Episode 400: Why Did I Start Eat Blog Talk, Exciting Blogging Developments & How to Set Healthy Boundaries with Megan Porta

EBT400 – AMA

Intro: Food bloggers. Hi, how are you today? Thank you so much for tuning in to the Eat Blog Talk podcast. This is the place for food bloggers to get information and inspiration to accelerate their blog’s growth and ultimately help you to achieve their freedom, whether that’s financial, personal, or professional.

I’m Megan Porta and I’ve been a food blogger for over 12 years. I understand how isolating food blogging can be at times. I’m on a mission to motivate, inspire, and most importantly, let each and every food blogger, including you, know that you are heard and supported. 

Megan Porta: Welcome to episode number 400. Oh my goodness, I cannot believe we are at 400 Eat Blog Talk episodes. This makes me so happy. I’m smiling from ear to ear. So a while ago, my friend Taryn from Hot Pan Kitchen, who’s also the Eat Blog Talk community manager, asked me if I would be interested in doing an AMA episode. I was like, okay, I tend to like to do something special for each hundredth episode. So I married those two things and we came up with this idea. 

So we got a bunch of you guys, food bloggers sending in some questions that I could answer in an interview where I was actually the one being interviewed. So Taryn interviews me. She asks me lots of questions about mindset, some personal questions, some entrepreneurial questions, some food blogging questions, and others. So I really hope you enjoyed this episode. It is number 400 and of course, it is sponsored by RankIQ. 

Sponsor: Eat Blog Talk is here to support you at every stage of your food blogging journey to help you accelerate your blog’s growth so you can achieve your freedom. We offer many services that will help get you on the right path no matter where you’re at in your journey. Don’t forget to check out our free discussion forum at forum.eatblogtalk.com. Go there to connect with like-minded peers, learn and grow, and share any wins that you have. Our signature service is our mastermind program. We are currently accepting waitlist submissions for 2024. So if you wanna get on the list for this year-long experience starting in January, 2024, definitely do that now.

If you are not quite ready for that investment, the mini minds program, might be for you. It is a six-month program that will help you achieve your goals and overcome any obstacles that are holding you back. 

If you’re up for getting together in person with some like-minded food bloggers, consider coming to one of our in-person retreats in 2023. This is a great way to get to know your fellow food bloggers really well in an intimate setting to learn a ton about food blogging in a short timeframe and eat some delicious food that you will never forget. Go to eatblogtalk.com/services to get all the information about all of our services.

Megan Porta: Taryn. Hi, how are you? Thanks for joining me on this amazing AMA episode number 400 for Eat Blog talk. So happy to have you here. 

Taryn Solie: Yeah, I’m excited to be here. I’m doing pretty well. How are you today? 

Megan Porta: I’m doing good. I’ve been talking a lot today, as you can probably hear in my voice, so hopefully, my voice continues on. 

Taryn Solie: No, I couldn’t tell. I had no idea. So I think you’re good. 

Megan Porta: Oh good. Oh good. As I explained in the intro, we are flipping the script a little bit today and you have so generously offered to interview me with these amazing AMA questions that so many awesome people have sent in. So I’m just gonna turn it over to you and just let you take the reins. 

Taryn Solie: Yeah, this is exciting. I’m excited to be here. I think we’ve gotten some really good like you said, some really good fun questions. We’re going to dive in. We’re gonna start off with a couple of food blogging-related questions. So the first comes from Jenna from the Urben Life, and it is, what are you most looking forward to in the blogging slash creator space for 2023 and 2024?

Megan Porta: I have to say, I have to go with podcasting. The emergence of audio and podcasting in our space, because I think it’s so exciting. There are so many opportunities. As Taryn, you’ve dug into that yourself, having a foodie podcast of your own. I have had this feeling for about a year now that people who jump on this bandwagon now are going to ride this wave of just awesomeness and growth and so many, so many good things. So I am most excited to just watch that kind of take shape and it already is taking shape. It’s been so fun to watch you and so many other food bloggers dig into foodie podcasts. It’s also really exciting for you guys. You were like, oh my gosh, I didn’t expect this and I didn’t expect this and I got into it because of this. There are so many unexpected good things that have come from it for so many people. That would be my answer to that. 

Taryn Solie: Okay. Good one. I like it. I like it a lot. Okay. I’m just going to fire drill this out here. 

Megan Porta: Let’s do it. 

Taryn Solie: I’m just gonna go for it. So the next one is also from Jenna. With new tools and platforms constantly popping up, what has remained a constant throughout your blogging career? 

