You've been posting daily. You're showing up in stories. You're creating reels that disappear into the void. And yet—it's taking more and more content just to be seen, let alone convert followers into paying clients.
If you're exhausted by social media and wondering why it's getting harder to turn all that effort into actual business growth, you're not alone. The game has changed in 2026.
In this episode (originally recorded during Super Bowl weekend 2024 and more relevant than ever), I sit down with Isabella Sanchez Castañeda—podcast strategist and host of the top 5% podcast On East Media, Inc.—to talk about why short-form content is no longer king, and why long-form content like podcasting is the strategy that will save your sanity and grow your business.
Isabella breaks down exactly what's happening with "short-form fatigue," why our nervous systems are craving something deeper, and how to make the shift to long-form content that actually converts—without burning yourself out in the process.
What You'll Walk Away With:
- Why in 2026, business owners must shift from short form to long form content strategies to thrive.
- How Social media fatigue is real; many users are abandoning platforms like TikTok for deeper connections in podcasts.
- The key to successful long-form content lies in intention, intimacy, and low interruptions; it builds trust and engagement.
- Creating long-form content is not only essential for conversion but also for maintaining mental health as entrepreneurs.
Leave us a Review and share this episode with a friend.
🎧 Want to learn more about today’s guest?
Visit CraftedToThrive.com for guest details, key takeaways, and extra links mentioned in this episode.
Join The 5-Day Audio Series - Rooted Sales
Products We Love + Special Guest Gifts → Want to support the show and treat yourself? We’ve created a quick-access list of products I personally use and love, exclusive savings from podcast guests, and other gems that can help you live well and do business with chronic illness. Explore our faves + savings here!
Join our Community Channel on Substack, our Built to Breathe Community
Subscribe HERE to Chronically Profitable, A free, exclusive email series that shows you how to sell with self-trust, create content that converts, and use long-form strategies, especially podcasting, to attract dream clients consistently, even during the ups and downs of business and life. You'll learn how to build a rhythm that helps you sell even while you rest.
Gifts And Ways To Connect With Your Host Nikita:
Subscribe to the Chronically Profitable: The Flare-Proof Path to $100K, A free exclusive weekly email series designed for creatives and women with chronic illnesses. You'll learn how to make a liveable income with your hobbies, professional skills, and innate talents by building a successful online coaching business with simple strategies that work for you, even on flare days and feel better living with chronic illness.
If you're a business owner who's been posting on social media for years and wondering why it's getting harder and harder to convert followers into clients, you're not alone.
Speaker AThe truth is, the game has changed in 2026.
Speaker AShort form content is no longer king in these streets, y'.
Speaker AAll.
Speaker AGetting views isn't all that there is, but long form content that builds the kind of trust that actually grows.
Speaker AYour business is what's in and yet most business owners are still pouring all of their energy into platforms that leave them exhausted with little to show for it.
Speaker AThere is a better way.
Speaker AAnd if you've been feeling exhausted by social media posting daily, showing up in stories, creating reels that disappear into the void to some degree, you're not imagining it.
Speaker AIt takes so much more content for us to be found on these platforms.
Speaker AWhat we're all experiencing right now is what I call short form fatigue.
Speaker AOur brains love that dopamine hit, but our bodies and our nervous system, they're screaming for something deeper.
Speaker AAnd it's not just us, it's our customers too.
Speaker AThey're deleting or cutting their time with other social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, and they're choosing to lean in to listen to Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.
Speaker AThey're even going to this extent to read long form articles and blogs and newsletters.
Speaker AWhat if the solution to a sustainable marketing strategy in 2026 wasn't about doing more, but about going deeper?
Speaker AI sat down with Isabella's podcast strategist and host of the top 5% podcast on East Media Inc. To talk about why long form content isn't just a nice to have anymore.
Speaker AIt's the strategy that will save your sanity and help you grow your business.
Speaker AIt's also the way that the platforms such as AI, AIs, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and all of these platforms are one being trained on and recommending your business on now.
Speaker AThis conversation originally happened last year during the super bowl, and I'm bringing it back to you this super bowl weekend because what we talked about then is not just relevant, it's urgent.
Speaker AAnd here's what most people don't realize.
Speaker AThe window to establish your business in long form is closing.
Speaker AThe earlier start, the easier is to be seen and heard.
Speaker AI personally have seen this in my business since AI kind of hit mainstream.
Speaker AI've gotten leads and I'm like, I'm sure it's not because I'm using AI.
Speaker AIt's because I've been doing the long form gain for over eight years and it's pulling from that content because I have created an a business IP and asset that refers people who are my people to me.
Speaker BThe sooner you start, the easier it.
Speaker AWill be to be seen and heard through these platforms on AI and in Google Search that is turning very much to the AI algorithm.
Speaker AWait another year and you're going to be competing with everyone who finally figured out what you're about to learn in this episode.
Speaker AIf you've been hesitant about starting a podcast or creating long form content in 2026, this episode will lay out exactly why.
Speaker ANow is the time before it gets even more difficult to cut through the noise.
Speaker AIn this conversation, you'll hear us dive into why people are deleting social media and keeping their podcast apps.
Speaker AThe three eyes that make long form content convert better than short form, intention, Intimacy, interruption and how to structure podcast content that creates clients, not just listeners.
Speaker AWhy going deep instead of going wide is the strategy for 2026 and beyond.
Speaker AThe conversation will show you exactly why now is the time to make long form content your primary strategy.
Speaker AAll right, let's dive into this conversation about why podcasting now isn't just smart, it's necessary.
