms of their stack and how that's another channel for them to reach their audience. And Cody's gotten me. I was daily for a while, I think I did three months straight daily. Monday through seven days a week. And then there was a weekend where there was a lot going on. I was felt bad for a second that I wasn't emailing. You get this like, oh, no, my streak is broken.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:01:21:

Yep.

Harry Duran 00:01:22:

But then I was just, like, easy on myself. And I'm back into a fight day a week cadence, which feels a bit more manageable now, too.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:01:29:

I do two to three a week, depending on what I'm working on. And I plan on building that up. It's a goal for the summer. But I love Cody because he's so good at taking away the fears of if I'm on email, I'm bothering someone or I'm selling too hard. He's so good at saying no. It's more of a conversation that you're having with someone who's interested in what you're doing, and it becomes a relationship instead of a buy something from me or listen to things I have to say. And I. It's such a better way to look at how you should approach your email list. So I think it's a good find. Yeah.

Harry Duran 00:02:07:

So talk to me about what life was like before you started the podcast.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:02:13:

So I've been a creative forever and. And I went to school to learn graphic design and illustration and started off working in the Corporate environment, doing capability brochures and blister boxes and packaging and any sort of flyer, handout magazine ads. And then I. My passion has always been illustration. So I morphed into that and then eventually decided that I was getting to the point in my career where I would really love to be able to help other people find their way with what they wanted to do with their creative passions. So I started teaching, and I started an online course and giving digital illustration tutorials through my website. And I. Before I started my courses, I had this job that was an hour and a half one way. And when I first started, I got in the car and I turned on my radio and started my drive. And I started to slowly lose my mental capacities on the way in because there were so many commercials, and all the commercials were at the exact same time every day. So it was a Groundhog Day experience every time I drove into work. So that was a long hour and a half. And that is when I found podcasts. And I just became a voracious podcast listener, Loved finding all the little niches about podcasting and found that I could find things that I was really interested in and really dive into it. So in the back of my head, I've always thought, wouldn't that be fun to have my own podcast? And didn't think it was ever something that I could do on my own.

Harry Duran 00:04:02:

But what year was this?

Beth Ann Buffington 00:04:03:

This was in 2013.

Harry Duran 00:04:05:

Okay.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:04:06:

Yeah. So it was just a few years after, like, a year after I started my online course that I started thinking. All the people that I've learned how to do online courses with have podcasts. So I wonder if there's something I can do for my students or for other people who aren't ready to be my student yet to talk about creativity. And I've always been interested in the fact that my creativity isn't just something that I do for a living. It's something that I do to stay alive. And it helps me keep my head on straight. It helps me solve problems. And I know that the thoughts I've had about my creativity, about being happier because I'm creative, there's actually backed by science. I've read books. Your Brain on Art Beyond Anxiety by Martha Beck, has a lot of proof about how to reduce anxiety because you find a creative passion. So, anyway, I thought, I think I want to talk about creativity to everyone, not just people who are interested in learning how to draw the way I draw.

Harry Duran 00:05:17:

Yeah.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:05:18:

So I started my podcast a year ago last December.

Harry Duran 00:05:22:

Okay.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:05:23:

And I have been consistent Every week dropping new information just about how everyone is creative, how everyone has something that when they work on it, time just disappears and they are only in the moment of whatever it is they are working on. They're creating, they're doing, and it gets them in what they call flow, and it just lights them up. Can't wait to get to it. And so my podcast is all about how you are creative, how you can find out what your creative passion might be, and then how you can cultivate it and keep it happy and healthy. Because it's really easy to get busy with your life and not give yourself reason to create. And when you do that, that's when you're thinking, I will. I'll work on my creativity tomorrow as soon as I am done doing all the things other people need me to do.

Harry Duran 00:06:23:

Yeah.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:06:24:

And we have such an epidemic of mental crisis in our world, and so much of that is because we don't pay attention to ourselves as much as we could or should. So creativity, it's free. It doesn't involve any medication, it doesn't involve trips to the doctor. And it's something that you should find absolute delight in. And that can be gardening and cooking and baking and sculpting and, you know, making clay animals. It's everything. So once you find that, then my podcast is about how you can keep it happy and healthy, and you keep contributing that to your life. So that's what my podcast is about, and that's how I got started.

Harry Duran 00:07:09:

Wow, that's beautiful. Yeah, for me, creativity, I've always been a fan of, like, the creative arts and design. I have a really good eye for design, so, like, X UI design. And I took a graphic design class as well, but I've never been able to, like, actually draw, but I just, like, I love, like, fonts and, like, placement of, like, graphics and, like, I have a good eye for, like, white space. And I can tell when stuff is, like, not centered. And like, I remember I would. I don't know if it's OCD tendencies, but I would look at sentences and I'd be like, there's two spaces after the period there. Now I just catch things like that. So there's. I think there's something visual about how I, you know, I like to see things organized.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:07:44:

Yeah.