Megan Porta: This one was pretty easy for me, surprisingly. Very little has remained constant over the years. When I started blogging, keyword research wasn’t even a thing. I wrote two sentences about my chili recipe and it was on spot number one, page number one on Google for years. There was nothing inside of it. So that is nothing like it used to be. Instagram didn’t use to be around. TikTok didn’t use to be around. The video didn’t use to be around. Then, Facebook started prioritizing. Do you remember all of those Hands and Pans videos? 

Taryn Solie: Oh yeah. 

Megan Porta: There was this little sweet spot of time when, if you posted something on your Facebook page at the right time, you would get so much traffic and so many followers and it was just like this little sweet spot. So that has changed. We all know that can’t happen anymore. But the one thing that has really not changed, it’s remained a constant, I’ll say, is Pinterest. 

Taryn Solie: I knew it. I think that’s what you’re going to say.

Megan Porta: I love that you knew that. We all know that Pinterest is very different from what it was 10 years ago. I remember the days when I could put something on Pinterest and literally Taryn, two hours later I’d be like, oh my gosh, it’s going crazy. It would go viral within a few hours. That, as we all know, does not happen at all anymore. It’s so different. But it’s different because the space is so saturated. So they’ve had to adjust and pivot and we’ve had to pivot along with it. But the thing that hasn’t changed is that the platform has always been there and it has always provided opportunities for food bloggers to get traffic. It’s harder now. Yes, but there is still a way to do it. People do it all the time. So yeah. Pinterest. 

Taryn Solie: Yeah, oh my gosh. I’m laughing so hard because I know you are such a big proponent of Pinterest and I have had my own ups and downs with Pinterest. But you’re right, it’s remained constantly there for people who are willing to play with it and see how it can work for them.

Megan Porta: Exactly, and I love that Jenna asked this because she and I both have an intense love for Pinterest. So I wonder if she asked it knowing that I might say Pinterest. I’m curious. 

Taryn Solie: You’ll have to ask her. 

Megan Porta: Yes. 

Taryn Solie: Okay. Then this next question, it’s actually two people who asked very similar questions, and it is a very hot topic right now. So these questions come from Molly, from Photos by Molly, and Kayla from Broken Oven Baking. It’s essentially about AI. So how do you see AI changing blogging or another way to word it, what impact do you think AI will have on food blogs in the future? 

Megan Porta: I think that without a doubt, AI will change how we blog. But I think it’s really hard, almost impossible to know exactly how, because that would be like fortune telling, right? I don’t know. It could go well, it could go not well. But my best guess is that Google searches will change. They will evolve in some way, and we’ll probably need to pivot a bit for that. Probably strategize in some ways about how to maybe compensate for traffic changes or traffic loss or, I don’t know. That’s my best guess about Google. 

Then also I wanted to say, I feel like a lot of food bloggers see AI as a threat. I don’t like that because this is what we do. Things come into our world all the time and we have to adjust and accommodate them. Knowing that some food bloggers see it as a threat. I’m gonna say this: so with every seeming threat that comes into our space, we as food bloggers become smarter. We become stronger. We always figure out a way to find the opportunity and the threats or the scary things that come to us. So I’m just encouraging everyone to see this as an opportunity to grow and evolve and not to be afraid of AI and to use it to our benefit. So there are ways that we can use it that aren’t dangerous I wouldn’t go into AI and ask it to write an entire blog post for you, but use it to start an email or to write your Pinterest pin descriptions. Or get ideas about what to serve with Ruben sandwiches or whatever. Then just see it as a part of the evolution of our blogging stories. So when we look back, we’ll be like, oh yeah, that’s the point when this happened. That turned into a good thing. So just encouraging everyone to see the good in it, and definitely don’t be afraid of it. Embrace it. 

Taryn Solie: Yeah. I think what you were saying about the previous question, about things that have not remained constant, is another thing that’s popping up. Just like you were saying, where, video didn’t used to be a thing and now it’s a huge thing. People have to take those things. Into consideration and yeah, just being positive about that. I love that. I think that’s so great. 

Megan Porta: Yeah. That’s what we do. We roll with the punches. This is no different. It’s scary. 

Taryn Solie: You have to survive. 

Megan Porta: You do. It’s scary because there are a lot of potential things that could go wrong. Change Google searches, for example. But there are a lot of things that could go right, and that’s something we need to keep in mind too, is that there is every possibility in the world that this could go way better than we thought. So just keep that in mind too. That’s the eternal optimist in me. 

Taryn Solie: I know. You are an optimist but it’s wonderful. That’s wonderful. I love your eternal optimism. 

