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Hello, you've reached the storied human podcast hosted by me Lynne Thompson. Each week I share a story, either an interview with someone fascinating, or a short solo from me. I love your stories, and I learned so much from them.
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Hopefully you will, too. So welcome. If you are new here, I'm so happy to have you. If you are a returning listener, many thanks. So here it is the next episode of the storied human.
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Hey, I have Jennilee Samuel with us today. And she tells a story about how she got a little stuck playing second fiddle pastor to her husband, and she felt like she wasn't using her gifts. It wasn't her husband's fault. It's just sort of the way the culture works, where she lives and probably a lot of places. But what I love about her is that she picked herself up and looked around. She saw podcasting as a sort of relaxed sort of new thing she could try. Back then it was kind of new, right about six years ago. And she started and it took her a while. And I think Harvey came and flooded their house and they had to rebuild. And so she couldn't, you know, launch her podcast for a while. But she really enjoyed it when she did start it. And she got so into it. People kept asking her as she was growing her podcast, they kept saying, how do you do it? Can you tell me how to do it. And so she helped a bunch of people, including her husband. And then finally she said, Well, I'm going to put this together in a mastermind. And she has now a couple levels of courses. And her podcast is wildly successful. She's in the top like 1%. So I was really honored that she took the time to talk to us here. And I think if you go on her website, there'll be a coupon code for the storied human, and you can get $200 off her course. Or you can just download a free roadmap and see how that appeals to you. But her story is cool. It's only 22 minutes long. She was so fun to talk to. And maybe you know, you'll find out something you can figure out if you'd like to start a podcast, because she's certainly qualified. Let me tell you, I really enjoyed talking to her. So enjoy.
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Hello, and welcome to the storied human today. I have Jenilee Samuel, I met her online on one of the Facebook groups that I love to collaborate with people on and her story is a really neat one. And we're going to hear all about it. Welcome, generally. Thank you so much for having me. I'm happy to be here.
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So where do you want to start? I would love to hear a little bit about what brought you to where you are now. I mean, you have your own podcast, you're a podcast coach, you're running a mastermind, these things are amazing. But I want to hear like a little bit of backstory, like how did you get to this point where you wanted to do a podcast? Yeah, totally. Um, so I grew up in Arizona, I grew up actually a missionary kid. And then around 14 felt, felt the Lord calling me into ministry as like an individual. So from 14 to about 21. I did ministry stuff and had some cool opportunities. I spoke at it at a youth convention that had 85,000 students there I spoke for my city's National Day of Prayer at the National a per event for for Phoenix on behalf of the youth of my area. I spoke I try flew and traveled to Chicago to help train small group leaders. So I had a lot of opportunity. I also trained small group leaders within my church and and I was so grateful to be surrounded by leaders who recognize the giftings in me and put those to use in place to demand on those things. But this crazy thing happened. I got married at 2122. And I moved to Texas, and I married an Indian man from India and moved to Texas, Southeast Texas, which is the Bible Belt and you know, the South, it's a little more old school. And we became pastors in the Christian community. And I found that all three of those things actually kind of worked against me as far as walking in my guests. So my husband's culture, you know, he didn't see a husband like his dad and his mom had very traditional roles as far as it's very patriarchal culture. And so he didn't really get to experience what it looks like to see a husband and wife work as a team. So that you know, kind of created its own dynamic for us and then being in the Christian Church, there can be some patriarchal roots there. And then being in the south, there's some patriarchal systems there.
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And so I had all these layers of ceilings like over me, preventing me from showing up in full voice preventing me from like really showing up with my gifts. And so we've been in ministry the whole time, we've been married and married 18 years now. And we've been pastors the whole time. And we've pastored for congregations. And we've we've only been one of them, where we the senior pastor role. But in all the congregations, I've never, ever had the opportunity to preach on a Sunday, or to really use my gifts. I think I've taught on a Wednesday, twice, you know, and so it was, it was very discouraging, and left me feeling very, very invisible, in fact, in the culture down here, and I learned that from some people who live in the north, and they were like, yeah, some of what you're experiencing is cultural. And I was like, Okay, well, thank you for helping me identify that.
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But I mean, simple things. Like I would introduce myself to someone. And they'd be like, Oh, what do you and your husband do?
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And I'm like, Oh, we're pastors, and they go, your husband's a pastor. And I'm like, No, we are pastors, you know. And so like, it's, it's automatically built in just that assumption that men are pastors, women are just the wives that kind of tutor along behind and clean up after him, you know. And so that obviously, doesn't work for my personality, or my gift set. And so I just after quite a few years of crying over it, and feeling stuck, I finally decided, you know, I'm gonna stand before the Lord at the end of my life, and give an account for the gifts that I carry, and the gifts that he gave me, and no one else is gonna be there next to me to point and blame the finger, like point the finger and be like it was your fault, or make excuses like I won't have any excuses to make. And so I was like, you know, what, then I have to find a way, these are my gifts to Stuart, I have to find a way to do that. And so at that point, podcasting was still very low key, like, it was not a very well known platform, it was still people didn't know a lot about it. But it looks less intimidating to me than YouTubing, or doing anything like that, or going live on Facebook. And so I was like, you know, we'll do podcasting. It's quiet, kind of a quiet little platform over here. And then I think I'll get my feet under me.
