We are back to the podcast. You guys, I'm really, really pumped and excited to back. I have some super big and super exciting changes to share with you. if this is your first time This might not be the best episode for you, so probably go check something else out because this is just a specific announcement episode. We've been gone for 7 months. And I gotta be honest after recording nonstop for 5 years, it was a much, much, much needed break. it gave me and my team time to reflect on the podcast to think about how it serves you, our listeners, and how we could do an even better job. During this time off, we've been working on a kajillion other exciting things inside the business, but I also went through an amazing podcast course by an amazing human being.

His name is Jeremy Ens. He has a course called podcast marketing academy, and it changed my world. Even though I've been doing the show for 5 whole years and I had this foundation, I just felt like we were doing some things wrong, and I just felt like we could do better. And it turns out that we were doing some things wrong. So I'm here to tell you about some super big and super exciting changes. First, the successful fashion freelancer podcast has a brand new name. I gotta be honest. I've always loved the name successful fashion free answer, but when I was in that course, the podcast marketing academy with my coach, Jeremy, He encouraged me to do some really, really deep thinking about how well that name was reaching our ideal listener.

And it turns out it wasn't actually reaching our ideal listener because here's the thing. Our ideal listener is someone who -- has a little bit of experience in fashion a couple years or maybe more, and they're feeling like a little bit burnt out. They're feeling like they want more out of their fashion career. and they're just not sure what their options are. They might be thinking, okay. I can start a fashion brand, but, I don't know. Is that really what I wanna do? and they might not even know that freelancing exists. Right? Because here's the thing.

Most of us know. maybe no because I'd talk about it. Maybe you know because you spent time in the fashion industry, and this is what you learned and saw firsthand. Most people in fashion think that air quote freelancing is working an employee to temp employee working full time for one brand with no benefits. And so if you don't even know that real financing is a thing or you don't even know that real financing is an option for you, and you just want something different in your fashion career. You want something more. A show called successful fashion freelancer might be intriguing but is not really connecting with you where you're at in the moment. So I had this realization after going through this, podcast marketing academy course with with Jeremy.

and he's like, Heidi, I'm not sure that that's the right name. I was like, oh, felt very like an existential thought to have. he also pointed out in some various workshops and stuff that we went through in the program. He goes, you're a little bit edgy. You go against the grain. You stand up for yourself and your students, and you believe you can do things differently in the fashion industry. He goes, I'm not sure that the word successful is, like, really, really on brand. And I was like, oh gosh.

As hard as this decision feels, I think that you're right. So after so much thought and getting feedback from many of you, we sent out an email to our list. Maybe you filled out a survey. It had nothing to do with the podcast name. I was just trying to get some emotions out of you and a ton of you sent in a survey. One of the biggest things that floated to the top that so many of you are feeling about working in the fashion industry is underpaid. You're underpaid the lack of compensation. And I thought, what about something really simple to fashion designers get paid? I kinda felt like it was brilliant.

So we're running with it. k? So it's meeting you where you're at. You might be frustrated. You might be feeling like, gosh, I gotta get more money. I gotta get taken care of for all the hard work that I'm doing. So fashion designers get paid. I'm super excited about the new name. I think it is more -- telling from a global perspective of the stuff that we talk about here on the show.

I'm also not gonna lie. That SEO, search engine optimization, us coming up in the search ranks of Google for the show was kinda killing me. We are one of the top rated fashion podcasts on Apple yet when you google fashion design podcasts, we do not come up and it was killing me. So putting the word fashion designer in there, is going to help us more with SEO. So I hope you love the name as much as I do. I'm super, super pumped. I just have to take a quick sidebar here to tell you that going through that podcast marketing academy program was a crazy eye opener for me. It reminded me that even though you've been doing something for a long time doesn't mean that you're doing it right.

I had been podcasting for 5 years, and there was still so many things that I needed to learn and that I was doing wrong. Now I'm not saying that that's you, but I hear a lot of freelancers say they don't need new strategies. They don't need to learn this that they're good with where they are. because they've been doing this for so long. And they may be, but a friendly reminder to everyone listening, there is always something to learn. Okay. But beyond the new name, fashion designers get paid and my life lesson there about always having something to learn. I wanna share that we are going to be changing up the content a little bit here on the podcast.

We are gonna be introducing new types of content. we are going beyond what my husband calls, air quote, marinating in your own stench, for the past while, gosh, couple years, the podcast has consisted of 2 episode types. 1 is interviews with successful fashion freelancers, and one is strategy sessions with students inside my fast program. And while those 2 types of episodes are still super, super valid and relevant, they are sort of, as my husband says, marinating in our own stent. Right? It's it's It's us within our own world of freelancers in the fashion industry. And so what we're gonna be doing is we're gonna be adding 2 new episode types We're gonna be adding industry experts and other people who can offer different perspectives on freelancing. This is things like brands or clients who are hiring freelancers to learn from them and hear from them what the hiring process is like, what they look for in freelancers. they love about freelancers, what really frustrates them from freelancers, as well as various resources for freelancers.

Right? So this could be things like you know, while back, we had Jay Arbittman on the show from the sourcing district, and we talked all about how freelancers can source fabric for their clients. Right? So maybe there's various softwares. We can bring on accountants to talk about money as a freelancer. We can talk about all sorts of things. Right? So we now a whole new episode slot dedicated to industry experts and others who can offer different perspectives on financing. I'm also gonna be introducing solo episodes. And so what we're gonna do, we're gonna start publishing weekly. We've been publishing every other week for the past while, We're going to go back to publishing weekly.

So we're going to be rotating through 4 different types of episodes, successful fashion freelancer stories, industry experts, solo episodes and the one on one coaching sessions that I do with my students. Okay? I think that this diversity of episodes is going to provide you with various different insights and perspectives into being a fashion designer and getting paid, right, or technical designer, a textile designer, a PD what have you, right, And I really hope that you enjoy the new rotation. if you have any guest suggestions for the industry expert slots, I'd love to hear them. You can drop me an email at podcast at so Heidi.com. And I think that wraps up this announcement. I am super excited to be back with the show. You guys, we have a bunch of new content already recorded that's gonna start coming out Next Monday, new episodes drop every Monday. Watch for them.

Wherever you're listening, make sure you're subscribed. I really hope you love the new name as much as myself and my team do, and I hope you're as excited to start listening again or for the first time, as I am to start publishing again. Thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate each and every one of you, and I'll see you next week's episode.