Speaker AI'm your host Nikita Williams, and this is Business with Chronic Illness.
Speaker CAre you tired of hearing business advice that completely ignores real life?
Speaker CLooks like when you're navigating chronic illness, autoimmune disorders flare ups, medical appointments, and just life lifing?
Speaker CBusiness with Chronic Illness is for entrepreneurs who know they're capable of building something meaningful but need a way to do it that actually works with their body, not against it.
Speaker CThis podcast brings you honest conversations with founders, CEOs and other bosses, sharing their strategies, adaptations and lessons they've learned while building businesses alongside chronic illness, including what worked, what didn't, and what they wish they had done differently before burnout forced the lesson.
Speaker CI'm your host Nikita Williams, a globally ranked podcast host and entrepreneur who's built my business while navigating chronic illness and helping others do the same without sacrificing themselves.
Speaker CI created this show to open up the conversations most business spaces avoid.
Speaker CThe promise of business with Chronic Illness is simple to show you that you can build a thriving business with chronic illness and autoimmune disorders without sacrificing your health, your peace, or your profit.
Speaker CYou're not behind, you're building differently and you're in the right place.
Speaker BWelcome welcome to why Podcasting.
Speaker BNow we're going to be talking about why we want to incorporate podcasting and I'M going to have this conversation with.
Speaker AA good friend of mine.
Speaker BShe's going to hop on here and we're actually going to talk about podcasting and the way that it can help your business to grow different ways and strategies that you need in your business in order for it to actually produce clients for and their network and your business to able to grow.
Speaker BSo Isa is going to be joining me here.
Speaker BShe's amazing.
Speaker BShe's a rock star when it comes to podcasting and wanted to have her all fun.
Speaker DHey, girl, how are you?
Speaker AGood.
Speaker DHow are you?
Speaker DGood.
Speaker DI'm so excited for this because I think it just gets more and more relevant as the time passes.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker DBreaking it down for folks and yeah, I think it'll be a great conversation.
Speaker BYeah, I feel like I would be remiss not to talk about the super bowl and connection with this right now, especially the halftime game about storytelling and how powerful that can be and why podcasting is such a beautiful medium for that.
Speaker BBecause, man, it can build a community.
Speaker BIt could build a lot of conversation.
Speaker BIt can create conversations.
Speaker BAnd to me, that's what's really important about a great podcast, is like not just community and storytelling, but creating conversations that lead to other things that we want to see in our communities and in our lives.
Speaker BI'd love to get your take on that from a podcasting brain of storytelling, if you have one.
Speaker BJust because I think it's top of mind for most of people right now.
Speaker BThat was either you got it or you didn't.
Speaker DAbsolutely.
Speaker DThe thing that I loved.
Speaker DAnd I'm going to include like video podcasts in this on YouTube, for example.
Speaker DBut the thing that I loved is that yes, people were having to the super bowl and I'm in Philly, so go bird.
Speaker DBut yeah, but especially too like Kendrick's performance, it was a lot of people were obviously sharing their takes and sharing their analysis on threads, on Instagram and all this stuff.
Speaker DBut so many people were responding and saying, I can't wait for the deep dives on YouTube.
Speaker DI can't wait for the deep dives on podcast.
Speaker DAnd people really wanting that deeper analysis on, of course, the performance, but really on everything right now and really having something, a medium that is a little bit slower and a little bit deeper or a lot deeper.
Speaker DAnd I think that more and more people are realizing like how little we can actually get through and actually explore in short form, that now the craving for long form, whether that is YouTube, whether that is podcasting, whether that is subscribers.
Speaker DJack, people want to explore in that way now.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker DAnd I think that we just saw it, of course, because of the super bowl, like applied to a very direct thing.
Speaker DBut I think it's also like people want to have time to explore their own thoughts and share their thoughts without worrying about, I have to dissect this in 30 seconds.
Speaker DI have to dissect in a way that people can fully answer in so short, like, we all want the time, both as a consumer and as a creator.
Speaker BExactly.
Speaker BI love that you bring that out because something I've been talking with my community and my clients with this, like long form content in general, whether it's podcasting, YouTube, blogging, even substack, is basically a version of blogging.
Speaker BIf we are not diving deeper, we're missing what people are actually really craving for as much as social media.
Speaker BWe're on social media.
Speaker BLike we're having this conversation on social media.
Speaker ASo it's great.
Speaker BHowever, I know for me, I'm probably gonna repurpose this content for my podcast.
Speaker BSo it makes it easier for my clients and my potential audience, like my community, to listen to this, pause, take notes, think about it, come back to it.
Speaker BAnd we can't really do that as frequently as we want to, or as if I'm watching a live, it's hard for me to stay completely engaged than if I'm listening to it on my podcast or YouTube.
Speaker BFor those who are YouTubers and really diving in and I think as business owners, if we aren't having that as a huge part of our strateg right now, we're missing out.
Speaker BWe're missing out on that deeper connection.
Speaker BWe're missing out on the deeper way of helping people start shifting their thoughts, having those deeper conversations that they need to have with their community and with themselves.
Speaker BIf we're not allowing the space for that by using platforms like podcasting and YouTube and any other long form content strategies.
Speaker BI totally agree with you.
Speaker BThat was so on point.
Speaker BWhat are you seeing?
Speaker BWhat are you seeing in the world of long form?
Speaker BYeah, content for 2025.
Speaker BLike, I, I have thoughts, but I'm.
Speaker BI'm gonna let you tell me your thoughts.