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So that's why I started a podcast. And it has become something that the Lord has just blessed it and even, this is kind of fun for me, and I get a little satisfaction from it. My husband, I created a podcast for him. And he's a great preacher, like really great preacher, but his podcast never did as good as mine. So I was like, I felt a little validated. I was like, It's okay, you can help the church. So you know, I'll have the podcasting. And anyways, and so you my podcast now is in the top 1%, globally, and is listened to in over 80 countries. And the Lord has just been really gracious has a five star rating on podcasts. And so I'm just really grateful. And it's become a really beautiful vehicle for sharing what's in my heart for sharing my voice for stewarding my gifts for meeting really cool, meet people like yourself. And it's made the world feel so small in a great way. Like, the world is just one big happy family, you know, and so, so yeah, that's how I got where I'm at now. And after a number of years of doing that, I started having people come to me and ask, Can you help me start a podcast. So I helped a number of people set it up for my church, set it up for my husband set it up for all these people. And then when people kept coming, I was like, you know how it takes a lot of time to do that. And so I was like, let me put something together to kind of help all these people at once. And so I created a mastermind and literally threw it together in three weeks just to kind of make it happen and learn, you know, and it was gangbusters successful. My students still talk about how they're like, if you didn't have your mastermind, I never would have started a podcast because it would have been too hard to learn all the things, I wouldn't have known how to do it alongside of my busy schedule, you know, all the different reasons. And so they're all super grateful. I'm super grateful. It's been successful, and they wanted to keep coaching with me. So I started a podcast network as well. So now that it validates them as a show because they're in the network, which is more professional looking. And, and then it gives them a way to continue learning and work with each other and eventually monetize through ads and sponsorships and stuff. So, it the whole thing just kind of became a beautiful thing. And I just I personally love it.
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Because what felt like a closed door caused me to pick my head up and look around and get creative. And it became an open door that I hadn't dreamed about. So that's my story. And it's a beautiful story. And I love the transformation of closed door to open door. And as you're talking, I'm thinking she really is ministering because so many people rate your podcast so highly and feel good connected to you. It's such a wonderful way to form that intimacy with people. And that's amazing to me, podcasting is amazing to me, because we have access to broadcast our voice, like in a way that we never could in the past. And a lot of people can do it and do it well.
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But it's the people that bring themselves to the podcasts, like really bring their heart. And when you do, that's how you're rewarded with lots of listeners.
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I don't know if everyone knows that. But that's the big secret.
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And you do that you have to be doing that, or you wouldn't be so successful. People respond to genuine people, people respond to someone from their heart. And I just love that you've had that success. You've been blessed with that success. And I love how you want to help you want to help other people find their voice. So the whole thing is just when when you know, yeah.
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Good. It's so good. And your journey is really interesting to me that you felt. I mean, it is hard sometimes to be put in a position where you have gifts that you want to share, and you're a woman who knows you can do certain things. But you're in a place where maybe people don't let you. And yeah, I remember like going to buy a car and they would just talk to my father.
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Like, I remember being really young, and we were going to go look at cars, and they would talk to my father. But then when I got married, they would talk to my husband. Like I wasn't even there. And I'm like, it's the car for me, you know? Yeah, right.
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Yeah, yeah, that's true. And I and I love that like, even though they're technically limitations, you know, and I could get on a soapbox about it.
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But that's almost a waste of breath. Because the reality is, no matter what limitations we're given, whether we experience with our gender, within our race, within our culture, within our, you know, career, you know, I mean, there's some careers that are like a man's world, and women have to figure out how to make that work, or men and a woman's world, you know, and try to figure out how to make that work. And so we will always encounter limitations and unfair biases. But if I just curl up in a ball and cry about it, I'm not going to accomplish anything, you know. And so that's why this whole like, this whole Oh, you're racist, oh, you're sexist, oh, your gender is. So you're this that where I'm like, what you'll knock it off, like, let's make the most of the world we've been given, like, no one promised that world, the world would be fair, no one promised that everything would be handed to us, like, get off your duff, and we'll make something out of what you do have to work with, and see what you can make of it.
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You know, I mean, all the greatest inventions in life, were designed to solve a problem. So without problems, you don't have great inventions, you don't have great solutions.
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You don't have great stories. So your problems become opportunities. And so I think that's just I love God's big enough, he's so creative, He's big enough to give us ideas to get outside of our limitations.