Harry Duran 00:07:44:

From a visual perspective. And I've dabbled with a lot of the creative tools, but probably for me, the most creative outlet is my. My. My love for electronic music and DJing. Like, I grew up, like, learning on vinyl house music. And so you're throwing parties. And for me it's like that's when I'm in the zone. And like when I would play a party or I'd play a gig and then you just. You're just like one with the crowd.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:08:05:

Yeah.

Harry Duran 00:08:06:

If you're playing the right music and you're blending it all together, it becomes just like seamless mix. And you can just. You're taking the crowd on a journey with you. And I've been in experiences like that on the other receiving end at festivals and seeing DJs and clubs. And then when it's done right, it's not always done right, but when it is, you know, there's a creative experience happening for sure and there's flow for sure.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:08:25:

Yes. Music is a great way to find a creative passion. And you're right, it can be done on either side of the stage. You can be the person performing and you can be the person listening. You can also be the person that's just adjusting the controls for sound. I mean, that is an art all by itself as well.

Harry Duran 00:08:44:

Yeah.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:08:44:

And the other part about creativity is that it's not always easy. I bet you've had musical experiences where you either had stage fright or you made a mistake and you're doing it in front of, you know, hundreds of people. And that can be really traumatic.

Harry Duran 00:09:00:

Yeah.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:09:00:

But the thing about creativity is that it's very forgiving. It allows you to go back and you're always learning something from whatever it is that's happened to you. So it's the encouraging thing to know that you can go back and it's still there for you. And if you're not the best singer or the best instrumentalist, it's okay. You can play to your cat or your dog. You can sing in the shower. You don't have to have gigs and really be that person that's out in public doing the big things.

Harry Duran 00:09:32:

Yeah. What's your earliest memory of the creative spark for you?

Beth Ann Buffington 00:09:39:

Oh, it goes way back to when I was really little. I was. We lived in Kansas and my dad was finishing up his PhD. So my brother and I were home with my mom and we had this little tiny card table and she. My dad would bring home computer paper. And if everybody remembers back in prehistoric times with computers, they used to have computer paper that had like little poles. Poles on the side. And they were perforated. And they were always kind of strung together with perforation. You could tear them apart. So he would bring home computer paper for us, and my brother and I would just Draw. And we would draw for every holiday and then we would cut things out and we would stick it on the window. And I can remember doing that for hours and hours in our little duplex and just working with crayons and paper and learning how to cut with scissors. So I'm left handed, so cutting with scissors. We didn't have left handed scissors. So it took me a long time to learn how to cut right handed. But again, it was just, it was a challenge. It was there in front of me. I wanted to learn how to cut out a ghost and stick it on the wall. So I, you know, you just sit and learn. So that's the earliest I remember. And I don't remember a time when I wasn't drawing, so.

Harry Duran 00:11:04:

So it sounds like my partner's left handed as well. And she gripes a lot about now. I think they have, you know, they obviously have a lot of tools specifically for left handed people. I would be surprised if there wouldn't be a podcast for left handers.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:11:19:

That's actually a good idea. You know, one of the biggest challenges left handed people had, I think was when computers first got started. And the mouse would plug into the back of the computer and then it would string around the mouse plugged in on the right side of the computer, and the cord was only long enough to wrap around the right side of the computer. And then a lot of computer desks had a little mouse tray that sat right beside you on the right, but it was only on the right. So I don't know many people who don't use the mouse with their right hand. I mean, if you think about it, and I've learned how to actually draw with my fingers on my right with my right hand, because it could never go over to my left hand because it just was impossible.

Harry Duran 00:12:08:

So what I think is interesting, Beth, about what you shared is also that you're. Sounds like your folks come from a teaching background as well, is that correct?

Beth Ann Buffington 00:12:17:

My mom's a teacher, but my dad is actually an engineer, a stress fatigue specialist.

Harry Duran 00:12:22:

Okay.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:12:23:

So yeah.

Harry Duran 00:12:24:

So did any of that or any of that upbringing influence your desire to, you know, teach or teach people? Because there's creatives that love the process of being creative and that's their whole life. But you decided to share that experience of creativity with others and help them tap into that. And I'm curious where that drive came from.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:12:47:

Yeah, there's actually two stories that combined together made me always think, you know, someday I think I'm going to want to teach. And the first one was, I just remember my dad saying that he always wanted to know that he could go back to teach, because it was always a good idea to teach the people who are just starting out what you've just learned. Because there's so many things that are mysteries about how you get to where you want to go. And sometimes the best way to do that is to talk to someone who is where you want to be. And then the second story was when I was in college, I had a lot of different kinds of instructors that taught me how to do make sculpture and how to draw and how to paint. And I just, you name it, I learned it. But we had one instructor who came in and he was a adjunct, and he came in from State Farm, and he was in their marketing department, and he came in to talk to us about how we were going to take what we knew and apply it and actually put it into something that could be used, they might even be able to use in their offices.