Megan Porta: Oh, thanks. 

Taryn Solie: Okay, good. So we’re going to move on to more entrepreneurial questions. So Kayla, from Broken Oven Baking, asked how to find a good business mentor and what is it like working with one.

Megan Porta: I’m sure there are many different ways to find business mentors. Okay. First of all, I want to say that I think it is so important to do this. If you can invest in a good business mentor or coach, definitely do it. It will transform your business, in your life. So I think my best advice for this would be to listen to podcasts and find the people who align with your values. Who you just get a good feel from, who you start trusting. This is the great thing about audio, is that you can really get a good feeling about the good people and the good sources and the not-so-good people. 

So that’s how I found my business coach. So I listened to his podcast and loved his messages. I loved everything he said about business. I loved his mindset. I loved his approach to life and business, and I just knew that we would align. So I investigated. I was like I wonder if he coaches and he did thankfully. I was like, this is it. I knew it. I knew it would be a good fit and it was a really good fit and we’re still working together.

Then I also wanted to say, don’t just look for a coach or mentor who talks about business. Look for somebody who is not shy about talking about mindset. Because this is the thing that’s going to make or break your business. It’s so undervalued, it’s so overlooked, and this is something that should be prioritized. So I would recommend going to your favorite podcasts, and checking to see if they offer coaching or mentoring. Then also, just making sure they dig into that mindset piece too. 

Taryn Solie: Yes, I agree. I agree with you about mindset. What we were just talking about having, being an eternal optimist and having the right mindset for the obstacles that food blogging can bring. I think that’s wonderful advice. Do you think networking plays into this in terms of the bigger your network the easier it can be to find these sorts of mentors and resources and that sort of thing?

Megan Porta: Oh, for sure. Yeah, I think that is a really good point too. Because then it’s word of mouth too. Oh, I heard Megan, whatever. Then things like Clubhouse, like we show up on Clubhouse almost weekly, twice a month now. That’s a good place to find business coaches or mentors too, because they are often there trying to find clients and work with people. So I think, the more you can expand the places that you’re in and you, the places that you show up, the easier it’ll be.

Taryn Solie: Yeah, I love that. That’s a really good point. Good. Okay, so hopefully Kayla, we answered your question there. 

Megan Porta: Yes. 

Taryn Solie: Now from Christina, from Weekday Pescatarian. She wants to know what resource, it could be a book, a podcast, a course, kind of anything, has been most influential in your entrepreneurial development and what you find yourself recommending to others most.

Megan Porta: I love this question. So there are actually two questions there. So the first one, the resource that has been most influential for me was, I think you know what I’m gonna say, Taryn, Entrepreneurs on Fire because that is literally the reason I started Eat Blog Talk. So it has been pivotal. It literally transformed my business. But, if somebody else asks me for a resource that would transform their businesses, I don’t necessarily send them there because I was in the right spot at the right time and needed to hear exactly what he was saying.

But I send them two books. One of them you actually shared with me, is Atomic Habits by James Clear and The Gap in the Gain by Dan Sullivan. You told me about the Gap In The Gain. Was it last year maybe? 

Taryn Solie: I think so, yeah. 

Megan Porta: I am a huge avid business book reader and mindset book reader, so, of course, I was like, oh yeah, I’ll get it and try it out. It changed, not just my business game, but this sounds really dramatic, but it’s so true. It changed my life. It changed the way I think about everything. Just focusing on how far I’ve come in so many different areas. Our oldest son had open heart surgery a year ago. It got me through that because instead of Oh my gosh, I can’t believe he’s on a ventilator. I would say to myself, okay, we turned down the settings an hour ago. That’s progress. You’re always looking at the progress and never at the lack. So you’re always in an abundance mindset. So that is huge. Then I mentioned Atomic Habits. It’s one of my favorite books ever. Just establishing those really positive, healthy habits and boundaries in your life that will be a game changer. 

Taryn Solie: Yes. Those are two great books. I think I wanted to mention too, cause I don’t think we said his name, who is it? 

Megan Porta: Oh, John Lee Dumas. 

Taryn Solie: Yes. With Entrepreneurs on Fire. He has a book that is wonderful as well. 

Megan Porta: Oh yes. I love his book. It is called, The Common Path to Uncommon Success. It’s really good too. I love that book. But yeah, his podcast is really good. He interviews a host of different entrepreneurs from every category under the sun. Really quick bite-sized episodes, like 25 minutes. He’s super easy to listen to, really relatable, and just really good information. But he releases episodes every single day. So it’s a little overwhelming. Oh my gosh, how could I ever get through all of this? But yeah, I would highly recommend listening to that if you want to. 