Speaker DYes, I feel like we'll end up having very similar thoughts.
Speaker DBut so what I have seen, especially since January 20, is that people are in an effort to take care of themselves.
Speaker DRightfully.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker DRecognizing that these, the short form platforms, like threads, like Instagram, like TikTok, are meant to keep you in this state of like constantly, what is new, what is next, what is new, what is next?
Speaker DAnd this state Of I can't think anything all the way through because the next news is hitting me the next second.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker DAnd because of that, I've seen more people announcing that they're taking breaks from social media.
Speaker DMore people announcing that they're deleting social media.
Speaker DAnd as consumers, yeah.
Speaker DAnd then because as consumers, like most people are deleting the short form platform, but they still have their Spotify, their Apple podcasts, they still have their YouTube or they still have their email list.
Speaker DThey still have.
Speaker DOr they have their inbox where they're getting emails.
Speaker DAnd so from the consumer standpoint, we're seeing a lot of people who need and want to take care of themselves slowing down their consumption.
Speaker DAnd slowing down most of the time does not mean ending their consumption.
Speaker DIt means going to longer form.
Speaker DAnd then as we've been talking about that longer form is podcasting is YouTube, is email is books.
Speaker DAnd we'll see that now as creators who meet that demand, shifting to long form.
Speaker DAnd Even with the TikTok ban still being very much up in the air, when people did think like it was going completely away, big tiktokers, yes, they said, hey, follow me on Instagram.
Speaker DMost of them said, hey, go listen to my podcast.
Speaker DHey, go listen to my YouTube.
Speaker DAnd people were like, oh, absolutely.
Speaker DBecause of that just slowing down.
Speaker DAnd now I feel like it's just going to ramp up where people will be like, hey, I actually only can give myself an hour to consume.
Speaker DI want to consume something deep rather than consuming all these little chunks that keep me stressed out.
Speaker BYeah, yeah.
Speaker BAnd I think, I think we started seeing this actually last year, like before.
Speaker BI think we all started to experience like that short form.
Speaker BI'm calling it short form fatigue.
Speaker BLike, it's a great.
Speaker BOur brain, it's like sugar.
Speaker BIt's like I have been like explaining it as sugar.
Speaker BLike, our brain loves that dopamine hit.
Speaker BLike, we love that dopamine hit.
Speaker BBut at some point, everybody hates it.
Speaker BLike, we feel so crappy eating all of this sugar.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker BWe just feel so bad.
Speaker BAnd as powerful as social media can be and still will be, it's not like I'm like, I've been trying to tell people, like, no, I'm not anti social media.
Speaker BI'm just saying that the way we consume social media in general, I think it's shifting to identify the true need that humans are going to have even more in the scape of not just news cycles and drama and just things we don't ever like, our brains don't want to keep seeing.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker BThere's that.
Speaker BAnd then on top of that, I think the need for deeper connection as we go through whatever is going on in our personal life or whatever is going on in the world, we need that feeling of deeper one to one connection.
Speaker BAnd I think what happens with video or what happens with audio is that we get that dopamine hit in a much more nervous system friendly way.
Speaker BA very much more nervous system friendly way than sitting here on social media scrolling reels.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker BAnd so I think it's really important for us as business owners in general, if you haven't been using long form content to really drive that deeper connection, you need a strategy for that.
Speaker BYou can't just start showing up on there like you did on social media.
Speaker BIt's very different because it's about deeper connection.
Speaker BSo for you, what has been your like approach to that?
Speaker DYeah, so very much related to the connection piece.
Speaker DI see that there are three eyes that I want you to keep in mind.
Speaker DThere's the intention, the intimacy and the interruption.
Speaker DSo the intention that goes into long form on the side of the consumer is they are intentionally seeking something.
Speaker DThey're either seeking you because they're like, oh, I love hearing this person talk.
Speaker DThat is usually like with influencers where they're like, oh my gosh, I love the way that right now again related to the Super Bowl.
Speaker DLike Kylie Kelsey and her podcast people went and sought it out because they were like, I want to hear Kylie Kelsey, I like her, she's funny, all this stuff.
Speaker DOr they are going for to learn.
Speaker DSo they're like, I need to search how to do this one thing.
Speaker DI need to search right now.
Speaker DIt's tax season, so I need to search how to lower my tax bill.
Speaker DAnd they're searching with that intention.
Speaker DThe intimacy is that of you are you feel like the person is on the phone with you.
Speaker DYou feel like they're in your ear, they're like getting into it with you.
Speaker DYou can spend time together.
Speaker DThe intimacy of also like someone's voice and their inflections and how they deliver information.
Speaker DAnd then the, the third eye of interruption is the difference between getting interrupted with the content.
Speaker DSo in social media, it's interruption based marketing.
Speaker DIt's in your face.
Speaker DYou didn't look for it, you didn't.
Speaker DBasically this third eye is the contrast to the first two where it's like you didn't look for it, you didn't want to hear that ad or you didn't want to get that piece of information.
Speaker DBut it Interrupted your day.
Speaker DAnd here it is versus on podcasting.
Speaker DLike the flow of thought is not being interrupted.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker DUnless the person is rambling.
Speaker DBut that's.
Speaker DWe'll get into that, into how to actually deliver a message.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker DMost of the time, like you're not being interrupted by whoever wanted to interrupt your thought pattern.
Speaker DLike you're being delivered into a full way of thinking because you have 10 minutes or an hour to really sit with someone.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker DThat combination having intention, intimacy and fewer interruptions allows long form to really envelop you in someone else's thoughts.