Harry Duran 00:13:59:

Okay.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:13:59:

And it was a different way to look at what I had been learning so that it was more applicable. I think I learned more about how to actually use art in the marketing world from this guy than I did from all my other instructors, because they were there just to teach me how to do something and not how to apply it. So that was something I always thought was really important because when I got out of school and I started actually working as a graphic designer, there were so many things I didn't know because they hadn't been taught to me. Things about typography and things about. Or getting things ready for type.

Harry Duran 00:14:40: Yeah.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:14:40: How to get things ready for printing, what the different printing processes were and how to prepare for those different processes. Not talked in school. I mean, those. It was all just learned, you know, hit the ground running with a lot of stress. And so when I started teaching in the college level, I came in with upper digital illustration class, and the entire class was, okay, you guys know how to do a lot of things on the computer. Let's learn. How do you make things that you can actually use in the world for whatever reason that might be? So we started off with infographics that might be for graphic design. We did an entire course that was project that was just about product design. How you come up with product ideas and how you get them ready and how you can pitch them and how you can make mockups. We also did an entire product project on animation and how you set an animation to work with a client to solve an issue that they have. And so I Came up with a client who needed something for marketing their product during the holiday season. And that was their project. They had to work with the that client. So it was things that were going to be more applicable. And my hope was that it would do two things, would help them be a little bit farther along when they got done with school. And then secondly, it would open up a conversation during our class time to ask questions about, well, why would you do it like this? Or why do you have to tell that to the client? Or why are you making I don't want to do the revisions you said. And then we would have these conversations like, you're not special. Yeah, your client is king. If they want you to do something that you think is just completely backwards, you can tell them your concerns, but if they want it, there might be a reason why it's important to them. And so your art has to take kind of a back seat in order to make the client happy. So those were things that were difficult for a lot of the kids to learn, but it was an important conversation.

Harry Duran 00:16:46:

Yeah, it's really, you know, taking the application and taking your craft and applying it to real world situations. And I think kudos to you to prepare your students for that because otherwise it would have been a shock because they're just coming in, you know, having learned all these tools and they just want to put them to use and their creative muse is full force and they're just, they feel like they're going to have carte blanche to design whatever they want. And yeah, I've spoken to a couple of friends who are designers as well, and they've bumped into those realities, if you will, of, you know, the client is always right. It's not something that you want to hear as a creative. So it's probably important for creatives to have their personal outlets and what they're doing, what they're sharing and on their personal channels and understand that they're going to have to rein it in sometimes for the client and what their objectives are as well.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:17:32:

Yes. And you don't always get to work on a subject that you're interested in, you know, often.

Harry Duran 00:17:40:

Yeah. It was interesting that when I took that graphic design class, you know, we were working on logos and branding and, you know, we got to flex some of our creative muscles. But, you know, we were reminded that at the end of the day it could be. It could just be boring, like pamphlet stuff that you're working. And that's the stuff they usually put the junior creatives on when they first get A company.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:18:00:

Well, in some really big accounts, like I worked for a corporation that designed and manufactured business forms. Super boring. But my job was to take all the different kinds of business forms that the company made and put them into a million different kinds of catalogs. And we had to do all the photography of all the business forms. And they needed to look sexy for a business form. Right. So you had to figure out ways to help your viewer understand, like, how many layers of triplicates or duplicates were inside a form and to make it so that they could read the form in the photo. All kinds of things that really, on the surface were incredibly boring. But became. It came. It became a creative challenge because you had to figure out how to make this photograph successful for the vehicle that it was needed for. You know, I've done work for. My weirdest thing was an ad for body bags.

Harry Duran 00:19:03:

Wow. How do you make body bags look sexy?

Beth Ann Buffington 00:19:06:

Well, was difficult. Yeah. So I then actually brought the body bag over to my studio and I. I got in it because, you know, when would you ever have that opportunity?

Harry Duran 00:19:17:

That's true.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:19:18:

You know, you get in, you zip it up, and you're like, okay, what's important about being in a body bag? So we did an ad for that. I've done ads for barbecue labels and I've done car wraps for, you know, for nursing care. And I mean, it's a little bit when you're out there as an entrepreneur working with clients that just come to you with problems that need to be creatively solved.

Harry Duran 00:19:40:

And I think that's the key to look at it as a problem solving exercise. And I think that gets another creative part of your brain working as well. Because, you know, you're saying, how can I use my skills, my creative skills to meet, like, whatever their objective or the scope of work is.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:19:55:

Yeah.

Harry Duran 00:19:55:

Coming under budget, you know, look, you know, all the things you got to be thinking about. So it's helpful that you give people that perspective. But, yeah, those sound. Sound like some interesting products you were working on.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:20:06:

Yeah. We could go on for a long time. Of all the different weird projects I've had the pleasure of laying out. But now my goal is to find the creatives who are wanting to be those entrepreneurial spirits.

Harry Duran 00:20:19:

Okay.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:20:20:

And teach them how you can still make money with your art.