Taryn Solie: Yeah. You can pick and choose, I am on his email list and I find that it’s oh, this is really overwhelming. You just pick and choose. What you want to listen to and what’s applicable to you. Then I did want to say too, what you were saying about The Gap and The Gain, and we’ve hinted at this or you’ve hinted at this through our conversation, is that living in gratitude, right? That gain is gratitude for what you are finding in your life. As you’re focusing on that gratitude, it’s a lot harder to get set down into the gap. 

Megan Porta: Gratitude is everything. I swear. The days that I’m just filled with gratitude about everything, are the days that go really well and opportunities find me and everything is great. But when you slink into that, just lack feeling, everything starts going wrong. So yeah, that’s huge. 

Taryn Solie: Yes, and I’m gonna pop in and even though this is your interview, I’m going to share something.

Megan Porta: Do it. This is a conversation. Yeah. 

Taryn Solie: Hopefully people can take away from this. It’s something that a health coach told me, actually. At the end of every day, I like to ask myself, how did the universe have my back today? That is looking for the gain in each day. What went your way? What was good about the day? Some days it could just be that it didn’t rain today and I was able to mow the lawn, or my dog didn’t pee in the house today. I don’t know. I’m reaching right. But it helps you find just a really graceful piece. That’s one thing I found that’s really helped me. I don’t know if you have anything you want to share. 

Megan Porta: Oh, I was just gonna say like relating to the AI thing that we were just talking about, look at all of the good things that are coming from AI. My Pinterest pin descriptions, I have put zero effort into because of ChatGBT. I’m like, thank you so much. Just taking those little things, and that might seem so little and insignificant, but they add up and just show that gratitude. Hey, if we can all show gratitude for AI, then maybe it will be in our favor. That’s all I’m gonna say. Let’s just put it all out there. 

Taryn Solie: Okay, good. I like that. Okay, next question. Coming up from Ashley from E N W Nutrition. This is a long one. So she had a question and then some kind of context around it. So her question is, how can we stop holding ourselves back from making money through freelance work? She goes on to say, I want to start making money through freelance blog writing and recipe development, but keep telling myself I’m not quite ready yet. I get stuck wondering if I know enough, if I’m good enough, and worry about not knowing how to negotiate pricing and contacts. There’s a lot there. 

Megan Porta: There is. But I love this question. I think it’s not so much about making money through a specific avenue, but instead, it’s about self-worth and what you believe you’re worth. So two things come to mind. One, I think for Ashley and anyone else who’s struggling with this, use courage to help bridge that gap on the way to being more confident, because this is like a confidence thing and it’s hard to fake confidence. So doing scary things can actually help you get to that place of being confident. Number two, do your very best. I know this is hard for a lot of us, but do your very best to ditch perfectionism. Nobody is ever going to be 100% ready for anything ever in this whole universe. So stay one step ahead of yourself. Make sure you know what you’re doing for that one step, and then just make sure you keep taking those steps, even when it’s really scary. 

Taryn Solie: We are just talking about mindset. So much of this is a mindset. 

Megan Porta: It is. It’s everything. Mindset is so important. So even if you don’t have the money to invest in a business coach, go to your podcast player and find mindset podcasts or books or whatever you need to get a little community of people that are going to lift you up and encourage you because you need it if you’re going to be successful as a food blogger.

Taryn Solie: Yes, and a little plug here for the EBT forum where there’s lots of support and encouragement. EBT is all about all of those things. So if anyone is struggling with any of those things, the forum is a great way to get support and encouragement for that.

Megan Porta: Forum.eatblogtalk.com. 

Taryn Solie: Good, thank you.

Megan Porta: Yes. 

Taryn Solie: Is there anything else? At the very end, she was talking about not knowing how to negotiate pricing and contacts. Did you want to hit on that just a little? 

Megan Porta: No, because I don’t, I feel like it’s not about that. I feel like she needs to first just use the courage to do these scary things. She already probably knows what next step she needs to do and she probably knows how to do it. So do that and keep doing that. Then I think, other things will come to you. Like how to negotiate pricing and contacts. That will come onto your path when you’re ready for it. But I think that’s not really the issue. 

Sponsor: Do you need help navigating Google Analytics? Maybe you specifically need to understand how to set up and use GA4 and use your Google search console to its fullest potential. Sign up for the virtual workshop put on by Tastemaker that dives into these topics. There will be four expert speakers to provide valuable information that will help you get the most out of GA4 and GSC. 