Speaker DAnd I think that is something where I heard many years ago that was like being careful about the books that you read in the audios that you listen to.
Speaker DBecause simply spending time with an idea is like spending time with a person where you slowly start to morph in.
Speaker BYes.
Speaker DAnd so a lot of people were and have been persuaded into being people they don't recognize for the better or for the worse because of those long form intimate things that are then supplemented by short form.
Speaker DBut it definitely all plays together.
Speaker BYeah, I love that.
Speaker BI love that point when it comes.
Speaker BIt's totally true and I feel like it to your point, like intention and intimacy and the lack of being interrupted, if you will, is a lot easier to experience in long form content without your nervous system driving.
Speaker BAnd I keep talking about nervous system because I really, truly believe that we all.
Speaker BYes, the pandemic was five years ago, but man, have we experienced a lot of things since the pandemic.
Speaker BAnd we're going to continue seeing a lot of crazy things up into the future.
Speaker BAnd so we want to find spaces that we can be intentional with where we're thinking or listening to or consuming.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker BWe want to feel intimate.
Speaker BWe want to feel like we're going along with the journey or story that has been thought out and is not going to be interrupted by some random next 15 second thing or some ad or whatever or the noise that I feel like we have here on these platforms.
Speaker BThere's not.
Speaker BIf you're here on this platform right now and watching live, you are probably just interrupted and told to come listen to this because you follow one of us.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker BYou were not intentionally trying to listen to this.
Speaker BYou were not may be planning on doing this versus when you listen to long form, you, the person listening to it, the consumer consuming it, has decided, I'm going to listen to this content.
Speaker BAnd if I've had clients tell me, I've had people tell me like Nikita, I'll listen to you while I'M doing laundry and I'll pause if I need to come back and listen to something.
Speaker BAnd I don't think we're doing that on social media.
Speaker AWe're just not.
Speaker BAnd so the importance of really diving into that.
Speaker BSo when we come to the content itself within podcasting, right, how is it different?
Speaker BHow are we structuring it differently when it comes to long form content?
Speaker BI have a way that I love to hear your thoughts on that.
Speaker DYes, I'm excited to hear your way.
Speaker DAnd again, I feel like a lot of it will be in alignment.
Speaker DSo I think that first and foremost, I see a lot of mistakes with podcast content where people are almost, when they get started with their podcast, they almost treat it like an extension of their Instagram stories, where it feels very like in the moment update.
Speaker DIt feels like they're taking their IG strategy and trying to extend it and being like, oh, I'm just going to talk about my day and the thing that just happened and the conversation I just had and try to just, if I add more detail to it, it'll be 15 minutes.
Speaker DAnd that usually works for about eight episodes is what I found where it's people getting really excited because they're like, oh, I want to come on here and I want to talk about what I did and I want to talk about the five things that come top of mind about my business or my industry, whatever it is.
Speaker DAnd then they get to episode eight and they're like, one, no one is buying.
Speaker DA lot of people are listening because people love just like that human experience experience where they're like, oh, I want to know.
Speaker DI want to know what she was doing today.
Speaker DBecause we're lonely in our houses.
Speaker DNot.
Speaker DWe don't have co workers, so we want to feel like we have co workers.
Speaker DBut then after that episode eight, you're like, wow, that isn't producing the results I want.
Speaker DAnd now I ran out of, of content because people are like, my days kind of look the same.
Speaker DLike I'm, oh, I'm.
Speaker DI just had the same conversation.
Speaker DDo I talk about that again?
Speaker DSo they run out.
Speaker DSo that's usually where people end up finding me, is they're like, help.
Speaker DI got stuck and I went through that and definitely fell into the like bestie zone where people were just like, oh my God, you feel like a coworker.
Speaker DYou feel like someone who is going through it with me, but if I'm going through it with you, you don't want to hire me.
Speaker DAnd a lot of people find themselves in that kind of situation.
Speaker DSo instead I look at it.
Speaker DI have a framework called the four levers, but we won't get into the whole thing.
Speaker DBut you have to look at really who you're talking to, what goal they have, what limitation they have to get to that goal, and what solution you can present for that goal limitation to that specific person.
Speaker DAnd so your topic can be, again, because it's tax season, I think about a bookkeeper, where normally a bookkeeper would just go onto their podcast and talk about, I'm going to download everything in my brain that I know about profit into one episode.
Speaker DAnd maybe it'll be like, over here and then over here.
Speaker DAnd then they're like, wait, I'm giving them too much information.
Speaker DWhat if they don't hire me now?
Speaker DAnd then they just keep talking.
Speaker DInstead, if you look at it and you go, okay, there's a six figure business, that's my avatar, who has the goal of increasing profit.
Speaker DAnd.
Speaker DBut their limitation is that they don't know how to decrease expenses.
Speaker DThey don't have the awareness of their expenses.
Speaker DThen your solution can be, let's talk about all the different types of expenses.
Speaker DLet's talk about software expenses, let's talk about team expenses, let's talk about unnecessary expenses.
Speaker DAnd you can do three episodes that are each 20 minutes, but distilled in this way that people really get something out of it and they feel, wow, I just did my laundry and I now have a completely new perspective on how I'm going to talk to my bookkeeper.
Speaker DOr, hey, I just realized I have a new perspective.
Speaker DI don't have a bookkeeper.
Speaker DLet me hire this person who's right here, who's explaining it in a way that I like, that I can understand.
Speaker DAnd then they actually walk away with something rather than feeling, I listened to this episode about profit and I'm now just so stressed.