Harry Duran 00:20:24:

Yeah.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:20:25:

And that a lot of what you need to do in order to make that successful isn't just finding someone that's going to buy your art. I mean, that is an important part of it, but the other side of it is just your mindset and thinking about how do you organize yourself so that you're not only making art, but you're preparing art to sell and that you're selling your art and then figuring out who needs to see that. And then I try to help my students link who they should be selling their art to. Okay, that's a whole nother thing. And then figuring out, is there a side door or a back door that I could help them go in so that they're not just sending out blind submissions to where hundreds or thousands of other people are also sending their art to be reviewed? Because that can be like winning a lottery.

Harry Duran 00:21:16:

Yeah.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:21:16:

So. And it sounds like going to side door, it's better.

Harry Duran 00:21:19: It sounds like you had a lot of experience going through the different doors and figuring out which of the ways to get some of your work seen.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:21:26:

I have. In anything I've been wanting to do with my art, graphic design was something that was easier to find. More people need brochures and flyers and logos and that kind of thing. Finding people who wanted illustration, which was my passion, was harder. So I've always explored different ways to do that. You know, putting an ad in an illustration book that gets sent out, or putting yourself into someone else's website or getting an artist agent or finding out ways you can license your work. And if so, do you go to conferences? Do you go to. You go to shows where people are going to be. How do you go about that? Everything costs a little bit of money.

Harry Duran 00:22:08:

Yeah.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:22:09:

So knowing that you've got a budget and you can't. You can't do everything all at once. You have to figure out best ways to do things. And I've practiced a lot of them. So I have knowledge and I've also met people.

Harry Duran 00:22:22:

Yeah.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:22:22:

I'm able to do a little bit of both, introduce people, and also help the artists get ready so that when it is time to do that pitch or send in that submission, they feel like they've got something that'll look professional.

Harry Duran 00:22:35:

So talk to me a little bit about how the course mixes in with the podcast content and how you think about the content for the show. Do you drive people to the course? So talk a little bit about how you structure that.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:22:47:

Yeah, yeah. It's a little bit of a little ping pong game. Absolutely. When I'm on. Just recently, I just finished up a challenge and then a workshop that followed up with it. And the challenge was creating your own greeting card. And the reason I brought that onto the podcast, because the podcast talks about creative Passions and just having something to do that you find creatively fulfilling. But on the podcast, I mentioned that another thing that helps with fulfilling that feeling of joy when you're creating something is sharing whatever it is you're creating. So if you're able to do something that's visual, putting that onto a greeting card and then sending it to someone, or sharing it with someone, or selling it to someone, those are all wonderful ways to get this little jolt of, ooh, I did that, and someone liked it and someone is getting benefit from it. So doing and sharing are both ways to get joy from your creativity. So we concentrated for about a month on how to create cards that could then be something you could share. Then I made a workshop that you could take so that you could learn how to actually do that and get your art printed online with a print on demand printer. And while there can be a lot of artists that are making art quite often, you know, maybe you haven't ever been to a printer. You don't know how to get something ready to go to press. You don't know how to navigate your way through the online ordering of a print on demand printer. So the workshop explained two different ways to prepare your art to put on press, and then two different ways to two different printers that we explored just to show that there were a lot of similarities, but a little bit of, you know, everyone's a little bit unique and how to, you know, navigate your way through uploading your art, all the way through pressing order, and having these beautiful cards delivered to your doorstep. So the podcast introduced the challenge, talked about the challenge, and that explained that the workshop was happening and then the workshop was there, and that you could pull in from my website to register. So they kind of go hand in glove. But always the podcast is talking about what you can do as a creative to further your exploration. And we talk often about the best way to do that is to become a member of Create Today. And we meet several times during the month to talk about projects that we're working on. And I bring in speakers to talk to the membership that are creatives, professional creatives in whatever field they are in, and they are killing it. So they come in and talk about best ways to do accounting or best ways to do marketing. I've had an artist agent come in, and several of my students have been picked up by the agents. We've had the president of the American Greeting Card association come and talk. So it's some really nice people that you might want to know if you're getting ready to do something entrepreneurial with your creativity.

Harry Duran 00:26:15:

So you essentially tease out some of the benefits of being in the community on the podcast. And then if people want access to your growing network, you know that you've grown built up over these decades, the relationships, the people that you're bringing in, that's where they pay to stay in the community and then have access to all these resources and all these meetups. Yeah.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:26:35:

Yes. And when they come into the membership, they have access to not only what we're doing that month, but they also have access to everything we've already talked about and all the speakers that have already spoken. So there's a wealth of information there. They also get either free access to the workshops that I'm giving or a discount to the workshops. So the benefits just. They keep unfolding.

Harry Duran 00:27:01:

And is it all solo content on the podcast?

Beth Ann Buffington 00:27:04:

Nope. I do a lot of solo solo work. It's about half and half. I also just. Tomorrow, my. Today is June. What? June 4th.