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And that's what makes it an adventure. You know, it makes it fun and rewarding.
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I'm just so glad you found it.
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Because it does seem to be your your thing. You know, it's like, it's your happy place. So why don't you tell me a little bit about what you offer, because I was really intrigued with what you offer to your, to your students.
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So yeah, totally. So my, I actually have three tracks, because I realized everyone's life kind of moves at different paces. The primary goal of all three of those tracks is to help you get a podcast app, okay. But the three different ways you can do that is one is a digital course. And that's my baseline offering, which is all of the videos and the workbook from my mastermind, so that you have all the information needed, but something you do at your own pace, and you don't have any one on one coaching with me, it's just the course and then a Facebook group, which the Facebook group does actually add a lot of value there, they become your greatest cheerleaders and support, we all become like a little family. So that's what the digital course offers. And so you can just kind of work it into your life when you can. The mastermind is the one that I'm currently it goes seasonally. So I launched it every couple of months, so that I can work with those students closely. And so that one is a 10 week track. And I work with them independently as as well as as a group. So we go through the once a week calls are live. And then at the end of the call, there's an extra 30 minute optional q&a time. So whatever that topic is, they can get clarity or if they had homework, questions, and whatever. So we've got the coaching call, we've got the Facebook group where they all cheer for each other and give each other feedback. It's a really valuable little family.
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And then they also have one on one calls with me, they have four of them over the course of the 10 weeks. And it's just a really valuable way for me to come alongside and give them really custom feedback to make sure they don't get stuck, make sure they don't feel overwhelmed. And so it's a very, very personal track. So that one is the one where there's a lot of community built. And then my top tier is for those people who were like, I don't want to do this on my own. I need more help than that. And I don't have 10 weeks to try to figure this out with you, let's do this on a weekend, you know, or, or over two days.
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So it's called the two day Jumpstart. And I actually put that together for like churches and businesses specifically that are like, let's just get the dang thing done. And so I would come to whoever that is, for two days, either we do it virtually, or we do it in person. And I would send the equipment ahead of time. And I would do everything from taking headshots of them to make sure they have some good photos to creating their artwork, creating their brands kit, and then getting them physically set up with their equipment so that they're ready to film ready to record.
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And then I teach them all the things they need to know about running their show, editing and producing, and then growing their show and reaching their audience. And we do it all in two days. So that's like, stuff like the mother lode kamikaze path, but it definitely can be done. So those are the three.
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Oh, yeah, that's amazing. And then well, and then when they're done, because my mastermind students were like, We don't want to be done coaching with you. This is a family now. And we want to keep learning, there's still so much to learn.
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And so they're like, can we do you have a graduate program? And I said, Well, I don't have a graduate program. But I'll create a podcast network, so that we can coach once a month together. And then you guys can grow at a more comfortable pace, but then we're still all in it together. And then it offers a lot of, you know, credibility to them as a show. So the podcast network has become a fourth offering, actually, that is so wonderful. And it really speaks to what people need, we need different levels. And I've had people ask me, How do you do it?
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How do you start a podcast? And I think it really is different for each person, depending on what you're comfortable with.
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And you know, I love that you're doing this because podcast feed is a real thing. I remember being so afraid when I heard the statistics when I started my podcast, most I think it's 60% don't go beyond eight episodes.
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So I think that what you're doing is helping people really get going and not fade. And you know, yeah, it is hard to be alone and do it. I mean, I had all these students from the class that I took, and now I have podcasts groups, it's very important to have people to bounce stuff off of it's not a, it shouldn't be a lonely journey, because I just don't think you can think of everything. I mean, we talked before this interview, and you gave me many ideas. I mean, it's just so good to bounce off each other. So yeah. Did you did you know that? I don't know if you know this. I don't know if you know that the current statistics, but there's over 3 million podcasts that are out there. But there's 750,000 podcasts are actually active now. So there's less than a million that are actually active. But of those 750,000, only 175,000 release weekly episodes. So the good news about that, is that right now, even though it looks like you know, podcast, creation is dropping, podcast listenership is climbing. And so by the end of 2024, they expect that the listenership will double in the podcast world. So that means more people are coming to the store to shop. But there's less competition, because it's a small pond. So it's actually a great time to become a podcaster. I love hearing that.