The workshop takes place live on Zoom on April 21st from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM e s t. Limited spots are available. Be sure to join the waitlist. To get first access to these tickets, go to eatblogtalk.com/resources and scroll down to the orange button underneath the Tastemaker logo for more information and to sign up. 

Taryn Solie: This is the last one under the entrepreneurial umbrella. So it’s from Brooke, from Ka Pai Cooking. What’s one long-term goal that you have that scares you? 

Megan Porta: Okay, so I think I’ll say something I’ve always, not always, but probably in the last five years or so, wanted to do is write a book that’s not a cookbook. That scares me for a few reasons. Number one, when I wrote a cookbook, it was the worst period of my life and I just associate the two because that was bad, maybe this will be bad. I don’t know, maybe some of that perfectionism thing comes into play too, because I feel there’s something I need to put into a book. I just know it. I just don’t know quite what it is yet, and I want it to be the right thing. It’s so overthinking and I should probably just start writing and see where it takes me. But I don’t know. That’s scary for me. 

Taryn Solie: Have you ever done a nano wrimo? Do you know what that is? 

Megan Porta: I have no idea what that is. 

Taryn Solie: I was like, I’m gonna say this and she’s gonna be like, what are you talking about? It is N A N O W R I M O, National Novel Writing Month. I want to say November, but it’s when people come together and you commit to writing. It can be 10 minutes a day or whatever, but you do it every day. I actually just finished a book, like a published novel from somebody who did a nano wrimo and it ended up gaining popularity and he was able to publish a book out of it. So that is something. If anyone out there is thinking of probably not necessarily for cookbooks, but for memoirs or biographies or novels of any sort, that might be something to explore. 

Megan Porta: Oh, that’s so cool. I love it. Cool. I’ll check into that. 

Taryn Solie: There you go. Okay. Now we’re going to veer a little bit into personal questions, personal kind of life balance sort of questions. So we’ve got, again, this is another kind of like twofer. So two people ask a similar question. Caro from caroha.com and Jenna, again from the Urben Life asked about this life balance. So your top tips to achieve a healthy blogging life balance. The second kind of similar question is, how do you balance your time between blogging, family, taking care of yourself, resting, et cetera?

Megan Porta: This one is so freaking hard. It is so hard because we love our businesses so much. We literally fall in love with our businesses and we love the work we do. A lot of us do. So it’s hard because we get into oh my, I have to do this and I want to do this. And then before we know it, it’s eight o’clock and we’re all strung out, wondering why we’re, yelling at our family, whatever. It’s so hard. I still struggle with this at times. So just first of all, know that it’s a process and you’ll probably never get it 100%, but that means you love your business. So that’s good news. Okay. Then my top tip for that would just be, setting boundaries is huge. You’ve got to prioritize protecting your sanity. So what I do is I actually schedule downtime or mental breaks on my calendar and I prioritize that. It is such a priority for me. When I don’t do it, when I fall out of it, I see it right away. I’m like, oh crap, I didn’t do that for the past two weeks. So I would say that. Before you put anything related to work on your calendar, put in, even if it’s 30 minutes, you’re gonna step outside and take a walk or go eat lunch. Or you’re going to close your computer at the end of the day at five o’clock like I try to. Whatever it is, put it on your calendar and make sure you do it.

Then I would say, my morning routine really helps me with this. I know that not everybody is into morning routines. But, oh my gosh. I’m just in this habit. I get up, I work out, and I meditate. If I didn’t have that Taryn, I’d be in such big trouble. So I would say even if you don’t do a morning routine, do some sort of daily routine that incorporates these good things that you need into your life. Like rest, going to bed at a certain time, or making sure you socialize once in a while and talk to the people in your house. Just prioritizing all of that. Staying connected with your loved ones, friends outside of blogging, meeting people for lunch once in a while. I think that’s really healthy and so important for sanity. What else? Just knowing your limits too. I have these little things that pop up in my mind and my body that are signals, you are doing too much. Stop. When I see those now I’m like, oh crap, okay. I’m listening. I hear you. I’m going to go rest and then start implementing all of the things again so that I can feel a little bit more balanced. 

Taryn Solie: Yeah. I think too, along with what you were saying about boundaries, communicating those boundaries. Because I know you’ve communicated that to your family and your sons will be like Mom, it’s 5:01, and you’re on the computer.

Megan Porta: Yeah, they do it. They hold me accountable. Even you’ve done that once. I sent you an email once at 5:02 or something and you were like, Megan, why are you still working? I’m like, oh crap. Thank you. Thank you. So yeah, tell everyone and be harsh with me. I always tell my boys, if I am here at 5;02, literally pull me away and they do it.