Harry Duran 00:27:14:

June 4th. Yeah.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:27:15:

So tomorrow I have an. A guest coming on, and she's just written a book about transformation and in leadership. And we talk about how creatives. They might be running a team of creatives or they might be their own leader for whatever it is they're doing. Entrepreneurial. Lee. And she talks about the transformation that you need to go through to become a strong leader or a better creative. And so we. Oh, it's just a really great conversation. So I talked to her. I've had several artists that have written books that have come in to talk about their journey of writing a book, how they wrote the book, and why they wrote the book. I've also had another woman who came in. She had a creative practice that she'd been doing for every single day for 12 years, where she would just go out and take photographs of things in nature.

Harry Duran 00:28:14:

Oh, yeah, I know this woman. What's her name?

Beth Ann Buffington 00:28:16:

Mary Jo Huffman.

Harry Duran 00:28:17:

Yeah, we went to go see her, my partner and I. She came to Minneapolis.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:28:20:

Oh, my gosh.

Harry Duran 00:28:20:

She spoke. We got her autographed book from her.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:28:22:

She's amazing.

Harry Duran 00:28:23:

We had her on the show.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:28:25:

She was on the show. We had a great conversation. Yeah.

Harry Duran 00:28:28:

That was very inspiring, that story.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:28:30:

She's amazing. Yeah. So she's been on. I bring in people that. Well, I'm actually, when I was in South Dakota just a couple weeks ago, and I always love to find artwork that I can bring home from something that means what? You know, from where I was.

Harry Duran 00:28:47: Yeah.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:28:48:

So we were in South Dakota, and we walked into this little Boutique that was called Art Forms. And they. It was just a store that had over 20 artists from the. From that area. It was around. It was called Hill Center.

Harry Duran 00:29:04:

Okay.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:29:05:

It's near Mount Rushmore. And they just are artists that living in the area, and they bring in their art to sell at that gallery. And it had some beautiful things, like, I'm wearing a bracelet that I got from the store. And so when I was talking to the artists that were there manning the store that day, their stories about why they became artists were incredible. So they're going to be coming on to talk about how in they had a past life doing something else than when they started realizing that they had this creative passion and they wanted to do more with it. And it sort of metamorphosed, metamorphosized, metamorphosized. There. There we go into a passion that became entrepreneurial for them. And now they're selling in the store. So I find interesting people that I just bring in, and I've had people who come and find me now that will ask me to come onto the podcast. So it's a little balance of both.

Harry Duran 00:30:03:

What's been your journey as a host interviewing? What's that been like? And can you see the arc of when you first interviewed your first person on the show to what it's now, and how have you grown as an interviewer?

Beth Ann Buffington 00:30:16:

So the biggest thing for me is that I really. I feel like I could interview just about anyone, but I want to find out why they want to come onto a podcast that talks about creativity. And so the exploration that we have is about what they're doing creatively. And it might be the thing that they're on the podcast to actually talk about, or it might be something else in their background that they're just voracious about.

Harry Duran 00:30:45:

Yeah.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:30:45:

For example, I interviewed a woman who has a podcast called Slaycation, and her podcast is about people who went on vacation and didn't come home. And. But the reason I brought her in was she had this really great backstory about knitting and how she. When her first baby was born, she was having some depression for just dealing with a baby. She'd come off someone that had been a dancer, she'd been on stage and really busy with, you know, entertaining. And then all of a sudden, there was just the baby and her. And she found this knitting store, and knitting just. It just took over her. And she went from just learning how to knit to knitting everything for everyone, every time, everywhere, to teaching knitting. And now she makes her own knit Patterns on top of going back to now, she's back into entertaining things. So it was just a really cool story about how her creativity really helped her at a time where she was really struggling.

Harry Duran 00:31:50:

Yeah. How do you feel like you've honed your interview skills when you're having these conversations, you know? Yeah, because it's something that I've learned over the years, up to 500, like, across both shows. And I find that I'm more curious trying to be a better listener as well. But that's come, you know, it's been a journey for myself, and I'm curious what it's been like for you.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:32:10:

Yes. Learning to listen when you're someone who's really chatty is a skill that you have to hone. You're so right about that.

Harry Duran 00:32:17:

Yeah.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:32:18:

To ask a question and then pay attention to what is being said instead of, oh, what could I say instead, what should I add to that is really, really important. And I do always want my interviewees to end our. Our chat feeling that they were heard and that we had a good discussion and that whatever they needed to talk about in the podcast was really intensely seen and looked at and shared. And I think I feel like I'm a little bit more comfortable making sure that I'm covering those bases and also turning myself down so that, no, I don't need to preach. I do not. And when I go in to edit the. The podcast, I find I. I'm taking out so much of what I'm like. I don't need to say that. No one needs to hear me talk about that.

Harry Duran 00:33:11:

That's interesting. I think in the beginning, when I was looking, when you would have the two files lined up, you know, you'd have the host and the guests, inevitably, you. I've seen edits, and we've done other edits for other clients, and you could see, like, the wav file of the host is speaking way more than the guests. And you're like, well, that's like, the balance is off there, because, you know, I don't know what the proper ratio should be, but definitely, like, you should be hearing more from the guest than the host. And I think that's a function of, like, I've listened to shows where I'm just like, okay, let the guests talk. Like, please, can you just, like, stop and just give the guest. You brought them on for a reason. We wanted to hear them, you know, give them some space. And unfortunately, sometimes it doesn't happen, and it's frustrating. As a podcast listener, I'm Just like, oh, man, I wish we could have heard more from the guest.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:33:53:

Oh, yeah. Yep. It's so. That is so true. And the other thing I think is really important is that when guest and host come together, that the third person in the room is the one you focus on the most, and that's the star.