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I didn't know that. That is, I just think a lot of the people who jumped in didn't know what they were doing or didn't have the commitment or didn't stick with it. And so that makes sense. There's like a lot of podcasts, but they're not all active. That is encouraging. So I'll include all this in the show notes. And my listeners can can tune in and pick what they might want to follow. Might want to sign up for, is there anything else any piece of advice or anything else you'd like to share with us? Well, I do want to let anyone know who might be a little person, like you're interested, I did create an just a free download if you guys are interested. And I'll give you the link. And then you can throw that in your show notes, where it's kind of like the the seven. It's a seven step podcast essentials checklist. So it's kind of like your bird's eye view roadmap of what needs to be done in order to put up a podcast. So if you're a DIY kind of person, and you're like, I have a lot of knowledge, I just need to know what needs to be done, then this is a great resource for you. And then if you look it over, and you're like, Okay, that's good, but I think I need some extra help than that. That'll just kind of tell you hey, yeah, sign up with Jen, she can help you. And so it's just a little resource for you guys. And, and yeah, so I wanted to make that available to your to your students. And if they sign up with your coupon code, they get $200 off the mastermind. And so that's extra bonus for them just for being loyal listeners of your show.
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That sounds amazing. I love the idea of a roadmap because it is there's a lot of little pieces to it, that it's hard to figure out. So it's nice to see the overall process that you have to follow. And you really know that because you've been doing this for how many years? About five years? Yeah. Thank you Yeah, tip maybe technically like six years, but it took me a year just to figure out what I was doing are really probably two years. And then we flooded with Hurricane Harvey. So we lost our home and everything. So the the fall that I was gonna launch initially, we flooded with Harvey. And so it kind of pushed me back a year while we were rebuilding our home and everything. Gosh, sorry to hear that. That's so hard. That's okay. It was a beautiful season, the Lord did what he does, and just turned it around and made it good. So that's a wonderful way to look at it. I love that. And I would say that you're an expert, because that's a lot of years to be podcasting, most of us don't have that much under our belt.
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Well, totally, it's been a delight. I'm so glad I met you.
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I am so glad they talked. And I know that my listeners are going to benefit from at least your roadmap, probably signing up for one of those three offerings. So it's nice to get that out there because I have been questioned by people. So I know there's an interest.
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Absolutely. Great information.
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Thank you so much. Of course, well, thank you for having me.
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And thanks for sharing, sharing my story and these resources with your listeners. I hope that if any of them are like, I want to do this, and I just need someone to help me, then I hope that I'm the answer to their problem. I think you are because it's, it's, there's something about your personality. It's not just the information that you give. I think that you're very encouraging. I know just from talking to you today.
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That is a big part of it. It's much more than knowledge, you know? Yeah, yeah, I do try to be I want my student like I'm, I am their biggest cheerleader, because I, when they succeed, it's like, satisfying to me.
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It's like I'm helping them give birth to a child. It's just this beautiful privilege, I'm helping them bring their dream into reality. That's like an honor.
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It's like, I actually got to deliver a baby a few months ago.
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And, and it was, it was just as cool. I had all my babies at home. And so they were gonna have a home birth. And so they were like, can you come assist us with our birth? And I was like, Heck, yes, they were, there were some people we had pastored before. And so I went in there and the husband was going to deliver the baby. But, you know, we were trying to work all the things out. And it just ended that I was the one delivering the baby. And I just remember as I was like seeing that baby crown and pulling that little baby out, it was such a sacred holy moment, because I was like, I'm literally the first human to welcome this life into the world. And it was just such a sacred, it's like I get your angels singing, it was crazy. And so that's how I feel when these people, and I help them craft their shows and figure out their message and figure out what what they're bringing into the world to solve someone's problem. And it's literally like giving birth to something. And I feel like such an honor to be able to coach them through that. And so yeah, it's I love it. I think it's a beautiful thing to help people get their voices heard. I think it's just the perfect thing. And I think podcasting is much more than people even realize, you know, people really are helping other people, you'd never know who's listening, right? That's what I always say, you never know who's going to listen and, and learn and be inspired by your story. So stay on it. Yeah, and it has so much potential in that people. Once your podcasts are up there up, you know, people can find you. So they could find this episode six years later, you know what I mean? And it can still fit. It's like, it's like writing books, except that it's a lot easier.
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It's digital, you know, and so, but I mean, even if someone was like, hey, I want to be an author, but I need to build an audience who's gonna buy my book, start a podcast, and start putting out into your podcast episodes, what you would write in your book, and then you get a feel for what people resonate with. And it can help you hone the message of your book. And then you have a built in audience, you know, to buy your book. And so there's just so much potential with podcasting and getting your message into the world. Yeah, I think you know a lot about that. I love the idea of like launching from a podcast like you can do stuff with. And it also just love how intimate it is. Like, I've got the person in my ear, you know, sometimes I'll walk and put in my earbuds and it just feels like the person's talking to me.
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And it's very different from each other. And also, they're more loyal. I know people say when they do ads on podcasts, they just do really well because people are so connected to the person to the host. Yeah.
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All right. I knew I would talk to you all day.
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I know so good to talk to you.
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It's so good to talk to you.
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Thank you so much for sharing all that good stuff. Absolutely.
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Well, thank you for having me and for letting me share with your audience. That's a privilege and, and I just look forward to staying connected.