Taryn Solie: No, that’s good. I love that. Okay, now this one is a fun personal question. So Christina from Weekday Pescatarian asks what’s your favorite place in the world and what’s your favorite thing to eat there? She wants to believe it’s a lake in Minnesota eating a walleye fish hotdish. Please tell me I’m right.

Megan Porta: Ooh. Now I love lakes in Minnesota. I probably wouldn’t be eating a hot dish on a lake, but maybe a walleye sandwich or something. But I would say my favorite, this is hard because my favorite place in the world is in the mountains, especially the mountains in Montana. They’re my favorite. But I don’t really have a favorite food I eat there. But I do associate being there with grilling. Right up your alley, Taryn. So my husband grills just amazing meats and veggies. So I’ll say that. Favorite place in the world? Montana mountains, and we are grilling steak, mushrooms, and bell peppers.

Taryn Solie: Oh good. That sounds good. Now I’m hungry. 

Megan Porta: Me too. 

Taryn Solie: You are a fan of Flathead Lake, is that right? 

Megan Porta: Yes.

Taryn Solie: That’s up by Kalispell?

Megan Porta: Yep, exactly, yes. 

Taryn Solie: Which is if anyone is not familiar with Montana, it’s just, what is that west of Center on the northern side, of Montana? Would you say that’s about right?

Megan Porta: Yeah, it’s right to the west of Glacier National Park. It’s really close to Canada actually. 

Taryn Solie: Yes, it is. The best fish tacos I’ve ever had were in Kalispell, actually. 

Megan Porta: Oh, okay. That wouldn’t be bad to eat while I was gazing at the mountains. That would be option number two.

Taryn Solie: I love it. Okay, now we are going to move on to the last section, which is podcasting questions. Caro from caroha.com had quite a few of them, so we’re just gonna run through them. First off, what made you start the podcast? 

Megan Porta: I had a very strong desire to help food bloggers just grow their businesses. Not necessarily me delivering information, but I knew there was a way to get food bloggers in front of value that would help them. I’ve had this desire forever. Then, one day after listening to Entrepreneurs On Fire by JLD, I just had this thought like, oh my gosh, he has grown this super successful business that centers around his podcast and he helps people and serves up all this value.

So I reached out to him, just sent him an email, and I was like, I’ve always had this desire to help food bloggers just add value to their businesses. I don’t know exactly how to do that. What do you think? He wrote back and said, you need to start a podcast pronto. I will never forget it. It was like pronto. So two days later I had everything in motion and I was like, I’m doing this. Yeah. That’s the story. The rest is history. It’s been, what almost four years. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Almost four years. Yeah. Crazy. 

Taryn Solie: 400 episodes. 

Megan Porta: Yeah, 400 episodes. 

Taryn Solie: It’s pretty big. I will say like JLD is a big deal. I don’t know if anyone is, maybe you’re not familiar with him, but it can take a lot of guts to reach out and email somebody who is a big deal, at least in your own mind. So kudos for reaching out.

Megan Porta: That was scary. 

Taryn Solie: Yeah, I can imagine.

Megan Porta: You always have the worry, they’re never gonna reply. But sometimes they do. Oh my gosh. I have a story that kind of supports that. Mark Cuban replied to my husband the other day via email. He was freaking out. I think he read during the four-hour work week by Tim Ferris. Reach out to someone huge, not expecting a reply, but just to see what happens. So he did and he was like, my wife Megan has those podcasts for food bloggers and we would love for you to be on it. He replied, and it was like, if you watch Shark Tank, you know how he talks. Just very abrupt, with no punctuation, just blah blah, and that was exactly how his email was written. So we were like, this has to be him. It was so crazy. So yeah, just. The moral of the story there is if there’s someone that you think is too big for you, that’s not true. They might actually reply. 

Taryn Solie: Yes, I love that. That’s a great example. Okay, next step. What’s the most memorable episode of EBT and why? 

Megan Porta: Need, I say that episode 200 with John Lee Dumas was memorable? Oh my gosh. I was so nervous and freakishly nervous for that episode and he was promoting his book at the time. So he was doing a lot of interviews just back to back and I think he gave me 15 or 20 minutes. So I knew it was gonna be short and sweet. My voice was shaking. If you go listen to it it’s a really good one. He delivered amazing value. But if you listen closely, you can hear that I am just like, oh my gosh, panicked and doing the awkward laughs and just, oh my gosh. But it was so good for me to do that because it was so scary. When I was done, I just felt like if I can do that, I can interview anyone, I can do anything. It just gave me a really big boost of confidence too.

