Current Fave Podcasts
Do you listen to podcasts? They're a favorite free education tool of mine! Many can also be found on YouTube if you prefer video content. This is my one-hour guaranteed daily education time while walking the neighborhood.

Marketing Focus
There are a few on my current "Can't Miss" playlist that I catch as soon as they're released. As I developed this list, I realized there are a number of marketing shows I listen to fairly regularly. This does not include a few others I'm looking forward to testing, but I won't make recommendations if I haven't listened. 

I was originally going to also cover LinkedIn and A.I. podcasts, but the list for all became far too long. Future content!

General Marketing Podcasts
All of these podcasts are easily searchable but a link is provided to find them. You should be able to find nearly all on whatever your podcast player platform is. 

Names are linked predominantly to the host's LinkedIn profile for your following and connecting convenience - one prefers Facebook/Instagram over LinkedIn. 

• This Old Marketing with Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose: These guys are a fun hour to catch up on the marketing news of the week, perfect on your next walk or gym session! They're long-time, experienced marketers and published authors. 
• Marketing Mentor Podcast with Ilise Benun: Ilise covers the gamut of marketing topics. Most episodes run from 15-30 min but there are outliers on both sides. 
• Content Inc with Joe Pulizzi: These episodes are very short - 5 minutes weekly is Joe's goal. These are bite-sized nuggets of actionable marketing. 
• Distribution First with Justin Simon: Justin shares weekly how to produce once and distribute in multiple formats to maximize your marketing energy.
• Do This Not That with Jay Schwedelson: Jay is a fun listen who keeps testing new focus concepts on his show. He also posts generally 3 days/week, roughly 10-15 minute sessions. His shows are a mix of marketing and random pop chat. 
• Easy Email Marketing with Yael Keon: Yael is focused on email. If you're aiming to get into or improve your email delivery, from content to tech topics, Yael's an amazing resource. 
• Enthusiastically Self-Employed with Brenda Meller: Brenda covers a variety of business topics that really all come down to marketing in a very personable, friendly way. She regularly features LinkedIn audits she does for clients for all to learn from.
• Deliberate Freelancer with Melanie Padgett Powers: Melanie's been featured here, here, and here on prior podcast blog posts. She's very good to listen to for content and style. She's on a summer break at the moment, but I'm looking forward to her getting back in front of a mic. Melanie covers marketing and business concerns for all solopreneur/freelance businesses. 
• Online Marketing Made Easy with Amy Porterfield: Amy has a treasure of marketing resources on her website! Her episodes are more often 45-60 minutes in length (perfect for your exercise session!). 
• The Marketing Book Podcast with Douglas Burdett: If reading is your jam, this podcast is focused on book reviews and author interviews on strictly marketing books. How he can power through a book each week is beyond me! I'm regularly adding items to my Audible Wish List when available. 

Any Favorite Marketing Podcasts?
Do you have any favorites to share that we missed? Love to hear what you find useful in your marketing education!

If you're looking for strategy or marketing assistance to shine a spotlight on your business, Let's Chat! I provide a number of services for nonprofits, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and authors.

What is Co-Working?
​Co-working is meeting with other individuals to share work time while increasing focus and productivity. 

According to Merriam-Webster: "being, relating to, or working in a building where multiple tenants (such as entrepreneurs, start-ups, or nonprofits) rent working space (such as desks or offices) and have the use of communal facilities."


History of Co-working
Co-working is said to have begun as early as 1995 in Berlin, Germany. The term is credited to Bernard DeKoven in 1999. The first "official" co-working space is considered to be in San Francisco in 2005. These references can be found in many articles. A solid history is available thanks to a LinkedIn article by Matthew F. February 2024. Another good history is brought to us by coworking resources in April 2021.

Where Can You Co-Work?
As of 2017, Focusmate has been offering this concept online. I discovered it June 2024. They offer some great science behind why co-working works, complete with footnotes. They also have a great pricing structure - free for up to 3 sessions/week, roughly $7/month for unlimited sessions, and they offer business plans. 

I've been participating in a weekly co-working session created by a few editing friends from a Facebook group. One person has created a recurring weekly zoom-style link and added weekly Events on Facebook as a reminder. There's a related discussion group to let each other know if the leader will be taking the week off and to communicate for someone else to manage the link or motivate each other. 

I've headed to a local Panera on my own or with a colleague or two for years to work on projects related to an organization, each doing our own thing or sharing ideas on a certain collaborative project. I didn't realize I  was "co-working!" 

How Does This Work?
The appeal is primarily to those who work from home who would like the accountability of committing to showing up at a particular time and place (productivity method + goal strategy) or who want a bit of social resemblance to a work site. 

Whether you meet at a physical location or online, the general concept is you arrange to meet at a certain time - someone is counting on you as an accountability partner. You show up with a brief introduction and your goal(s) for the session and you get to work. You reconnect for a few minutes at the end of the session as a check-in on goals and success of the work session. Lather, rinse, repeat. 

Focusmate tends to have 50 min session blocks that start at the top of each hour giving you a 10-minute stretch or bathroom break. You can schedule as many as close together on your calendar as you wish. You may be part of a group on Focusmate to find partners within that group, or you can partner with anyone who is a Focusmate user from around the world.

There are desk sessions and active sessions (exercise or clean together). It's tricky to find particular people until you've had a session with that person or send someone an "invitation" to find your calendar to collaborate.

Once you collaborate and it seems to work well, you can "favorite" someone to more easily search for sessions on the calendar. Focusmate has an active Facebook group where members can seek and respond to others with similar interests to partner in these sessions.

Is It Useful?
I've become a big fan of these co-working opportunities! As a solopreneur, my home is my office. Scheduling these sessions helps me focus on work activities with someone else who is working. It does improve my productivity and keeps me accountable - I promised to show up. 

It's also a fabulous networking tool as you meet others from around the world, in your affiliated field, potential clients, or completely unique individuals! It's useful to get out of your own space and interact with others. 

Have you had any co-working sessions using Focusmate or some other platform? Love to hear how it went for you - likes and dislikes. Looking for a co-working partner to make progress on your goals? Let's chat!