Using an experience to shape your future in business (Guest Blog post by Amelia Rees)

I have a special guest blog post up today from Amelia Rees, the Founder + Creative Director at Pretty Podcasts. Amelia helps her clients bring real stories to their listeners and creating high quality audio. Amelia embodies all our love about women in service businesses doing it for themselves. By creating a business on her own terms in challenging circumstances, Amelia has created a flexible business doing work she loves around her needs. Sit back, grab a cup of tea and enjoy Amelia’s guest blog post.

Hi, my name is Amelia Rees and last year I founded a Podcast Production business, ‘Pretty Podcasts’.

Many people dream of working remotely from the comfort of their own home, yet this was never my dream. I have always been a people person and love connecting through conversation. However, 6 years ago doctors found a tumour in my collarbone which resulted in multiple re-occurrences and surgeries. In August 2018, I had my final round of surgery to remove my collarbone and am finally on my way to good health.

Accidental podcast producer & Solopreneur

During those difficult years, my slowly disintegrating health made working in a standard office role very difficult. At the time I was working for Clarissa Rayward, trailblazer for happiness in the legal industry. She was looking for a Producer for her Podcast ‘Happy Lawyer Happy Life’. I put up my hand to learn about this new platform. After learning the ins and outs of audio production I was found myself editing Clarissa’s Podcast from my home. This ultimately led to the birth of my business.

I quickly fell in love with Podcasts. In their essence Podcasts are stories. I believe everyone has a story to tell and Podcasts connect us and give us a platform to share with each-other. Without even intending to I had found a place which allowed me to connect with others while not having to leave the house! Balancing life, health and work suddenly became less daunting. I decided to register a domain name, open an ABN and give my all to Podcast Production as a career.

Where I am at now

Fast forward a year and Pretty Podcasts is growing. I am finally able to contribute to my household in a capacity that is flexible. As a bonus I am still able to enjoy connection through conversation, even if I am only listening to it.

The singular purpose of Pretty Podcasts is to connect your listeners to your story. My goal is to make this process as simple and time-effective as possible for my clients. Starting a Podcast can become a daunting project. I found that many of my new clients had the same recurring questions and needed similar guidance to find their core message. So, I created a free “Let’s Start a Podcast’ guide. Surprisingly, giving this guide to my potential clients led them to engage my services. Almost by accident, I found my business model.

I offer a start-to-finish service where I work as a team with my clients to launch their Podcast. I also help them maintain their podcast with my production services. 

2020 goals

In 2020 I will be launching my own Podcast, the ‘My Story’ Podcast. Using my own experience as a motivator, I will interview everyday people as they share their own life stories providing encouragement to those who are in the midst of hard times.  The ‘My Story’ Podcast is a chance to and learn from others life challenges and, more importantly, how they dealt with those hardships. It aims showcase not only the effect these experiences can have on our mental health, but also how we can maintain joy throughout hardship.

Key takeaways

Whether you are working remotely, or are aiming to work from home or have a ‘office job’, I would encourage you to step out of your comfort zone. Try something new. Listen to others as they share their life with you.

You never know, it may just lead to a whole new world.

Amelia Rees x

Founder and Creative Director of Pretty Podcasts