Speaker DI'm going to go hide.
Speaker DI'm going to go look away.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker DSo to me, it really comes down to, do you know who you're talking to, what their goal, what their limitation, and what your specific solution is.
Speaker DAnd that also multiplies your episodes as you saw, taking it from one episode of profit to three episodes about expenses.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker DAnd that can multiply over and over.
Speaker DBut I'm curious what your method is.
Speaker DYeah, no, I love that.
Speaker DI think it's similar in the fact.
Speaker BThat I personally, especially now, like, I've been refocusing on, like, how are clients actually searching for what they're searching for?
Speaker BRight.
Speaker BLike, where are they now, now that we're especially in this stream of AI, right, like, I think there's this, we can pretty much learn pretty much whatever we want as ChatGPT.
Speaker BChatGPT.
Speaker BHey, I have this and it's customized to me.
Speaker BI can say I have this going on, for example, with taxes.
Speaker BI've got this going on with my taxes.
Speaker BI need to figure out this and this state.
Speaker BIt's so customizable.
Speaker BSo my approach is, it's funny, it has always been this way, but it's doubled down on it in a way of my job as a podcast host is to help the person listening change or identify how they're thinking versus giving them all of this information that they may not they could easily find or they already had and aren't doing anything with it.
Speaker BAnd so a lot of my content approaches, of course, we need to know what the problems are, what they're looking for.
Speaker BBut my approach first goes, why aren't they doing it?
Speaker BWhy aren't they?
Speaker BWhat's getting in the way of them doing this thing?
Speaker BIt could be emotional, it could be trauma, it could be an experience that has happened.
Speaker BAnd I take a lot from the work that I do with my clients of identifying this.
Speaker BAnd if you don't have clients right now, like you haven't had clients, you look at your own self.
Speaker BLike I always tell my clients to think about, okay, let's say, for example, let's use taxes.
Speaker BI hate using this because it's, thank goodness for my account.
Speaker BSo go ahead and do that.
Speaker BI have no desire to do it, but if I were this person who is DIY my stuff when it comes to accounting or bookkeeping, and I'm like trying to figure out why can I just every week go through my account stocks and do this thing?
Speaker BI might know the things to do, but I may not know.
Speaker BWhy am I so hesitant about this?
Speaker BAnd so I like to have my podcast, yes, talk about that problem, but go way more deeper on why you're not doing it.
Speaker BAnd what I have found, and this has been my approach since I started my podcast back in 2017, is that people feel like, oh my gosh, she helped me figure out myself right now in this episode.
Speaker BIf she could do this in a 50 or 30 minute episode, then how.
Speaker BWhat would this look like if I'm working with her?
Speaker BAnd that's how, like how I've experienced and how I kind of approach podcasting.
Speaker BAnd that's how I help my clients too, when they're looking at long form.
Speaker BWe are now In a stage, I think we have to go beyond just information giving.
Speaker BWe have to go deeper.
Speaker BWe have to go into the psychology of why people are experiencing, feeling, and dealing with these things.
Speaker BBecause the human part is the part that we don't focus enough, focus a lot on the doing.
Speaker BAnd so my approach is, yeah, we can talk about those things.
Speaker BWe have to get done.
Speaker BBut why aren't you doing it?
Speaker DYeah, what's really interesting with you bringing up the.
Speaker DThe chatgpt part of it and bringing in that human element I love is I had this conversation with a client where she was saying, like, she wants to do an episode about how to have hard conversations and why you're not having them.
Speaker DAnd we started building it, and she asked me, she was like, can't somebody just ask ChatGPT, like, how to have a hard conversation?
Speaker DAnd I was like, absolutely.
Speaker DAnd similar to you.
Speaker DAnd I was like, but they're not having it because there's something in the way.
Speaker DAnd she has a.
Speaker DThis client has a background in.
Speaker DShe's been in the military, she's run a bunch of different types of businesses, in education, in logistics, all these things.
Speaker DAnd I was like, you can talk to the emotion by telling stories from your different life experiences that can get at that fear that they have.
Speaker DAnd so with what catchy beauty can't do is distill those stories and tell them in a way that people feel and go, oh, if she can do it in the middle of, like, combat, I think I can do it on a Tuesday home.
Speaker DAnd being able to tackle it in that way, I think that is.
Speaker DIs a conversation as we look at trending for 2025 with podcasting is like the role of AI and do we use it for scripting?
Speaker DDo we not?
Speaker DAnd I'm like, they can't tell the story what you've lived in the way that you can tell.
Speaker DAnd so I think that's really powerful.
Speaker DLike, with what you're sharing, it's look at what belief is getting in the way and then add on what story can break that belief for them out.
Speaker DBecause I think the key there is also, without hitting them over the head and saying, you have this limiting belief.
Speaker DThis man's got this limiting belief.
Speaker DBecause a lot of the times, at least I work with a lot of people who are intellectualizers who are like, I already know the root cause.
Speaker DAnd I'm like, yeah, but have you felt the root cause?
Speaker DSo being able to fuse all of those things, I think is really important.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BAnd I think, too, I To your point is like the.
Speaker BIt's the storytelling of one of my good friends.
Speaker BIt's like the creepy storytelling where it's almost like nap.
Speaker BShe read my journal while I was writing in it last night.
Speaker BAnd as much as we used to talk about that a lot in talking about marketing in general, we need to get into the things about what they're talking about.
Speaker BAnd to me, I found it really frustrating.
Speaker BI still find it frustrating to try to implement that in 15 seconds or that's not my jam.