Harry Duran 00:34:07:

I always say that.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:34:07:

You know, I've listened to a lot of podcasts, and some of them are like my favorite podcasts. And they'll bring in a guest and they'll talk about things that have nothing to do with what I thought they were going to talk about.

Harry Duran 00:34:20:

Yeah.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:34:21:

Because they either know each other really well, and no one wants to really hear about the last time you went on vacation together. You know, it's just not necessary. So I try to make sure that we are always remembering that it's not just you and I talking. It's that we're talking to someone who needs to learn something from what is being said today.

Harry Duran 00:34:44:

Yeah, absolutely. I feel like I say that in every one of these interviews that there's three people in the conversation. The host, the guest, and the listener. And I always say listener singular. Like it's one person listening, one person. And if you just keep that in mind as the host and as the host, you have the responsibility because the guest is there. They should feel relaxed. They should feel like the host is in control, and they've, you know, that they don't have to, like, manage the conversation. And that's where, you know, you do have more responsibility as a host because you're thinking about, oh, the guest is listening. I mean, the listener is listening. And you're also thinking, I gotta keep this going. I gotta keep this flow going as well in the conversation. So you're managing a lot as a host, but I feel like it's just a skill. I'll just. That's why I keep the show, basically, to just keep honing my skill as an interviewer so that I can give, you know, better guidance for my clients and my students. And it's just fun to kind of, you know, keeps me on the, you know, on my edge, you know, just to make sure that I'm doing the best I can. And I'm listening to other shows and I'm like, oh, that was a good question that they asked.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:35:39:

And I outright. I know I sometimes write these things down. You know, I know that I have met so many interesting people that I know I would have never met.

Harry Duran 00:35:49:

Yeah.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:35:49:

And when we are done with our discussion, quite often I will. Will be Talking after I've hit, okay, stop recording. And then we start talking about things we're just in common, things we have in common that we're just passionate about. And at the end of the conversation, more than several times the comment has been, how have we not known each other?

Harry Duran 00:36:08:

I mean, that's a good sign.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:36:10:

We have so much to share here, so you need to come back because we have more to talk about.

Harry Duran 00:36:15:

That's so great.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:36:15:

So I love that. That's a real, like, just a selfish thing, is that my podcast gives me a chance to talk to people that I might not have ever had a chance to really sit down and have a discussion with. So I love that.

Harry Duran 00:36:31:

So let's get a little tactical. Once you have the episode recorded and then you're publishing, it obviously goes out on all the standard platforms. What are you doing from a promotional perspective? Do you mix it back in? Do you share snippets in the community? I'm just curious what happens after it's published?

Beth Ann Buffington 00:36:48:

Oh, yeah. I try to cover as many bases as I can. So the first thing I do after I have edited my the entire conversation is I go in and find a clip that I feel is the essence of the entire conversation. And it is just like wisdom that you need to share, right?

Harry Duran 00:37:10:

Yeah.

Beth Ann Buffington:00:37:11

: So I pull that out and I just get the audio for it and I bring it into Canva.

Harry Duran 00:37:17:

Okay.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:37:17:

And then I make this really pretty video that just is because I love visual things. It's one of my favorite things to do with the podcast is to take that clip and then go in and find visual illustrations about what is being said. And that is the hook that I put in at the beginning of my YouTube video.

Harry Duran 00:37:38:

Are those animated illustrations or just like snapshots?

Beth Ann Buffington 00:37:41:

I wish they were animated. I would love to have time to do that. I just go in and find B roll from all over. Any place I have access to find B roll. I'll bring that in. How long is the clip? Oh, it varies from like 20 seconds to 40. It's real short. And it's just either something I've said that I think capsulates what we're going to be talking about or something really pithy that might Guest has said. Yeah, so that's something that I always put on LinkedIn and always on Thursday morning that gets put up on LinkedIn.

Harry Duran 00:38:14:

So you're just putting the clip on LinkedIn? Just the clip as a teaser then. Okay, great.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:38:20:

And then I'll let them know, you know. And LinkedIn is really good about. Well, all the captions are actually written into my video. They kind of blend in and blend out.

Harry Duran 00:38:30:

Of course, you're a graphic designer, so it's going to be beautiful.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:38:33:

I probably. Somebody might sit down and look at what I do, and they're like, you're wasting way too much time on this. Why? Yeah, and part of it is because I want to. So I do that. That is in the very beginning of the YouTube video. And it's. I put it on LinkedIn because it's the horizontal video. And then I do verticals that I do shorts for. That, again, are more pithy things that have been said. Those. I usually just have a talking head there so they can either see me or see my guest. But the beginning of it, I'll have just a pretty picture that is showing what we're going to be talking about. Like we're talking about transformation tomorrow. So on my verticals I have this really pretty.