Taryn Solie: Yeah, that which is hard can still make you grow, right? 

Megan Porta: Oh yes. So scary. Scary things make us grow. 

Taryn Solie: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Okay. Then in which episode have you learned the most? 

Megan Porta: I don’t necessarily have a single episode that stands out for this answer. But I would say just more of a general category is learning from food bloggers who are in the weeds. I think this is one of the beauties of Eat Blog Talk is that I talk to a lot of people who aren’t necessarily top experts in the field or anything like that. They’re actually just food bloggers, doing the work and finding certain things that have really helped their business or their mindset or whatever. So that is my favorite when I get to have a conversation with somebody who’s just like Sue over at the food blog who’s been around for a year and a half. She has amazing value to share. So many people discount that too. I think it’s really rare for podcasts to talk to people who are just your average food blogger, your average fill-in-the-blank. Instead, they go for the big names. And I think. Yeah. There’s so much power in that. So those are my favorite types. 

Taryn Solie: Yeah. I think that’s really great. I know you’ve had that kind of concept or outlook for the whole time. Whereas, everybody has value. It’s great if someone who has been blogging for years and years like you have, who wants to share their value, everybody has a different life experience. That’s exactly what you’re saying, you can bring lessons from life experience that others can learn from. 

Megan Porta: So true. Everyone has a story to share and everyone has an angle that’s going to help people. So literally any person listening to this right now could join me on a podcast episode and provide immense value.

Taryn Solie: Yes. I love that. That’s great. Okay, now, goals. What is your goal for the podcast and the next three years? 

Megan Porta: Oh boy. Okay, so I am going to keep publishing two episodes, I almost said recipes, two episodes a week. So let me do the math. We do two episodes a week, so 104 episodes a year. So in three years, I’ll be at 712 episodes. So that’s the numbers. I’ve always had it in my mind, I’m super excited to get to episode number a thousand. So that’ll be beyond three years. But just a little side note there. Just through continually talking to these amazing people that we just referred to, I would just like to keep growing the supportive community. My tagline for Eat Blog Talk is supporting food bloggers at every stage of their journeys, helping them accelerate their growth and achieve the freedoms they want for their businesses and their lives. I want to continue that. I have such a heart and passion for food bloggers being one myself, but also just seeing how driven and smart and motivated and resilient and resourceful and everything. All the good things they are. It’s a really unique bunch of people and I’m just in awe of you guys all the time. So I just wanna continue to do what I can to lift up this community and help people just find those successes they want. Whatever that is for you. 

Taryn Solie: Yeah, and I think this kind of plays a little bit into the next and last question from Caro, which is, why should food bloggers start a podcast and how much work is it and how do you monetize it? I do want to say that in terms of goals for the podcast, you might also have goals for how to help food bloggers with podcasts too.

Megan Porta: Yes. Okay. So the first question is, why should you start a podcast? 

Taryn Solie: Yeah. Why should food bloggers start a podcast and how much work is it? 

Megan Porta: Yeah. Okay. So I think that food bloggers definitely should if you don’t like videos and you want another way to communicate with your audience and potentially gain a new audience. Right now, the competition for Foodie podcasts is really low, and podcasting, in general, is growing. So I think those two combined create this really nice little formula and that will be to your benefit. Then how much work is it? Comparing it to blogging, it’s so much easier. I remember you and a couple of other people saying, oh my gosh, all I had to do was record and just upload it. You don’t have to go through miles of keyword research and SEO and there are so many pictures, and videos, there are so many hoops you have to jump through with food blogging that you do not have to. Not as many barriers. So it’s really not that much work. Right now. I have a microphone that is plugged into my laptop and I have an editing software that comes with my Adobe subscription anyway, and literally that’s it. There’s not much more to it than that. So it’s super easy. Then what was the last part? 

Taryn Solie: How do you monetize it? Which is a pretty big question. 

Megan Porta: Yeah, that is a big question. So I think if you do get into podcasting, do it with the goals of just connecting with your audience in a new way and using it as a new layer for your business, and don’t necessarily go into it thinking I’m going to make money within a year, because that probably won’t happen. But if you see it as a long game, you eventually will make money if you are consistent with it. We’ve talked about JLD many times, and this is something that he did and he talked about all the time in his podcast episodes, is that you’ve just gotta keep doing it. It’s not like a quick buck. You’re not going to get rich right away. But when you establish that trust with people, which you will do much more easily through audio and using your voice, people are going to trust you more. You’re going to gain a really loyal following, and that is going to allow you to sell to them eventually. People ask me all the time about sponsorships, and I think that’s very possible. A lot of us work with brands and we enter that realm of sponsored work, so you know how it goes. It’s not out of the possibility to do that. But I would say just establishing trust with your people and then finding a really good solution to whatever they’re struggling with. Then offering that and selling that way. 

