One of my go-to, re-watchable comfort movies is High Fidelity.
It’s definitely in my “all time top 5” (other High Fidelity nerds will get the reference).
For those who haven’t seen it, the main character in the movie is constantly making “all time top 5” lists about various things (usually music, but sometimes career paths and other things).
He can never quite make up his mind about what items are worthy of going on the list…and I felt the same way about the top 5 list I’m sharing in this article.
As someone who regularly publishes content online, it’s easy to get lost in how many clicks I’m getting, among other metrics.
In 2022 and 2023 when I was 100% self-employed, I was lost in metrics, because my one purpose for my content is as a marketing tool for my business.
I found myself longing for the days when I was still working in the schools and had a source of predictable income; which allowed me more leeway to experiment with what I created.
I also missed being part of a team, felt like I was missing out on experiences I wanted to have during my career, and found being a “solopreneur” incredibly lonely.
This is why I went back to work in the public sector in 2023
In the future, I may talk more about what the journey back to working for “the man” looked like for me and where I ended up…
The primary thing is that it allowed me to loosen the death grip I had around every piece of content I created.
I’m still running a for-profit business as well; many people who listen to my podcast or read my blog are likely aware of that. I still care about the numbers. But I’m not obsessed with them.
That’s why I wanted to create a “top 5 list” of content I’m most proud of; not because I went viral, but because they meant something to me.
This “top 5” is about pieces content that remind me of times I’m glad I didn’t give up, or simply things I created for selfish reasons because they were what I felt like talking about at the time.
And just like John Cusack in High Fidelity, I’ll want to revise this list as soon as write it because it’s hard to pick just 5.
But here you go:
1. EP 80: Career “test-runs” and calming your inner critic with Stephanie Hayes
This episode was recorded when Stephanie Hayes was coaching me on my business strategy during the summer of 2022.
At the time, I’d decided to stop paying myself a salary to allow myself more resources to build something new, and I wasn’t very fun to be around. I definitely wasn’t easy to coach. I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to give up.
The work I did with her eventually lead to me creating the School of Clinical Leadership.
I’m really proud of what I developed, but figuring out the way I wanted to talk about the program was a struggle.
I’m grateful I recorded some of these conversations with Stephanie because I’m sure at some point in the future and I’ll need something to remind me that I’ve been there before.
2. EP 90: Creating grassroots movements to support kids in your community (with Merlin Anderson)
This is the first guest interview I did after I changed the name of my podcast from “Are they 18 yet?” to “De Facto Leaders”.
It’s also the point when I started producing the podcast I’d always wanted to create from the beginning.
Merlin is my running friend who has raised over $200,000 for local organizations that support kids in our community through “Adventures Benefiting Children” runs.
ABC runs started with a small group of people who decided to throw some money in a bucket during an informal group run and donate it to an organization that runs summer camps and has special extracurricular programs for kids with disabilities.
This interview means a lot to me because people always tell me each therapy session or advocacy effort feels like a “drop in the bucket”, but sometimes that’s enough to get started.
3. EP 97: Getting a “Yes” from your school administrator (with Marva Mount)
When I expanded my business from focusing primarily on tactical therapy strategies to focusing more on “bigger picture” leadership issues, my click-through-rates on my marketing emails were embarrassingly low.
I wanted to bridge the gap between school leaders, therapists, and teachers, but I wasn’t sure how to articulate it in a way that would resonate with those who were still working with students.
I started to think there weren’t other therapists who were interested in talking about “macro level” issues, until I listened to Marva speak in a speechpathology.com presentation.
I reached out to her and she agreed to be on my podcast to record this episode.
The next year, I started job searching. I was pursuing roles in product development that would still allow me to stay connected to clinical work and multidisciplinary teams.
I’d sent hundreds of applications with no responses, and Marva helped connect me to the right people to get an interview.
*Side note: I didn’t get the job, but the interview process was key in helping me prepare for the interview for the job I DID get.
4. EP 112: How to “lead up” to your school administrator (with Jethro Jones)
In early 2023, I was sending emails out to people to pitch myself as a potential podcast guest. I got a response from Jethro Jones, the host of the Transformative Principal Podcast.
He immediately set up a call to talk to me, during which he invited me to be a part of the Be Podcast Network. Jethro is co-founder of the framework, alongside Ross Romano from September Strategies.
Joining the network allowed me to connect with a lot of the guests I’ve had since then.
Although I’ve “podcast swapped” with many other hosts who have shows on the network, this interview with Jethro is the first one that was published on De Facto Leaders.
The concept of “leading up” to leaders higher than you in the chain of command is something I think about often in my current position when I need to be reminded to take my own advice.
5. We’re Not Tutors, We’re Speech-Language Pathologists
The fifth choice in a “top 5” list is always the most painful one to choose. But for me, it has to be this article. This is the very first piece of content I ever published on the Dr. Karen blog.
This article led to the first people who joined the Dr. Karen mailing list in 2015 and was the first step in all the programs and material I’ve published for my work at Dr. Karen, LLC.
It didn’t earn me any money (at least not right away), but it gave me enough confidence to keep going.
There’s a saying: “If you aren’t embarrassed by your early work, you’ve waited too long to start.”
This saying hits home for me because I often look back at things I published a long time ago and cringe. I sometimes even do this with things I’ve published recently.
It’s a tricky balance; wanting to be prolific and wanting to maintain quality at the same time, and I’d be lying if I said I knew the magic formula.
What I can say:
I’ve never gone viral, I’m not great at getting lots of organic social media views, and there are many pieces of my content that have not performed well. Sometimes it’s because of the algorithms, but sometimes it’s because what I created just wasn’t very good.
However, putting out mediocre, or not-so-good material is how you find the “top 5” good pieces, and most importantly, find your voice.
When it comes to my early work, if I can read/listen and think to myself, “Well this doesn’t suck”, I consider that a success.
I am pretty proud of this article and what it led to.