Harry Duran 00:39:19:

Like a real cover.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:39:20:

Yeah, yeah. So it's a little cover that just says create today with Beth Buffington. Enjoy the guest this week, blah, blah, and Rachel Burr. And then it's only up for about five seconds and. And then the clip starts and then I end it with the same thing and where you can go find it. So it's kind of an opening and closer. So I do.

Harry Duran 00:39:39:

As far as your clips, obviously that those work well on IG as Reels. Are you doing anything on TikTok?

Beth Ann Buffington 00:39:46:

I haven't done a lot on TikTok. You know, it's like you need to choose your poison or pick your poison. And I. I've been hesitant with TikTok because, well, for like the last nine months they keep saying it's going to shut down, of course, so that's been part of it.

Harry Duran 00:40:03:

Yeah.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:40:03:

But I have put a lot of my. A lot of traction into Pinterest. I know a lot of my people are on Pinterest, meaning pretty things and looking for inspiration. So I do that.

Harry Duran 00:40:16:

And do you put just the static artwork or anything animated there?

Beth Ann Buffington 00:40:21:

I do videos and posts, just static posts. So I'm.

Harry Duran 00:40:24:

Are you doing the clips or are you doing the.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:40:26:

I do the clips, yeah.

Harry Duran 00:40:27:

Interesting.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:40:28:

The wide ones don't really work the way the. The graphs are set or the grids are set up in Pinterest, but the clips work out really well. And so I put those on there and I spread them out so that they are going out for a whole week.

Harry Duran 00:40:45:

Okay.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:40:45:

And then I'll start with the next week. But if someone sees a link, the thing with Pinterest is that your posts are they last sometimes six, nine months.

Harry Duran 00:40:56:

Can you put like a call to action there to the podcast there? You can. Okay.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:41:00:

That's the great thing about Pinterest is that like if you're on Instagram, you gotta hope someone's gonna go to your biolink tree, you know. But in Pinterest you can actually put a link that'll take them straight to your podcast.

Harry Duran 00:41:13:

Oh, that's great.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:41:14:

It is seriously great.

Harry Duran 00:41:16:

So something to look into. And then are you, since you already have the content, are you putting it on YouTube shorts?

Beth Ann Buffington 00:41:21:

I try to do that as well.

Harry Duran 00:41:22:

Okay, yeah, yeah. Covering all the bases.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:41:25:

Yeah. One person, many hats. So I do as much as I can during the week and sometimes I kick it out of the park with everything and then sometimes I get as much done as I can. But yeah, shorts on YouTube is one of them. Definitely. The big things are get it done and get it done consistently. And I always have it ready by 6 o' clock in the morning on, on Thursdays for audio and I read somewhere for YouTube and I don't know if it's true or not, but that it's best to post something around the time you think someone might be ready to listen or watch. So I usually post my videos around 10:00am a.m. yeah.

Harry Duran 00:42:06:

Okay, that's interesting. Yeah, I always wondered if how that works and I wonder how that's affected whether people are subscribed to the channel or not, if they get notified and pinged and all that sort of stuff.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:42:16:

Yeah, I don't know. YouTube still is a myst to me.

Harry Duran 00:42:19:

Yeah, we're testing out different titles. So the title that we use on the audio is different than the title that we put on YouTube because YouTube needs something that's a bit more hookier. And so we use an AI tool called Flow Send FlowSend AI, which highly recommend and it basically helps us with all our titles description summaries. But you can repurpose titles to say using best practices of a YouTube SEO manager. It's almost like a ChatGPT kind of tool. Same create a description. So the description we put on YouTube is different than the one the summary put in our host captivate. We use our podcast host and the title we put in YouTube is different as well because we need something hookier. And then the thumbnail, you only get about five words or six words on a thumbnail. That's an even different title because it has to be something that like pops like really zings like, you know, you really it's really hooky, you know. So we're experimenting with like, three different title versions, depending on where we're placing it. So, again, like you said, YouTube is its own algorithm. Its own. I'll see a clip that I put up from a recent episode gets 1500 views, and I'm like, what happened? Like, what did I do? Like, how do I replicate that? And the next one gets like 300. And just like, there's no rhyme or reason.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:43:29:

It just sounds. It doesn't seem to be. So did you find. When you started using, you said flow.

Harry Duran 00:43:34: F

lowsend.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:43:35: F

lowsend, yeah. Did you see a jump in your.

Harry Duran 00:43:38:

I think it just helps us. I. You know, it's probably too early to tell if it's. I do see more engagement on the YouTube stuff now because I feel like the audio titles in our podcast host need to be very. What I call prescriptive. Like, people should see that and they feel like I know exactly what's. What I'm going to get by virtue of, like, listening to this episode, you know, And I think so. It's just playing around with things like that. But thanks for sharing your flow. I'm always interested and for the viewers and listeners, it's always helpful to hear what other people are doing. So I appreciate you sharing that.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:44:06:

Yeah, no problem. Happy to do that.