Taryn Solie: Yeah. I think it’s akin to food blogging for most people in the way that you just described, where most people don’t necessarily monetize their food blog in a year. Or if they do it’s maybe with a Google ad sense or something that’s on the lower paying side. It’s the same with the podcast, right? You might hit a great niche, but that’s the exception, not the rule, right?

Megan Porta: Definitely.

Taryn Solie: To just have that kind of expectation. I’ve heard several times just across the blogosphere, if you want to call it that, three to five years is a sweet spot when people start to really make money and monetize their blogs. My hunch, anyway, I’m not at the three-year mark with my podcast, but the hunch is that would be similar for podcasts as well.

Megan Porta: Yeah, I totally agree with that. I think three years is very fair, so stick with it for at least that long. Then also something you said made me think of the know/like/trust thing that people talk about. It’s so hard to get that know/like/trust through a blog because you’re writing. You’re typing and you don’t even know if people are reading everything that you’re typing. But with a podcast, people put you in their ear and they are listening to your voice. That is such a great way to really quickly get that know/like/trust. So you’re going to earn it a lot more quickly through a podcast than you are through a blog.

Taryn Solie: Yeah, agreed. Very much agreed. Then how are you supporting podcasters? Are Foodie podcasters going forward? Do you have plans? 

Megan Porta: Yeah, so we’ve been running a little mastermind group for almost a year now, and I have just decided that I want to make it more awesome. So we’re taking a little pause on that and we’re gonna revamp it. I’m hoping in the fall to have a really robust group going where we just twice a month or so and just do little masterminding and help people who have already started a podcast. So you’ve already launched, just brainstorm and evolve and really dig deep into their podcasting businesses. 

Taryn Solie: Yeah, I think that’s great and it’s going to be really helpful. I think we’re going to end with quick questions if you don’t mind. I’m going to throw these at you. 

Megan Porta: Oh, uhoh. 

Taryn Solie: This is unpracticed but I think they’ll be fun. We can end on this, alright? What is your favorite color? 

Megan Porta: Purple all the way. 

Taryn Solie: I love it. What is your favorite movie or one of your favorite movies? 

Megan Porta: Have you ever seen Garden State?

Taryn Solie: I know it. I don’t think I’ve seen it. 

Megan Porta: I don’t know why. The music and just the acting, everything. I love that movie. It’s one of my favorites. 

Taryn Solie: Oh, good. What about a TV show? 

Megan Porta: Oh, Gilmore Girls. 

Taryn Solie: Oh, that’s a good one. 

Megan Porta: Yes. 

Taryn Solie: What was your favorite toy growing up? 

Megan Porta: Oh, I had these little weeble-wobble things. Does anyone know what Weeble Wobbles are? They were these little egg shape creatures, toys that lived in a tree. That sounds really crazy. Wow. 

Taryn Solie: Maybe it’s better that they’re not around anymore. 

Megan Porta: That mental break thing that I mentioned earlier. Maybe I need one.

Taryn Solie: Maybe. Do you have a favorite day of the week?

Megan Porta: I love Fridays. Fridays are the best. 

Taryn Solie: Are you better in the morning or in the evening? 

Megan Porta: Definitely morning. Oh gosh. Yeah. I’m not a night person. 

Taryn Solie: Yeah. Same. Coffee or tea?

Megan Porta: Coffee. Coffee all the way. 

Taryn Solie: Then vanilla or chocolate? 

Megan Porta: Vanilla. 

Taryn Solie: Oh, not the chocolate person.

Megan Porta: I like chocolate. Just if I had a choice I would go with vanilla.

Taryn Solie: Okay. Good. That’s it. That’s all we’ve got for today. 

Megan Porta: Oh, so fun. This was great, and I know that you know this, Taryn, but I try to do something just memorable for each hundredth episode. So I’ve done like a hundred, I did something special, 200, 300, and now 400. This just made it so special and not just doing the AMA, but being able to talk to you. So thank you for doing this with me. This was so much fun. 

Taryn Solie: Yeah, this was super fun. I’m really glad we got a chance to do it. 

Megan Porta: All right, Taryn, we’ll talk to you later. Thanks, everyone for listening.

Sponsor: Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Eat Blog Talk. Please share this episode with a friend who would benefit from tuning in. I will see you next time.