Speaker BBut if you give me a 30 minute podcast episode, I can go all in on you, baby.
Speaker BLike, you will feel like I'm in your journal.
Speaker BLike, you will feel like I got what you're talking about and then help you see what you can do to solve this problem.
Speaker BAnd I think that's why podcasting now is important.
Speaker BLike, this is why podcasting now is important, why 2025 is time to jump into that.
Speaker BBecause if you don't have it, people are looking for it.
Speaker BThat's the thing.
Speaker BI think that's what we forget.
Speaker BPeople are looking for that deeper why they're looking for that deeper reason beyond just the how to.
Speaker BDon't get me wrong, we are always going to be trying to figure stuff out how to, but we also are trying to figure out the deeper how to.
Speaker BThe deeper.
Speaker DYeah.
Speaker DAnd I also think that it's yes, we're trying to figure out the how to, but because of everything we've talked about with being overstimulated, most people now, even if you give them the step by step, if you do not, one, like you said, address the beliefs that are getting the way, but two, customize it to their exact situation.
Speaker DIt's like that how to doesn't exist.
Speaker BExactly.
Speaker DLike we're scrolling and maybe we're saying one how to and somebody else is saying a completely different how to and they're trying to like combat it, fight it in their mind.
Speaker DAnd they finally got this resolution of, I'm going to do it this way.
Speaker DBecause I saw this one minute video and then the next one minute video comes up and they're like, wait, I'm going to do it this other way.
Speaker DAnd that honestly itself, trust is completely broken because now I don't know how to do any of it.
Speaker DSo I have all these steps, I have these recipes, but do I even have the ingredients?
Speaker DDo I even like those ingredients?
Speaker DDo I even want to buy that thing?
Speaker DDo I even want to do it this way?
Speaker DAnd then they get stuck.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker DAnd so I think what's really beautiful about a podcast is you can be like, all right, sit with me now.
Speaker DAnd then saying, I know this just came up for you.
Speaker DLike, I know that your brain just offered this thought to you.
Speaker DNow let's take that thought, let's bring it back, and you have the time versus getting lost in that one minute.
Speaker DYeah, fully agree.
Speaker DLike being able to hop into their mindset, but longer term, because I think also I know we talk a lot about, like, ethical marketing and what all of that is.
Speaker DAnd so to get someone's attention and to get into someone's journal in a minute, you're usually going for those that strong pain, the shame, the fear, all of that, which is important to address.
Speaker DBut the way that it's addressed in a one minute video is usually no nuance.
Speaker DMake poking it general.
Speaker BI think it's not even.
Speaker BIt's still general.
Speaker BLike, it's still generalized.
Speaker BAs much as we want it to be, like specific, I still find it's still generalized so that if someone's following it, yes, they might get a quick win, but it's not sustainable.
Speaker DYeah, that's really such a key word.
Speaker DLike just being sustainable with the consumption and also being sustainable with the creation.
Speaker DBecause it's also.
Speaker DIf you only tackle the fear of missing out, but you don't tackle all of the fears that are related to the fear of missing out, then how many times can you actually just talk about the fear of missing out versus on podcast episodes?
Speaker DYou can be like, all right, you think that you're coming in here because of the fear of missing out, but actually I want to talk to you about how this is a fear of not acting quick enough, which means that it's a fear of not being good enough, which is a fear of all of this.
Speaker DYou're basically taking them through a therapy session because you had the room in this space.
Speaker DAnd I think that's really what people want.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BAnd I think as the business owner, your job in podcasting now is to figure out a way.
Speaker BAnd I think if you want to figure out a way, because me, both of us do this with our clients, it's figuring out a way to make the strategy not just take them on this journey to understand who they are, but take them on their journey to know that they can trust you to help them off of this platform, off of this long form piece of content that they just had.
Speaker BAnd the powerful thing I want anyone to know who's listening, who's been on the fence with podcasting, is that it's A lot easier than you think than on social media to do that.
Speaker BAnd it happened way quicker and the conversions happened way quicker.
Speaker BOnce you figure out that framework around how to get clients to listen, get them into the podcast and then taking action from the podcast.
Speaker BAnd it's a lot faster than I feel.
Speaker BI mean, also because we've been doing this for a long time, so we've learned some of those things that just makes per happen quicker.
Speaker BBut I still think if you're new, like when I started my podcast, I had better conversions on my podcast than I did on social media because I had the breath to figure it out.
Speaker BI had the time.
Speaker BThe more talking, I feel like the more you talk, the more you share, the more clear your messaging becomes, the more clear, easy it is for you to articulate what it is that you're actually trying to do or solve for your clients.
Speaker BIt becomes easier to do and easier for you to figure out than in a 15 second reel or story.
Speaker BI'm so like social media funny right now because I've taken a break from it and so like.
Speaker DYeah, And I also think that it's because the people who back to the whole intention interruption thing, it's like the people who actually want to, to spend 15 minutes either with you because again, they've built the trust and they're like, I like you or they want to spend 15 minutes on the topic that you have either situation.
Speaker DThey're warmer, they're further down the funnel, however you want to say it.
Speaker DThey're so much closer to making a decision versus someone who is just like trying to dissociate from their day and then comes across your 30 second video, which may have been really good.
Speaker DLike your video may have been amazing, but they're in this state of I don't want to think about this, I don't have my wallet anywhere.
Speaker DI don't.
Speaker DMaybe I'll come back to this.
Speaker DAnd then they don't.
Speaker DSo it's also pairing it with.
Speaker DYou get.