Harry Duran 00:44:08:

So, just a couple of questions as we wrap up. What's something you've changed your mind about recently?

Beth Ann Buffington 00:44:15:

Ooh, wow. That's a really good question. And let me pause for a second and kind of sift through a bunch of ideas. I think something really big for me is that capabilities like, what are you capable of doing? And that, like, I teach this all the time, but when you apply it to your own self, it does make you wake up and go, wait a minute, I have to preach this a little bit more. I've just started planning live retreats and doing something live for several days in a row with a small group of people. That is something that I never thought I would be capable of doing. So that is something that I'm going to start doing this fall. And then with a creative partner that I've been working with, I'm working on Creative Health. She is a certified health coach, and we're combining these two ideas together to create retreats for. The first thing we're going to do is for another creative membership so that they can get tighter as a community. But what we see this really hitting is for executive committees or executive teams that want to get closer and tighter as a team. Sometimes to be more productive in a job, you need to take care of yourself better. So what does that look like with three core pieces? And that's what we're going to be looking at with. With the retreat, that you need to take core care of yourself, you need to have creative care and that you need to have a caring community. So something like running a retreat, that was new for me, so that was something I never thought I would be able to do. And that's starting. So I guess that's my answer.

Harry Duran 00:45:56:

Yeah. That's exciting.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:45:57:

It's like jumping off a cliff is basically what it's feeling like right now.

Harry Duran 00:46:01:

Yeah. I mean, I think for especially creatives feel this, like, a lot. You talked about, like, a little bit of stage fright, imposter syndrome, you know, whatever kicks in. I think if there's not a little bit of that driving you, you know, it's almost like you need that mix in and it's a delicate balance. Right. You don't be so stressed out that you can't perform. But there's something about being a little bit nervous, you know, every time you're doing a big project that really adds a little fuel to the fire.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:46:24:

Well, I've done. I am a singer and I have been on stage a lot, and I fight stage fright all the time. And I know it's the difference between getting into your music and just losing yourself in the performance that you're doing.

Harry Duran 00:46:39:

Sure.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:46:40:

Or being so in your head that you can't even remember your words. So being able to fight that feeling of being uncomfortable and knowing that's going to make you sharper or succumbing to it and letting it take over on you, that's. It's a mindset.

Harry Duran 00:46:56:

Yeah, for sure. Thanks for sharing that last question. What is the most misunderstood thing about you?

Beth Ann Buffington 00:47:06:

Wow, that's a really good question. I think sometimes for creatives, it's what your family doesn't know you're capable of doing. Oh, yeah. Because you're an artist. Oh, it must be fun to sit around all day and just paint and draw things. And that's the tip of the iceberg. Like, oh, you're so creative. This look what you were able to do. But what most people don't see is underneath just how much work it takes to start a business and run a business and then do the business that you want to do and then make it profitable. So that, I think, is something that I think so many artists are misunderstood about. Just, like, what they're truly capable of doing, either by everyone they know or even by their own selves, just what they're truly capable of performing and achieving.

Harry Duran 00:48:04:

That's beautiful. What a perfect ball for this conversation. Well, thanks so much, Beth. I'm so glad. Shout out again to Cody for connecting us through his email school community. Highly recommend, folks. Check that out. I'll put a link in the show notes if you want to up your email game, but anytime I get a chance to speak to a fellow podcaster, especially a creative as such as yourself, who's got such an interesting story and interesting arc in terms of, like, how you arrived at podcasting and how you're helping creatives find their way and in the process maintain your own creativity. I think it's just a beautiful story to tell. So I appreciate you coming on and sharing your story.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:48:40:

Oh, it's been so much fun to chat with you today, Harry. I admire what you're doing and how you're supporting other podcasters with their. Their achievements, their goals and where they'd like to take their own shows because it's a lot of work, but it's a lot of fun. So it's really neat to talk to someone else who's like, in there and doing it as well and, you know, talk about really nerdy things like Flow Send and Descript.

Harry Duran 00:49:03:

Yeah, yeah. It's always fun to talk shop. What was the best place for folks to connect with you?

Beth Ann Buffington 00:49:08:

My website is www.bdi-create.today T O D A Y.

Harry Duran 00:49:16:

Okay.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:49:16:

They can find me there. And I'm also on Instagram and I'm in Pinterest and LinkedIn. I think if you find me on LinkedIn and you want to do any sort of chatting there, it's really easy to find Beth Buffington on LinkedIn and connect with me there as well.

Harry Duran 00:49:31:

Okay. And I think you've given us all the links as well, so we'll make sure everything's in the show notes.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:49:35:

Wonderful. Yes, that'd be great.

Harry Duran 00:49:37:

Thanks again for your time, Beth. I really appreciate it.

Beth Ann Buffington 00:49:39:

Oh, it was a pleasure talking with you today. Thank you.