Usually this is the part of a website that includes a super generic and boring intro that no one really cares about. Well, some of you might care because you clicked the about button and you’re here 
And I appreciate you for that!
After launching my podcast, receiving phone calls about it, and reflecting on everything, I thought that my actual launch story may help someone. So here goes.
Hi, I’m Cindy
I’m Cindy Rodriguez. I’m in my 30’s. I was born on the beautiful island of Puerto Rico, and moved to Orlando, Florida when I was 4. I have been living here ever since. I’m an introvert. I love reading. I am a full time entrepreneur. I’ve been making most of my living the past year and a half doing graphic/web design and marketing. But I am working on expanding my horizons, so I just call myself a full time entrepreneur instead of a just a graphic designer for the time being. I’m a homeschool mom to a beautiful 11 year old girl. And most importantly I wouldn’t be the woman that I am today if not for my walk with Jesus Christ, prayer, and faith.
The Beginning
Occasionally, I write for my friend’s tech website for women. I was approached by a PR company asking if I would like to review G. Hannelius’ (from Disney Channel’s Dog With a Blog) new nail app.
Not only did they ask me to review the product, but they asked if I would like to interview G. I had never done an interview in my life, and my first interview was with a celebrity? Man I sucked! I really want to apologize to her for how bad I was!
But the interview got me thinking, this young lady is only a teenager and here she is starting her own business with huge plans to expand. What I wouldn’t give to be able to counsel my 16 year old self into starting a graphic design business way back when!
So, I’m having a great convo with my friend about the interview, and suddenly it just clicks. I absolutely love sitting with my friends, or with anyone really, and helping them with their business. My business meetings last hours and hours because I’ll sit there and go back and forth with my clients on ideas for growing their business. I get so much out of that and I absolutely love it!
But everyone has “make money online” or “how to start a business” websites. I needed something unique. Something close to my heart… Women.
Why a Podcast for Women?
For many years I’ve been a single mom (sorry for cussing.) Yes, “single mom” is like a curse word for me. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone say they were a single mother in a positive light. I’ve always seen it used as an excuse.
I would do this, but I’m a single mom.
I would be a business woman, but I’m a single mom.
I would be a manager at work, but I can’t because I’m a single mom.
I’ve been a single mom and I own my own business. I’ve had an amazing career when I didn’t work for myself. I’ve experienced life, and have never used being a single mom as an excuse.
I want to let other women know that if I can do it, so can you! I am not any more special or talented than you. I might be better at Photoshop than you, but YOU are better at a lot of things that I can’t do. Like doing makeup. You can probably make a good line with your eyeliner, and I can’t. See, look at you, being all good at stuff
Letting Go of Fear
I usually do things without consulting with anyone. Or at least without posting it on Facebook. But for some reason I felt like I needed to involve my Facebook friends through the process of putting this podcast together. Little did I know, that would be the only reason that I didn’t just trash the entire idea.
In the planning phase of the podcast, as I had some logo proofs to sort through, I posted it on my Facebook page for my friends to help select the one they liked best. One of my friends shared the post and I was absolutely terrified!
What would people think about the podcast idea? Was the name stupid? What if people didn’t like me? But I had to push those fears aside and keep on going if I was going to put myself out there with a podcast in the first place.
Missing a Launch Date
Originally I set a launch date of June 1, 2015. But as the date grew closer I realized, I didn’t know how to edit a podcast, I had to come up with descriptions, I had to build a website, and a million other things.
So you know what I did? Nothing. That’s right, I did nothing because it was hard. It included a lot of steps and I didn’t feel like doing them. I kind of got the website layout done, just needed to edit the episodes, but I told myself I’d just do it on launch day.
Early in the morning of my launch day I received a Facebook message from one of my guests saying the website wasn’t working. Sure enough there was an issue with the website pointing where it wasn’t supposed to. So I had my legit excuse for pushing the launch a week. I also had a new headache on my hands.
Thankfully I was able to sort the domain issue before the end of the day, but I really appreciated the extra time I had to properly launch my podcast. I worked really hard all week, watching tutorials on editing, getting accurate descriptions up, etc and then it was go time.
What if People Don’t Like Me?
I went to bed at 4am the day before launch day. Well, technically it was the launch day already, but you know what I mean. Woke up and posted a link to my website with the podcast episodes in my mastermind group since iTunes had not approved it yet.
I said something like, “Here it is, but I should probably wait for it to be on iTunes.” And one of the members of the group told me just to go ahead and share the link. But I was sooooo scared!
Even though I was scared I went ahead and put the site up on Facebook, and waited for someone to say something negative. Although I worked so hard on this, I was happy with it (somewhat,) I was so afraid that people wouldn’t like me, would think my interviews were not helpful, or a million other scenarios.
Never did I imagine that I would get so much support from my friends! I received messages, comments, re-posts, and phone calls congratulating me and giving me positive feedback. It was exactly what I needed to get fired up to keep going. That day I scheduled two appointments for interviews!
I was humbled, I was grateful, I felt SO GOOD! And I was extremely thankful that I had chosen to involve my Facebook friends in the planning process. Without that accountability, without them asking me “so when are you launching,” I wouldn’t have launched at all.
But Wait, There’s More!
A day after my podcast launched, I was on iTunes on my computer and randomly clicked on New & Noteworthy in the Career section. I found myself listed a few rows down. I’ve asked around and apparently people dedicate entire courses to getting on New & Noteworthy. I didn’t do anything that these people say you need to do and there I was!
I’ve checked a few times a day since, and I’m crawling up the N&N rows! My goal is to make it to actually be featured in New & Noteworthy, but 9th row 3 days in… I’ll take it
The Moral of This Story
All my life I have stopped myself from doing things I believed in because I was afraid of what others would think. This extended to all areas of my life, not just the business part. I would be afraid for no reason. No one would even know what I was thinking of doing, but I would just talk myself out of it.
I feel like there are many women out there who do the same. Women who are afraid to be bold about their decisions. Ladies who won’t write a book because one person might give them a bad review. People who won’t tell their friends about their business idea, because they might think it’s stupid.
But what if that book, or that business changes one person’s life? Pat Flynn’s podcast changed my life. What if he would have given in to fear and not released it? Would I be where I am in business right now? I don’t know. Maybe. But I’m grateful that he believed in his dream and I don’t have to live in that “what if.”
I hope that this podcast touches at least one person to go for their dreams. If no one believes in you, if you don’t even believe in you, just know that I believe in you. I’m rooting for you!
I’d love to hear from you! Shoot me an email at if this podcast or story has been helpful to you in any way.