Speaker DThere's a lot of people on here who talk about, oh, freebie seekers and people who just want free advice and all that stuff.
Speaker DAnd I don't actually think that's a real thing.
Speaker DI think we all want to try it before we buy it.
Speaker DYeah, but it's people who just want those hits versus, oh, I want to go deeper.
Speaker DAnd so also tailoring it to who do you want?
Speaker DWhat would the type of person who would be successful in your programs actually do?
Speaker DOh, they'd probably consume what I deliver.
Speaker DThey would probably Consume it in a 15 minute audio versus these little things like these little graphics and matching how you deliver to who you want to deliver to.
Speaker DAnd it's this chicken or the egg situation.
Speaker DYou tripped up something.
Speaker BYeah, no, I totally agree and I think you're right.
Speaker BLike you're told it's like the type of person you want to be working with.
Speaker BIt's kind of gives you this.
Speaker BI also feel like this is a whole nother conversation when it really to me goes down to our values as the business owner.
Speaker BI'm a deep person.
Speaker BLike me and my friend, even my friends, we meet, we laugh hot and then we're like deep.
Speaker BIt's like we're like really deep, right?
Speaker BAnd even with my clients it's like that, like they come into the container and they're ready, we go deep quick.
Speaker BAnd so if that's how I am and that's a value that I really appreciate and that I excel at and that's part of my superpower, going deep with people.
Speaker BWhy put all my ethics in a basket where that's not possible?
Speaker BAKA social media.
Speaker BThat's not possible for me to go deep like that.
Speaker BIt is in a long form, content and then nurture, creating that kind of community and vibe there.
Speaker BSo I love that you brought that out because that's so true.
Speaker DSo yes, I think about it a lot with.
Speaker DI know it's common nowadays to be like, oh, like I hate small and it's what saying but it's the difference between if you're going to the coffee shop and you have, you're just there for the vibes, you want your coffee and all this stuff and the barista is like saying hi or somebody else like in line is like trying to make conversation with you and they have interrupted you and you're like oh my God, like I love it.
Speaker DOh wow, your jacket's so cute.
Speaker DAll this stuff and you're happy to have that light hearted conversation and then they go, what is your biggest fear?
Speaker DLike why are you afraid to do blah blah.
Speaker DBut you'd be like mate, yes.
Speaker DWhat are they doing?
Speaker DVersus maybe if you're in the right space.
Speaker DI'm not even saying like a completely different thing but I think about for me like a yoga studio where like afterwards you just had an hour long like you've shared a space with someone and then somebody afters, hey, like how are you feeling?
Speaker DAnd you this conversation starts like that and there's like more naturally more intimacy there.
Speaker DThen you're like a little bit more open to be like, oh, yeah, you know, that one shape, like really did feel this type of way or I really did.
Speaker DThis emotion did come up for me.
Speaker DYou want to talk about it?
Speaker DThat's not weird because you're not in this though space of coffee shop.
Speaker DYou're in a space where everyone's intentionally trying to slow down.
Speaker DSo it's the same with the mediums of did you just say hi And I love your really pretty picture.
Speaker DAnd then you're like, but what's your biggest fear?
Speaker DLike, you're.
Speaker DIt's just too much versus having that time in that space to be like, oh, I. I chose to be here.
Speaker DI chose to be in this space with you.
Speaker DYeah, let's dive in.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker DBut I think a lot of folks get really tripped up in the work.
Speaker DThey think that it's going to be a lot more work.
Speaker DAnd I'm curious how you work that out with people of having them know that it.
Speaker BI feel like it's more work to try to create content and segments like that.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker BIt's.
Speaker BTo me, it's so much easier to start with a long.
Speaker BThat's how our brain naturally works.
Speaker BAnyway.
Speaker BThat's the thing I tell my clients, like, your brain naturally thinks in a story.
Speaker BThat's how we naturally think.
Speaker BThat's how we work.
Speaker BThat's how we learned.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker BWhat's the story?
Speaker BAnd so for us to try to create a story with interruptions, that is exhausting for our brain.
Speaker BSo if you could just start with this story with a beginning and an end and a middle, like a middle, beginning, middle and end, you can now take that content and repurpose it in whatever way without feeling all of this pressure to make this one piece of small content to connect with someone.
Speaker BAnd even if you're coming from a social media, you might brain strategy brain.
Speaker BLike, yes, it's a collective over time that you're creating the story, but you can still do that.
Speaker BSo much easier from one piece of long form content than trying to like do it separately.
Speaker BAnd so I just tell my clients, just try it, you'll see.
Speaker BAnd that's what they have to do.
Speaker BGive them a framework.
Speaker BHey, that's the time you create the story and just have fun with it for a minute and just like breathe.
Speaker BAnd I think I have a whole thought about this.
Speaker BI think social media has conditioned us to believe that we can only sell in short things like marketing in general has taught us like, oh, we can only consume stuff and make decisions after seeing a commercial for 50 seconds.
Speaker BBut my thing is we had to see that commercial like 77 times.
Speaker BSo you add that out over a period of time, you might as well get some content that would have done the same kind of storytelling and you would have bought sooner.
Speaker BSo in my, like in my approach, it's very much just getting my clients to unlearn that thought process of yeah, short firm step, short term sells faster.
Speaker BAnd that's not actually true if you look at the data.
Speaker BThat's my, my thought.
Speaker DWhat that made me think of is I've had this conversation hundreds of times where people are like, yeah, but people's attention spans are too short nowadays.
Speaker DAnd again, it just keeps coming back to yes, my attention span is short.
Speaker DIf you've interrupted me, I don't want to talk to you for that long, you know, but if I want to go talk to you.
Speaker DAll of us have been on FaceTime for three hours with people who you love them dearly, not that interesting like it's you, but like they're, they're not giving you revelation, but you're there because you're interested and you're having your forming intimacy with this person.
Speaker DAnd like you, one of you intentionally called the other.
Speaker DAnd so it just being able to break that belief because I think a lot of people, people have been sold the belief of our attention spans are too short.
Speaker DBut on Saturday I just watched a four hour movie.
Speaker AFour hours?
Speaker BFour, eight minutes.
Speaker DOkay.
Speaker DIt was, it's called the Brutalist.
Speaker DIt was wild movie anyway.
Speaker DOr like we go and we watch Netflix and yes, some of us will have our phones out and stuff.
Speaker DBut like you're still watching it, you're still there.
Speaker DWe can talk about needing other tools to stim while you're watching, that's fine.
Speaker DBut I really want to challenge that belief of, oh, everyone's attention span is too short.
Speaker DNo one's going to watch my video.
Speaker DAnd if you're boring, just say that.
Speaker BAnd I think too like such a good point when I think about podcasting or any long form content, like maybe if they're not a warm audience, let's say they're cold.
Speaker BLet's just say they're random people who are finding you right, because you are solving or talking about a topic that is important to them, that solves a problem or identifies a problem, however you want to name it, and they go listen to you and you get them within a certain amount of time.
Speaker BThey're, you don't like unhooked from something that's going to help you.
Speaker BThat's just natural, whether it's 15 minutes or, or an hour.
Speaker BI mean there are podcasts, you guys that are out there that are like two hours long.
Speaker BI personally cannot do that like as a host.
Speaker BBut if that's how people connect and they're doing well, YouTube is a perfect example of why it still exists and why people go on there and can engage with that content.
Speaker BAnd they're not necessarily always watching it, they're listening to it.
Speaker BTheir attention span is not that.
Speaker BIt's not that short, it's based on what they want to hear.
Speaker BSo trying to figure out way to wrap this because I think it's just important for us to know that long form content is not an option anymore.
Speaker BThat's what I want to say.
Speaker BIf you don't have a strategy for long term content in your business, you need to.
Speaker DYeah.
Speaker DAnd just like also wrapping up the point where you were saying of keeping people's attention in all those spaces, is that also the whole like attention span conversation in short form or long form, People expect that just talking is enough, that they can just go on and talk and that that is interesting enough.
Speaker DAnd it.
Speaker DIf you are speaking to an audience of people who are cold and warm, you have to keep in mind that it's cold and warm.
Speaker DBut doing that on long form is going to be a lot easier than on short form because you have more opportunities to do.
Speaker DAnd I fully agree.
Speaker DI think this is the time to go towards long form for sustainability purposes of literally your own attention span.
Speaker DFor sustainability purposes of we are in a four year era where we will be exhausted more than usual and so sustainable on the consumer and the creator side.
Speaker DLike long form gives you space where if you batch a couple and you want to disappear for a month, people will still be fed and fed their content.
Speaker DBut also you will still make sales and you'll be able to feed yourself and just really seeing the.
Speaker DWe didn't get into this could be a whole conversation for another day.
Speaker DBut like the algorithms and what they are or are not, you have a little bit more control.
Speaker DYou don't have full control, but you have a bit more control on long form algorithms than you do on short form.
Speaker DAnd so being able to the interplay of all of that makes 2025 the year that you have to double down on long form.
Speaker DYeah.
Speaker BAnd I like that going back to sustainable.
Speaker BLike I think also if you've been a long time entrepreneur and you have not tapped into long form content as a strategy for your own sanity and lack of burning out, don't burn out.
Speaker BYou need long form content quick.
Speaker BI save it.
Speaker BTo all of my folks that have been like on these streets with social media for eight, eight plus years.
Speaker BIn order for your own business to continue to be sustainable from a marketing standpoint, you need a long form strategy like yesterday.
Speaker DYeah.
Speaker DAnd the great thing is that with longer time in entrepreneurship, your content is going to be better.
Speaker DLike the depth that you're able to provide people.
Speaker DThat's where you can out compete the new and the young.
Speaker DWhere not young like literally age, but like people can come in and maturity, hot energy.
Speaker DThey're like just, they capture a lot of attention because they're new, but what they don't have is the debt.
Speaker DSo really that's what's going to win out in the long term is go flex how much you do now.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker DAnd how much you've earned by being in the game for so long.
Speaker BYeah, exactly.
Speaker ATotally.
Speaker AYes.
Speaker BOkay.
Speaker BHow can we connect with you?
Speaker DBeautiful.
Speaker DSo you can follow me here at Issa Media, Inc. And you can also follow me on LinkedIn.
Speaker DThat's a whole other algorithm.
Speaker DAnd that'll be under Isabella Sanchez Castaneda.
Speaker CThat's a wrap for this episode of Business with Chronic Illness.
Speaker CIf you enjoyed this conversation, be sure to follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review.
Speaker CIt helps more entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs living with chronic illness and autoimmune disorders find these conversations.
Speaker CYou can check the show notes for links, resources and ways to stay connected.
Speaker CAnd if you have a question or story you'd like to share, visit craftedtoolthrive.com to leave a voice message for the podcast.
Speaker CI'd love to hear from you.
Speaker CUntil next time, remember, you can build a thriving business without sacrificing your health, your peace, or your profit.